i thought about paying a visit to haymarket with the temperature relatively warm in the upper 40's, but there was still snow pack in the bike lanes so i thought it'd be safer not to go. i also thought about the coronavirus, and was thinking about going to chinatown to get some supplies, but going anywhere where you're likely to be in contact with a lot of chinese is a risky proposition these days. i also thought about fixing my bike brakes (they're starting to lose their grip again) but it slipped my mind as the day wore on and i became engrossed in the impeachment trial coverage.
the one good thing about today was kevin left early again, before 9am. when i realized he was gone, i 1) turned down the heat, and 2) went back to sleep, not waking up until 10am. i was afraid he'd pulled another trifecta this morning, but the lights were off, the door was locked, and the bathroom didn't smell as bad as yesterday.
on my webcam i saw my parents at the cafe. later my 2nd aunt showed up and i saw my mother give her some stuff she'd bought from taiwan. i never got my parking permit renewal letter so i went to the city website and renewed that way, $25 plus 40¢ convenience fee because i used my bank account to pay. our SREC trader sent us notice that 3 of our SREC points were sold today at $292.95 a share (these are SREC's we made for july-august-september's solar production). i bought a pair of converse sneakers ($35, canvas converse lucky star in surplus olive), ordered a bottle of hot honey from amazon ($6.64, i heard it'll replace sriracha as the latest trendy condiment), and bought another xiaomi mi band 4 ($25, gearbest, either give it to my mother or father, it takes a few weeks to arrive from china, especially during chinese new year).
for lunch some more scrambled eggs and kielbasa sausage. i like to add some parmesan cheese to my eggs for additional flavor, but i brought the cheese to my parents' place yesterday. i did have an old block of hard parmesan, which i grated enough (with difficulties) to sprinkle on my cheese.
i drank a lot of hot tea today, found a stash of loose jasmine tea which i put in a tea ball. i followed the impeachment trial, but listened to it on the radio instead of watching it on tv, made it easier to follow while i surfed the web on my computer.
kevin came home early, a few minutes before 5pm. it annoyed me at first (i prefer roommates who come home late), but later he came out and paid next month's rent a day in advance, in cash no less. a month of kevin went by pretty fast, as often the case with winter months. before i know it it'll be may: kevin will be gone and i'll be slightly richer from 5 months of rent. he cooked in the kitchen for an hour (shells) then disappeared into his bedroom by 6pm. i didn't see much of him after that.
i chatted with WWY, who was at her grandmother's house in the rural changshou village of honghu for the first day of chinese new year. she said the worldwide coronavirus infected list had surpassed 1000 cases, which i knew because i'd been following the news religiously on the web (john hopkins map coronavirus map has a slicker interface but the chinese site kevin sent me has more detailed info down to the district level). she was angry with the hubei government for not reporting the wuhan outbreak earlier, and by the time they did, the virus had already spread. now they have to rely on the central government for help. she also heard a rumor that trains from hubei were still arriving at chongqing (the two provinces are neighbors) because the mayor of chongqing city used to be the mayor of wuhan as well. she also said the virus has created paranoia amongst the locals, that if she knew somebody was from hubei province or wuhan city, she would avoid them and report them to the police.
i heated up my final slice of quiche for dinner. i still have one or two bricks of leftover lasagna in the fridge (i should probably freeze them) for early next week. not sure yet what i want to make for later in the week, i'm thinking my spicy mexican chicken soup with israeli couscous, haven't made that in a while, give kevin something interesting to try out. i wonder if he thinks i'm this great cook, when in fact i only just really know these few handful of recipes that i make over and over again.