it was no surprise that my roommate would be gone by the time i woke up this morning. however he didn't go to work but rather left the house early to buy a used bicycle off of craig's list. his loaner bike was still outside and i took the opportunity to get a better look.

his friend's bike is a trek 7300 with large 700c wheels. i'd seen the bike before and i remember his friend paid $200 for it, which i thought was a fair price but still on the pricey side.

somehow i got the feeling my roommate would return home and as soon as i had that thought i saw him riding down the street on his new bike. he bought a giant (brand) boulder (model) mountain bike for $110. the first thing he said was it was too small. if he'd asked me i would've been able to tell him that a mountain bike probably only has 26" wheels (compared to the larger 700c wheels on his friend's bike). the bike didn't have an accessories but seemed solidly built. it was a better fit for someone my size than my roommate (who's 5'10"). instead of taking his new bike (i was even willing to let him borrow one of my cable locks) my roommate took his friend's bike to work. he parked his new bike in the basement, since it didn't even have a kickstand and previously he just leaned it on top of my perennial flower bulbs.

i went to union square to cash in that rent check before stopping by the somerville rite aid. there was a sale on theatre candy but also i wanted to find another bubble machine to replace the one that i might've broken. just my luck, there was one more left, in a ghastly neon orange, but better than nothing.

i noticed it yesterday on linnaean street when i saw a teenage boy taking a photo with his cellphone: an infiniti coupe (msrp $40k at least, although that looks like the more expensive $50k version) with two of its tires stolen. linnaean is a fairly busy street, and i admire the audacity of the thieves to pull such a daring heist. only the 2 wheels facing the street were stripped. the thieves didn't even take the bolts, courteously leaving them by the bare wheels. the funniest thing is the crushed plastic milkcrate; i can't imagine they used that to hold up the car (or perhaps milkcrates are stronger than they appear).

i didn't have to stay in belmont the whole day, just until my sister came back home around 4:00. however, when i got there, i was surprised to see her already home. she said she was only back temporarily, and left soon afterwards. i didn't even stay that long, leaving around 3:00 after i cleaned up the small bedroom (or as i like to call it, the hoarder's room), did a bit more pruning with the pole pruner, and prepared a section of the raised bed for some lettuce planting tomorrow.

for dinner i made some barbecue chicken pizza. i asked my roommate if he wanted some, but he said no because he eats pizza for lunch everyday. i first toasted the crust in oven this time, but it didn't really make the pizza any better, maybe a bit less soggy. the edge sort of got away from me and i had some that was more than an inch thick. why even have an end crust? that's my least favorite part of the pizza. next time i might make an edgeless pizza.

i ordered some bike parts tonight: a touring bike vintage style handlebar, some pistol style grips, a bottle of triflow, and some replacement pedals.