i was suspicious. "sure, what is it?" i replied with some hesitation. "this is going to sound really weird..." renata said, then began to explain how her friend sunny (whom i've never met before) is an avid reader of the weblog (some comments, s'il vous plaît) and would really like a photo of his soup to appear on the website.
now normally i don't do requests (this isn't a radio station), but since renata asked so nicely, there was no use in refusing, as i brought the tupperware container into the kitchen where there was better lighting. "i added corn and beans," renata told me, "and bokchoi." 
later we adjourned to the living room, where she showed me the photos she took from her 3 weeks trip to alaska. photos of blue glaciers, of little specks in the water that are supposed to be whales, of various fish they had to kill in the name of science (and take their earbones, and bag their guts for diet analysis). glacier water is cold but if you're thinking about drinking it, better think twice, small worms actually live in the ice. renata showed me her nasty kayaking bruise. 
we ate some guava. then we went out for a walk, destination cvs, where renata had to buy a watch battery for her travel alarm clock so she can wake up tomorrow morning for work even though the whole evening she was moaning and groaning about how she didn't want to go back. we stopped off at the bubble ice tea cafe to get some drinks, renata went with the green tea slushie, treating me to some thai ice tea with tapioca balls. 
once again, my beverage left something to be desired, even though i said everything was fine when the girl behind the counter asked us how we liked our drinks. renata waited for me while i cashed a work check. finally we made it to cvs, where we tried to match the battery, but eventually had to ask one of the employees for help. renata opened the package before she paid for it, to test if it'd work in her clock (it did). we paid and left, renata complaining more about having to go work, me trying to assuage her that everything will be all right. i escorted her to her car, then came back to the house.
later in the evening rob came home after wandering boston via bicycle all day. we stayed up late enough to watch the red sox beat the athletics in the first game of that series. the play of the game was manny ramirez' miracle catch out in left field, which the replay revealed that the ball actually bounced on the grass first before landing in the glove, but the umpire made the wrong call, and the red sox ended up winning this asterisked game. as much as i want to sympathize with the athletics for the botched call, they have to realize the red sox are on a holy mission to defeat the yankees, and that takes priority over everything else.
earlier today i didn't do very much. had some cake for lunch, watched a bit of the three's company mini-marathon on tv land. i spent time filling in some missing weblog entries (i'm still behind however). then at 4pm i went out for a run (can't remember the last time i ran). the weather was very nice and there were a few people out on the bank of the charles river painting landscapes. for dinner i heated up the leftover thai food from saturday night. it was surprisingly tasty despite thai's notoriety for not keeping well.