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my father asked me to scan stack of tax documents this morning, because the bank needed pdf copies of them. while waiting for him to come by with the documents, i was outside clear the storm drains. when the city redid our roads a few years back, they didn't account for elevation so now water pools near one of our street. i had to "paddle" the water with a shovel, so it could properly drain. it was actually kind of fun, to be honest. when my father came by, i grabbed the files from the passenger side window as he drove off, since there was nowhere to park.

i spent the next half hour scanning documents in my circa 2007 canon lide70 flatbed scanner that has a driver so ancient it won't work with the latest macos (which is another reason why i can upgrade my system). i finally finished by noontime and send the pdf documents to my father via e-mail.

for lunch i had another chicken bake washed down with a matcha latte. every 3-4 hours i'd water my mung beans, can't tell yet if they growing any bigger.

my refurbished roku ultra 2019 arrived today. it costs $60 but i had some reward points which i used to bring the cost down to just $40. i got it for my mother, to replace the roku 3 she currently uses. that way i can also bring home the xiaomi mi box S to replace the roku stick that i currently have. i went ahead and set up the new roku device using the same account as the old roku 3. the roku ultra feels more robust. for one thing the remote - though similar in size to all roku remotes - feel a lot heavier, more substantial. the device itself also feels smarter and faster, like it was able to recognize my tv and set the resolution accordingly, and as well program the remote to my tv so i didn't have to do anything.

i installed the usual channels: netflix, amazon prime, youtube, youtube tv. youtube tv has live preview behind the listing view, something i don't have with my roku stick (though there's also live preview as well on the roku 3 even though it's a very old roku model). i tried playing some movies via the USB port; this version of roku supports HVEC x265, and my video files played flawlessly, felt clearer, faster, no lag.

everything seemed great with this roku ultra, and i was excited to present it to my mother. then i remember there was one last thing i needed to try: multi-language subtitle support. i already had a feeling it'd be bad news, and sure enough, roku doesn't support any of the unicode languages, chinese included. that means chinese language srt subtitle files are useless, they show up on screen as squares. this is why an android tv box is still better than a roku when it comes to playing external video files. the problem with android tv boxes is other than a few authorized devices (xiaomi, nvidia), netflix can't display higher than 720p resolution because it's not on their list of approved devices.

so my new strategy is to see if my mother is willing to use the xiaomi mi box S, and i'll just keep the roku ultra. the one problem of the mi box S is the very minimalist remote, which can only control the mi box, not any tv functions.

it was rainy for most of the day so i didn't go outside. i was surprised that there was already some winter olympics event starting, like curling and ice hockey, despite the opening ceremony not beginning until tomorrow morning (US time). while fishing for something to watch, i came across a three's company marathon on the IFC, and caught a few episodes. i've seen all the episodes, many more than once. there was the episode where jack's lady boss at a diner he was working at kept harassing him. another episode was the kind of clingy old lady neighbor. finally there was the episode of jack's girlfriend's father taking janet out to dinner. these were all episodes where suzanne somers was missing from the show because of a contract dispute.

i baked a few soft pretzels in the toaster oven, ate them with some yellow mustard. another package arrived on my doorsteps, this time it was the free covid-19 tests i ordered from the federal government. not sure what to do with them, wonder if they have any expiration dates.

later in the afternoon my sister said she had more documents for me to scan, this time a bunch of leases. she dropped them off on her way to pick up some thai takeout from pho & rice. there was a large stack of documents, nearly 100 pages total. it took me about an hour to finally scan them all before sending my sister the pdf's.

for dinner i reheated the breaded cauliflower in the toaster oven. i then tossed them in some warm teriyaki sauce i diluted with some boiling water, since i found it too salty last night. the meal wasn't anything to write about, the flavor and texture of leftovers. i promise myself i'll eat better tomorrow night.

in the evening i watched the olympics ice skating team event short program. i also caught some freestyle skiing. all the snow at the beijing winter olympics are artificial, and it shows on the hills, with patches of grass and dirt poking out from the snow. it's a joke to have the winter olympics in a city that doesn't get all that much snow or known for its mountains.