with the motorcycle still parked outside my place in cambridge (and free of parking tickets i might add, which bothered me all last night), i took it down to riverside kawasaki in union square (somerville) to get it inspected. pulling out of my street, i caught some more surprised neighbors who gave me that "i didn't know you ride the motorcycle" look. the inspection was effortless, the guy turned on the lights, tried the signals, honked the horn, eyeballed the rest of the bike, and added some air to the wheels. $15 later and some new inspection stickers on the license plate, i was ready to go.

i went back to my parents' place in belmont briefly to pick up some cd's and to configure my father's e-mail account on his new G4. with that done, i came home, where i called renata about getting together a little bit later, bumped into bruce who saw me in my new glasses, then i went over to rob's house in teele square to help him fix his crashing macintosh. cutting through davis square, i waved to julie who was sitting on her porch eating. when i got to rob's place, he was still backing up some files on a dvd-ram. he showed me his newly burning whale oil lamp (filled with lamp fuel, not whale oil) and demonstrated his get-rich-quick casino card counting scheme that he'll be taking on the road soon. i left, leaving a slew of software cd's and my 8x firewire burner.

i was late in getting home, and saw renata seemingly leaving right when i got there. she was going out to get a drink of water, but ended up moving her car to my street. when she came in she had a bottle of strawberry gatorade, specially chilled just for her. having been on the motorcycle for most of the day, i felt gross and took a shower before we walked to harvard square. along the way i entertainment renata with my many stories of my bad keeshond mozart, how he used to break into the refrigerator and bite people. we went to the coop to get some research materials for her project, but not before we had some drama trying to find a clean bathroom within the two coop stores. with that done, we wandered harvard square a little bit, where we bumped into kay, on her way to some sort of lab. thinking about dinner, renata and i opted for the pho pasteur in harvard square, figuring chinatown would be too far, and we weren't really dressed appropriately for city travel.

vermicilli with beef and crispy spring rolls was what i ordered. usually i order the pho when i go to a vietnamese restaurant, but it was just too hot for that kind of food,

and i wanted something cool and refreshing. renata had some kind of tofu curry. renata tried on my glasses for a split second, my seriously high prescription making her wince. the waiter brought a pair of courtesy chopsticks for me and asked renata if she wanted a pair as well (which is funny, because renata probably uses them better than i do, while i hold my chopsticks wrong). when the waiter came by with the check, he saw us playing with the coolpix 950 and instantly recognized the model. we had a brief chat about digital cameras, he revealed that he has the sony cybershot with the 5x optical zoom, a good camera.

it was after 7pm by the time we made it back to my place (still pretty early), where we decided to go out for another walk since the weather was so nice. we went down my familiar running route to the charles river, just in time to see the sunset. a couple sitting on a bench asked if we could take a photo of them. i quickly snatched the camera (a regular model, i made it known that i was outraged it wasn't digital) and took their photo, informing them that that was probably the best photo on the entire roll, then renata and i quickly walked away. we went around the charles river, and surprisingly suffering no mosquito bites despite it being the optimal mosquito feeding time. i think the trick was we kept on moving, never stopping long enough for mosquitoes to latch onto us. i had renata lead the whole way to test her navigation skills. we made it all the way back out from the charles river, before i led again. by radcliffe college we were surprised by a couple running with a baby stroller in the dark. as they disappeared off into the distance, we realized it was alex delaney and her family, out for a night run with the baby (how urban!). we didn't bother saying hello, but when we saw them a second time around, we made our appearance known. alex was confused at first, but then recognized us. we chatted briefly about michael jackson and getting together (since we live so close), then they left. we noticed the mosquitoes seemed to have a fondness for them instead of us, probably because they were sweaty from their run, more visible to this flying bloodsuckers. the rest of the way back, renata and i argued about how far we walked today. i said 5 miles, she believes at least 6 miles if not more.

back at the house for the nth time, a tired renata collapsed on the carpet and said something about a "power nap" and "don't let me sleep too late" before becoming unconscious underneath a blanket with the air conditioner turned on. i took the opportunity to play with the two digital cameras she had brought with her. when she did wake up, the power nap did nothing to revitalize her energy, and she left to go back home.

proclaimers - i would walk 500 miles