Blog

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

Everything is connected

Sometimes, things happen connectedly right after one another, like a set of dominoes put into play.

A few weeks back, I decided that it wasn’t tenable any longer for me to take the bus home after my night shift. After seeing someone get robbed at my connecting stop, and the fact that for a few of the nights, it was only me waiting for the bus; it’s the smart move to make. It’s not that I’m scared to be mugged - you’d never go outside if you’re afraid of such a thing living in San Francisco - but rather it’s the additional stress that I can definitely do without. My head is a on a constant swivel during times when I’m at the station alone, stress level elevated.

As I’ve read lately, stress causes an intense burden on the human body, so if I can throw some money at a problem to make the stress go away, it’d be worth every penny.

The solution for my night commute problem was originally to take either UBER or LYFT home. It’s a bit spendy compared to taking the bus, but relative to buying a second car to commute with, it’s far less of a headache and much more convenient, not having to worry about parking and maintaining yet another vehicle. The entire point of this exercise is to reduce stress, remember?

I was ready to execute this plan when I realized my brother is permanently home from college now, so he’s available to do chauffeur duties. Why don’t I pay him the money instead and have him pick me up at work? He’s just starting out working after undergrad, so he for sure could use the extra cash every month. So I broached the plan to him and he was completely onboard, because the additional money allows him to do something he’d wanted to do for some time now: sell his VW GTI for another car.

I’m sure there’s some altruism in there too, and that he loves his big brother.

Anyways, the main reason for him wanting out of the GTI is because he’s getting knee pain from operating the manual transmission, though I’m sure the car enthusiast wont to switch cars simply for a taste of new flavor is part of the mix as well. After we agreed on the arrangement of him doing UBER duties for me, he immediately put in motion to sell the GTI and acquire an AUDI A3 - all within the same day. Three days later, the deals were done, and my brother is driving in his new, automatic gearbox car.

Funny how this was put into motion by me seeking to reduce stress.

Nothing, just a peacock walking by while refueling the car.

Thoughts on the Porsche Taycan

There was a bit of a stir in the automotive world yesterday. Car twitter was rightly abuzz regarding the world premier of the Porsche Taycan, the German manufacturer’s first ever purely electric car. The final synthesis of the Mission E concept from 2015, the unveiled Taycan looks appropriately futuristic, but immediately Porsche. In abstract it looks like a more taught, sleeker Panamera, which is no bad thing at all. Though I am still not a fan of the rear “light-bar” design language that have permeated the entire Porsche range, principally because I don’t think it belongs on the 992 911. Here on the Taycan, the rear-end styling is quite alright.

The buzz on twitter was largely of salivation at the impending head-to-head battle between the Taycan and the Tesla Model S. Finally, they’re saying, there’s a worthy competitor to Tesla’s electric vehicle (EV) dominance. Tesla has done well to cultivate an Apple-like frenzy and devotion to its products, but Porsche is coming in with 70 years of history and legend. Arguably the most recognizable and storied sports car brand on the planet, Porsche is leveraging its tradition and pristine reputation to entice EV buyers.

Even without poaching potential Tesla customers, I bet there’s a sizable legion of ‘Porschephiles’ ready to pluck down the admittedly considerable cash for a Taycan (~$150,900 base price for the Taycan Turbo.)

Electric vehicles are still, relatively speaking, a rich person’s game, especially in the class of six-figure cars like the Model S and this Taycan. Therefore, purchasing decisions are highly emotional, rather than logical; I think the people online comparing mechanical specs and numbers between the Porsche and the Tesla are completely missing the point. Both the Model S and the Taycan is or will be faster than 99.9% of cars on the road; and buyers aren’t going to care about dimensional short-comings of the interior, if any. What do the brand and car symbolize, and how it makes the driver feel, will be the differentiating factor.

Porsche’s got both in spades. The Taycan won’t be the hyperbolic “Tesla-killer”, but it’s definitely going to steal some sales away from the EV manufacturer in Fremont.

What I’m more pondering about, seeing as electric vehicles is the new beginning and future of Porsche vehicles, is will Andreas Preuninger and the boys and girls at Flacht get a crack at the Taycan? A track-focused electric sports car in the ethos of a 911 GT3: surely that particular Taycan will be rear-wheel drive, and with as much light-weighting technology as possible (the Taycan comes in at a hefty 5,100 pounds.) So instead of heavy batteries, perhaps a switch to super capacitors? Maybe Williams’ flywheel technology?

And what exactly would you call the ‘GT3’ version of the Taycan? Taycan GTE?

I’d really like to know the answers.

No rest for the wicked?

It was Labor Day this past weekend, and after a hectic week at work, in which it was the first week of the Fall semester, the respite of a three-day weekend came at precisely the right time. I had plans to do my normal two-day weekend routine on Saturday and Sunday, and then come Monday, the goal was to do absolutely nothing, and just chill.

Well, Monday rolled around, and along with it the difficulty: I actually couldn’t make myself to not do anything! That morning, by the time the second consecutive Youtube video rolled around, I already had pangs of regret in wasting time and not being productive. On Labor Day, the day where I am suppose to relax and be lazy - and super fortunate to be in a position to do so, I have trouble in execution. What happened to the guy who could simply binge-watch a string of television seasons, like any other normal person?

He’s no longer here.

After watching the second video, I was too uncomfortable with the notion that I’m going to be doing that for the rest of the day. So, even though it’s technically a holiday, I returned to my daily routine, albeit in less of a time crunch since I didn’t have work: study Korean for an hour, read a book for an hour, and write a piece for this very website. It wasn’t until I’ve finished all three items that I felt at ease with watching car-related stuff on Youtube for the rest of the day.

The inability to just chill: is it a bad thing? Is there some latent anxiety or depression that I’m using constant productivity to avoid confronting? I really don’t know. The clock never stops on the action long enough for me to invade my own mind and find out the answer; I’d get antsy and pick up the book again, or write some more; or I still have many great podcasts to listen to, so let’s jump back to that queue.

These days I have a great desire for peace and quiet, but ironically, granting that silence for my own mind is a grace I can’t seem to give myself. I’m far too eager for what’s next, which is why even on Labor Day I’m unable to fully commit to a day of doing nothing.

I’m sure there’s some positives to that, too; hashtag hustle. That’s the ‘yin’ and the ‘yang’.

This is exactly how I pictured Japan car culture looks like.

Amazon makes it so easy

Amazon keeps making it easier to continue to do business with them.

Just last month, my annual Prime membership with Amazon got renewed, and every year like clockwork I would agonize at how much it costs (nearly $130 now with tax), come to a realization that I wouldn’t want to live without “free” two-day shipping (you pansy), and resign to continue the subscription. I don’t even watch Prime videos that much; it’s purely for the shipping convenience, which is difficult luxury to break away from.

Recently I’ve come to recognize the human toll it takes to ship an item to me so quickly from Amazon: from the overworked pickers at the distribution warehouse, to the freelance delivery person driving their own personal car to carry the package on its final miles. Ignorance is indeed bliss because it all works wonderfully from the customer’s perspective, but once you understand how the sausage is made, it’s very hard to turn the other cheek. This is why as much as possible, I choose the slow shipping option.

Though sometimes I really need an item in haste, so retaining the two-day option is nice. Perhaps one day I can forsake the Prime membership entirely, but as it stands, I am re-upped for yet another year.

This past week I had to return something I bought from Amazon, the first time in a long time. I was all ready to pay for return shipping cost when I was pleasantly surprised with a new option that Amazon now offers: one can simply drop off items to be returned at a local Kohl’s, whereby they will package and ship it back to Amazon for absolutely free. I’m sure there’s further labor exploitation going on here as well to facilitate this, but for me as a customer, this method to return merchandise cannot be more convenient. Plus, it’s far more pleasant to visit a Kohl’s store than the local post office.

Surely the next innovation is flying drones to pick up our return packages, right?

Warehouses full of cars are cool. Exhibit A.

A tradition unlike any other

Property crime in San Francisco: a tradition unlike any other.

As I was waiting for my transfer bus last evening, I noticed a dude sort of hiding out in the center median of the avenue, looking back and forth at the bus stops on either side. I half thought nothing of it because honestly it’s not all that weird, and half thought that dude must be looking for an opportunity to rob someone. For much of the time I was waiting for the bus, the guy remained on the median, continuing to look back and forth, scoping out the scene.

I grew up in the ghetto part of town - back when San Francisco had such a thing, so I am well-trained at not making myself an enticing robbery target. I almost never take my phone out; listening to podcasts is all I do during the commute, so the iPhone stays in my pocket the whole time. I even use the cheapest pair of black in-ear earphones I can find on Amazon, so to avoid the extra attention a set of AirPods or Beats headphones would attract. I don’t wear any jewelry, and on particularly hot days where short-sleeve t-shirt is mandatory, I even take off my watch and put it in the backpack.

It’s about making myself as less of a potential target as possible.

Sure enough, the dude in the median was indeed looking for someone to rob. A few minutes before the bus arrived, he and two other guys walked over to our side of the avenue, pass the cluster of us waiting at the station, and proceeded to quickly snatch the phone off the hands of an unsuspecting woman behind us. After that, they swiftly got into a waiting car, and sped off. The victim had no chance.

Even with activation lock technology rendering stolen phone unusable for the next person, I guess there’s still a lucrative parts market. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a coordinated attack by four guys simply to steal one phone. Though now that I think about it, that woman probably wasn’t the only victim that night.

Welcome to the richest city in America!

SSD prices have come way down

It’s been awhile since I’ve looked at prices for solid-state drives, and boy have they come way down from just two years ago. Back in 2017, an external USB-3 SSD in 1 terabyte capacity cost me around $300 dollars. Now, I can get the same capacity drive, but in a four times faster Thunderbolt 3 connection, for just about the same price. The passage of time is such a great equalizer in turning once expensive technologies into something way more affordable.

Which baffles me why Apple still charges exorbitant sums for extra SSD hard-drive storage on their laptops. Take my 2019 15-inch Macbook Pro for example; the base machine comes standard with 256 gigabytes worth of fast SSD. Upgrade to double that - 512 GB - costs $200 dollars, and 1 TB is yet another $200 on top. When equally fast NVMe SSD drives at similar capacities can be bought for PC builders at a third of the cost, that is some hefty price-gouging, even by Apple’s infamous standards.

Being a price-conscious person, and the fact the base laptop is already well over $2000 dollars, I opted to not pay for the extra hard-drive capacity, even though as someone who dabbles in digital photography and videography, the additional space would have been super welcomed. Indeed it would’ve been incredibly convenient to have the massive amounts of storage built right into the machine, but ultimately I couldn’t stomach the horrendous price-per-gigabyte ratio.

Instead, I’m living the dongle life and currently using that same 1 TB external drive I bought in 2017. While obviously nowhere near as fast as its modern Thunderbolt 3 counterpart, USB-3 is still quite adequate for my photo-editing requirements. However, once I get back heavily into video editing, I will have to get a proper Thunderbolt 3 drive. But, it will be immensely cheaper than paying Apple to put the same level of storage into the laptop; for my perspective, that is a win.

Morning post office run

This morning I walked to my local post office. I could have done the millennial thing and hailed an UBER to go the measly five blocks, but I decided to do like our ancestors did: on foot. Dangerous times, this.

It reminds me of this past week, when I remarked to my friends how when we travel, we have no problems walking long distances to things, but when we’re back on home turf, going a few blocks seems like such a chore. I’ve been tremendously guilty of this, obviously; back in the days when I had a car to drive regularly, I totally would have driven the few blocks today to the post office. Good thing nowadays my only car is parked at work, not so easily reachable.

Every time you think the U.S. Post Office is a failing enterprise, you’d change your mind immediately once you enter one, because it’s almost always full of people. I got lucky today as there was nobody in line when I arrived; soon as I settled in waiting however, four additional people showed up. Naturally, there’s but one clerk working the counter, and only one hour away from their mandatory(?) lunch break whereby the entire office closes.

I reckon the USPS will survive just fine. Perhaps like an Olive Garden making its guest wait - even with empty tables - for the sole reason of increasing appetite, the post office provide somewhat shitty counter service to keep us coming back. A place with long lines can’t be that awful, right?

Taking the half-hour walk was a good opportunity to soak in some sun; I work at the basement level of the campus library, so vitamin D can be difficult to come by. Along the way, as one does in San Francisco, I saw a dude pissing in public towards the garage door of a house. My first thought was how awful it must be for the owner of the house: imagine returning home to the stinking stench of urine as the garage door opens. My second thought was one of empathy for the “offender”; compared to Asia, there’s an utter lack of public toilets in American cities, and it’s a real health and infrastructure problem.

Why aren’t there public facilities on what is the main thoroughfare of our neighborhood? It shouldn’t be up to the stores and merchants to provide restrooms - for paying customers only. Maybe I’d hang out there more if there were public toilets, instead of only venturing there to go to the post office.