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i slept almost to 10am this morning, can't remember the last time i did that (to be fair though, i didn't go to sleep until 3am). after using the bathroom and taking a shower, i went into the backyard to repair my bike brakes.

my replacement bike brakes arrived yesterday (RUJOI brand, $13 for 2 pairs). i got those because they came with the brake cables and housing, which i needed to replace as well. i did the front brakes first, since they're the most important, and most in need of replacement. from my records, it looked like i replaced the front brakes back in april 2019 (PROMAX brand), so more than 4 years ago. since that time i've replaced the brake pads at least once a year, but the brake arms have finally worn out, rusted so badly they won't spring back anymore. i was having a hard time removing the old brakes, so i removed the front wheel to give me working room. i sprayed the brake assemblies with WD-40 and tried using a hammer to knock them out. what finally ended up working was just pulling and twisting on the brakes repeatedly until they finally came off.

installing the new front brakes was easy. i put some grease on the brake pivots, so they'd be easier to remove when i needed to. for some reason these brakes used a non-standard size of 5.5mm for the fixing bolt and brake pad socket nuts. once the brakes were on, i replaced the front brake cable and housing. i haven't replaced any wires or housing in a while, but glad i still remembered how. the new cable and housing was 6in shorter than the one i had before. i thought about using the old housing, but decided against it, better to use the new one. i then spent some time adjusting the brake pads so it hit the rim equally. i played around with the adjustment screws but they didn't seem to make any difference. what finally did it was just to unseat the wheel and realign it slightly so it sat between the two brake pads.

i thought i was done (12:30pm) then remembered i still had the rear brakes to replace. one of the brake arm was still working (the one with the cage), but the other one seemed stuck. i removed it and applied triflow oil hoping to lubricate it enough that i didn't need to replace it. i managed to get it unstuck so it would spring back now when installed, but decided to replace the rear brakes anyway since i already had new ones. the old ones were shimano brand brakes, and checking my records, i was shocked by how old they were: i got these back in december 2014, almost 9 years ago, and they're still working. that's what you get when you buy name brand, a lesson to remember. i'll save these shimano brakes as a backup since they still work, just old.

i was going to replace the rear brake cable and housing but discovered that the housing was in segments instead of a continuous strand, which was what the new housing was. so i kept the old cable and housing.

the last thing i did was to oil the chains before the bike was ready to ride again. it was 1:30pm by that point, it took me 2-1/2 hours to replace the brakes.

i kept track of the business at the cafe. my sister told me mother she wouldn't be working the rest of the week because she had to organize her place. that's why my mother actually asked me yesterday to come in to work today, before i told her no. since today was harvard's graduation, and a thursday no less (thursdays are our slowest day), we weren't expecting it to be busy. sure enough, when i checked the total for the day, there was only a trickle of business. so my service at the cafe wouldn't be needed today.

with my bike finally fixed, it was time to run errands. yesterday i guilt-tripped my mother into having a barbecue this weekend with my aunt and uncle, so it was my job today to gather all the ingredients. i'd be making my blue cheese burgers, sweet thai chili drumsticks, grilled buffalo wings, italian sausages, and pasta salad. first i went to star market to see if they had any 80% lean ground beef on sale. i bought a large 3.6 lbs. worth of ground beef.

returning home, i texted jeff to let him know about the astrophysicist staying at my place beginning the middle of next week. he replied back, said it was great, and that we should have a scientist barbecue in the backyard one of these days. he also told me he was in portugal until tuesday. that gave me a perfect window to fix the loose front step. using the square drill bit, i started removing the screws. however that handyman who "repaired" our front steps last spring basically botched the job, and actually stripped half of the screws when he put them back in, so they couldn't easily be removed. i'd have to use a screw stripper, which i'd need to get from my sister.

i then took the bike and went to market basket. i couldn't believe it, but this was only my 2nd time going to the somerville market basket this month, my last visit was the start of may. i couldn't go while my parents were away on vacation because i had to work at the cafe everyday, and on the days when i wasn't working, i was doing gardening stuff. i only went to market basket after my parents returned, and was the waltham market basket. at the somerville store i managed to get everything except the frozen buffalo wings, they didn't seem to carry them. i also didn't get tomatoes or cilantro, figured i'd get them tomorrow morning from haymarket.

i stopped at the house to drop off the pasta salad ingredients (i'd made it on saturday night) before taking the remaining ingredients to the cafe. i went over to my sister's place to borrow her drill and screw extractors. her house was so cluttered at the moment, she couldn't find the drill, but did locate the extractors, which i took. my father said he'd bring in his drill from home tomorrow.

i biked home. did i mention today was harvard's graduation? the city of cambridge looked like a commencement convention, everywhere you looked was somebody else dressed in a graduation gown, followed by their retinue of families and friends, all dressed up for the special occasion. in years past i would've gone down to harvard square to snap some photos. they really lucked out because we had great weather today, unlike yesterday were we had a brief period of pouring rain in the late afternoon.

i walked down to the community garden with a screw pepper. david was there, just finishing up with his watering. i saw ann briefly walking out from the park but she didn't stop to say hi. i planted the pepper (the previous pepper wasn't doing so well and had basically shriveled up) before watering. i wasn't sure how smart it was to water so late, with the temperature tonight once more dipping in the upper 40's. just one more of this, starting this weekend the night time temperature will be in the 50's.

i returned home by 5:30pm.

the main event this evening was game 6 between the heat and celtics starting at 8:30pm. i was going to time my dinner so it'd be ready by the start of the game, but i was doing some laundry and didn't get a chance to make dinner before the game started. i only started making it during halftime - luxury korean ramen - and ate it while watching the second half.

celtics game out playing aggressive and fast, the heat didn't know what hit them. felt like boston lead by 20 points for much of the game, miami never once had the lead. celtics had 4 players who scored 20+ points: tatum, brown, smart, white. heat kept trying to battle back, but any time miami started to get hot, boston would just as quickly extinguish any chance of a comeback. celtics win 110-97. game 6 saturday night. the game was on TNT, so we had the pleasure of listening to charles barkley give his insight. he said game 6 is basically game 7 for the heat. it's a must-win, otherwise a game 7 would favor the celtics, after coming back from a 0-3 deficit to force a game 7. just thinking about game 6 is making me anxious!

apple released episode 5 of silo early tonight (instead of the usual friday). i downloaded the episode and will watch it after i fold my laundry and get ready for bed.