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my day kickstarted when my sister called me around 11:30am saying michael's macbook pro was having issues. he would've called me himself, but my phone number is in his outlook which he couldn't access. so i called him to figure out what was happening. it all started when he upgraded his OS last night. when he came to the store this morning, parallel desktop wasn't working anymore. i immediately recognized this is a software update issue and told him i'd come by around 12:30pm. in the meantime, i downloaded the latest version of parallel desktop.

for lunch i had a jiucaihezi that my 2nd aunt had made; she put in a lot of shrimp skin, i could taste the fishiness which i didn't like. after i finished eating, i packed up my bag as i'd be heading into boston afterwards, then went to michael's store.

i installed the new version of parallel desktop. unfortunately it forced me to upgrade to the latest version (some OS monterey thing), so the new version it downloaded no longer had a crack and was a 14-day trial version. michael ended up paying for a license ($80), and he was back in business, able to access his microsoft outlook via a virtual machine copy of windows 7.

we also chatted about similarities between ukraine-russia and taiwan-china. michael told me when the war started, he and his sister traveled to romania with a group of ukrainian-americans to give out supplies and money to arriving ukrainian refugees. his mother still has family in ukraine, but in liev, which is the westernmost city, relatively safe from russian attacks. he does have a relative in his late 20's who's a mechanic for the army, repairing vehicles and delivering them to the frontline (apparently they take turns doing the deliveries, which can be dangerous). when he and his sister returned to boston, they both contracted covid while they were in eastern europe. michael's symptoms was just a dry cough and fatigue, which went after a week of in-home quarantine.

it was auspicious that michael's macbook had issues, because it gave me a chance to bring in my old pair of glasses which i accidentally cracked the frame. i tried gluing it back in place, but it never worked, so now i wear my transition glasses, which i like, but occasionally the transition effect annoys me. michael was willing to make me a new pair with progressive lenses for my slight presbyopia.

i finally left by 1:50pm, cycled down mass ave and then cut into kendall square to get into boston. i haven't been down that stretch of main street to kendall in a long time, i don't even recognize the area. everything is new there - the buildings, the companies, the restaurants. it also seems very expensive, catering to those with disposable incomes.

i cut across boston common to get to ming's market by 2:15pm. there wasn't much i needed: baby bokchoi, sichuan chili oil sauce, pickled radishes, a packaged of pitted dried prunes. i was in and out there by 2:30pm.

i biked through downtown crossing and the financial district to get to haymarket. everywhere i saw people wearing celtics jerseys, in anticipation of game 4 tonight between golden state and boston. i shopped quickly at haymarket, just 15 minutes: baby cucumbers ($3), 2 boxes of strawberries ($2), 1 box of blackberries ($1), 3 containers of unhomogenized milk ($1), long-horn peppers ($2), 8 lemons ($2).

instead of going home, i took a detour and swung around north station to see the giant replica NBA finals trophy sitting outside, a line of people waiting to get their photo taken with it. i also saw the renovated entrance to north station, like a celtics basketball shrine, with banners of the players hanging from the high ceiling.

i biked to the cafe, arriving by 3:50pm, my butt muscles straining from all the peddling, nearly too tired to continue. but bike fatigue is completely different from running fatigue. i don't get winded when i bike, at most i'm gasping for air, but i don't get that same pain in the chest like i do when i run, and even when i stop peddling, i'm still moving forward.

after dropping off the supplies, i returned home. my mother packed me some leftovers for dinner, saving me from having to do another ramen friday night. i thought about going down to the garden, but it was late and my plot would already be in the shadows, figured i'd do that tomorrow morning instead.

i called michael, said i just wanted regular lenses for my new glasses, that i didn't need progressives. i'm afraid i won't like them and will regret getting them. with regular lenses i know what i'm getting, don't need to retrain myself in how to use my glasses. he told me to give progressives a try, and if i don't like them, he'll change out the lenses to regular ones. i agreed, my new glasses should be ready in about a week.

the rest of the day was spent preparing for the basketball game which wouldn't start until 9pm. once again, i fell asleep on the couch around 6:30pm, waking up an hour later. my body felt tired, could barely get up, minor aches all over, from the biking and the running i did this week.

before game time i microwaved my dinner and sat down to eat and watch the game. it was a close game throughout, with multiple lead changes. there would be no blowout tonight. unfortunately celtics lost the game in the final few minutes, when the warriors got the lead and boston settled from 3-pointers (and missing) instead of going into the paint. it was a little infuriating, seems like a rookie mistake, maybe it was just fatigue, or maybe golden state baited them with open looks but the celtics went dry in the final minutes. celtics missed a great opportunity, now they have to win another game on the road if they're to win the finals, while golden state regains home court advantage. game 5 is on monday.