Blog

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

I'm not getting the iPhone 11

For the first time in three years, I am not getting the new iPhone on launch day.

It’s not that I don’t want to: i’m obviously a massive fan of photography, and the addition of a new ultra-wide lens to the iPhone 11 Pro is a super enticing factor. Coupled that with the always improving camera logic and lens systems, the iPhone X I currently hold in my hands is looking somewhat pedestrian in comparison. Apple even solved my biggest complaint about iPhone cameras: that lack of long exposure function for shots in low light: there’s now a ‘Night Mode’ on the new iPhone.

However, the march of progress can gets utterly stopped by money sensibilities. If only I was back in my 20’s, but making the same amount of money as I do now: there wouldn’t even be any contemplations; I’d preordered the phone already.

Indeed, I have to take into consideration the monetary outlay whenever I upgrade to the latest iPhone. The monthly payments may remain the same - phone for phone, the iPhone 11 prices have not increased - but it’s easy to forget the one-time costs: the ridiculous upgrade fee the carriers charge (damn you, Verizon), and the tax bill for the entire price of the phone. It amounts to a not insignificant $200 dollars or so, and as it stands right now, I rather not spend that money just for the privilege of having a nicer camera system. In a vacuum, the iPhone X is still very competitive and outputs fine pictures for my needs.

I must note the irony that this is coming from the same person who owns a 911 GT3 and pays the hefty sums to keep it running every month. Well, how you’d think I come to be able to afford a Porsche? It isn’t from wontonly spending every amount of available cash.

I think I am going to wait for the next design evolution to the iPhone before I upgrade. Back when this current design language came out with the iPhone X, it was an absolute jewel of a thing; it’s such a beauty to hold that I even elected to go without a case. As per usual, the iPhone exterior hasn’t changed much at all going on its third year, save for the rear camera module (the three lens array on the iPhone 11 Pro is rather ugly, I have to say.) I shall wait for the next big step-change to make the switch.

In the meantime, I’ll pocket that bit of cash for a rainy day.

No donuts; because the rocks will ruin the paint, obviously.

Save the combustion

It’s the week of Frankfurt Motor Show, and just like the Geneva Motor Show earlier this spring, the buzzword is electrification. European automakers are scrambling to meet looming fleet emissions standards, and the most expedient way to offset the pollution from petrol and diesel engines is to produce many emissions-free electric cars. Major players like Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz are investing billions, and it seems much of the industry is hell-bent on making this electric revolution happen, consumer demand be damned.

From a utility perspective, I have nothing against electric cars; I’d love to own one as a daily runabout. However, the electric car infrastructure remains highly inadequate, especially for apartment dwellers like me who lack the ability and space to charge a car “at home.” EV charging stations are nowhere near as ubiquitous as the age old gas equivalent, and the few charging spaces at work gets taken up by the super early birds.

As it stands, an electric vehicle is unfeasible for me, and I assume, a significant many other as well. What I’m seeing at auto show like Frankfurt and Geneva is heavy action on the supply side from manufacturers, but no movement on incentivizing the demand side of the equation. Tax rebates aren’t going to do anything for me with regards to the lack of charging ability.

From a thrill of driving perspective, I have everything against electric cars. The low decibel whirl of electric motors cannot compete with the melodic crescendo of my GT3’s naturally-aspirated flat-six that revs to 9,000 RPM. I fell in love with cars for their mechanicalness and the sweet noises those oily bits make, and electric vehicles represents the absolute antithesis. For sure, the accelerative forces of a Tesla Model S is something to behold, but car enthusiasm is far above and beyond simply pure straight-line speed.

In the past decade, there’s been a movement amongst car geeks to save the manuals, to preserve the manual gearbox option in interesting cars; maybe it’s time to start another movement: save the combustion.

Who needs a proper garage anyways. This owner of a Honda Beat in Japan doesn’t think so.

The passionate few

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what exactly is having a “passion” for something.

On a car forum I frequent, there used to be this guy who would make excellent photo threads of car events. Recently he seems to have disappeared, and the rest of us forum members have been wondering where he went. You don’t realize you take people for granted until the first big car event where there’s no photograph thread afterwards. Where did he go?

Through discussion with a mutual friend, it turns out he was tired of spending the massive amount of time editing pictures and making it into a proper forum post, only to receive tepid response from the forum gallery. Why put in all the effort when the reception feels so unappreciative?

First, I have to say it’s indeed super time consuming and tedious to put together a story thread with photos and words; for the person consuming the content it’ll likely be scrolled through in minutes, but for the person creating, it takes many, many hours. Each of my own photo stories take at least eight hours each to make, so I can sympathize with the amount of work that forum guy puts into his posts.

Second, we should all be more vocally and visibility appreciative when we enjoy reading/watching things made by other people. Absolutely nothing brightens a creative’s day more than positive feedback and people giving thanks for sharing. It may sound cliche but it truly makes it worth the effort.

But with that said, I have to disagree with that guy’s decision to stop making photo threads, simply because of the perceived lack of feedback. Is it really something you’re passionate about if you get discouraged by the actions and opinion of outsiders? For me, having and following a passion is strictly internal: it’s for me and nobody else. It’s the engine behind the power that keeps me home on a weekend working on a project, while others are out having fun. Not that I’m not having fun, because passion projects are fun.

Creating content for this website is and will always be something of a joy for me, and I don’t care if not a single person reads it (and I’m thankful for those who do.) So long as I myself am satisfied with the output, that’s perfectly good enough for me.

Maybe that forum poster lost his passion, which is okay, too.

Skydiving and staying present in the moment

Various schools of philosophy preaches the importance of being in the present, to have supreme concentration on the right here and right now.

Those of us who study and practice philosophy know that is far easier read than executed. The mind so easily wanders to either the future or the past; before you’re even done eating dinner, you’re already thinking about what to cook for breakfast tomorrow. The modern world full of distractions certainly compounds the distraction situation, with the smartphone ever attached to us, like an IV drip of a hospital patient.

Having mind and focus on the present is incredibly tough.

I recently heard of an example demonstrating precisely the mental state of being in the present. It has to do with skydiving, and the exact moment a skydiver is about to jump off the airplane. At that time, the area of focus shrinks down to the very point that only concerns with making the jump. The skydiver isn’t thinking about his mortgage payments or that argument he had with a coworker the previous day: his sole concentration is with accomplishing the mission of landing back on the ground, safe and alive.

That’s the exact feeling and mindset of being in the present that we can harness. To be so completely involved in what we’re currently doing that other thoughts can’t possibly enter the brain. Obviously, we shouldn’t need a pretend life-and-death scenario to draw that out of us. Skydiving can be just like any other thing we do on a daily basis, and therefore it’s absolutely possible to give that same amount of focus towards anything.

It takes practice, of course. A lifetime’s worth.

I’m just running in the 90’s.

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’.