i got all dressed up and was ready to ride to belmont to help my sister pick up a shelving unit in brookline she found on craig's list. i called to let her know i might be slightly late, but that's when she told me she didn't even finalize her plan with the seller yet, and it wouldn't be until tomorrow morning.

the cleaning continues: today i washed a few blankets and emptied some unwanted boxes from the guest bedroom closet. i took a hot shower and finally cleared my sinuses of the last remaining bits of mucus (it came out in satisfying but disgusting clumps). every once in a while i still need to blow my nose and i cough occasionally, but the remaining symptoms should go away any day now.

last night i bought a mini displayport to dvi adapter ($4.10) so i can connect my MBP to my desktop monitor. today i bought a USB 3.0 male-female extension cable ($2.78) so i can connect my U3eSATA adapter and still be able to use the other USB 3.0 port on my MBP. i've been buying all these miscellaneous computer parts through ebay, and they're all being shipped from overseas, either china or hong kong. it'll probably take 2 weeks to get here, but you can't beat those prices.

i might've washed the salt off the bike but now all the chain and gears are covered in rust. my thorough cleaning about a week ago all seemed to be for naught. maybe it's the material to blame? if the hardware was better, perhaps they might be more rust resistant? maybe on my next round of hardware upgrade i might look for cassette/crankset/chain that have better corrosion protection, if that even exists. i keep on thinking about the owner of the bike shop, what he would say if he saw all the rust. so i ended up oiling the chain, but at some point i'm going to have to do another deep cleaning.

the box that my MBP protective sleeve came in on monday? well, it's actually the perfect size for the broken HDTV circuit board i need to ship to portage michigan to get it fixed. i was going to wait for my flat rate board game box to arrive, but who knows when that'll be. my only concern was if it's more expensive not shipping flat rate, but the only way to find is to go down to the post office and ask, so i packaged up the TNPA4250AB board layered with leftover sheets of bubble tubes (i'm glad i kept some, usually i just throw those away after popping them).

there was no line at the post office so i stepped up to the counter with my box - which was held together with a strand of bungie cord. the cheapest rate - standard post - was only $10, $5 less than the flat rate price. so i returned home and bought the "service" off of ebay for $69 ($50 repair, $19 return shipping). they wanted me to ship the board, but the thing was i didn't have the address. so while i was waiting for the seller to reply back, i went out to run some quick errands.

like a repeat of yesterday, i first went to rite aid where i got some kleenex packets, then i went to market basket for frozen broccoli and cheese. unfortunately i forgot the main important ingredient of risotto and that's the arborio rice, so i'll need to come back once more tomorrow.

back at the house, the ebay seller sent me an e-mail with their address. i quickly taped up the box with an invoice inside then returned to the post office. unlike the first time, there was a line half a dozen customers long. the final cost was $10.40 for a standard post with package tracking (standard feature on all USPS packages now) with a weight of 3 lb. 7.60 oz., with an estimated delivery date of next monday.

so assuming the circuit board is fixable, i may have a working HDTV by late next week for the low price of just $80. fingers crossed!

coming back from the post office, i got squeezed by a truck onto a snowbank on somerville avenue. it wasn't a big deal and i didn't fall off my bike. however, the truck followed me all the way onto beacon street and pulled up beside me. i was getting ready to be chewed out, but it turned out to be the exact opposite scenario. he asked if i was okay, and apologized profusely for not seeing me. this was new to me: normally i'm used to being cursed out by angry drivers resentful of my utter lack of traffic safety rules.

also during the day i found a student MBTA charlie card and a house key (2 different places). i tried looking up the serial number of the card to see if i could return it but there's no such service (hopefully the student will get a new card and not get into too much trouble). as for the house key, i found it outside my place, so it must belong to a neighbor.

i played a few hours of bioshock 2 in the early evening. i'm almost at the point where i was on my saved PC game.

a cream cheese bagel for lunch, a simple ham cheese sandwich for dinner along with a salad. in the afternoon i had a smoothie along with different teas.