1:41pm

client N had me on an emergency project to quickly create a standalone app that would drive 6 movie files on an infinite loop. client S had me patch a bug for the latest build and invited me to drop by their office monday morning for a chat about a small one-week gig. i don't have anymore big projects but these two clients are still finding spots of work for me to do, which i don't mind, with hopefully something meaty later in the future, preferably at the end of the summer. after i was done with work i took a trip to water the garden and plant some harvested scallion stalks.

my plot was covered in mulberries (those red dots in my garden photo? mulberries). it made a real mess as i walked over them. fortunately the berries appear for a few weeks before disappearing. i reached up into the branches and pulled off a ripen mulberry. have you ever tasted mulberry before? it has a very unique flavor. i've always wondered why you don't find mulberries in your local super markets. for one thing, maybe it's sort of hard to harvest, since they fruit for a very limited period. f you get the chance however, look around the neighborhood for mulberry trees and sample some for yourself. before i watered, i did some weeding with a handheld spade, overturning the soil, uprooting the weed sprouts.

the other half of my day was trying to figure out a solution to my motorcycle parking problem. the city of cambridge wrote me back (i almost deleted it, i thought it was spam at first), said i still needed to pay them and register my motorcycle in their vehicle database, even though i can't put a resident parking sticker anywhere on my bike. and i may still be ticketed, but i just have to go online and give them my license plate number and the ticket will be cancelled. the problem for me is my motorcycle isn't registered in cambridge, and the name on the title and registration is my father's (even though we split the cost to buy the motorcycle more than half a decade ago).

so we were thinking about a title transfer (i even went back to belmont with my father to look for the title, but we couldn't find it), but then there's all sorts of problems, like insurance, new license plate, inspection, taxes, and you can be sure each step involves processing fees. it was all starting to become very technical and i wondered if it was even worth it, that maybe i'd be better off (and cheaper) to just get the occasional $30 parking ticket. but then an idea hit us: we could register the motorcycle at the cafe (in cambridge), then we wouldn't need a title transfer, and my father could apply for residential parking on the bike and the plate number would be in the system and i could park for free again. for some technical reasons however, i can't apply for residential parking until next month, so in the meantime i just have to move my motorcycle around, staying one step ahead of the traffic police.

(community garden)	(cafe parking lot)	(belmont)
(belmont)	(belmont)	(belmont)

leaving the cafe to go home, i almost got myself killed. a guy in a sports car was speeding down the street to catch the traffic light while it was still green. i was in the middle of the road when i saw him flying down the road, a collision course directly towards me. i wasn't sure what to do: pull ahead? but it looked like he was going to swerve to avoid me. move back? not enough time! (most motorcycles don't have reverse gear anyway). so i just basically froze in the middle of the street, watching this car heading my way. he suddenly punched his breaks and the car came to a loud screeching halt. i think there was even some smoke from his tires. i saw the look on his face, a mixture of horror and anger. i quickly sped any from the scene of an almost-accident before he could react any further. i think if that car did hit me, it would've severed one of my legs, crushed the motorcycle, and probably drag me a few yards, tearing the flesh off my arms and face. but thank god i have health insurance, right?

somebody needs to set up an aquarium intervention for me because i can't stop myself. tomorrow morning i'm heading out to chelsea to pick up another fish tank. this will replace the cracked-but-repaired aquarium that freaks out my father every time he sees it because he thinks that's just an accident waiting to happen, especially since i have it completely filled with 10 gallons of water up on a stand. what i really need is a good hood along with a fluorescent strip light. everything else is extra. the guy wanted $30, i asked if he could lower it to $20 (i've seen similar collections in the past for $10, and there were a lot of stuff i didn't need, like an underwater gravel filter), we came to some middle ground. once i get this tank, i'll be able to separate my guppy fries (they're not really fries now, but i don't know what else to call them). AND I SWEAR THIS IS THE LAST AQUARIUM I WILL EVER BUY! unless i come across a really cheap 20 gallon long aquarium with a stand...