i was afraid to get up this morning because i didn't want to find out that my toilet still leaks despite all my best efforts to fix it. when i finally did get out of bed, i immediately went to the bathroom and knelt down in front of the toilet. with a piece of tissue, i wiped the upper part of the bowl checking for leaks. it was bone dry. tightening the locknut worked! no more leaks! but i couldn't believe it and was afraid that it was only temporary and would suddenly start leaking again. one thing i noticed while checking the toilet bowl was the leak had been going on for so long, it actually furrowed a grooved path in the porcelain itself, which with my trained eye looks like a false leak.

with the leak fixed, i was in a good mood the rest of the day. even though it wasn't that cold outside (temperature in the lower 60's), it seemed colder because it was mostly overcast. however, there were intermittent periods of intense sunshine, which made me instinctively want to go outside and do something. alas, i never once set foot outside today. it would've been a good day to work on the bike, but i was afraid it might rain, and wanted to do it on a better warmer day.

all that good mood was dampened somewhat when i got two splinters while moving a piece of wood in the house. i only saw the one splitter and immediately pulled it out. only later when i felt a sharp pain in my hand didn't i realize there was another splinter. this one was deeply embedded in the whorl of my fingertip so it hurt intensely. i spent some minutes with my glasses off (macro mode) trying to dig out the splinter with a sewing needle. i only managed to break the skin above the splinter, but it was just too deep to budge. hopefully it'll just come out on its own over the next few days.

i contacted kevin at united solar again this morning. to my surprise he actually wrote back almost immediately. he said the town of belmont verbally okayed the inverter "upgrade" but wanted some updated documents for review, which he already submitted, and should be approved shortly. once that's done, we're back to playing electrician schedule tag to try and book a time for the swap out.

i caught a glimpse of my upstairs neighbor, who was in and out all day. first time was from behind, seems like a skinny blonde woman in her 50's or 60's. later when we left the house again in the afternoon, i finally saw her face, rather nondescript, and i immediately forgot what she looked like. i'm curious to know what she's doing here, that she can rent a 2 floor condo for so many months to live by herself.

i wasn't feeling particularly hungry today, and didn't have lunch until 2pm, a chicken kielbasa english muffin sandwich with some homemade sauerkraut. in the afternoon i wanted a health snack so i decided to make some machine bread machine - which takes 3 hours to make. i used a recipe that called for: 1 cup of warm half and half, 1 egg, 1-1/2 tbsp of melted butter, 1-1/2 tsp of salt, 1-1/2 tbsp of sugar, 4 cups of flour, and 2 tsp of yeast. it should've given me a delicious bread but it didn't. the bread didn't seem to rise all that much, sitting inside the machine in an unsightly clump, and the end result was like a dense edible rock.

i had bread slices with some brie around 5pm, which naturally threw off my dinner schedule as i wasn't very hungry afterwards. i didn't have dinner until almost 10pm, reheated some spaghetti meat sauce and boiled a cup of pasta. for dessert some navel orange slices. i watched the bruins game while i ate, never thought i'd be watching ice hockey, but the playoffs makes fans of us all. they ended up beating the hurricanes, sweeping them in the series to advance to the stanley cup final.

i finally paid my motorcycle insurance, which is down to $111/annual. i wasn't in a hurry to pay because i remembered it was around $300, but i think that's what i paid in the past, before switching to progressive. i also filed my paperwork for a state tax "intent to assess" in order to verify my refund of $88. both of these things i could've done weeks ago but i was too lazy. the only thing left is my home owner insurance, which has jumped to $1300 so i've been trying to see if i can switch to a difference company (i currently use concord insurance, which was what the previous homeowner used).

i ordered a bunch of electronic parts off of ebay: double rocker switches, digital volt/ampmeter, 10W ceramic resistors, rotary switches, and binding posts - all parts to make a DIY bench power supply from a used computer PSU.