I'm not upgrading to the A7RIII

Sony announced today the third generation A7R full-frame camera, of which I currently own and enjoy the second generation. Before reading all the details, ill thoughts came to mind at the prospect of shelling out money needlessly to upgrade to the new model - as one does. It was to much relief then when I read the A7RIII has the same incredible sensor as the A7RII, with only a few crucial improvements at the periphery. My wallet shall remain closed and my mind at ease. 

I probably should allocate that money towards the vaunted 70-200mm G Master lens anyways. 

I remain thoroughly impressed with Sony's continued innovation in regards to their professional mirrorless cameras. In 2011 I bought its first incarnation the NEX-5, a marvelous camera that fit an APS-C sensor into a camera body the size of a regular point-and-shoot. I was able to get DSLR quality photographs in a package that fits in my pants pocket. The tremendous increase in portability allowed me to start a 365 project without having to always lug the Canon 7D kit around.

The Sony NEX-5 belongs in the imaginary photography hall of fame. 

So does the first Sony A7. Replicating the formula perfected in the NEX lineup, Sony stuffed a full-frame sensor into the smallest possible body. Depending on the lens choice, one can literally have a 35mm camera in the palm of their hand. Lightness of kit is so important to travel photographers, and I dare say Sony have revolutionize the industry in that regard. A Hasselblad X1D owes its existence to Sony's trend setting.

And let's not forget the original A7R ushering in high-megapixel counts into the mainstream.

I'm proud to be a Sony shooter, having switched over completely from Canon last year. The company continues to add features and release new products at a pace unseen from the big two. I hope their streak continues for long time to come.  

It's too hot for late October

It's the final full-week of October, we are knee-deep into fall season, yet the mercury today read upwards of 96 degrees. What the French is going on?

One month into official autumn and I've yet to break out any sort of middle garments or heavy outerwear. This is San Francisco we're talking about; we pay out the nose in housing cost for foggy and cool weather and by god aren't we a cranky bunch when we don't get it. 

I sure hope this week's tiny heat-wave is the last of it and we can all enjoy proper San Francisco weather for the next eight months. 

Thankfully this weather did not occur two weeks back while the north-bay wildfires were raging on. It would've been a national emergency indeed if the unrelenting sun were mixed in with the smoke and ashes. Unimaginable. 

Due to the amount of destruction, we all either know or transitively know someone who has lost a home to the Napa fires. I was sad to find out an ex-coworker lost her newly rented home to the fire. I urge everyone to donate to our neighbors in need.

The first Gran Turismo game I won't buy

I've owned and played all previous 6 iterations of Gran Turismo, and I'm sorry to say I will not be purchasing the newly released Gran Turismo Sport anytime soon. After reading the reviews, I can't justify spending the proper $60 for a game with so little content and such draconian requirements in order to play. 

The core attraction of Gran Turismo for me is the sheer number of cars spanning all eras and the numerous tracks I can drive those cars on. I can still remember the seminal moment it was to drive the full Nurburgring Nordschleife in GT4. The car and track count in GT:S is, without mincing words, utterly atrocious. Discounting all the variations, there's only about 90 unique cars in the game, a system shock to those us used to 600+ car libraries. GT:S only has six real-world tracks, which is bizarrely embarrassing especially when the main focus of the game is e-sport online racing utilizing the FIA license.

How did Polyphony manage to partner with the FIA yet only produce six real-world locations? Where's Silverstone? Where's La Sarthe? Spa? 

The online racing component also brings with it an enormous negative externality: GT:S requires a constant Internet connection in order to play most parts of the game. I did not think ill of this until I found out that even non-racing portions of the game such as the amazingly beautiful photo-mode is locked behind the online authentication wall. If Polyphony ever decides to turn off its game servers (as it has for GT5), GT:S as constituted today would be no more than a drink coaster. 

GT:S would need to the following updates before I part with my money: massively increase the amount of cars and tracks, add more single-player campaign events/races, bring back dynamic time/weather (how they have regressed on this from GT6 is baffling), and get rid of the online connection requirement for parts of the game that obviously don't need it. 

Being 'in the moment' is difficult

As studying stoic, one of the many things taught to us is to focus on the present, take in what's directly in front of us and not let the mind wander forward towards the future nor backwards to the past. 

Easier said than done. 

Take for example driving to work. As soon as I get into the car, I start thinking about what's ahead waiting for me once I get there. Try as I may to focus on enjoying the drive, taking in the weather, being grateful for the sublime engineering that is the Mazda MX-5, my mind inevitably skips ahead to the workplace. Being in the moment takes constant practice, and some days are more difficult than others. 

A good trick to alleviate some of the impulses is to never procrastinate at work - and at home. Whatever items need to be done, I try to complete it as soon as possible - don't wait. Otherwise the unfinished things will compound the tendencies to distract from the present, especially those of the workplace. 

I don't suppose it'll ever be perfect, this 'being present' business, but getting near it is good goal because my anxiety levels have gone down commensurately. 

Clean your smartphone everyday

I recently saw a tip on the Internets that made so much sense I wondered why I didn't have the habit already: one should clean their smartphone at the end of each day. 

It was indeed a lightbulb moment. Smartphones have become an extension of our own bodies with the sheer amount of time we spend with it. Naturally we take it everywhere with us, and in the process it attracts all sorts of germs and contaminations. I'm sure there's a study somewhere that found smartphones to be dirtier than public toilet seats. At the end of the night it all gets taken to bed with us, akin to people that don't shower before going to sleep. 

As someone that prefers tidy and cleanliness, I'm surprised I never got into routinely cleaning my phone. At most I'd simply wipe the screen with a shirt part if the grease and grime become overwhelming. All those lazy morning hours spend browsing on the phone while in bed seems ghastly to me now. It's advised to wash our hands often, therefore the object our hands touch most often should also require similar hygienic diligence. 

Nowadays at night before bed I wipe the iPhone down thoroughly with a microfiber towel that's been spritzed with all-purpose cleaner. The peace of mind gained is immense. 

Interesting weekend

This past week leading into the weekend was interesting indeed.

Due to the smoke and fallout from the Napa fires engulfing the San Francisco atmosphere, classes - and therefore work - at State got cancelled from Thursday evening on until Monday morning. Due to my peculiar work schedule, it meant I only worked three hours on Thursday, and had the entire Friday off. 

It couldn't be helped, the air quality in the latter parts of the week was awful. I've been to China and even then it's comparable only on the worse days. The city was covered in a fog of dust, turning the midday sunshine into an amber orange you'd only find during sunset hours. Upon opening my front door, it smelled as if the entire city was having an outdoor bbq. On my commute I catch a glimpse of the new Salesforce Tower, and with each passing day last week it kept disappearing into a thicker and thicker smog. On Friday the building vanished entirely. 

Air quality didn't get better until Sunday. Naturally, I stayed indoors for the whole duration, less a few hours to run some errands.

In that time I managed to finish the third volume of 'The Last Lion', the biography of Sir Winston Churchill. Some 3,000 pages later, I don't think I shall endeavor to read another biography of that length. Not to say it was a bore; Churchill was a great man who led his country - and the world - through a time of unprecedented evil. Due to his circumstance of having been aristocratically born at the end of the Victorian era, living through the two World Wars, and witnessing the twilight of imperial Britain, Churchill is a unique character positing a fascinating study of the period. 

Conditions are much improved today, and good news up north the fires are for the most part contained. By the end of this week normal skies ought to resume for us San Franciscans. 

I find your perspective lacking

It's important to keep the proper perspective on things.

We get so caught up with what's going on with our own lives, and how every slight or misfortune seem monumental and woe-is-me. That sort of tunnel vision is an easy trap to fall into, myself included. 

Take one moment out of your own sphere to look at a bigger picture, any bigger picture. Doesn't have to world news, simply take a look around. Right now entire counties north of San Francisco is raging with wild fire. Homes are destroyed, lives lost, and many hundreds displaced. I don't deserve to be angry at the guy that cut me off on the road when there are people huddling in shelters because they've lost literally everything. I still have my bed to go to at the end of the night. 

It's too easy to complain, and extremely difficult to stop and think about will it achieve anything positive. In the same vein of Dave Chappelle's famous "when keeping it real goes wrong" sketch, sometimes things can get worst in protest.

On campus our student assistants were given a memo recently reminding them to be professional at all times and put the work first. Some of them took this as an immoral imposition (how dare our superiors tell us what do do!) and escalated the situation. The end result is they used to be able to do homework during any downtime, but now homework is completely banned. 

Way to go.