i wrote meterk this morning to get warranty service for their multimeter i bought in may that now can't seem to make any DC voltage measurements. since they're based in china, i didn't hear back from them until the evening, where they simply asked for my address so they can send me a replacement multimeter free of charge. i'd think there'd be more pushback instead of just taking my word for it, but i also had photo documentation in my e-mail showing the multimeter working and not working, so maybe that was all the proof they needed.

i got new prescriptions for my high blood pressure medications (thiazide, valsartan, amplodipine). in the past i had to call up the doctor's office and have either the secretary or the nurse transcribe my prescriptions so they can get my doctor's authorization, but this time i did it all online. i still have to wait a day or two for the authorization, but no more phone calls. i also tried to get some allergy nasal spray (fluticasone) but it was one of the few things i couldn't get a new prescription online; i'll ask for some on my next annual physical in march.

i bought some MOSFET's from ebay a week ago, for some microcontroller projects to power our collection of led strip lights. but i was doing some research today and realized the ones that i bought (IRFZ44N) can't be used for logic controls i.e. they're not compatible for arduino/pi projects. it's not that big a deal as 5 MOSFET's cost 75¢, but i had to look again on ebay for compatible MOSFET's. i ended up buying 10 IRLZ44N MOSFET's for $2.14. the "L" in its name stands for "logic" so these will work. i'm still not entirely sure what MOSFET's are used for, i need to watch some youtube videos.

in the early afternoon i went on a grocery run after deciding i'd be making a quiche tonight for dinner. thick clouds started forming, eclipsing the sunlight. temperature was in the upper 60's, i wore a long-sleeved shirt to keep warm as i biked to market basket. i was just there yesterday morning, getting some items for the cafe; had i been more efficient, i could've also gotten my quiche ingredients yesterday as well.

i went to the community garden to plant the garlic chives i pulled up from the belmont backyard yesterday (in order to make room for a lupine bed by the southwest corner rain barrel). while i was there i did some cleaning as well, pulling up all the striped mallows, making sure to sprinkle the seeds back into the garden plot. i thought i'd have some left over to plant around my house, but i ended up planting all the garlic chives round the garden perimeter. i spent more than an hour there as there was nobody around. by the time i was leaving, two teachers and a student wandered into the garden, but quickly left when i told them about the mosquitoes.

elsewhere in the community garden:

i set up the obihai VoIP internet phone for my 2nd aunt, the obihai adapter arriving yesterday ($44.45). even though my 2nd uncle has a cell phone, he rarely answers it, so my aunt thought it'd be more convenient if they also got a home phone, since my uncle's at home most of the time anyway. it's been a few years since i last set one up, so i kind of forgot the steps, but fortunately obitalk has instructions on their website. this would be the 4th obihai i've set up: the first was for my grand uncle (february 2016, for his pendant phone in case of emergency), the second i ported the cafe's number (march 2016), the third i got for myself (december 2016) but i ended up giving to my parents to use as a virtual home landline.

to activate obihai you need two free accounts: an obitalk account and a google voice account. get the google voice account first, where it'll ask you to select your google voice number. you can either pick one (based on area, it used to be you can manually choose a number and have google search it see if it's available) or transfer ("port") an existing number (for a one-time $10 fee, it used to be $20; bear in mind that transferring a number takes a few days to process). once you have a google voice number, you can actually start using it, answering with either your computer or your phone. connecting it to the obihai simply allows a physical phone to answer calls as well (plus make calls). once you have your google voice account, you then create an obitalk account. this account will connect to the obihai device (which should already be connected to the internet at this point) and pair your google voice account to the obihai. it took a minute or two to update the device (ominous red flashing led), but once that was done, i could receive and make calls using the new number from the phone.

i started making my quiche at 7:30pm after leaving a roll of pie crust to defrost for half an hour. a quiche is one of the easiest things you can make, especially if you use a readymade pie crust. i prebaked the pie crust using my pea pie weights: 13 minutes with the weights, 8 minutes without. prebaking makes for a crispier less soggy crust. all my ingredients were fresh with the exception of the eggs; these eggs have been in the fridge for months, and when i cracked them open there was hardly any egg white, just yolk. i used 2 old eggs and 1 fresh one. i think the old eggs are still edible but i'll probably throw them out all out at some point; eggs are cheap, better to be safe than salmonella sorry.

i wanted to change it up by adding some goat cheese, but the blue cheese was cheaper by 50% so i got that instead, maybe goat cheese quiche next time. i used to call this a ricotta cheese pie but it should simply be called a cheese pie based on the amount of cheese ingredients: ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, blue cheese. ricotta is the filler, and mozzarella for some chew, but neither really have a strong flavor. parmesan is key because it's salty, but adding a 4th pungent cheese - blue cheese - gives it additional flavors.

it took 40 minutes to bake the quiche, but i added another 10 minutes because it didn't look brown enough. i checked the oven thermometer and it read 320°F (should be 350°); i wonder if my oven is underperforming, and that i need to compensate by upping the temperature? something to look into. although the quiche finished baking by 9pm, i waited another 30 minutes before eating it, to let it solidify. the initial piece came out cleanly, a combination of prebaked pie crust and leaving the quiche to settle after baking. originally i thought i was only going to have one piece, but i ate the first piece so quickly, it was only natural to have another piece. delicious as always, the quiche is so filling, afterwards i wasn't the least bit tempted to snack like i normally am after dinner.