Today I had breakfast with my dad, got a haircut, bought some toiletries, got SEPTA tokens from PNC, bought groceries at TJ's, watched À Bout de Souffle, sent some e-mails, did some Christmas shopping, checked e-mail, ate dinner, and went for a work-out.
Doing all of the above was a pleasure today, as I didn't feel compelled by tight deadlines. It's odd--I really did accomplish a lot, but it seemed like a day off in comparison to what I'm used to. The movie was excellent. The first time I watched it I thought it sucked, but I really liked it this time around. Also, with my e-mails, I got back down to zero unread e-mails for the first time since October. It's such a relief to have finally gotten to the end of them.
Tomorrow I'm going to order a present, do some French, maybe deal with some BS with Sprint, and possibly mess around with GIS. Ben is coming up tomorrow night, and earlier I might hang out with Bjorn. It should be a sweet day.

There were a couple of things that happened yesterday that were so nice that they deserve mention. First, Shiva and I went to Fugakyu in Brookline for dinner. The place had a hilarious interior--it was colorful and almost looked like Japanese Disney Land. Some diners had private rooms with sliding doors covered with translucent material. The food was excellent, and it was the first incredible meal I've had so far in Massachusetts.
Later I had a lovely moment where I was doing paperwork at my desk, listening to Rachmaninoff, having a little bit of brandy, and outside my window it started snowing. It was perfect.
Today I left Cambridge in the morning, spent most of the day on the train, got dinner with my dad at the Indian place in Media, and came home and unpacked. The train is definitely the most pleasant option between plane, train, or bus. I read the latest issue of Philadelphia magazine, which was quite good. They managed to make yet another article about cheesesteaks interesting and relevant beyond food--nice job.
Tomorrow, and during the whole break in general, my primary goal is to relax. This means sleep, reading, eating, and hanging out. However, there are a few things I need to do. Tomorrow I want to get a haircut, pick up some groceries and toiletries, use my Amazon gift cards possibly to get some people gifts, and write to some people in Kyoto about possibly meeting up with a design/planning student there. I'm going to be in Kyoto for a few days after Tokyo, and I think it would be cool to meet someone there and have them show me some interesting stuff and make a new friend.