i changed the setting on my panasonic HDTV so i only surf a handful of favorite channels. there were just too many spanish-speaking and satellite channels i didn't really care about. so now my OTA lineup for the boston area is this: 2-4-5-7-25-38-44-56-62.4. channel 62.4 is comet tv, an all scifi network. it's all old scifi movies and shows, but if you're a genre fan (like me), occasionally you can find something good. i watched a heavily-edited from beyond one time, and caught a glimpse of 1993 body snatchers starry gabrielle anwar. on occasions i still get pixelation on my primary channels (ABC, CBS, NBC affiliates), so i definitely want to upgrade to a powered antenna. right now i don't know which one, and i'm worried that even with a powered setup, the channels still won't come in clear.
steve is trying to rally the neighbors to protest the new tenants on h street who have arbitrarily decided the 3 parking spots directly in front of his house are now his own private parking. i noticed the signs when i came back from china, and apparently neighbors have received threatening letters affixed to their cars when they park there, warning that their car will be towed and of potential litigation if they don't comply. h street has always been a weird street as technically it's a private way, but neighbors have always parked there. over the years, we lose more parking spots due to condo development, and now there's only a handful of parkable spaces left on h street. anyway, not sure how this fight will go, as i don't even own a car (but i do have a motorcycle). but maybe one day i'd like to get a car, and this would affect me in the future.
after a bowl of oatmeal for lunch, i went to star market to return $1.55 worth of cans and to pick up some chips and diet coke. i then rode to belmont, where i suddenly had an urge to wash the dirty camry that'd been sitting out in the driveway for the past few months. when my parents returned from the cafe, i washed the honda as well.
afterwards i helped my father cut down some more bamboo in the backyard. it's hard work, and feels like it'll probably take us the rest of the summer to chop down all the bamboo (except for one small grove we're saving). the worst are the stalks growing in neighbors' yards; not sure how we're going to negotiate that.
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today was a relatively cool day in the 70's given that yesterday we were in the 90's. in my house the temperature is trapped in the 80's thanks to the insulation. when i got back home i set up 2 fans blowing cold air into the house with as many open windows as possible. by evening's end the room temperature was finally down to 77°F.