t
o
n
y
a
n
g
'
s
 
w
e
b
l
o
g


the most important thing i had to do today was to look for a part-time job from the stacks of the harvard university work directory. my parents got a lead from a friend of theirs who used to work at harvard as a parking attendant, which didn't sound very glamorous, but the friend said it was an easy job with good perks like being able to take free classes at harvard. and once you've worked for one job in their system, it's easy to switch to a different job later on.

after cleaning a little bit, i worked from my bedroom on a desk because it seemed more civilized. once i turned up the heat, the bedroom became quite toasty and comfortable, with the temperature reaching 75°. i even managed to hook up my macbook pro to the LCD monitor and use my bluetooth keyboard and trackpad. i think the master bedroom will now be my most favorite place in the house during the daytime. the view outside isn't as interesting compared to the living room - backyard versus the street - but what it lacks in activity it makes up for in southern-facing sunlight.

from the bedroom window i watched as snowflakes fell from the sky. i'd heard about the ocean effect snow that was happening today. not enough to stick in the boston area, but the south shore and cape cod area were hit with some diggable snow.

unfortunately that parking attendant job was filled but i did find one for a curator at the comparative zoology museum. the job seems to be simply tagging things into a database, and doesn't require much in terms of skills besides a high school education and the ability to use a computer, but if it gets me out of the house and make enough for groceries, i call that a victory. i had my resume ready but the hardest part was writing the cover letter. but after a bit of though, i quickly wrote out a page (i've had some writing practice apparently).

with that bit of business finished, i went out to run some errands. temperature was in the mid-20's. i took the bike to dollar tree to pick up the last remaining slinky junior (i'll need that if i ever want to set up another squirrel-proof shepherd's pole). it took forever to check out though, as i was behind a woman who was buying a million things. there was a brazilian couple behind who jumped to the next available cashier when it opened up, even though had a million things as well. it would've been nice for them to let me take the next aisle first, since i just had one thing.

next i returned to rite aid to see if my amlodipine prescription was ready, the one i requested last thursday. when it wasn't waiting on the prescription rack i knew they didn't have it. the pharmacist told me to get in touch with my doctor. i returned home and called my insurance company first (NHP), who verified that starting this year i can only get my drugs through CVS. this sucks because i live within walking distance to 2 pharmacies, both of them rite aid; CVS (porter square) is farther away, and it's always crowded. but that's the insurance i have, so there's nothing i can do about it until it comes time to change my insurance again. anyway, i called up my doctor and had through write a new prescription, this time sending it to the nearest CVS.

in the afternoon i biked down to belmont. i ran into my parents on the road, making their way home as well. i almost beat them back, were it not for that treacherous hill right before their house. i did notice that my rear brake wasn't working; parking the bike outside last night must've seized up something in the cable, i'll keep it in the basement tonight to see if that'll fix the problem.

the suet feeder seemed to be free of squirrels, as the suet cake was the same size as yesterday. sadly that also meant no birds came to visit the feeder today. where do they go? i keep on thinking that there are better feeders elsewhere, with better food, and that's where they all go.

after dinner my father gave me a ride home as the temperature had dropped down to 22°F by that point. i spent the rest of the evening finishing watching season 2 of the wire. by the time i went to bed, the temperature had dropped into the teens.