1. while coming home today, i ran down to the Ruggles Orange Line platform to try to catch a train. i skipped all the way down to the last car (my preferred because of where it drops me at Downtown Crossing) to try to board there, passing up at least one or two open doors on the way. the doorway i was trying to use was half-broken, meaning that (in that way that happens on T trains) one of the two doors had failed to open and so it was slow going for the dozen or so teenagers on the platform who were trying to get into the car. for some reason that i can't fathom, the conductor actually closed the doors in the face of the last teen, who was trying to get on the same car as her friends. (coincidentally he also closed the same door on me who was running for the train, but she had been standing on the platform when the train pulled in.) it pissed me off enough that i called in a complaint to the MBTA.
2. as i was walking from the Davis T stop to the polling station, i was passed by the Somerville DPW tree-wrangling truck, towing a wood chipper. does it strike anyone else as ironic that the side of the truck reads "Somerville, MA / Department of Public Works / Tree City, USA" ?
3. i voted.
4. once i got home i discovered that the drains on my street were clogged. this happens every time it storms because the plows make their gigantic snow banks DIRECTLY on top of the two most essential drains in the neighborhood. however, by the time i got back out to the street to do anything about it, a neighbor from up the street had come down with his spade and cleared a path all the way down the block and into one of the drains. greeting him warmly, i dug out the other one and we went our separate ways.
the other week i had that obnoxious parking ticket, which really started my day off on the wrong foot. today i had a very pleasant experience at the parking office where the nice lady took pity on me for showing up an hour early and sold me a parking permit at 8:20 instead of making me wait until 9:00 when they actually opened. consequently, i'm feeling really good about this morning.
otoh, the double mocha i got from ABP might have something to do with that as well.
in other news, derby scrimmage went much better yesterday. ( Collapse )
that parking ticket? totally valid. because moominmolly and dilletante had the windshield replaced on the car right before they gave it to me. while the windshield company helpfully replaced the inspection sticker, they didn't replace the somerville parking permit. how i've gotten this far without getting a ticket is now completely beyond me. so i still have to go to the parking office on monday, but now with my hat in my hand asking for a favor to get the ticket dismissed (and a new sticker). reason i didn't notice before? i forgot that the somerville parking stickers have to go on your windshield now, not on the side window, and i saw an old side-window sticker this morning.
i went to yoshi's to have sushi for dinner. unfortunately, according to the sign on the door, their owner(?) is in the hospital so the restuarant is closed tonight.
my new helmet for derby? a half size too big. have to send it back and get the smaller one.
3:40 – arrive at Davis T stop. hurry up the stairs to street level. 3:43 – turn corner onto street of polling location. see no line. 3:44 – arrive at polling location. see no line. 3:44:15 – enter voting booth room. stand in line behind three other people. wait an extra minute while the election officials swap places so one can take a break. 3:46 – receive ballot 3:48 – stand in "check-out" line to turn in ballot, behind a whopping seven people. strike up conversation with person behind me about how short the lines are. listen to horror story from person in front of me, who waited two hours at the wrong polling place before being sent to this one. 3:51 – put ballot into electronic reader. thank election officials for their work.
um..... yeah. i guess i'm glad i didn't go to the gym today?
porter square is like the oasis for the UHG. after taking public transit home from school today, i stopped in the locally-owned vitamin and supplement shop to acquire some of their locally-packaged products. next i popped into my neighborhood book store to order a new graphic novel that just came out. i knew the name of the book, but had forgotten the author, and in the process of describing it to the helpful clerk, he became very interested in the strip that the book is based on. the book should be in later this week. why pay shipping?* proceeding up the row, i ducked into TAGS in search of a single-cup coffee brewing gadget. $2.99, but i paid another $12 for the permanent filter so i don't have to use paper. (sure, amazon sells these things too... in lots of eight.) i probably don't get any points for roasting and grinding my own coffee, do i? finally, it was off to the grocery store for my typical collection of Clif bars, and cans of juice to add to Rosa'a home carbonated water maker to make "homemade soda".
it seems sort of silly to say this, though i've said it in the past, but doing this sort of thing makes me warm and fuzzy inside. yay for green living... or something!
*: ultimately, the bookstore does have to pay shipping. so, if there are any 'carbon footprint' savings here, it's because the bookstore probably is placing a huge order anyway, and this way i don't have a UPS guy make an extra trip to my house to drop off the package.
habitat for humanity is doing a car donation drive where you donate your vehicle in exchange for a tax writeoff, a one-year Zipcar membership, and $250 in driving credit.
friday morning the donation folks came and picked up my truck while i was at school. friday afternoon i went to the registry to turn in my plates, then to the post office to return my FastLane tag. today i called the auto insurance company to cancel my policy. all i need now is for H4H to call me back and tell me when my Zipcar membership will be activated.
i'm pretty excited about this! it solves the problem of what to do with my car while i'm out at star, and frankly it's probably a good thing all around that i got that hulking piece of gaz-guzzling scrap metal off the road. i presume that they will sell it for parts and not as a working vehicle, given the mechanical and cosmetic issues that thing had.
of course it remains to be seen how i cope with not having personal transportation anymore, which i suspect will largely be a question of how well Zipcar "works" with my life. i'm very interested to find out though!
++ good weekend in which i got many things done and still (somewhat forceably) made some time for myself to recharge – got into a fight with my parents on saturday – slipped and fell on my ass this morning on the walk to the T + only did so once, which is amazing given the crap (wtf is "freezing drizzle"? i guess now i know) falling from the sky + conversation with advisor went well ++ she took "if it doesn't get me closer to finishing my thesis, i don't want to talk about it" at face value and said it was reasonable ++ she was impressed with the preliminary results i gave her ++++++ green light to start WRITING MY $!@% THESIS – i still have a bunch of code development to do that i only sort of hinted at
+++ december will not be quite as awful as i thought it might be +/– i still have a shitload of work to do in the next month
Thank you for taking all of the beer bottles from this weekend's party out of our recycling overnight. I wouldn't have wanted the recycling folks to think we're lushes or anything. Also, I hope that the packie takes them back without being washed out first, because lord knows we didn't do it. And I hope that the $3 you'll get for returning them makes a difference to you.
Thank you for following the laws of our fair city by picking up your dog's crap from in front of our house. However, it's still your responsibility to dispose of it properly. I apologize for not having any trash cans out in front of the house for your convienence, but picking a six-pack carrier out of the paper recycling and placing the plastic baggie in it is not proper disposal.
angry
surprised