#DeleteFacebook

Where have you all been? I've long deleted my Facebook account! 

I quit the platform because I felt it to be a massive time drain with no real intrinsic value. I really didn't need or want to know how an old classmate from elementary school is doing, and the majority of people on my friends list were of that ilk. For sure it was novel to get in touch after a long time at first, but that quickly wore off. The friends I truly value and converse with on a daily basis I already do so outside of Facebook. 

The fact that Facebook mines user data with potential for nefarious acts wasn't even a factor in my decision to quit. I didn't put too much mind towards cyber-security back then, contrasting to the present where every front-facing camera on my computing devices gets covered, and I two-factor authenticate the heck out of all web accounts. 

I've been reading with great humor the mess Facebook have gotten itself into recently with the news that an outside firm has collected huge amounts of user data (through then legit means) and used them to put out targeted adverts and posts to sway opinions. I'm failing to understand the outrage: isn't that how the Force works? Facebook is built upon exploiting (too strong?) its culled data to sell advertising!

Sure there's an implicit trust we give to these companies to safeguard the information, but these scales are so massive that unintended consequences are sure to materialize, nor can these companies police absolutely every single piece of ones and zeroes. As long as the spigot is open, it may not be entirely clean water that will flow through. 

Which is why people need to be cognizant about precisely what they share on these platforms, and that any data they input can potentially be used however which way by first and third parties. That's the price of entry for an otherwise "free" product. If that notion frightens you then perhaps do as I have done and pare down the number of social media accounts to bare minimum (I found it difficult to quit social media completely). 

But it isn't only social media accounts, is it? Most other online web services we use operate on the same business model. Amazon surely profits from owning the purchasing patterns of millions of shoppers. Our search history in Google's battery of applications fuels most of its revenue stream. Unlike quitting Facebook, it's really difficult to stop use of these platforms.   

I think it's futile to put complete faith in these companies to not ever do us harm (read: Equifax hack). It's up to the individual to do periodic audits on the information we have out online and adjust accordingly. 

Rest in peace, Professor.

“One, remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Two, never give up work. Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it. Three, if you are lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and don’t throw it away”

— Stephen Hawking

Quality healthcare is something to behold

As any healthy person in his twenties are wont to do, I've been neglecting to perform my yearly health checkups, even though my work covers all three major facets of health, vision, and dental. Why waste precious time to visit the clinic only for them to tell me exactly what I already know: I'm completely healthy. 

Well, one of the numerous side-effects of turning 30 is that it has you reevaluate many things, one of which is I probably should go see the doctors to get everything checked out - you know, just to be sure. One likes to think that this side of 30 as another fresh starting point, and I wanted to know my baseline - and to fix any problems - before I embark on the next great life journey (corny isn't it). 

So the past couple of weeks I've been to the eye doctor and my primary care physician - both for the very first time in my adult life (in two weeks time it's the dreaded dentist!). One of the big discoveries in doing so wasn't related to my health at all, but rather I realized how incredible my health coverage is. Not only does my work cover all three major items, but the quality of the coverage is in a word, superb. 

I've now seen with my very eyes the quality hierarchy in healthcare.  

During my impoverish childhood I was relegated to free/low-income clinics, and to contrast that experience with the level of care I got these past weeks, they are quite literally opposite ends of the spectrum. For example I thought blood test results would take a few weeks - because when I was young they did - but just two days ago Kaiser turned it around the same day, with a message from my doctor discussing the results from the very next. I was pleasantly stunned.

How lucky am I to have health benefits that cover me so completely?

People say all the time "The rich always get richer" and I think it doesn't only apply to money: proper healthcare also have compounding benefits to a person's life. Those who don't have or can't afford quality health insurance to deal with long lines, less attentive doctors, and subpar facilities. I know, because I've lived through it. Whether the system is "fair" or not is not for me to debate, but I think it's definitely an additional disadvantage to have to overcome. 

I guess I'm glad and grateful to have done so.   

Lots of questions, no answers

Hilarious how life works: when plans come to fruition, goals achieved, and things come to their places, instead of being satisfied with the outcome, the mind immediately moves on to other and newer things.

Isn't that how people get into the materialism debt-trap? 

How hard is it to simply be content with the present? Then again, if we were all like that, where would human progress be? Somewhat retarded, wouldn't it? 

There seems to be fine line between being ambitious and being disrespectfully ungrateful. Many people "under" me would love to be in my position so there's no reason at all for me to be dissatisfied. Yet, is it not a disservice to myself to not keep chasing the new and different - to improve?

Feign as we might, we do the things we do in service of the great ego. 

It's too easy to be content with what's already there once you've attained a certain level of monetary and lifestyle "success". For me I could easily work my current day job until the working years expire; my life would be relatively comfortable and I'd have no worries. That's the kind of endgame my parents' generation toiled so hard for us to get to. 

But is that fun? Is that enriching? Would I be slapping my parents in the face? 

People say the best things happens when you are not comfortable i.e. outside of your comfort zone. Should we then constantly strive to be uncomfortable? As soon as we get to some sort of stasis we should impel ourselves to leave or shift focus? 

Lot's questions like that are swimming in my mind lately, and I've don't have much answers for them.

For now I think I'll just keep asking. 

What can the HomePod do?

Does anybody have any solid idea what Apple's upcoming HomePod can do? Anybody? Cause I've got zero idea and preorders starts at the end of this week. For a device that costs $350, I'm not about to plop down that much cash until I know exactly what it does. 

There's so few information out there and no concrete details from Apple outside of the fancy splash-page. Will the HomePod at its most basic work like my UE Boom i.e. playing music off any device via bluetooth? If I'm reading stuff correctly, it looks like it can't: the device is intrinsically tied to the user's iPhone, which I would assume is what enables the HomePod to have Siri function.

I've got an iPhone, but what if I want to stream from my iMac - where all my music is stored? From what I've read about HomePod thus far it seems that's not possible. Are people really going to pay that much money for a device that needs an iPhone to function? Probably! Just have a look at the Apple Watch: literally cannot use it without an Apple smartphone.   

I wish Apple would hold a small demo showcasing the HomePod functions, cause as of right now I'm going to wait for people's reviews before deciding whether to purchase the thing.

Too bad, Apple: I might've preordered the HomePod otherwise. 

Not be a slave to time

How do I not end up being a slave to time? It governs nearly everything that we do. Most of us have to get to work and get off work during a set certain amount of time, don't we? To acquiesce to that we have to get up at a certain time, and also schedule other ancillaries (like meals) around it. Everything becomes super coordinated and regimented, which I think is how we can sometimes burn out (even if we love the job, as I do).

We love the weekend not only because we don't have to work, but also we don't have to look at the damn clock anymore to see what we've got to do. 

Then again, weren't humans evolved this way? Before the invention of the 24 hour clock, people looked to the sun - perhaps the oldest times-keeping device of all - for directives on when to work and when to eat. But life was much, much simpler back then; these day we've got all sorts of freedoms to play with. 

Our regular weekday is highly regimented, and on weekends we rebel on that notion, which makes it really difficult to get back into it come the following Monday. We flip-flop between the two different flows and it takes more effort to get back into strictness than the other way around. 

Set work schedules aren't going anywhere for most us: only the daring few would venture out into entrepreneurship/freelancing thus able to set their own time. For the rest, it's the grind: waking up everyday not motivated by what I desire to do but what I must do. Feel like snoozing for a half hour, get in work late, but feeling more refreshed? Nope, can't do that because work rules dictate I must be there at the certain hour mark. 

Outside of work (and sleep, really, because for me sleeping consistently at the same time is a tremendous boost) I'm trying to be less strict with my time, even though like most everyone I'm trying to cram in as much itinerary as possible, be it binge watching a Netflix show for you, or studying a third language for me. The point isn't to do less, but in doing stuff I try to follow my body clock than the actual clock. I let my intuition/feeling inform me when I'm done or I should move on to something else. 

Turns out I've been conditioned so much to the real clock that my body clock isn't all that far from it, but I definitely do feel better when I'm following my natural impulses rather than some artificial limit. 

It's always a work-in-progress. 

Be thankful for the food

One of my worst habits is I eat food too quickly - especially when I am hungry or the food is extra delicious. Both my father and brother wolfs down food with much speed too so I guess it runs in the family. I've no doubt it contributes to my chronic stomach acid problems (it remains disappointing that I can't drink coffee), and more importantly I am not taking the time to savor the plate. 

Sure saves a lot of time, though. 

A mechanism I've gotten into to combat the ingestion haste is to be thankful for the food before commence eating. Not dissimilar to what Christians do in saying grace before a meal, when I give thanks for the food, I give myself a reminder what a blessing it is to have the opportunity to eat the particular meal - no matter how extravagant (or not) it is. In that mindset of gratitude, I find myself deliberately slowing down to enjoy each bite, and it's been highly beneficial. 

In concurrence I also acknowledge having the good fortune to not have to rush through a meal: there are no deadlines or work pressures that would otherwise require me to eat fast to return to what I am doing. For sure there are others that don't have such luxury. 

Lastly, when I eat slowly, I also end up eating less - those satiation signals after 20 minutes or whatever, which isn't so bad now that I'm on this side of the 30 divide.