i went to bed last night at 5am, watching some old three's company on tv land. it's amazing how mixed gender roommates could cause such a scandal back then. i woke up 4 hours later to take a shower and head into the city to meet eliza at the museum of science where there was a body world exhibit featuring plastinated flayed human bodies.

the special exhibit was pretty crowded, despite the staggered admission. although the displays featured real bodies, they almost didn't seem real because they seemed so sterile and odorless. photography was forbidden, perhaps out of respect for the dead (though photos are usually not allowed for any sort of touring exhibition). most of subjects were skinless and in various exaggerated poses and states of exploded dismemberment, but my favorite specimen was a preserved body of a man dissected into several longitudinal sections with the skin intact. i spent a long time studying the amount of dental work in his mouth. i also liked the layered cross-sections of the human body which resembled a sort of anatomical stain glass. there was a special room with a display on human development, featuring plastinated fetuses from one week to eight weeks. i wasn't grossed out by anything i saw, and as a matter of morbid fact, seeing all that flesh actually made me hungry (eliza felt the same way, but maybe it's just because we didn't eat breakfast). we left to find food, but not before cashing in our complimentary general museum admission and taking a quick tour of the place (the bird displays in the basement were fun as well as the tamarin monkeys on the top floor).

since eliza biked to the museum, we tried to get her bike onboard the green line from the museum station. she carried her bike up several flights of stairs to the train platform before we decided maybe we could walk to chinatown instead (the train seemed crowded, and besides, it only accepted exact change or tokens, neither of which i had). back down the stairs we went, and made our way southwards. the weather was sunny and warm, a nice day for a walk anyway. we decided to get lunch at pho hoa, eliza went with the grilled chicken vermicelli which i had the hue noodle soup again. her friend steve from new york arrived via the chinatown bus just as we were finishing our meal. i bid them good bye as i grabbed the subway from south station.

when i got home i opened up the back door and turned on a fan to try and get rid of the strong turkey smell from my house. checking my e-mail, i got a response from mac connection confirming my macbook pro cancellation. instead, i ordered one from mac mall, which was actually cheaper (with rebate). i can't help thinking how i'm spending the equivalent of a mortgage payment to buy a new laptop. my current ibook is already half a decade years old, it's time i upgraded. my desktop machine is still keeping up with the times, especially since i recently upgraded the cpu to 1.8ghz. i think the last time i got a new computer was over a year ago when i bought my dell desktop, but i only use that PC for work.

something i noticed a few days ago: the ambulias i've planted in my aquarium are actually growing pretty fast (see a photo from last week to compare). i'm not sure if it's because of the natural sunlight, my CO2 injection efforts, or the 10 daily hours of artificial lighting. since i relocated the tank yesterday, this new spot hardly receives any sunshine so it'll be interesting to see what happens next. as for the CO2, i don't think it's really working because i've never once seen it actually bubble on its own into the collection capsule. another interesting thing: the tips of the ambulias actually close at nights when i turn off the light.

watching television in bed, it didn't take long for me to fall asleep. i woke up later to have some leftover turkey for dinner. i took a bath and admired my new caulk work; however, there seemed to be a spot right underneath the faucet where the caulk doesn't seem like it's adhering to the edge of the tub. i'll have to re-apply when i get the chance.