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running across the longfellow bridge i saw a red-tailed hawk swooping across the sky. i was taken by how big it was, about a 4' wingspan, with that characteristic red tail clearly visible as it slowly panned across my field of view. it went over the bridge then circled above the marina, soaring higher and higher overhead. i stopped and watched, heard some canadian geese honking in distress. eventually the hawk flew away in the direction of boston common and i lost sight of it. you'd imagine with so many pigeons and squirrels, a city like boston would be an ideal home for raptors. if a red-tailed hawk is big, i can't imagine being up close to a bald eagle, which has a wingspan approaching 8' across.

the hawk sighting was the highlight of my work day. when i got back from my run, i got some chicken tender from burger king, my ironic meal after having just completed a 3 mile jaunt around the charles river. work was an exercise in distraction management, it seemed like everyone had a question for me or something for me to see, it was hard to concentrate, and with so much bug fixes left to be done before the monday deadline (which is essentially this friday, since i won't be in town to work on it this weekend), i could feel my own personal stress level rising. it always seems like just when i'm about to hunker down and really focus, somebody breaks my concentration. i need one of those "on air" lights to let people know i'm busy and can't be bothered right now. i've got 8 "projects" flying around and i've got the next few days to make sure they're completely bug free and ready to be shipped, even though half of which were built just last week. i'm heading to work early tomorrow morning, 8am, partially to work when the office is still quiet, partially because i have some late afternoon plans.

when i got home, the first thing i did was to bring in all my plants, which i had put out this morning thinking it'd be warm but it was actually kind of cold, temperature in the 50's with a very strong wind. i watered some of them before setting them back in the kitchen. next order of business was to clean up the piles of boxes left over from alex wong's move a few weeks ago. most of them would go downstairs in the basement, and while moving the boxes, i slid one bare foot on the wooden deck and felt something puncture the heal of my foot. feeling no pain, i ignored it, but a few minutes later i felt some sensation. after the kitchen was cleaned up, i took some time to see what it was, and sure enough, it was a splinter, hard and sharp enough to go through the tough skin underneath my foot. it was at an awkward angle so i had some trouble examining it, but eventually i dug it out with a sharp knife and a pair of tweezers.

julie came over after 8pm to make dinner, ground lamb meatballs in a tomato paste sauce (a greek recipe, she said), with a side of biryani, which i was making from a premade bag from trader joe's. we didn't eat until 9pm, but fortunately i had been snacking before that time so i wasn't starving. mike and his girlfriend came home, asked if they could do laundry while we cooked in the kitchen. i was okay with it. julie told me about venturing up to monadnock (new hampshire) to go hiking on sunday and seeing two red efts ("they were like toys, they were so red," she said) and a garter snake (which turned out to be a ribbon snake after consulting a field guide) and some hawks. i'm so jealous! i'm on a "must see newt" kick, i vow to see a red eft this season.

we ate dinner during the final inning of the red sox game versus the indians. although a valiant effort by johnny damon to knock in 3 runs to push the sox to 7-6 with one run away from tying and ortiz and ramirez at the plate, the team just couldn't get it done and we enter game 5 of the losing streak. instead of queer eye, which was a repeat, we watched a new episode of law & order: svu, about a serial killer of elderly women with massive inheritance money. julie was busy looking at iraqi torture photos (i had discovered a cache of them, some genuine, some seemingly faked). next, the daily show, boiled down truth through comedy. julie left before scandal could ensue, and after i did the dishes, i brought out the trash. i was surprised to see the bag of dirty used hand-me-down pots i had thrown away was suspiciously missing from the curb. hopefully they find a good home, whoever took them. mike and his girlfriend finally finished their laundry around 1am and left shortly afterwards, each one carrying a large bundle of newly washed and dried clothes.

as of this morning before i left the house, the site was down, so i wasn't able to upload last night's entry before i went off to work. rest assured, i wrote one, and i'll post it as soon as i get home later tonight, as well as tonight's entry (for those who were worried).