i was browsing reddit in the bathroom this morning when i saw the news: patriots release cam newton. at first i thought it was a joke, then i visited some sports news sites and they all said the same. it was such a breaking news here in the boston area that some channels interrupted their late morning programs to report on it. i spent the rest of the day watching sports shows to make sense of it all. everything i'd heard from the media and from the team was newton would be the starting quarterback. there were rumors that belichick wasn't happy that newton refused to get vaccinated which cost him nearly a week of practice when he missed one of his daily testing appointment with an authorized personnel. i heard maybe they wanted to make newton the backup QB but he wouldn't go far it. the news was shocking but it only accelerated the inevitable, that eventually mac jones would take over as QB.

i was going to have a cream cheese bagel for lunch but my old bagels were still in the freezer and needed a day to thaw. instead i just had a maruchan instant cup of noodles. i planned on going to market basket in the early afternoon to get some groceries. my mother gave me some leftover rotisserie chicken last night, i was going to turn it into stock and use it as a rice noodle base.

my mother called me asking to see what i was doing. she said my sister saw a steel shelf (in black) while she was walking the dog and needed my help to pick it up. while my father returned to belmont to change the car, i arrived at the cafe via bike. but the time my father came back and we went to the place where the shelf was, somebody had already taken it.

i returned home and saw a steel shelf somebody had thrown out onto the sidewalk. are shelves just falling from the sky? i went to go pick it up. it was only 2 3ft stainless steel shelves with extensible poles. the poles also had wheels on them. i wish there more layers but at the very least i could assemble it and turn it into a portable greenhouse unit or maybe just strip it for parts.

i finally went to market basket. as this was the end of august and typically leases expire during this time, the streets were littered with discarded home furnishings. i some an aluminum step ladder and some chicken wires somebody had thrown onto the curb, made a note to come back and check them out. i just had a few grocery items to get - tzatziki, pita bread, cucumber, cilantro, toilet paper. coming back, i grabbed the coil of chicken wires first, tied it to the back of my bike. a few blocks down i came across the folding ladder. i almost took it before i saw the bottom step had been bashed in making it structurally unsound. i left without the ladder.

i had this sharp throbbing pain on the back of my skull behind my left ear. i've had it before in the past, i finally decided to do some research on it. most likely it's some kind of occipital neuralgia. i think i had it since yesterday, but i really noticed it today. the cause might be a little boil that formed on the area between my ear and temple where the arm of my glasses it. hopefully it'll go away on its own. there's no cure for it, just ways to alleviate the pain. i took 2 ibuprofen later in the evening, it didn't seem to do anything.

for dinner i first made the chicken stock using the leftover rotisserie chicken. i also added some white ground pepper, salt, ginger slices, and a dash of vodka (normally i'd use chinese cooking wine). at the halfway point i added some loosely chopped scallions for flavor. i left it to simmer for nearly 40 minutes before i scooped out a portion into a smaller pot and cooked some rice noodles. i haven't had this recipe in a while, it used to be my go-to because i can make a meal out of a rotisserie chicken and the use the scraps to make stock which was good for a few more meals.

i'm trying to get to bed early tonight, because i need to get to greater boston motorsports tomorrow morning at 9am to deliver the motorcycle for a tune-up. i don't know how long it's going to take - do i pick it up later in the day or after a few days? if it's later in the day i hope it doesn't take too long because remnants of tropical storm ida is heading our way, some rain starting at 1pm. i don't want to ride back in the rain but i will if i have to. regardless, i'll probably need to take the 77 bus back home.