i broke down and cleaned my bathtub this morning after discovering a large amount of mold. since i don't wear my glasses when i use the shower, i don't see the mold growing until it gets bad enough that i can see it even with blurry vision. i doused the tub with soft scrub then scrubbed off the stains including the wall tiles. while rinsing off the tub, i also plunged the drain because it was starting to clog again. after that i took down the shower curtain, sprayed some bleach cleanser, then scrubbed it clean as well.

i waited for my mother's new phone (amazon renewed samsung galaxy S9+ 64GB) to arrive before riding out to belmont to retrieve it. along with the phone, the replacement refrigerator door gasket also arrived. i took out the phone to inspect it. it looked new for an used phone, but was covered in some sticky residue which i cleaned off with some paper towels and 50% isopropyl alcohol. i also installed the 128GB PNY pro elite microSDXC card (which i bought back in july for $17).

i went out to the backyard briefly to survey the plants. i put the rain cover on top of the barbecue since it'd rain all day tomorrow. i noticed the rain barrel level is less than half capacity; the rain tomorrow will be a welcomed refill. other than early in the season, we haven't use the town water to water our lawn or garden all this year. i left with a bag of long beans from the fridge, taking them home so i can turn them into fermented sour beans. i also grabbed the systemic insecticide and some more yellow sticky traps.

instead of going to the cafe, i went back home to look for the spare samsung S9+ glass screen protector. i thought about installing the protector but wanted to check if the phone was okay, so i turned it on for the very first time. i was surprised that instead of putting me into the installation screen, it went directly to a sparse home screen. that wasn't a big deal, i simply factory reset the phone. the bigger concern was the t-mobile logo that sprung up when i rebooted the phone. this was an unlocked phone so it should also work with verizon, but how do i get rid of the t-mobile login animation and the few t-mobile apps i saw?

i left for the cafe to start the installation. so this was my mother's second S9+. the S9+ we bought back in late november (also amazon renewed, $300 with taxes) started having intermittent pale screen issues, which i read happens with old phones. there's nothing that can be done about it since replacing the screen would cost $150 (that's for parts only), so easier just to get a new phone. i suggested a new model of samsung but my mother was adamant that she wanted another S9+ with the same lilac purple color. nearly a year later, a like-new used S9+ can be had these days for $175, which was the price we paid (no taxes because we ordered during tax-free weekend). the vendor who sold us the first S9+ made a mistake gave us a 128GB phone instead. thise second S9+ was more accurate, just 64GB, that's why i added the additional 128GB of memory.

as soon as i stuck the verizon sim card into the new phone, it recognized the switch and rebooted automatically, wiping all the previous t-mobile data, replacing it with the verizon intro logo and verizon-branded apps. that was actually my hope so i was glad to see it come true.

it was easy transferring the data from her old phone to the new phone using the smart switch app. once the phones connected to one another, it was just a matter of waiting. it was a complete transfer minus some data files, including wallpaper and home screen icon arrangement. there were just a few minor adjustments, like logging back into apps where google didn't remember the password. i made sure my mother's mi band data and line data transferred to the new phone successfully.

i also put on the screen protector. it was slightly off and i tried to pry it off to re-apply but it was already stuck on there. i grabbed the old phone to compare how i did the first time, and that's when i discovered the old samsung didn't have a screen protector. i distinctively remember putting it on, but my mother didn't remember it ever coming off, so i'm not sure where it went. for a phone with a screen protector it was still in pretty good shape. i made sure the new phone's screen sensitivity setting was set to high, otherwise it wouldn't register finger clicks through the glass protector.

it took less than an hour, i was finally finished by 3:40pm. i'll see how well this new phone works out, if everything is working then i'll wipe the old S9+ and use it to fly my DJI drone, replacing my sister's old iphone 7 (which has a smaller screen, hard to navigate, although the apple iOS DJI fly app seems more stable compared to the android version).

the reason why i grabbed the systemic insecticide (bonine systemic houseplant insect control granules, $8.99, 8 oz.) was to treat my houseplants. this morning i noticed a serious infestation on my pileas, just a cloud of tiny black fungus gnats circling my pots. i'd never used systemic pesticide before so this was a first. the container contained small granules like resembled sand. the instruction said to use 2.5 tbsp per gallon, so i just estimated: 1 tsp for the smaller pots, 2 tsp for the larger pots. i sprinkled on top of the soil then scratched the surface so it'd mix with the dirt. i then watered with Bti-infused aquarium water. finally, i added some more yellow sticky traps. so i'm using a 3-prong approach to tackle the fungus gnats. the sticky traps will hopefully catch the flying adults, the Bti with instantly kill any larvae, and the systemic will remain in the soil for 2 months and kill any future larvae that emerge from eggs. the only thing i can't kill are the pupae, but once i break their life cycle, my gnat problems will be over. the systemic is also good for any additional leaf-sucking bugs that might be hitchhiking on my plants. at this rate, i may need to get another container of systemic granules, i don't think i have enough to treat all the large potted jasmines and gardenia we're bringing inside the grow room come autumn.

i made 6 cups of brine (using the 3 cups to 1 oz. salt ratio) from a full 1.5L electric tea kettle of water and left it to cool on my stove in a metal stock pot. once it had cooled to lukewarm temperature, i poured it into a 1/2 gallon glass jar already stuffed with the long beans i collected from belmont earlier. 15 beans weighed 0.8 lbs. i trimmed off a bit of the inedible stems. to that i added some bay leaves, some garlic cloves, some thai chili peppers, rock sugar, sichuan peppercorn, and a dash of baijiu. 6 cups of brine was the perfect amount to fill the jar. now i'll leave it to ferment so i can get some sour long beans.

i've seen a lot of long beans fermentation recipes. there was even a few where they added glutinous rice broth. the one i'm using is the pretty much the same ingredient list as regular sichuan paocai, with the exception of bay leaves and garlic, those are new. i've also seen recipes where they weigh down the beans with a heavy object so it doesn't float. in a jar with tapered sides however, i think i'm safe when it comes to floating vegetables.

around 5:30pm i was hungry enough that i had some garlic hummus with baby carrots.

instead of having more orange crispy chicken, i got lazy and threw a frozen brick of stouffer's lasagna in the oven. i ate while watching the red sox yankees game, at the same time tuning in to the angels tigers game (ohtani was pitching tonight). boston lost again, it was so awful i turned off the broadcast. playing like this, even if by some miracle they make it into the playoffs, they'd be eliminated in the first round.

i caught episode 3 of reservation dogs tonight. what channel is it on anyway? it's an FX presentation, but also in conjunction with hulu? whatever the case, youtube tv doesn't have it, so i'm forced to download the episode. this has become one of my favorite new shows. what's the deal with the owl eyes? don't tell me, i prefer it to be a mystery.