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the first thing i did this morning, before even using the bathroom, was to get dressed and shovel the rest of the snow that fell overnight. it wasn't entirely necessary, but my next door neighbor don shoveled his sidewalk to the bare pavement (sprinkling road salt on it afterwards) so i was obligated to do mine as well. the man is a snow removal master.

so how much snow did we get yesterday? i don't know the official number, but judging from what i'm seeing, it could be anywhere from 4-6". this kind of light snow is hard to gauge because it's so easy to get blown by the wind, so you have relatively bare spots in certain areas but heavy accumulation elsewhere.

after a quick shower i gathered up my things and walked to harvard square to catch the bus. the landscape was pretty and i wish i had more time but i was in a hurry to make my ride. it was a very cold day with temperature in the lower 20's if not the teens. my columbia jacket kept me warm, but thick plumes of white condensation would come out of my mouth. at the bus stop i think i saw my grand uncle's nurse, on the bus ride into belmont i took the opportunity to hit a bunch of pokestops along the way.

my mother fixed some chinese sauerkraut noodles for lunch. i added some of my homemade hot sauce. later i added about half a teaspoon of salt to the sauce to make it taste better. being that it was wildcard weekend, today's 2 games were dolphins-steelers and giants-packers. of the 4 teams playing today, miami was the only team without a superbowl within the past 10 years (new york 2, pittsburgh 2, green bay 1). so it wasn't a surprise that the dolphins were outmatched by the steelers. final score, 30-12.

a lot of bird activities at the feeders today. a flock of chickadees, at least half a dozen, swarmed the globe seed feeder. i noticed they typically visit one at a time, swooping in to feed just as soon as another bird leaves. there was also a junco visiting the feeder, which is surprising because juncos are usually ground feeders. i also saw nuthatches a few times. the only bird to visit the suet feeder was a female downy woodpecker. there was a song sparrow who arrived to investigate the commotion and then hopped into the gap of the cold frame, apparently it's a good place to hide. there was also a male cardinal who pecked at some empty sunflower shells; cardinals are incapable of feeding from the clinging globe feeder. 2 squirrels jumped around the dead plum tree but did not try to attack the feeders, although if they wanted to it'd be pretty easy for them.

both feeders employ a dome baffle to keep off the elements. large mounds of snow ave collected on both baffles. the interesting thing is while the snow on one baffle remained solid, the snow on the other baffle was slowly melting for much of the day, leaving dangling icicles. the reason is because one baffle is completely clear, while the other is a solid grey that apparently absorbs enough of the sun's heat to melt the snow.

i finally heard the weird oil furnace noise that my parents have been complaining about for several weeks now. when the furnace turns on, it will woosh off every minute or so, then suddenly turn back on again. my father thinks it's a faulty oil filter, but i looked online and oil filter doesn't seem to be a factor in this constant cycling issue. they asked me to call the heating oil company and schedule a repairman to come and take a look.

the 4pm giants-packers game was more exciting, with the two teams more evenly matched. stifling defense on both sides kept the score low initially, but the giants managed to get a field goal kick in the first quarter and second quarter to bring the score to 6-0. but with almost 2 minutes left in the first half, packers score 2 touchdowns, including an incredible hail mary as the clock ran to zero. in the second half, the giants managed to get a touchdown of their own in the middle of the 3rd quarter, bringing the score to 14-13. packers followed that with a touchdown and a field goal (24-13) to finish the quarter. beckham underperformed for a star wide receiver, making more drops than catches. two more green bay touchdowns in the 4th quarter sealed the game, but not it mattered, because the giants failed to score completely after their single 3rd quarter touchdown.

my mother wasn't in the mood for cooking so we ordered out again, getting some burger king takeout. after i finished eating my father gave me a ride back to cambridge. i would've been happy to take the bus, which would give me the chance to take some snowy night photos, but i also wanted to get home early enough to watch the golden globes.

golden globes was a little boring this year. i'm glad they got rid of the abrasive ricky gervais, but new host jimmy fallon was almost non-present, makes me wonder why they even bother having a host. a bunch of movies and shows that i haven't seen won a bunch of awards. la la land was a big winner, but i wonder if a musical can really be that good? atlanta also won a few awards, including best tv actor in a musical/comedy for donald glover and best tv musical/comedy. i've seen a few episodes of the show, i don't think it's very good, or maybe i'm just not in that demographics. the only thing that won a bunch of awards that i saw was the night manager. that was an okay series, but i saw it more as a 007 demo reel tryout for tom hiddleston.

while watching the golden globes, i started to notice that maybe i caught a cold. besides the suddenly non-stop runny nose, i also began sneezing, and an overall feeling of being run down. maybe not getting enough sleep friday night compromised by immune system. hopefully it's one of those 24-hour virus and i'll get through it after a good night of sleep.