i discovered a potential flaw with the dementia clock, and the raspberry pi in general: since the pi doesn't have a power backup, when it's unplugged it loses the time. when it's plugged back in it uses the last time it remembered, and then will try to connect to the internet to find the actual time. if you run the pi without internet access, the clock will be wrong. fortunately my pi zero has a wifi dongle, but i couldn't be sure it'd connect to my grand uncle's wifi, despite already adding the network and password. i'd just have to hope it'll work.

it rained all day. in the afternoon my father stopped by to deliver the spare LCD screen so i could test the dementia clock. the monitor only had a VGA cable, but luckily i had a VGA-to-HDMI adapter. i connected everything and demonstrated the clock to my father, informing him of the time issue if the pi can't connect to the wifi.

i also gave him all 5 jars of kimchi, which are ready to eat after 3 days of fermenting (they were overflowing the jars this morning). i tried a few pieces earlier, not especially salty, sweeter than before (courtesy of 2 asian pears), spicier too, just a complexity of flavors, maybe the best kimchi yet, better than the batch i made 2 weeks ago.

finally, i got my father to help me use the motorized drain snake. it wasn't just my imagination, there seems to be something stuck in the drain, probably a segment of the drain plunger, and the snake couldn't get down more than 4-6". we went in the basement to check out the plumbing; the pipes are easily accessible, but will probably require a professional plumber to do the job. a segment of pipe could also use some replacing, as it seems heavily corroded with green patina.

after he left, i spent more time fiddling around with the drain. using a drain declogging ribbon, i managed to feed it through the overflow hole and back out to the actual tub drain. i then tied a string to one end and pulled up the ribbon so i had this string i could move back it forth. maybe i figured i could snag onto something and pull it out, but it did nothing. i then found a wire hanger and snaked it down the overflow hole. it caught onto something but i wasn't able to pull it out, and neither was i able to unhook the hanger. i got a length of rubber tubing and fed it through the drain, hoping to push out the obstruction, but that also ended in failure. finally i did manage to disentangle the hanger and decided to quit while i was ahead.

the bathtub is currently draining a little better than before, but i know it will clog up eventually in a matter of weeks. as long as it holds up for next month, when mexican karen is staying at my place, i'll be home. before i call a plumber, i'd like to buy a cheap endoscope camera and see if i can spot the obstruction. i may be able to remove it myself still and save myself $200 to call a professional. i did try seeing into the drain with a small bike helmet mirror but i couldn't get a good angle and i couldn't get enough light.

later in the afternoon i watched my father through the webcam install the dementia clock at my grand uncle's place. i knew it was working correctly because i heard him mention the time, which was only off by a few minutes. this meant it successfully connected the wifi and was able to get the correct time and date. unfortunately where it's located in the room i can't see the screen from the webcam, but as long as my grand uncle sees it and doesn't call my parents in the early morning again, then it will have served its purpose.

i discovered css animation today. i didn't even realize these functionalities existed, and i thought i was on top of my html/css game. it started when i was looked for css text effects i could use to jazz up my dementia clock. i was thinking more in the lines of outlining or at most some fancy drop shadows. then i found a page showcasing some fancy text effects and i was blown away. examining the code, i couldn't believe this was all none using css and html, no js whatsoever. i'm going to get caught up on this new-to-me development.

for lunch i had a greek yogurt and a tea egg. i washed some bedsheets in anticipation of karen's arrival this coming saturday. for dinner i heated up 2 leftover slices of pizza. later before i went to bed i ordered a 5m long endoscope off of ebay (about $7 after using my $5 ebay bucks discount). 16ft is way longer than what i need - only require a foot or two to examine the whole inner workings of my bathtub plumbing - but it might come in handy if i ever want to do any home wiring work, if i need to go up stretches of walls.