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this morning i waited for my mattress to be delivered - anywhere from 10:30am to 12:30pm - at least according to the mattressfirm phone call and e-mail i got yesterday. i spent the early morning cleaning up the guest bedroom a bit more. besides wooden slats that go across the bed frame, there's also a piece of old plywood cut to size. i lifted up the plywood so i could easily clean underneath the bed, both spraying with some bleach cleaner as well as vacuum.

mattressfirm contacted me at 10:18am, an automated message told me they were less than 10 minutes away. a large semi truck pulled up to my street, two guys pulled out a twin mattress and a twin box spring. i wasn't sure if i was supposed to tip (though i had cash ready in my pocket just in case), but since they were going to leave the items outside my house, i figured no tip was needed. one of the delivery guys did ask me if i needed help bringing the mattress inside but i said no.

it was easy getting everything inside the house. the box spring weighed around 25 lbs. while the mattress itself a little over 30 lbs. i started with the box spring first, removing the plastic wrap with scissors. i noticed the webbing underneath the box spring had a hole in it; doesn't affect the performance of the box spring, but i was a little annoyed, given i paid $200 for it. it has a dark navy fabric material around it, and looks discreet enough i may not even need to cover it. i also noticed there was a woodsy smell, a scent i've always identified with ikea furniture. next came the mattress (sealy essentials). like the box spring, it had a top side and a bottom side, i made sure i didn't put it on upside down. box spring (5") and mattress (8.5") combined was a good height, enough backboard to rest pillows. had i gotten the normal sized box spring (8.5"), i think it would've been too tall.

i tried out the mattress immediately. even though it was a firm, it felt pretty soft and springy. i think it'll be a comfortable mattress, but if it was for me personally, i'd go even firmer. i had some old fitted bedsheets but a new set was arriving later today, so i figured i wait until then to cover the mattress.

this was actually my first time buying a mattress for myself (usually i'm buying them for other people). all the mattresses i've ever used have either been hand-me-downs or purchased used off of craig's list. given all the horror stories i've heard of bed bugs, and living in a post-pandemic world, i figured it was wiser just to buy a new mattress and box spring. mattresses themselves are surprisingly expensive for some reason. my mother paid $800-1000 for a 10" twin mattress a 3 years ago. the one i got was a steal by comparison - just $250 - though normally it'd cost $500 (some kind of back-to-school sale). the box spring itself ($200) nearly equalled the cost of the mattress.

since it was still so early, i had time to go for a morning run. i didn't leave until 11:20am. maybe because i didn't eat anything yet like on tuesday, i didn't have as much energy, and ended up walking to and from the charles, only running on my usual river route. so it ended up taking me an hour and 6 minutes to finish and get back.

after a shower, i made a grilled smoke ham and egg bagel sandwich. i was out of avocados, but i think it tastes better without it. instead i put a slice of american cheese, which gave it just the right amount of gooey saltiness. i wasn't planning on making a big production out of it, but i used the softboxes to light up the kitchen and the photos (taken with the camera phone) just looked much better.

originally i planned on biking to chinatown, but the only thing i needed were yellow pickled daikon radishes, and my mother found a whole pack in the fridge. so instead i ran some local errands. i went to deposit a bunch of cans at star market. only their can and plastic machines were working, the glass machine was broken. coming back, i went to the liquor store with my mega millions ticket, got $2 for matching the mega ball. i then took the glass bottles to market basket, where their machine only accepted 2 of them, the rest i tossed in the recycle bin. i got some salt for the cafe, some grapes for myself, and a new bottle of tide detergent along with some fabric softener. i bumped into jack on my way back (he was going to star market).

i did a little bit of at-home gardening. i first went into renee's alleyway to cut down a few tree saplings that were growing out from the side of our house that renee had completely neglected and allowed it to grow. i also ripped down some virginia creepers that were crawling on the side of our house, growing from renee's property. i then did a little bit of weeding in my own alleyway.

i potted the 2 cuban oregano anne gave me. they'd been soaking in water for a few weeks, growing roots. one of the leaf has started to rot, not sure if it'll make it, but the other one seems fine. out of the water the thin roots all clumped together into a single strang, nothing i can do about that. i put them in some tiny pots i found out on the curb from this summer.

in the late afternoon my bedsheet set arrived. i normally don't bother washing new linen before using them, but these had a sticky feel to them, so i decided to throw it in the washer along with a few other bedsheet items i had on hand. i tried the new detergent - tide ultra with oxi odor eliminators - it has a perfumy scent, not bad. i also got some bounce fabric softener in outdoor fresh scent.

i decided to cover the box spring, that seems to be the general consensus online. originally i was going to use the spare flat sheet that came with the bedsheet set (i never know what to do with those), but it was too hard to wrap the box spring. i ended up using an old fitted sheet that coincidentally had the same burgundy lined pattern as my new sheets. when the sheets finished drying, i finally covered up my mattress. i'm not in love with the scent - not sure if it's the detergent, fabric softener, or the mattress itself. i've decided to sleep on my new mattress for tonight, to break it in, see how it feels. i hope my next roommate (antonio) appreciates the fact that he's getting a new mattress to sleep on! though the old mattress had a storied history, too many former astrophysicist roommates have slept on it, more than i can count.

it was crazy busy at the cafe today. a dozen online square orders not to mention any walk-in or phone orders, and a few delivery orders (ubereats and grubhub). even though i wasn't there, i kept receiving e-mail messages every time they had an online order. i'd occasionally chime in through the webcam intercom if there was anything to take note of (like double or triple items), like some all-seeing manager.

for dinner originally i was going to have another bagel sandwich, but i'm a little tired of bagel sandwiches, so opted to have a bowl of tonkatsu instant noodles instead. i started rewatching rome again, and ate while watching episode 2.