Blog

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

People are leaving California

Recently I’ve been seeing quite a few people I follow on twitter announcing they are moving out of California, due to the myriad of reasons I’m sure we’re all familiar with: the absurd housing costs, quality of life problems, high taxation, and the insane amounts of traffic. I certainly don’t blame these people for moving away from the only State I’ve ever known, but rather I’m anxious, staring at the fact that I will also have to make the same move sometime in the future.

Especially if situations stay the same.

It’s a mathematical certainty that I won’t be able to afford to buy a house anywhere close to San Francisco, so when I do decide to do the proper adult thing and start a family, the only option would be to move away (Unless of course my future wife makes substantially more than I do). Potentially leaving to another State isn’t the hard part, however: the difficultly lies in employment, as in the headache of finding a new job at whichever new location.

The trouble is, I like my current job tremendously, and if SF housing cost is ignored, the pay is competitive, too. The benefits are great, and the job allows for the mythical work-life balance; there’s even a nice pension at the end, should I be so lucky to see this particular career path all the way through. Needing to give that up in order to move on to the next stage of life is a sobering thought indeed, if not cruel. Such is the situation here in the population centers of California: middle-class millennials like me are being utterly squeezed out, those of us who aren’t so fortunate to have housing bequeath to us, or to share with family.

I don’t have immediate plans to buy a house, so for the time being I can - and must - remain optimistic that things will change and somehow I’ll be able to stay and grow old in the city I grew up in. There’s no use to be stressed about it, even though honestly it’s a constant low-key worry at the back of my mind.

We shall see.

Exercising the car

I get my exercise in on the weekends, though it’s not just my own body that receives a bit of work out. Like clockwork, my 911 gets taken out for a drive, rain or shine. Much like how the human body needs movement to stay agile and fit, a car’s mechanicals need to get up to operating temperature periodically to be at its best condition. High-strung sports cars especially aren’t meant to sit stationary for months on end; that’s usually the reason for random gremlins to pop-up. Those cars will be reliable so long as it gets driven.

Besides, I bought the Porsche to drive, and not just a pretty object to admire.

Of course, I don’t commute with the 911, so the only chance to take it for a spin is on the weekends. During the warm Summer months it’s a rather joy to do so, and often times I’d spend both days blasting on the local mountain roads. The darker Autumn and Winter months, however, presents a challenge. My particular 911 is not very fun when the temperatures are low and the skies are raining: the Michelin Cup 2 tires, while magical in fair conditions, are nearly dangerous to drive on in the cold and damp. Indeed, track-focused tires are as good as bald tires if you can’t get heat into them, especially so on sets with considerable mileage (like mine).

So during this time of the year, I only take the 911 out long enough for the mechanicals to get appropriately warm, and for the battery to get recharged. Maybe push the engine out to its redline once or twice to get the secondary cam-profiles involved. Other than that, there isn’t much more to do, especially when it’s raining. Try as I might to find openings in the weather radar, some weekends it’s simply impossible. The 911 still needs to be driven, so I take it as smoothly and gingerly as possible; a quick loop on the local highways does the trick, then it’s parked again for another week.

I won’t have to be so careful once the Cup 2 tires are worn down and I switch to a set of tires that’s friendlier in wet conditions, though the Cup 2s have still got at least 5,000 miles of life left, perhaps more, so I’ll have to suffer through this rainy season with continued trepidation. Unlike my brother who tossed away a perfectly good set of all-season tries for a set of summer tires, I don’t have quite that sort of financial resources. Needless to say, a set of tires for a 911 GT3 is multiples in terms of costs compared to my brother’s Audi A3.

Next year, though; next year we’ll have some fun in the rain.

I got lucky this past weekend with avoiding the rainy weather.

I don't know about you...

I turn 32 years old today, which is a thing. I plan to celebrate as I’ve always celebrated my birthdays: working. Having had an evening shift at the university for nearly 10 years now, there was never an opportunity for me to go out and have a party with friends. Guess where I’ll be later on this afternoon and night? At work. I’m not the type of person who calls in sick on his birthday or take the day off, and don’t get me started on the “birth month’ phenomenon. I’m happy others can have such a fantastical sense of occasion in regards to their birthdays; for me, it’s just another day, honestly.

Even when I turned the big 30 two years ago: there were no parties or celebration (again, I was working), though there were plenty of internal anxiety. After turning 30, the norm is that you sort of forget about your age as the years pass along, right up until the next milestone: 40. It’s true in my case: birthdays after 30 is so insignificant that I only remembered mine was today when my friends wished me a happy birthday after midnight. Honestly, I’m more looking forward towards the week and a half of time-off we get between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day.

32 years of age means I’ve only got two more years to play, because I pseudo promised myself when I turned 24 that I will live life frivolously for the next decade more before settling down and do the proper adult stuff. Two more years left to continue traveling to world cities, and spending ridiculous amounts of money to keep a Porsche 911 around. After that, it’ll be time to trade it all in for the next big transition on the life journey. It may sound like I’m being facetious here, but as of this moment in time, I think the plan set way back in 2011 is still on schedule.

I’m not yet ready to transition, but I feel that it’ll have to happen soon enough. The thing to do now is start the glide-path down towards that big change, and make the preparations necessary. Whatever those are, I’m not sure, though the obvious move is to refill the savings coffers after having written a six-figure check for a car this year.

So it’s business as usual as I add another ring to my tree stump. I’m massively grateful to be alive for another year, and for everything that has happened to me - good or bad - thus far. It’s an absolute privilege.

Victim of property crime

Property crime against cars in San Francisco is well-documented and infamous. It’s almost every week I see someone on twitter commenting how their car got broken into when they made the fateful decision to visit the city. Earlier this year, my friend had her own car’s window smashed while it was parked inside her apartment’s supposedly secured gated lot! Indeed, even patrolled garages aren’t immune from the plague: a few weeks ago I saw a car in our work lot with both front windows broken, which is just insult to injury: a single window wouldn’t have sufficed for the thief to steal whatever they needed to?

This crime phenomenon is precisely why I insure my car with Geico, because the company offers free glass replacement, no matter the comprehensive deductible. Somewhat ironically, in the many years since I’ve started driving, not once have I experienced my cars getting broken into, which by the virtue of writing that out I’ve just jinxed myself tremendously. I ashamed to say the damages done to my cars over the years are all my own, though the Toyota Corolla did get a brick thrown at it by local hoodlums on the second day we brought it home from the dealership, such was the state of the neighborhood back in the mid 2000s.

A few days ago, my father got off work to find someone had drilled a hole in the gas tank of his car, though curiously the big vat of collected petrol was still sitting right underneath. Either the perps were caught by police during the act (not likely in San Francisco), or they found a better offer elsewhere. Nevertheless, dad had to fill the tank with a canister with enough gas to get the Hyundai Tucson to the nearest mechanic. The fix was simple: a self-taping screw into the hole, then a bead of sealer surrounding the head. Due to the presence of gas, metal welding was out the question.

Since the Tucson is a lease, as long as it doesn’t leak, we’re going to leave the visually crude fix as is.

That’s the thing with vehicular property crime that’s so frustrating: you have to take the time to get the damaged remedied. It’s already bad enough that things were stolen out of the car; the additional hassle to make the situation whole again is salt on the wounds. I can see why some people get so fed up that they vow to never return to the city unless they absolutely have to. Whatever excitement San Francisco offers does not outweigh the potential of retuning to a parked car with an unceremonious gift left behind by miscreants.

Sooner or later, the powers at be will need to step up on enforcement, because more and more people are abandoning the city…

I'm not getting the new Mac Pro

Seriously, I am not preordering the new Mac Pro. One, and most importantly, because I can’t afford it, and two, because I think the new Mac Pro is a machine for the true pros, and I’m not a professional - yet. Apple likes to use the word ‘Pro’ for its products to denote the higher end model, whether or not the particular product really deserves the moniker. On the Macbook line, going ‘Pro’ is the only way to get a screen larger than 13 inches. You want the highest spec iPhone possible? The iPhone 11 ‘Pro’ is the model to buy.

However, there are a few times that when Apple uses ‘Pro’ in its products, it truly means it’s geared towards professionals. The iMac Pro is such a machine, and now the new Mac Pro - alongside the $6,000 Pro Display XDR monitor - brings more computing power than the typical consumer can possibly use to the market. It’s a sort of thing that you’d want your respective creative company to purchase for you, rather than forking over the at least $5,999 starting price yourself. It’s pro-grade stuff for the people that need it, though it’s good to know there’s finally a Mac that can run Google Chrome smoothly - with only two tabs open.

You and I surely do not need the hefty specs of the Mac Pro, even if we can afford the entry price. I’m sure technophiles with an inclination towards spending their disposable income on the latest tech gadgets will scoop up the new Mac Pro to showoff on instagram. Like Porsche owners who switch cars every time a new model comes out, these tech nerds will upgrade to the latest and greatest products just to say they have it (I’m guilty as charged with regards to the yearly iPhone upgrade). Good for those people, because I’d be doing the same thing if my car enthusiasm didn’t take up so much of my own disposable dollars.

It’s a shame how adult sensibilities will stop you from doing something you wanted to do as a child. I’ve always been enamored with Apple’s Mac Pro line dating back to the legendary G4 Cube design, and had this belief that when I grow up to a steady paycheck, I’d buy a Mac Pro for myself - simply to have it because it looks so cool and awesome. Fast forward to present, and I wouldn’t think to buy a thing where its utility value for me is so small. I’m quite happy with my 15-inch Macbook Pro, and for what I do with it, there’s no reason to upgrade to the new Mac Pro.

Besides, I’ve come to enjoy the portability potential of the Mac laptop, even though currently 99% of the time it’s plugged into power on the desk. You just never know when you might have to move out in quick notice.

I almost moved out?

One thing I’ve always had in mind is that when I do move out of the house, it has to be some place extremely close to work; close enough to get there in around 15 minutes, whichever the method of transportation. Living in the Bay Area I’m quite familiar with the horrid commutes many people have, and the last thing I want is to join that party. If my living situation is going to change, then decreasing the amount of time it takes to get to work is a must-have criteria. Otherwise, I don’t really see a point: there’s no good to having my own place if I’m miserable from the daily commute.

Problem is, obviously, it’s extremely expensive to rent a spot in San Francisco, much less on the west side of the city where the university is. And let’s not even speak of actually buying a house in the area, a downright impossibility, unless the housing situation changes dramatically, or I hit the lottery. That being said, I browse the rental ads on Craigslist periodically to gauge the market, and to see if anything will pop up that’s reasonably affordable, with superb proximity to work.

Last week, one such place did materialize. A mere 10 minute walk from campus, it was a newly refurbished in-law studio renting for $1,600 a month, all inclusive. Squeaking in at just under the 1/3 of income rule for a lease, the place was eminently affordable, somewhat to my surprise (I guess the market has soften a bit). Of course, the most alluring attribute is the closeness to campus; to be able to simply walk to work is an absolute dream. There’s a mall with a Target and Trader Joe’s only two blocks away, so it could not be more convenience in terms of living necessities, too.

Later that week I went and saw the place (it was indeed lovely), and then started on viability calculations before I officially apply. Unfortunately, the math did not rule in the favor of leasing: I can afford the place, but due to rental costs, I’d be saving very little every month (if at all) - house poor, as they say. The problem is the big financial purchase I made this January: my Porsche 911 GT3. Had I bought a way more sensible sports car, one that doesn’t cost four-figures to keep every month, I think I would have handed in the application this past weekend.

I did think about selling the 911, though that has its own conundrums and difficulties. I unconditionally adore the car, and letting it go would leave a huge gaping spot in my car enthusiasm. The GT3 is suppose to be the ‘forever car’, so selling it after only one year of ownership would be devastatingly irresponsible. Porsche cars hold their values well, but that doesn’t mean they don’t depreciate: my 911 have loss about $20,000 in value since January, a real, tangible decrease if I actually sell the car. Not to mention I’ll never get the five-figure in taxes I paid when I purchase the car back. Some States let you offset the tax if you trade for another car; communist California sadly doesn’t.

It seems I have to see that process through with the 911 until I can make another huge financial move. I wouldn’t call the car an albatross, but I think it would be wise to accelerate paying off the rest of it so I can have some flexibility. New years resolution for 2020, perhaps?

Top 10 songs lists

Continuing on yesterday’s discussion about people already putting a bookend to 2019 but we’ve still got the entire month of December left to go, later on that evening, I saw people posting their top 10 Spotify plays of the year (Spotify 2019 Wrapped, officially), which is fascinating. While I think it’s a bit premature to do the list now rather than waiting until say the last week of December, it’s probably not likely there’s going to be a new song release this month that will accrue enough plays to beat out songs released far earlier in the year.

I think can safely say that no one is going to stream the new Taylor Swift Christmas song for hundreds of times within the next twenty or so days.

The calendar will soon turn towards the next decade, and yet I still haven’t gotten onboard with music streaming, be it with Spotify, or Apple Music. I greatly prefer to keep and store physical, totally not pirated, copies of music in my vast iTunes library, something that’s gradually grown since I bought my very first Mac laptop during sophomore year of university. I don’t want to deal with importing and remaking playlists, much less lose the entire stats on the number of plays over the years.

Now that I think about it, I had a good opportunity to migrate to streaming earlier in the year. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I lost possession of my iMac, and with it my music collection. Obviously, I made backups of all the songs, but the iTunes library data was gone, meaning I had to start completely over: reconstruct playlists, and the play counts starting back at zero. If wanting to preserve those things were indeed what was holding me back from converting to streaming, then it’s curious that I continued on with physical songs after the “wipeout”.

Habits are difficult to change, I guess.

So unfortunately for me, I don’t have the full statistics for the music I listened to this year - half the year’s plays are gone. But, play-count is not how I like to construct my yearly top 10 music list anyways: I actually analyze the totality of the new songs (to me ) this year and pick out the 10 most impactful. Because often times, the song with the most plays just happens to be the most catchy, rather than any sort of great meaning.