2:44pm

there was a thunderstorm early this morning. all i could think of was, "i don't have to water the garden today." around noontime i went with my father and a taiwanese professor of chinese antiquities researching at harvard university to the sackler museum. i only just realized that i can get it for free with a cambridge library card. i also filled out the paperwork for a photography permit, but i ended up not taking any photos. the professor didn't really explain too much, and part of it was hampered by the small collection of chinese artifacts in the museum. it nothing else, it was an interesting diversion. once i returned home, i went back out again, to harvard square, to get some money from the ATM and to buy a present for john and deanna. returning home i made a quick pass of my garden and decided to do some watering after all. for lunch i had an egg omelette and a smoothie.

i brought out my used microscope to play scientist. i was trying to capture a daphnia with the pipette but it was virtually impossible, they moved around too fast. i did manage to snag a water beetle, but since they're not entirely aquatic, it managed to crawl off of the glass slide. i had better luck with non-moving organisms, like the duckweed. i think the microscope i have is just too powerful. the magnifications on the objectives are so high, even with the lowest setting i can hardly recognize what i'm seeing. plus the diaphragm between the light source and the stage is slightly damaged, so i can't control the aperture for the incoming light. the weird thing about the duckweed was at the edge: there seemed to be little tiny cells, maybe duckweed buds.

after waiting an hour for my lunch to digest, i decided to go out for a run. today was a hot day, temperature in the 70's but felt warmer because of the high humidity. i did some crunches before i left, so i'd already worked up a sweat. i had more stamina and almost made it to the eliot bridge before i slowed to walk. the drinking fountain had been turned on, so after re-energizing with some cold water, i finished the rest of the loop. walking back it started to rain a little bit, an approaching thunderstorm, delivering large droplets.

in the evening i watched the red sox yankees game while having some dumplings for dinner. it was a painful outing for wakefield, who gave up something like 8 runs. some excitement came in the 9th inning when youkilis almost charged the mound over a suspected head-hunting pitch. hopefully the red sox will do better the rest of the weekend.