when i arrived in belmont this morning, my father had already finished painting the front door and the surrounding frame. unfortunately he used the semi-gloss latex instead of the oil paint. he helped paint for another hour before leaving for work. i spent the rest of the day putting on the last coat of semi-gloss oil. after 7 hours of non-stopping marathon painting, i finished all the door frames with only the bedroom closet and 2 windows left to do (which my father will finish this weekend). this means we can finally paint colors starting next week, finishing up the bedroom and hallway by tuesday if not earlier. the other bedrooms and the bathroom will be postponed for next year; we just don't have time to paint everything. that leaves the kitchen and the sun room as the two remaining rooms left on the schedule.

i brought a salmon bagel for lunch and took a quick break to mail off my overdue quarterly income taxes. when i returned to cambridge later in the evening, i heated up some food my mother had prepared for me for dinner. i watched the red sox win the AL east division title. i thought the post-game celebration was a bit premature; the ultimate goal is to win the world series, anything short of that will be a disappointing season.

there's a special place in my heart for burma (myanmar) and i've been diligently following the recent news of the military crackdown on the protesters, probably more so than the average american. all those places - sule, shwedagon. mahamuni - i've visited in person, and now to think they're being surrounded by soldiers and people are being killed nearby, it seems surreal. i watch the occasionally footage or still photo on television, and i can't help to think, "hey, i was there!" i try to imagine if i was there now, what would be happening. i'd probably be shot, as the military is restricting any sort of reporting, cutting off phone and internet access, confiscating cameras and video equipment. burmese are giving up their lives to protest. if i was in their shoes, would i be able to do the same? burma would be a lot happier country if the military junta just give the people their freedom. is staying in power so important that it's worth being ostracized by the international community and fighting and killing fellow burmese?