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today was a little grey and damp. during a lull in the weather, i went to market basket to get some groceries, some ingredients for making a spinach ricotta pie. in the late afternoon i went with my mother to the harvard vanguard clinic; if they did any procedures, i would have to drive her home. fortunately nothing was wrong. we went to mayflowers on cambridge street to get some chicken. it'd started misting but the sun came out when my mother finally dropped me off. conditions were perfect for a rainbow and sure enough, up in the sky i could see some colors. i stood across from the star market parking lot to get a better view. later i had a chat with my neighbor ed. down the street was a gas leak scare, in that house where the crazy old lady lives. i ran into a fireman groupie, a young man who told me he wanted to be a fireman himself and even asked the firefighters if they needed his help (he was probably a little crazy himself).

while talking with ed, an old neighbor came walking down the street. not sure how it even got started, but they began reminiscing about the mobsters (winter hill gangsters) who used to frequent the neighborhood. the older man was a treasure trove of stories. for instance, someone was "murdered" about 30 years ago in the VFW hall that was recently torn down. the old timer told us it was an accidental death, that the victim was using the bathroom and when he pulled up his pants his gun fell out of his pocket and discharged, killing him. the people who were there freaked and tossed out the gun in the back window. when the cops came, they found the weapon and deemed it a murder, little did they know.

i finally remembered to put some bacon into the ricotta spinach mix. unfortunately i combined the bacon with the chopped onions so the bacon stayed soft instead of crispy had it cooked them first in the pan. because ricotta and mozzarella, i also added some feta cheese, just because i had some. the final result was the best spinach ricotta pie yet. the bacon adds a level of salty goodness, and the feta contributes a complexity to the cheese medley.

i've had my macbook pro for so long that i've experienced everything that could ever go wrong with the machine. tonight was a new one. i noticed my speakers weren't working anymore and there was a red glow coming from the headphone jack. turns out this means the computer thought i had a digital audio device connected. the fix was just to poke around the hole to turn off a switch. i tried everything until i used a high-power flashlight to give me a better look and i finally found the switch. problem solved!

attempted my first foray into the world of knitting with a pair of bamboo shish-kabob skewers and a spool of high quality twine. i successfully casted my first series of stitches using youtube videos as my instructor. the hardest part was actually trying to figure out how to tie a slipknot. later i tried knitting for real with the other "needle" but made a mess of it, a failed try.

i watched the new CBS show person of interest, based on a j.j. abrams screenplay. i'd heard about the show and wasn't planning on seeing it, so i caught it by accident. it has a minority report vibe, the premise of the series being what if you could "see" into the future and prevent crimes from happening. it actually wasn't bad, definitely a lot of action.

marco came home late (around 10:00). he talked with his father this morning; his father would inherit his current laptop, which he'd get fixed (still under warranty) once back in italy, while he'd buy himself a replacement laptop here in the states. macro said he's go computer shopping this saturday.

i let marco have some of my spinach ricotta pie. he felt guilty for eating my leftovers the past 2 days but i'm just happy the food isn't going to waste. he said one of these days he'll cook up an italian dinner.