AirBnb is Great, but...

AirBnb is doing wonders for traveling groups larger than three people. Hotels generally cater to groups of two or singles unless you pay through the nose for suites at higher floors. For those of us who aren't willing to share a double bed, AirBnb is simply awesome. I select entire houses, pick the appropriate number of beds, mark the self check-in option, and off I go. 

And in my experiences AirBnb places have ended up cheaper than a hotel for two. Brilliant. 

What isn't so great about AirBnb though is the sheer amount of time I need to invest to find a good spot. Unlike hotels where the star rating can at least guarantee a certain level of decency, when you are staying in a stranger's private home, due diligence is a must. First I look at location - is it close to public transport, then the facilities - if photos show a place more run down than the typical hotel I skip it. After that I look at almost all the reviews: does the place match the description, and is the "landlord" trustworthy. 

All that can easily take many hours just to select one spot. I admit that this may be a situation unique to me seeing as one could easily pick the first spot that looks decent and then put faith in the goodness of the landlord that everything will work out as written. I am not that person. I must look at all the variables and weight all the options. Tedious it may be, I've yet to have a bad AirBnb lodging experience. Knock on wood. 

Fear and sadness in Las Vegas

Another day, another mass shooting here in America. 

My heart breaks for the dead, the wounded, the first responders, and their respective families and friends. People were simply enjoying a great Sunday evening in Las Vegas, rocking out to a country music concert. To then suddenly get massacred like fish in a barrel by a gunman perched high up in a Mandalay Bay room; disheartening. 

it's unconscionable, yet constant gun violence is a resigned reality in America because a majority of our political class lack the moral decency to do the right thing. Proper gun control/restrictions should've already be enacted after the Sandy Hook elementary tragedy, but it didn't, and if literal babies getting shot up didn't move the needle one bit, adult concert goers isn't likely to, either. 

Obama once warned us to not fall trap to despair and hopelessness, and to keep fighting for what's right. Some days are for sure more difficult than others. 

I was vacationing in South Korea earlier this summer, and it's a stark contrast to go from the most gun-happy first-world country to one of the most strict. In Seoul I travelled around with a subconscious sense of security that was incredibly comforting. It's so liberating to be able to walk in any parts of of the city at the wee hours of the night without the fear of getting robbed at gunpoint. Partly due to the utter lack of guns, in South Korea there are no metal detectors or security checkpoints to go through when boarding cross-country trains, or heading into a baseball stadium. It's amazing.

I can only hope that someday us Americans can enjoy the same sort of peace and tranquillity. It starts with gun control. 

Hugh Hefner dies at 91

Hugh Hefner passed away last night.

I'll be honest: I hadn't known he was still alive. Such a terrible thing to say, sure, but he has been properly old for as long as I can remember. That said, what life live! Hef is most definitely not "going to a better place" in death; he lived every man's heaven on earth for decades. 

Rest in peace, Hef; thank you for the, uh, articles.

In truth, I grew up at a time which Playboy magazine wasn't the only outlet with nude photographs of women, so Hef's magnum opus wasn't seminal to my life as it were to those of generations older. I grew up with the Internet, so written articles wasn't obstacles I had to flip through before getting to the good stuff. However, "stuff" on the Inter-webs wouldn't be what it was and is today if not for Hef opening the door for sexual expression - of both sexes, and for that I salute him. 

If there's a side to Hef I find perverse, it's that he seems to only find merits of physical beauty towards woman of in their 20's and early 30's. Evidence is obvious in his marriages and dating history, plus later in his life effectively running a harem of young buxom blonds in their 20's at the Playboy Mansion. It's sick, and counter to what his Playboy empire has done for feminism otherwise. 

Safe to say in these modern times there will never be another person like Hef. 

Matt Cain to retire after season

It's a weird feeling to have watched baseball long enough to know a player from his first debut to his very last pitch, mostly because it also signals to me that I am indeed getting old. 

Congratulations to Matt Cain for what will be after his final start this Saturday an utterly complete career: 13 seasons played resulting in three World Series championships - pitching all three clinchers in 2012, and holder of the Giants' only perfect-game in franchise's 100+ year history. I'd retire too if I've accomplish all that while banking in more than $150 million dollars.  

I remember Cain's debut with the team way back in 2005. The Giants were going through it's terrible stretch of years, and Cain was the first promising pitching prospect to come through the system in a long time. Indeed he delivered on all the hype, anchoring for the subsequent decade a new and fearsome rotation that would come to include the likes of Madison Bumgarner and Tim Lincecum. The Giants revival into the glory years of the early 2010's started with Cain, and there ought to be a statue of him at AT&T Park some years down the line. 

I shall be at the ballpark this Saturday to watch Cain's final tosses on a pitching mound. I'll then be able to say I was there to witness it all.

Twitter has a new 280 character limit

I take off for work at 2pm on most days and it takes about a half hour to drive to campus on the other side of the city. Today as I am walking to the office from the parking lot, I come to find out that Twitter has finally increase its per-tweet character limit from 140 to 280. You know, some days you drive to work and subsequently the entire Twitter paradigm shifts seismically. 

Like most changes to our social media platforms of choice, it's going to take some time to get used to the new character limit, and therefore to form a proper opinion. At first blush, the jump to 280 seem rather overboard (why not 200 for a try first?), one where Twitter users in Asia can exploit to the maximum. It was already unfair that a singular Chinese or Korean word counts as one character on the platform, meaning while it takes six characters worth to tweet out 'father' in English, in Chinese all it takes it one: '父'. With this new 280 limit, I can type an entire Korean essay in one tweet.

Mark Twain had to apologize for the lack of brevity in his letters; of course it's immensely difficult to truncate and be precise in the written word. It's infinitely easier to simply keep writing as the thoughts flow from the mind to the fingers. Twitter's now retired 140 character limit was a great motivator to be concise with what we wanted to convey. Yes, threaded replies have largely made that motivation irrelevant, but for singular tweets the virtue holds true. With the new 280 limit, I'm not sure it does anymore.

I attempted a few tweets after the change and it's as if there's no character limit at all: I've been so conditioned to 140 that I currently can't fathom needing to fully utilize the 280 potential. Time to tell, for sure. 

Please help Puerto Rico

Whilst our President is childishly preoccupied with the NFL and inequality protests during the national anthem, Puerto Rico is experiencing the traumatic aftermath of Hurricane Maria. The entire island is without electricity, 2/3 of the population have no access to drinking water, and it's suffering through an unprecedented heatwave. Aid for our fellow Americans is needed as soon as possible, so please if you are reading this consider a desperately needed donation: hispanicfederation.org/donate.

Thank you. 

I've got travel withdrawals

Due to various circumstances and scheduling issues, I've yet to do any traveling since the end of May - first world problem, I know. The next trip isn't until Thanksgiving break, so the wanderlust pangs are going to be insufferable. I think in the future it'd be wise to split vacation time to bookend the summer instead of taking it all in the beginning. That said, spending the solid two weeks in Seoul this early June was absolutely worth the travel withdrawals I'm experiencing now.

To abate the wanderlust in the interim, I shall do a bit of exploring here in my own backyard of California. Autumn is officially upon us and the foliage colors will no doubt be amazing. it'll simply take a few hours worth of driving to get to such places, since San Francisco distinctly lacks any seasonal visual difference. That tree with amber-colored leaves you encounter in San Francisco is the exact tone year round. 

Driving to destinations is just as well, since I've been meaning to put more miles on the Miata. In two months time the car will be two years old, but the odometer has barely rolled past 12,500 miles. That's roughly 7,000 miles per year, compared to 9,000 per during my time with the Subaru WRX STI, which is already few by average standards. A stark perspective on how little I'm taking the car out to drive - the whole point of why I bought the car in the first place. Sports cars like the Miata are meant to be driven and enjoyed on the open road, and I must do more on to that end.

Otherwise, might as well trade it in for a typical commuter car.