i finally moved my air conditioner into the basement after i took it off the window a week ago. i also took some photos of my plumbing, so i can figure out what else needs to be fixed besides the leaking pipe. there were a few corroded valves that needed to be replaced as well. there was a rusty bike that was directly underneath the leaking pipe; i took it out of the basement so i could throw it out on trash day.

i left for belmont around 12:30pm. i tried to start my motorcycle the normal way but the engine hissed because the battery was still dead. i had to jump it with my fully recharged battery starter, all it took was one try and the bike roared to life.

while eating lunch, i looked outside into the backyard and saw a groundhog eating something. by the time i went out it was gone. i did see a new gap underneath the fence, it looked a bit small to fit a groundhog, but it had to have escaped through there because i searched everywhere in the backyard and couldn't find it. i put two bricks in front of the hole to seal it temporarily. as to what it was eating, it ate half a small buttercup squash.

in the afternoon my father and i went to home depot to get a new hot water heater. he called our HVAC guy yesterday (xiao wu) who said he was available this coming week to install the new heater. he could also do some light repairs on my plumbing, like replace the leaky pipe and corroded valves. home depot sells a rheem brand 40 gallon tall 12-year 38K BTU energy star water heater for $735 (not including a $100 energy rebate) that i was interested it but they don't have it available in store and i'd need to order it online. it also requires electricity to run the powered damper, so i was worried maybe the tank wouldn't work during a power outage. i ended up getting a normal hot water heater instead, $619 rheem 40 gallon tall 12-year 40K BTU, which the watertown store had in stock.

we also got some pipe fittings, some ball-cock valves, and some 1/2" copper pipes. when we went to pay, the cashier asked us if we wanted to sign up for a home depot credit card, which gave us an instead $85 discount on our purchase for today. so my father ended up signing up for it, which made checking out even longer.

we stopped by my parents' house to pick up the hand truck before going to my place to drop off the hot water heater. my father also got a chance to inspect the plumbing damage himself so he had a better idea what needs to be fixed, in case i can't be there on the day the HVAC guy comes to do the repairs.

we finally returned to belmont by 4:30pm.

after dinner i got ready to take the motorcycle back to cambridge. when i tried to start it up i wasn't too surprised when the engine just hissed back at me. i used the jump starter to bring the engine back to life.

tonight not only was there a sunday night football game between the patriots and the seahawks, but there was also the emmy's awards. i watched a bit of both, football on the TV, emmy's on the computer, but the award ceremony seemed boring, so i switched back to the TV, watching a bit of the ruth bader ginsburg documentary during commercial breaks. it was a good game even though new england lost, but it went down to the final seconds, and the patriots had a chance to win, which is a lot more than what most fans were expectedly, given how many players opted out of playing this season due to covid, and having a new quarterback. every game i watch (and so far just two) makes me believe in cam newton. he might be a little weird but there's no doubt his competence when it comes to being a football player. i don't lose sleep at nights knowing cam is at the helm.