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in the late morning i decided to attempt to remove the bike crank one more time. after watching a video last night, the trick seems to be using your legs as leverage. i tried the left crank arm first. i sat on my porch balancing the bike with my hands while stepping on the bike pedal and the crank remover. it felt wrong at first, like i'd snap something and then hurt myself, but i felt the crank remover moving, until it reached a critical point where the remover suddenly felt loose because the crank arm was off. i then tried it with the crankset using the same technique. having already done it on one side gave me the confidence to apply more pressure with my foot on the crank remover tool, until it felt loose.

earlier i'd removed the bike chain and cleaned it with degreaser. i did the same to the bottom bracket and spindle, degreased then spray with water before drying. installing the new crankset and crank arm was a breeze, i applied some grease to make future removal easier. i then put back the chain and oiled it up.

i then tried shifting. the rear 7-gears shifted beautiful, better then ever. the problem was the front 3-gears. the front derailleur would not shift. i kept adjusting it but no matter what it didn't seem to work. i finally put it in the middle gear and hoped for the best while i took the bike out for a test ride.

i went to the cafe around 2pm to drop off the shoes my mother ordered but accidentally sent to my house. i've been riding in the largest outermost middle cog for months now, so the bike felt a lot looser on the middle gear. riding in 6th and 7th gear i could hear the chain rubbing up against the derailleur. in 4th or 5th gear it'd skip. the front derailleur would need some serious adjustments.

my mother didn't like the shoes and asked me to return them as well as a pair of shoes my 2nd aunt bought but didn't want anymore. i left with a bento box since i didn't have lunch yet.

i returned home around 2:45pm and ate the bento box. i fiddled with the front derailleur but still couldn't get it to work. i figured if i can force it into the middle gear, i'd be fine with that for now. so i made some adjustments and took the bike out again.

i went to the whole foods on somerville avenue to return the shoes which were purchased off of amazon. seems like every time i return something on amazon, they send me to a different place. i've been to the UPS store, whole foods, as well as the amazon depot in central square. sometimes i need to package up the items, other times i don't and they just need to scan a code. for the shoes, they just scanned the code.

despite the derailleur adjustments, the chain still rubbed against the front derailleur. climbing hills, i put the bike in 6th gear so the chain wouldn't skip. skipping is the biggest annoyance, and dangerous too. i purposely replaced the crankset in hopes of getting rid of the chain skip, but it's still there. maybe i need a new chain but this one is relatively new, having replaced it just this january. maybe putting the new chain on a bad crankset damaged the chain, i'll check to see if the chain is okay.

i went to market basket to grab some frozen meals and some yellow jello, something my sister requested, before coming home.

orange habanero hot sauce
(16 oz.)

1 lbs. orange habaneros (32)
2 heads of garlic

food processor
2 8 oz. jelly jars

2 tbsp kosher salt
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp chinese baijiu

remove stems, halve peppers, process in two batches. process garlic. mix with additional ingredients then fill in jars. leave outside for natural fermentation.

i finally got around to using the pound of orange habanero peppers i bought from haymarket last friday. turns out there were 32 peppers, a lot more than i realized. i wore a glove on my left hand so i could still operate my camera with my right hand, making sure to use only the left hand to touch the peppers. i removed the stems and trimmed off any rotting parts on the peppers before cutting them in half and processing them in two batches. likewise with the two heads of garlic, which took a while to peel. i then combined all the remaining ingredients together. just salt and brown sugar already makes for a good hot sauce, but a dash of baijiu adds additional complexity.

the last time i made this recipe was back in october 2017, and my mother is still eating that jar of hot sauce, which is now more of a mustard brown than orange. another thing i do is i leave the hot sauce outside to let it ferment and develop additional flavors.

for dinner i had a salad. this time i added some anchovies, which kicked it up a notch. i don't like the fishy taste (which is weird, because it's anchovies after all) but i do like that savory saltiness.

i watched game one of the ALDS between the red sox and the rays. red sox floundered, got shutout by the rays, which scored 5 runs. game 2 is tomorrow night.

finally got in touch with mike, he told me he wouldn't be back in town until next tuesday, with no guarantee he'll have an estimate for me by next week. i get the feeling alewife company doesn't want the work. i should start looking for other plumbers.