Blog

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

Hooray austerity

It is Thanksgiving week! That means Black Friday shopping is upon us. This year I plan to buy absolutely nothing. 2022 has already been a bit of a high spending year for me, in terms of material things. Earlier in the year I bought an LG OLED TV, and a PlayStation 5 to go along with it. Later on a pair of bookshelf speakers that costs $400. Just two months ago I replaced my 20-year old mattress with a fancy box unit from Helix.

I don’t always buy things, but when I do, I purchase the good stuff.

It’s time for some austerity. The Black Friday deals will certainly try their best to tempt me, but I am determined to prevail. Actually, that’s a lie. Last week a friend informed me a set of Google Pixel Buds A-Series was on sale for only $50 on Amazon (from original price of $99). It is downright disposable at that price. And since I am in need of replacing my pair of basic AirPods with something that lasts longer than one hour on a charge, the timing of that deal was perfect.

Let’s revise this, then: I endeavor to spend no more than $50 (plus tax) on things material during this holiday season. I will instead spend money on food and experiences with my friends. It’s not really about saving money, but rather spending money on the important stuff. I may want a standing desk that I’ve been eyeing for a long time, but I’ll be happier buying food from Costco for our Friendsgiving later this week.

Besides, there are other ways to get the benefit of a standing desk, such as going outside for a 10 minute walk.

Not so simple

My set of first-generation AirPods are on their last legs. A charge barely lasts one hour before I need to put them back in the case for a battery top up. One hour is not enough for a workout session, so I don’t use them for that. I also don’t use the AirPods for voice calls, as they would likely last only about 30 minutes. To me, these earphones have become effectively useless

It’s not that surprising: I bought these AirPods just after initial launch, way back in 2017. After five solid years of use, I somewhat expect the battery to go from its rated five hours of listening time down to just one. Battery aside, my AirPods are still functionally fine. Nothing is broken, nothing is falling off. What would be ideal then is to replace the battery and continue using them. Instead of buying a new set and tossing the old units into landfill.

A greener, most holistic approach to tech products nearing end of life.

Quick search on Apple reveals that there is battery replacement available for the AirPods. $49 dollars (as indicated) is not a bad price to get (hopefully) another five years of use. I quickly made a Genius Bar appointment at the local Apple Store.

Sadly, it was a bit of false advertising. Turns out, Apple absolutely does not perform battery replacement on AirPods. The company will simply swap out for another unit. The cost of which is more expensive that buying a new complete set of AirPods. That $49 figure earlier? That’s the cost to replace the charging case! At least the guy at the Genius Bar agreed the website is somewhat deceptive. He even commented that it’s Black Friday, and sales on AirPods are everywhere where electronics are sold.

Apparently, replacing the battery on AirPods is incredibly difficult. Which is probably why Apple doesn’t do it. The material and labor cost would make the procedure cost prohibitive. It is indeed cheaper and less hassle to buy a new pair. I guess I’m just dismayed at the disposability of it all. Companies ought to design with an eye towards longevity and reparability.

Then again, I’m the guy who gets a new iPhone every year…

Don't want to go, unwilling to stay

Twitter is now owned by Elon Musk. What I am most sympathetic for is the roughly 50 percent of the workers who got fired the first week. It doesn’t bode well for the already suffering San Francisco downtown in terms of people traffic during the work week. Or perhaps a large cohort of those who were let go were working from home. Elon famously rejects remote work for his companies. He’s already demanded that any able body twitter employee must come to the office.

But what does Elon Musk taking over twitter mean for users like me? Well, nothing really. I’m as addicted to the app as everybody on there are. I cannot start my morning without a 10 minute peruse (more on the weekends!) of the bird app. Throughout the day, TweetDeck is present on the browser at all times. It’s like a slow IV drip that I cannot tear the needle out of my skin.

I mean, we were all hooked onto twitter during last Tuesday’s mid-term elections, weren’t we? The app has tremendous value during critical, news-making moments.

So despite talks of Elon going to ruin twitter - the roll out of verification for the masses have been predictably disastrous - I am staying until the bitter end. Elon may indeed take twitter down, but I am going down with that ship. There’s also an optimistic side: perhaps Elon can indeed make twitter better for all users. Obviously I don’t think we’ve seen any indication that would be the likely outcome, but it’s still very early days. Let’s see what twitter is like a few months out.

Amazed at Buc-ee's

On the three hour drive between Austin and Dallas, my driving friend stop us at a place most wondrous. It is called Buc-ee's. The best way I can describe it is the biggest and best highway rest stop I’ve ever been to. There’s apparently many of them dotted all over the expansive Texas highways. To quote the great Stefon, it has absolutely everything.

Perhaps not all Buc-ee’s are similar in size, but the one we went to is enormous. The gas station portion alone I would say is three times the size of a typical Costco gas station. There’s plenty of space between each filling station too. Because it’s Texas, and large pickup trucks rule the road. So then imagine a whole Costco-size building itself is the rest stop - that’s the scale of Buc-ee’s I’m talking about here. The men’s bathroom alone have about 50 stalls, and it is spotlessly clean.

The rest of the store have anything and everything you could possibly want on a road trip - Christmas decorations included. Need an entirely new wardrobe? You can buy it at Buc-ee’s. There’s fresh BBQ and Tex-Mex at the hot foods section, and the world famous wall of jerky. If you’re a jerky enthusiasts, you’ve got to make a stop at a Buc-ee’s. Any meat suitable for jerky-ing, it is there. You can even buy it fresh, unpackaged.

The whole time we were stopped at the Buc-ee’s, I was just in awe of its amazingness. I’ve only previously been to these sort of fully-featured - and clean - highway rest stops in Asia. Never did I expect to find it here in the United States, much less in the State of Texas. Infrastructure has not really been our thing since they last built the great interstate system, you know? I’ll be long dead before the California bullet train project is completed.

Speaking of my State of California, why don’t we have something like Buc-ee’s alongside our highways? It would be perfect on the interminably long and straight highway 5. You can’t even argue there isn’t space like there is in Texas. I’m not asking for a Buc-ee’s in the middle of Los Angeles. Anyone who’s driven on highway 5 knows there’s nothing but farmland and cows for hundreds of miles. I think this is something California can learn and copy from Texas.

Austin is lovely

A few weeks back was my first time visiting Austin, Texas. I’ve always wanted to go there, as its reputed to be the San Francisco of Texas. Good thing I went the weekend after the Formula One race. I read somewhere the passenger flow at Austin-Bergstrom was the highest ever that weekend. Airfare and hotel would have been at least double of what we paid just seven days later.

Our AirBnb was right in the middle of action in downtown, Austin. A $40 dollar, 20 minutes taxi ride from the airport. We got in right after midnight on a Friday (Saturday?) and downtown was still teeming with people. A complete opposite of San Francisco’s downtown. Also different is the total lack of homeless people and drug users. A clean and vibrant downtown you can walk around without a latent sense of danger - imagine that! I hope San Francisco can get its act together one day.

Because walking around downtown Austin is a delight. Shortly after arrival we walked the one mile across the river to the closest Whataburger, a 24 hour location. For those of you unfamiliar, Whataburger is to Texas what In-N-Out burger is to California (this should be an SAT question). I have to say I still prefer Shake Shack above them all. The Whataburger burger reminds me of the Burger King Whopper; tastes fine, but nothing special. It’s hilarious the smallest beverage cup offered at Whataburger is 32 oz. Diabetes is calling.

I wouldn’t mind moving to Austin - as a lot of people seems to be doing or have done - if it weren’t so bloody hot during the summer. I’ve been to Texas during the those months and it never cools down, even at night. That said, it’s nice to have clean streets and very little quality-of-life crimes. We went to a CVS and everything was available out in the open - nothing was locked behind cabinets to deter theft! Here in San Francisco, even the Walgreens in the “good neighborhoods” have locked frequent theft items behind plexiglass.

I just want a well-governed, functioning city.

ITZY, MIDZY, Let's fly!

I don’t always go to Kpop concerts, but when I do, I travel to Dallas to do so. Why? Because it’s far easier to get tickets for cities that aren’t Los Angeles. Besides, we have a friend who lives in Dallas, so it made sense to kill the proverbial two birds with one stone. The increase in cost in terms of airfare and hotel is a worthy tradeoff to spend some time with a cherished friend. Money, we can always make back. Relationships, might not be here tomorrow.

The Kpop act we went to see at the Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas (close enough to Dallas) is ITZY. I’ve been a fan of this quintet since their debut back in 2019. One long pandemic later and they are finally having a world tour. Perfect time to go see them live. I’m glad ITZY is not so popular to perform in huge venues like arenas and stadiums. The Toyota Music Factory seats 4,000 indoors, and it’s just the right size that even in our “cheap” seats, it’s intimate enough to see the singers’ faces.

I never understood why people go to stadium shows. Unless you pay absolutely through the nose for seats up front, you really cannot see shit when you’re up in the bleachers. From that position you’re more watching the LCD screens instead of the acts themselves. At that point, why not simply watch the concert DVDs? Even though I enjoy Taylor Swift’s music, I cannot ever attend her stadium concerts. I’m not rich nor fanatical enough to pay for the expensive seats.

Anyways, back to ITZY. They are fantastic to see live. The five of them really showed off their vocal abilities. To be able to dance choreography and sing live at the same time, song after song, is really difficult and impressive. The allure Kpop for me is always the synergy of song and dance into one complete performance. Not all groups in Kpop achieve commercial success, but I can say all of them work their butts off.

I was only disappointed that ITZY did not perform my favorite song of theirs: Swipe.

First time SEMA

It just so happened that during my weekend in Vegas, the annual SEMA show was being held at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It’s a trade show for makers of automobile aftermarket parts. Wheels, suspension, interior, car care, you name it. What’s most awesome about the SEMA show are the numerous project vehicles that get built especially for the occasion. It’s the North American version of the Tokyo Auto Salon, heaven for car enthusiasts who like to tinker with their pride and joy.

Sadly, being a trade show, SEMA is not open to the public. Even though it’s the car enthusiast public who are spending money on their cars, the show is catered towards B2B sales. That means the lay person cannot go to Las Vegas to see the awesome cars, unless you know a person already attending (badge sharing is a thing, apparently).

To my surprise, this year’s SEMA show has a Friday component that is open to the public. For a hefty sum of $70 dollars for a ticket, regular ole Joe blow like me can walk the same convention halls as the people in the trade. Serendipitous that I was in Vegas the same weekend, this provided the perfect opportunity to tick the SEMA box off my car enthusiasts bucket list. The Las Vegas Convention Center is easily accessible by the tram from the strip, which is what I took to get there.

It seems a lot of enthusiasts had the same idea: the line to pickup badges was nearly two hours long. I arrived at around 9:30 AM. By the time I had my badge in hand, it was time for lunch already. And the line was still the same size. I felt sorry for those folks as they probably won’t get into the halls until after 2:00 PM. And the show that day closes at 4:00 PM.

Overall I would say the SEMA show is definitely worth a go, at least once. The amount of interesting cars there, in varying degree of price (there was a Pagani Huarya at one booth) and modification, is simply amazing to see. On that alone you cannot have a bad time at SEMA. Being there have certainly rekindled my car enthusiasm. The whole time I was missing my BMW M2, and could not wait to get home to drive it again. More so than modifications - and I grew up on Super Street and Fast and Furious - it’s really about driving the cars and putting on miles.