i spent the late morning tuning up drew's bicycle and oiling the chains for both bikes (his and mine). his rear wheel was misaligned so the edge of the tire was scraping against the inside of the fender. when he left for MIT after lunch, i went along with him, continuing on my way to chinatown to pick up some supplies. the former super 88 supermarket was surprisingly quiet, which made for a relaxing shopping experience. the most important thing i bought were spice packets for making tea eggs. i wasted no time and came straight home on the charles river bike path then across the mass ave bridge.

after stopping at home briefly i went to the cafe to drop off a few things. i arrived just when binbin brought over her boyfriend's parents to introduce them to my parents. that was my cue to leave.

maybe i was dehydrated, maybe i was hungry, but i felt light headed when i got home. it concerned me enough that i dug out my blood pressure cuff and took a few measurements. they were normal, so i'm not sure what it was. maybe it's the fact that i've been working all week and haven't really set foot outside in many days.

there's been a bike wheel locked to a street sign across my house for the longest time. it's been there so long that a small tree has grown right through the spokes. my neighbor must've hired some landscapers because they were outside today removing all the overgrown weeds, including the tree, which they chopped down. however they didn't remove the wheel which is attached with an u-lock. that's when i went out with my ratchet wrench and told them i could remove the wheel if i could borrow their ladder and remove the sign so the wheel-and-lock can be lifted off the post. the landscapers spoke mostly spanish but they understood the gist of what i was saying. a few minutes later, i had the wheel removed and the sign secured back on the post. i was thinking i could recycle the wheel, but with the rusted u-lock attached, i can't do anything with it. i could try salvaging some of the spokes (for future repairs) but this is a front wheel and i need rear wheel spokes. i might put an ad on craig's list to see if anybody might want it for free.

in the late afternoon i went to market basket to pick up a few things, including some green grapes and a rotisserie chicken ($4.69) for dinner. i managed to eat half, saving the other half to make chicken stock at a later date.

drew returned home around 7:30. he was freaking out, late for a pot luck dinner in belmont; his contribution was some cheese he bought at the central square whole foods. he also got a brown belt from the garment district. he returned home relatively early around 10:30, only because so many people had left because they had kids.