i packaged off my 2012 MBP in the early afternoon and shipped it off to new york for further repairs. i had some high grade foam i was going to use to cushion the laptop, but decided it was too good for that so instead went to the dollar store and got 3 rolls of cheap bubble wrap. i found an amazon box that was nearly the perfect size to fit the 15" MBP with enough space for the packaging material. prior to that i took out the 500GB drive that was in the CD-ROM caddy, which contains all my personal data. i've opened up the 2012 MBP enough times now that it feels like home whenever i disassemble it.

i was burning a scented candle, trying to mask the seafood smell my roommate gifted me last night. my father came by unannounced today to drop off the 30 gallon rubbermaid trash can i picked up from home depot on saturday. the first thing he was the strong fishy smell, which prompted me to light another candle and run some fans to vent out the odor. my father left with my spare honeywell dual window fan.

i went to the post office at 3:20pm with my packaged MBP. i was figuring the shipping would cost me around $30, but it was actually just $12.15 for 2 days to new york (6 lbs. 6 oz.). there was only $50 insurance so i decided to add some additional coverage. for some reason i blurted out $1000, which costs $14.35, more than the cost to ship the MBP. afterwards i realized my mistake. that old broken MBP is not worth $1000. even used it's only $400-500. i mean, my new used 2013 MBP didn't cost that much ($850)! i think i was thinking how much it'd cost to buy a usable working laptop, and not how much the laptop in question was actually worth (not very much). i should've just asked for $500 coverage, or no coverage, since the chance of that package going missing is probably pretty low. so now i'm secretly hoping the USPS will lose my computer, or something happens that destroys it completely, so i could recoup the $1000 coverage.

in the early evening my father and i successfully tested the simplex repeater now stationed at the cafe. so the configuration is like this: QYT radio (maximum 25W) with DBJ2 antenna from my house connecting to surecom SR-112 simplex repeater attached to a TYT radio (maximum 50W) with a chimney mounted 2m DIY ground plane antenna at the cafe set to transmit at 2m but receive on dual standby on both 2m and 70cm connecting to my father in belmont with a baofeng handheld radio using the stock antenna and later the chimney mounted 2m DIY ground plane antenna. using the stock antenna alone, we could talk to each other no matter where he was around the house, even in the basement. the worst place was on the west side of the house between their place and the neighbor's. i was transmitting on high (25W) but there was still some static, maybe just 70% clarity. when he switched to the chimney antenna in belmont, i received his transmissions loud and clear. occasionally i'd receive the same transmission twice: once directly from the radio (radio-to-radio), followed by the repeated transmission from the repeater.

july is finally over and the production total for this month is 1290kWh. that means we made exactly 1 SREC point (1250kWh, $260) with a 40kWh surplus to added onto future SREC's. it wasn't a bad month, particularly the 2 weeks when i hosting chinese guests, when it was unbearably hot but all that sun gave us quite the production, particularly a stretch of weekend that gave us 3 consecutive 50kWh+ days.

GC came home and at first i thought he wasn't going to make dinner but that turned out to be a mistake, when he was boiling chunks of beef for nearly 3 hours. it wasn't so bad, but i could swear he also put in some seafood bits because i could definitely smell some seafood as well. he asked if the smell bothered me, and i blurted out, "i hate the smell of seafood." he told me it was just beef but you can't lie to my nose. he cooked it so long it went from a full pot of liquids to almost dry by the time he was finished. i said nothing, just turned down the heat so it wouldn't overflow and leak broth all over the stovetop like it's happened in the past.

as for me, i had the second half of my leftover chicken caesar salad for dinner. i still haven't done any grocery shopping for this week, at this rate i may not have to, i've got enough food left in the kitchen to last me until friday. while i was making my salad, i heard a knocking on my door. actually, people have been knocking on my door all day long, but i ignore everyone since i can't be bothered with solicitors. when i peeked outside the window i saw a leggy coed and i opened the door out of curiosity, but then quickly realized she was trying to get me to donate to her heifer organization. she wouldn't leave until i told her i was unemployed and she finally got the hint. in the 16 years i've lived here, i have never donated to any cause or organization that sent somebody knocking on my door.