with the dearth of code work these days, i find myself waking up later and later. not in any sort of depressed way though, just the culmination of several factors. first, since i know i'm not working, i don't have to wake up as early. second, it's so cold in my house in the mornings, it's not very difficult to stay under the covers for another hour or two. third, i go to bed late, like 3:30am late (i blame adult swim & endless episodes of futurama and the family guy). the only bad thing about waking up late is i just get a few hours of daylight before it goes dark again, especially as we get closer to winter.

i had myself a whole wheat bagel with some salmon cream cheese. reluctant to go back out into the cold, i figured i could do my water expriments at home, in the safety and warmth of my own bathroom sink. still unfamiliar with all the functionalities of my external flash, i didn't know how to turn on the strobe flash feature in order to capture water droplets suspended in midair. i think the cream cheese was bad because later i had to take an extended bathroom break. in the late afternoon i went with my father to costco to pick up some supplies.

waiting for me when i got home was another package, this time an assortment of NiMH batteries and a new charger. the charger was the T60008 ($20) from tenergy, featuring 4 independent charge banks and a LCD screen showing the charge status. it's a cool charger, but not as cool as the la crosse technology BC-900 charger which also features an LCD status screen plus it shows the voltage reading for each battery. the T60008 also came with cables for USB and carplug charging. with all my new batteries (i bought 32 AA's and 12 AAA's, i'm pretty much set for the next few years) i went online and got some plastic cases for them, thus fulfilling my daily cyberjesus-tribute purchase (although i didn't buy anything yesterday).

i cooked up half a cup of white rice to go along with some leftovers my father left for me earlier. in the evening my sister stopped by so i could add some dvd-transferred movies to her borrowed iphone. later still, i had a conversation with zhu lei. he asked if i'd be renting out my place to anyone else after he left, because he has a friend looking for a place to stay in january (for half a year). i could use the money, but i was looking forward to living alone again that the thought of having yet another roommate didn't even enter my mind. zhu lei gave me next month's rent and i told him he could have the yellow bicycle when he moves away in 2 weeks, because he's going to need it since there are no nearby supermarkets or laundromats where he'll be staying. although i wouldn't consider us friends, that yellow bicycle is a spare bike anyway, and i was just being generous for a change. of course he didn't bother saying "thank you" when i told him about the bike.