deck maintenance continued this morning. received a note from my upstairs neighbor: apparently after some time to reflect, he turned out not to be a bad guy after all. he only moved a few small items though: the barbecue grill, the chair, and the large potted evergreen were all still there. at least he tried to help. after sweeping the top deck of any debris, i went downstairs and mixed up a gallon of new cleaning solution. i then covered up my own deck directly below with a large plastic tarp, since i knew there'd be some dripping. i put on my rubber gloves and started scrubbing away, first with some lower areas that i missed before moving on up. i also had the hose, misting over the areas i cleaned to keep the solution from drying up. the cabot wood cleaner i used is some serious stuff: it contains hypochlorous acid, which actually left a slight burn mark on one of my knees and some parts of my fingers (the acid apparently dripped inside the rubber gloves without me realizing it). after i waited 15-20 minutes for the chemical to cleaning the wood, i went back and scrubbed everything down again (including the lower decks) with the water hose set to spray and a scrubbing brush. 2 hours later i was done, right around noontime.

after a shower i made another omelette for lunch. i replaced the brita water filter last night (after the water started to taste funny). it's probably been more than 6 months since i last replaced it. i cut open the old filter to see what was inside, which was essentially black and white grains of sand. it uses the same technology as my aquarium filters: the black is actually activated carbon, which removes impurities and odor from the water, while the white is zeolite which gets rid of ammonia. the newly filtered water is now completely tasteless, which is a good thing when it comes to H2O.

jesse came over in the afternoon, her last day in boston before she moves to san francisco. she'd been running errands the past few weeks, liquidating most of her local possessions (including furniture and a car) before she left. she came over with a delivery of her houseplants. i'd told her that my place gets some sun, which is actually a bit of a white lie: during the summer, when the leaves are out in the backyard, my place is pretty shady, but during the winter, it gets a sunnier. but if they lived at my place, they'd be the most photographed plants ever and would appear periodically on the blog.

anyway, i ended up inheriting most of her plants, including several aloe vera, christmas cactus, an umbrella plant, a pair of african violets, a hanging philodendron, and what looks to be a barrel cactus. i didn't realize she was leaving tomorrow, i thought it was the end of the month. we chatted briefly as she took a short break over a glass of brita water. she told me how she lucked out on craig's list, how a los angeles-transplanted couple just ended up buying all her stuff, and the only person who responded to her car-for-sale ad ended up buying it as well. so just like that she was gone, another casualty of the west coast draw. but at least i know if i ever visit san francisco (i hope so soon, when all my projects are done), i'll have a place to stay!

rest of the day i worked, taking a nap break sometime in the late afternoon (that sort of thing is a occupational hazzard when working from the couch). i had the weirdest dream involving jerica. in my dream, i attend one of her parties and she's angry at me because i haven't kept in touch for a while. then in the dream i wake up, and i see jerica again, except this time her friend is giving me the third degree because i'm been so absent. leaving their apartment i come out to this beautiful giant foyer, white marble and golden trims. i'm taking a photo when i wake up for real this time. when i got up i felt like i'd been sleeping in the jungle surrounded by all the houseplants.

earlier my father had delivered some meat buns, which i ate for dinner while watching burn notice. i left the house just once in the afternoon to buy some potato chips.