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i was supposed to go running this morning.

i was supposed to go running this morning until i found out it was so cold that any exposed skin would freeze under 30 minutes. i don't want my face to turn to ice! and knowing how slow i run, it'd probably take an hour before i was done, and by that time my nose would be black from frostbite. so i didn't bother getting up this morning, i just ran out the clock until my usual wake up time. however, during the day, i did see a few brave (or is it foolhardy?) souls running on the coldest day of this winter season. they either ran with the hood of their sweatshirt pulled tightly around their heads, or ran with mittens covering their faces (as if they'd been scalded by hot oil).

i let my sister come over late afternoon so she could used the internet, the dsl back in belmont down for almost a week (again). by evening we went back to belmont, where we had dinner with my mother, before embarking on a trip to natick, to visit the jordan's furnitures. i knew it was a bigger store, but i had no idea how big it actually was until i saw it. built on top of a hill overlooking the vast sprawl of shopping malls all around, the telltale blue and magenta lights of the store could be seen from a mile away, almost like a beacon drawing people near and far to visit this furniture megastore. each jordan's furniture is different: the one in waltham (which i've visited twice) is the smallest but its claim to fame is that its the original store; the one natick has a mardi gras theme, which has to be seened to be believed, kind of like being at disneyworld or las vegas. the place was huge, bigger than the elizabeth ikea, which up to tonight was the biggest furniture store i'd ever seen. the natick store even boasts an in-store imax theatre, and when you get hungry, there's a kelly's roast beef adjacent to the showrooms. you could literally make a day of it, watch an imax movie, get some roast beef sandwiches, and then wander around the store shopping for furniture.

anyway, the whole reason why i was there tonight was to find the leggy red couch i'd seen on their website but didn't see it at the waltham store, despite the fact that the salesman there told me "what you see is what we got." this is so obviously not the case, because the natick store is a million times bigger than the waltham store, filled with furnitures of all shapes and sizes. anyway, with printouts in hand, i located this red couch. i love the look, but the fabric feels like a bathroom towel to me. also, upon closer inspection, the cushions inside the seats are made from foam, which my sister told me is an inferior stuffing which will eventually sag. i also revisited this purple couch that i saw at the waltham store, beautiful couch, i measured it, it might fit through the door, but it's still way too long. so after some time browsing this amazing furniture store, i arrived at no definite decision about my couch-to-be. i think i'm getting to that point where my mother and sister (who've driven me to most of these couch hunting expeditions) are just about to say, "just pick one already!" so the next step is to go back to the bernie & phyl in saugus, check out that one couch that i almost bought a few weeks ago, compare it to the red one i saw at jordan's, and then maybe just flip a coin. at this point it's not really the particular couch that's the problem, it's more like, can i even fit it through the door?

and it's weird, people who've bought sofas and other furnitures are so loyal to their furniture stores. bernie & phyl buyers are adamant that i also buy from bernie & phyl. likewise, jordan's buyers are equally vociferous when it comes to letting me know that the store they went to has the best sofas. i'm afraid when i do decide, i'll be permanently labelled a bernie & phyl guy or a jordan's guy. one group will have a party and i won't be invited because i bought from a different furniture place, that's what i'm afraid will probably happen. curse these furniture cliques!

it's currently 7°F (-14°C) here in cambridge, not factoring in the wind chill. i'm not complaining though. i'm going to save up memories of tonight and use them as ammunition 6 months from now, when we're having our heat wave.