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SEP

23

2010

oh no. let's just say my roommate didn't color within the lines this morning when he reported for his number one duty. maybe it was just a fluke thing. it happens to me on some mornings as well, still groggy from sleep, my accuracy way off. it was kind of surprising, because he was able to use the bathroom yesterday without incident. i'll give him three strikes before i have to say anything. another thing: he changed the shower head. not a little, like some roommates do, but a lot. when i went to go take a shower, i thought there was something wrong with the plumping until i realized the stream of water was almost over my head (pau's a tall guy).

is it allergies? is it drug-induced side effects? or do i actually have a cold? i still have my cough, and i continue to blow my nose at a rate of 1-3 times an hour. but today i noticed i was sneezing as well. that means i have a cold, right? i'm not suffering too much though, it's just a minor annoyance for now. drinking hot teas throughout the day helps.

i applied for a web developer job today, working for the government. i'm not expecting anything to happen, but figured tossing my hat into the ring wouldn't hurt. there's a lot of asp.net development work, which i'm not entirely thrilled about, but i think a steady paycheck would alleviate some displeasures.

i ordered some more stuff from dealextreme today: 3.5mm stereo male-male audio cable, universal adjustable flashlight bicycle mount, a 3-LED tail light (the planet bike superflash knockoff), and the fotopro flip motion mount. i can mount the fotopro to my bicycle helmet or my motorcycle handlebar to make movies. but what i really want to do is somehow attach it to hailey with a harness and get her to record her runs when she disappears into the forest. i also ordered some inexpensive HDMI cables through amazon.

my roommate went grocery shopping after he got back from work today. i was just about to make a reuben sandwich for myself and asked if he wanted one as well. we ate while watching the season premiere of the big bang theory. apparently it's a very popular show amongst the scientific community. afterwards, he went back into the kitchen to cook, making some pasta for lunch and beyond. i wanted to watch but didn't want to get in his way. i did sneak a quick peek, it looked sort of fancy. maybe next time i'll observe. he said he spent some time in italy learning how to cook. the great thing is my american kitchen is totally designed for his style of cooking. i didn't have to worry about lingering smells, and what aroma there was seemed delicious. compared that to chinese roommates who insist on oily wok cooking, and having to be taught how to properly use my cookware. i told pau about the non-stick pots, but i didn't have to, he was already searching for the wooden utensils. that's the kind of cooking i can get behind!

i also showed pau how to use the washer/dryer. i noticed he had all his dirty clothes neatly folded. he said one reason was because he recently moved. but the main reason: "i don't like it when clothes get - how do you say this?" he held up a shirt and crumpled it. "wrinkled," i answered. he was so happy when i told him i actually have an iron he could use.

thursday night is a logjam of shows i want to watch. even if i had a DVR, there are just too many shows happening at the same time that it's impossible to see them all without resorting to internet sources. the one show i made sure to watch was the season premiere of fringe. i think it's a cool idea, walternate trying to "brainwash" good olivia into thinking she's alternate olivia.

finally, i couldn't stand how hot my macbook pro gets. it's already cooked my 1-year-old battery (battery power alone, i get less than 1:30 hours of runtime, when i used to be able to get 3 hours). i checked the activity status but didn't see anything hogging the processor time. i just knew the problem was physical. so i ended up cracking open the laptop. sure enough, it was all dusty inside. i blew out all the dust then reassembled the machine. so far so good, but it's still running in the upper 60° temperature-wise. i've installed smcFanControl to keep an eye on the temperature and to increase the fan speed if necessary. i may also invest in a notebook cooler ($20, figured it's worth it if it'll extend the life of this computer).