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this morning was the inaugural day of what will be a two week programming project. i woke up at 10am and got started, a 4 hour block of coding, with a slight break to make something to eat (scrambled eggs, toast, smoothie, it took me an hour to actual start eating it, by then my food was cold). bob my mortgage broker called me, said he locked me down for a 5.875% refinance last friday, after he told me on thursday that i was looking to get a 6% at best. at this point i kind of have a low opinion of mortgage brokers, so i don't take anything he says at face value. still, it was better than what i'd get if i bit on thursday. after riding to the cafe to pick up a fax explaining my closing cost, i called bob back and told him to close the deal. this is 5.875% with closing fees, which is going to run me a grand and a half plus the double monthly mortgage payments i have to pay, one for the old mortgage, one for the new mortgage. refinancing is expensive! it's kind of hard to see how this will save me money when my bank account will be stripped of funds once everything goes through. my future looks to be interesting, that's for sure. now i wait for the mortgage lawyer to contact me and schedule a time to close.

it was a humid 84 degrees outside and i went out running. i was already sweating before i even left the house. i caught a glimpse of maura just as soon as i started to run, couldn't stop to chat, the gears were already in motion. she was coming by the house to pick up something in the backyard. it was hot, felt like 100 degrees, sweat was dripping everywhere, my skin was red from the heat. the long stretch of path along storrow drive has no shade, like running in the desert. i drenched myself when i got to the fountain, then sprinted the rest of the way back, my loud exhaustive panting making babies cry in mother-propelled strollers and scattering various wildlife when i ran by them. i didn't care, once i got to my finish line, i was consumed with relief, the world was new again.

i finally got e-mail from the client, although only to let me know that they've received my previous e-mails 3 hours ago. with my questions unanswered, i couldn't do anything but wait. i finally got a call around 4pm, there was some glitch with their e-mail server. i got the information i needed, and told them not to worry, that i'd have the portion they asked done by tomorrow morning, which in hindsight wasn't such a great idea, but that means i'm going to have to work until 4-5am tonight to finish it. i am, without a doubt, the worst freelance programmer out there. i'm super generous with the client, promise them too much for too little and end up having to sacrifice all my free time in order to satisfy their needs. hopefully i can learn something from this and schedule my time better. clients have to know that just because i work from home and can theoretically work any time, i still like to work during the normal hours of business operation (9-5). i absolutely hate it when clients call or instant message me in the middle of the night with non-emergency work questions. i like clear lines between work and personal time. it's kind of hard to do it when you're working from home, but it's something i strive to achieve.

yesterday the caterpillar didn't do very much at all. it started the day eating itself into a corner, which prompted me to get a new leaf, but later it managed to crawl to the center of the foliage and just sit there motionless, obviously going through a molt (a molt, not a mope). once again, i missed another molt, i hear that the caterpillar eats its own shell afterwards. this morning, things were back to normal, as the caterpillar, now a size bigger than yesterday, continued to work on the leaf. the caterpillar is actually eating its home; once the leaf is gone, it will drown in the pool of water at the bottom of the jar (the water is there to prevent the leaf from wilting), unless i quickly switch in a new leaf. also in the water: caterpillar poop! lots and lots of it! little green pellets, looks like granulated fertilizer. if you don't know which end is the head, it's the side that has the longer antennae that dance around when the caterpillar is feeding, which i like to think means its happy, like a dog wagging its tail. i love the color bands on the caterpillar, yellow, black and white. i can imagine some pretty cool socks with that pattern, i will totally ask out the next girl who i see wearing socks like that.


caterpillar, yesterday, molting


caterpillar, today, feeding

my mother and sister came over for dinner, bringing with them lamb chops. afterwards, they help me replace the no-slip padding underneath my living room rug and made some slight modifications to how i've been decorating (or lack of decorating) the living room, replacing the small media table with a log and putting the floor light behind the tv. they left, leaving me to watch the red sox lose against the athletics followed by 4-5 wee hours of director work. every hour i work means more money for my mortgage!

i hate friendster so much! it's such a time suck! arrggh! i feel dirty, more so than usual.