i rode to market basket this morning to pick up some supplies for the cafe. coming back i couldn't help but take some photos of bicycles i passed along the way. i'm afraid somebody will see me and think i'm trying to steal their ride but i'm only admiring them from a distance. before i started riding a bicycle, i never paid any attention to them. now it's all i can do, whether they be on the road, parked by a post, shown in a movie, or seen in a photo. in fact, i'm pretty much obsessed with anything on two wheels, from bicycles to scooters to of course motorcycles.

i was surprised to see my roommate at the cafe, eating a bowl of beef noodle soup for lunch along with a coworker. i greeted them both before sitting down with a bowl myself. although my current roommate is leaving wednesday morning, another nanjing astrophysicist arrived today and needed a place to stay for a week. so as soon as i drop off my current roommate at the airport early wednesday morning, this new roommate will be moving in and leaving on christmas eve. i don't know what his story is but he actually lives in los angeles (but works in china) and will return after the holidays to stay at my place for a few more days. then there's somebody else who's looking to stay at my place during the final week of december. looks like i won't have the place entirely to myself until january.

i went to the cambridge library after i came home. i went there via the museum street shortcut and down irving street. i took out another book on bicycle repair and a photo book about hand tools. the young woman at the checkout told me i had an overdue book. "i think i returned that," i told her, while she typed up some internal search memo to start an investigation. returning home, i came up prescott, sumner, and then francis avenue. with google maps as my online guide, i've become quite adept at finding bicycle-friendly routes.

i didn't leave the house for the rest of the day. my ebay-purchased used ibook keyboards finally arrived. i got two for the price of one but they're not exactly the same. the one that should fit my sister's old ibook is slightly bent. the other has an extended tab that may fit if i can somehow cut it off. i'm going to try and fit it tomorrow before leaving my ebay feedback.

my roommate came back home around 6:30, bringing with him my future astrophysicist roommate who will move in wednesday morning. he came to check the place out, which made me a little offended, but i didn't let it show. he's not going to find a better place on such short notice and plenty of astrophysicists have stayed here in the past with no complaints. he had a look i didn't like, sort of a furtive countenance with several distractingly large moles on his face. i think the biggest draw for him was i don't charge very much, definitely cheaper than staying at a hotel (i think he may be able to pocket the difference from his daily living expense allowance). he wanted to write me a check right away, but i told him i wanted to confer with my parents first, who usually handle the money/negotiating aspect of these arrangements; i'm just the guy with the empty spare bedroom.

it was my penultimate night with my roommate. as annoying as i find him on occasions (staying up late, not going to work, hourly smoke breaks), i've learned a lot about china from our conversations, and hopefully he's learned a thing or two about the US. i taught him the rules of american football while he explained to me how chinese car insurance works, things like that. i bought him a bottle of new england maple syrup to take back home to china. i'm glad that he's leaving, but also a little bit sad to see him go.