t
o
n
y
a
n
g
'
s
 
w
e
b
l
o
g


it rained today. and right when i realized i needed to go down to the post office to pick up my package that wasn't delivered yesterday because i wasn't home. i was going to walk, but then saw that it wasn't raining that hard, so decided to bike down to the porter square post office instead. the thing to understand when it comes to biking in the rain is you get soaked even more because the drops come at you horizontally as you're riding. so it was a bad idea, but i was determined to finish it.

i got to the post office okay, but there was only one clerk and the lady customer was taking her taking, deciding what kind of mail service she wanted and what sort of insurance. fortunately they opened up another register and i gave the clerk my pick-up slip. i actually wasn't sure if the package would be there, because the slip told me to pick it up after today, like maybe the mailman would try to redeliver it again. but package tracking told me it was at the post office, with no indication that it was out for delivery. my trip wasn't in vain because they did have my package after all.

it was pouring by the time i left the post office. it'd be impossible to ride back without completely soaked. luckily i brought my umbrella, so i decided to walk home with the bike. i fumbled occasionally, trying to steer the bicycle with one hand while holding on to the umbrella with the other. what i needed was an bicycle umbrella holder, which i've seen in china. i've always wonder how useful those things really are when you're riding (i.e. horizontal rain), and could potentially be a drag hazard if the wind catches the open umbrella in the wrong way. but for walking, that would've saved me from having to hold the umbrella at least. a few blocks away from the house i decided to ride back, even though i'd get a little wet.

i was tempted to call my father and arrange for a pickup so we could install the new nest thermostat at their place today. but i decided to hold off, waiting until saturday, when we can have the whole day.

i played around with the pi today. one particular problem i have is the screen blanking after a number of minutes. no matter what i can't get it back to the GUI desktop. so i went about it through a different way, but making it so the pi screen doesn't ever go blank to begin with, but i was unsuccessful. i did however figure out how to play rtsp streams using omxplayer. my father gave me the idea last night, said it'd be cool if he could monitor the webcam at my grand uncle's place using a raspberry pi and another old monitor. it's a workable solution, but 1) there is no audio and 2) if you want to pan the camera you still need to do it from the phone app or the web interface.

for lunch i heated up 2 slices of pizza over a frying pan. i was going to eat the other 2 pieces for dinner, but freddy came home early (7:40pm) and i didn't want to eat my pizza because i didn't have enough for him. i suggested we go out for burgers, but he wasn't in the mood. instead i heated up a can of soup for dinner, while he did the same with a packet of powdered chicken stock along with some toast and milk. he seems to be opening up some more, asking me some questions. after watching a drug commercial on tv, i showed him the medication i've been taking. that really got him interested, he immediately went into doctor mode. later in the evening he asked if i had an iron and pressed a few shirts. he also brought out some colombian honey candy to share with me, tastes like caramel candy with a faint honey flavor.