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another busy day of work. i'm ahead of schedule for a change, which feels good. got two interactives out the door (uploaded onto the ftp site), waiting for some feedback, hoping i don't get any, so i can have the rest of the week off. the weather has been perfect the past few days but i've been stuck coding; i'm itching to go out and do a spot of naturing before the labor day weekend rush. unfortunately i'm still stuck tomorrow: the claim adjustor finally got in touch with me today, he's coming out tomorrow morning-afternoon to get an estimate on the damage to my motorcycle. i tried to get him to come earlier, but he couldn't fix down a time.

i finally talked to my neighbor ed and told him what happened this past weekend. "maybe it's time to give it up," he said with a look of concerned seriousness on his face, referring to the motorcycle. i figured he'd be the last person to play the safety card, with his personal stories of vehicular mayhem and workplace mishaps. he was holding another one of his periodic yard sale, this time to coincide with the influx of new students moving into the neighborhood. a girl from chicago was checking out one of the used bicycles (the one that she wanted was just $65, quite a steal, but she wanted to think about it).

i figured my community garden plot was due for a watering. seeing it so unproductive makes me sad. maybe i could call it quits early this season and till over the garden. i can't believe it's september already and i've yet to see a single red tomato (there are red tomatoes in other plots, but sporadically, all the gardeners are suffering this year). i'm going back tomorrow and collecting all the basils and the parsley. the tomatillos are doing well but they've just been flowering with no fruit production yet. at least i have my rampant golden raspberry vines, they never disappoint, offering a handful of tasty berries every time i visit.

my father dropped off a piece of cake my aunt wanted me to have, for no particular reason. i'd already ate a slice of my roommate's cheesecake, so this was my second cake slice of the day, a very decadent chocolate berry cake covered in frosty. even though i just had a slice, it took several hours to finish, it was that rich.

i got my return authorization number today from the place where i bought my wii mod chip. it also came with a page of special instructions, since i'd be sending the defective part back to canada. even though there was a long line at the post office, one of the guys working behind the counter was such a happy individual with his friendly and sing-songy mannerisms that i didn't mind, it was entertaining just to listen to him work. it ended up just costing me $1.25 to send the package to ontario, all mummified up in bubble wrap i had lying around the house. not sure what's going to happen next, but it's worth a try trying to get a replacement clip. if things don't work out, i can always sell out $20 for a 3rd party clip.

when my roommate came back home later in the evening, we didn't say much. he said i'd moved from my usual sofa chair onto the couch. he told me he had dinner at my parents' cafe. he looked at the tv for a moment (i was watching the encore of glee) them went to his bedroom, where i didn't hear from him the rest of the night. he's only hear for 12 more days before returning to nanjing. he's probably one of the easiest - if not the easiest - roommate i've ever had. i never see him in the mornings, and i only see him at nights very briefly. he doesn't make a mess of my bathroom and he never cooks. not sure what he has planned for the weekend (his schedule is surprisingly packed), but i could give him a tour of boston if he's free.

finally, i won an ebay auction tonight. i wait until there was 5 minutes left in the auction before i put in my first and only bid, hoping my last minute entry wouldn't give the other bidders enough time to enter a higher bid. the item? a used 422 buck folding knife. the starting price was $9.99, there were 3 other bidders, but i was the last one with a final price of $17.55.

why this item? i actually already own the exact same knife. i took it with me camping a few weeks ago, and let my father borrow it. he ended up using the knife to dig out a piece of quartz from the ground. that knife was in a mint condition and my father used it as a digging tool, scratching up the blade and pitting the edge. i couldn't believe he did that and i was so angry, i vowed that when i got back to civilization, i'd find the exact same knife and buy it at whatever the cost as a replacement. the irony is my father originally bought me that buck knife as a gift when i was kid. as an additional piece of irony, that was the same knife that i used to cut my thumb into two pieces ("i dulled it for you so you won't hurt yourself again," he said jokingly, not realizing the sentimental value i had for it).

unfortunately the knife that i won on ebay doesn't come with a protective sheath, but the blade itself looks unblemished, which is what i really care about. i may end up buying another one on ebay if the price is right, as a backup in case my father ever gets his hands on this new knife and decides to dig rocks with it again.