a fairly simple day, in the afternoon i went down to the cafe to drop off my mother's coffee and to check out the heating situation at the upstairs apartment. it has an old mercury-switch honeywell thermostat that my father and i were thinking about replacing with a smart nest thermostat. nowadays, with our local energy rebate, we can get a nest for a little over $100. it'd also require a common wire, but on the other side of the wall is a closet and inside this closet there's a power outlet for some strange reason, so it wouldn't be very hard to poke a hole in the wall and run wires to a 24VAC plug-in transformer. in the meantime, i will go home and look for my old honeywell thermostat, because the one in the apartment seems to be broken, or at least the temperature sensor doesn't work anymore, seemingly perpetually stuck at 60 degrees.

finally, with the infrared thermometer, i checked the crawlspace above the stairs, where a water pipe runs from the basement into the bathroom. the temperature was in the mid-40's. poor design had this crucial pipe mounted to an outer wall; in the summer it's not an issue, but during the winter a cold snap could potentially freeze and burst the pipe. my father plugged in the pipe heater just this morning, which should prevent the pipe from bursting, but the pipe itself is uninsulated so there's still a danger.

i went to the harvard square gap to return the two pairs of flannel-lined pants. i was just there yesterday after deciding to keep the pants until i found them on sale again online so i simply reordered. returning the unwanted items was easy, they didn't even need the receipt (though i had a copy on my phone), just my credit card was enough.

i stopped inside cardullo's looking for some turkish licorice, the kind that's salty and has the faint taste of ammonia. it's an acquired taste that i've definitely acquired, thanks to my norwegian friend frances. i remember they used to carry them, but not anymore, just some other brands of scandinavian licorice. i bought of small bag of cat-shaped licorice for the hefty price of $5.99.

when i got home and tried the cat licorice, it wasn't what i had in mind. stronger compared to typical american licorice, it was like a hard gummy, not the hard turkish licorice drops i was hoping for. nevertheless, it wasn't too bad, but i'm still jonesing for some turkish licorice.

rummaging in the basement, i also found my old honeywell thermostat, which i will replace with the broken one at the upstairs apartment.

good production, though 3 panels above the sunroom only still only producing half their capacity. i wonder if that explains the bell curve shift, or maybe it's a natural phenomenon based on the sun's lower angle this time of the year.

i watched the last episode of for all mankind today. pretty good, although i'm worried about aleida. with her father deported to mexico, and no home because it was raided by the police/FBI, it looks like she's living on the streets. margo seemed like her only hope until that was denied. i wonder what will happen to aleida in the 2nd second season, especially if they do a time jump, which looks inevitable given the 80's end credit scene.

as promised, i had a salad for lunch then a salad for dinner. it wasn't too bad, usually when i eat cold dishes during the winter, it makes me feel colder since my body has to warm up the food during digestion. eating so much salads this week has made me feel healthier. i haven't noticed any weight loss though, i'm still around the same weight. trying to figure out what i'm going to make for next week. whatever it is, it'll definitely be warm.