i left the house this morning by 10:10, arrived at MGH by 10:30, for my 11:00 doctor appointment. the weather was pleasant, just cool enough not to break a sweat, with temperature in the 70's and a slight overcast that just was clearing up.

i was MGH for my routine 6 months blood pressure check. my doctor was running late, i was lead to an exam room by 11:00 but didn't actually see him until almost 11:30. i brought my blood pressure cuff and showed him the numbers for the past month. i average 130/90 which is just borderline high blood pressure. i take a combination of thiazide (12.5mg in the morning) and losartan (100mg at night). now i'm adding amlodipine (2.5mg), trying to see if i can get my numbers down to a normal 120/80. amlodipine sounds familiar because it was the drug (purchased from chinese pharmacies) i was taking in additional to losartan when i was in china. my doctor was reluctant to go the drug route right away, but any sort of lifestyle change (exercise, diet) wouldn't have an immediate effect like another pill.

before i left i also got some blood taken for a cholesterol test (fortunately i didn't eat anything yet today). no matter how many times i do it, i don't like giving blood! but the ukrainian woman was pretty good and i hardly felt the needle going in.

normally if i'm in boston on a friday, i'd also visit haymarket, but there was nothing i needed from there, so instead i went to chinatown, to the former super 88 supermarket, to get some dried prunes (suanmei). next i went to the chinatown cafe to get one of my favorites, the R45 spicy salt and pepper pork chops ($7). i shouldn't taken a quick peek in chinatown proper, where they're currently filming the ghostbuster remake.

i came back via the charles river bike path. i had my camera hoping for some photo opps but there wasn't anything interesting. once i crossed over the MIT bridge into cambridge and came home from there.

after a quick shower, i finally ate lunch by around 1:30. i went out again at 3:00, to pick up some prescriptions from the somerville street rite aid. my thiazide refill didn't go through because their computer said i still had a 90-day supply from may. my doctor also prescribed a betamethasone cream when i told him about the awful dermatitis i got on my hands back in the spring. i left with a bottle of losartan and amlodipine as well.

my final stop was the community garden. we got some heavy rain from last night into early this morning, so there was no need to water. i just haven't been to the garden in a few days and wanted to check on the progress. same as usual, a few more zinnias have blossomed, one cherry tomato cage toppled that had to be righted back up. i picked a container of golden raspberries, and pulled off my first zucchini of the season. it was big, but not the largest i've ever grown. it has an unusual shape, about the same size as a wine bottle.

the pork chops were so filling i didn't really need to eat dinner. i had half a bag of leftover salad that i ate in the evening that was just enough. i spent the rest of the night with the television off (ironically, since i just fixed it yesterday).

good news on the merchandise front: my SJ4000 HD camera from china looks like it might actually arrive! i checked the tracking yesterday, and was surprised to see it was actually already in chicago. that's pretty quick, considering it left china on monday. when i checked again today, it said it was in brooklyn. at this rate, it might actually arrive either tomorrow (saturday) or the day after (now that the post office makes package deliveries on sundays). can't wait to put it to good use as a wilderness dog camera!