frances' christmas present pulled from my amazon wish list arrived today, an etekcity UT61A autoranging multimeter. and i was just in the market for a multimeter! i almost bought one but still couldn't make up my mind; this gift alleviates me from having to make a decision.

i ate the second of my market basket sandwich for lunch. in the mid-afternoon i took the motorcycle to belmont. temperature was in the low 40's and would be in the 30's after dark so i dressed warmly for the occasion. i saw a female downy woodpecker on the suet feeder when i arrived. it seemed to be just clinging onto the cage and not feeding. i spooked it away when i went out into the backyard. i moved the feeder slightly closer to the house for better viewing.

by the time i returned home temperature had dropped into the upper 30's. after a shower, i went back outside and put the cover over my motorcycle, in anticipation of the day of rain we're expected to receive tomorrow.

brad contacted me in the late evening, asked if i ever sent a package to taiwan before, and asked if i knew how much the postage would cost. he said he had some friends and family asking for him to buy things from the US. i knew there'd be trouble when he asked me for my address last night so he could ship something to my house. he didn't tell me what it was, and when i asked if he meant for me to then ship whatever mysterious thing he ordered to taiwan, he said it wasn't necessary, because he'd come and pick it up the next time he was in boston or i could bring it when i go back to taiwan. but i knew it was a pandora's box, that the moment i agreed to one thing, he'd want more, and before you know it, i'm sending him things on a regular basis. it's one thing if he was my friend, but i hardly know him! true, i invited him and his girlfriend to my parents' house for thanksgiving, but that was more in the general spirit of holiday generosity. after thinking about it a little bit, i told him i'd do him this favor just this one time, hoping that he'd get the message.