by this morning it'd been snowing for more than 24 hours. if i was surprised yesterday, i was even more so today with the 10" worth of white stuff outside my bedroom window.

after david left for MIT around noontime, i went outside to shovel the sidewalk. i was hoping my upstairs neighbors would shovel at least once this winter season, but that wasn't going to happen.

my original plan for today was to bike down to chinatown to do some grocery shopping. but with all this snow, my only option was public transportation, but my mother told me my parents were going to chinatown tomorrow morning and could pick up whatever i needed, saving me the trip.

by the late afternoon around 3:00 the snow had pretty much stopped. i went out to shovel the sidewalk one more time, this time scraping away the compacted snow layer down to the bare pavement. while i was shoveling i heard a loud cracking sound coming from a tall oak tree a few houses down. i carefully went around the tree looking for the crack but i didn't see it, although i did warn a few neighbors about what i heard and to move their cars if possible.

the date has been set for the diseased elm tree to be chopped down: next friday (weather permitting). i dropped off my check ($200) earlier this morning. there might even be a chance that a film crew will be here to document everything, doing a story on the tree cutting profession.

afterwards i walked down to harvard square to get some photos. i ran into dennis, who told me he was coming back from lifeguard duty. i thought he was kidding, but turns out he volunteers at the harvard pool.

i don't i'm selling the HDTV this week. i can't get ahold of george anymore, and the only other interested party is HDguy (very suspicious e-mail name) who wants a lowball figure of $200. i asked him if he'd be willing to go $250 but i haven't heard back from him either. if nothing happens this weekend, i might renew the posting with a price reduction ($250). or i could wait a little bit longer; with less than 2 more weeks before the start of march madness, there might be some potential buyers.

in the early evening i played an hour of dishonored. i managed to go non-lethal for most of the time, but at the end i was discovered by a bunch of guards and i had no choice but to stab a few of them before running away.

for dinner i found some leftover risotto in the fridge that i heated up in the microwave. david told me he'd be home late, going out with some friends for drinks and dinner after work. he invited to come along but i was fine staying at home.