i walked down to the cafe this morning to borrow the car so i could take the flat tire to the bike shop in arlington to get it fixed. for some reason i had $300 in my head as the amount i'd probably pay to get something like this fixed. when the woman priced out the repair for me and the cost came out to $150, i thought i was getting a real bargain: $35 for the inner tube, $95 for the tire, and $20 for labor. normally with a car you can just patch up a punctured tire, but with a motorcycle, so much is dependent on your two wheels that it's better to replace a tire.

after i returned the car to the cafe (it'd take a few days for the new tire to arrive) my father gave me a ride back to my place. client S was eerily silent today; i figured it was just the post-delivery lull in the storm and enjoyed the break while it lasted. i did some work for client P and some hardware research for client N. i purchased some rubber boots online ($25) in preparation for all the wet weather naturing i'll be doing. i was going to call pc microstore to complain about the still-missing power supply they were supposed to have sent me 2 weeks ago; i was surprised when they called me back, apologizing profusely and told me they'd sent another replacment power supply right away. i worked with the television on and watched office space then later an episode of hustle on AMC, a british import about con artists which is now my favorite show.

in the evening i met julie inside the porter square T station and we headed into park street to the boston common theatre for a screening of thank you for smoking with sara and joel (sara's mom was there as well). the film is a comedy (satire?) about a tobacco lobbyist. it was pretty funny - smart funny not sick funny (it's no waiting). the little boy who plays the lobbyist's son is creepy though - he's got that precocious anti-christ quality about him. i thought katie holmes was miscast as a ambitious newspaper reporter who sleeps her way to gain secret information; it doesn't fit her character, joey potter would never do that (i thought she was miscast in batman returns as well).

after the movie, sara left with her mom while the three of us went to chinatown for dinner. it was still early so we were able to choose any restaurant we wanted. we went to shabu-zen and it was so crowded that about a dozen people were still waiting for tables. instead we went to the apollo grille, now opened for dinners only. everyone there seemed to be young college students, with half the clientele japanese eating yakiniku. both julie and joel ordered the bi bim bap while i couldn't resist the korean barbecue and ordered a plate of raw bulgogi as well as a serving of eel sushi. joel was impressed by the large and heavy cylinder of sapporo beer.

we walked to downtown crossing, where we parted ways, joel taking the orange line out while julie and i grabbed the red line.