my father called me this morning, excited to let me know he's found some chinese documentation for the baofeng UV-5R dual band two way radio. he said he pretty much knows how to set up the radios for walkie talkie functionality (complicated, involving 40+ steps), and hopefully the radios arrive tomorrow so he can at least have 2 days to figure out how to use it. it's interesting to see how he's completely obsessed about the baofeng. before that, he was focused on researching ductless heat pumps. and before then, he was focused on gathering information for the home solar loan.

i went to my garden plot in the late morning to water my plants and to harvest some vegetables. i brought in all the empty refuse bins, which wasn't so easy since we temporarily only have one garden entrance. a curiosity seeker was there asking about the community garden and whether there was a wait list; i told her to check the tool shed for information about joining. i also bumped into wayne, first time this season. the first thing he said to me was, "are you done with the hose?" while i was watering my plants. i ended up harvest a bunch of japanese eggplants, one cucumber, a container of cherry tomatoes, and 3 heirloom tomatoes. i could've collected more but i couldn't carry them all back so saving some for another day.

around 1:30pm i went with my father on a supply run to the malden 88 to pick up a box of frozen dumplings. we stopped at the twin city plaza marshalls so i could look for a replacement insulated bottle. they still carried the one i had before - the 40 oz. exquis for $10 - but my father said it was too cheaply made and i shouldn't buy it again. i searched for something better. my criteria are it has to be large (around 40 oz.), has a wide mouth that can fit ice cubes, and a top that doesn't need to be completely removed to drink. the closest thing i found was a $13 32 oz. manna brand bottle with a creative cap that allows regular sipping but also can be completely removed to add ice cubes. besides the smaller size, the other thing i didn't like about it was it only insulated cold for 12 hours (the same rating as my contigo).

we then went to the malden 88 supermarket. for some reason it was more crowded than a typical weekday afternoon. they did some renovation, expanding their produce department. in fact, construction was still ongoing, with the sound of drilling up on the roof, with gaps you can see the bright sky outside, while people just casually shopped down below. the construction noises were loud and it seemed unsafe, but that's typical of an asian business.

i returned home in the afternoon, having not eaten anything all day yet. i fixed myself some oatmeal with the last of my chicken sausage. i finally ate around 3:15pm.

in the evening i made another batch of risotto with the leftover ingredients from last time. earlier i got an onion at 88, but then i realized i didn't have any chicken broth, so went across the street to get two cans (99¢ each), along with some honey nut cheerios. i had some leftover mushrooms that seemed they might've gone bad. they had a funky smell and a bit of a slimy feel. but i took the risk and used them anyway, figured i'd just cook out the spoilage. i also threw in a small cube of old blue cheese that i found in the fridge. i was going to throw it out, but figured adding it to the risotto might enhance the flavor. the hard cheese took some effort to melt down and afterwards i couldn't really taste it in the risotto. despite adding 2 ingredients that were suspect, i didn't get sick after i finished my finish, saving the other half for leftovers.

i've been researching SDR (software-defined radio), making turning my laptop or my raspberry buy into a radio scanner using an RTL-SDR dongle. i have an old diamond TVW750U but unfortunately it's not compatible with the RTL-SDR project (purchased 5 years ago, it's PC only and doesn't work with the latest versions of window). at some point i will buy an RTL-SDR dongle for $20.

every weeknight i make it a point to watch stephen colbert's late show monologue, given that the burning dumpster of donald trump's "administration" is ripe for ridicule. i then usually switch channels depending on who has the more interesting guests. tonight colbert had tiffany haddish, who's name i heard mentioned recently and there seems to be a lot of buzz about her. seeing her tonight i could see why, super funny and charismatic. she has a comedy special this friday on showtime.