amazon alerted me that my aeropress shipment was coming soon (actually ahead of schedule, wasn't expecting it until the 10th). their official delivery trucks are gps-enabled, so i saw that it was already on my street, and it told me i was 2nd in line to receive a delivery. excitedly i got ready, and even saw the truck outside, but watched as it drove past my house and went elsewhere. i went back to the tracking page where it showed me the truck was still in the neighborhood, and i was still the next person scheduled for a delivery. so i waited, and watched again as it drove past my house a second time. as bush famously said, "fool me once, shame on you. fool me — you can't get fooled again." i decided to ignore the tracking updates and just go about my regular tuesday business.
as for the second package, it was the wyze cameras that were supposed to have been delivered yesterday but never showed up. there didn't seem to be any way to contact UPS customer service, so instead i contacted wyze and issued a troubleshoot ticket detailing the situation. the automated e-mail reply said to allow 2-5 days before a response. 2-5 days? oof. i tried making a lost package claim through UPS, but it gave me an error and said it couldn't be done, though it did give me a 1-800 customer service number to call (1-800-742-5877). the automated message told me that my order was transferred to the local post office (USPS) for delivery. (why?) i inputted the UPS number on the USPS website: USPS said that it's been waiting for the package from UPS since 11/27 at tacoma, washington. whatever happened, it seems that my delivery hadn't even left the west coast yet. hopefully wyze will do the right thing, send out a new delivery instead of having me wait indefinitely for the lost package.
i made some black tea and a cup of moka pot hazelnut coffee to go with my western omelette (2 eggs). this time i added just cubed ham and some chopped peppers. i had too much ingredients and everything spilled out, so there was more ham and peppers than actual eggs.
after lunch i went to the cafe to help my father clean out the gutters at my sister's place. she said her kitchen ceiling was leaking water over the weekend and we think maybe it's because of a clogged gutter backup. before i arrived, 
my father had already tried the 17ft multi-ladder but it wasn't tall enough to reach the gutters (about 3 shingle rows shy). so we went to belmont to change cars and bring back one of the longer 20ft straight ladder.1 after tying it down to the roof of the honda element, we drove back to the cafe.
the 20ft ladder easily reached the gutters at my sister's place. when i climbed it to clean it out however, they were mostly clean (the gutters have a gutter guard), so the leaking ceiling had nothing to do with a blockage. we put the ladder away up against the fence and was ready to call it quits, 
but i suggested we go back and check the bay window roof, the site of the leakage. the roof was solid, just recently replaced, sealed tightly in waterproof rubber. but at the bottom corners were the sloping roof meets the house were two spots where water could potentially trickle behind the shingles. they looked like they'd been caulked before but they've since dried up and cracked.
so i ended up caulking the two holes. the weather was in our favor since it'd be dry for the next week. my only concern is the temperature might be too cold for the caulk to cure correctly,2 with day time temperatures in the 30's and night time temperatures in the 20's (caulk requires temperature above 40°F to properly cure). today's daytime temperature was in the lower 40's, workable for caulking but still cold. i took off my jacket because i didn't want to accidentally get caulk on it. i was cold but it wasn't that bad, though i was relieved to put my jacket back on once i finished.
the first hole was easy (facing the backyard), but it still took a few passes with the caulking gun to completely fill the hole. the second hole (facing the entrance) was more challenging, as the hole was too big to properly caulk. i ended up finding a piece of styrofoam which i used to plug the hole before caulking, taking several passes. it's not my best caulking job, but given how it's high up, hopefully nobody will ever notice. and if it can keep the water from getting inside the house, i don't think anyone will care.
i returned home by 3:30pm with a container of fried rice for dinner. i did two consecutive loads of laundry into the evening. i also put away all my summer clothes (shorts, polos) and brought out my winter clothes, reorganizing my 4 drawers bedroom dresser.
after waiting all day, my aeropress coffee maker ($22.49) finally arrived by 7pm. so much for tracking accuracy! i hadn't planned on using it (since i already had coffee this morning), but i couldn't resist trying it out.
it was actually smaller than i'd imagined, which is good because it looked much larger in the instructional videos i saw online. i followed the directions: putting a paper filter in the cap, screwing the cap to the aeropress, adding a scoop of ground coffee (15g by weight), pouring hot water up to the number 2 mark, giving it a stir, plunging the coffee into a mug. the only thing i noticed was most of the hot water had already passed through the filter once i began stirring.3 maybe i stirred too hard, i will be more gentle next time. the direction said it'd take 20-40 seconds to fully depress the plunger, but because there was so little left in the aeropress, it only take a few seconds to press it all the way down.
the ground coffee puck wasn't as densely packed as the coffee puck from the moka pot. i tasted the coffee as is, didn't notice anything special about it, found it slightly bitter, but i normally don't take my coffee black anyway. once i added milk and sugar, the final result tasted pretty much like the moka pot coffee, i can't tell the difference. for me it's just another way to make coffee. it's easier to use than the moka pot because i don't need to heat it over the stove, i just need hot water. i also like that i can make a larger cup of coffee if i wanted, something the moka pot can't do. i admire the simple design of the aeropress: the principles are so obvious, i'm surprised someone hasn't invented it sooner. i also appreciate the little design details, like how when i screw on the cap it perfectly seals the paper filter in place. or how the scoop is shaped so that when i rest it on the table, it doesn't roll and spill the coffee.
i had dinner late, after 9pm, heating up the container of fried rice, mixed with some hot sauce to cut through the blandness. i also cut up one of the fuyu persimmons that looked particularly ripe (i.e. rotten). i found out through reddit that even though season 2 of the marvelous mrs. maisel 
doesn't premiere until tomorrow, amazon prime already began streaming it tonight. so i ate while watching the first episode. i tried calling my mother but i noticed (via webcam) that the living room was dark, so she probably went to bed already. whenever i see miriam maisel i keep on picturing lorelai gilmore. for me, this show is just an extension of the gilmore girls, just with a lot more f-bombs and higher production value.
i started watching nightflyers last night, the new much-hyped syfy series. after the first 5 minutes i was sold. spoiler! gretchen mol's character commits suicide with a bone saw to the throat after being chased by a homicidal axe-wielding co-worker. i read some discussion boards last night and was surprised by how many people were critical of the show. but 3 things had me hooked before i even saw the first episode: science fiction, created by george r.r. martin, and gretchen mol was in it. so this series has an amazing pedigree, and fans of scifi shouldn't be so hard on it but rather just enjoy it. it reminds me a lot of the film event horizon (1997) - the spooky claustrophobic going-ons of space travel - but the novella which this show is based came out in 1980-1981, so if anything, event horizon was inspired by the book. the 10 episode series will air consecutively for the next 2 weeks, skipping friday and saturday.
1 it's actually half of a 40ft straight extension ladder. it sits in the belmont backyard (too long to fit in the garage). one of the ladder halves got slightly bent and now they won't fit into each other. my father thought about straightening it, but from what i read online, even if we were able to bend it back, once one of these ladders get damaged like this, it's just too risky to use anymore.
2 if the caulk doesn't cure correctly it could wash away in the next rainstorm. worst case scenario, i'll need to recaulk using special low-temperature-curing caulk.
3 it could also be because my coffee ground isn't fine enough. i could use finer ground, or i could try the inverted aeropress method, which allows the coffee to steep however long before plunging.