i went to bed last night at 9:30pm and didn't wake up this morning until 9:30am, a full 12 hours of sleep. i woke up with this pain on my left torso, either sustained by hauling my backpack or sleeping on it wrong on the bus back to boston. i took 2 ibuprofen which kept the pain away for the most part.

i didn't think i had anything happening today until i got a google calendar notification on my phone that there was a puerto rican day parade happening today. it didn't start until noontime so i had some time to further unwind before i needed to leave. i got in touch with frances, wishing her a safe trip back to norway, but she told me she managed to extend her ticket because of the 4-hour delay when they left, and wouldn't be leaving new york city until tomorrow.

i didn't leave until 11:15am. i got out my fuji road bike from the basement. i bumped into sheri outside washing her car. she asked me a few weeks ago if it was okay, that the local carwash she went to managed to damage her car so now she just going to wash her car on her own. the weather was nice - not too warm, not too cool, just right, with a hazy sky that'd give some diffusion. i wore shorts and a t-shirt, no sunblock as i already have a good base tan from being outside this summer.

i cut through harvard square to get onto mt.auburn street then followed mass ave all the way into boston. these new bike lanes made the trip a breeze, plus i was running every single red light i could, traffic laws be damned. i took a right on columbus avenue and followed the southwest corridor bike path until i hit the parade assembling outside of roxbury crossing. i kept going until i got to egleston square where i parked my bike.

the parade had't started yet so i walked downhill to see if there was anything interesting. when the motorcycle cops started assembling, i went back to "spot" - which was the dimock street island that sits on the crest of the hill, a perfect vantage point to see the parade procession coming up the hill towards blue hill park.

i missed the PR parade last year, but i did attend it back in 2022. like in 2022, i only packed my 55-250mm telephoto lens with my canon 80D. i shot in aperture priority of f/8 with a fixed 400 ISO. this year i've started shooting in shutter priority mode instead, with a fixed shutter speed of 1/1600 sec. the problem shooting with a fixed shutter (shutter priority) is the variable aperture. but i've found an aperture of f/8 is the sweet spot for depth of field, not too shallow, not too deep. so i tried something new today: shooting in manual mode with a fixed aperture (f/8) and a fixed shutter speed (1/1600 sec). the only thing that was variable was the ISO. it was bright enough that i could get away with it; i doubt that'd work in darker conditions. but it gave me the best of both worlds: good depth of field (aperture) but excellent action capturing (faster shutter speed). with those settings, every photo seemed to be properly exposed, never have to worry about a blurry image, no matter how fast moving the action. unfortunately i kept switching back and forth between manual and aperture/shutter priority, because i felt shooting in manual made the images seem dark. what then ended up happening was the back 2/3 of all the photos i took were just in aperture priority mode: f/8 but with slow shutter speed resulting in some blurry images. it could've been worse, at least it was sunny today, which compensated for the slow shutter speed. but a total rookie mistake that i'll be more aware of come next time.

2022 we were still getting out of the pandemic, and parades were just starting up again. so the parade was smaller back then, both participants and spectators. fast forward 2 years later, and things are getting back to normal.

as far as politicians, not a surprise that boston mayor michelle wu was in attendance. she recently announced she's pregnant with her third child (daughter), due in january. she wasn't showing, and seemed pretty active, running across the street for a selfie with a constituent. the other politician i saw was ed flynn (son of former mayor raymond flynn), boston city councilor. i see him so often at these events, i seriously wonder if he's laying the ground work for an eventual mayor run himself (what i'm saying is he has ambitions). i recognize him all the time because he looks like a splitting image of his father.

as for the procession, there were children dancers, beauty pageant winners, spanish language telemundo network (they were handing out free collapsible fans), horse riders, people wearing traditional PR costumes, and of course the cars. puerto ricans love their cars and modified scooter bikes. they love it so much, the back half of the parade is all vehicles. there were vendors pulling pushcarts with flags and toys. one enterprising man was just selling bundles of PR flags, i heard him say "cinco" when somebody asked him how much. i can buy a 5x3ft PR flag off of temu for just $3.

i had a great spot to shoot from with not a single other person crowding with me, so every group that came by saw me right away and preened for the camera. it was one of the better parade photography experiences.

the parade was over by 1:15pm. i retrieved my bicycle and headed home. when i got to mass ave, i decided to take a detour and ride down the final stretch of the southeast corridor that goes to backbay station with my insta360 camera mounted on the handlebar. my father's always been curious about this path, and i figured i could show him. i was riding on the sidewalk which is probably forbidden, but there weren't too many people and i was riding slow. the insta360 was mounted so high, there were a few times when i was afraid i might crash into a low-hanging tree branch.

once i reached backbay station, it was an easy ride down dartmouth, connecting to beacon street, and following it westward to mass ave. i didn't realize dartmouth is also the street that goes by the boston public library and trinity church. when i went by newbury street i saw it was pedestrian only today. so i decided to turn on the insta360 and riding down newbury. i got as far as fairfield because it was just too many people to ride through, so i detoured onto fairfield, got onto commonwealth avenue, then finally onto mass ave. i used dedicated bike lanes for much of that route, made for a much easier ride.

i detoured onto vassar street to get to hampshire/beacon heading home. somewhere in hampshire i saw a pile of free dishes out on the curb so i turned around to check them out. i ended up taking a large oval porcelain pyrex bowl with a glass lid (the same one i have at home), two pyrex pie dishes, two porcelain ramekins (i'm guessing 8oz size), and a small fido jar. end of the month during late spring and the summer are the best times to find freebies on the street!

i didn't get home until 2pm. i called my mother to ask her if she wanted me to make a batch of margarita when i went to the cafe. she was surprised i was still home, waiting for me to get to belmont. i took a quick shower and started packing my things. i also took my trek utility bike into the backyard and tried the breaker bar again. when i used it yesterday inside it didn't budge the bottom bracket. outside on solid ground i could get better traction. i pressed on the breaker bar a few times before i started feeling the bottom bracket turning slowly. it was still tight, but definitely turning. it didn't make a satisfying cracking release sound, but the fact that it was turning was a very good sign. i moved the bicycle back onto my porch, to work on it when i have more time. and yes, while i was standing in my backyard, i received several mosquito bites, killed a few of them, and saw half a dozen more circling around my legs.

i didn't leave until after 2:30pm. i went to the cafe to put away the tea eggs (seemed like days ago but it was just yesterday). i then started making the margarita by heating up half a cup of water to make 1 cup of syrup.

i peel the citrus fruits with a small paring knife. i didn't know how to do it until i saw my sister doing it. you basically cut the ends so it sits flat on the cutting board, and then you shave off a section of the peel from top to bottom. the final peeled fruit looks a 3D polygon but it's much faster than tying to peel it by hand. the syrup was still warm but the other ingredients were either from the fridge or freezer so it was negligible. i didn't measure out 6 cups of ice, i basically filled the 64 oz. vitamix container with ice until it was full. i poured the frozen margarita mix into two 32 oz. plastic containers i put in the freezer as soon as i arrived. i also had an insulated bag i pulled from the freezer as well.

i didn't make it to belmont until 3:15pm. my parents were waiting because they hadn't had lunch yet and were waiting for me to show up. my mother made big bowls of beef noodle soup for everyone while we drank the margarita.

afterwards my father and i went to the backyard to clean up the squash vines. most of them had succumbed to a combination of vine borer damage and excessive heat/lack of water. all the japanese kabocha squash were affected, a few buttercup squash as well. we even peeled up a few affected vines to find fat squash vine borer grubs still feeding on the inside. my father said next season we'll grow squash fruits the moment they set female flowers, and not wait to train them to grow up. this way the squashes will have at least a few extra weeks to develop, so once the vine borers arrive and possibly kill everything, we'll at least have some mature squashes ready. these kabocha we harvested might be underripe because the stems are still green. my father thinks they're edible, but might not have the best flavor. a few of them felt light.

clearing the squash vines now gives more sunlight to the beans. however it's been so dry the fast few weeks, all the leaves have been infested with spider mites. i can try treating the leaves with neem oil spray.

around 6pm we started grilling two packages of fennel italian sausages. my mother loves sausages so much, we've been eating them for the past few weekends. grilling is the only way to prepare them for maximum flavor. the day i make my own sausages will be to make some fennel sausages. i feel like i can make them taste even better with higher quality ground pork and more fennel.

because i ate the noodles just a few hours ago, i wasn't very hungry and only had one sausage.

i got home by 7:30pm. i brought in the bicycle from the back deck, as i heard it's going to rain later tonight. i then used a 1/2" socket wrench to remove the bottom bracket. at first it wouldn't turn, and i thought i had to go back to the breaker bar, but i applied more pressure (clockwise, drive side) and the bottom bracket started to give again. eventually i managed to remove the bracket assembly from both sides. it was a singapore-manufactured shimano BB-UN55, shell width 68mm, 118mm spindle length. the was some rust but it didn't look too bad. the new bottom bracket i got is a shimano BB-UN300 with a 122.5mm spindle - longer than the one i just removed, which i already thought was longer than necessary - but according to shimano 122.5mm is the optimal spindle length to go with my tourney parts.

now with the bottom bracket finally removed, there's nothing to prevent me from fully assembling the bicycle now. heck, i even have a new bike repair stand to use to easily and properly adjust the gearing.

i spent the rest of the night watching olympics coverage. it was all rehashed as the live event had already happened in paris hours ago, but edited in a more digestable way. USA is in 3rd place with 3 gold medals, but leads overall with 12 total. japan is surprising number one with 4 gold, followed by australia with 4 gold as well. china is all the way in 6th place with 3 gold but just 6 medals overall.