Hello Amsterdam, my name is Fernando

An active day. I would have preferred, in my over-tired moments before rising this morning, a day of inactivity, the Sabbath, Part Deux, if you will, but it wasn't to be. I made out alright, however, and this day was favorable enough for it not to be labeled shitty. Could have been better, though.

For starters, it was raw, windy, and rainy. Guess who was out walking around in the midst of this foul weather, traversing the streets of Boston and Cambridge in his efforts to record documents at the Registry of Deeds of each city? I wasn't whistling merry and I certainly didn't have a spring in my step, but my umbrella helped and I wasn't outdoors long enough to be wholly immersed in misery.

On the T to Boston, I determined that I needed to have my car's brakes looked at. They'd reached the point -- and this had been going on for a while -- where, if I didn't take care of the problem, I'd have a potentially much larger problem on my hands. No brakes, no stopping; no stopping, no fun. If for no other reason, I needed to be proactive because I was getting tired of hearing my brakes squeal like a stuck boar every time I applied pressure to them.

After my business at the registries, I dropped my car off at the mechanic and walked home. I hand washed some clothes, which will be the last time -- way more work than I anticipated. The reason for the old school approach was because our washer went kaput. Probably due to the flood, but I suspect Rich; he was the last person to use it. Hey, he's been blaming me for everything from manipulating his soap to the health care debacle; I'm entitled to a little paranoia of my own.

While bent over the tub, squeeze-drying my clothes, I heard the front door open and the jingling of Baby Boy Z's collar. He was being dropped off from his first day at daycare, a/k/a Wags To Riches. I came out of the bathroom, excited to see him, and was met with a dazed and most likely sleepy pooch. He surveyed his surroundings for a minute or two and then lay down and fell asleep. I let him be and went upstairs for a while. When I saw BBZ next, his physiology had undergone a sea change. He was running circles around me all bouncy like as I made my way to the kitchen. I figured I should let him outside -- you know, just in case. Well, good thing I did: within ten seconds of being outside, he took a dump.

My brake issues were costly, but only half as costly as I figured, which was a nice consolation. When I picked up my car, I marveled at how great it was being able to stop the car without worrying about running over a pedestrian, most likely a young mother pushing a baby carriage, because my brakes stopped working.

My Ipod died on me today. It was only a few months old. It's predecessor had only lasted a year. Thanks, Apple. Thanks for nothing!

Another great Lost episode. We're in the final stretch and every episode has been stellar. Been especially impressed with the acting. Everyone's bringing their A game.

Off to read some Drood. Maybe, if time allows, I'll watch Amadeus, which I haven't seen in years. If memory serves, I really enjoyed this film. It's story parallels Drood in one key aspect (average artist's burning envy of genius artist), so watching it may be redundant, but whatever. I live by my own code, and if you don't like it, you can go straight to hell!

Just found out that Turner Classic Movies has been showing Kurosawa films all day. Seven Samurai's on right now. I'm tempted to watch it, but I'd rather watch it another time on DVD, when I can give it my full and undivided attention.

While waiting for my car to be fixed, I watched an episode of Monster Quest, this one centering around Sasquatch sightings in Vancouver. I've seen a ton of episodes of this show and I'm always a little surprised at the end of each episode that they never get closer to solving any of these Cryptid mysteries. If they had, I would have heard about it well before the episode aired. I don't know, but something tells me that if, while filming an episode, they capture the Loch Ness Monster, the news will break immediately. I still like the show, despite knowing that the most I'm likely to get in the way of new evidence will be a hair follicle, a murky photo, or old evidence repackaged as new evidence. Tomorrow's episode concerns the Michigan Dogman, and will not only be the last episode of the season, but also the last episode, period. I'm surprised it lasted this long; there are only so many Cryptid mysteries out there. Anyway, cheers to Monster Quest.

Ok, really this time, off to Drood.