the month of march didn't look very promising at first but ended up being not so bad. joel finished his contract with srm and found a fulltime job. speaking of jobs, john miller also landed a sweet gig down in new york city. i actually met up twice with my friend manny - usually we don't see each other for months at a time. i once again started up my office grass growing, only to lose interest after about a week when it started to get ugly looking. i took the reading is fun-damental motto close to heart and actually finished a few books this month, much to the dismay of some friends who think i've become what i hate the most, which is a smarty. i took that one long lunch trip down to the north end with dan, on a day when most of the upper level management people were away at some conference. that was my longest lunch ever in terms of distance away from the office, my own personal record. i've started to do a lot more running in march, which might in part be motivated by the warming weather (along with the longer hours of daylight), but could also be fueled by the discovery that i actually lost some weight (though i can probably gain that weight back after a large meal). i finally sent off my broken nikon 950 to get it repaired. the academy awards was this month, and i vastly misprojected whom and what i thought would take away the prizes. a saw a genuine pheasant for the very first time, it's not everyday you see an exotic animal in your proverbial backyard. with spring upon us, only then does it starts to snow a little bit after pretty much a snow drought throughout the regular winter season. and finally, this march will always be remembered as the month where i actually bought a house, i mean, a condominium. oh, and i also did my taxes this month. usually that doesn't happen until mid-april.

and one final note, a little piece of video nostalgia. i've had a webcam since march 2000. besides allowing my stalkers to easily keep track of me when i'm at work, the webcam also has a another purpose, which is it can compile a movie at the end of the day of what i've been doing for the past 8 or so hours. originally i thought it'd be cool to sort of put up the movie for 000331, but there was nothing really going on on that day. instead, i have picked another date, 000310, a little over two years ago. two years ago i was still a gainful member of the screen house team. beginning of that year, i had made the transition from the programming department to the design department. in this video you will see mick (left) and geoff (right). later (11:36) klea enters the picture, sitting next to me. at 11:52 we see katie, followed by rebecca. 12:04, keith, my project manager at the time, sits on my desk. 12:23 mister john miller decides to ham it up for the camera. at 3:18 you can also see dan kuehner.

click the thumbnail
to see the movie!

what a crazy day of running errands on easter sunday! i woke up at noon, having gone to bed last night at 2am, which is relatively early, but i was seriously robbed of all aspirations to do anything other than to go to sleep, after only getting 4 hours of sleep the night before and working a tiring 8 hours. i got up very motivated, knew i had some things to take care of today.

i got dressed and ran to the bus stop so i wouldn't miss the sunday bus. it's not fun to miss the sunday bus. i'd have to wait another 30-60 minutes before the next bus came. when i got to harvard square, i went to cvs to get one of my drugs refilled. an indian woman behind the counter took my order, and then asked me with a mischievous smile on her face, "would you like to wait for it?" apparently since it was easter sunday, it'd been a pretty quiet day in the pharmaceutical world. i have never been to this cvs and not have to wait a while before getting my prescription. the shortest time i ever had to wait was 15 minutes, the longest would be a whole day. i went down one of the aisles to grab a new toothbrush, and when i came back to the counter, the woman had already filled out my order and was ringing me up. that was fast! "i bet it's the fastest time you've had your prescription filled, huh?" she inquired. i took my stuff along with my change and bid her a "very nice day."

i hit the atm to grab some cash and then went back down to the station to ask the token booth guy where i could buy a combo mbta pass on a sunday. "try south station, north station, or backbay," he said through the staticky booth speaker. i selected south station and rode the train the 6 stops it'd take to get there. instead of sitting down i stood, writing in my journal the first 3 stops, reading stupid white men for the last 3 stops. i also took some time to pick out the tourists from the native bostonians. sunday is usually the traditional hotbed for boston tourism (easter or no easter!), so it's a good time to catch up on visitors. crossing the longfellow bridge, little did i realize i'd be going across it again later today, although not by train.

at south station i negotiated the maze of stairs and different levels to finally arriving at the main train station. i went to the ticket counter and proceeded to wait. i was the next person in line. a man in a suit rushed into the dimly lit ticketing chamber carrying two large bags and got in line in a hurry. he looked distressed, and said to me, "do you mind if i get ahead of you?" in a british accent, "i have a 2pm train to catch -" before he could finish i was already waving him through. he thanks me profusingly for a few seconds, i replied with my usual "no problem." by then it was already 2pm, don't know if he made it or not. seconds later, an oldish black woman hobbled up behind me in line with what appears to be her granddaughter in tow. "excuse me, i was here earlier, buying a ticket, and i was wondering i can get ahead of you in line, you see, they wanted to see her [the granddaughter] so i can buy a ticket for her," she said. "yeah, sure, go ahead, no problem," i said with a smile. "i hope you don't think i'm cutting you, it's just that i was here earlier, and she has to get a train ticket," she explained. "no no no, i don't think that at all," i said, almost offended she would think i would think she was cutting me in line, "i'm not in a big rush, you go on ahead." the granddaughter, who looked a little retarded or maybe it was because she was wall-eyed, said to me softly, "you're very kind, sir." i smiled. they went on ahead of me. i was still waiting in line. finally a new booth opened up and i stepped to the counter. "a combo pass, please!" i said emphatically with a relieved smile. and when the transaction was over, i read the name off of the nametag and said, "thank you very much barbara, you have a nice day!" two people cut me in line! but i wasn't pissed, because i knew i would have a story to tell later.

financial district

ticket counter

waiting area

i then made it back to harvard square. the whole trip back i was eyeing the weather suspiciously. earlier today when i left my house it was another beautiful sunny day in the 60's, some clouds in the sky but not enough to block out the blue sky behind it. when i was making my trip back, i could see the sky slowly started to overcast and the weather seemed a bit cooler. i was so concerned about the weather because by that time i had already decided what i'd be doing next: i'd ride my motorcycle to work, run 3 miles around the charles river, and then ride the motorcycle back. a fusion of two things i enjoy doing (well, actually, a fusion of one thing i enjoy doing and another thing i do it because i'm a hopeless masochist), what's better than that, right? but my plan was contigent on the weather being nice enough to ride in, otherwise i'd just run around my neighborhood in the rain. when i got to harvard square i entered exited the station to do a final check of the weather, like a groundhog coming out of his hole to see if his shadow was there or not. i came out the station and saw no shadow. that's a good thing, right? that means good weather in the secret divination language of the groundhogs. anyway, i went back underground, bought a blueberry muffin and an orange juice from the dunkin' donuts (it was approaching 3pm, i still haven't eaten yet, and i need some fuel if i'm going to go out running), caught the 73 bus right when it was entering the station, and ate my food as the busdriver took me home, keeping a constant eye on the weather.

by the time i got home, the weather was still good, so i immediately ran into the house, got changed, packed up all my running gear into a bag, and hopped on the motorcycle. i haven't ridden at all this year, it was a historical moment. i had some initial reservations that i'd completely forgotten how to ride during the winter season when the motorcycle sat idle in the garage, but those worries were unfounded as i sped away, repeating the old adage in my head, "just like riding a bike," although in my case, a motorbike. i first made a quick stop at the dewolfe real estate office to pick up the latest copy of the rosenoff's report. it gave me a great sense of satisfaction to see that the apartment i was buying was no longer on the market and was listed as "under agreement" in the report. if i didn't believe i was buying a house, here was proof that it was happening. anyway, i then took memorial drive to kendall square. must've been in mid-50's by then, but on the motorcycle it feels much colder. i wasn't concerned about the cold though (all that wintertime running really hardened me up) as i was able my eyes watering up from all the wind. i'd periodically wipe away the tears with a gloved finger. note to self, goggles next time, sunglasses just don't cut it.

i arrived at the office, still in somewhat of a shock from having been in a simulated wind tunnel riding down memorial drive. i saw a car parked outside and actually got a little excited thinking that maybe there was a fellow coworker working today. no such luck unfortunately, it was just the clean up man (my good friend) making the rounds. i forgot he comes on sundays (funny, i use to see him all the time!). i got changed and then ran out the door, a pair of keys in my secret running shorts pocket.

it was a very comfortable run, i didn't cramp up like i did on thursday. surprisingly, despite the beautiful weather, not a lot of people were running today, must be related to all this easter business. i ran the course in 25 minutes, and even bumped into my doctor, harvey simon of mgh, taking a leisurely stroll by himself along the charles river. that was a great chance meeting! i wasn't really able to say anything to him other than, "hey doctor simon!" as i ran by out of breath and sweaty, but i love how i'm doing all this healthy running, and who do i happen to bump into but my own doctor, who was the one would told me i should get more exercise in the first place! it sort of affirms everything, really gave me a sense of purpose. i wanted to shout out, "hey look, i'm running!" but i was already far away, unwilling, unable to stop, not even for my own physician.

i then walked across the longfellow, which earlier today i was riding the subway across. a trolley full of tourists drove by. i love that. they came all this way just to see boston. boston must be pretty special then. i can't imagine living in a place where it wasn't famous enough that people never came to visit. that's the ultimate test of wether a place is great or not, by how many people come to visit. besides the native bostonians, tourists are also what makes this city great.

i got back to the office, changed out of my running clothes and back into my biker clothes, and rode home without incident. i even did some weaving on an empty stretch of rode with a scared car behind me, just for the heck of it. and i waved to another fellow cruiser rider, gave him the downlow hand that i've come to know as the biker's greeting.

at home, i replaced the motorcycle for the car, grabbed some soon-to-be-overdue libary books, and drove to the belmont public library. along the way i passed a mob of people young and old playing in a residential street. don't they know this is dangerous?! i slowed down to a crawl, they reluctantly parted way, staring at me suspiciously as i drove past them. "tony yang!" a female voice screamed behind me. "tony yang!" i pulled the car over to the curb and stared into the rearview mirror, watched as this lone figure left the crowd and came running towards the car. "tony yang, is that you?!" she said. "i thought i recognized you!" cynthia freeman! my old high school (and middle school, and a bit of elementary school) classmate. she explained that the mob was her family and friends playing ultimate frisbee. we did the 2 minute catch up routine, questions and answers. can this day get any better? i was already ecstastic after my run and my motorcycle ride, but to out of the blue bump into cynthia! i was happy to tell her i was finally moving out. "you're buying a place?" she asked incredulously. she asked about my "girlfriend, boyfriend, significant other?" and i replied with a "no." e-mails were exchanged, we hugged again (cynthia is a hugger), and as she ran back to her posse, she reminded me about our 10 year reunion coming up at the end of the year. i drove off, the library was closed, but i just tossed my books into the book return box.

with daylight winding down, i was out in the backyard taking photos again, the signs of spring.

pussy willow

artists' fungi

pink flower

daffodil stalks

tulip bulb?

delphinium

monarda

baby slug

2nd year money plant

fly on plum bud

fly (detail)

finally, tonight, i did my taxes (using sweet quicken turbotax deluxe for macintosh, anyone who wants to borrow my copy, let me know). bad news though, i owe the government and the state a few hundred dollars. hopefully next year i can remedy this situation. i hear all this talk about massive deductions if you own a place, and i'm hoping to cash in on some of that action.