my father stopped by in the late morning, after making a market basket supply run. i loaded the latest batch of programmed channels into his baofeng radio, including half a dozen nearby repeaters. we actually heard chatter from the prospect hill waltham repeater, two ham radio operators discussing powered antenna. my father left behind some pinwheel wraps before he left.

i went to market basket for some groceries via motorcycle, something i rarely do, but since it was an afternoon weekday, i was confident i would find parking. afraid of the ongoing road construction on properzi way, i went to MB via somerville avenue instead. it reminded me when i first discovered biking and market basket (2009), how i'd yet to find my shortcut, or how i'd parked my bike out onto somerville avenue, not realizing there were bike racks closer to the store (i was still riding the 24" wheeled bianchi at the time and carrying my dSLR where ever i went).

after returning home and dropping off my groceries, i went to the cafe briefly before heading to belmont to check on the stack of roof shingles currently sitting on the front lawn since monday. my father said the roofers wouldn't begin working until next monday. why the early delivery? and why just sitting on the front lawn killing the grass? (though there really isn't anywhere else they could put it). but my biggest worry was we'd just contacted the roofers on friday saying we were looking to change the shingle colors from blue to something less ugly. i removed the package slip and just as i feared, the shingles were blue (atlantic blue), not new color (driftwood).

apparently my sister didn't make it clear on friday when she called the roofers that we wanted to change the color. and why were they in such a rush to order anyway, knowing we were on the fence about the color? when my sister called them back, they said we could change it but it'd cost $300 more for return/shipping/handling. my sister said she'd pay for her mistake, but after complaining to my mother about it, i decided it wasn't worth the additional cost (replacing the roof is $10k, on top of the solar panels which is another $27k). from the two sample books, one of them looked very blue (2015 edition), the other more black and grey (2016 edition). however, when we went to go see the blue roof house in arlington, that thing looked hideous, but could also be because the house is painted a blue color. either way, the lesson learned here is if we want something done right, don't depend on my sister.

afterwards i went to watertown home depot to look for screws for the rear bike rack. the ones that came with the struts are non-standard. they look like they're #10-32 but the threading is slightly off (too tight). perhaps they're metric but when i checked at the store, the closest metric fit seems too lose. i ended up getting some 1/2" stainless steel machine screws and nylon lock nuts. i wanted 3/8" screws but they only had one bag and somebody had stolen one of the screws. i might go check out the somerville HD to see if they carry it. i also got some zinc #8 x 3/8" sheet metal screws for the stovetop gas burners. they're attached to the stovetop with screws but they're the wrong size and don't really hold the burners so they have a tendency to clatter from vibration when somebody is walking in the kitchen. it's a small thing, but something i can fix by getting some proper screws.

i returned home by 5pm. feeling hungry, i finished the rest of the pinwheel wraps. i wasn't hungry again until nearly 9pm, when i made 2 hot dogs for dinner. i forgot wednesdays is when my roommate plays badminton, and he didn't get home until nearly 10pm. he asked me how many days do people usually get off for christmas, and was surprised when i told him technically just one (although that last week of the year is a virtual work dead zone). he was asking because he's thinking about going back to china for christmas, so he and his girlfriend can get married (get a marriage certificate). she was also helping him present his research grant proposal back in shanghai and found out it was approved.

i came across wind river last night, the murder mystery starring jeremy renner and elizabeth olsen. i'd known about the film and found the premise intriguing, but only after watching the first few minutes was i hooked and ended up watching half, finishing the rest tonight. written and directed by taylor sheridan, it got me into finding some of his other work. he wrote the screenplay sicario (2015) (which i've seen) as well as hell or high water (2016), another film i heard great things about that i want to see.