i woke up late, around 11:30am, after going to sleep last night around 3am reading eChopraxia, peter watts' sequel to blindsight (2006). before i even used the bathroom, the first thing i did upon waking was to vacuum some more. there's something very satisfying about dumping out a large collection from the dust bin. it boggles the mind that my house could be so dusty, but there's compelling evidence that it was. i ended up emptying the bin 3 times since yesterday, my kitchen trash can now a dust collection receptacle.

today was christmas, but i don't have feelings towards this day, as i'm not christian. judging from the qq zone postings from people i know back in china, christmas seems to be bigger deal for them than it is for me. in fact, a few of them even wrote to wish me merry christmas, before i told them i don't really celebrate the jesus' birthday. the only thing different for me about today was that the streets were a lot more empty and not as many cars around.

for lunch i ate the supermarket ham and cheese sandwich i bought a few days ago. it's really too much sandwich for just one serving, but i finished it all anyway because i felt it was about to spoil. that turned out to be a mistake because the meal filled me up to the point of bursting.

i drove to belmont in the afternoon, the streets virtually devoid of car traffic, just a few joggers, followed by leisurely cyclists. though not as warm as yesterday, it was still warm considering it'd christmas and we're still running 20+ degrees above average. my parents and sister had just finished lunch, where they made some belgian waffles. there was one waffle left which i had later. my mother watched a screener of room (2015).

i tried the chromecast on the samsung HDTV in my parents' bedroom, hoping that television (newer) would have better results with the HDMI-CEC. on that model (LN46C630K1F) it was able to recognize the chromecast in the setup: the chromecast can turn on the HDTV and change the input, but the remote can't pause/play (i like i can on my panasonic HDTV). my father seems to be making better use of the chromecast than my mother, casting from his PC laptop via youtube. looks like the chromecast will live in the bedroom for the time being.

after dinner i biked home, welcoming the opportunity to work off some calories. my disco bike was the perfect ride for christmas, as people gawked as i went by, admiring the spectacle.

the weather forecast says a possibility of a mixed snow/rain storm happening on tuesday. i wonder if i should be preparing the motorcycle for winter storage. not because of this particular storm, but in anticipation for the eventuality of storage in the following weeks when we do get our first major snowstorm of the season. first the garage has to be cleaned out though, as there's still a lot of painting equipment scattered about.