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i woke up at 9am for my 10am pfizer booster shot appointment at the winter hills walgreens. i took some photos of my backyard french door for posterity, since today was the day i decided to finally fix it up, given the warm and more importantly dry weather the next few days. i also needed the photos to find a matching stain.

i left by 9:40am since it takes 12 minutes to get there by motorcycle. multiple road repairs up in the somerville hills made me take a big detour by the new somerville high school to get onto broadway street. i got there at 9:55am. when i went inside, there was already a line at the pharmacy. i was the 5th person there, but soon just as many people lined up behind me. i thought they were all there to get their vaccine, but only 2-3 people where getting shots, while the rest were just picking up prescriptions. there was two people working at the pharmacy but one of them had to administer the shots so there was only one register open. i finally got my shot by 10:20am. the pharmacist told me they were giving out 80 booster shots a day on top of the flu shots. i was asked for wait 15 minutes, i got close enough before leaving. while putting on my gear in the parking lot, i saw a guy who got the shot after me just leave instead of waiting.

instead of attempting to climb the somerville hills and get detoured again by road construction, i rode all the way out to magoun square behind turning to cambridge, hoping to bypass whatever mess i encountered earlier. i cut through porter square to get to the cafe. my parents thought i was there to help my sister return her unused fridge gasket, but i was actually there to rummage through the tool pile and look for materials i can use to repair my french door. i didn't find anything useful, which gave me an idea of what i needed to buy. my father and i discussed reorganizing the cafe basement to make room for the new upright freezer (3rd) that'd be arriving next wednesday after months of waiting.

i headed to my parents' house to look for materials. i found some drywall sandpaper (which will come in handy when i eventually fix my bathroom wall) and a rubber sanding block. i also found some 60 grit course 3M sandpaper. not sure what we used it for, but it'll come in handy. i watered some bare batches in the backyard lawn then sprinkled some leftover hollyhock seeds in several perennial beds (behind-the-garage, grapevine, southern bed) (i read the best time to sow hollyhock seeds is a week before first frost).

i got to home depot by 12:30pm. i was trying to find some minwax polyurethane and stain in one. apparently home depot doesn't carry any minwax products. they do however carry a brand called varathane which i've never heard of before. they had a few 8 oz. cans of stains that matched the wood of my french door, but they were without polyurethane. the colors for their poly + stain was limited, and those were only available in pint sizes, too large for me. so i grabbed some wood filler instead (in honey oak), to patch up the holes on my door frame when i removed the foam insulation strips. i also got some blue tape and medium and fine sand paper.

i returned to the house by 1pm, then spent the next 2 hours prepping the french door, sanding it to remove the old polyurethane that was flaking off along with some wood. i also cleaned the windows, dusted the area with a brush, then applied blue tape to the edges of the windows so i don't accidentally polyurethane them. i realized i didn't need to stain the wood, that it already has a natural color. i just need to seal it with some polyurethane.

my father stopped by afterwards, dropping off the large fridge gasket along with 3 bags of coffee to be returned at the UPS store. he also brought my half dozen 2ft barrina led grow lights that i bought last weekend ($50). i left to go to see his doctor to get some blood drawn for some tests.

i didn't even realize i got the booster shot because it didn't hurt at all. i think it was because i was busy working so i didn't feel it. in fact, the arm was barely sore, and that's usually the first thing i notice.

my father came back a bit later, he actually went home and got some oil-based polyurethane. it was varathane brand, we probably bought it at home depot. it seems suitable, but the only problem i have is it has a gloss finish. i prefer satin, or even semi-gloss. gloss makes the wood look like plastic. i'm sure it protects well, but it doesn't have that natural wood feel. changes are i'm going to go out and get a can of satin finish polyurethane. just so happens i also need to return a few things at home depot.

i spent the rest of the afternoon calling more plumbers. i tried four, all local to the cambridge/somerville area: arrowhead, dover, mirabella, prospect hill. they all got glowing reviews on yelp (which i take with a grain of salt, those can be faked). arrowhead and dover wanted to charge me a $125 service fee just to come out and give me an estimate. mirabella and prospect hill i only left a message. i also tried distinct plumbing, it went to a generic voicemail message, which is a red flag. i left a message anyway, not hopefully i'll receive a callback. finally i called alewife co. of all the plumbers i contacted, they were the ones who actually came out to see the problem. i've also used them in the past so i know they're legit. i didn't get mike but got the receptionist, who took me message to have mike call me back.

i didn't have lunch yet but it was so close to the evening i thought i could wait until dinner. however i got too hungry and decided to make some spicy buldak noodles. it was good but too spicy! and i was so afraid of staining my shirt with the hot sauce oil.

i finished watching the new dune remake. it's only part one, i'm not even sure if the studio agreed to do a part two yet, depends on the box office. it's simultaneously showing in the theaters as well as HBO/max. i like the new interpretations, even though i still say the david lynch version is the best adaptation. the denis villeneuve version is very good at showing the majesty and the scale of the dune world. i question some of the casting choices. timothée calamet as paul atreides? zendaya as chani? jason momoa as duncan idaho? i don't agree to any of those choices.

in the early evening i fell asleep briefly on the couch. autumn evenings are depressing, cold and sunset comes earlier and earlier. it's still 65 degrees inside the house, not cold enough to turn on the heat just yet, but i can definitely feel a chill just walking around the house if i'm not properly dressed. when i woke up i felt a little achy. not sure if it's because of the vaccine, or just i've been sleeping later and later (3-4am).

game 4 of the ALDS was tonight. it was pivotal game, more so for the astros, since if they lost, the series would be 3-1 in the red sox favor. but houston showed up tonight, holding boston to just 2 runs. the game was 2-1 for a while, until in the 8th and 9th inning when the astros scored 8 runs. that was my cue to switch channels. during the game, i heated up some canned soup for dinner. not the healthiest option, but i didn't have time to get groceries today. maybe tomorrow.

by late evening i started feeling like something was off. my body started to ache a little bit, the injection site was a little more sore, and i felt runned down in general. when i make a tight fist, it aches. i also felt some chills but could just be the lower temperature. i'm going to go to sleep now, like 2am is early for me these days.