my sister didn't show up until 10:40am, and my 2nd aunt - who told my mother she'd come early - didn't arrive until 11am. we started assembling at 11am, got everything done by 11:20am. the customer came to pick up right on time. we felt like a major battle had been fought but the day was just starting. ironically, because the order was placed on thursday, the payment went to that day, and so far saturday we still hadn't made an money yet.
but then it go busy until 1pm. a lot of walk-ins (despite the cold weather), not many online orders, a few phone orders. there was enough people that there was a din in the front of the cafe, and i couldn't wait for them to finish eating and leave. my father returned home around 1:15pm, as the saturday busy period was pretty much over by 1pm.
my mother gave away the last of the chinese new year rabbit calendar to my aunt. there was a lot of drama regarding those calendars. i couldn't get a whole box like i did last year. instead the first time i visited the chinatown chase bank, they only gave me 3. my mother kept one, she gave 2 to my godmother. i went back to the bank and got 3 more calendars. i gave 2 to my mother and kept one for myself. my mother kept one for the cafe, one for home, and one as a spare. a few weeks later my godmother called me directly, asking if i had more calendar. i told her no, but when she told my mother this story, my mother gave her the last calendar. so basically half of the calendars i got all went to my godmother in one way or another. so when my mother gave away the cafe calendar to my aunt, it meant the only rabbit calendar she had was at home. anyway, long story short, when i saw the missing calendar this morning, i was going to bring in the one i had at home. but when my 2nd aunt came to the cafe today, she had 2 calendars. so in the end, everyone who wanted a calendar got one.
i left the cafe around 4:30pm. temperature was in the 30's, which was cold, but nothing compared to the subzero temperatures we had a few weekends ago, so today was quite warm by comparison. arriving at my parents' place, i put the appliance recycle sticker - which my father had went to buy after leaving the cafe - on the washing machine still sitting out on the curb. we were hoping some salvager might pick it up for free to make some scrap metal money, but no such luck. the town will come pick up the appliance on tuesday.
my aeroponic plants are definitely getting bigger. just as i feared, the few mustard green seedlings with the leggy stems are toppling over. i'm not too sad about it. this is an experiment after all. if they don't make it, it's not a big deal germinating some new seeds. i also got a change to download the time lapse video i made of the growing plants. they actually move a little bit over the course of the day, opening their leaves in the morning and afternoon, closing them up at night.
the string of starlink satellites can still be seen in the night sky. they're no longer at peak visibility, and the satellites have started to separate so they're no longer in a string. the earliest one that can be seen tonight was at 5:44pm, the latest 7:51pm, with an average magnitude of 2.9. 
i had the bright idea of climbing onto the roof my the house and clamping my gopro camera to the solar panel frame so i could get a good unobstructed view of the western sky and take a night lapse video. i set the camera out too early - 5pm - and about 2/3rd of the footage was just a very boring setting sun. the good stuff was at the end, when it got dark, as the video recorded all sorts of things flying across the sky. most of them were planes, but there were some unexplained objects which might be satellites, and one very bright flash that was most definitely a starlink briefly glinting in the sun.
my mother wasn't in the mood to cook and directed my father in the kitchen from her living room chair. my father had made some salted mackerels, and a tofu stew.
i stayed in belmont for another hour, after i put the gopro back outside so i could get another video of the night sky. an hour outside only gave me 18 seconds of a night lapse video. once again, a lot of flying objects in the sky, most were planes, a few unknowns, and some possibly satellites. pointing at the orion constellation, the gopro was able to resolve stars down to magnitude 6. i think if i played around with the settings, left the shutter open for a longer period, i could get more magnitude.
i finally left for cambridge around 9pm. i wasn't in any rush to get home, but i've realized when i ride i always go full speed, like the thought of riding slow seems like a waste of time. it's like i'm endurance training, which offers me a bit of winter exercise.
my 1/2" mahogany wood plug arrived today. i'm still not sure how they can make a profit, when i only paid 36¢ for a single plug. the cost of postage is more than the price of the item! the plug if for the guest bedroom side table. the fit isn't perfect, but better than leaving an unsightly hole.
i bought a set of springform pans from amazon tonight. i needed a 7" pan for making puffy japanese cheese cake in my instant pot. i ended up getting a set of 3 (4",7",9") since it only cost $14. i could use the 9" for making another type of japanese cheese cake in the regular oven, and the 4" might come in handy for tiny sweet or savory pies. i actually found an old springform pan in my kitchen, but it's 10" and pretty rusty. i'm trying to remember if it belonged to my sister or i found it out on the curb.