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i finally got my macbook pro back today. the screen looks brand new, no mysterious white dot, no behind-the-panel dust. there were however a few very minor nicks on the inner bevel of the screen, probably the result of having the old LCD screen removed and replaced. nevertheless, i think that's just a small price to pay for having a fixed computer. i was also happy they didn't erase the hard drive and i managed to boot up with my old user settings as if nothing ever happened. i was a little bit disappointed that a complimentary copy of leopard wasn't included in the return shipment though. where's the love, apple?

earlier this morning i paid a quick visit to city paints to buy a can of white semi-flat spray paint so my father came finish the last radiator grill. later in the early afternoon i hitched a ride with him to the super market to pick up some groceries. i noticed something interesting: while most retail places are already gearing up for christmas which is still 2 months away, at the super market it's all about thanksgiving. i think for a food retailer, thanksgiving is like their christmas, and they probably do their best business in november. anyway, i came back home and made a prosciutto and egg onion bagel sandwich with fresh ground pepper, washed down a smoothie. i spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the house, some general vacuuming and bathroom scrubbing. there was a horrible stink in the kitchen courtesy of zhu lei who left the rice cooker on with nothing inside. it smelled like rotten milk and i tried different ways to get rid of, even thought about baking a cake to mask the odor.

when evening rolled around (now an hour earlier, thanks to standard time), i started making a lasagna. i had all the ingredients except the noodles so i had to make a quick trip across the street to star market to buy some. instead of beef i accidently picked up a package of pork, which made the lasagna taste like sausages. i was hoping zhu lei would come home so i could teach him how to make it but he didn't get back until much later, and by then i'd already ate 2 squares. he had an amazon.com order waiting for him when he got back; one of the books he got was tolkien's lord of the rings. he saw my MBP and said most of the people working in his lab use macs as well. i showed him the chocolate syrup i got him because i noticed he enjoyed drinking chocolate milk and was buying the more expensive ready-made variety. later he asked if he could use the bicycle tomorrow (he needed to run some errands in harvard square) and i showed where it was.

writers' strike! no more new late night television talk shows! the only good that can come of this is with nothing to watch, it'll give me plenty of chances to go to bed earlier.