i cleaned the aquariums first because that was most urgent. my tanks are in the kitchen, and when oily precipitates land on the surface of the water (the kind that comes from daily greasy chinese-style cooking courtesy of my former roommate), it creates massive algae bloom. i went full service, cleaning out the filters as well and refilling the activated carbon.
i started with the aquariums too late because by the time i finally finished it was already getting dark. that meant washing the blinds would have to wait until tomorrow. around this time the outdoor temperature dropped enough for the rain to falling as a dusting of snow.
next i moved on to the bike. both shifter cables needed replacing: the front cable was about to snap, the rear cable was too short (which made it auto-shift into the lowest gear). bike cables are hard enough that you can't just easily snip them with a pair of cutters without ruining your cutters. that's where my corded dremel tool comes into play, as i sliced the cable in half, sparks flying for a few seconds.
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unfortunately the wire inside a piece of the housing was so badly rusted i couldn't get it out. after i lubed it with some triflow oil i finally did manage to yank out the wire with some pliers. when i tried to snake a clean piece of cable through the housing it wouldn't go all the way through, which meant it was rusted on the inside and i'd need to buy some replacement housings. i do have a bike cable repair kit, but the housings are in black and i'm trying to find some grey ones to match the bike.
other than that a rather uneventful day. trying to enjoy my private time before my new roommate arrives early sunday morning. i'm glad we got some snow but the small amount is still disappointing (at least in the boston area; elsewhere like western and northern MA they got a lot). good thing is hopefully it won't take too long to melt and i can go out and run some errands tomorrow.