it was 1 degrees when i left the house. it was cold but it wasn't too bad, unless you had some exposed skin. when i took off my wool mittens to fiddle around with the gopro camera, my hands started hurting a few seconds later. i was more worried about my exposed face. for once my lazy person beard served a purpose, which gave some protection. more concerning was my nose. luckily the ride to the cafe was less than 10 minutes, not long enough for frostbite to set in. i was fine for the most part. the winter jacket kept most of my body warm. i must not have zipped up all the way because my exposed neck was starting to hurt. also my pinky fingers through the wool mittens hurt as well. this kind of weather, it's okay to be outside for a short period of time, but being outside for too long and the cold will find ways to hurt you.
by the time i got to the cafe, my sister still wasn't there yet. i hurriedly cooked 3 cups of rice and boiled two pots of water. my mother didn't think it'd be busy today because of the cold, so she told my 2nd aunt not to come. it'd just be my sister and me.
we didn't get any customers until noontime. the first order was an online order, which we easily banged out, two bento boxes and two drinks. if this was how the day was going to go, it wasn't too bad. shortly after a chatty first-time customer came in and made an order for later. while my sister was chatting with her, a large online order came in, 5 different noodle orders. all of them i knew how to make in parts, but i wasn't sure the portions nor the heating times. i did what i could, but kept calling my sister for help. she ignored me while continuing to chat with the customer. i looked at the clock at it counted down to the pickup time. out of options, i called my mother for help. she said my father was on his way. my father showed up with 5 minutes left before the pickup was supposed to be ready, and the only thing i did so far was cook the noodles, still hadn't reheated any of the broths. only then did my sister finally stop chatting and came to help. she scolded me for trying to interrupt her conversation. i told her the pickup customer was about to arrive, she said he could wait. to make matters worse, more customers started showing up, as we had a logjam of orders. in the end, the customer with the big takeout had to wait an additional 10 minutes while we fulfilled his order. my sister also yelled at us for changing the checkout menu layout, now she couldn't find any of the items.
despite the cold, we made as much as we did yesterday but in half the time. my father returned home half an hour before closing. i left half an hour afterwards. the temperature by then had risen to 12 degrees. yes it was still cold, but warmer than it was this morning. i didn't feel the same amount of freezing pain, maybe just a little bit on my face. i mounted the gopro camera again, this time pointing it towards me. i also discovered the video i shot this morning was corrupted and couldn't be played back (i'll try to salvage it with my video repair app); i might want to replace the memory card because this is the 2nd time it's happened recently.
my new fitted bedsheet arrived as well as the tablet stand. the stand looks very sturdy and has a good weight to it, i can't wait to see it in action at the cafe. at some point i went into the sunroom and checked out the aeroponics tub. my father had removed all the plants a few days ago, and temporarily turned off the timer. i was surprised to see a layer of ice on the top of the nutrient solution. so it actually did get cold enough in the sunroom for water to freeze! good thing we removed the plants. i think i might try moving the aeroponics tub into the basement grow room, just so it can be warmer and have more light.
i ordered 20g of silver thermal paste (GENNEL brand, G107) to fix our broken induction cooker. it costs $10 through amazon, but i saw it sold on ebay for 99¢ (though i can't wait that long for it to arrive from china). supposedly it can support temperature up to 240°C (464°F). it's due to arrive on monday (that was the biggest selling price, besides the max temperature and price), 
hopefully we can get that induction cooker fixed by then.
we had sour fish stew for dinner mixed with rice. the fish my parents bought tasted really weird, had an earthy flavor (like maybe it's a bottom feeding fish) and the flesh was crunchy.
my parents talked me into driving one the cars back to cambridge. temperature by then was 14 degrees, warmer still, but still pretty cold. i was more than happy to ride home, but since they needed me to bring my instant pot tomorrow, this was the only way. luckily i found a parking spot right in front of my house. took me a few minutes of parallel parking struggles to finally get it in.
i did a load of laundry. it was primarily to wash off the oil stain on my pants (i think i got it a few days ago when i was kneeling on the cafe floor looking for something on the ground), but i ended up washing my new bedsheet as well. these new cheap microfiber sheets don't advertise their thread count, but it felt pretty nice, had a slightly satin feel to it. the ultimate test will be later tonight when i sleep on it.
while the washer was running, i used the bathroom and took a shower. later in watched a new saturday night live with guest host pedro pascal.