Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Let the ego lose

I’m somewhat of a connoisseur of dashcam videos on YouTube. Watching them helps me learn from the mistakes of others, if you will. I must say, it seems like half of the accidents caught on camera can be avoided by one simple device: the brake pedal.

Drivers hate this one trick!

Too many times, the entire collision can be avoided if the non-offending driver simply used the brakes. Slow down. Avoid the accident. I get it: braking is bruising to the ego. Why should I slow down when it’s the other person who is not following the rules or acting stupid?

Instead, the onus is put on the offending driver to course correct, to realize their mistake in split seconds, and avoid the accident. In an ideal world, sure, we all wish that’s the case. In the real world, that is giving up our agency. The only person you can control is you. Try as you might to influence the action of others, that action belongs to them ultimately.

Remember the goal is to get to the destination safely. Let’s say the ego won. But by not backing down, the other car failing to yield hits your car. Now you’ve got to deal with insurance, getting the car fixed, and wasting a lot of time. God forbid there isn’t bodily injury, too. Worth it just to satiate the ego? Absolutely not. Avoid the accident; let the other jerk win.

There’s a huge sense of justice in American culture. That rule-breakers ought to be punished properly. Often times then when we get behind the wheel, we feel like the last stand before the fall to anarchy. We want to police bad behavior on the road. Speeding in the fast lane? I’m not moving over. Cutting in line at a merge? Not on my watch! I dare you to crash into me.

Not me. I’ll take a bruised ego and chip on the shoulder to preserve a clean car. As the saying goes, the cemetery is filed with people who had the right of way.

Burdened with perfectionism

Amazon’s The Grand Tour is back with a new series and three new hosts. I have to say that despite the abundance of quality automotive content on YouTube, there is simply no replacement for one thing: cinematography budget. We watch The Grand Tour because it showcases cars in an insanely beautiful way that only a small army of cameramen and support staff can deliver. YouTuber with a consumer drone can create a suitable TEMU facsimile, but are they going to wait hours for the correct sunsetting light for that perfect shot?

Probably not.

The Grand Tour - and the many Youtube channels that do similar content - is proof definitive that cars are meant to be driven and used. Provenance isn’t how much money the owner spent on maintenance. It’s what sort of roads the car has traveled to. What sort of story a particular scratch on the front quarter panel has to tell. A winning race car with many hours of accumulated dirt and scraps on the painted surface is immensely more interesting than the exact car fresh out of the factory. Because it has done something.

Super low mileage museum pieces are a one-trick pony. A time capsule showing a moment in time - when the car was new. There no further story to tell.

But if you’re afflicted with obsessive compulsive behavior like me, it can be very difficult to do things with your cars. Each additional mile, each additional round of maintenance, opens up opportunity for something to get blemished. Something to go wrong. A scratch on the interior plastic pains us deeply. God forbid we curb an alloy wheel - there will be no sleep that night. The peasant amongst us can’t afford to throw money at the problem, either. Paint protection film? I don’t have another $5,000 on top of the price of the car just to protect it from nature.

Of course, perfectionism has its advantages in other domains. Our attention to the details is how we got/get ahead in the workplace. Those of us in the perfectly circular Venn diagram of OCD and car enthusiast need a way to turn down the perfectionism when it comes our automobiles. When cars get used - as well they should - the scars will come. Tackling a first-time project like replacing a glovebox? There’s a good chance something will get mangled. It’s all part of the game.

We should still very much care about the process: of doing things meticulously, and not taking shortcuts. What we shouldn’t do is to let adverse outcomes cripple us from doing anything in the first place. Because we want to have stories to tell.

Something it is not

This morning I finally got an opportunity to take my 2026 Mazda MX-5 up to the local mountain roads. The verdict so far is: it’s a bit more floppy than I remembered. And that’s not a bad thing.

Coming out of a BMW M2 that’s flat and sharp at all times, the Miata’s innate softness and rolling character is quite the contrast. With the Mazda you definitely cannot ham fist it into a corner; the driver must work with the delayed fluidity that the car has. You walk the Miata on its tippy-toes, rather than bludgeoning the tarmac with maximum force. The car floats and undulates with the road imperfections, and you have to let it do its thing and not force it into something that it isn’t.

I’ve watch and read many reviews on the ND Miata, and universally it seems people complain about the car’s built-in softness in the suspension. There’s too much body roll. I think problem here is people are taking the incorrect lens to view the car. You cannot treat the MX-5 like a modern sports car. It doesn’t have the flatness or immediacy of a Porsche 911 because it’s not that kind of car.

The Miata is more akin to the 60s sports coupe with skinny tires and massive suspension motion. Watch this Goodwood Revival race for an example of the sort of cars I am talking about. Instead of wishing it corners flatly with quicker reflexes, the driver should work with the MX-5. Let the motion and body roll inform you of how to best chuck it into a corner. Because you can easily tell when the car is upset: massive body lean, but going nowhere quick.

I reckon owners that modify the MX-5 by adding in suspension stiffness fundamentally miss the entire point of the car. I don’t think we should be turning it into a Honda S2000. There’s plenty of other sports cars with firmer suspension and faster steering controls. You buy a Mazda MX-5 because you can dance with it.

The epitome of luxury

Maybe it’s just me, but as a car enthusiast, actually driving my cars can be stressful. Because I’ve spent so much money them, the wont is to keep them nice for as long as possible. And out there on the road there’s far too many variables beyond my control to contend with. Mathematically speaking, the best way to protect a car from Mayhem like Allstate is to lock it inside a garage.

I completely understand the car collectors that keep their cars in constant climate control, hardly driven. The outside world is a scary place.

It’s not that the stress is so overwhelming that it destroys the fun I get from driving. But it’s definitely a heighten sense of awareness whenever I am in my cars. I constantly scan the periphery for any potential dangerous actions by other drivers. Do this often enough and it becomes a sixth sense.

Until I get into a car that I completely do not car about. Like my parents Toyota RAV4 SUV. Driving that thing is the epitome of luxury because I can drastically decrease the diameter of the circle of awareness. It’s so much more relaxing to drive a normal, not-precious-about-it, car. The music playing the background is that much more soulful and enjoyable. And the at the destination, I don’t have to worry about finding the perfect, most out of the way parking spot.

I completely understand how car enthusiasts, as they get older, graduate to having a plain daily driver and relegate the enthusiastic stuff to the weekends. Driving a car you don’t really care about is a good antidote to the wild world of post-COVID crazy driving.

Two things of awesome

No matter how many times I empty the water tank on my dehumidifier, it never ceases to amaze me just how much moisture it has pulled out of the air. A true wonder of technology that the same heat pump that functions as an air conditioner can also serve to dehumidify a space. What did people do before its invention? Oh right, Chinese people used mothballs - to prevent mold - so much that it became a discriminatory meme.

In humid San Francisco - the city’s famous fog is essentially 100% humidity, a dehumidifier is an absolute must. Especially if you’re like me and live on a semi-subterranean first level of a very old house. I’ve found out the hard way that if not controlled for, humidity will cause mold growth in closets and drawers. Any steel that isn’t stainless will rust.

Another gadget that’s an absolute must in San Francisco is a dashcam. Even for someone like me who does not have a driving commute, having a recorder in the car is cheap insurance against the vagaries of other San Francisco drivers. You just never know if some old lady might plow her car into a bus stop. When actual auto insurance is the complete opposite of cheap, it matters greatly there exists concrete proof of your innocence. (Conversely, if you drive like an idiot all the time, maybe don’t get a dashcam to record your crimes against fellow humanity.)

For what brand of dash cam to buy, this Project Farm video is a fantastic reference. For my particular car - a 2019 Volkswagen Golf GTI - I was able to draw power from the rain sensor right above the rearview mirror, using this device. No need sling and tuck a huge length of cable in order to power the camera. The dashcam turns on and begins recording automatically when the Golf’s ignition is pressed. It’s something to setup once and forget about.

Because you really don’t want to have to use it, right? Even if an accident is not your fault, it still requires time and effort to get the car repaired. In my many hours of watching online dashcam fail videos, the best device to prevent collision: brakes. It seems the larger the ego, the less willingness to used the brakes. Me? A bruised ego and temporary indignation is worth the tradeoff for an unblemished car. Drive wisely, my friends.

Old man father

I know it’s going to sound supremely ungrateful, given the rest of the country is covered under layers of snow: did San Francisco really get a winter? It seems like we got one true week of coldness, then it was back to the same mildness we get year around. This weekend it got to the mid 60s during the day! Perfectly comfortable weather. I’ve even stowed away the winter duvet.

What’s it like to see your parents visibility age? I was recently shocked to noticed my dad have turned into complete old man status, replete with balding head and entire grayness of hair. The relationship has reversed now: instead of parents taking care of me, it’s my turn to return the favor. Physical and mental decline is a great worry when small mishaps can now easily morph into disaster. The mortality rate for falling and breaking a hip is alarmingly high.

You know how we complain about old people driving on the road? Yeah, my father is of that age now. It’s tough: the more you don’t do it, the faster the skills decline. But there’s got a be a certain threshold where you take the keys away before the risk becomes too high. Whether the parent will willingly give up said keys is also a challenge.

Which I think the fast emergence of self-driving taxi services will be a timely solution to that problem. For my parents who seldom need to drive, the few times that they do can be covered by calling a Waymo. The service will only get cheaper, with better coverage, over time. It of course helps to live in a city with solid public transportation options, and in a neighborhood with shops.

Atrophy comes for us all. We can only do our best to stave off the worse consequences by practicing excellent self-care - diet, sleep, exercise - as much and as early as possible.

Let the games begin

It is that time of the year again: dodging potholes. The winter rain has once again revealed the absolutely sorry condition of our roads. Craters are everywhere, ready to ruin your day. The problem is that the municipality never goes beyond filling the potholes. The holes get covered only for the next winter rain to wash it all away. Thus the cycle continues.

I remember one year this particularly gnarly pothole ruined the evening of five cars. I drove by to many emergency flashers, the drivers flabbergasted at what to do with a broken rim in this heavy rain. Best strategy would be to carry a AAA membership. You might have to wait a bit for a tow, but at least it’s a problem for someone else to deal with. $99 per year is worth not having to change a wheel in the pouring rain.

Not that you can change a tire in modern cars anyways. A substantial amount are not equipped with a spare tire. My old BMW M2 did not have one. It was outfitted with a can of goo instead. In the event of a tire puncture I would plug the can into the tire valve. The foam then fills the injured tire, keeping air long enough allow the car to get to a service point.

I’ve never had the pleasure, but the goo reads like really messy business. Nothing beats physical replacement tire and wheel. That’s why I am glad my current VW Golf GTI comes with a honest to goodness spare tire. Pro tip: make sure to periodically check the tire pressure on your spare tire. Last thing you want is to have to use it, only to find it severely under-inflated. A life saver turning into salt on the wound.

To the drivers behind me perhaps wondering why I am darting side to side on the road: I’m trying to avoid the potholes! Replacement tires in this economy!?