woke up at about 9:00 with the idea of going out for a run; didn't actually leave until 11:30. i pushed myself to go non-stop, but slowed to a walk twice (once running to the river, once over the eliot bridge). temperature was in the 50's but wasn't particularly warm because the sun was hiding behind some clouds. coming back home, i ran into my old neighbor jeff walking his dog. he'd since moved a block away and i was asking him about the condition of the real estate market. bruce came out to mail a letter and later showed me the canned sausages he bought in germany. back inside, i noticed the power button my on sansa express mp3 player had jammed inside the casing. i had to use a screwdriver to turn it off. later i was able to fix it by following some disassembling instructions i found online.

without bothering to take a shower, i slipped on a pair of jeans over my running shorts and went to market basket to get some groceries. i bought a few things for the cafe and went there afterwards to deliver them. this was my first time riding the motorcycle with the new rear brake pedal. position-wise it was perfect, but i had to press down a long way to get the rear brake to engage. my father helped me to adjust the rear brake screw to decrease the pull distance and make it more responsive; now the bike rides perfectly, no more awkwardly positioned pedal. at the cafe i bumped into priscilla, a regular customer. she was here to deliver a wool beret she knitted for my mother.

leaving the cafe, i couldn't start the motorcycle. the reason was because i left the key in with the lights on, draining the battery. my father showed me a trick where he put the motorcycle in 2nd gear, had me push for him, and when he got some speed he released the clutch, bringing the bike to live. not sure if you can do this with cars (manual shift at least), but it's a nice trick to know. the first few minutes of riding there wasn't even enough juice in the battery to power my blinkers, but after a while everything was back to normal again.

for dinner i made a thai chicken coconut soup. first i quickly boiled some chicken breasts, shredding the meat with a pair of forks. i brought 2 cans of coconut milk + 1 can of chicken stock to a boil on medium heat, before adding in some chopped lemon grass, crushed peppercorns, and some ginger slices (recipe called or galangal, which i didn't have, i'll buy some next time and put it in the freezer). i left everything to simmer on low heat for 10 minutes, before draining the soup, throwing away the solids. into the pot goes the shredded chicken, mushrooms, and some baby corn. let everything simmer again for another 10 minutes or so, serve with a dash of fish sauce, thai hot chili pepper, scallions, and cilantro.

i watched the premiere of cupid tonight on ABC (10:00). i'd been a fan of the original back in the 90's, with jeremy piven and paula marshall, although bobby cannavale (the new cupid) is much better looking and more charming than piven. tonight's storyline was very contrived and anyone could've guessed the final matchup, but any fan of the romantic comedy genre (of which i'm one myself i'm embarrassed to say) will love the show nonetheless. let's see if this version does better than the original. it's up against NBC's SVU in the lineup, with its perennial favorite of sex crimes.