the first thing on my mind this morning was: did the belmont department of public works come by and pick up the garden refuse? i called last night, left a voicemail message, not sure if that made any difference. watching the street facing webcam, i saw a garbage truck come by around 8:30am and take the neighbor's garden refuse but didn't take ours. what gives? but 30 minutes later the truck came back from the other direction and finally emptied the bins. they carelessly tossed the empty bins back onto the sidewalk, no wonder they're in rough shape (missing handles, wheels). i still had to go to belmont and bring in the bins.

i spray lubricated the rusty chain of my trek utility bike and wiped off the rust stains on the frame. that's when i saw one of the p-clamps securing the rear baskets had split apart and needed to be replaced. i wanted to replace the hardware as well, but i didn't have anymore stainless steel #10-32 screws of the right length (3/4") so i just used the old one. i did replace the washer though with a cheap zinc washer. i was going to order some more #10-32 3/4" stainless steel cap screws from aliexpress, but they only carried philips head, while the ones i get from home depot are combo head. price isn't that much different, so i'll just get them locally. combo head actually saved me, because the screw was stuck due to rust and i was afraid using a philip screwdriver would strip it so i finally removed the screw with a flat head.

i stopped by the cafe to grab an onion and take out two containrs of chicken thighs from the freezer to defrost in the fridge. even though technically i'm on staycation, ever since my parents left i think i've gone to the cafe every single day for on reason or another.

next i went to fresh pond to the trek bicycle store. it's been opened for a few years but i've never gone inside until today. i ordered a kickstand from the trek website and had it shipped to the store for free. it arrived a week ago, i'm only just remembering and getting the part now. outside was parked a beautiful looking bike with belt drive and disc brakes. it seems to be a brilliant brand bike which i've never heard before. later i did some research and that particular model - the L train - is actually made by priority bicycles ($700). what's even more interesting are the multiple accessories on the bike. it had thousand traveler magnetic bike lights ($70) and reelight induction powered front and rear lights (SL200) ($60-78). it must belong to one of the employees, though you think working at the trek store they'd ride a trek bike.

i finally made it to belmont by noontime. i arrived via the concord avenue bike path. approaching the house, i noticed the neighbor's nanking cherry tree i was admiring on tuesday had all its blossoms washed off from two consecutive nights of rain.

i brought in all the empty bins, will fill them up soon with more tree branches. once again it rained another centimeter of precipitation last night, which was enough to fill all the rain barrels. unfortunately i can't easily use the captured rain water just yet as i don't have the on-demand pump hooked up yet. a look a quick inspection of the backyard. the hop vines seem to be spreading. later i learned they can be invasive; like bamboos, they can spread by underground rhizomes. i'll need to dig up the spreading rhizomes and either throw them away or give to others.

back at home, i installed the new kickstand on the trek FX hybrid bike. the bike frame had a bracket on the frame specifically for installing a center-mounted kickstand. unfortunately the bolt that came with the kickstand was incredibly long, and on an area of the frame that was hard to reach with a socket wrench. i ended up having to remove the front derailleur, release the front shifter cable, and remove the chain from the front sprockets, just to have enough clearance to work. i really ought to replace that bolt with a shorter M8 socket screw that would be easier to remove in the future. but chances are i'll never take off the kickstand. the kickstand itself is well-built, has an adjustable stem. not bad for $5. i'm tempted to get another one.

while i was at it, i also fixed the loose headset. i tried to tighten it before, but i didn't know you had to release the two pinch bolts holding the handlebar in place. once those screws were loose, i could tighten the preload bolt.

i took the trek hybrid fx around the block for a test ride. i can ride it, but the frame is just a little too tall for me. my crotch is right on the top tube, makes for awkward stops. there's a used trek FX1 i've been following on facebook marketplace for 9 weeks now, so far still unsold, that's the perfect size for me. but i don't know if it's worth investing in an old used bike or use that money to upgrade to something better, like a priority turi.

the two other things i had to do today was clean up the house and get some groceries. cleaning i would do throughout the day. groceries i left around 3pm for market basket. my sister originally said she was going to bring by esmei, but then she decided to get some stuff from the food truck. i told her i couldn't wait. at market basket i returned about $1 worth of empty cans. i got ingredients for making blue cheese burgers and i also decided to make some pasta salad. i'm probably going to have a lot of leftover pasta salad but i can give it to my mother when my parents come back on monday.

heading to market basket, i cut through the star market parking lot. that's when i noticed two large flowering cherries trees. it's a variety i don't recognize, the flowers look more like peach blossoms, but the bark definitely shows they're cherries. i also stopped by to admire the flowering peaches in the loading dock parking area of peter forg manufacturing (on properzi way).

back at home, i mixed the ground beef with blue cheese and some other ingredients (chopped garlic, scallions, mustard, worcestershire sauce, frank's red hot, ground pepper). this has to set overnight before i can turn them into patties. i finally made lunch around 4:30pm, a bagel ham egg cheese sandwich. the ham was a piece of ham steak i had in the freezer for almost a year. it'd lost some of its pink color which had now turned grey. that's probably a sign it's not very good meat. but i still ate it anyway, didn't want it to go to waste.

old habits die hard, as i once again dabbled in some cyberpunk. i played until 8pm, when it got dark enough to close the blinds and turn on the lights. that was my cue to start the second part of tomorrow's dishes.

the last time i made pasta salad was back in october. i wonder what else i can add to spice up the salad? maybe some sweet corn for some additional crunch and sweetness. or sweet peppers. there's a lot of room for improvisation. i could go to haymarket and pick up some fresh ingredients and make another pasta salad.

that bagel sandwich was filling enough that i didn't need dinner. i had some cara cara oranges instead. no NBA tonight, but tomorrow there's hornets-magic and warriors-sun. saturday round 1 of the playoffs officially starts. unfortunately the celtics don't play until sunday, facing off against the 76rs. philly is the underdog, with embiid once again sidelined after an emergency appendectomy surgery. not sure if he'll back for round 1.