but just our luck: the receptionist read off a list of doctors who were on time, with just one doctor who was an hour behind. after we waited for nearly 40 minutes and saw that everyone who was ahead of us going inside and even some new people who came after us, i went to the receptionist and asked her if we were unlucky enough to get the late doctor. sure enough, that was us. by then we'd already waited so long that there was nothing we could do but wait. around 10:10am a nurse came out and said my father's name. while he went inside, i went across the hall to pay for the validated parking ticket, $6.
i sat in the waiting room preoccupied with my phone: reading echopraxia, some pdf books, and playing crossy road (a new game i recently discovered). there was no free wifi access so i couldn't go online and i didn't want to waste my data surfing the web. 
occasionally somebody would come out from the exam room to be picked up by their chaperone; the lab is actually pretty strict about this policy, and if a chaperone isn't waiting outside, the patient has to go back inside until they arrive before they can be released. most patients were older but there were a few young ones as well; i don't think everyone was here for a colonoscopy, they also do other exams like endoscopy. some patients come out looking fine; others seem very drugged and need support to walk. one guy came out joking, "glad i'm not riding the bike today," which gave everyone in the waiting room a chuckle.
my father finally came out around 11:45am. he seemed okay, but when i asked him if he was groggy, he said he felt like maybe he had 2 beers, so we thought it best if i drove back instead.
we returned to the cafe. my father went to prepare lunch for my grand uncle. i tried to activate the new old cablemodem but was once again unsuccessful. i had some leftover noodles for lunch before i took one of the cars back to my house around 1pm. later i drove to belmont and was prepared to do an oil change on the motorcycle but it was just too cold and decided to do it some other time, when it was warmer.
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after dinner my father gave me a ride back to cambridge when he went to go take care of my grand uncle. while using the bathroom, i finally found out where the mysterious draft is coming from: the felt seams around the edge of the window. technically they're called piles (not felt), but after so many years, the fuzzy weatherstrips don't insulate as well as they used to. fortunately they can be replaced, i'll have to take a look at some online sources.
this morning i found out that david bowie had passed away. i first discovered bowie in the early 80's, so i know him primarily as an 80's musician. later i was surprised to find out he had all this body of work from the 70's that he was also famous for. the first and only album of his i own is "let's dance" (1983, in cassette format). i got it because "cat people" was on that album and i loved the song (and have a fondness for that terrible eponymous movie as well, although the song is honestly the best part about that film), but i also liked "modern love" and "let's dance." i'm primarily a mainstream bowie aficionado, and of his earlier work i like "young american" and "golden years" - songs that don't sound like the glam rock he was known for at that time. but the one semi-obscure song of his that isn't on any greatest hits album is the duet (1985) he did with mick jagger of "dancing in the street." it's a silly cover, but the music video really sells it, which looks like 2 good friends having a great time singing and dancing. the singing is terrific, the dancing not so much.