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i went to bed last night around midnight, which is early for me. i started rewatching white collar on netflix. the show originally aired back in 2009, can't believe it's been 15 years. back then matt bomer was still closeted, so watching the series again knowing he's playing the straight neal caffrey is kind of interesting, especially since he's such a flirt on the show. in the first episode they established a lesbian FBI agent (diana), who's immune to caffrey's charm offensive.

i fell asleep once i got drowsy. i woke up by 8:30am, anxious that i had a lot to do today, particularly a vaccination appointment at the arlington walgreens at 11:30am. that meant i needed to work in my run and get back before then. i was out the door by 9:30am, listening to the robert moses: power broker podcast. the weather this morning was ideal (not too cold, not too hot) though the sky seemed a bit overcast.

i ran non-stop around the river but felt lethargic today. i almost slowed down to walk just to rest, but pushed myself to power through. my runs are not having their desired effects. my weight hasn't really changed, even though a month ago i was flirting with the upper 140's. i think the problem is all those expired energy drinks i've been consuming at the cafe. i noticed this a few weeks ago, but they actually contain real sugar (and here i thought it was artificial sweeteners), and quite a lot (about 50% of the daily recommended amount). good news is i've almost exhausted the supply; once they're gone, i'll be back to drinking plain old ice water or tea when the weather turns cooler.

i bumped into bruce near radcliffe, he was doing his daily walk. i told him about my vaccination appointment, he said he'll get his once he gets back from vacation (england?). he also told me back in june he contracted covid for the very first time (though jack was fine with no symptoms).

i stopped by the community garden on my way back to do some gardening. gretchen was there tending to her plot. out of all the gardeners, i think i see her the most, we must have the same schedule or something. i got back home by 10:50am, just enough time to shower and get ready to leave.

the skin infection on the crook of my left arm is getting better. it started as a small spot of itchy rash which i scratched, causing it to get infected. as the original site healed, the infection has radiated outwards into an itchy ring pattern. i try not to scratch it but sometimes it so itchy i can't help myself, especially at nights when i'm sleeping. i've been applying aquaphor healing ointment which helps, like when i had the exact same thing happen on my right arm. the problem with aquaphor is it goes on oily and stays oily. that's good in that it prevents me from scratching it (otherwise i get ointment all over my hand), but i have to rest my arm carefully so as to not get ointment everywhere. last night i found some prescription ointment in my medicine drawer - mupicorin. i don't remember what it was originally prescribed for, looked brand new, hardly used. i put some on last night and it seems to work faster than aquaphor (or maybe i was near recovered anyway).

google maps told me it'd take 15 minutes to ride to the arlington walgreens via motorcycle. why i picked that place and not somewhere closer is an error on my part. it think it's because i wanted to go to walgreens, since that's my usual pharmacy. but they have the vaccination at CVS as well.

i'd never been to the arlington walgreens before. it had a different vibe than the somerville avenue walgreens. for one thing, i didn't recognize any of the pharmacists, while the somerville store i can usually identify one or two familiar faces having gone there for so many years. a trio of senior ladies were already waiting for their vaccination appointment. i was waiting in line before i noticed they had a QR code to check-in for appointments, which is what i did. a tall young woman behind me was also waiting for an appointment. they had me visit one of the counters to verify my name and insurance. when i tried to get my flu and covid vaccines last fall, my insurance wouldn't pay for the flu shot. this time however they accepted both vaccinations.

they didn't call my name until 11:40am. instead of a dedicated office, i stepped into a makeshift booth that was just big enough for a table and chair (not even 2 chairs). i sat down while the pharmacist administered the vaccines. she was a young asian woman, and the only pharmacist working that wore a face mask. i asked her if i was getting the latest covid vaccine. she said yes (0.3ml comirnaty COVID 2024-25), and told me it's actually illegal for pharmacists to administer outdated (though not expired) vaccine. "are you korean or chinese?" the pharmacist asked me. i told her chinese, but the fact she was asking made me realize she was korean. she told me she has a bunch of korean friends with the last name yang. i revealed to her that i've actually never met a korean name with that last name before, even though i knew they existed. in fact, even when i worked in chongqing for a consortium of chinese and korean contractors, i still never met a korean yang (mostly kims and lees). she herself was a kim, though her mother is a yi (did i mishear? did she say lee?). i noticed while she was working that she had a snake tattoo poking out from the sleeve of her lab coat. she was pretty good at giving shots, i didn't even feel it. "i've had a lot of practice," she confessed. i got two red walgreens bandaids: one for covid, one for flu (0.5ml flucelvax IM PFS 2024-25). i left with two 20% off $20+ purchases coupons.

i got back home by noontime. the front garden was so dry, i decided to water both the front and back garden. i kept moving my body at all times to prevent mosquito bites (but one still got me). back inside, i made myself some scrambled eggs with kielbasa and a smoothie for lunch. the news was already over but i replayed it back via youtube tv just to see the weather forecast. it's been 28 days since it last rained here in boston (since august 21st), the 5th driest stretch on record. if it doesn't rain tomorrow, it will became the 4th driest stretch.

i couldn't rest too long as i still had things to do in belmont. i left by 1:30pm.

first thing i did when i got there was replace the air filter on my motorcycle. the replacement filter ($13) arrived late monday in belmont when i was about to return home. i opened the air filter compartment and swapped out the filter. not sure if it'll make my motorcycle run better, but it couldn't hurt.

i washed the front hood of the toyota because it was stained with some red juice. it either looked like somebody threw a cherry slushie to the front of the car or it hit some animal and splattered red all over the hood. i cleaned it off with a sponge and some DIY powerwash. it probably would've came off with just water and elbow grease, but it gave me a chance to use the powerwash.

while rummaging through the garage, i noticed an excessive amount of mice droppings. i've never seen mice in the garage, but it needs a thorough cleaning to get rid of the clutter and check for mice nests. it was just too gross so i decided to vacuum up all the mice droppings. the filters on the vacuum will be getting replaced soon anyway, so i wasn't worried about rodent fecal matter clogging up the filters.

only then did i have time to do what i came here to do: set up a sprinkler system with hoses and splitters. i also installed the wifi enabled watering controller. the front faucet leaks when it's turned off, so i put a bucket underneath to monitor just how much water get leaked. i repacked that front faucet so many times to fix the leak, i'm not going to bother fixing it again anymore. what that faucet needs is to be replaced completely with a modern outdoor faucet. anyway, i had to string up three sprinklers. by the time it got to the third sprinkler, the pressure was barely able to sustain it. after adjusting the angles, i left it to water for 10 minutes before it turned off.

i went to the backyard and did some watering as well. i noticed my father moved all the osmanthus cuttings into the plexiglass box (formerly used for displaying baked goods). squirrels once again dug up my tradescantia nanouk that i repotted it and put it underneath a milk crate. the bitter melons on the hanging trellis have gotten bigger. i think my father has been diligently watering them, as i see the hose is by the western bed all the time. i thought i smelled something fragrant and sure enough there were some blooming osmanthus flowers. we'll need to harvest our red habaneros soon as i noticed one of peppers was chewed by a squirrel. apparently they're not very fond of the taste because they didn't get too far before throwing away the pepper. but still, we should harvest them soon and i'll turn them into a toxic hot sauce.

i left belmont by 3:40pm. once home, i took another shower having done some sweating in belmont. i spent what was left of the day doing retroactive blog updating.

i made another pastrami sandwich for dinner around 8:30pm. instead of russian dressing, i used spicy mustard instead. i also warmed up the pastrami in the microwave before adding it to the sandwich. the burner was on high too because i managed to scorch one side of the sandwich while heating it up in the frying pan. the final result was better put together, but i still prefer russian dressing over mustard.