marco went to work late this morning after first going out for a run. i was packing up frances' latest shipment when i read her e-mail about one more item yet to arrive and asked to wait. i went to the post office anyway, to buy some international postcard stamps (98¢, same cost to mail a letter overseas) and to pick up a few custom forms so i can fill them out at home.

i was waiting for julie to get in touch with me in the early afternoon so we could have lunch at a turkish restaurant in teele square but she called to cancel. so i made a simple ham-mustard sandwich for lunch then went to market basket to pick up a few things (onion buns for the tub of leftover pulled pork in my fridge).

i signed up for a free 30-day membership of amazon prime today. my 2nd aunt was buying something and needed it delivered by next week since she's returning to taiwan in 10 days. as a new amazon prime member, i can get free 2-day shipping on any amazon purchase (with no minimum). i should've signed up a day earlier because my order yesterday for bike chains is still in shipping limbo. now that i have amazon prime, i don't really have anything i want to buy. at the very least it saved my aunt about $14 in expedited shipping cost.

the sennheiser mx400 earbuds i ordered last friday arrived today. sennheiser is supposedly a good brand but i don't know too much about them. the pair of earbuds (two packages) were just $5 so i took a chance. back in may i compared a bunch of earbuds and found that i liked my jbuds hifi earbuds ($10) the best. compared to the jbuds, the mx400 were a bit louder with more base. unfortunately the build quality is pretty awful, plastic ends that can't seem to stay put in one of my ear holes. they didn't even come with any foam attachment (not that i'd use them anyway). i know there's a way to make custom silicone ear molds for the earbuds but they look too conspicuous (although i have no doubt it works). i'm happy with my jbuds; not as loud but at least they don't easily fall out of my ears.

i've got a very long day tomorrow, taking marco to new york city for the very first time. he's actually already been in new york a few times, but always in transit (due to the death of his mother); tomorrow will be the first time he'll actually get to experience manhattan for real. we're riding our bikes down to south station at 5:30 to take the first bus out of boston (6:30). we won't be back until 2-3:00 in the morning. like i said, a long day.