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with the weather rainy for a change, i made my way to cambridge this morning to meet barbara to finish the rest of the plumbing work. she installed the 18" chrome pipe for the shower head, carefully wrapping some rubber tape around the threads before she screwed everything together. the new configuration, although no longer sticking close to the wall, looks awkward. my mechanical engineering senses started to tingle, something about a cantilevered projection of that length and size worries me. but if barbara okays it, i guess it's fine. once again, just like when she installed the kitchen faucet, she kept all the used replaced parts for herself without asking me first if it was okay. it seems kind of shady, although to be honest, i really didn't have anymore need for those items. still, it would be nice to be asked.

once every month (12 times a year) the city of cambridge gets an opportunity to make some easy money off of car owning residents who park their cars on the curb. it's called street cleaning, and on my side of the street, it's the third tuesday of every month. i noticed something was amiss when i got there and saw how on one side there weren't any cars. having seen the street cleaners come yesterday to clean the other side of the street, i knew it must've been my side of the street to get cleaned. after barbara fixed the shower head, i went out and moved my car into somerville, to avoid the penalty of parking on the wrong side of the street when it's street cleaning day. there was one car from new jersey parked in front of my house, and i watched helplessly as the tow truck came and hauled it away. whoever owns that car will have to go down to the pound and pay to get the car out, and then pay a fine for parking on the wrong side of the street on street cleaning day. i'm glad i'm not that guy.

today my father and i did some sanding, then we vacuumed, followed by a thorough mop job. the faint trace of acrylic paint lingered in the guest bedroom. it might not bother some people, but i couldn't stand it and i did everything to either mask or get rid of the odor, from sticking the box fan on the window to burning scented candles. it was a little better by the end of the day, but i can still smell it. i hope claudio's guest doesn't mind, otherwise she'll have to sleep out in the living room with the rest of us boys. not that she'll get any privacy, since the guest bedroom doesn't have any curtains.

once again jeremy didn't show up to finish the rest of the lights, but later in the day he did call me to let me know that he'll definitely be there tomorrow morning to wrap up his work. i really can't wait! once he's finished, all that remains to be done in the house will be painting (which i'm taking care of) and sanding/redoing the floors. originally i figured zuka and his band of contractors would be involved to do some patch work, but all the holes have been very minor ones that my father and i have been able to plug up on our own. i'm going to have to call up zuka tomorrow to let him know and get him to return my keys.

i went with my mother to the watertown target to get some last minute house items, like a new bathroom rug. i had gotten one from bed bath & beyond, but i didn't think the egyptian gold bathroom rug looked good when i had a chance to put it down in the bathroom. this new rug is a pastel green rug with leaf patterns, which matches the shower curtains. i also picked up a new toilet seat to replaced the broken duct taped one i've been using (how the previous tenants broke the plastic toilet seat cover, i'll never know). got a torchiere as well, with a flexible head that you can point either up or down. embarassing moment of the night: i accidently took another woman's shopping cart, wheeling it around for a few aisles. i heard somebody say, "excuse me, excuse me sir, that's my cart." i turned around to look at her, then i looked at the content of the cart and realized i had inadvertedly hijacked her stuff. i apologized and went back to my own cart. you know all those carts look alike anyway!

later, my mother and i went back to the house to drop off the stuff and to show my mother the renovation progress thus far. she hadn't seen the place since the recessed lights were installed, i proudly brought the kitchen up to a staggering 710 watts of electrical brilliance. i imagine people at the other side of cambridge can see my kitchen when i crank everything up to high. it's a real contrast from the living room, where just today, with the addition of the torchiere, there's 120 watts of lighting. the kitchen is 6x brighter.

suhan, the family friend's son who's been staying over at my parents' place in belmont, has a green card, the new version with portraits of all the US presidents on a strip of holographic tape. i had a chance to see it for the very first time and it's quite impressive. each portrait is just a few millimeters in size, with the name of the president at the bottom. below the line of presidents is a row that contains all the state flags.

i think i'm coming down with a cold. i've been sneezing and blowing my nose all day, and occasionally my throat feels itchy. i think it's from a combination of the lack of sleep plus work fatigue and poor diet.