i made an appointment to see the oral surgeon tomorrow at noon (lincoln street, boston) - when the receptionist asked me which tooth, i said "number 3?" but she was able to make sense of it; i e-mailed stella at next step living who said she'd send me the contract for the insulation work order in about a week (the actual installation won't happen until 3-4 weeks); i signed up to autopay my webhosting and cable/internet bill; my father called the chinese appliance repair guy who might show up on thursday; i received notice that my lost cellphone has been shipped and should arrive tomorrow; i bought a few things on amazon.com (infrared thermometer, 64GB usb 3.0 flash drive, old-fashion manual label maker); i cleaned out some more expired items from my pantry boxes (food that expired in 2006); researched getting another table lamp for the living room (i currently have 3, i prefer something with a wooden pedestal, maybe might have to make my own).

for lunch i had some oatmeal but instead of chicken sausages i used some chorizo, which made for a spicier meal. chorizo made another appearance for dinner when i cooked up some beans and rice using an old box of instant rice (i tossed the flavor packet). can rice really expire? it smelled a little stale but seemed normal after i cooked it. into the mix was some frozen spinach and fresh cilantro. it tasted okay, a little plain but cheap and nutritious.

i also found my bag of sichuan peppercorn i purchased in 2006. 8 years later they're still pungent when i eat them but they smell stale and their original reddish color have faded somewhat. compare those to the fresh peppercorns i purchased before i left china, which are a lot redder and have a strong spicy peppercorn aroma. i ended up cleaning a few jars and storing the peppercorns in those instead of just plastic bags.

i only went outside to take out the trash in the evening. earlier during the day, i thought about going to the supermarket or the bank, but with the temperature hovering around the freezing mark, i figured whatever errands i had i could save them until tomorrow. of course it was nice and toasty inside the house. actually the colder it gets outside, the more my heater kicks in and makes the house all warm inside. the worst is when the out temperature just hovers around 50-60's, not yet cold enough for my heater to kick in completely. but i say we're beyond that point now, with record breaking cold temperature today for all 50 states.