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here's my latest dream, fresh from last night's sleep:

i was back at my old office - squid country safari - but the space was my parents' cafe. a large couch by the window was where we all hung out, very friends like. my favorite time of day was when the mail man arrived, delivering gifts, and today i got a big package. turns out it was some kind of promotional thing from a photo printing company, and while i was reading the letter, a cat jumped out of the box. it wasn't any ordinary cat, but a special promotional cat, genetically modified with a pixel pattern coat and colored green. normally i'm very hands-off with cats, but this one was different, he was very friendly, and would come when called, using my knee as a brace to stand up on his hind legs, perhaps looking for a treat.

in the back of the office was a combination of my grandmother's front and back balcony from her old house in taiwan. my taiwanese cousin eric was there, and throughout the day we'd run out into the back to take photos of weird cloud patterns with our digital cameras (squiggly cumulus clouds). he kept on asking me for advice, but i was too focused doing my own thing, analyzing the light conditions, and adjusting the camera settings accordingly to get the correct exposure.

during the day i got a call from my mortgage company. i went to the back of the office to get some privacy. the agent seemed very happy and excited to be talking to me, something about some sort of accounting error in my favor. unfortunately the reception was bad and i could only hear part of the conversation, until finally i lost the call. i waited for the agent to call back but she never did. outside the office, city workers were repaving the sidewalks with bricks. walking up and down the street was an exercise in construction material avoidance.

it was lunchtime and people were disappearing to go get food. i felt sort of guilty because i pretty much spent the entire day not working. i did talk to adam (our desks were next to each other) about dot notation and he was rocking in his swivel chair, arms behind his head, thinking about a career change. preparing to go home, i thought about how i was going to bring back the present cat. i didn't have a cat carrier, but i thought maybe i could put the cat in a duffle bag and have him stick his head out so he can breathe. i asked one of my cat-owning coworkers (somebody i didn't recognize, a dream extra) and she said it was okay to do that.

i knew it was raining last night because i could hear it. figuring the rain would melt some of that snow, i was surprised to find a substantial accumulate of fresh snow this morning. i got dressed and went out to shovel the sidewalk before walking to the supermarket to get some food. it was still raining the whole time as i cleared away the heavy wet snow. the supermarket parking lot was virtually empty for some reason, probably most people were still digging out their cars. back at home, i heated up some chinese steamed carrot cake for lunch an settled in to watch the patriots-jets game.

with so much hype going in this sunday's game, maybe it was impossible to live up to the expectations. i personally envisioned a blowout, but it was a boring low-scoring game at best. although the patriots were denied any points on their opening drive, the defense quickly sacked the jets' quarterback for an interception and a quick touchdown at the patriots' red zone. the jets' quarterback came up injured and had to leave the game, which brought in the replacement QB who used to be the starting QB. i was afraid the jets would retaliate and somehow try some cheap shot at patriots QB tom brady, but that required the jets defense to actually get close enough to brady to tackle him, which almost seemed impossible, as brady had all sorts of time in the pocket to find open receivers. however, with the steady freezing rain, the throwing game was pretty much grounded and the pats resorted to their running game, which is their weakness. the jets' response to the quick touchdown was breaking a tackle and making a long run. however that didn't produce any points as the pats defense shut then down. on the pats next possession, they seemed to have the ball for an eternity, but settled only for a field goal.

i pretty much zoned out after that. it was a close-scoring game, but the jets never made enough noise to be threatening, and it just seemed inevitable that the patriots would win, whether it was by 1 point or 100 points. in the final 2 minutes of the first half, the patriots managed to get another touchdown to bring it to 17-7. so much for the running up the score!

the wet weather was a major spoiler, putting a damper on the patriots' explosive throwing offense. if anything, it shows that the patriots can't just turn on the scoring whenever they want to, contrary to popular urban legend. the game was temporarily suspended at one point because fans were throwing snowballs onto the field. once play resumed, the brief stoppage seemed to put a kink in new england's offensive momentum, and instead of getting another touchdown, brady got sacked (6th of the season) and the pats settled for a field goal to bring the game to 20-10 (which turned out to be the final score). at one point things got a bit exciting when it looked like the jets got a touchdown. coach belichick challenged and the ruling was overturned - although the catch looked good enough to me. it was just one of those days for the jets, nothing going their way. when the game finally ended, belichick came out to shake mangini's hand, downplaying any animosity between the two coaches.

dinner with my family was postponed due to the bad weather. i saw my upstairs neighbors digging out their cars for the second time. i didn't bother helping them this time around, figuring that's the price they pay for owning 3 cars in cambridge (with the scarcity of parking spaces as it is already). for dinner i had some salmon, testing a new vinaigrette composed of sichuan seasoning, salt, olive oil, and crushed black pepper.

manny sent me a christmas present all the way fro pennsylvania. i found it on my doorstep this morning, apparently it was delivered to the wrong address. i didn't open up the package until tonight, because i wasn't planning on sending him a present, and didn't want to know what he gave me so i could delay my own response present. however, curiosity got the better of me and i opened up the box. at first i was excited, because it was a timex alarm clock box (i just so happened to need an alarm clock), but turns out it was just a container. inside was a plastic dumpling maker, a piece of magic soap, and a bag of plastic army men supposedly from indonesia (although naturally made in china, lead paint and all). i did notice the miniature AK-47, a firearm i'd dare say i'm sort of personally familiar with.