it took me about an hour to ride down to norwood for my meeting. the temperature hovered around 48 degrees but on the motorcycle cruising anywhere from 30mph to 60mph it felt like freezing temperature. i was dressed for the occasion though, 5 layers deep, from sweater to hooded sweatshirt to synthetic pullover to windbreaker. it wasn't too bad in the sun but the slight temperature difference in the shade was pretty noticeable. my hands inside the leather gloves felt cold and at some point i lost sensation on my lower lip. the ride down the VFW expressway was pretty good, probably my last long motorcycle trip of the season since there doesn't seem to be anymore warm days left. actually, today was the warmest day of the week with a high of 48 degrees. as long as there isn't a snowstorm, i'll keep on riding. it's not even the coldest riding weather i've experienced (last november i went to my class reunion with night time temperature in the 20's).

the meeting went well. what i thought might be a severe censuring turned out to be a mild lovefest. i left norwood with a small list of bug fixes and some payment checks. they even said they'd try to get me some extra money since i put in more hours than we originally anticipated (i'll believe that when it happens though).

i left norwood around 3:30. later than i'd hoped, since in the hour it'd take me to get back home the sun would be starting to set (no sun, a drop in temperature) and it was getting close to rush hour (freezing and stuck in traffic, bad combination). by the time i arrived in belmont, my cheeks were chafed red from all that wind blowing across my face. it took an hour for my hands to warm back up. i had dinner (chinese dumplings with lots of raw garlic) at my parents one last time before they leave for egypt tomorrow morning. the last thing we did was to go online and to take a look at egyptian souvenirs to get some gift ideas.

it was 38 degrees by the time i finally came back to cambridge. i was surprised to find nobody home yet. earlier today i went to rite aid to buy a digital timer for my aquarium light (they were having a pre-holiday sale on christmas decorations). also this morning i sanded the french doors a bit more, i might try to stain them tomorrow despite the cold weather. those puppies have to get sealed before winter arrives!