after that i went to the watertown target, where i picked up the joji smithereens CD i bought for hans last night. later i went through the store to see how many more CD's they had left (a few, along with taylor swift's new album). i also checked to see if they had any dental floss. i searched online, there's no mention of a dental floss supply shortage, but i haven't seen dental floss at market basket for nearly 2 months now, and what they do have are just dental picks. target did have dental floss, but the price was exorbitant.
i stopped by my parents' place briefly to pick up my saddlebags, then drove to the cafe. i drop off the yarn and crackers i bought yesterday, and picked up two pillows from my sister, for the visiting astrophysicist arriving on sunday evening.
i then drove to my place to drop off the pillows and saddlebags, grabbed all the painting equipment from the basement (3 containers worth), and drove to belmont to drop off the car. i rode the motorcycle back to cambridge, getting home by around noontime.
i finished the rest of the pasta salad for lunch, before heading out again around 1pm, this time to the post office to mail off the joji CD. two indians (man and woman) whom i'd never seen before were working there; they seemed more interested in chatting with each other than actually helping me out. the guy made me fill out a customs form. fortunately i was the only customer so there wasn't a line. i paid $12 for the CD but ended up spending $17 for the cheapest shipping to norway.
i went to the porter square hardware store and got a front door key made. i was supposed to do this at home depot but totally forgot. the woman making my key said i didn't have one of the common ones so it took her a while to find a matching blank. i used to have a bunch of front door keys, 
but over time past roommates have accidentally taken them when they left, so now i'm only down to a single spare, which i'm already using in my running belt. i went to the porter square star market next door and got some petite sirloin steaks on sale. they're not the best steaks because they're so lean, but still a good bargain for stirfry.
i returned home briefly, before going out again, this time to haymarket. i stopped at the nearby liquor store and got another powerball ticket before heading into boston. i got there by 2:40pm. slim pickings, but i did buy those peruvian clementine oranges my mother liked so much from last friday: the prices today was 5 for $2, i ended up getting 20. i also got 2lbs. of chestnut ($5).
i stopped at my house briefly to grab the steaks and the aldi spinach, before continuing to the cafe to drop off the supplies. my mother made some "oil rice" and gave me a box for dinner, sparing me from having to eat korean ramen.
my father showed me a video of the "fixed" dryer running last night, it now makes a horrible sound when running, and the dryer will stop before finishing the cycle. i suggested we could replace the motor for $70, but the dryer is almost 20+ years old, and there could be other things wrong with it, so better just to buy a new one.
i returned home for good by 4:30pm. i spent 30 minutes outside raking a barrel of leaves, put in some effort so when paul and steve return tomorrow, it'll look like i've been maintaining the backyard even though i've basically neglected it for most of the summer, other than an occasional watering.
today was hot, with temperature in the upper 70's. unfortunately i could smell a sewer odor in my bathroom, which meant sealing the exposed pipes did nothing to alleviate the smells. 
this only happens when it's really hot, and the sewer water cooks, releasing sewer odor through the vent pipe. nothing that a slightly cracked opened window can't fix, but still, it'd be nice if this wasn't the case. i've noticed they've been doing a lot of sewer flushing in the neighborhood, i wonder if this is related. never noticed it before, but this summer when i walk around the neighborhood, i can definitely smell sewer stench from the storm drains. i'm hoping maybe a cold winter will somehow get rid of the smell.
i did two loads of laundry: a vinegar-baking soda load with just towels (and some socks), and a regular detergent load for dirty clothes and some bedsheets. i also did a little bit of cleaning, not too much, since the house is still in pretty clean state after my relative's visit last week.
i ate dinner early, reheated the oil rice in the microwave by 7pm. i ate while watching the bulls-celtics game. boston ended up winning, though the bulls were always within striking distance throughout the game.
tonight i'm going to be sleeping in the master bedroom for the first time in nearly two years. i've moved into the guest bedroom during the pandemic because it's warmer during the winter, and when summer came, i just got used to sleeping in the smaller bedroom. it's going to feel weird, even though that's my default bedroom. once this astrophysicist leaves, i'm moving right back to the guest bedroom.