the census computer that distributes cases to the enumerators is broken. how do i know this? because it assigned me 197 cases last night. that means if i work nonstop for a straight 8 hour period (the maximum amount of work i'm allow in a day), i'll need to work a case every 2.44 minutes in order to finish all those cases. where were these surplus cases on friday when the census only assigned me 6 cases? or yesterday, when they assigned me zero cases? fortunately most of those cases were concentrated in the agassiz area, with a bunch south of cambridgeport (down by the charles river) and a bunch east of harvard square.

11am seems to be my new start time, which only gives me 2 hours to prepare if i wake up at 9am. i spent nearly an hour just organizing all 197 addresses. i then quickly went to the nearby elementary school to vote in the primary (ed markey all the way). not able to eat lunch, i had a late breakfast of yogurt and granola. a few people in my census group were signing out of our group chat because they've been reassigned to a new supervisor. i left for work by 11am.

i started with the cambridgeport cases first (in the riverside neighborhood), more than a dozen. turns out it was harvard housing. i called the supervisor in charge of collating harvard housing cases. turns out, i've actually been reassigned to him, but he hadn't yet contacted anyone yet. maybe that'll mean i'll be enumerating harvard university cases with the help of harvard housing. he gave me the scripted answer, trying knocking on doors if you can, otherwise skip it for later. not sure why i even bothered to come here, because i knew before i started that these were harvard housing, but i just wanted to see for myself, and for the census app to log my gps coordinates, to show them i tried at least.

coming back, i enumerated a few addresses east of harvard square (mid-cambridge), before stopping briefly at home to use the bathroom. i switched from pants to shorts because it got hot biking around town.

i then spent the rest of the day in the agassiz hills, stopping for my break around 3:30pm. another amazon package waited for me on the doorstep, my 3-tiered pantry organizer and my new bike light (P2R 800 $20). i put the pantry organizer to use right away, it was so useful i may just get another one. the bike light i wasn't able to turn on so i left it to recharge while i went back out for the second half of my shift.

i finished a few more cases in agassiz before peddling home. i saved an easy one for last, so i could end my work shift on a high note. it was a neighbor who promised me she'd do the census but the fact that her address has reappeared on my list meant that she didn't. i would try to get her to do an interview this time, but if she wasn't available, i had enough info from a proxy i spoke with last week that i could fill in the report on my own. i rang her doorbell but there was no response. the bell seemed broken anyway. while i was leaving, i heard someone calling from upstairs. my neighbor was on her upstairs deck and saw me. she laughed sheepishly, confirming that she had in fact not done her census survey yet. she agreed to do it with me, after discovering that i get "points" for getting interviews. we chatted a bit afterwards, she was surprised i'd lived here since 2002, since moved into her place back in 2001.

back at home, i tested out the new bike light. it's twice as long as my old bike light, heavier too. i found out you have to hold down the power button for a second before the light will turn on, a safety feature so the light won't accidentally turn on in a bag. it's very bright, almost too bright at 800 lumens. the light i'm using now is just 400 lumens, which is way better than the lights i was using before with just had 35 lumens. but with greater the brightness means heavier and bigger lights. i can't wait to have an opportunity to put the bike light to use.

for dinner i reheated the chicken korma i made last week. i ate while watching the end of the celtics-raptors game, game 2 of the playoffs. celtics were trialing when i was making dinner, but by the time i sat down to watch, they were leading. boston ended up winning the game, basically stole one from toronto who should've won this game. now the raptors are in a corner. if they don't win game 3 (thursday 6:30pm), it's basically over for the defending NBA champions.

while taking out the trash i saw a rat scurrying away in the shadow. there's nothing to eat in my backyard but i think rats use it as a thoroughfare.