i woke up at 9am this morning with a list of errands to run. but i took my time, made a grocery list, and didn't leave until 11am for market basket. most of items were for the cafe, i decided to make some hot dogs for dinner. while i was there, michael called me with some computer issue. i told him i could swing by his work place around noontime.

i went home to drop off the groceries before heading down to harvard square. the place was packed with friends and family attending the graduation ceremony tomorrow. there are so many schools at harvard, every single open space was utilized as venues for individual schools. you could tell which people were here on graduation business because those were all the people dressed up. there was tight security inside harvard yard and you had to pass a security check to get through.

it's unfortunate then most of the time when i see michael, it's because there's some computer issue, so it's always a little tense. the problem today was all his contacts disappearing. i poked around but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. his laptop was a little low on space, i so erased a bunch of old defunct outlook data files (PST) that we no longer used, freeing up 40GB worth of space. that still didn't fix the issue. i noticed he had 4 remaining PST files in his out outlook directory, but only 3 mailboxes in the application window itself. michael said he was cleaning some files yesterday and might've erased something crucial. that's when it clicked: he erased one of the original mailboxes that for some reason contained all the contacts. it was a simple matter of exporting the missing PST and suddenly all the contacts came back.

michael told me he's planning on starting a website that would allow customers to order new lenses for their old frames. nowadays not many glasses companies make custom lenses, you basically take what they have in stock. i think that's a great idea and he got the guy who originally built their outlook database. also while i was there, he gave me the last pair of frames that i currently wear, so that the next time i wanted new glasses, i can use those frames because i like them so much. he showed me that the frames that i have are made with a virtually indestructible material, and demonstrated by bending the temple arms before they simply snapped back in place. he also adjusted my glasses while i was there, i didn't even realize the nose pad arms were crooked.

problem fixed, i left michael's store a little after 1pm. when i got back home i had just enough time to grab a leftover italian sausage from the fridge and eat it for lunch before i went out again.

i was meeting bruce for a tree walk to show him the hidden paulownias around the neighborhood. there used a grove of giant paulownia trees on beacon street. i first discovered them back in 2007, nearly 2 decades ago. they were easily the tallest trees on the street, but not many people noticed them despite having pretty fragrant flowers. beacon street used to be a lot different. i remember these used to be a gas station with a sign for the S&H green stamps loyalty program. unfortunately all those paulownias were chopped down to make way for new apartments, the cost of gentrification. nevertheless, its offsprings continue to survive, in hidden spots around beacon street. i've slowly discovered a few - up to three - and wanted to show them to bruce.

bruce was walking with a cane. a few months ago he started getting a mysterious knee pain that wouldn't go away. it wasn't just walking, even standing would hurt his knee. he got an x-ray but they didn't see anything. his doctor gave him a cortisone shot which fixed the problem until it came back 4 weeks later. just recently he got an MRI, and still waiting for the doctor to contact him with a diagnosis.

we also saw some black locusts with pretty white flowers that resemble wisteria. we saw the paulownia on the corner of park and morgan street. the second paulownia was behind the garage in the parking lot of the wine & cheese cask. the third tree was across the street (washington), poking out through a gazebo.

we went inside the wine & cheese cask to get something cold to drink then sat on a bench on the corner of beacon and washington/kirkland and watched the traffic while we chatted. bruce believes trump won't make it to the end of his term and will probably die due to health reasons. walking back, we saw a tree that had maple wings but the leaves didn't a maple leaf shape. later we learned it was a boxelder, a female one at that.

i got back by 2:30pm. i packed up the groceries and took the bike to the cafe to drop off the supplies. only my father was at the cafe; my mother and 2nd aunt went next door to the empty bakery to see what leftover supplies they can take back. the transfer sale finally went through last week, the new owners will move in next month (next week). i'd never been in the bakery before after they finished renovations. i've always thought it was tiny but it's surprisingly big (long). there were murals on the wall that the new owners will probably paint over which is a shame. the previous cafe was a real labor of love, too bad they couldn't make it work out.

i continued to belmont, where i planned on mowing the lawn. i mow it now so that over the weekend i can apply sedgehammer herbicide to the lawn to kill all the sedges. my father and i noticed that we cut too short so i raised the mow height to setting 4 (it was at 3 before). i scattered a trio of bunnies and an adult rabbit that simply hopped the low fence like it was nothing. after i finished mowing, i moved out all the garden refuse bins to the curb. before i left, my heavy duty zip ties arrived. i put some on the hop bine trellis top.

i got back home by 4:30pm. today was warm - mid-80's - but it wasn't bad, a pleasant late spring day. it was warm enough to cook the sewer juices and there was a stink in my bathroom. i fixed it by simply not closing the bathroom door and opening the window just a crack.

i took a shower to rinse off the stink i've accumulated over the course of the day. afterwards i had some pita bread with roasted eggplant ajvar dip and the sponge cake my sister bought over the weekend. i washed a load of laundry before throwing it into the dryer. i watched some youtube videos and vegged out the rest of the day.

after the evening news, i got sleepy and decided to take a nap around 6:30pm. i didn't wake up until 2 hours later at 8:30pm, feeling groggy. i forced myself up so i could make some hot sauce. it's been on my to-do list for a while, and i was afraid if i waited any longer, the peppers i bought last week will go bad.

the whole process took 2-1/2 hours. i didn't finish until 11pm. i use anaheim peppers and thai chili peppers, the two red-color types i can get from market basket. i used to think anaheim peppers weren't that spicy (almost like a sweet pepper), but they can range. still, i treat them as bulk filler for the hot sauce, while the real spiciness comes from the thai chili peppers. i'm used to working with 2 lbs. worth of anaheim peppers, but got a bit less this time (1.74 lbs). i removed the stems by slicing it off, while the thai peppers i can just rip off the stems. peeling the garlic took the longest, i'm tempted to get buy pre-peeled garlic next time.

the weight ratio of anaheim to thai to garlic is 3:1:1. however in this case i didn't have enough thai chili or garlic: it should be 225g of each, but i only had 172g of thai chili and about 208g of garlic (the entire sleeve peeled, 5 heads). the oil component is 3/4 the weight of the anaheim peppers, but i used 2/3 instead, which also worked.

i used my small food processor to chop up the ingredients, forgot that i used my large processor last time. results are the same, it just takes a bit more time using the smaller machine. i discovered chopping mixed ingredients work in the best in getting everything properly pulverized. i add chopped anaheim at the bottom, thai chili in the middle, and peeled garlic on top. i process once, press everything down, then processed a second time for a more minced sauce.

once the ingredients were all processed, it was time to add to the oil. i use canola oil. i had two opened jars that smelled rancid so i tossed them out, using an unopened jar instead. i was going to heat up the oil first, but then i realized it was going to make a huge mess when i dump in the wet pepper mash, so i simply added everything together. the sauce will sputter when it simmers, that's natural. i wish i had a deeper wide pan to catch the sprays so it doesn't make a mess of my countertop area.

i simmered for 20 minutes on medium-high heat before adding the remaining ingredients. this turned out to be a mistake. since i had less peppers, i should've reduced the portions, but instead i used the same amount as last time: 4 tbsp of sugar, 4 tbsp of salt, 4 tbsp of baijiu, and 6 tbsp of sichuan peppercorn oil. the correct amount should be 3 tbsp of salt/sugar/baijiu and 5 tbsp of peppercorn oil. when i tasted the sauce, it wasn't very spicy. instead, i tasted mostly salty and sweet, with some fragrant peppercorn. the sauce may actually be too salty/sweet. the ultimate judge will be my mother. i think she'll like it because it's not as spicy, but maybe she'll think it's too salty.

i scooped the sauce into empty clean sesame paste jars using a stainless steel canning funnel.

for dinner i ate another italian sausage, a piece of corn, and a lamb chop. it felt wrong eating so close to bedtime. i wasn't even that hungry, but figured i should eat something at least before going to sleep.

i took the ebike to work this morning, as i planned on returning to belmont with my parents afterwards so my father and i can install the new 90 degrees brackets (arriving today) on our EMT conduit trellis. i ended up arriving earlier than expected, ebike shaved off a few minutes.

other than a batch of salt & pepper chicken my father deep fried this morning, there was no additional supply replenishment. we did most of that last week. this week we just needed to sell what stock we had on hand. i was still busy making batches: dumplings, dark soy noodles (twice), tea eggs, ice cubes, and boba pearls. i noticed the ice machine was getting particularly dirty and spent some time cleaning it with alcohol spray. it doesn't seem to be designed for easy cleaning. it has a cleaning cycle but all it does is continuously fill up the water tub then drain.

there was a small spike in business around lunchtime. that korean guy with the long hair showed up today after disappearing for a year. he used to live just a few houses down and come eat at the cafe often. but following late last spring he was gone and we figured he graduated. so kind of a surprise he showed up today, maybe he was just visiting.

from the early afternoon to mid-afternoon we barely had any customers. was it too hot today? temperate was in the 80's today, but nice and cool inside the cafe with the air conditioner on. we had a few more regulars come in: the guy who never says thank you and always orders the bento, or the family of three who comes to eat every week in the early evening - the father gets curry, the son gets chicken, and the mother likes to try different things.

i ate some leftover barbecue from yesterday. for reason i was super thirsty, must've drank half a dozen glass of ice cold strawberry lemonade (4C-brand sugarfree liquid water enhancer). my mother and i went to go see the newly renovated upstairs apartment, as a new tenant will move it starting tomorrow. the kitchen isn't even done yet, the only thing work is the fridge, which has an awkward lean because the floor is sloped. while my mother returned to the cafe, i gathered up some discarded boards the contractors threw out, including some 2x4's. somewhere in the neighborhood is a very mature female cottonwood tree that releases a mass of cotton-like frass along with its seeds. from a distance it looks like foam.

business started picking up in the late afternoon into the early evening. there was a guy who camped out here with his laptop making loud conference calls. never have i been more grateful to see a bunch of noisy teenagers come in to order their daily fix of bubble tea. the conference call guy left immediately. it got so busy that what looked like a bleak low-profit day ended up being pretty profitable, same as last tuesday, above our daily average. honestly, you'd think with harvard graduation this thursday, and an influx of friends and family attending the commencement, that we'd get an uptick in business, but that hasn't been the case in our experience.

when we finally closed, my parents and i left at the same time, but i got to their house first because i could travel much faster via ebike.

my father and i went into the backyard and started replacing the t-connectors on the EMT conduit trellis with 90 degrees corner connectors. it was a little tricky, because it involves joining 3 conduits together, holding them in place, making sure they don't drop and bend the connector on the opposite end (like i did last time). the final result was pretty rigid. it was also very easy to move the trellis (with two people), it's surprisingly light. this weekend we'll build the second trellis and figure out where we want to put them.

i left around 7:30pm, while my mother was making tomato & egg noodle soup for dinner. i had leftover barbecue to eat once i got back home. too lazy to roll the ebike back into the basement, i stashed it in the alleyway underneath a tarp with the u-lock securing the rear wheel to the frame. if someone was to steal the ebike, they'd need to carry it away.

i took a shower first. i managed to get a splitter in my finger when i was folding up the deck furniture.¹ using a pick from a dental tool kit, i managed to scrap away enough skin to expose the splinter head and pull it out with tweezers.

i ate some barbecue while watching the spurs-thunder game. OKC won 114-127. when they win, it's always so convincingly, you can't believe they could ever lose. the wheels basically came off for san antonio beginning of the 2nd quarter. game 6 goes back to texas, it's a must-win for the spurs if they want to stay alive.

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¹ i remember getting wood splinters all the time as a kid. not so much now as an adult, probably because i learned how to avoid handling wood in such a way to get them. having a sliver of wood embedded inside your body is one thing, but the extraction was even worse. what do you mean you have to cut open my skin? or use a needle to dig out the splinter? so yeah, this splinter brought back some memories.

i woke up at 8:30am and quickly got ready to head down to the cafe to make a new batch of taiwanese paocai with the taiwanese cabbage we bought from chinatown yesterday morning. it takes 3 hours to make, and if i want to have any time to do yardwork in belmont, i needed to get started by 9am. there was the additional challenge of a morning rainstorm pulling into town, and the doppler radar showed it was already nearby. i didn't even use the bathroom or take a shower, i was so rushed for time.

before i could do all that though, i walked down to star market to get a few sale items. i was surprised they still have lamb loin chops, i bought the last two packages. they also had drumsticks on sale for 99¢/lbs. the thing they didn't have was corn (15¢/ear). i returned home, packed up my things, and took the ebike to the porter square star market just to buy the corn. only then did i make it to the cafe by 9:20am. i locked the ebike to the deck and found some plastic sheet in the basement to put over the bike to keep it dry once it starts raining.

i spent the next 3 hours making the paocai. the first hour is to cut everything up and rip the leaves my hand into smaller pieces. the second hour is to reduce the cabbage with salt, tossing it every 15 minutes to mix it properly. the third and final hour is to drain the cabbage, hand rinse as much water from the vegetable, before mixing with vinegar and sugar and storing in quart-size containers.

i had about 20.7 lbs. of cabbage after coring, but i rounded it down to an even 20 lbs. for easier math. i reduced it with 20 tbsp of salt, then mixed it with 10 cups of sugar and 10 cups of white vinegar. i ended up with a dozen containers of paocai, and 1 container of leftover vinegar sugar solution that my mother will use to pickle the cucumbers.

by the time i finished around 12:30pm, it'd stopped raining. my sister even showed up, out walking esmei after the rain and saw my bike outside.

i continued to belmont. for lunch i had a pastry my sister bought from an allston chinese bakery along with some homemade soy milk.

afterwards i was outside for the rest of the day doing yard work with my father. i wanted to make a hops trellis using the EMT conduit, but my father suggested with use leftover PVC pipes instead. it managed to fit inside the existing 10ft 1-1/4" conduit that made up our old hops trellis. we rigged up a cross-shaped top that resembled a marionette controller with 4 strings coming down to about 10ft. we then unwound the growing hop bines and twisted them back onto our strings so they don't grow all bunched together.

next i set up a sawhorse table underneath our 10x4ft conduit trellis to see how viable an elevated growing platform in the middle of our lawn might look like. we've always known that the sunniest part of the lawn is right in the middle. that's why the past few years we've used sawhorse tables as stands for our potted plants. but what if we can build a trellis around the table and raise vining plants like luffas from grow bags? that's something new we're experimenting with this season. plus the fact that we don't have enough raised bed space for all the luffa seedlings.

finally we moved out all the plants from the grow room, shutting it down for the season. memorial day - the unofficial start of the summer - is the perfect time to do it. i had to clean up some more leftover tree branches to make room for three raised bed tables underneath the maple tree. one table with dappled sunlight houses all our potted foxgloves. another table the jasmines, gardenia, and passion flower. we'll relocate them to someplace sunnier once they've adjusted to the outdoor conditions. finally one table just for shady plants, like orchids and holiday cactuses. all our cascading tradescantia i hung up from tree branches. it feels like our own little private backyard arboretum.

my father harvested some radishes from RB0. there's still plenty more. we need to harvest all of them before we can reuse RB0 for planting our beans, which we haven't even started yet. i did see a chimpmunk scampering in the backyard today. when i checked some of my seedlings, i saw chipmunks had eaten two of my pepper plants. fortunately i grew a lot this year, but now i want to get revenge on the chipmunk.

a bit after 5pm we started our barbecue. we started with the corn and italian sausages. that was followed by the wings, pineapple slices, finally lamb loin chops. because the lamb was bland last time, i made sure to really salt it good this time (all sides). after 6 minutes on each side i took a temperature measurement. at first it only said 90-100 degrees (we're looking for 130), but i measured again and it jumped up to 150-160 degrees.

we made way too much food, enough for a few days at least. my father cut up the pineapple into long strips instead of cubes. they didn't taste as sweet, don't know whether that's because there was less surface area for caramelization, or the pineapple itself wasn't very sweet. it was very juicy on the inside though, the high temperature dried up the outside but preserved the interior. it'd be interesting to do a side-by-side taste test: pineapple strips versus cubed pineapples on skewers.

my 3/8" eye bolts came today. i got them for my EMT conduit hops trellis idea, but now that we're reusing PVC pipes, i don't need the eye bolts anymore. i didn't realize just how large they were. i did see they were advertised as 4" but failed to register that meant they were jumbo size. my father seemed to want to keep them, but i don't know what we'd use them for.

i returned home by 7:30pm, wanted to get back to watch game 4 of the knicks-cavs series. much like yesterday game, the first quarter was competitive, but by the second quarter the knicks just destroyed the cavs. i turned off the game by the third quarter. at one point new york was up by 45 points. i can't imagine there won't be some firing and trades in the cavs organization.

my CR1216 watch battery arrived today. using the watch back press, i managed to install the new battery and close the backing. i'm happy to report i have a watch now! my xiaomi fitness band won't arrive until next week.

it was still dry this morning when it just started to lightly sprinkle by the time my parents came to pick me up at 10am for a baifu/chinatown supply run. this is actually my parents' first baifu/chinatown supply run since coming back from their turkey vacation. as for me, i made the trip more than a month ago with my 2nd aunt while they were still away to get some supplies for the reopening.

we drove down beacon/hampshire street to kendall square, over the longfellow bridge to charles/MGH and connect onto I-93 south. baifu/foodpak is located in the heart of mass & cass. you wouldn't know it though, because boston has basically whitewashed the area, driving away all the homeless and drug encampments, planted pretty shrubs and flowers where people used to shoot up in broad daylight, with a heavy police presence to prevent any "unwanted" from coming back. and why is that exactly? because there's going to be a major influx of tourists this summer, from the 250th anniversary of the american revolution to world cup games. can't have them seeing boston's rotten underbelly.

we ended up buying around $1000 worth of supplies. half of that was boba tea ingredients. there was a month-long 5% off sale on all possmei products. i was looking for the boba tea cup sealing machine as well as PP (polypropylene) cups, but didn't see them. maybe i'll have more time to search next time. meanwhile we'll continue to use our crystal clear PET (polyethylene terephthalate) cups with removable lids.

carlos was our "cart attendant" today, helped us pack our things then push the cart to the car. i noticed the key fob remote wasn't working so manually opened the back hatch with the key. i had a bad feeling about it. after we were set to leave, i casually told my father, "i think the car battery is dead," but didn't think it was true. but sure enough, when my father went to start up the car, it wouldn't start. fortunately we had the battery pack jump starter. we simply popped the hood and clamped the alligator clips onto the dead battery. i gave my father the thumbs up and he started the car, nice and easy.

ming's market in chinatown outskirt was our next stop. being the last remaining chinatown supermarket with parking (free on weekends), the place was packed. my father ended up sitting in the car to keep the battery running, while my mother and i went shopping. there were no shopping carts left, so i waited for someone to finish loading their car before taking their cart.

ming's market was so crowded, our shopping strategy was to leave our cart in some inconspicuous area of the suparmarket, while we scurried through the aisles grabbing what we needed and bringing it back. there was no realistic way to push a cart through some of those crowded aisles without causing a traffic jam. ming's market doesn't bag for you, so you basically have to fend for yourself. too slow, and the cashier and all the people waiting behind you in line give you dirty looks while you haphazardly throw all your purchases in grocery bags to vacate as quickly as possible.

while my father waited in the car, he also had time to consolidate all the frozen foods from baifu so they wouldn't thaw out. later he said he might've left the lights on when we were at baifu, that's why the battery died. we returned to cambridge by cutting through copley square and getting onto storrow drive.

we got to the cafe around noontime. my sister was going out to lunch with a friend and wanted us to dogsit esmei. she loaded her dog into our car while we unloaded supplies. we then drove to belmont. as soon as we opened the car door, esmei jumped out and ran into the house. later i let her out into the backyard where she chased away some rabbits as well as some poor birds that got caught in the crossfire. i had to wipe dry her paws before she could come back inside.

my order from makerpipe arrived today, a few days early. i ordered a 3/4" EMT structural coupling for the hops trellis. there was no problem fitting a 3/4" conduit, but it was too small to fit a 3/4" PVC pipe. so it looks like the only solution is for a metal-on-metal top. also in the package was a 3D modeling kit. typically it costs $5 (which also includes a $5 off coupon on a future purchase), but i found a code that gave me the kit for free. i ended up modeling our conduit trellis.

my father baked some sweet and savory sesame pastries for lunch. there was also a plate of green stirfry with red juices. esmei sat nearby watching us eat, but after about a minute, she laid down and went to sleep when it looked like she wasn't any getting treats. after lunch my parents took her outside for a walk so she could go to the bathroom. when she came back i played a taped recording of the purina national dog show. she immediately stopped to watch the other dogs on tv, seemingly mesmerized.

my sister came back in the afternoon to take esmei home. she went to meetfresh to get some chinese shaved ice, but forgot about it when she later went shopping at the russian supermarket. she came back with a bowl of melted shaved ice for us to eat.

in the late afternoon i helped my father installed the midea u-shaped window air conditioner in his bedroom. he bought it yesterday when he went to costco by himself to get supplies, with an instant $100 rebate. he tried to install it himself but it takes two people to do it. the midea is quieter than a traditional AC because the compressor sits outside the window. it's also more efficient, because all the hot components are outside as well, leaving just the cool air inside. my father used to have a samsung air conditioner on the bedroom window in the summertime, but he said that unit was too noisy. the midea not only has a remote control but can also be controlled by a phone app via wifi.

the hardest part of the installation was figuring out how to insulate the sides of the midea AC. there are also multiple safety features to prevent the midea from tipping out the window, or to prevent a thief from opening the window from outside. AC technology as come a long way. once properly installed, we lowered the window down so it sat in between the front of the AC and the back. it was like a magic trick, like seeing an AC pass through the window. it also felt like there wasn't an AC because it didn't block the window like a traditional AC, you can still see out thesides. at its lowest setting it was strangely quiet, to the point where you wonder if it was even on. set to flashcool it was very loud, but that's only a option to quickly cool down the room. the AC is rated 12,000 BTU/h, which is way over spec'ed for the bedroom (it should really go in the living room).

later i downloaded the app and set up an account for my father before connecting to the midea AC. we though the app would simply mirror the remote controller but it's more than that. it also tells us the power consumption and gives us energy usage reports, just like our hybrid hot water heater. i welcome all these smart appliances.

we were supposed to go to my aunt's place tomorrow for a memorial day barbecue, but she postponed it until next sunday because she thought tomorrow's weather would be rainy. my father was going to bring some braised beef but we ended up eating it for dinner ourselves. i was still a little motion sick from the supply run this morning. i wore my motion sickness wristband but it was only slightly effective, even though i turned it up until my hand was numb from the micro shocks.

my father gave me a ride home after dinner. i gave him a container of squash seedlings to take back to belmont. by then there was a steady rain. that was perfect, because it allowed me to inspect the gutters which the contractors came back last tuesday to repair. the front porch gutter wasn't leaking anymore, but the gutter by renee's alleyway was still dripping. did they even try to fix it? i think the problem is it was raining last tuesday, so the caulk didn't have time to properly cure. what a bunch of amateurs. we still own them $800, but honestly we should refuse payment due to gross incompetence. how many times do they need to come out before the gutter is fixed? i send a report to steve and paul.

no time to take a shower, as game 4 between the thunder and spurs was about to start. i parked myself in the living room and watched. i was also backing up my photos, copying them off of my dSLR as well as my pixel phone. i discovered i didn't change the clock on my dSLR, since all the timestamp since march are off by an hour. as for my phone, there's so many photos on there i barely have any more space to take more, so i needed to clear the photos.

as for the game, i almost didn't need to watch it. after midway in the first quarter, it just seemed like the spurs were going to win tonight, even the series. they came out crisper, more aggressive, while the thunder seemed lethargic, bored. i saw SGA laughing on the sideline even though their team was down 25 points. it felt like OKC was ready to go home, where they fell they have the advantage and can regain the upper hand in the series.

my 2016 watch battery arrived today. i set up my watch back press, even consulted some notes from the last time i changed the battery (2023). i was all ready to change the battery when i suddenly realized i got the wrong size. i needed 1216 but i got 2016 instead. how could i be so stupid? so i will be without a watch for at least one more day as i went back onto amazon to order the right size battery this time. when i went to return the wrong batteries though, amazon said i could keep it and offered me a refund anyway. ironically, i actually already have a bunch of 2016 batteries. not sure why, don't know what i used them for. i think maybe wheel lights? judging by the large size of the battery.

i went to market basket this morning, bought another watermelon and got the butcher department to grind a package of pork butts. when i got back, i saw neil outside his house, seemingly planting something around the sidewalk tree. turns out he wasn't planting, but rather putting out some unwanted kid's toys. we chatted a bit, and he revealed that he's never been to market basket before, which i couldn't believe.

i put the rain cover on my motorcycle and went in the back to bring some furniture inside that i didn't want to get wet. that's when i discovered i had a box of seedlings that i forgot to move to belmont. these were 10 kabocha squash seedlings and 1 hyacinth bean. they've sufficiently hardened off after being outside for about a week now. the only thing they lack is more sunshine, as a few of the squash seedlings are starting to get leggy.

i had half an hour left before i needed to leave for work. it was enough time for me to make two ham & cheese wraps, used up all the ingredients. i wrapped them up in tinfoil and took them with me along with some of the groceries i got earlier.

i was the first person to arrive at the cafe. my mother showed up minutes later, walked from home. shortly after we opened, my father showed up after a needham restaurant depot supply run. he got a case of boneless skinless chicken thighs. they didn't have any premium packages but just the slightly inferior brand, which meant a lot of skin and fat needed to be trimmed off. my father left after starting a batch of chicken curry.

i brought the M7 smart band for my 2nd aunt, the knockoff i accidentally purchased last year when i thought it was an authentic xiaomi fitness band. i set it up for my 2nd aunt but quickly realized it was a piece of crap. it doesn't have a touchscreen, but instead just a button. quick press advances to the next option, long press selects. it was difficult to change the watch face, and the default one provided had an analog clockface with the number date and heart rate that didn't seem to work. for some reason there was no steps counter, you had to use the fitpro app. you can use the app to change the watch face, but all the options were just basically different backgrounds, and some of them even cost money. speaking of which, the app itself is heavily monetized with ads. just to get into the app itself required watched an ad. the device itself felt cheaply made, much lighter than an authentic xiaomi. i ended up erasing the app from my 2nd aunt's phone before even letting her try out the smart band because it was so awful.

instead i convinced her to get a xiaomi smart band 9 active. all the features of a genuine xiaomi, just a more rectangular shape compared to the more traditional mi fitness tracker which is a thin lozenge shaped. it was only $20 (open box).

we had a slow but steady trickle of customers today, until after 3pm when not a single person showed up. everyone sampled my wraps. i ended up eating a dried up donuts with some leftover chicken feet. we portioned out the curry and i put them into the basement freezer. they were still warm - 80 degrees - but we didn't have time to let them cool down properly.

i repotted the orchid i found last sunday. i knew there were two plants because there were 2 flower spikes. what i didn't realize was each orchid was already packed in its own flimsy plastic pot, crammed sphagnum moss. i cut off the spent flower spikes and started removing the sphagnum moss so i could untangle the roots. some of the roots were green, while others were yellow. i trimmed off any rotting or dead roots. i then repacked the orchids into specialized orchid pots (with drainage holes) with orchid potting mix (wood bark chips mixed with some fertilizer pellets). they'll live in my house for now, although i'm not sure if my place had enough indirect bright light for the orchids to thrive. i could put them outside if i could find a large translucent box i can put them in so they won't get any direct sunlight (which will burn the leaves).

i played some cyberpunk. i've been playing with the alternate endings. i picked the option where i ask the aldecaldos for help in infiltrating arasaka. it still ending with a boss battle against adam smasher. instead of rogue getting killed, it was saul. after exercising silverhand's engram, i left night city with the aldecaldos, destination tucson. i was surprised judy came with us as well, i totally forgot about her. another ending i haven't tried is working with hanako to kill her brother so she could take over the company. i think in that ending, arasaka actually has a cure for V's affliction.

i almost drifted off to sleep watching dune 2 before getting off the sofa, taking a shower, then warming up a can of soup. watched the knicks-cavs game. it was a boring game mainly because new york led throughout the game. the best cleveland could do was tie the game a few times. download 0-3, it's pretty much game over for the cavs. look to see them get eliminated sunday night in game 4. the knicks are on a 10-game playoff win streak. they seem a team of destiny now. whether that means they can beat one of the western conference teams is still iffy, but i'd like to see them try.

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.