i left the house relatively early - around 10:30am - just because the house felt under siege with brian working outside and i needed to get away. he was outside working on his table saw, we grunted greetings as i grabbed my bike and headed to the cafe.
a steady stream of customers today, busy enough that there was something to do the whole time i was at the cafe. in the afternoon i checked my e-mail and got one from steve complaining that the handyman ended up not doing a bunch of paint work we thought he was going to do, like restain the back of the house or repaint the front porch. it was already time for me to go home anyway, so i borrowed the car so i could take my sister's collapsible ladder to my place, which was tall enough so that we can repaint the front porch ourselves. i ended up bring the long wooden plank back, the one that i found on the curb yesterday (it barely fit inside the car, i had to jam it between the two front seats).
returning the car back at the cafe, i retrieved my bike and rode home. instead of stopping at the house, i kept going to market basket, to get a few things for the cafe (baby cucumbers, scallions, bean sprouts) and some things for myself.
once i got back home, i extended the ladder and test cleaned half of the porch just to see if it can be done. i sprayed with an oxi-clean solution first before scrubbing with a brush then rinsing off with the house. the porch didn't look too bad, and we could probably get away with not repainting it (or just touch ups), and just oil the steps instead.
i also had a chance to examine brian's handiwork. his problem is that he's not detail-oriented. there were additional things he outright forgot to do, like repaint one of the downspouts, or replace the missing shingles on the side facing our alleyway. he also spilled paint in several places, and there were scratches on the house from where he slid his ladder, or trampled some plants. i don't think we'll use him again. a good reliable handyman is hard to find.
i bought another disc of brie cheese to go along with my leftover baguette. is it healthy, this combination of cheese and bread? it's probably not good for the diet, but since i didn't have breakfast or lunch, i figured i owed it to myself. i ate while scouring youtube for analysis of the nets-celtics game last night.
i check aliexpress periodically to see if there's any new updates to the status of the 8 LiFePo4 batteries my father ordered back in late january. the seller sent me a message a few days ago and i'm only now seeing it: the batteries are due to arrive via fedex tomorrow. whether that's true or not we'll soon find out, but our 3-month long wait will finally be over.
one of the things i was working on today was to make online ordering at the cafe possible using the square interface. using their free option, the cost of a single order is the price of the credit card scan (about 3%) plus an additional 30¢. there's not too fancy, and the way they contact you about new orders is via e-mail.
i didn't have dinner until almost 10pm, i made some french bread pizza. i first soaked the french bread halves in melted garlic butter before toasting them a few minutes in the oven (450 degrees). that's when tragedy happened when i was rearranging one of my adjustable fridge bins and i ended up pulling the whole bin off of the fridge door, where it crashed onto the ground. normally that wouldn't be a big deal - the clear plastic bin itself was undamaged - however, it contained about 8 eggs, and every single one of them was smashed, egg yolk and whites all over my kitchen floor and carpet. cleaning up egg guts is not that easy. luckily, my relatively new kitchen carpet has a busy pattern so if it does stain, nobody will notice. but those poor eggs! especially given how expensive eggs are these days.
only after i cleaned up all the broken eggs was i able to continue piecing together my french bread pizza. tomato sauce, pizza cheese (mozzarella combined with gouda), then the toppings: sliced onions, black olives, anchovies, and spicy pepper rings. into the oven they went, baked for about 14 minutes. it left a very scent in my house. the pizza itself wasn't too bad. i also have some pepperoni, i'll use them tomorrow night for french bread pizza v2.0.