i went with my sister to wingaersheek beach in gloucester around noontime. she said it was the final days where dogs are still allowed on the beach (beginning in may they're forbidden).

there was only a handful of cars in the parking lot. it was sunny but chilly with 50-60mph wind from the northwest, blowing from one end of the beach to the other. the wind was strong enough that the waves looked like mini tsunamis and you had to walk backwards in order to avoid getting sand in your face. i thought i was overdressed with my thermal underwear but turns out it was a wise decision. it was also high tide, and impossible to climb onto the rocky outcropping without getting wet. hailey didn't seem to mind though, running around non-stop, chasing after the few seagulls. her love of running makes me wonder if she's part greyhound (the other part being labrador retriever). at one point she was even biting at the windswept sand, angry that she couldn't fight it properly.

we were there for about half an hour before my sister had this look of terror on her face. "i have to work today!" i asked her when. "right now!" it was a good time to leave anyway, since with the heavy winds and the high tide there was nothing else to do on the beach except to brave the elements. on the ride back to belmont i could still grains of salty sand in my mouth.

back in belmont i let hailey out in the backyard so she could shake the sand out of her paws and fur. after a 3 day hiatus, there were a few dandelions on the lawn. that didn't upset me as much as the handful of parachute balls. i plunked the ones that i saw and tossed them into the trash. i'll be back for the rest this coming weekend. there will be a reckoning!

i motorcycled back to cambridge. i paid a quick stop at the cafe, but my parents were busy so i soon left. when i finally came back home, i continued with the flash work for client E until 8:00, where i had dinner (leftover fried chicken) and watched some television. sometime in the afternoon i also opened up a bunch of windows to ventilate the house despite the windy and cold conditions outside. eventually i closed the windows when a strong gust threatened to topple a bunch of things from a coffee table.

one of the things i asked my father to get during his recent china vacation was photos of chinese bicycles. while i haven't seen my parents' vacation photos yet, i did grab a memory card from the house which still had photos from their last 3 days in china. included were some bike photos.

my last astrophysicist roommate, whom i interrogated thoroughly about life in china, told me about the popularity of small electric bicycles. i don't know what makes them attractive. from the few i've seen, the wheels are too small for any kind of speed. maybe they're light enough to carry into an apartment house. a few things i noticed from the photos: almost every bicycle or scooter or trike has a basket, a very utilitarian purposefulness for these rides. nobody wears a helmet, and in general road safety rules are pretty lax.