the only thing i had to do today was go see the cambridge carnival happening at 12:30pm in cambridgeport. i actually thought about skipping it this year, because it was a pretty sad affair last summer, and seeing how lackluster the boston caribbean parade was, the cambridge one would most likely be even sadder. but since it's so close by, it wouldn't be a big deal to drop by and take a look. the only problem was the weather: we were due for some rain, heavy at times. in fact, it was already raining this morning, when the forecast said not until 1:30pm at the earliest.
i left the house at noontime, during a break in the rain showers. there was more coming so i brought my umbrella. i took the bicycle figuring it'd be easier to park and if i do end up getting soaked coming back, i wouldn't mind it on the bicycle. i took a route that cut through harvard square, then onto memorial drive (where a stretch was closed to car traffic on sundays), then up western avenue to blackstone street, where the parade was staging. there was essentially nothing there. a politician car, a small speaker truck, someone on stilts, a trailer with a kettledrum band. to close off so many streets just for this tiny excuse for a parade is a waste of taxpayer money, and this is coming from a guy who loves parades.
i thought about heading back home, but since i was already there, i decided to park the bike and stick it out, at the very least be witness to the dying days of the cambridge carnival parade.
i rode up river street, to mass ave, and stashed my bike on essex street. i then walked back down to the staging area. i got halfway down river street before the parade started. the parade organizers and participants definitely put on a brave face, with smiles and music, but it was a farcry from parades past. i took some photos more out of pity than trying to capture anything interesting. i then walked back towards central square, stopping every few blocks to turn around and snap a few more photos. i did see a few feather costumed dancers, but the organized dance troupes were a no-show. at the very back however were a duo of dancers that looked professional, at least the one black woman did (the white woman, no so much). i saw her last year, she can really dance, and added some energy to an otherwise seemingly somber affair.
i headed back home around 1:15pm. it'd started raining again, slightly bigger drops. i was going home anyway, so i wasn't too worried about getting soaked. i got back right around 1:30pm, when the rain started getting heavier. i called my mother, told her i'd be delayed in going to belmont, maybe by an hour.
while i waited for the storm to pass, i took a shower and watched some football. there was a browns-bengals game and a 49ers-steelers game. each ended up being blowouts, cleveland won 24-3, 49ers won 30-7. the patriots-eagles game wasn't until 4pm.
i also contacted temu regarding my bathroom alarm clock. ever since i got it nearly two months ago, it would stop every so often. at first i thought it was the battery, but i've since replaced it three times (with progressively better and newer batteries), and the problem keeps on happening. whenever it does, all i do is readjust the time and it works again. i can even shake the clock and get it running. it's happened enough times that i finally contacted temu for a replacement. i sent a short video of the dead clock and how i revive it. their response was immediate. their solution: we'll give you a full refund ($8.50), you keep the clock. while i don't mind the refund, i would rather get a new clock. in the meantime, the clock still works, just that it stops occasionally.
true to my prediction, the rain did finally stop briefly after an hour, as i left for belmont around 2:30pm.
my parents went to baifu this morning. my mother got some fishballs which she said wasn't very good so naturally she made me some with some cellophane noodles.
since heavier rain was expected later, we ended up grilling some meats around 4pm so take advantage of the drier weather. it was still drizzling, but as long as it wasn't a downpour, the barbecue worked fine. my father set up a beach umbrella to keep us try (along with the meats) plus we had the evergreen canopy, which my father managed to prop up some branches with a bamboo pole to keep them from getting scorched by the hot smoke coming out of the grill. we cook a bag of frozen raw tyson buffalo wings before grilling some manhattan steaks. these steaks are a lean cut, so very little fat, which meant no flare-ups, so it cooked nice and gentle. the steaks were saving for my burrito bowl recipe later in the evening for dinner, but we tried a piece anyway. it was good - cooked to prefect medium - but without the fat, it didn't have that juicy great steak flavor.
i convinced my father to make another temu order. he ended up getting 4 12v cigarette light socket adapters (female, 70¢ a piece), so he can connect the car refrigerator directly to DC output of the MPPT controller. we also got a 4-way garden hose manifold splitter ($12.57), don't know why they're so expensive, but this one was actually the least expensive metal one i could find. regarding my own purchases, my 5lbs of citric acid arrived today, but my CO2 generator kit was delayed and won't get here until tomorrow.
i started making my burrito bowl around 6:30pm. it would be my 5th time this week eating burrito bowl. i ended up making too large a serving for everyone, like 2-3 servings per person. neither my parents could finish their bowl, i was the only one, only because i powered through it with a larger soup spoon.
after dinner my father tried charging the LiFePO4 battery using the variable DC power supply, after draining the battery using the car refrigerator. however for some reason it wouldn't charge, even gave us a short circuit warning. we checked the wires and readjusted the settings, but it still wouldn't charge. it'd do this thing where it showed us the voltage while current remained zero. but then the voltage would fluctuate, either rise up or go down, and we couldn't adjust the voltage either. finally my father gave the power supply a good whack on the metal box and it started working again. he said this happened before.