i left the house around 8:30am this morning and took the ebike to haymarket in boston to get some cheap produce. i tried to go slow, not to needlessly overtake anyone in the bike lane, but my ebike is so much faster, it seemed i had no choice but to pass everyone.

a lot of vendors seemed to be still setting up on a friday morning. compared to last saturday, there seemed to be less variety for some reason. for example, last week a bunch of people were selling long horn peppers; this week, not a single vendor had them. my haul: 6 gold nugget oranges ($4), 3 packages of baby cucumbers ($4.50), 1 box of cherry tomatoes ($1.50), 2 lbs. of regular tomatoes ($4), 10 cara cara oranges ($4), 2 sleeves of garlic ($4), 1 pineapple ($3), 1 pomegranate ($3), 10 miniature anjou pears ($2).

i headed back to cambridge by 9:30am, returning the same way i came via the west end, museum of science, cambridge crossing, cambridge street, harvard square, and cutting through cambridge common. i learned my lesson from last time, i brought a towel to line bottom of my rear basket. i also had my backpack, which not only can carry more stuff compared to my messenger bag, but less tendency to bounce around against my body when i ride.

i made it to the cafe before 10am. i was confused because my parents were unloading items from the car, including cases of water. did they go to costco before coming to the cafe? then when did they open the store? so what happened was my mother walked to the cafe this morning while my father went by himself to costco to get some supplies, sparing us from having to do it this weekend. the big supply run this weekend will be on sunday, when we to go baifu then chinatown. that means monday morning i'll be at the cafe making a new batch of taiwanese paocai. i've been making smaller batches to preserve their freshness, as older batches begin turning darker yellow. unfortunately that means i have to make the paocai more often - monthly - which is a pain. it takes about 3 hours to make a new batch.

my father cooked some more chicken feet today. he found a recipe online that involves boiling the feet, airfrying, soaking in an ice bath, sauteeing with seasoning, then steaming for an hour. he started the recipe in the morning but it wasn't ready until the early afternoon. texture-wise it was very good, also the right amount of salt. however, there just wasn't enough flavor. it wasn't bland, but i added a tablespoon of spicy fuqifeipian sauce it wasn't enough. next time, we should use readymade spicy sauce.

with the memorial day long weekend this weekend, it wasn't very busy today. we thought we wouldn't have any customers, but slow and steady we managed to make slightly above our daily average by day's end, not bad. pretty much every day this week we made about the same amount. unlike last friday when we had a spike - two day's profit in one day. i imagine tomorrow will be similar to today. i'd be surprised if it get crazy busy.

my xiaomi fitness band 6 finally died today. even though i couldn't see the screen anymore, it was still working, because i could still sync it with the phone app. it still works, tracking my steps, my heart rate, my sleep duration. but today it suddenly wouldn't stop vibrating. i tried shutting it down via the app but it didn't work. sometimes connecting it to the chargeer will make it regain normalcy but that didn't work. i ended up unpairing the fitness band, which finally fixed it. but with the touchscreen not working anymore, it's impossible to resync it with any future devices, so the band is basically dead. i did however buy a new one off of ebay, mi band 10. even for an open box unit it still cost $40. it won't arrive until a week later.

that means until the new mi band arrives, i might go back to wearing a regular watch. i haven't worn one in more than 8 years. not since i got a mi band 2. i then graduated to a mi band 4, followed by the mi band 6.

big news today was the resignation of tulsi gabbard as director of national intelligence. her reason was so she could take care of her husband who has bone cancer, but she's been relegated to insignificance within the trump circle for a while now. it's weird that it's mostly women leaving trump's cabinet, as his administration gets even more testosterone heavy.

my aunt came in the late afternoon. she invited us to her house on monday late afternoon for a memorial day barbecue. she also got a chance to ride my ebike.

my sister was chatting with the korean baker who came back to town to get some stuff from her store. the baker gave my sister some communion wafers (leftover from some previous baking project) and an unopened bottle of korean makgeolli. having made our own, i'm curious to know what authentic korean makgeolli tastes like.

after i got home, i wrote a report of what i heard at the developers meeting last night, after steve "suggested" i could share some info. others went to the meeting as well, but somehow i'm the designated transcriber, despite coming into the meeting when they were already wrapping up. luckily i do a lot of writing anyway, so sending out an e-mail was pretty easy. nobody responded back though.

i found my own timex weekender watch. it was working the last time i checked, but the battery is clearly dead now. i ordered a new battery (CR2016) off of amazon, due to arrive sunday. replacing the watch battery isn't difficult, unfortunately this watch needs a special watch back press tool to close it back up. fortunately i bought one back in 2017, the very first time i needed to replace the battery. there's probably a hack to press the watch back, but since i already have this tool, might as well use it.

after a shower i made another ham and cheese wrap. they're not bad, i can probably eat this a few more times before i absolutely get sick of it. my favorite part is the sweet & spicy pickle chips drizzles with sriracha and sprinkled with everything bagel seasoning. it's a weird fusion that seems to work.

i ate while watching game 3 between the thunder and spurs. san antonio started off with an early 15 point lead while OKC couldn't score a single bucket to save. maybe that made the spurs over confidence, but the thunder started systemically chipping away at the lead until midway in the 2nd quarter they had the lead for good and never gave it back. the whole second half was just a showcase of just how good they are. they played faster, they were more accurate, i gave them credit. let's see how the spurs respond in game 4.

my xiaomi fitness band died today. it still works, but the screen no longer registers touches. i knew it was going bad because for months now i noticed water was started to seep into the sides. i have a fitness band 6 but you can't find new ones of those. the best i can do is a band 7 for $30, but discovered today nobody sells those either on aliexpress. now i'm looking at upgrading to a 9 or 10 (10 being the most current version), which are $40 and $50 respectively. newer fitness bands are not compatible with the app i'm using now, i'll have to switch to a newer app.

i tried the new 4C strawberry lemonade mix. it was okay, but way too sweet. there was also no tartness, which is what i expect from my lemonade.

we were busy today around 12pm and then around 3pm. that was enough to make above our daily average. so far this week has more or less mirrored last week. will tomorrow follow suit? because it was super busy last friday, two days' profit in just one day.

my parents made dumplings for dinner with some more garden garlic chives. i had more wraps waiting for me back at home.

when i got back home, i ran to the house behind me to attend an open house hosted by the developer who bought the house and planned on tearing it down. there was just 15 minutes left, but i got enough to piece the facts together. the renovation will take about a year, beginning next weekend, when they plan on removing the asbestos from the roof. they plan on adhering to cambridge's general contractors/construction working hours, which means working from 7am to 6pm monday through friday, and 9am to 6pm on saturday. the final design for the 3 units aren't finalize yet, nor the fate of the large backyard oak. i did however discover the contractor already got a tree removal permit from the city. when i asked him about it, he said it was a preemptive formality, doesn't mean he's going to take down the tree (just yet). the contractor was affable enough, said all the right things, but sometimes it's the things people don't say that give away their intentions.

the only other person i saw there that i knew was renee. we ended up walking back to our street together, comparing notes, talking about our next strategy.

i made another wrap, took a quick shower, before eating and watching the cavs-knicks game. the game was close in the first half, but the knicks just dominated in the second half. cavs played like the celtics when they're at their worst: a lot of iso ball and failed 3-point shooting. when you play like that, you don't when many games. final score 93-109, knicks up 2-0 in the series.

i watched stephen colbert's final show. i still can't believe he's off the air forever. i'm also very curious what his next venture is, because i can't believe he'll just sit around silently while there's so much political humor to mine. at the very least a podcast? after a well-deserved rest.

i shut down my grow closet today, moved all my plants outside to take advantage of the sunlight and heat. this included my stevias as well hot temperature loving seedings like peppers and eggplants. i was still keeping those indoors thinking i could grow them better under artificial lights, but at some point i have to stop babying them and let them fend for themselves outside. my only concern is it's hot now, but starting tomorrow temperature will drop down to 60's during the daytime and 50's at night. as for the corkscrew pepper seeds i was trying to germinate in the ziploc bag, none of them sprouted. all the seeds turned moldy.

i went to whole foods to return the aquarium temperature timer (shipped to me instead of the EMT conduit connectors i ordered). i still haven't busted out my shorts yet, instead wearing my jeans, which made me super hot as i then cycled to market basket to get some groceries. besides getting 2 12-pack of diet coke, i also got some ground pork and milk. i was way overloaded and spent some time packing my rear bike baskets so i could get everything home. every bump made me afraid the baskets would break apart under the weight of all those items.

i was sweat-soaked when i got back home. i took a quick shower before moving all the groceries to my motorcycle saddlebags then i went to the cafe by 11:30am. i dropped off the supplies before continuing to belmont.

i borrowed the car and went to home depot (HD) to get more EMT conduits for our garden trellis project. i had to clean out the honda first to make sure i had room to fit the material. while i was at HD, i also decided to get some 2x10 8ft pressure treated planks. these will be used to repair the last of our broken raised bed (RB1), but we won't do that until the fall, and in the meantime, the planks will be used as the tabletop for our sawhorse plant stand. i also wanted to get some 2x4 to make a pair of simple DIY sawhorses, but there wasn't any prices on the ones that i saw, and i was too lazy to look them up so decided not to get them for now.

i also got some 5W-30 full synthetic motor oil for our two snowblowers. we've never replaced the oil on our own, the only times was when the machines went our to the mechanic for servicing. given how both of our snowblowers nearly didn't work during this snowy winter, we're trying to be more proactive with our snowblower care. besides changing the oil, we're also going to drain the fuel tank.

i grabbed some orchid potting medium (bark chips) and some stainless steel screws before finally making it to the electrical aisle all the way on the other side of the store. there were EMT conduits of all sizes, from 1/2" to several inches in diameter. i grabbed 8 conduits. it takes 6 to make a single 4x10x6ft trellis, with one for the unfinished trellis in our backyard and one more for the hops trellis.

i then had to push the lumber cart all the way to the other side of the store, since i wasn't going to be able to fit the u-shaped self-checkout line. it was quite a challenge, like driving a semi truck, making sure i didn't hit anyone or knock over any merchandise.

loading everything into the car also took some time. a man saw me and asked if i needed help. he should've understood that no man needs help loading their vehicle at home depot. to say otherwise simply means defeat and a lack of macho energy. i could fit the 8ft planks into the vehicle and still close the hatch, but i wasn't able to do it with the 10ft conduits, which ended up sticking out of the back of the car by 2 feet.

i drove back to belmont carefully, made sure i didn't do any quick stops or accelerations. i also looked back periodically to make sure the bags of orchid bark or the motor oil didn't fall out of the car.

i unloaded everything. before i left, i decided to install the 10ft conduit onto the trellis my father and i started on monday. i used a ladder to hold up the conduit on one end while i clamped the other end. it seemed to be working, but while i was clamping the other end, i accidentally dropped the conduit. i didn't think nothing of it at first, as the other side was still connected. but then after i clamped the second end, the first end came loose. when i went to secure the first end, i noticed the t-connector didn't fuse together anymore. when i dropped the conduit, it must've bent the connectors. i might be able to bend it back with a vise, but in the meantime i just grabbed some new ones.

another thing i remembered i had to do was water the grow room plants. when i went down to check on them, all of them seemed properly hydrated, so i decided to skip watering. most likely by this weekend all the plants will be moved outside anyway. i did however move out all the wintering peppers. not sure how many of them will survive. i thought at least two, but now they all seem dead. put them outside, maybe the heat and sunshine will bring them back to life.

i took the car and returned to cambridge. i brought a package of raised bed soil that we bought more than a month ago, to be used in my own community garden plot. i went home and collected most of the milk crates from the basement and put them in the car. i also added the garden hose trolley i found weeks ago. i don't need the trolley i just need the hose, which we might cut up to make new rain barrow connectors.

i then went to the community garden to drop off the raised bed soil and the milk crates. annemarie was there watering the plants in the common bed. i said hello to her before leaving.

back at the house a second time, i loaded up the car with all the seedlings from my backyard, including all the ones i just moved out this morning. i'll need a few for myself, but i pick and choose some other time. they'll have better care in belmont, more sunlight, free watering. i was so thirsty i grabbed a cold can of seltzer from the fridge and quickly washed it down in front of the house. i then got the equivalent of an ice cream headache except i felt the freezing paralysis in my stomach. it knocked the wind out of me, took me a few seconds to recover.

i drove back to belmont to return the car and unload all the seedlings. i put them on the picnic table, which gets some late afternoon sun, but is otherwise shady. i moved the plants onto mesh carts so they have better drainage and won't drown from watering or the rain. some seedlings i moved onto the raised beds for maximum sun, plants like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and okra. the rest - mostly climbing plants - will remain on the picnic table for now. the stevias i put in the sunroom, they need more TLC before they can go outside.

back on my motorcycle, i got back home a bit after 3:30pm. i weighed myself, i lost over 4 lbs. just from all the sweating i did today, not to mention i didn't eat anything all day. but being a masochist, i didn't i wanted to revisit market basket. when i went this morning, i was already carrying so much stuff, i didn't have any room for my own things. so i went back via bicycle. i got mostly snacks, fruit popsicles, a few bags of chips. i thought about getting some sushi, but it was already so close to dinner, and i was going to make make and cheese wrap tonight, so decided against it. my mother did ask me to buy a watermelon (on sale $5.99). i carried it in one of my cloth grocery bags, but it was so heavy, it ripped open the bag. i ended up carrying the watermelon in my messenger bag.

i took a shower back at the house. i was going to put the cover on my motorcycle, but the forecast of rain in the early evening had fizzled out, despite some threatening clouds overhead. i drank a lot of cold fluids (ice tea, ice water) and snacked on savory southwestern trail mix and some jalapeno agave corn chips.

it wasn't as hot today as yesterday, though the official temperature in boston did reach 90 degrees. my own weather station said the temperature was just in the upper 80's.

i used up the rest of my day off time just watching youtube videos until it got late enough for dinner. the spurs-thunder game wasn't until 8:30pm, i didn't make dinner until after 8pm. i made two simple ham & cheese wrap: one had japanese kewpie mayo with lettuce, cooked ham, american cheese, some chopped tomatoes, dash of everything bagel seasoning, and a drizzle of sriracha. the other wrap had creamy parmesan dressing instead of mayo, and i added some sweet & spicy pickle chips. the wraps were a real mess to eat, i had to go wash my face and hands after each finishing eat half. i was already full after eating one wrap, but decided to power through and eat the second one. the second one was better, with the pickle chips. afterwards i was so sick of wraps, i don't know if i can eat them again tomorrow night.

OKC won the game, 113-122. it was a must-win for them, very few teams come back from an 0-2 deficit in the conference final. the first quarter was competitive, but the thunder dominated the three remaining quarters. spurs would't go away though, came back a few times, but the most they could do was tie up the game, before OKC went on another run to maintain their lead. spurs was without de'aaron fox for the second time this series, but then they lost dylan harper in the third quarter to some unknown leg injury. nevertheless, without two players, san antonio still kept the game close.

i checked on my seedling this morning, made sure they had enough water, especially the ones outside that would have to brave the heat today. it was already 76 degrees by the then i left for the cafe.

my father made a batch of ramen noodle soup stock today, simmering a broth of beef bones, pork bones, and chicken feet. after the flavors had been extracted, my father took the leftover chicken feet and marinated them in some sichuan hot sauce. it was okay, the feet were very tender to the point of falling apart, and the flavor didn't full absorb yet.

in the morning i made a batch of boba pearls and a batch of black soy noodles. i then went down to trader joe's to get some supplies. there was some drama at the checkout lane, a customer just left his cart behind after checking out. the cashier was like, "aren't you going to put this back?" and the customer replied no, that he didn't need it anymore. the cashier became angry, but i diffused the situation by telling her i would push the cart out and put it with the other carts.

jeana finally came by to pick up her hydrangeas. she wasn't mad that one of the plants had all its flowers shrivel up, she said those plants were in bad shape to begin with.

we weren't sure if it'd be busy with the weather so hot. but it actually got pretty busy between 11-1pm. we sold a few bentos, but cold sesame noodles seemed to be the most popular item, which makes sense on a hot day like today. i ended up having to make 2 more batches of black soy noodles. i imagine it'd the same tomorrow.

how hot did it get? 96 degrees the official temperature in boston, breaking the record for today. for the first time we turned on the AC in the cafe. unfortunately there's no AC in the kitchen area, so my father wanted to turn on the window fan, but i said it wasn't necessary, i didn't mind the heat.

we also ran the ice machine for most of the day. cold drinks - whether that's coffee or boba tea - were also very popular. because of the heat, it took longer to make the ice. by day's end my father brought up 6 containers of ice while i made 5 more for the basement freezer.

the noontime weather forecast said there'd be severe thunderstorms in the early evening. i knew today would be hot, but i didn't expect rain until tomorrow. but the heat combined with the humidity can spontaneously generate storm clouds, and that's exactly what happened. i went to close the deck umbrella and put away all the furniture, as well as put a rain cover on my bike seat and close the car windows. no sooner did i finish did it start to rain. my sister was coming back with walking esmei around the neighborhood.

it was some serious downpour. a couple came into the cafe to ask for directions and to dodge the rain. when they opened the door, the wind whipped it wide open, like a hurricane. they were kind of obnoxious, because the alcove area is small, they stood there with the door open, letting all the AC escape. i wanted to tell them to wait somewhere else (don't block the door!) but it was raining so heavily, we decided to just let them wait.

there was also a car crash at the intersection. so many accidents happen there, i ought to put a webcam facing the street to capture all the drama. i didn't hear the crash, but when i looked out the window, there was a car with it's entire driver side corner ripped off. the collision was so damaging even the front bumper came off. plus for some reason the left rear tail light was also cracked. i kept trying to see where he crashed into but couldn't tell. i did see him exchanging papers with another woman. to add insult to injury, it was also pouring rain, so he just sort of stood on the sidewalk getting totally drenched, trying to figure out what to do next. at least nobody can see you crying in the rain.

my parents stayed behind to have some fish for dinner. two kids knocked on the door right after we closed. my mother recognized them and let them in. they got some dumplings and boba tea to go. thankfully the rain had stopped by the time we closed. i had a leisurely dry ride back home.

first thing i did when i got back was to check on my seedlings. they were fine, but there was about an inch of rain water in the trays. i took out all the pots and poured out the water. if it's going to rain like this again tomorrow, i'll need to bring the seedlings inside temporarily, to prevent them from drowning and getting pummeled by the storm.

for some reason i saw some girls wearing bathing suits around the neighborhood. i thought it was just summer fashion, but then i realized today was the perfect day to go to the beach. if i wasn't working, maybe i would've done the same!

i warmed up the leftover pizza from saturday night for dinner. i ate while watching the cavs-knicks game. cavs dominated the game in the second half, knicks had no answer. but midway in the 4th a new york miracle happened and the knicks clawed their way back to force an overtime. the second overtime game in the conference championship! maybe cleveland was gassed, but they had little answer for the knicks, who went up by a 2-digit lead and won a game that looked like they were going to lose. final score 104-115.

it was a little warm in the house but not too bad, just 78 degrees. it usually takes a few days of a heat wave before the indoor temperature surpasses the outdoor temperature. one advantage of living alone is i can just hang out in my underwear and not offend anyone, so that's basically my strategy for staying cool. the heat wave is only temporary though, another day tomorrow, then the temperature drops down to a more seasonable 50-60's.

going to go to bed early, got another busy day tomorrow despite it being my one day off.

andrew texted me this morning, said he could come to my place at noontime so we could go see the IMAX at the museum of science today (nicer weather) instead of wednesday (hot and strong thunderstorm chances). i spent some time cleaning the house before taking the last hour doing some bike maintenance. i installed a bell on the trek hybrid FX and oiled the chains on both bikes with wax lubricant.

andrew showed up at 12pm with his bike helmet even though i had spare ones for him to wear. after he used the bathroom, we went out back to retrieve the bicycles we were taking to get to the museum of science. andrew had to raise the saddle height, i just happened to have a 5mm hex wrench. later the front brakes on the trek FX came loose. the noodle holder on the v brake was damaged, which allowed the noodle to pop free. we put it back but it'd periodically pop out still.

we got to the museum of science by 12:30pm, locked the bikes to the bike stand right next to the entrance. we went inside to get tickets for the 1pm IMAX presentation of the heart of new england. that's when they told us the bad news: the IMAX theater was closed due to overheating. so all that planning, finally getting here, and the IMAX is out of service. so instead we decided to get some lunch. one of the ticket sellers overheard our conversation and recommended a mexican torta place just nearby. we decided to take him up on the recommendation.

before we could go though, we had to do more repair on andrew's bike. the front brake pads were now sticking to the rim. the v brake just needed to be replaced. to temporarily fix the problem, i released some of the brake line.

tenoch mexican was kind of hidden, just beyond a daycare on museum way, easy to miss. it wasn't at all crowded. we ordered through a kiosk, andrew treated me to lunch. a lot of stuff on the menu i had no idea what they were and needed a spanish translator to figure out. i ended up getting the torta chicharron and a bottle of sidral mundet (mexican apple soda).

we picked up our order and took over a table with 6 seats. i went to wash my hands in the unisex bathroom. somebody told me once that a torta is like a mexican hamburger. wasn't sure what i was eating, but it was good. there was a lot of stuff inside, things like pulled pork, oaxaca cheese, and avocado. later i discovered that tenoch mexican is a local chain, including stores in somerville (davis square) and harvard square (inside the garage no less). i wouldn't have to travel far to get my mexican torta fix.

andrew told me about his work with reinsurance, and explained the whole industry, which was eye-opening. apparently insurance companies need insurance of their own, in the event they need to make a big payout and don't go bankrupt. earlier he told me about bumping into amy F at the watertown fish ladder event, who still remember coming to my 10th birthday party back at the old unity avenue apartment. he also told me about david, who sold his maple avenue house near gilman square 4 years ago and moved into a cambridge senior home actually very close to where i live. i was wearing my hearing aid but i don't think andrew noticed, or too polite to say anything.

we finished a little bit after 2pm, probably the same time the IMAX movie would've let us out. instead of heading back via cambridge street, i took andrew on the somerville community path, cutting through cambridge crossing, all new places he'd never been before. we came out by mcgrath highway on washington street, cutting through union square and the market basket parking lot. i showed andrew the paulownia tree on morgan avenue, thought he'd appreciate it. we got back to my place by 2:20pm.

after andrew left, i grabbed my things and rode the motorcycle to belmont, getting there around 3pm. my original plan before andrew contacted me to go to the science museum was to go on a walk with my mother in search of turkish pomegranate tea and to go with my father to home depot to buy some EMT conduits. my mother was happy to say indoors watching her chinese AI dramas on youtube. i found my father in the backyard pruning dead branches from our rabbit-fed quince bush. i saw he'd already been to home depot and brought back 5 conduits.

with the grass already grown after just a week, i went ahead and mowed the lawn. i tried to clean the inside of the lawnmower because dead grass accumulate in the deck prevents clippings to fully collect in the bag but instead fall back down onto the lawn. i did the best i could with a wooden paint stirrer, need something with better scraping capability.

after i finished mowing the lawn and my father finished pruning the quince bush, we went about piecing together a trellis with the EMT conduit. my father was impressed with the quality of the 10ft 3/4" conduit, said they'd make a sturdy trellis. we were trying to figure out what dimension of trellis we wanted. it would be 6ft, since we can use the trimmed off 4ft conduit for the width. what about the depth? originally we were thinking 5ft, but that isn't very much. i suggested we don't cut the conduits at all and leave the depth at 10ft, giving us plenty of runway to grow our trellis plants. unfortunately a 10ft deep trellis needed one more conduit and we only had 5. but we could still make a partial trellis to see what it'd look like.

my father found 2 pipe cutting tools and used it to cut the conduits. we staked the 2ft 3/4" rebar into the ground, which the 3/4" conduit fit perfectly on top of. the t-connectors work well with the provided plastic shims; without the shims, the connectors can't clamp properly onto the 3/4" conduit. we also used the t-connectors to fit the 4ft front-back braces, which made the trellis even sturdier. at 6ft tall it was the perfect height for us, but might be a little shorter for taller people.

i still needed to water our grow room plants but it was already close to 6pm. either i come back and do it wednesday (if it isn't rainy) or wait until next weekend to water.

for dinner we had a garlic chive omelette, spicy mushroom stirfry, and a spicy tofu stirfry.

i went home after dinner. because of street cleaning, i had to park my motorcycle on one of the private ways. i also swept all the oak tree catkins from the sidewalk out onto the street for cleaning, as well as the catkins in the backyard (which i put in the garden refuse bin). another warm night, my seedlings can continue to live outside for the time being.

i didn't think there was any basketball tonight, so i was surprised to see game 1 of the western conference was happening. what an amazing game. the spurs led for much of the game, but only by single digits, always without striking distance for the thunder. OKC made their push in the final minutes of the 4th quarter to tie the game and send it into overtime. not just once, but twice. both teams were making impressive shots. victor wembanyama is a force. spurs win 122-115.

i managed to sleep to about 9am this morning, for 8 hours of sleep in the guest bedroom. i started the day by moving more plants out of the grow closet. i even brought out the light metal shelving unit a found a few years back. originally i was going to set up a stand in the middle of the backyard, but decided to move it up to the middle deck, a no-man's-land not really owned by my upstairs neighbors or myself. i put out the luffas and the okras. the bittermelons and squash have been outside since yesterday. the hyacinth beans and tomatoes have been intermittently outside since wednesday.

i had some time to work on the bikes with the aliexpress parts that came yesterday. i immediately realized the M8-35mm stainless steel hex cap screws i got were not the right diameter. i thought i measured, and it even said online that M8 is the typical size for a center-mounted kickstand, but i actually needed M10 screws. the black stainless steel washers though were the correct size, and i replaced the washer on my rear fender screw.

i headed out by 11am. today was a warm day - temperature in the 80's. it wasn't too bad, warm but dry, unlike the weather next week. i wore a t-shirt and jeans. i had 18% charge left on my ebike battery but the charger was in belmont. typically a ride to belmont would use up 16% charge traveling on ECO mode set to level 5 and hitting the throttle on occasion. i had enough juice but it'd be close. so i rode in the lower levels, even turning off the assist completely when i was traveling downhill. i stopped by the cafe to put away the tea eggs before finally making it to my parents' place. riding conservatively, i still had 11% charge left in the battery. i popped the battery and charged it up with solar power from the house.

my mother said my sister was coming to pick up us to go for a walk with esmei around fresh pond. i wasn't interested as i had a lot of yard work to do. so while they left for their walk, i was in the backyard pulling up creeping bellflowers. i also watered the plants, which seemed to be wilting in the unexpected heat. when they came back about an hour later, esmei ran into the backyard searching for rabbits.

after my sister left with esmei, my mother made me some lunch: hunter sausage with poached fried eggs.

afterwards i helped my father sink 3 more leftover wooden posts in our western yard to make a more secure bitter melon trellis. that's when we saw our next door neighbor had a new gadget: a robot mower! their yard is ideal for automated mowing since it's pretty uniform. unfortunately a robot mower can't bag the grass clippings, so it can only mulch mow. we use our grass clippings to feed our compost bin, with a combination of dead norwegian maple leaves in the fall. it was 4pm by the time we finished the western trellis with the 3 more fence posts. we even strung up some solar lights. one of the lights had a corroded socket so it wouldn't light, we'll need to clean it up at some point. these lights have been pretty dependable, despite living outside all year round. they're also surprisingly bright.

my newly purchased EMT conduit t-clamps finally arrived today (20 sets for $24). they look very similar to the ones sold by maker pipes, but these are designed for 1" conduits (actually 25mm metric) and they came with thin plastic shims to properly fit 3/4" conduits. my father tested them out with 3/4" PVC pipes (which are slightly wider than 3/4" EMT conduits) and they're plenty tight once properly screwed in place. we're going to get some 3/4" EMT conduits tomorrow. my father just realized that we can start making trellises immediately without waiting for 90-degrees 3-way-clamps (arriving may 20-23, 12 sets for $22) since just the t-clamps will work as well.

i fell asleep on the zero gravity chair watching NCAA women's softball on ABC while waiting for the local news to start. my parents were making dinner: my mother made some xinjiang-style lamb pilaf while my father cut up the haymarket swiss chard i bought yesterday and gave them a stirfry with garlic. swiss chard is one of those highly nutritious superfoods. i like eating them but their earthy taste takes getting used to. once you realize they belong in the same family as beets it makes sense, since they do taste like beets.

i went home after dinner, put the fulling charged battery back onto the ebike. coming back, i noticed a pile of discarded items on oxford street. i saw a two-tier shelf that might make a great plant stand, and was going to come back on foot and check it out, but i did a quick u-turn to take a closer look. the shelf turned out to be a little flimsy, wasn't worth taking. however there were two orphaned potted plants. one that had a bunch of dark green leaves that didn't look interesting, but the other was an orchid in a pot. not one but two orchids actually, their flower spikes bent to form arches. there were no more flowers, but the orchids themselves were perfectly healthy, much healthier than the orchids currently living in the belmont grow room. so i decided to take it, along with a metal cup with a handle that looked like a turkish coffee maker. so the trash picking season has started! every year around this time i find all sorts of treasures left behind by people moving out.

i put my ebike in the basement, won't use it again tomorrow, because i have another ride, which is my motorcycle. i need to move the motorcycle anyway because of street cleaning. i checked the velotric app to see my odometer: 501.5 miles. also there was still 94% charge on the battery. i think the battery works better in warm temperature versus the cold temperature of the winter.

there was an NBA game 7 tonight between the cavs and pistons. cleveland dominated despite playing in detroit. their biggest lead was 35 points, and the game ended with a score of 125-94. pundits think the knicks will easily defeat the cavs based on how new york swept philly, but these cavs are battle-tested. sometimes when a team has too much rest (like new york), they come out rusty. this has turned out to be a very exciting playoff: cavs vs. knicks, and spurs vs. thunder.

there was no late sleep this saturday morning as i woke up at 8am to get ready for a jaunt to haymarket. before i left, i moved out a bunch of seedlings to the backyard deck, get them used to outdoor conditions.

i left around 9:05am, got there by 9:25am via ebike down cambridge street. with summer just a month away, there seems to be more produce compared to my last visit. my haul: bag of mandarin oranges ($2), 1 lbs of longhorn peppers ($2, but i saw them for $1 elsewhere), 9 gold nugget oranges ($6), bunch of swiss chard ($1), 3 bags of cherries ($5), 1 lbs of ginger ($2), 2 carambola ($2), 2 packages of baby cucumbers ($3). i could've bought more, but was afraid i couldn't carry everything back.

i left haymarket by 9:50am, went straight to the cafe and got there by 10:20am. my parents were already there, my mother said they got there at 9am this morning. outside the handyman was assembling the parking lot deck ($500). i tried to pack my produce to the least amount of damage, but a lot of the cherries got bashed sitting in my rear bike basket.

my father brought an used aquarium timer that arrived for me in an amazon package. i was confused at first, but it must be the used conduit connectors i bought. how it could get mixed up with another used merchandise i have no idea, but amazon will give me a refund no problem, i just have to send the wrong item back to them first.

i took a quick trip home before we opened, to grab my camera equipment since we might go to arnold arboretum after we close at 4pm today. both my sister's godmother and my 2nd aunt went last week, and my mother wanted to go herself. not so much to see the lilacs, but rather to see the paulownia and maybe some wisteria.

my father went home after the handyman finished assembling the deck. he brought up all the deck furniture and opened up the patio umbrella. temperature today actually hit 80 degrees, although it was still cool inside the cafe due to residual cooling (we haven't turned on the AC yet). we got busy in the first two hours, but after it was all over, we didn't make all that much. fortunately we still had a few hours left, and managed to make our daily average at the very least. we had a few customers come in close to closing time, after i'd already packed up most of our foods.

at the end of the day we did decide to go to arnold arboretum in jamaica plain after all. i was a little tired, having biked to boston and back, working in the cafe, and not having eaten or drank anything all day.

my parents had never been to the arboretum before. even the roads were unfamiliar, although my father had been to longwoods before in the past. google maps was our guide. even when we got there, there was no parking spot to be found. i'd never been here on the weekend, especially when the weather's so nice, so the place was crowded with people. we had to drive the length of arborway, almost leaving the arboretum (close to the forest hill MBTA station), before we found parking. even then it was kind of iffy, the sign said tow zone, even though there were plenty of other cars parked there. that ended up being a stroke of luck, because it was a lot closer to the lilacs on bussey hill.

there was a lot of people, including folks camping out like they were having a picnic. this also coincided with some college graduations, so there were people in graduation gowns getting their photos taken next to pretty flowers. there was even a wedding up on lilac hill, and later the bride and groom were being hustled around by the wedding photographer to get some photos.

the last time i was at the arnold arboretum was back in april 2019, when i went there to check out the cherry blossoms. i got there by bicycle, which is the best way to come, since it allows you to cover more arboretum grounds versus just walking.

we saw the lilacs but my mother wanted to see the paulownia. i found them up on the hill above the lilacs. the paulownia looked dead, but they simply hadn't flowered yet. we saw plenty of flower buds. in another week or two they should be in bloom.

we climbed up to the summit of bussey hill, then down the other side to check out the explorers garden AKA the asian garden. here we saw a bunch of flowering tree peonies, azaleas underneath the shady of canopy trees, and flowering dove trees. most importantly, i found the wintersweet, much larger than the sapling i saw on my last visit 7 years ago. it had already leafed out, not sure if it flowered this season. it's proof that wintersweet can survive new england weather, and gives us hope we can raise one ourselves in our own backyard one day.

fron the explorers garden we followed beech path down to the small pond we saw earlier near the lilacs. we finally left by 6:30pm. traffic on the arborway was crazy, and took us a while just to pull out into the oncoming traffic. to get back we needed to make a precarious u-turn, but we decided to turn down south street, cut through the arboretum property (get a sense just how large it is), then connect to center street via flora way.

we didn't get back to the cafe until 7:10pm. my sister called my mother, asked her why my ebike was still parked outside the cafe. my parents grab some supplies and we each headed to our respective homes.

i was too tired to make dinner just eat, at some malt vinegar potato chips before finally convincing myself to go into the kitchen to throw a frozen pizza in the oven. i ate while watching the final episodes of mrs.davis on television (i've been doing a rewatch). the pizza felt a little gross. after eating salads for three straight days, the pizza was a bit much. i couldn't even eat the crusts, too much carbs. later i took a shower.

i switched the wires in the cafe nest thermostat to summertime cooling mode. today might be seem like it - with temperature in the 50's and overcast - but by next week we'll definitely need with temperature in the 90's.

i went down to trader joe's midmorning to get some bananas and a few other ingredients for the cafe. when i got back, i finished cleaning the remaining two wire shelves in the sliding door fridge. the two topmost shelves are the dirtiest, since there's more moisture on the very top. we tossed out a few more jars, including some ancient kimchi and some yellow ghost pepper hot sauce i made but too afraid to try.

my parents made another scallion bread. i ate three pieces but could've easily eaten the whole thing, especially when right out of the electric baking pan and still hot.

it was busy today, a lot of bento sales, a lot of noodles, and most of all bubble tea. a group of noisy kids took over the cafe in the late afternoon, ordering bubble tea. not just children, but adults enjoy the bubble tea as well. we ended up making as much today as two days combined. we didn't set any records, but easily the most profitable day in 2 weeks. whatever we make tomorrow saturday will just be bonus.

my aunt showed up in the late afternoon. she had some stewed pork on rice before taking home the rest of the scallion bread.

returning home after work, i stopped by observatory hill to admire a tree with white flowers that look like tiny bells. i did some research, it's a carolina silverbell (Halesia carolina), native to the smoky mountains, but hardy to zone 4. the flowers have no fragrance, but tree produces an abundance of blossoms in late spring.

i had one final night of chicken caesar salad for dinner. the romain must be old because it tasted a little bitter. i didn't have any croutons so went across the street to the supermarket to get some.

pistons equalize their series against the cavs, forcing a game 7 in detroit on sunday. spurs and timberwolves play a game 6 tonight, still not over yet, san antonio currently leads by 16 points in the 3rd quarter. i hope that series go to 7 games as well.

i didn't hear jeff upstairs tonight, i'm guessing he went home to california after his weeklong mandatory office visit at his biotech job. i probably won't see him until next month.

it wasn't going to start raining today until after 11am, so i stayed dry this morning when i went to the cafe. i did wear my rain jacket and bring my rain pants.

i made a new batch of boba pearls and a new batch of tea eggs. my mother made some scallion bread with the large package of scallions she got from costco over the weekend. she salted the chopped scallions which gave the bread more flavor. we proofed the dough in the breville oven. the bread came out perfect, we even gave a piece to a curious customer. my mother found a new thing to watch: AI generated chinese dramas. i devoted some time today cleaning the moldy wire shelves of the sliding door fridge. it gave us a chance to toss out some expired foods. jeana's hydrangeas survived their wilting, but one of them was too far gone and all the flowers are shriveled. she was supposed to come by and pick them up but never did.

today ended up being a slow day because of the rain, we made less than our daily average, but not too bad considering the bad weather. i'm actually surprised we got any business at all once the rain started.

the rain had lessened by the time i headed home, but there was still a drizzle. i put on my rain gear, which felt like going underwater. when i got home i had to move the motorcycle because eversource was coming by to do more utility work. i then went to star market to stock up on some polar seltzer on sale.

a fourth butterfly pea had sprouted. i fished out the second seed i planted and put it in its own pot. i also dug through the pot of the last bitter melon seeds that i napkin-germinated. it never sprouted but digging through the soil i found the seedling, still growing underground. i helped it out by partially exposing the seedling.

for dinner i made another chicken caesar salad. it was easier this time around because i'd already cooked the chicken breasts yesterday. i made a massive serving of salad using my largest pyrex bowl. a rare night where there was no basketball. instead i watched some movies on pluto.tv.

on a day where i could afford to sleep late, i still ended up waking around 7:30am. i tried to go back to sleep but couldn't. it was surprisingly dark outside, like maybe it might rain. it did rain a little bit. i went outside to wipe dry my motorcycle before putting on the new cover. i moved out some plants: my three umbrella plants and a plastic tray filled with hyacinth bean and tomato seedlings. after today, night time temperature will hold steady at 50 degrees and above, which means seedlings can begin moving outside.

i also checked my ziploc seeds. no activity on the hot peppers, but another luffa seed sprouted. you can tell when a luffa seed is viable because it first begins to swell, before growing a root. i planted it with the root pointing down. the root will continue to grow downwards, before pushing the seed head out of the soil.

in the late morning i decided to go out and get my mother's prescription before getting some groceries at market basket. it was still raining so i was going to delay the trip, but the doppler radar showed the storm clouds leaving the area, so i went out after all. there was a long wait at the harvard vanguard pharmacy line. i was standing behind a young woman in yoga pants with bad ache who had palpable frustration as people kept cutting in front of her in line, for various reasons.

i made a quick stop at walgreens before heading to market basket. i was getting frozen shrimps and drinks for the cafe. i decided i was going to make chicken caesar salad for dinner, and grabbed some chicken breast and romaine lettuce.

i came home, threw a chicken cordon bleu in the oven, and waited 35 minutes for it to finish baking. earlier i also did a load of laundry, the clothes were finished in the dryer by the time i got back, so i spend some time folding them.

there was no noontime news: every single local channel was broadcasting the catholic funeral of the state trooper who got killed in the wrong way driver crash. after i finished lunch, i pulled the cover off of the motorcycle and rode to the cafe with the supplies.

from the cafe i went directly to greater boston motorsports in arlington heights to get my motorcycle inspected. the rain had finally stopped, the roads were already dry from the rolling traffic. unlike cars, motorcycles need to be inspected every year. because i'd already replaced the front tire last year, there was nothing wrong with the bike. the store owner actually came out to do the inspection, checked the tires for cracks, made sure the lights and horn worked, and that was it. i paid $15 for the inspection sticker.

i went to belmont. the motorcycle tires seemed flat because i had a hard time rolling them. i couldn't find the digital tire pressure gauge so could only use the manual gauge on the air compressor which said 30 psi for my front tire and 40 psi for the rear tire. i ended up not inflating either of them, will wait until i can get a more accurate reading with the digital gauge. i also looked underneath the motorcycle to see what kind of oil filter i had. the honda shadow uses a spin-on filter, but sometimes it has a built-in wrench off nut. the filter on the bike did not have his nut, which meant it needed a special tool to remove it. i don't remember installing a nutless filter, so i wonder if this was installed about 3 years ago when i had my motorcycle totally services when i had the rear tire replaced. anyway, i searched the garage for the special oil filter tool but couldn't find it. i did find another replacement air filter, but when i looked inside i saw it was used. eventually i did find the tool, so i can probably change the oil this weekend.

i had big plans of going to home depot to buy some EMT conduits, but it was already almost 3pm, not enough time. instead i stayed at my parents' place and did some yard work. i did some light weeding in RB0, before moving onto RB2 and redistributing the swiss chard seedlings 6" apart from one another. afterwards i watered the backyard using rain barrel water.

while watering the eastern perennial bed (lily of the valley field), i came across 2 mourning dove chicks huddled on the ground. these may be fledglings as they look pretty mature. hopefully they'll leave soon. i also saw a dead robin by the grape trellis. it doesn't seem to be a window strike. i'm hoping maybe a scavenger will take it otherwise i'll need to bury it. finally, i didn't see any mature rabbits, but i saw at least one bunny running around the backyard. rabbits have already eaten a patch of violets, as well as the milkweed seedlings i saw between RB1 and RB2 a few weeks ago.

i left belmont by 4pm, headed straight home. a moving van has reserved three parking spots in front of my house, so i wanted to get home early enough that i could still find a good parking for my motorcycle. i put the cover on it as soon as i got back since it's going to rain all of tomorrow and most of friday as well.

i decided to do some work in my own garden plot. i wanted to bring all my milk crates but i could only carry 3 on the back of my bicycle. i did some weeding, pulled up some grass, but the plot needs more work. looks like i'll be here saturday after work. i was about to leave when i bumped into ginny. she started talking and i got caught up in her conversational web for the next half hour. she didn't something weird though: she ask to borrow my digging spade, but after she was done, instead of putting the tool back, she just handed it to me, instead of putting it back herself.

i didn't get back home until 5:30pm.

i played some cyberpunk, looking for the iconic tech sniper rifle breakthrough. it was hiding in one of the few places in night city where i haven't visited yet, close to the piez diner. this weapon is special in its ability to strike at targets through walls.

i started making dinner around 8pm. i've made chicken caesar salad many times in the past (last time was this past february), but needed a refresher, particularly how to cook the chicken. i found some useful tips from sam the cooking guy, who has a chicken caesar salad of his own where he makes his own croutons and dressing. i wasn't as ambitious, instead using readymade croutons and dressing. but i did learn to beat/tenderize the large chicken breasts inside of a ziploc bag tossed with some olive oil. this recipe also allowed me to use my foreman smokeless grill ("smokeless" since it still smokes), a kitchen appliance i was keen to buy but later regretted my decision and now it sits in my kitchen unused. the only time i've ever used it was to cook bacon, and i did it outside on my backyard deck, so bacon grease smoke won't fill the inside of my house.

i cooked the two chicken breasts one at a time at 450 degrees for 8 minutes, after sprinkling both sides with some sea salt and fresh ground pepper. using a digital meat thermometer, the inside temperature was close to 200 degrees when it just needed to be 165 degrees, so for the second piece i only grilled it for 6 minutes. i opened the window and used a fan to blow out the smoke, fortunately it wasn't too cold outside (close to 60 degrees) so i wasn't freezing.

for the salad, besides chopped romaine, i also added some onion for some spicy sweetness. into the bowl were the croutons, parmesan cheese, and the dressing.

the salad was good, although the leafy parts of the romaine was harder to chew. the chicken was cooked to perfection, tender, juicy, with just the right amount of seasoning. maybe i should look into more recipes that call for the smokeless grill.

i watched the cavaliers-pistons game. detroit should've won, but the cavs made a successful push in the 4th inning to regain the lead, only for the pistons to come back. it wasn't enough however and the game ended in a tie, so we went into overtime. the cavs essentially stole the game from the pistons, winning 117-113. now the series go back to cleveland on friday, if cavs win they advance to face off against the knicks. the way new york is playing, neither the cavs or the pistons can defeat them.