i wanted to get back before noontime, so i ran as much as possible, when i'd normally be walking. i felt like i had more endurance, but hard to say if it was the matcha latte or the fact that my body had gotten used to running. i managed to make it back home before 12pm.
after a shower, i heated up a spicy jamaica jerk patty in the microwave for lunch. today was an exciting day, the surrender of donald trump at the fulton county jail in georgia. of course trump being trump, he decided to do it as close to primetime as possible, so it wouldn't be until 7:30pm that he'd be processed.
i took the motorcycle to wellington circle plaza in medford in the early afternoon. it was something i wanted to do on tuesday but i ran out of time helping out at the cafe and went to chinatown instead. it's been a while since i've riden the motorcycle any distance other than a few miles. i went to aldi's first, to get some scallions and cilantro. unfortunately they were out of both. i left with a bag of mini cucumbers ($1.95), aldi-brand slim jims ($2.95), strawberry fruit strips ($4.49), baby carrots (99¢), hummus ($2.49), and a bag of red grapes ($2.14).
next i went to ocean state job lot to look for pots. i wanted to replace the deck railing planter that jeep driver crushed last week. they had some but they were too large. they did have a 40% off sale on all pots, but i ended up leaving empty-handed.
my final stop was harbor freight. i got a pair of grabber tools ($2.99/each) for my father and some cloth back duct tape ($4) that i had a coupon for. the bald cashier who hates me wasn't there (a relief), in his place was a young man (or woman? couldn't quite tell) with some distracting facial piercings.
the grabber tools were a little too long to properly fit inside my saddlebags. i should've strapped them down across instead of poking out of a bag, with the wrapped handles next to my face, the plastic flapping in the wind. it was a battle to get back home, all of somerville hills seem to be undergoing simultaneous road repairs. i detoured and detoured until i finally found my way back.
i wasn't home for long, before i left again for market basket. because i didn't get the cilantro, i got some there, as well as some stuff for the cafe that my mother added when i called her earlier: ground pork, ginger, vinegar. i was there to pick up a watermelon ($5.99), i get one every summer, haven't had one yet even though summer is almost over. i thumped a few melons, picked the one that sounded the most hollow. i strapped the watermelon to the back of my rear bike rack with some bungie netting. on the way back, i saw some pots somebody had tossed out and picked them up to add to my collect of free pots. i was back home for good by 3:15pm.
i finally took down my air conditioner today. it frees up a window that i can open to allow in some cool natural breeze. i haven't used the AC since lauryn moved out 3 weeks ago. it wasn't even plugged in, that's how unused it was. today was the a good day to take it down since it's due to rain overnight.
i did some yard work. weeds have overtaken the backyard. i don't know what kind they are (i think of of them might be three-seeded mercury Acalypha rhomboidea) but i know they weren't planted so they're definitely weedy. i made sure to wear long pants and a long-sleeved shirt to prevent mosquito bites, but they still managed to bite my face when i wasn't looking, including my earlobes. the backyard looks a lot nicer now, though there's still a bit more weeding to do, but at least the path is cleared and swept of debris.
the last thing i did was to replace the tires on the red free spirit bike i picked up off the curb last spring. it'd been sitting in the basement, one of my many project bikes. i tried finding my old bike seat but couldn't locate it. the most urgent repair were the wheels. the wheels themselves look fine (though rusty in some spots), but the tires were cracked and needed replacing. i bought a set off of amazon for $50, which included two road tires specifically for this size of wheels (26 x 1-3/8" AKA 37-590) and a pair of new inner tubes (26 x 1-3/8" 32mm valve).
i brought the bike out from the basement and worked on it from my backyard deck. even here mosquitoes continued to pester me, as i swatted them away from landing on my head. the handlebars seemed rustier than i remembered. i test cleaned some of the rust off with some aluminum foil and water. it works but it's going to take a lot of elbow grease. i remember i might have a spare handlebar in the basement, i'll have to go look. no point buying a new one though, even with rust the handlebar still works, just looks a little dirty, but probably keeps the bike thieves away.
i used WD-40 and some paper towels to clean the dust and dirt off the frame. it looked brand new afterwards. i then tipped the bike upside down so i could remove the wheels. both were flat, both with cracked tires. i took off the front tire because it was easiest. the old tire was cheng shin brand (taiwanese). i used a 1/2" 6-sided socket to take the wheel off. stripped off the old tire off the wheel wasn't difficult, especially since i knew i'd replacing everything anyway. when i took the inner tube out of the tire, it still looked new, so i decided to reuse it, worst case scenario is if it goes flat, and i can always use the new tube.
putting the new tire on the wheel was a real challenge. the tires kit came with plastic tire levers. i used it to pry the tire onto the wheel, one of them flew away somewhere in the backyard, another snapped in half. i ended up using my heavy duty metal tire levers to get that last section of tire onto the rim. this new tire looks pretty good, with directional treads. i got all black instead of the original gumwall because i thought it'd look cooler.
when i tried to remove the rear wheel, that's when i hit a road block. this bike uses an old school 8-speed internal hub gear. i had no idea how to disengage the gearing so i could remove the wheel. i tried finding some videos but i didn't even know what it was called. as it was already 5:30pm, and i was tired of fighting with mosquitoes, i decided to call it a day. originally i was going to leave the bike outside, but ended up bringing it inside. later in the evening when i checked the front tire, it was already flat, so that old tube was not good (not a surprise). i'll try to patch it if possible (it looks brand new otherwise), otherwise i'll use the new tube.
around 7:30pm trump arrived in georgia on his private plane and headed directly to the county jail. viewers couldn't see anything, but info about his processing started trickling out. trump's hair color was listed as strawberry blonde (a very generous description) and his weight was listed as 215 lbs. that was followed later by the photo we were all waiting for: trump's mugshot. he didn't even try to smile in what would go down as one of the most famous mugshots of all time - a former president being booked like a common criminal. he had a dour look on his face, looked every bit the part of a villain. after he was booked, he took a motorcade back to the airport and returned to new jersey. what a waste of plane fuel!
i made luxury korean ramen for dinner around 9pm. i mostly did it because i had some leftover tofu i needed to use up before it went bad. tomorrow night i might have korean rice cakes, as i have some fried tofu that i also needed to finish soon. after dinner, i took the watermelon out of the fridge and cut it up. originally i was just going to cut half, but decided to cut all of it into cubes since i was cutting anyway. i saved a bowl for myself, everything else i put into pyrex containers. i sprinkled some pink himalayan salt on it for an extra kick. i tossed out all the rinds so it wouldn't sit in my kitchen attracting bugs.