zhu lei didn't go to work like he told me he would. instead he was at home the whole day. but who am i to lecture anyone about not being a slacker? i wrote the book on avoiding work. he stayed in his bedroom, never once occupying the living room like he normally would. maybe he finally figured out that it's a lot warmer in the confines of a small bedroom versus being out in the open living room. or maybe he was letting me have it for the day, even though i kept to my own bedroom, watching some sunday afternoon football while eating more thanksgiving leftovers for lunch in front of my computer. by the time i realized today was actually a relatively warm day, it was too late to go out. maybe later this week i'll find some time for adventuring, i have a hankering for some end of season naturing.

i left the house in the evening to go over to my parents for dinner. it was 42 degrees, which maybe a few months i would've thought too cold to ride, but after what transpired this past weekend, 42 degrees is actually quite warm in comparison. we had some rice noodle soup and discussed potential candidates for their next car. the patriots-eagles game was on television: it started simply enough with the patriots defense snatching an interception and running it out for a touchdown at the start of the game, 7-0. eagles came right back though, tied it 7-7. anytime a team can tie the patriots, it's impressive. the patriots went up 14-7 at the end of the first quarter. the second quarter was a different story. despite missing regular quarterback donovan mcnabb, the eagles showed poise and a fearlessness, and scored two touchdowns. new england had to settle for a single touchdown and a field goal, and finished the half up only by 24-21.

i left belmont during the halftime break and returned to cambridge to continue watching the game. the patriots were pretty futile in the 3rd, defensively unable to stop the eagles offense, and offensively unable to score with too many dropped balls. by the end of the 3rd quarter, the eagles had the lead with the score at 28-24. it just seemed like after studying so many new england games, the eagles had the patriots all figured out. the patriots were not their usual dominating self and seemed on the verge of losing for the first time this season. in the 4th quarter the pats scored another touchdown to regain the lead at 31-28, and then pretty much played keep-away for the final few minutes. the eagles - who were playing so well in the last 3 quarters - seemed to be suffering a complete role reversal. while they still had the lead, they didn't take advantage of the clock and try to eat up as much as possible, and when new england regained the lead, they used up all their timeouts which were costly in the final minutes. the eagles had a chance to make make a field goal for a tie to go into overtime, but quickly fell apart, leaving the patriots with a close victory, and still the only undefeated team in the NFL.