but before i did that, i stopped at glacken field to do some drone flying. today was a good day for it - clear and somewhat sunny. unfortunately there was a bit of wind (18mph) and a few times i could see the drone tilting, fighting against the wind. glacken field is a good spot to fly because they built an artificial mound at the playground, making it one of the highest points there. flying at 400ft elevation, i got as far as the harvard smithsonian center, a distance of 1.25 miles. the DJI mini 2 can theoretically transmit up to 6 miles, but that's probably out in the open under ideal conditions, like maybe from a mountaintop. a mile is usually as far as i can fly before my signal bars get low enough (2 or less) that i start getting nervous and return the drone.
i was only at glacken field for a little over 10 minutes but it felt longer, since i still get so nervous flying my drone, time seems to slow down. i finally left bu 2:48pm, but not before returning my 2nd aunt's phone call. her internet was down and she was calling for advice on how to fix it. i checked the outage map, apparently there was something happening in the porter square area. i told her to just wait and hopefully service would be restored soon.
i finally made it down to the mt.auburn star market. i was excited to see they had a pile of corned beef. upon closer inspection however, they were all flat cut, which wasn't on sale ($3.99/lbs.). the ad for the corned beef sale was prominently displayed, so i bet a lot of people will accidentally buy the more expensive lean cut, not realizing they're not on sale (point cut on sale for $1.27/lbs.). star market makes no guarantees about their corned beef sale: in fine print they write, "while supplies last."
i went back to the cafe empty-handed. i tried a curry patty my sister had baked. it'd be good except she didn't add any salt and was so bland i wanted to throw it out, it was an insult to my taste buds. likewise with the kimchi fried rice she made. the flavors there, but she didn't add any salt, so it was almost like just eating plain white rice. i left with some fried rice, even though i bought a ham and cheese sub from market basket i planned on eating.
i stopped at home briefly before heading out to market basket for the second time today to grab some corned beef. market basket's sale price on name brand point cut corned beed is $2.99/lbs. it's nearly 2-1/2x more expensive than the star market sale price, but it's worth it not having to do a scavenger hunt just to find the right corned beef on sale. besides, of the 6 star market signature brand point cut corned beef that i bought, 2 of them were rotten, 1 i ate even though it smelled bad, and 2 of them i returned (including one of the rotten ones i'd already opened). that's a pretty bad track record, better just to buy a name brand corned beef and not have to worry about all that other stuff. at $2.99/lbs. it's still a good price; when it's not normally on sale they like $6-8/lbs. i ended up going with the freirich brand, getting one for $16 and another one for $13.
i finally returned home by 4pm. another thing on my to-do list was to tune up my bicycle. i realized the gear ratio is off, that's why it feels like pedalling underwater. the chain is on the middle cog in the front gear, but it's on the 4th cog in the back gear. i usually ride in 5th gear or above. i wanted to adjusted the setting, but it was getting late, the sky was starting to cloud up, and the temperature was dropping. besides, i was afraid if i messed with it and couldn't get it back to riding shape, i wouldn't be able to take it to allston then chinatown/haymarket tomorrow morning. better to leave it as, tomorrow would be a better day to fix it.
my milwaukee fastback 6-in-1 folding utility knife arrived today (48-22-1505 $20). i played around with it, it wasn't as exciting as i thought. the blade doesn't really want to flip out, it sort of sticks inside the body, and i need to use two hands to flip out the blade. the two-sided bit insert fits very tightly inside the nut driver. i guess that's good in not losing the bit, but makes changing it difficult. i'm going to give it to my father, 
like he sometimes need a utility knife to open packages, or break down cardboard boxes. the screw bits is just an added bonus.
for dinner i heated up a frozen serving of chicken alfredo in the oven.