it'd snow all day, but the amount was nothing more than flurries that there were barely any accumulation. i watched as my upstairs neighbors cleared their car and went out. even though it wasn't snowing a whole lot, it still wasn't ideal driving conditions. it couldn't possibly be a grocery run, so i suspected maybe they left to get vaccinated. i saw steve holding some papers in his hands, maybe driving directions, maybe appointment confirmations, i didn't get a good look. they didn't go out too long, they were back 1-1/2 hours later, empty-handed. steve did shovel the sidewalk before they left, but haphazardly, and i had to clean it up again later in the afternoon.
i signed up for a twitter account today (@tonychabuduo). not that i had any desire to tweet, but i wanted to get notifications on my phone from a vaccine bot that would tweet whenever appointments were available. like how it alerted me in the early afternoon that there were several thousand new appointments for 2/22 at gillette stadium. i was hoping to see appointments for fenway but the only other new slots was at the mohawk trail regional high school about 100 miles away. i also made an account for the cafe, in case we ever want to use it.
i made a matcha latte for lunch. i warmed up a tall glass of milk, poured most of it in a mug, then added a heaping 1/2 tsp of matcha powder to the leftover milk in the glass and mixed everything with the handheld frother before pouring the matcha mix into the rest of the milk. i had some leftover sichuan paocai i needed to finish so i had that for lunch as well. it was a weird mix, fermentation meets antioxidants. later my stomach felt a little weird, made some gurgling noises, that sensation when i eat sour foods on an empty stomach. matcha and paocai would combine forces to cleanse my bowels.
while i was shoveling the snow in the early afternoon, i discovered the snow was coming down as snowflakes, but rather ice needles. typically the temperature has to be pretty cold (23°F) for needles to form, and it wasn't that cold today, but maybe it was higher in the atmosphere.
my mother contacted me in the afternoon, said she was looking for my father. their family friend casey got in touch with them asking if they got the vaccine yet. apparently her daughter found a way to "hack" the massvax website to book appointments. she got her parents signed up along with some family friends, and casey was asking for my parents' info so her daughter could register my parents as well. my father closed the cafe early and sent the info to the daughter. few minutes later both my parents received appointment confirmation letters for fenway park for 3/3. march appointments aren't even visible on the massvax website yet! it sounded too good to be true. if i had to guess, i think they someone figured out by advancing the index number in the URL address, they can book for future appointments. another weird thing is my mother told me the daughter already got her vaccine. when i asked what she did for a living, my mother said she works in a bank. how did a bank employee get vaccinated before most everyone else? regardless, my mother still asked me to keep on checking for open appointments that are earlier. but if i can't find any, at least they'll get vaccinated in march.
in the afternoon i went to star market to pick up some clementines and potato chips. later i had to go back when i realized they double charged me for the chips. if it was a couple of cents i wouldn't care, but there was a $4 difference, so i went to clear it up.
i finished watching season 1 of dream on. i remember a few details, like martin's girlfriend nina (julie carmen) who appeared in several episodes before she got sent to jail for ecoterrorism.
for dinner i reheated the last of my leftover century egg pork bone congee. the trick is to heat it so it turns from a porridge-like sludge to a liquified soup. only then does all the ingredients meld together, becoming greater than the sum of its parts, and tastes a lot better.