t
o
n
y
a
n
g
'
s
 
w
e
b
l
o
g


everybody loves the ups/fedex vans. they're like modern day santas, coming around the neighborhood, delivering presents to people. even when i'm not expecting anything, just the sight and sound of a delivery van driving down my street will get my heart racing. so of course i nearly exploded when my doorbell rang around noon with a package from the fedex guy. i scribbled my name on the electronic touchpad and brought in the box. inside, wrapped in 5" thick layer of brown paper and bubble wrap, was my newly fixed telephoto lens. not only was it fixed, but they also cleaned it, and tossed in a lens cap as well (when i originally sent out the lens, it just had a broken UV filter). the barrel of the zoom feels a little tight, but i think i just might be imagining it - better tight than loose. it's good to be reunited with the telephoto; although it's not a lens i use most often, i love using it when i do get the chance and it always takes good pictures because i can be farther away from the subjects. the telephoto when used in relatively close proximity also allows me to be more detail oriented, since i can zoom in on things one would normally miss with a regular lens. let's just hope i take better care of it this time around.

in the afternoon my mother came by to drop off some homemade chinese meatballs ("lion heads"). while i was burning a dvd for her of some movies, we went to the nearby dollar store. i stocked up on disposable paper supplies: toilet paper, kleenex, kitchen napkins.

a bit after 11pm i headed down to harvard square to check out the harry potter festivities. the police had already barricaded the whole area for foot traffic only, and the place was already mobbed with people, some dressed up in various degrees of potter mania. it was 4 years ago that bruce and i came down here to watch another harry potter midnight book sale; alex was waiting in line to get his copy of book 5 (when he departed for japan, he left the book at my place, i still have it). originally bruce was supposed to come with me again but bailed at the last minute; not even a live phone call from harvard square could coax him out. this time around (this being the final book of the series), there was probably 7x more people. i dare say there were more people there than the crowd that gathered when the red sox beat the yankees to go to the world series back in 2004. two bookstores were holding midnight sales (there might've been more, i don't know): curious george and barnes & noble/coop. mostly kids with parents were waiting at curious george, while B&N catered to a more mature crowd. the line to B&N was definitely longer, snaking around two whole blocks to almost doubling back on itself. i wonder if it's because harvard students can apply for their student discount?

at midnight there was a collective scream as the doors to the bookstores were opened for business. here and there news crew picked people out of the crowd for post-purchase interview. i walked around a little bit more then decided to head home.