i rolled across the bed to casually check my phone 10:20 this morning. i noticed an e-mail from oneplus, and sort of had an idea of what it could be about: "starting today...purchase the oneplus one...no invite needed!...while supplies last." i'd already missed the black friday special because i waited too long before deciding to buy. this time around, one a few seconds of contemplation before i clicked to buy. the main thing that still bugs me about the oneplus one (OPO) is the 5.5" screen size. maybe i'll love it because i'm using a 5.0" phone already, and i've never had a smaller sized smartphone so i've only known 2 handed smartphone usage. but will a 5.5" fit in my pocket? 5.0" is already a struggle. will it look like i'm carrying around an awkward tablet pc in my pants? a 5.5" still isn't 6.0", and i've seen in practice, and a 6.0" phone is humongous (wangyan had one in china).

ordering the phone forced me to get out of bed. because the OPO phone doesn't have a microSD slot, i opted for the larger memory version of the phone, the 64GB black sandstone for $349. i also added a premium screen protector for $5.99. finally there was $14.34 for shipping; such a weird amount of change, so i think the order may be coming from overseas, as in china, because my paypal payment was to a da sheng international trade company.

it wasn't raining this morning when i pulled up the blinds in the living room, but soon afterwards it started again. nothing like the heavy rainfalls of yesterday, but still a nuisance, and still enough to keep me indoors.

i continued to play around with my newly upgraded tablet pc. the google camera app is one of my favorites. i tried the panorama, which is much better than on my ZTE V975; on that one, the panorama never makes a complete 360° and the final result is a very small image. google panorama does a complete turn and the photo is fullsize. i also tried lens blur, manufactured bokeh using some sort of photo trickery involving taking multiple versions of the same photo. google voice is also fun, although i've used it before on this tablet with the old ROM. i also installed some streaming video apps, like HBO Go. i actually forgot that i have an HBO subscription (part of my comcast package). i never use it before only a few channels are in HD, and i've grown so used to not having HBO, i always forget it's there. i'm happy to learn i can watch a lot of my favorite series, like game of thrones, true detective, and rome.

i went to go check my jars of fermenting paocai in the early evening and was horrified to realize that at least one of the jars was leaking from the built up of pressurized carbon dioxide. it leaked all over the counter and dribbled onto the rug. no! paocai juice is very pungent, but thankfully it only got to the edge of the rug. i spent some time scrubbing the rug with some bac-out odor eliminator solution and warm water, hoping to at the very least get rid of the smell. i then went ahead and uncapped the 2 jars of sichuan paocai - very slowly to prevent the releasing gases from exploding. this must be very good paocai because there was some serious fermentation happening, with each jars bubbling up like it was boiling. i tried a few pieces and they're ready to eat already, just 8 days after i first sealed them.

i let the nest thermostat drive itself tonight. around 7:00 it fired up the heater. it did that weird thing again where it stopped before reaching the intended temperature, even though it was still saying it was heating in the display. i went online to look for solutions, and saw a posting from a nest tech in one of the forums saying this was normal behaviour, just a way to protect the furnace from overheating itself by giving it time to cool back down. that makes sense, so i'm not worried about the heat stopping midway problem anymore (actually not a problem). the temperature still got to the intended target eventually. the 2 degrees higher than normal temperature issue though, that's still up in the air. that will involve a bit of rewiring work, i'll need to visit home depot to get the necessary wires. but the good news is i took a closer look at the energy rebate, and it looks like i should be able to get back $100, which means this thermostat only cost me $100 instead of $200 (still a chunk of change, but a 50% reduction).

i actually didn't eat too much today. yesterday my father brought over some pastries, and i ate one for lunch and then one for dinner. i supplemented my evening meal with some pizza rolls (that's how i found out about the leak), then a bit of ice cream, followed by some rice pudding.