so i went to the porter square branch office of fleet bank this morning, where last night one of their atm's swallowed up my card. i told them what happened, and asked if i could get a temporary card while the bank sent me a new permanent card. the customer service guy told me to wait, he went around back and got an envelope with several credit cards, one of which was mine. so apparently atm's eat cards pretty often. the good thing was the woman i talked with last night never cancelled my card (i thought something wasn't quite right when she never even got my name), and when the bank opened up this morning, one of the bankers retrieved my card from the machine and put it with the rest of their lost cards. no harm, no foul, and the good thing is i don't have to wait 3-6 business days to get a new card.

twin karmic energy continues to surface on my morning subway ride into the city. today i saw two women knitting. there's something unsettling about watching somebody knit on a crowded train. those knitting needles are so sharp and pointed, it's like watching somebody playing with knives. who knits on the train anyway? maybe an elderly grandmother figure, but a middle aged woman and a young woman? i wonder if knitters have some sort of secret gesture of recognition as well?

there was just five people in the office today, plus one cat. however, there was enough for office antics though. work isn't all about work, it's also a place to chat and be entertained, at least i like to think it is. when i got bored of work and needed a break i'd go dance with snicker. both dana and kristine were recipients of tattoos i got from my botan rice candy (ugly cartoon helicopters, they seemed to have made it work though). and when i arrived at the office, i helped kristine change the water for our new office cooler, even though she could've easily done it herself ("miss-i-was-at-the-gym-this-morning").

i went and got some stinky tofu takeout for lunch. i had 15 minutes to kill, so i went to the sun sun supermarket down the alley to buy some snacks, then i wandered around chinatown a little bit. i saw the phantom gourmet car, which for those who don't know, it's this local show that goes around various local restaurants and secretly reviews them. i think that'd be a sweet job, a food critic. it'd probably be hard to stay trim though, i wonder if the phantom gourmet has a weight problem? i wouldn't be surprised.

kristine was the first to leave, followed by katrinka (with snicker in the cat duffle bag), then carly. dana and i left together, we had the responsibility of closing up the office, something i was doing for the very first time. he asked how i knew the people at squid. it's kind of weird, all the jobs i've ever had, i never knew anybody going into the job. not this time however. most of the people at squid i've had prior history with (with adam, we even knew of each other since middle school, as far back as 1986), so working there was a seamless transition, no awkward phase where i'm trying to learn everybody's names and personalities and likes and dislikes.

when i got home i started making the creme caramel, the recipe i wanted to make yesterday but didn't get around to it. it's actually pretty easy. i melted some sugar for the sauce, then mixed some eggs and milk and half a cup of sugar and a pinch of salt. into these little glass cups went the sauce, followed by the mixture. placed in a pan of hot water, i baked them for 40 minutes, then brought them out to cool, before going into the fridge. the final dessert was a bit on the slurpy side, i should've baked it even longer. happy to see the glass cups i was using didn't crack from the heat though. speaking of slightly soupy flan, i had soup from a can for dinner.

bruce, back from pittsburg, paid me a quick visit to ask about costa rica and to give me some money for a bit of freelance html work i did for him a while back. feeling a bit wealthier, i called it an evening, but not before helping julie with her panther install via IM, answering her questions about firmware, whether to unplug her external drive, or the pros/cons of a clean install. i also watched the news: car bombs blow up the british consulate in istanbul, killing scores of people, wounding hundreds more. so guess what's the top story on all the networks? michael jackson sex scandal. to borrow a page from the daily show, if only michael jackson molested turkey! the media's priority's screwed up, no wonder we're so blind to the things happening outside our own country.