but with a roommate to consider, i figured we suffered enough already. the thermometer in my room read 60. i actually woke up before my roommate did, even though i wasn't going anywhere (but he was). i was waiting for him to get up so i could vacuum the vents before firing up the furnace. i also had to get a new air filter. so i ended up leaving the house before my roommate did. i went to the somerville home depot and 
bought a 2-pack 3M filtrete filter ($24). it's on the high end side (MPR rating of 1500) but supposedly lasts up to 3 months. i tried it last winter and the difference was noticeable, the house was surprisingly odor free.
getting the filters home was a bit of a challenge, but thank goodness for bungee cords, with which i managed to strap the filters to the backrest. once i got home, i inserted the new filter and lit the furnace. i'm happy to report no problems. the first thing i did was to use the bathroom, now nice and toasty from the renewed heatred.
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i went to the honkfest parade, watched it from my usual spot (the intersection of beech and elm), then motorcycled home and watched it again from mass avenue. despite the nice weather, it wasn't as exciting as past years, but i still managed to take 700+ photos. i may be a little bit paraded out. good thing this is the last parade for me for the rest of the year. i didn't bother following the procession into harvard square, where the annual oktoberfest was happening. instead, i returned home and motorcycle to belmont for some dinner.
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i almost expected to see my roommate when i came home around 8:00. since they were going to cape anne, i figured it'd be a short day for them. pau didn't get back until after 11:00. he went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. while boiling some water for tea, i asked him where they went today. apparently they skipped cape anne and drove all the way to the white mountains instead. not sure if this was based on my recommendation or not. i've lived in new england for 3 decades now and even i've never been to the white mountains before, much less during peak foliage season. pau looked tired and immediately went to bed.
i can't believe next week will be the season finale of both rubicon and mad men. i'm especially sad to see rubicon end, because i heard the ratings are low enough that AMC may not renew it for a 2nd season. i just hope next sunday's rubicon doesn't end in a cliffhanger, and that the central storyline will be resolved should the series not continue. as for mad men, despite the crisis of the firm potentially going under, don seems to be solidifying his relationship with folks like peggy, faye, and pete (to pete's surprise when don pays for his share of the company floatation fund). i can't wait to see the finale, see if don can perform another advertising miracle.