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my parents came to pick me up around 10:30am for a supply run at food-pak express (baifu) in the south end. we looked for sichuan paocai jars but they were all sold out. it didn't seem like we bought much but we left with $400 worth of supplies. food-pak express is located right next to an alleyway (atkinson street) where it seems like a convention center for all the boston drug addicts.

we arrived at the cafe by 12:20pm and unloaded the supplies. we returned to belmont by 12:40pm. while i was outside propagating a toothache plant and my father was cutting up a large plastic sheet to convert the basement entrance in a makeshift greenhouse, my mother was busy making lunch.

my father found our sony digital8 camcorder (DCR-TRV510) and a bunch of digital8 tapes in the basement. using the firewire adapter i got 2 years ago, we connected the camcorder to his macbook pro and was able to copy the video from our 2003 costa rica trip using imovie. while the transfer was happening (in real time, since you can't copy faster than the tape speed), my father and i were back outside working on our respective projects.

i fertilized the garlic bed (RB2) with chicken manure granules. i'd first dug out the garlic and used my hand to scoop out a small handful and scatter it around the garlic base. fortunately i planted in a logical pattern so even though some garlics were still buried underneath the protective layer of salt marsh grass, i could still find it. i did discover a few garlics were missing, taken by squirrels soon after i planted them last fall. after i was finished i put the chickenwire back over the garlic to prevent squirrels from digging in the bed. once they get bigger i'll remove the mesh.

we also cleaned up the garlic chive bed and i sprinkled some chicken manure. while i was at it i sprinkled chicken manure on the scallions and any additional alliums growing in the backyard (some stray garlic and garlic chive beds).

once the video finished transferring, i pieced the individual clips together into a movie and exported it as a 3GB 540p mp4 file. i then shrunk it down using handbrake, got it to 1GB. when reduced the video to 480p, the file reduced to 800MB. i uploaded the 480p version to google photos.

after dinner, my father found more digital8 tapes and i helped him transfer over part 2 of our costa rica trip. even though the DCR-TRV510 is more than 2 decades old (couldn't find the manufactured date but an online manual dates back to 1999), it's still able to communicate with a modern day computer, which isn't something i can say with a lot of other gadgets from the late 90's. the DCR-TRV510 featured a lot of cutting edge technology for its time, and the fact that it recorded in digital format (even though it was to an analog tape) meant the footage can be imported.

my father gave me a ride back to cambridge. first thing i did was to plant my stock seeds. i was waiting for plastic trays but i discovered i didn't need them, could still use my old seed starter tray since the stock seeds are tiny. so i basically waited a week for nothing.

i also tried using the sony camcorder battery - NP-F750 - on my led pancake light, which can use NP-F batteries. although it snapped into place perfectly, the light wasn't able to turn on. even though the battery read as full when connected to the camcorder, i think it's actually defective. my father remembered one of the batteries was a dud, so maybe it's this one. i'l grab another battery next time to test again.

i spent most of the evening researching grow lights. not the 1000W led grow lights of the basement grow house, but smaller led strip lights that i can hang in my grow closet. they're either 2ft or 4ft. 4ft may be a bit too long, and are more expensive; i'm looking for a smaller footprint. i really like these barrina 2ft grow lights in white, but they only sell them in a 4-pack for $55 (on amazon). barrina also sells the same lights but in blurple, a 6-pak sells for $70. but i discovered if i buy directly from the company, it's just $60 (with free shipping). the company website says they're all out of 2ft white 6-pack lights, which may explain why there isn't any available on amazon. i ended up buying the plurple version directly from the company. they have an okay return policy: you pay for return shipping but they'll reimburse you. i think the white version would be easier on the eyes but at this point i just need some cheap lights quick, and these are my best bet.