i woke up at 8am, scheduled to leave at 8:30am for the super hero 5k out of central square. what i thought would be a simple bathroom visit turned out to be an epic dump (like hitting jackpot on a slot machine) and i didn't come out of the bathroom until 8:15am, giving li some time to use it. but he didn't seem to be any hurry, and i was already dressed, just waiting for him to get ready. after he was done with the bathroom, he started eating breakfast. i kept looking at my clock to sort of hint we should be leaving, and i was minutes away from leaving on my own and telling him to meet me in central square when he finally finished by 8:40am.

it took us 15 minutes to ride to central square, to the start of the run, where everything would begin in a matter of minutes. we found a spot to shoot on albany street. in the past i'd stand at the corner before they made their turn, but i discovered that's a bad place to be because it's fairly early in the race and everyone is still bunched up together, and hard to really make out the costumes; better to be a little further ahead, let the crowd space out a little. li didn't bring any cameras, and even forgot his phone (which he kind of blamed me because we were in such a hurry to leave). fortunately i had the old canon rebel armed with the 70-300mm telephoto lens in my bag as a backup, because i figured he'd want to photograph, or at the very least get some more practice.

soon afterwards the runners started to appear. the whole procession took less than 3 minutes. the cambridge super hero 5k is the original halloween costume run, and this was their 9th year (i've been to the 2012, 2014, and 2015). but in recent years the newer boston halloween 5k (aka boston costume dash) has taken some (if not most) of its thunder, with more runners, and more costumes. the thing i noticed about the super hero 5k this year is so many people not bothering to dress up, and so many family groups, where the event becomes an excuse to walk their toddlers in a stroller (not even bother running). i'll still come see the super hero 5k if i don't have anything else going on (it's a lot close than boston), but it won't be high on my priority.

li planned on going to the harvard gym to play badminton, but decided to stick around and watch the runners loop back. i'd forgotten they changed the course so now it's a large loop around cambridgeport instead of back and forth on mass avenue, but saw the revised route last night and decided we should head to the intersection of putnam and river street, about the 2 mile mark. the good thing is the runners will be more spread out by that point, easier to photograph since they won't be bunched up.

i navigated by feel, wandering the streets of cambridgeport until i found putnam and followed it down to whole foods. as soon as we stopped the bike, a police car was coming down the street with the lead runner behind it. we grabbed our cameras and began taking photos.

the cambridge police didn't do a good job of closing off the streets, as there were still cars on putnam. it wasn't just cars going in the opposite way, but a few cars traveling behind the runners as well, dangerously close to hitting them. the service exit to whole foods faced the street, and a large semi was trying to leave, finally pulling out during a temporary lull in runners, though a few had to navigate around the semi.

everything ended by 9:30am, when the police let normal traffic back on putnam avenue. the runners who couldn't get the 2 mile mark in under 30 minutes were forced to run on the sidewalk, which wasn't a lot, mostly walking stroller moms, too focused on chatting with other stroller moms than actually finishing the race on time. li and i biked up putnam (not a pleasant ride, the street is narrow and busy with traffic) into harvard square. he split off to go to the gym while i continued my way home.

i stopped by the community garden to see the asphalt ramp the city had installed more than a week ago (it's been nearly 3 weeks since my last visit). it looked a little jarring, what was once nice garden ground was now completely paved over in the name of accessibility. they did a good job though, but it was done without input from the gardeners, as a fix to a fault in their original design plan. i get the feeling by next season we'll tear it up and replace it with soil again.

after a shower, i made some scrambled eggs with kielbasa and well-aged homemade sauerkraut. i wasn't sure about the fermented cabbage, but it didn't look moldy, so i risked it. i did not have explosive diarrhea or stomach cramps afterwards, so it seems like it's still safe, though the cabbage doesn't look as fresh as when i first made it last december. i also did a load of laundry.

li came home around 1pm. first thing he did was make lunch, then do a load of laundry (he always seems to be doing laundry when he comes back from the gym), and finally a shower. i noticed he was being very meticulous about his cleaning, even blow drying his hair. i had a suspicion he was going out again, and sure enough, around 2pm he left, with the washer still running. just so happens my father called me around that time, asking to come over with a chicken fingers sub from ma magoo's. with li not around, i said it was okay. a full chicken fingers sub is so massive, it's really 2 meals in one. my father also brought some apples he collected when walking hailey. when the washer stopped, i put li's clothes in the dryer. he didn't ask me to, but who knows when he'll be back, and i didn't want wet clothes to just be sitting there.

there was an early afternoon patriots game against the los angeles chargers at foxboro. i sort of watched the game in the background, assuming already new england would win. their performance seemed dominant and they had the ball for most of the time, but offense was lacking, and they failed to convert a few times in the red zone, settling for field goals instead, until gostkowski missed 2 kicks. but by then victory was nearly assured, despite the chargers making a valiant effort in the end to almost tie up the game. final score 21-13, and new england goes into a bye week next weekend so that means my weekend will be free again.

my father and i looked at a few more amateur radios (elecraft KX2 and KX3, TYT MD-380 DMR HT) and i showed him how APRS works. he also asked me a few technician exam questions. he left around 4:30pm. he didn't have to return to the cafe because my sister volunteered to deliver my grand uncle's dinner.

digging around the cupboard, i found a brownie mix i wanted to use before it became too expired. i ended up making a dozen brownie cupcakes (baked for 40 minutes), drizzled with caramel that came in a packet. that caramel was too thick and it was less drizzling and more just squeezing out in chunky lumps. i also used olive oil because i didn't have any vegetable oil. the final result was okay, a little dense, but that's the nature of brownies. next time, genuine cupcakes! with maybe frosting on top!

li came home around 7pm. he made some sort of seafood noodles, i could smell the salted shrimps, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the seafood concoctions of my previous roommate GC. li ate dinner in the living room, but retired to his bedroom soon afterwards.

a heavy rainstorm arrived in cambridge during the evening. the rest of the night was spent listening to the sound of inferior gutters dribbling water onto the trash cans and incessant rain patter on the windows.

around 12:30am i turned on the television hoping to find a late night news broadcast repeat, so i could see tomorrow's weather forecast. that's when i realized that there was a world series game still in progress. in light of astros' yuli gurriel's racist gesture making fun of asian people, i'm rooting for the los angeles dodgers to win. besides, their manager is dave roberts, red sox hero from the 2004 world series championship. i also didn't know that roberts is biracial (father african-american, mother japanese).

as if that wasn't enough excitement, a fire truck pulled up to my street, flashing lights through the windows. i looked outside, and that tree that broke back in june from the microburst broke again due to the strong winds from tonight's storm, pulling down some wires once more. thankfully those wires don't seem to affect the electricity in my house. the firemen ended up just moving the branch off the road and drove away.

houston ended up winning the game around 1:40am in the 10th inning. game 6 is tuesday back in los angeles.