i've been meaning to clean the house for a while now. i've noticed more and more dust bunnies underneath the furnitures and in the corners. so i vacuumed, even windexed one of the windows (it was slightly chilly outside, figured i'd do the other windows on a warmer day), and took the opportunity to clear out a few shelves in the guest bedroom, relocating the books to the bookshelf in the living room. everytime i clean, i wonder to myself, how the hell does it get so dusty around here? i mean, i live by myself, do i really shed that much? what i need is one of those industrial sized ionizer to suck in all that dust.

today was a good day to clean because it was so gloomy and rainy outside. if it had been a slight drizzle i would've gone out running, but it started to pour, so i didn't feel like going outside. just so happens i had some more debug work to do for a client, which kept me occupied and on-call for a few hours. when that was done, i found myself with some free time, so instead of finishing a short list of things i should be doing (change my calling plan, refinance my mortgage, look for a job, amongst other little things), i got dressed and walked to harvard square. it started raining before i got there. i went into cvs looking to buy an umbrella. i ended up buying one of those duckhead handle automatic umbrellas for $16. the woman waiting behind me in line was doing the the same thing, she was buying purple, i got the blue.

from there i grabbed the 73 bus down to mt.auburn cemetery. i crossed the street and took out my new umbrella, unsheathing it from it's sleeve and popping it open with one push of a button. i then spent the next two hours wandering the cemetery aimlessly, occasionally taking out the map to get my bearing. conditions were horrible, rainy, cold, and there wasn't that much to photography, most flowers still suppressed in wintery hibernation compared to last year around this time. i did "discover" a part of the cemetery i've never been before, the consecration dell, down a steep hill just below the lookout tower.

in all the time i was there, i only saw one other person, and a couple driving around in a car. the one other person i saw, a white male in a knitted cap, he was walking around awfully close to where i was, which made me nervous. the thousands of dead buried beneath my feet doesn't bother me at all, but when i see another living human being around, that worries me. if something were to happen, not sure how fast i could run or how loud i could scream. from there i went back uphill to the tower, which was closed (at 5pm). off in the distance i saw a red-tail hawk flying through the trees.




the last place i visited was willow pond, found it more by accident than any sort of planned effort. i could hear birds singing, mostly grackles. in the pond was a pair of mallards and a pair of double-crested cormorants. i've never been much of a fan of cormorants, they remind of oil-slicked seabirds, often seen basking their wings in the sun, but after taking a closer look at them, i think they're rather attractive, with their blues eyes and orange faces, something i never noticed before (i've always thought they were all black).

i made it out of the cemetery by following the painted green line on the road. the place closes at sunset (which was hard to see, with all the clouds), but i did notice it was getting darker, and didn't want to get locked inside of the graveyard. i took the 73 back to harvard square with my last three quarters. going inbound, the buses around rush hour are almost empty. it was nostalgic, i even recognized the driver. traveling along mt.auburn street, i looked right to the charles river, those familiar roads that i take when i go running. from harvard square i walked home, umbrella stowed away, the rain having stopped.

i went out and got $30 worth of groceries, buying a lot of meat products, before coming back home and making myself a pot of corn chowder from a can. gilmore girls was okay, bruce mcculloch (of kids in the hall fame) has joined the cast as the night manager of the inn. rory's going to yale, surprise surprise. is it just me, or had jess become a more sensitive and caring boyfriend? past episodes, he was almost abusive in his neglectfulness, his one good trait was his bad boy image, which was starting to wear thin. looks like next episode jess and rory do some base running, things get out of hand, and dean has to intervene. part of the attraction of the show was the flirtation between loralei and luke, but now that luke has that lawyer girlfriend, a lot of that is gone. next came 24, last week jack bauer died from torture. you tell me any other show past or present where the main character dies from torture! all other shows are baby's shows compared to 24. that show should only be prescribed by a television doctor because it's like crack, it's that addictive. it's cool how jack bauer gets out of his jam though. what's also cool is in the end, when jack comes to kate warner's rescue right when those rednecks are about to kill her. you're all in trouble now! and it's good to see that kim bauer seems to have a critically important role for the last 4 episodes before the season ends.