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i got a call this morning from my father, asking me if i could meet him at market basket because while he was checking out he realized he forgot his wallet. i arrived with my credit card and paid for his groceries before biking back home.

moments later i took the motorcycle to the cafe. my mother paid me back the amount i charged. that wasn't my reason for being at the cafe though; i was there to check out the leftover bicycles down in the basement. the first bike was a 1999 trek 800 sport. i can ride it, but the top tube is a little bit higher than the height of my crotch, would it could be a potential problem if i come to a sudden stop and land on it wrong. both tires are flat and need some air and i heard possibly one of them has a busted inner tube. one of the brake lines need to be fixed too, it's coming loose so there's no tension on the wire to properly engage the brake.

the second bike is a magna great divide. i looked it up online and a lot of people say the magna brand is crap. i like it though, looks newer than the treak 800, and it has front suspension, which i've never had on a bicycle before. like the trek, both tires were flat, but otherwise it seems to be in rideable shape. the top tube is still at crotch level, but just a little bit lower. the index shifter for the chainrings can only engage 2 of the 3 gears.

pau's cooking last night really stunk the place up. the odor i can deal with by ventilating outwards, but it's the greasy feeling that harder to get rid of. from the counter top to the floors to the rugs, everything felt slightly oily to the touch. if only i'd used the window fan to circulate some of that air last night. next time he cooks i'll let him know.

i attempted to make a deluxe omelette for lunch, my most ambitious omelette yet, a medley of cilantro, scallions, tomatoes, spinach, bacon, goat cheese, and of course eggs. i think the mixture was just too dense to cook properly, and when i tried to fold my deluxe omelette, it basically fell apart. omelette making: more art than science.

at 3:00 i left the house for union square, where the honkfest was kicking off its festivities with some local performances throughout greater boston. just so happens my favorite marching band the rude mechanical orchestra would be visiting union square, along with the somerville high school marching band. i think originally they were all supposed to perform together, but RMO was late to arrive (coming up from brooklyn).

fortunately i stuck around until a green-painted school bus showed up, unloading band members and their instruments. i've seen these guys so many times now (both in boston and new york) and they always performance the same songs. however, there energy level is unmatched, with the music and the dancing, that i still love to watch them perform even though i know what's coming up next. since i won't be here tomorrow i can't see them performing in davis square, but i'll be here sunday to watch them march in the parade to harvard square.

instead of biking home, i biked to the cafe to pick up some dinner my mother had left me, some spicy basil chicken with rice. coming home, the box popped open; fortunately everything was inside a bag so all was not lost. my rear bike light fell off though; not the light itself, but the mount. the screw holding it onto my milk crate must've fallen out. i'm hoping my new rear bike light will arrive soon. in the meantime i still have my rear helmet light and my mars 3.0.

going with pau tomorrow morning at 9:00 to pick up the rental car. from there will get his two astrophysicist friends and make our way to cape cod. he doesn't seem to want to go all the way down to provincetown, but i'm trying to convince him that it wouldn't be a cape cod trip without making a stop at the very tip. we're doing it old school style, no GPS involved, just paper maps, but you can't get too lost on the cape.