i put the new foam handlebar grips on my bicycle. they fit perfectly but aren't as stylish as the original grips, which were contoured. these new ones were just plain cylindrical. they work though, and that's the important thing. i no longer need rubberbands to keep my old grips in place. i also pumped the tires and oiled the chains before i left for the cafe in the late morning.

i dropped off the latest temu purchases. i went over to my sister's place to try out the new glowing dog collar on esmei. it was at least an inch shorter than her current collar, she can wear it, but it looks tight. fortunately the collar itself only costs $2.50, but i think we'll get a new one that's a big longer and has rechargeable capacity; the one that i got uses watch batteries which are hard to come by.

the big news this morning was the patriots parting ways with bill belichick. i already read about it when i woke up but then saw the noontime press conference. i was one of the people who thought belichick should've stayed with the team, but now that i think about it, this decision is best for both parties. after 4 years of mediocrity after the departure of tom brady, there was no reason to believe things would improve. hiring a GM to oversee belichick would be impossible, since he's so used to having his ways.

belichick (333 wins) is 14 victories shy of tying don shula's all-time wins record (347), and i think it's something he wants to beat, and deservedly so. who knows how long it'd take him to reach that goal coaching the patriots, who will be rebuilding for the near future. his best bet is to go to another team - one with good players already in place - and begin accumulating wins again for his record.

patriots benefit with belichick leaving in that they can now fully start over with a fresh slate. it's a sad day, but patriots nation already mourned a great deal when brady left the team. now the final piece of the quarter century new england dynasty is finally closing its chapter with the departure of belichick. it's a weird time for football coaches: yesterday seahawks made pete carroll step down as coach (though he's still with the team, though not sure for how long), and nick saban announced his retirement. also earlier in the week the tennessee titans fired coach mike vrabel.

for lunch i heated up another chicken bake. my new softshell jacket ($56) arrived. it looks very similar to my old eddie bauer jacket, the one with the broken zipper, but this one has a few more pockets (more pockets the better).

i put the new jacket to the test when i rode to boston around 2pm for my wart removal appointment at MGH. it kept me warm enough to the point where i needed to unzip because i was cooking inside the jacket.

the access care department was right across the hall from where i usually see my primary care doctor. it was my first time being here. i explained to the nurse (maya) about the wart between my fingers. she told me we could try removing it today. i thought maybe it'd involve a local anesthetic, but she said no. so right away she began spraying the wart with a liquid nitrogen sprayer. i was a little worried that the nozzle wasn't very fine and was spraying a large area around the wart as well. did i mention it hurt like hell? a very sharp pain. i briefly thought i would've been better off just leaving the wart alone just so i wouldn't have to endure this torture. she'd spray a few times and stop to give me time to catch my breath before spraying again. she sprayed a total of 4 times before announcing it was all done. she told me the area would blister and the wart would hopefully fall off. sometimes it doesn't and then requires an additional appointment, which i made in advance. she said no special care was needed for the sprayed area, even though it hurt like crazy.

i left MGH in a daze. i was even afraid to put on my gloves, didn't want to touch my open wound.

instead of going home, i made a stop at mu lan first on cambridge street, to get some smoked duck (half, $20) for my mother. there were a few tables of customers, two of which were japanese, and one was just the waitstaff gathering around chatting. japanese seem to love taiwanese food, as they have an affinity for their former colony. chinese food? not so much.

i decided to ride to the cafe to drop off the duck, so my mother could have it for tonight. she had a piece and saved the rest of later.

when i got home i had a chance to examination the liquid nitrogen wound on my hand. the area was a a little red but the pain was starting to subside. over time it stopped hurting entirely. it also formed a small blister, as promised. surprisingly, the skin was still intact. the way the nurse was blasting my fingers with the subzero gas and the amount of pain i felt, i wouldn't sworn there was an open gaping wound. but there wasn't.

for dinner i finished the last of my mujaddara. it's good that this was the last of it, because after 3 consecutive nights of eating it, i'm pretty much all lentil and riced out. i microwaved it for 2 minutes, mixed the lentil rice, then microwaved it for another 2 minutes. i then added the cold tzatziki and cold fried onions.

i thought tonight was be an exciting night of basketball as the celtics faced the bucks in milwaukee. bucks are on a 2-game losing streak (lost against the rockets and the jazz) and had 3 days to get ready for tonight. the celtics are on their 2nd night of back-to-back games, having beaten the timberwolves at home last night in overtime, then traveled to milwaukee to play the bucks tonight.

not making any excuses but the celtics had zero energy. shots were hitting the front of the rim, nothing was falling, especially the 3's, which boston live and die by them. the only player who didn't play last night was porzingis, and he was having an awful shooting night himself. the bucks on the other hand were focused. having lost to the celtics already this season and not wanting to face a 3-game losing streak, they were determined to win. this was how bad it got: at one point the bucks lead by 40 points, and that was just in the first half.

boston coach mazzulla waved the white flag after halftime, sitting all the starters and just playing their bench guys. bucks still had to play their starters for one more quarter (some weird NBA rule?) before they sat them down in the 4th. i'm assuming that's the case because TNT - the sole broadcaster of tonight's game (no local broadcast) - actually switched to a different game, the celtics-bucks game was so lopsided by that point. so even if i wanted to see the celtics get destroyed, i couldn't. the final score wasn't too bad, 135-102. at least we broke 100! fortunately it wasn't like the blazers-thunder game: OKC beat portland by 62 points (139-77) (thunder was on the 2nd night of a back-to-back as well).