t
o
n
y
a
n
g
'
s
 
w
e
b
l
o
g


i had so many things to do today that i had to make a list, on a friday where my next new roommate annie would be arriving later in the evening. my day began at 8am, woke up to take the motorcycle to greater boston motorsports in arlington to get the front tire replaced. the appointment was for 9am, right when they opened. i was happy to get it done so early, leaving me the rest of the day to run other errands, but i didn't like the fact that i was riding down mass ave during rush hour. fortunately it wasn't too bad, more traffic going into the city than leaving it.

GBM was already open when i arrived 10 minutes early. i remember the inspection guy told me last time that a tire change would take just 30 minutes, but the guy behind the desk asked me to come back in an hour. i left my helmet at the store (they have a handy helmet shelf just for that purpose) and walked uphill to the dunkin' donuts. it was a lot farther than i realized, and i was beginning to think maybe it closed, but just when i thought about abandoning the search, i saw it.

dunkin' donuts was surprisingly busy. a group of old men congregated by a window table, seems like this was their daily morning routine. the thing to get would be coffee but coffee makes me go to the bathroom. fortunately DD has a very extensive drink selection, too much if you ask me. because it was a hot day, i wanted something cold, and asked for the ice tea along with a bacon egg croissant sandwich (around $5 total). i saw at a counter seat looking outside. i never had ice tea like this before - no sugar, just plain tea - it's actually pretty refreshing, makes me want to make some at home this summer. after finishing my sandwich, i grabbed my unfinished drink and left by 9:20am.

* stopping by china fair to look for large porcelain bowls. woman who worked there had a suspicious scowl, and kept an eye on me from behind her desk as i looked through the store.

* vacuuming the house

* fixing cargo bike. front derailleur will only shift between 2 gears, rear derailleur does want to engage the largest and small cogs. despite all that, it rides fine, as long as i shift minimally, basically use it as a fixie.

* went to market basket to deposit all my drink cans and get some groceries. forgot to bring a lock.

* rode down to haymarket to get some produce. forgot to bring my lock, used my helmet as a decoy.

* came home, rode the motorcycle to the galleria mall to look for some hand soaps on sale at bath & body works. the 6 for $18 deal in saw online just finished yesterday, now it's 5 for $23. but the woman i spoke to told me that their semi-annual sale was on june 10th, and during that time hand soaps will be $3 per bottle.

* rode by the edge of harvard square to the cafe to drop off some haymarket produce i had stuffed inside the saddlebags. i also dropped off some used containers.

* discovered that the image stabilizing (IS) function on my 18-200mm EF-S lens might be broken. it'd cost $128 to get it fixed at canon factory service with a repair time of approximately 5 business days. i might sent it in after the pride parade.

* while making some hot dogs for dinner, i layered new sheets of aluminum foil over the stove.

i finished the last item on my list by 8:30pm, packing up all my winter clothes in exchange for my summer garments, cutting it close as annie was due to arrive at 9pm. i hardly had a moment to relax all day, been running errands non-stop since 8am this morning. i waited for annie to show up, but finally sent her a text at 10:20pm, asking if she was still planning on moving tonight, or whether she changed her schedule. she said she was on her way, but didn't show up until 10:40pm. she texted me that she was here, i went outside and saw a large SUV with blindingly bright LED headlights. it parked in the hydrant spot 2 houses down. annie came out of the car, i told her to park in a spot that was closer, just turn on the hazard lights.

i'd seen some wechat photos of annie, for some reason i thought she'd be taller, but she was actually shorter than me. she seemed friendly and out-going, not your typical nerd. a guy friend drove the SUV and was helping her move, the back of the car loaded with boxes. annie had been living in cambridge for a year now, so it was perfectly normal that she'd have more than just her suitcases. actually, based on the amount of time she's been here, she actually doesn't have too much stuff. one of the boxes was full of textbooks, naturally.

after her friend finished moving in all her stuff, he left. i gave her a quick tour of the house, not much to see at night. she was impressed with my remotely controlled lights and my smart plug that turns on one of the lights at sunset. i was trying to gather as much info about her as possible. her university is in shanghai, but she's originally from beijing city. she was the one who asked what time do i usually wake up in the mornings. i told her i was a night owl, sleeping around 2am, waking up at 9am. she said she usually goes to be around midnight, waking up at 6-7am to study her GRE vocabulary, then go to the CFA office around 8am. at the very least she's earnest, you don't get into MIT for being lazy.

another thing she asked me was the wifi password. i always forget to tell people, even though it's one of the most important things. she said she'd call her parents, let them know she was okay. minutes later she received a text from a friend and went outside. i thought it was only for a moment, but she didn't come back until midnight, leaving the door unlocked and her bedroom light on (which i turned off the second after she left). she went to bed immediately afterwards, i didn't even hear her using the bathroom.