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annie went to the office this morning around 9:20am. for her, july 4th has no meaning, it's just another day, just like when i was in china chinese new year was just another day for me. it's probably all nice and air conditioned in her office, better than working at home where it's starting to get stifling. i know later tonight she'll be with her MIT friends watching the fireworks on the charles river.

after some lunch in belmont, i started working on the lotus barrels.

originally i was going to keep them in two barrels, just in case we get another raccoon attack. but with only 5 potted lotuses remaining, it was easier just to put them all in same barrel (shallow). i had to change out the water for both barrels as they were too muddy. i didn't bother waiting for the water to warm up, summer tap water is warm enough as is (upper 60's). so originally i had 2 lotuses, then reduced to 1 due to raccoons, then a total of 7 when i started a new batch, but now back down to just 5 lotuses.

in the late afternoon we started our barbecue.

the late afternoon was also when i noticed something strange with the solar panels. it'd been a pretty good day, not any record production, but enough to hopefully try and hit 50kWh. but around 4:30pm i noticed current power production was at 0kW, which was impossible. i went to the basement to check the inverter. all the panels were still live, but there was a 3x6E error. the system was still working because the electric meter was still running backwards. the 3x6E error seems to be a reporting issue. not only was production at 0kW, it was no longer plotting the graph. however, by 6pm the problem seemed to have fixed itself. current power was up again and the graph was plotting. however, the 3x6E error still remained. nothing i could do but wait until tomorrow and gave solaredge a call.

i returned home by 7:45pm and starting preparing to go down to the charles river to catch the fireworks. i didn't think annie was home at first, but i peered into her room (her door was ajar) and saw legs on the bed, so she was asleep. by the time i left around 9pm, she was still sleeping. i didn't think much about it, figured she'd wake up soon and go meet her friends. i went via fuji bike, parked down ames street within sight of the river.

i had my new canon 80D, along with the wide angle lens and my tamron f/2.8 18-50mm lens. i found a spot close to the river next to a tree. when the fireworks started, i noticed people were leaving because the tree was blocking there view. once i got a little bored, i moved as well, found a better spot on the street between groups of people, but had a clear view of the sky.

i left by 11pm. in hindsight i should've parked farther away. i ended up pushing my bike through the sea of people, couldn't get clear enough to ride until i was a few blocks away. i was excited to put on a light show with my LED wheels, but the contact points were loose and after a few minutes i noticed the wheel lights had gone off.

i was shocked to find annie at home, that she didn't go see the fireworks even though we've been talking about it all this week. maybe she had a fight with her friends and got disinvited, who knows. her loss. but as it got later, i started to get worried. was she even sleeping? or maybe she was dead? around midnight i knocked on her door to see if i could wake her. she stirred. "sorry, sorry, i was just checking to see if you were okay," i told her as she went back to sleep.