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on the train from porter square to central square was an empty styrofoam dunkin donuts coffee cup standing on the floor, its lid stained from a red lipstick. i was intrigued by what i saw. what kind of woman was this who would just leave an empty coffee cup on the train like that? what kind of job did she have where she'd have to wear lipstick? and if she finished a whole cup that early in the day, imagine what kind of shape she'd be at the end of it?

i was on my way to microcenter, to return the linksys router i bought a few days ago, now that my old router is seemingly working for the very first time. i also wanted to buy a replacement mouse for the crappy mouse i got with my pc. today was cold, in the 20's, but a nice kind of cold, clear blue skies and a warm afternoon sun. in central i looked down the street to see the cambridgeport savings bank building, where every month i send them a mortgage payment.

midway down magazine street i got a call from my sister who told me she was also going to microcenter and could give me a ride back home. i got a chance to admire the shell gas station sign. it seems so kitschy, harkens back to the days of gas station owned road sign attractions. inside the store, the returns line at microcenter was 7 people deep as i waited patiently for my turn. i noticed somebody else returning a linksys router, i wonder if they were having the same problems i was having. i ended up buying a microsoft optical wheel mouse for $20, although i debated getting the orbit trackball for $15. my sister was shopping for a scanner, but none of the models there seemed to fit her criteria.

driving me back home in my parents' new camry, my sister (her own car was in the shop) gave me a monchhichi [sic] doll she had bought for me. when i got back, i immediately replaced the old pc mouse with the new optical mouse. what a difference! single clicks are single clicks now! while opening the box though, i gave myself a papercut without realizing it, and spent the rest of the day with a bandaid on my finger. my middle finger no less, my most used digit.

while browsing the craig's list (something i do everyday, it's my homepage actually), i found somebody selling a blue ikea rug for $20. i contacted this guy, jake, who immediately responded back with an appointment for pickup. i told him i didn't have a car, and he volunteered to bring it over to my house later in the evening. the rug would be perfect for my bedroom, where i have my pc set up, keep that place a little warmer.

about 5pm my sister came to pick me up, where i was going home to belmont to get a free haircut from my mother. i wish i was back home during the daytime, so i can watch the birds coming to the feeder. at nights, there's nothing to see. while i was getting my new hairdo, my sister was off on the side yelling, "why are you cutting your hair?" after a quick shower, i came out to some home cooked meal action, wonton soup. the best meal i've had within the past few days!

my sister showed me an old photo scrapbook she bought from a flea market. it belonged to a german man from the 1940's, his vacation snapshots of his trip to italy it seemed. what was really interesting was the few photos that showed the nazi swastika and men (i'm assuming they're soldiers) saluting.

i stayed to watch a repeat of the gilmore girls (rory freaks out about harvard, what else is new?) and a new episode of 24 (holy crap, we probably can't carry credit cards onboard planes now), before my parents and sister gave me a ride back to cambridge, on their way to a midnight showing of LOTR2 in woburn. this is one of those once in a lifetime occasions where everyone in my family beats me to a movie premiere, including my parents. i contacted jake, and 30 minutes later he was over at my place with the rug. we talked for a little bit before i wished him good luck on his move to NYC and he left. i put down the rug in the master bedroom, the room feeling cozier with the new addition.

this marks my 4th craig's list purchase. my very first buy was the $40 full length ikea mirror (brookline), followed by my $220 800mhz AMD PC (dorchester), with the $40 17" monitor (brighton) bought soon afterwards, and now this $20 rug (kenmore square). i've been pretty lucky with my purchases, never had anything i wanted that was bought by somebody else, or i end up not needing it. the one bad shake was that red sofa i tried to go see in arlington, but the woman selling it gave me the wrong address, and her phone was disconnected so i couldn't call her. i guess it wasn't meant to be. i'm still searching for a sofa though. the ikea klippan might be just good enough for me.