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someone from comcast called me this morning with a deal on internet and cable. i cancelled my cable at the end of june, but apparently comcast wants me back in the fold. i thought it was a scam at first, and almost hung up, but was intrigued by the deal. i currently pay $77 month for internet alone, but the deal they were pitching me was $80/month for faster internet plus 50 cable channels and HBO for one year. it sounded too good to be true, and fortunately this wasn't my first time dealing with a comcast sales representative, and eventually i found out why it was this cheap. so the deal is only good for a year, after which the price goes up by $15 (i somehow doubt that). the 50 channels doesn't include a few like fox sports, so i wouldn't be able to get all my sports. but the deal breaker is the channels are only standard definition, not HD, which costs an additional $10. the fact that they charge people an additional amount for HD is criminal, since most people have HDTV's. the rep didn't tell me this small detail and i had to dig it out myself, and when i called him on it, he agreed with me that the deal wasn't that great after all.

i knew something would go wrong. even if i had all the right tools, removing the old freewheel assembly from the rear bike wheel would require some sort of feat of strength in which i was grossly unqualified for. alas, i didn't even have the right freewheel removal socket tool. i had all the others - cassette removal socket, crankset removal socket - i was just missing the freewheel socket. my immediate reaction was to go online and order another one - about $9 - but decided i'd check at my parents' place first, since that was the last place i saw the freewheel socket (5 years ago).

i bought some clothes online through the gap. they had a 40% off everything sale, i got 2 pairs of shorts, a pair of mustard khakis (not the best color, but they were on clearance, i figured they'd be my everyday pants that i wouldn't have to worry about getting dirty), and a polo shirt.

after finishing a bowl of raisin bran cereal for lunch (i'm on a raisin bran kick all this week), i walked down to the community garden to water my plants...and to play a little pokemon go. it was a hot day, with the official temperature reading for boston at 98°F. i brought my gardening gloves because the dermatitis on my left hand has gotten pretty bad (i broke one of the blisters and now it's oozing) and i want to make sure i don't touch anything that could be causing it, like the rubber handle of the water sprayer.

i left the hose running while i weeded the garden, making sure to give my plot a thorough soaking, so i wouldn't have to come back over the weekend. during my garden visit one of my incubating pokemon eggs hatched, delivering a tentacool, my first.

elsewhere in the community garden:

around 4pm i went to star market to pick up some groceries. in the parking lot i came face to face with a koffing pokemon, which i'd never seen before. i hit it with the pokeball twice before it ran away, i'd never seen that behaviour either. later in the evening i came across a eevee in my living room and that also managed to escape. maybe now that i'm a level 8 catcher, pokemons are becoming harder to catch, and sometimes they might even escape.

for dinner i cooked up the 2 pieces of chicken breast i let defrost in the fridge since this morning. i slathered them with olive oil, kosher salt, and cracked peppers, and grilled them in the foreman. i saved one cutlet but ate the other one as part of my chicken caesar salad.