i left cambridge around 11am and took the bus to belmont. it was a good day for solar production (clear blue sky); unfortunately all our panels were still covered in snow. however, there was enough cells peeking out that we still managed to generate 250Wh of electricity, the second most amount of energy since coming online on the 28th (on that day we generated 260Wh).

my parents made chinese dumplings for dinner. we tried the jägermeister that i bought in new hampshire back in october. i should've gotten a smaller bottle because it tasted awful, like anise alcohol. now i realize why i always see a bottle of jägermeister in people's homes: you buy it once and never finish it.

when my father gave me a ride home, he confided in me that he doesn't know what to do now now that my grand uncle isn't here. my father's life has revolved around my grand uncle for a decade. especially in his later years, it was a total team effort taking care of my grand uncle, but my father most of all, preparing his food, taking him to the doctor, organizing his health care and assets. now that it's all over, he doesn't know what to do with his free time.

while watching dick clark's new year's eve celebration, i noticed two things: an abundance of chinese spectators and a lot of people wearing red "happy new year from chongqing china" scarves. at first i couldn't believe what i was seeing, but then after some clear looks it was confirmed. does chongqing have that much money that they can mount a publicity campaign in the heart of time square on new year's eve, giving out free scarves? i'm curious what's behind the campaign. i bet most americans don't even know where chongqing is. as for the proliferation of chinese faces, i had a chinese roommate here one winter (zhule) that went to time square with his girlfriend on new year's eve. i think it was his girlfriend's idea, she seemed to be the boss in the relationship. the idea of standing around for hours to wait for the ball drop doesn't seem like a lot of fun. especially this year, when the temperature was the coldest it's ever been for new year's eve. brain seacrest was interviewing this one young couple who proudly proclaimed that they were wearing adult diapers. good times!