it felt like christmas morning seeing my roommate getting ready to go out when i woke up today. but i wasn't able to fully savor my temporary moment of solitude before i took a shower and bicycled down to belmont to watch the football game on HDTV and to have dinner. the weather was overcast but relatively warmer with temperature in the 40's. a rainstorm was heading our way, due to arrive later in the afternoon. i got to my parents' place right when my mother was about to head out to the cafe to relieve my father so he could go on a supply run.

after letting hailey out into the backyard, i went out front to clean the bicycle. i don't remember riding in the rain recently, but the frame was caked in road salt. i wiped everything down with a wet cloth and inflated the front tire, which felt a little flat.

there was still some snow in the backyard (from this past wednesday). i threw the ball with hailey but left her outside when she wouldn't come back into the house. my sister took her out for a walk around the block and showed me her new $60 dog shoes.

patriots were supposed to beat the jacksonville jaguars carolina panthers today. new england hasn't lost at home yet and the jaguars panthers having a losing record (5-7). despite jacksonville's carolina's underdog status, they did manage to score the first touchdown and the game remained close for the first half. finally new england started to get their act together and won the game, to the surprise of no one but to the relief of pats fans who were starting to get worried after losing 3 out of their last 4 games. on the perfect season watch, the colts and the saints won their games today as well. here's hoping at least one of them will lose next sunday!

my mother came back home in the early evening, said my father wouldn't be back because he was helping with the chinese restaurant deliveries. but a short time later he called and said he wouldn't be needed until 8:00 and came home for dinner. the rain that had started during the 2nd half of the football game had really started to pour by evening time. my father said he could give me a ride back to cambridge (i wasn't looking forward to getting soaked). i stowed the bicycle in the back of the honda element and we drove off. it was raining so hard it looked like fog. i locked the bicycle outside when i returned to cambridge, figuring the rain would wash away any residual salt i missed earlier in the day.

my roommate was already home. he was noisily voice chatting with an online friend in california (originally i thought he was arguing with his wife). he didn't have dinner until much later, and said they were talking about their respective cameras. he told me he went to the harvard museum of natural history this morning (based on my unwavering recommendation), before exploring MIT. he went back to the longfellow bridge to get a few more boston snapshots before finally ending up at the galleria mall to buy some presents (a pair of bathrobes he told me).