this must be a record because i made the purchase tuesday night and 3 days later my order arrives (free shipping by the way, how do they do it?). i got an inner tube ($4.40) for the denali road bike that i don't ride, and a new combination cable lock to replace drew's broken one. the new one is an onguard brand (model 5032 the doberman, $9.94), 6' x 10mm, a bit bulkier than the old version, but works just the same. the numbers are easier to spin on the new one, but the combo mechanism seems flimsier. a cable lock is no match for a pair of bolt cutters, but that lady schwinn is in no danger of being stolen and a cable lock is all the theft deterrent it needs.
i'm on a quest for cables: a special firewire cable to copy the movies off of my father's digital8 camcorder, a usb-to-serial port adapter cable to connect the spare led billboard display i've inherited, and a 9V 2500mA rated power adapter for said display. so i went to belmont to look for it. i took the motorcycle because the weather was nice (sunny, blue sky, 70's).
it took less than 48 hours for the house to get cluttered again, all thanks to my sister who was on another one of her manic episodes, looking for her ipod which she accused us of stashing away somewhere when we were busy cleaning up the house the past few days without her help. the hoarder's room once more had bags all over the floor, random articles on the dining table, dishes in the sink (my sister didn't think binbin's mother-in-law did a good job washing so she put all the dishes in the sink for my mother to redo), and clothes all over the basement floor. my sister wasn't home at the time, but when she did come back, i talked to her about the clutter, which she immediately took offense. so instead of hunting for my cables, i ended up cleaning the house, including washing all the dishes. those cables are hard to find anyway; at one point they were all stored in a box and now lost in the basement somewhere. it might save us more time to just buy new cables.
i stopped by the cafe before i came home to pick up some leftover turkey my parents had brought from home. 
my mother told me the final extended family dinner we were scheduled to have tonight wasn't happening now because bin bin's parents and her in-laws had a big fight yesterday. i wouldn't say this came as a surprise, with both sets of parents - who less than 2 weeks ago were complete strangers - forced to live together in the same house. the argument basically boils down to money.
 |
 |
 |
 |
back at home, i paid a visit to the community garden. last week i'd been warned by the garden "use it or lose it" committee that my plot was beginning to get out of hand and needed some maintenance. i found the criticism a bit unnecessary since by next week we might experience our first frost and everything will be dead in the community garden anyway, thereby making the issue sort of moot. i pulled up some dead plants (tomatoes, thai basil, wild parsley) and uprooted my patch of asiatic dayflowers (which back in early spring was actually my garlic field). i brought a bag in case there was anything to harvest but other than a few raspberries, there wasn't much left.
drew came home by around 4:30 and stayed in his room for the rest of the night. for dinner i made 4 turkey rollups, ate while watching some big bang theory, followed by the latest episode of fringe.