SM told me this morning that she finally got the birthday card i sent her. i mailed it out more than 6 weeks ago, and it missed her birthday by more than 2 weeks, but it finally got here. it says something about a country when it takes this long for mail to arrive. i guess i should be grateful that they didn't just lose it.

i biked into boston for a 12:30 follow-up appointment at boston oral & facial surgery. i went the usual way, beacon-hampshire-longfellow-charles. google map said it'd take 35 minutes, i got there in 25. even though i was early, they saw me right away since there was no other patients. it was a quick spot check, make sure nothing was infected. dr.chan yanked the implant as if he was trying to pull it out but it wouldn't budge (there was also no pain), which is a good thing. back outside in the reception area, both his secretary and him were fascinated by the fact that i biked there. when they found out i was coming from cambridge, both of them though it was so far away (dr.chan himself lives in quincy). they each said they'd love to bike into work, but the traffic is just too daunting. i'd agree with them, biking in the city takes a certain kind of courage. i made an appointment for next month, to come in and get an x-ray taken.

i biked back via the storrow drive overpass, along a stretch of charles riverway, then across the mass ave bridge, biking down the other side of the river (memorial drive), to trader joe's. you'd think since i wasn't on the street it'd be smooth ride, but it was anything but, as i kept going over small speed bumps in the asphalt pushed up from underground tree roots. at trader joe's i picked up $30 worth of trail mixes and energy bars, along with two bottles of white wine (for cooking purposes).

i returned home via putnam avenue, cutting across the cambridge library/high school.

i spent a good chunk of the afternoon cleaning up the basement. i restacked the wood piles back onto the overhead racks. i moved some boxes into the newly created space, then moved all my bikes back down in the basement. i also put away in storage all my grow lights. finally, i collect all the gravel from the trays and put them into plastic buckets.

sometime after 4:00 i went to go pick up my peridex prescription (dr.chan wants me to continue using it to prevent possible infection) at rite aid. i bought some new-skin liquid bandage just to try it out. then i went to the walgreens in porter square to score some nexcare bandages (they finally had some in stock, BOGO) and herbal essences shampoo/conditioner.

i saw the news online first: tsarnaev sentenced to death. i quickly turned on the news, where all the local broadcast were breaking with the report. i was actually kind of surprised, because it was taking 3 days, and the longer it takes the jury to decide, the more it means they can't come to an unanimous decision, which would result in a life sentence rather than a death sentence. i don't particularly have an opinion on the matter. tsarnaev's life is essentially over, whether he spends it in prison for life or be put to death. he's not even a person at this point, more like a political chip that gets passed around depending on different 3rd party agendas.

i tried the liquid bandage. i've known for a while that superglue is great for papercuts, and i was hoping that this liquid bandage was a safer alternative. you apply it similarly to rubber cement, with a little brush attached to the lid. the liquid itself is pretty pungent, like nail polish remover. it goes on wet, but dries after a few minutes. when it does dry, it's a lot like superglue in that it seals up any minor wounds. i tried it on two spots; the first time was okay, the second time it stung.

for dinner i had the usual tortellini-pasta sauce-spinach combination.