the internet was down this morning. i vaguely remember getting an xfinity e-mail last week saying something like this would happen. i dug up the e-mail, it said no more than 2 hours of downtime. so i waited. in the meantime, i still had unlimited data on my phone, but it's been very slow lately, i could barely get on the internet. weird thing was when i checked xfinity/comcast's official outage map, it told me, "everything looks good!" but when i checked a 3rd party outage map, there were outages all across greater boston. at least that made me feel a little better, knowing i wasn't the only person without internet. i was afraid the cafe was down as well (which is more of a headache, since online ordering, phone service, and even credit card swipes are all internet-dependent) but i was able to ping all their web services just fine.

i ate a homemade omelette for lunch while watching king charle's first televised address to his subjects. i waited a little bit afterwards (in case the omelette didn't agree with me) before carrying on with my usual friday errands in the afternoon. by 2:30pm the internet was still down.

first stop was whole foods to return a 480GPH submersible pump and an extra 200g precision scale (the scale i ended up buying a second time in order to get a cheaper price). this is my 2nd time using the self-service return kiosk by the entrance. afterwards i mounted the gopro onto a head strap on my helmet and continued biking into boston.

i went to ming's market to get some supplies: chinese cabbage, daikon, carrots, bokchoi. they also had fishnacks (i bought 4 packs, $2.79 each). it's definitely bitter melon season as they're on sale ($1.38/lbs), grown monstrously large. i bought another jar of fried chili oil ($5), this time 菜花香 brand.

next i went to haymarket. honestly, there was nothing there i wanted. i walked the place 3 times without buying anything, finally got 2 boxes of strawberries ($3), 2 pineapples ($3), and a sleeve of garlic ($2). i was looking for baby cucumbers, haven't seen them here in a while. one vendor was selling rainier cherries for $4/lbs., i was going to get some but i forgot. no longans this time either. pickings are so slim, not sure if i'm coming back next week.

i left boston around 3:45pm. i was dead tired by the time i returned home, and i still had to go to market basket to get a few more things for the cafe. i called my mother letting her know i wouldn't be able to drop off the supplies today. i was also happy to learn that my internet was back. i went to market basket to pick up some baby cucumbers, scallions, and baby spinach.

i got a bit of a second wind, so after coming home to collect the things i bought in boston, i rode to the cafe. in return my mother packed me a bento box for dinner (some cooked hyacinth beans with pork) as well as some pineapple.

i didn't get back home until almost 6pm. my parents couldn't go home after the cafe closed because they were still waiting for the delivery of the new ice machine, which was due to arrive today via fedex. they stayed until 8pm before finally leaving, no fedex truck in sight.

i didn't heat up my bento box in the microwave until after 9pm. i ate while watching alex wagner tonight on MSNBC.