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i didn't go to bed last night until 5am. either my bedroom is really cold or i need better blankets, as i was freezing underneath two layers. i didn't get out of bed until close to 11am, even though i'd been up since around 10am, just didn't want to get out of bed that i worked hard to warm up with my own body heat. my mother said yesterday she didn't want to cook this weekend, so i thought i could make some korean rice cakes for dinner. my original plan was to go down to reliable market to get some frozen tteokbokki but when i called my mother about it, she said she had a whole bag at the cafe. so i rode the bike to the cafe to grab the rice cakes along with some scallions. from my house i brought a container of gochujang, korean red chili flakes, and fried tofu wedges.

my father made some sweet congee using the 3-quart instant pot. he cooked it for less this time - just 15 minutes - resulting in the rice not being as mushy. he also added some cranberries and buttercup squash. i took a photo of the rice porridge - the very first photo taken using the pixel 7 phone.

my father told me that we needed to get a new air compressor. the one we currently have now - a 100psi 3-gallon hot dog tank model from harbor freight - has been slow to fill (more than 10 minutes). my father thought we could still continue using it, but he discovered it's also leaking when he left it full one day and heard the compressor refilling itself some time later.

the primary purpose of the compressor is to top off tire pressure. there are various options, from 12v to 120v to cordless battery operated, standalone or handheld, and tankless or mini-tanks (1 gallon) or bigger tanks (3-6 gallons). i'd done a bunch of research over the black friday weekend but my father decided not to get one, but now that he's reconsidered, i already had all the info.

in the end my father decided on a 120v model, since we'd primarily be using it at home, not out on remote locations. we then had to decide what size tank we wanted. i was inclined to get a small 1-gallon model but with a high PSI rating, like the taiwan-made senco 1-gallon 135 psi hot dog air compressor ($140). unfortunately there was an amazon wait time of 1-2 months for the item.

harbor freight still had 3-gallon 110 psi air compressors on extended black friday sale for $50, with a choice of hot dog tank or pancake tank. however we've already bought 2 3-gallon air compressors from them, and each time they fail after a few years of use. we wanted to try a different brand.

i was looking up air compressors on home depot and came across a 6-gallon 150 psi ridgid pancake model on sale for $99. why it was so cheap i wasn't sure, typically a 6-gallon air compressor (which is typically the smallest size a contractor would use) would cost at least $130-160, so this was a bargain. the only caveat was this was a 6-gallon tank, which can be a bit heavy. did we really need one that large? but a larger tank means less frequent refilling, which are often quite loud as the compressor builds up pressure.

we checked out some youtube videos of people using the 6-gallon ridgid air compressor. the most important thing we wanted to know was how long it'd take to fill the tank. from one video it looked about 2-1/2 minutes, which was much faster than our old 3-gallon compressor.

the watertown home depot had 8 in stock so we drove out to pick one up. worst case scenario we don't like it and can simply return it back at the store. when we found the compressors, i grabbed a box and put it in the shopping cart. i was expecting it to be heavier (online specs said it was 35 lbs) but it was actually quite light, a single person could pick it up no problem. we also bought a fancy replacement led bulb and a GFCI outlet before leaving.

back at the house, we set up the new air compressor in the garage and tested it out. the manual said to prime the air compressor before use by turning on the drainage valve and running the tank on empty for 30 minutes. we didn't bother with that step, we plugged it in right away and let it fill up to 150 psi before the compressor stopped. my father then attached the air compressor hose (which we already had) and used it to fill up the tires. at one point the compressor did refill again, but it went quickly, about 20 seconds before it reached 150 psi again. only after we used it did we then went to prime the compressor by running it empty. when we opened up the drainage valve after lowering tank to 20 psi, some slightly brown liquid sprayed out (probably oil mixed with condensed water). we only ran the compressor for 5 minutes (with the garage door closed) before stopping it because it was too loud and didn't seem necessary to run it for that long just to empty the tank.

so while my father cleaned up the garage (it was so cluttered we could barely walk inside), i mowed the last of the leaves on the lawn using the mulch setting, because belmont stopped picking up garden refuse in our area in late november. i then went into the backyard and cleaned out the raised beds. belmont might not pick up our garden trash, but cambridge still will until the end of december (perhaps even longer), so we can just haul the garden refuse to my sister's place. i pulled up all the dead plants (nasturtiums, hot peppers), trimmed the perennials (rudbeckias), and tilled the spots where i want to plant my garlic bulbs. i didn't have time to do it today, i'm hoping i can get to it tomorrow.

by that point it was close to 4pm, time to head back inside. my father had decluttered the garage to the point where you could walk inside, and more importantly, i could stash my motorcycle once we get our first snowstorm.

back inside, we watched more youtube videos about the importance of draining your air compressor tank. so apparently water builds up inside the tank, and needs to be drained periodically, otherwise it might form rust, and destroy the tank over time. the two air compressors we've had, we've never drained the tank before. maybe that's why they all failed after a few years of use. hopefully we'll take better care of this 6-gallon air compressor.

my mother was wearing her new allbird shoes inside the house like they were slippers. she showed me her new shoes on friday - a different pair - and said she bought a few more pairs because they were on sale, some for her, some for us. my father accidentally crushed one of her shoes when they came over to my house on friday when he had the legs of an ottoman on top of her shoe. my mother was angry at first, but it gave her an excuse to buy yet another pair. my mother only noticed these shoes when my taiwanese aunt arrived in boston sporting a pair she'd bought in new york city. liking their style, my mother ended up buying a few pairs for herself, especially since there's no taxes on shoes here in MA.

tteokbokki (떡볶이)
(3-4 servings)

4 cups water
1/2 tsp hondashi powder
handful of dried seaweed

5-6 tbsp gochujang paste
1 tbsp hot pepper flakes
1 tbsp karo dark corn syrup

2 lbs. frozen rice cakes

14 oz. fried tofu wedges

3 scallions, chopped


make broth over medium heat 15 minutes combining water with hondashi and dried seaweed. discard seaweed, add hot pepper paste mixture, along with rice cakes and scallions. stir constantly to keep rice cakes from sticking to pan. midway through add tofu wedges. done when liquid reduced to shiny sauce (about 7 minutes).

when dinner came around i made my korean rice cakes. i consulted a recipe i used 2 years ago, when i made a large batch for my parents. that recipe said to use just 1 lbs. of rice cakes, but that didn't seem like enough, so i used the whole package of frozen rice cakes (2 lbs.). i also used flat rice cakes because we didn't have tube cakes. my mother said it was spicy but bland, that it needed some salt. i ate a whole bowl, while my parents both had half bowls, with enough left over for another serving.

i soon returned home after dinner, as the temperature had already dropped down to 37 degrees. i brought my handlebar mitts but i didn't need them, it wasn't that cold yet.

after a shower, i spent the rest of the evening backing up photos from my macbook pro (so i can eventually erase them and clear up some storage space). my parents gave me a spare humidifier last night, it's been so dry in the house (the skin on my hands are all chapped) that i finally filled it up with water and ran it in my living room. immediately i felt a weird sensation inside my nose. moisture. the same sensation whenever i arrive at the taipei airport, or if i'm about to have a bloody nose. the humidifier also made the living room feel a bit chilly but i didn't mind, if it meant an end to my dry skin problem. i've never used a humidifier before. the closest i've ever come is using a diffuser to release some essential oil fragrances into the air.

i tweaked my pixel 7 layout a little bit. i discovered android 12's analog clock widget (which i've seen in some google pixel phone ads) and decided to add one to my homescreen by shrinking the width of the search bar. i also got rid of my previous weather widget and replaced it with google's own widget - which doesn't display as much info - but will take into account the system's color preference settings and will alternate between day and night mode. finally i rearranged some of the icons so they have more of a diagonal instead of a grid layout.