i drove down to the galleria mall for another attempt at picking up that socket i ordered. being this was my 5th trip to sears and with all that i've learned, i pulled into the parking garage knowing they'd validate my ticket for free parking. al was there and when he saw me he came out with a large clear plastic bag, the inside of which was the long lost socket. al validated my ticket for 1 hour of parking; i could've had some time to do some browsing in the mall, but ever since the border bookstore closed, i just don't any interests there.

from the galleria mall i got onto memorial drive and headed towards watertown. i made a stop at the mt.auburn star market to buy a bag of fried chicken ($4.99) and some woodchuck hard cider (hopsation flavor, $9.99). i never had star market fried chicken before, i don't think they have it at the little star market near my house, so i was excited to try it. unfortunately the flavor was not very good. maybe i got a bad batch, but whatever oil they used to fry the chicken had an off taste to it, and the crust wasn't anything special. for my money, the best cheap fried chicken is still market basket brand, which unfortunately they don't offer at my somerville market basket store.

my sister dropped off hailey and would come and pick her up sometime after 10pm. i spent the afternoon in the backyard, connecting the garden hose so i could properly water the raised beds. i couldn't find the adjustable spray nozzle so had to resort to the turret wand instead. later i did find the adjustable sprayer, but it'd been left out in the backyard all winter and was now spraying/leaking from the side, so it'll need to be replaced. later when it got dark outside i went out to investigate which of the solar LED lights buried during the snow storm was still working. probably half of them are dead (maybe salvageable with a battery replacement) but i was surprised so many were still active.

i installed the doorframe pull-up bar in the kitchen. i wish i could do the same at my house but the old trims around my doors are too thick. i even thought about drilling some holes so i can extend the metal bars to make it fit, but i did some measurements and even that won't work. however it does work here at my parents' place, since their house was built in the 60's and has smaller trims. i love pull-up bars. it works a whole group of muscles, from arms to shoulders to the back. i've got a lot of muscles in my legs from all the biking i do, but i have zero upper body strength. i can barely do one pull-up (palms facing forward), and maybe 2 chin-up (palms facing me). i like how my upper body aches afterwards, like i'm tapping muscles that've hardly ever been used.

for dinner i ate a few more pieces of fried chicken while waiting for my sister to return. once she did, i gathered up my things and returned to cambridge.