temperature was already in the lower 80's by the time i set out. because i knew i was going to plant some transplants in the garden afterwards, i went to the community garden first to drop off the plants: two hyacinth beans i brought from belmont, one bitter melon seedling from my own backyard deck. i also packed some fertilizer.
walking to the charles river i came across a pile of milk crates on bowdoin street. the trash people didn't take it away (yet) and nobody else had claimed them either. i made a note of it to come back for them afterwards if they're still there.
it was sunny but the sky was a mishmash of different clouds and getting progressively cloudier. i could feel the weather shifting and there was a strong breeze as well. the run was uneventful, but the heat made my veins throb, with a maximum heart rate of 160 bpm. i gulped some cool water from the public boathouse drinking fountain before finishing my circuit around the river.
walking back i started to feel rain drops even though the sun was still out. the milk crates were still there when i returned to bowdoin street. i ended up taking 4 out of the 7, two blacks, one blue, one green. my original plan was go to the garden first, but decided to go home first and drop off the crates. i then went to the garden and planted my old seedlings. while watering the plants it started to drizzle. i figured it was just a passing shower and continued watering, but when it quickly became a downpour, i dropped the hose and hid underneath the canopy of an elm tree. it was the kind of heavy rain that made a hissing sound. i checked the doppler radar: looked like it'd be raining for at least the next 20-30 minutes. no point waiting around.
so i left the community garden. instead of going home, i went back to bowdoin street to collect the last 3 milk crates. my running clothes were soaked but i didn't mind, they were already sweat-soaked to begin with. a bit of rain was actually an improvement.
milk crates are like catnip for me, i can't resist taking them if i see people throwing them out. every year i look forward to finding milk crates. my sister already found two for me last week, but these are the first i've found for myself this year. they're not genuine milk crates, but the kind you'd buy in a store. these are bigger and just as sturdy, but i noticed they're not designed to be stackable.
i stripped out of my wet clothes when i got home. i took out all the wet white bedsheets and duvet cover from the bathtub and put them into the washer for a load. i then took a shower while that was going on. my bathroom had a faint sewer odor, i masked it by lighting a scented candle.
it is annoying that it would rain on my one day off, but i'm not complaining too much, we desperately need this rain. feels like we hadn't had a downpour in weeks (maybe months). rain has passed through the area in recent weeks but it always seem to disappear once it gets close to the city. that's not the case today. it rain so hard, the sound of raindrops beating against the metal exterior of my AC was deafening, the noise reverberating throughout the house. thankfully none of that rain got inside.
with drew expected to arrive in boston sunday night at 9pm, i had the next several days to clean up the house. one of things was to patch up some skid marks left by my previous roommate who tilted the swivel chair into the wall. that was the whole reason why i got the paint on monday. i used a dry brush technique to feather the paint over the stains so it wouldn't be as obvious. one coat won't be enough, 2-3 coats at least. i waited for the paint (and the brush) to dry before attempting a second coat.
after the first load of white bedsheets finished washing, i put them into the dryer and started a second load including my wet running clothes from this morning.
by early afternoon the rain stopped and the sun came back out. even the puddles had shrunken. it meant i could go out and run errands. first stop was harvard vanguard to pick up my mother's missing prescription. i then cut through union square and headed to medford, to get a set of harbor freight socket adapters ($4.99). i needed a 3/8" to 1/2" adapter so i can use my 3/8" torque wrench on the 1/2" socket to properly tighten down the bicycle bottom bracket. finally i went to aldi's to pick up a few things: baby cucumbers, oranges, strawberries, bagged salad.
i was back at home by 2:40pm. i put the 2nd load of laundry into the washer and started a 3rd load, this time all the bedsheets from the guest bedroom along with a small blanket. i was getting ready to do some bike overhaul work the rest of the afternoon when i remembered i forgot to do something very important: get my x-ray taken at the hospital. i was supposed to do that last wednesday but didn't have enough time, and now it was already a week later.
i left the house by 3pm, this time via bicycle (after running and motorcycling earlier). it only took about 20 minutes to get to MGH on my fuji road bike. i ride it as a creaky one-speed but it's so light and i'm so used to heavy bikes that i can go pretty fast on that thing.
the whole procedure at MGH went very quickly, just 15 minutes from the time i got there to the time i left. they used a MUSICA intelligent image processing system that involved a special tablet underneath my hand that performed additional imaging tricks. it was all very sophisticated, i'm still used to x-rays on B&W film.
i got back home by 4pm, put the 3rd load of laundry into the dryer. the US-south sudan olympics men basketball game was on when i left the house earlier. i was eager to get back to finish watching the final 45 minutes. coach kerr finally played jayson tatum, but the damage was done: now it just seems like pity play at this point. nevertheless, the US was up by 20 for much of the game, though south sudan did make it interesting by occasionally going on runs to cut it closer, before the US team would push the lead back. US plays puerto rico next on saturday.
after the game i spent some time folding all my clothes in the bedroom and putting on the bedsheet and duvet cover. i never got to work on the bike, nor do much cleaning other than some laundry. i simply already did too much stuff today, and all i wanted to do was sit in the living room enjoying the final hours of my day off with the air conditioning on.
for dinner i ate one of the bagged salads. i had a few small mandarin oranges for dessert.
i decided to clean out the bottom bracket hole on my bike frame with a rag soaked in alcohol. one thing led to another and i ended up installing the new shimano 68x122.5mm square taper bottom bracket and put back the crankset and crank pedals.
i just wanted to see if the new bottom bracket would fit, but i greased the threads and managed to screw in the new bracket pretty easily. the final half centimeter of thread required the bottom bracket tool on a socket wrench. i started with the drive side (remembering to turn counter clockwise to tighten), managed to get it in pretty snug. the non-drive side surprisingly needed a bit more work. i was afraid i was cross-threading, and could even see the blue loctite threadlocker coating on the cup thread starting to come off.
once it was all the way in, i got the torque wrench and set it to 50 N-m (originally i thought it was ft-lbs until i rechecked the installation manual). i had the 3/8" adapter on the torque wrench, and a 1/2" socket on the other end of the adapter. i turned the drive side until i heard two clicks, meaning 50 N-m had been reached. i did the same on the non-drive side, two clicks to torque specification.
i opened up the bike repair stand and mounted the bike so i could work on the next parts. before installing the crankset, i greased the spindle and the crank bolts. originally i read you're not supposed to grease the spindle, but i read elsewhere you were, so i decided to grease. the crank bolts needed to be tightened with a torque of 35-50 N-m. i don't have anything that can find the torque of my 8mm hex wrench, so i just tightened it as much as possible. with crankset installed i thought i could test out the drive system, but with the current configuration (none of the derailleurs have cables yet) the chain rubs up against the front derailleur. that's going to be the next step, feeding the shifter cables and attaching them to the derailleurs. i finished close to 11:30pm, covered in sweat.