i left the house by 10am, heading into boston to run friday errands. temperature was in the 50's, with the possibility of hitting the 60's by afternoon. first stop was the cambridge public works building to collect a few rolls of compost bags. next was MGH, to get some blood drawn to test my cholesterol now that i've been on statin for 3 months. there were many nurses but few patients and most of the nurses seem to have immigrated from elsewhere, a real melting pot of different ethnicities.

i then traveled down charles street and cut across boston common on my way to some asian supermarkets on the chinatown outskirts. riding by a tufts medical center covid testing and vaccination station, i did a detour when i decided to get a real PCR test instead of the two at-home covid tests i took (both negatives). there was no other patients, just me, two attendants, and a nurse. one of the attendants took my info (i gave her my driver license and health insurance card) then pointed me in the direction of the nurse. the nurse seemed both bored and angry to be there, wearing a plastic jacket like artist's smock. "do i do the test myself?" i asked her, which seemed like a legitimate question, since that's how i test the last time in harvard square. "nobody touches the equipment," she hissed at me, almost like she was offended i could even conceive of such a thing. with a long swab, she poked both my nostrils (not very deep) then put the swab in a test tube. "good bye," she said, as she turned back around to look at her computer screen as if i wasn't even there anymore. feeling like i was just victimized, i stumbled out of the testing station and back out onto the street.

i decided to hit c-mart today, since they have more selection (i visited ming's market last time). i picked up a few things for my mother before calling her asking what else she needed. the additional items put me over my carrying limit, so my mother said not to bother getting them, but i got them anyway, despite the hardship. i ended up forgetting to get a few things i wanted, like mung beans and a tear-off chinese calendar. i had space in my rear baskets and messenger bag to fit all the groceries from the asian supermarket, but i was also going to haymarket next, and i wasn't sure how i'd carry those items.

cutting through downtown crossing and post office square, i made my way to haymarket. one good thing about cold weather is the seafood don't smell as much; with our unusually high temperature for the end of december, there was a strong fishy stench as soon as i arrived. there wasn't much to be had. i got a sleeve of garlic ($2) and two boxes of darling clementines ($4/each). i spent a good amount of time balancing the items in my bike baskets, so i could carry everything home without it all coming undone.

it was just 12:10pm by the time i left haymarket and headed back to cambridge. i like starting my day early, like getting bonus hours. normally this time of day i'd be eating lunch and barely thinking about running errands, so it was a good feeling knowing i'd already gotten so much done. instead of home i biked directly to the cafe to drop off the supplies, took me 30 minutes. because i tied down the rear bike baskets yesterday with plastic-coated wires, they didn't jostle today and i had a more stable ride.

i tried the clementines which were sweet. i also got some chinese-brand oranges (金山橙) from c-mart which seemed promising ($2/6 i got a dozen) and cut them into wedges. they were very sweet as well, i ended up eating two of those oranges. i left the cafe with a container of fresh dan dan noodles that i'd cooked while i was there. i got back home by 1:30pm and ate lunch.

i went out again an hour later, to grab some snacks from star market. i had a reward coupon that was about to expire, i used it to get some honeycrisp apples for free.

the hole plug for my condensation pump arrived today ($1.25). i went down to the basement to install it. i measured the existing hole at 1-3/16" but was afraid i might've made a mistake. but the measurement was perfect. at first i didn't think the plug would fit, but i gave it a gentle tap and it fell right into place. it fits so perfectly, you wouldn't know it was the original except for the fact that it's white (while the rest of the pump housing is black). while i was there, i also replaced the furnace filter (i bought a whole box of them a few years ago, still have plenty more left).

the big event today was dinner at my aunt's house in arlington, in honor of my mother's birthday which was today. i left by around 5:30pm, walking down to the cafe so i could meet up with my parents and get a ride with them. my sister would join us later. we closed the cafe a bit early tonight - 6pm - and got to arlington by 6:20pm.

my aunt and uncle gifted my mother a bottle of opidan bourbon (46% alcohol) because matthew remembered my mother saying she liked drinking smoky spirits. i tried some - complex flavor for sure, but haven't first cut my teeth with chinese baijiu which is 50% alcohol at minimum - this bourbon tasted like water to me. my aunt brought out a tray of antipasto. for dinner we had some spaghetti with some homemade marinara sauce and homemade meatballs. we'd already started eating when my sister finally arrived an hour late. at first it didn't seem like a lot of pasta, but i forgot how filling pasta can be, and after a plate full i was already stuffed. there was also eggplant parmigiana and a salad with a fruity vinaigrette that my mother really liked.

for dessert my aunt made a peach cake, trying to mimic a similar cake from eldo's bakery in china which apparently closed over the summer. she added yogurt to the cream which gave the cake a slight sour taste.

we left by 9pm. my parents returned home while my sister gave me a ride back to cambridge as she headed home herself.

good news on the pixel 6 trade-in drama: google finally contacted me, said they found my phone and was ready to assess its worth. that's all and good, but the original estimate amount was set to expire today. luckily google contacted me again an hour later and agreed to our original trade-in price of $479. they said to expect to see the refund on 2-5 business days. out of curiosity i went onto the google store page and looked up their current trade-in value for a pixel 6 phone: only $150, for a pixel 7 that now costs $599. whatever shenanigans i pulled to get my pixel 7 phone was definitely worth it (in the end i just paid $330 for the pixel 7).

more news: tufts medical sent me e-mail with a link to their portal page to check my covid test status. the fact that they didn't call me meant it was negative, and sure enough, that's what the result said. also results from my blood work came back: my new cholesterol number is 168 mg/dL. this is an improvement over my results from september, when when total cholesterol was 248 mg/dL. i managed to cut my LDL from 180 mg/DL (standard is 50-129) down to 96 mg/dL.

finally, news of barbara walters death was announced tonight. she was a trailblazer for women reporters who followed in her footsteps. i didn't realize she'd retired, she seemed to be always there somehow. she was 93 years old.