despite the torrential rain this morning (at least it wasn't snow), i walked down to the porter square post office to pick up a piece of certified mail. it might be something important, i thought to myself. turns out it was just a generic form letter from a local commercial property owner alerting the neighborhood to a demolition scheduled the end of march. there's probably some legal reason why the letter had to be certified (around $5). the only problem is most people won't be home to sign for it and will have to make a trip to the post office and wait in line just to pick up this notice of no real importance. in fact, there was a stack of unclaimed letters addressed to various neighbors.

returning home, i snapped a few photos of the bicycles i came across. "insurance or art?" a man asked me when he saw what i was doing. we ended up having some meaningless chitchat while the rain continued to fall and drench everything around us.

one of the oldest coins i own is a 1911 barber dime (named after the engraver) which is almost 100 years old. it's pretty worn (the thinnest coin i have) but the date can still be made out. in 1911 william howard taft was president and WWI hadn't even started yet (not until 1914). machu picchu was discovered that year, construction began on fenway park, and sun yat-sen overthrew the manchu dynasty in china. i have also a 1942 mercury dime.

my favorite penny is the 1943 zinc-coated steel penny, minted in such a way due to the resourcing of copper for the war effort. since it's mostly steel, it will stick to a magnet. placed in a strong enough magnetic field, the penny itself can become a permanent magnet as well. a close second favorite penny is one that looks like a canadian penny. flip it over though, and you'll see it's a pig instead of the more familiar maple leaf. this is in fact a bermuda penny.

it will be a long time before i make pasta salad again (or just not make so much). the pasta makes me gassy and the onion makes my breath stink, so it's a total lose-lose situation. if i continue with my large portions, i should be able to eat all of it by friday.