i needed to fix the rear brake on my cargo bike as it kept sticking to the rim, which is like riding with the brake pressed. i was ready to change out the brake cable itself, but turns out the probably had to do with the brake arm. i was thinking maybe i needed to replace it but after i squirted some tri-flow oil, it stopped sticking. since i was ready to do some cable work, i inspected my rear derailleur, which hasn't been functioning correctly for a while now. the cargo bike essentially has only one gear, since it won't shift to any other gears. that's bad because since i don't engage the other sprockets on the rear cassette often enough, they're more liable to get rusty.

i thought i would try jiggling the shifter cable, and that's when i realized the derailleur was stuck. i tried blasting it with tri-flow, but it seems to be stuck pretty well, and there doesn't seem to be any way to open the derailleur to inspect what's wrong. the derailleur needs to be replaced anyway, the sprockets on it barely have anymore teeth left. in the meantime it seems to be stuck in 5th gear, which is what i ride in normally, so i keep riding it in single gear until i get a derailleur replacement. i tried shifting the chainwheel, but couldn't get it to engage any of the 3 gears. that's when i discovered that the front derailleur is also rusted shut, so i'll need to replace that as well.

finally, fixed the pedal creak on my fuji bike, it was simply a loose screw on the left pedal that just needed to be tightened.

for lunch i finally tried one of the blueberry muffins. i'm probably jaded because i've eaten so many muffins at this point, but it was a serviceable muffin, though nothing to write home about. i had some hazelnut coffee as well, used up the last of my half and half.

one reason to fix the bike was so i could go down to haymarket and get some cheap produce. i left around 2pm. immediately i knew there was something wrong. the brakes were fine, the only thing not broken on the bike. riding it in single gear was okay too, but whenever i applied extra force on the pedals, the chain would skip. it's not a problem on flat roads, but going uphill was constant chain skips and barely any traction. still, i'm stubborn like that, so i decided to keep on going anyway. i checked the weather forecast beforehand, it said rain wouldn't arrive until 4-5pm at the earliest, despite the darkening skies. when i finally arrived at haymarket, i felt my first rain drops, which then developed into a shower. at least i wasn't all dressed up, as i saw many people suits and dresses and graduation gowns as today was northeastern's commencement ceremony.

nobody carried $2 bags of gold nugget oranges anymore. a few vendors had larger gold nuggets at 5/$2. i didn't bother getting them. i didn't however pick up some ugly fruit for $1 a piece. the vendor was complimenting me on scoring a good deal, said nobody knows how good these oranges are. i also got some navel oranges 6/$1. finally, a fyffes pineapple ($2) and a bag of onions ($1). by the time i was ready to leave, the rain went from a shower to a drizzle. standing under the eave of building, i checked the doppler radar on my phone: the rain wouldn't stop until 4:30pm. i had no choice, resigned over the fact that i was going to get soaked. at least i was going home and could change out of my wet clothes afterwards. i got back by 3:20pm.

earlier this morning i wrote kevin at united solar another e-mail, asking for a status update. so much for getting an inverter replaced this week. i knew it was too good to be true, but i was still hoping it'd happen. of course he didn't reply back. i'll try again next monday. united solar has the worst customer service.

i was going to get my bike parts through amazon, but i went online to check if i could score cheaper parts elsewhere, and came across bikesomewhere.com on google express. not only were they cheaper, they also had free 5-9 days delivery on orders over $15, and google was offering me a 20% discount on my first order through express. i ended up getting: shimano tourney RD-TX800 black rear derailleur $16.99, shimano tourney FD-TX800 front derailleur $11.99, shimano SP40 derailleur cable set $8 (not teflon-coated), 2oz. tri-flow $4.19 (got two bottles), sunlite MX II foam grips $6.39 (my right foam grip starting to rip), and a 26x1.5" 36 spokes quick-release black front wheel $47.99. the total came out to $80 after the discount, no taxes. everything due to arrive in about 10 days.

i had korean ramen for dinner along with some leftover sichuan paocai. afterwards i tried one of the ugli fruits. the orange itself is very juicy, but not too sweet. gold nuggets are the better oranges by far.