client B sent me an e-mail this morning, wanted to meet this afternoon for a meeting to go over the project. thing was, their office is all the way down in norwood, and it looked like it'd rain (not green doppler, not even red, but magenta). i could've borrowed the car, but it seemed like too much effort on such short notice. "could i just do it over the phone?" i asked them in response. however, they still really wanted me there in person. one project manager, feeling wise, inquired, "is it because of the weather? you don't want to ride your motorcycle in the rain?" that wasn't the problem. i wrote back, "i don't mind the rain, just that i was in a motorcycle accident last month and i'm still in my cast." that seemed to have shut them up as they went out of their way to accommodate my needs. they'd teleconference me into the meeting in a few hours. a broken foot has its advantages apparently.

after making some lunch (french toast from old hardened bread and some sausages along with a smoothie), i called new york life. yes, i've had a life insurance policy since graduating from college. it was something my parents said i should do. i've always thought it was a weird thing to have, because it's not money i'll ever see since it only pays in the event of my death. well over a decade later, i'm still paying the biannual premium. i call every time, asking if the policy is self-sufficient at this point (meaning i can finally stop paying). agents keep on passing me around like a hot potato but i finally got ahold of somebody. she told me to call her back in 10 minutes while she checked my records. when i called again, she was already gone. with insurance companies like that, who needs insurance companies?

i tried to get a successful dvd+r dual-layer burn off of my macbook pro. it still didn't work as i ended up with 4 more coasters. the discs burn fine, but always fail in the verification. two different burners can't both be bad so i'm assuming it must be media related. i was using some windata dvd+r dl's that i bought from microcenter, but apparently they're the cheap stuff. i went online and ordered a 20 box of verbatim, supposedly the most reliable. i've burned successful windata's before, but that was off of disc images. somehow they're not working as a straight data archive.

the afternoon teleconference call turned out fine. there were four other people on the line but i only talked with two of them. i was on the phone for over an hour and a half. as soon as it was over, the already cloudy skies turned several shades of grey until it was dark enough that i needed to turn the lights on. then it started raining again, heavy downpour accompanied by the occasional thunder and lightning. i actually love the rain, because it means i don't have to water my garden and i'm not tempted to go outside (which i can't anyway, with my bum leg). i ended up doing what i sometimes do when electricity is shooting out from the sky: i went and took a shower.

julie came over in the evening to make dinner, her soba noodles v2, mixed with garden-grown cucumbers and basil, along with store-bought bean sprouts, red bell pepper, cilantro, and scallions. all that mixed with a peanut and garlic sauce. it wasn't bad, but now the pressure is back in my court to make something for next week. unfortunately i don't think i'll have anything in my garden ready for harvesting, other than some basil.

julie finally got caught up to speed with the new season of project runway, right before the latest episode. i've always sympathized with the models, who are traded on the show like commodities. tonight's episode sort of turned the table, as the models became the clients in a design challenge to make them cocktail dresses. it was weird seeing the models behave like human beings, since by next episode they'll be back to their voiceless objectified selves. i almost didn't want to know more about the models because it'd make me feel even worse about their plight. tonight's loser: wesley "legs" nault. natalie portman made a cameo as guest judge, which was a big relief because i'd wrongly deduced that one of the olson twins would be the surprise guest.