i wasn't very hungry but my mother fixed up a bowl of chicken noodles. it took me a long time to finish though, as i kept getting distracted, whether it was creating a gmail account for my grandmother, setting up the android retina tablet my parents plan on giving her next week when they arrive in taipei, or backing up the photos on my father's moto phone onto the macbook pro (i had to recreate the directory catalog as items were missing).
the tablet i set up for my grandmother seemed to be working very well. i erased skype because nobody she knows uses it. they primarily use line in taiwan, but i can't set up an account without a phone number, so my parents will have to do it when they get there (my grandmother already has a line account). the 8" teclast P89 3G has very limited internal memory (and all the apps seem only abled to be stored internally) as i try to erase as much nonessentials as possible. my father ended up playing with the tablet to get the hang of it (so he can teach my grandmother), running a playlist of fei yu-ching music videos from youtube. i'm still a little confused as to why haven't any of my taiwanese cousins and aunts and uncles set up a tablet for my grandmother to use. some of them - especially my younger cousins and niece - are probably way more techn savvy. it's just ironic that her relatives living on the other side of the world should care for her more than her closest relatives.
at 1pm we left for the waltham costco. we were going to go over this past weekend, but waited until monday thinking it'd be less busy. and typically that's the case, but we forgot that today was columbus day, and with a lot of people having the day off, costco was only slightly less busy than a normal weekend day. my parents didn't buy much, just a few supplies for the cafe, to last for the 4 weeks that they'll be gone.
when we returned, we feasted on a rotisserie chicken along with some croissants. my mother asked me if i had any chinese-subtitled movies or shows for her and i streamed ant-man and the wasp from my computer. we had some tiramisu after the slices we left outside had thawed. when dinner rolled around, nobody seemed to be very hungry, and my parents sent me packing with some sliced rotisserie chicken and a few croissants. i left after finished downloading ant-man (2015) after my mother seemed to really enjoy the sequel.
though it didn't seem like it rained today despite the overcast, somehow i wasn't surprised when i found my motorcycle completely wet. it's the third time in so many days that i've had to ride home in the rain, though tonight was the least rainy of the three. it seemed that maybe a passing shower had just stopped. given the choice, i rather motorcycle home in the rain than ride the bicycle; the bike might be safer, but i prefer to get home as quickly as possible so i can dry off. i was relatively unscathed by the time i got back, just the seat of my pants were soaked wet.
after a hot shower, i was hungry so i made myself a rotisserie chicken toasted croissant sandwich with scallion slices. it was actually pretty tasty, reminded me of thanksgiving, just substituting chicken for turkey and croissant for chinese flatbread. 
i tried to get a live stream of AMC so i could watch the season finale of better call saul but was unsuccessful. instead i watched some football, then switched channel to watch 911 on FOX, then later the good doctor on ABC. i totally forgot that there was an important red sox yankees playoff game (3). i only heard the result during the evening news, boston trouncing new york 16-1. the red sox need one more victory to advance.