today was the last time i would ever have to wait for DC to get up, since he'll be gone by sunday morning. i was hoping he'd leave for the office early (like he did all last week), but his new departure times seems to be 11am. but the fact that he was still at home made me nervous to use the bathroom (in case he might need it), so i kept on waiting until i couldn't wait anymore, used the bathroom quickly including a shower. DC didn't get up until almost 11am, and finally left by 11:30am.

while i was waiting for DC, i had time to sort out the small business grant survey form issue. i did manage to submit the survey form - but only if i didn't include any attachments. i called a few different numbers and tried a few different e-mails, until somebody finally replied, told me the address of where i could send my supporting grand documentations. i just have to go through this process again come december, when the state grant survey form is due (although i could always just do it earlier).

i left the house by 11:50am, went to aldi's to pick up some good quality (thick) scallions for thanksgiving. temperature was in the mid-40's, and i wore my winter jacket because i didn't want to freeze on the motorcycle. there's ongoing road construction on central square so i made it to medford via magoun square, coming out near the tufts science and technology center, then harvard street onto route 16.

i went to harbor freight first to get some replacement razor blades for my caulk scraper. the bald guy was working the cashier. i think he legitimately has a beef against asian people. the two white guys ahead of me in line got the VIP treatment. he gave one guy an additional discount, while another guy he was chatting to him about being from belmont. with me, nothing. no chitchat, everything very curt.

after that i went to aldi's. the parking lot outside was crowded, but it was no more crazy than the last time i came 2 weeks ago. i think the real onslaught of thanksgiving food shopping will begin this weekend, and most definitely all next week the closer we get to thanksgiving thursday. i couldn't find the scallions at first, but when i finally spotted them, i grabbed 5 packages worth. they were 79¢ a bag, which is cheap, considering market basket sells them at $1.49 this week for a bundle of wilting stalks. i also picked up a few snacks before leaving.

i headed straight to the cafe, taking a detour on highland avenue until i got to cedar street and out to porter square. i got there by 1pm to drop off the scallions. my sister wasn't there and the noontime spike of lunch customers wasn't over yet, so i ended up staying to help until 3pm. we had a bunch of orders in quick successions: online, delivery, phone, and in-person. tea eggs seem to be a popular item, i've been seeing a lot of people order them exclusively. i ended up boiling an additional 15 eggs in preparation for next week. i wanted to cook 20 eggs but my mother said we're open for just 3 more days (saturday, tuesday, wednesday) before the thanksgiving break, and any leftover eggs will have to be thrown out since we can't keep them fresh for that long. all i know is there might be a lot of leftover tea eggs for thanksgiving dinner.

my father and i installed the san jamar sliding check rack. we found a good place for it but it was in an awkward spot, between two 2x4 studs inside the wall. we couldn't bridge the gap between the studs, so figured one screw would be in the stud will the other would use a drywall anchor. however when my father tried to drill into the stud, he hit something inside the wall that was hard enough to bend the drill. the tried again on the other stud and the drill still wouldn't go through. we ended up just taping the check rack onto the wall with a long piece of double-sided foam tape that originally came with the magnetic knife holder. that was a quick and easy solution, but it'll be a pain to remove should be ever want to take off the check rack.

but the check rack definitely makes organizing new order receipts a lot easier. if anything, we might want to get out for the front of the cafe, to keep track of drink orders. apparently restaurant depot sells san jamar check racks far cheaper than what we might pay on amazon, so worth checking out the next time we visit.

after i got back home, i screwed on the honda cap nut that arrived a few days ago onto the hinge bolt screw of the left clutch lever. hopefully it'll stay in place this time and won't come off from the vibrations. i did add some thread locker onto the screw last week, hopefully there's enough residual left on it to keep the cap nut in place.

i toasted an everything bagel and made some avocado spread with one whole mini avocado, sea salt, olive oil, and some minced garlic. i tried out the new OXO garlic press. the thing feels very industrial, very heavy, and makes light work of garlic cloves, crushing them with such violent force that they squirt out from the square holes. cleanup is also very easy, i like that you don't need to use a separate brush like i do with my zyliss garlic press. the avocado bagel was good, but it wasn't very filling, and i still felt hungry soon afterwards.

i don't know what possessed me to buy a bosch cordless drill and impact driver set last night ($93), the same one i gifted my sister many years ago that she still continues to use. maybe it was because it was on sale and i couldn't resist getting it. it's the lowest price ever for this combo, although it was briefly on sale for $86 back in october. i just think it's a quality compact drill and the impact driver is just a bonus. anyway, it arrived tonight, but i didn't even open it.

i had dinner relatively early, around 7:30pm. lacking inspiration, i went with my friday standby, luxury korean ramen. on a cold night (where i actually turned up my heat to 68 degrees because i didn't think it was warm enough), that spicy noodles really hit the spot. i ate while watching some pregame coverage before the celtics-pelicans game. even though it was a 117-109 boston victory, don't let the close score fool you into thinking it was a close game; new orleans at times got close, but there was no doubt the celtics would win in the end. boston is currently on a 9 game winning streak, best in the NBA, and with the best record as well. boston face the bulls monday night in chicago. celtics have an easy schedule until the end of november, when they face the heat in a back-to-back matchup, followed by the nets, raptors, suns, and warriors. can't wait!

DC didn't get home until 11:30pm. i asked him if he was going back to the office tomorrow. he said no, but was going to go to the cafe for lunch and get a photo with my parents. i told him my parents have the day off on saturdays, but my 2nd aunt will be there.