Blog

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

What second wave?

So, the coronavirus is gone now? Everything can go back to normal?

That is of course an absurd thing to say, because even after over three months of lockdown, the number of new COVID-19 case are not going down. We don’t have to worry about the “second wave” later this year because the first wave still hasn’t ended! (Genius!) And to think that San Francisco - and California - is going ahead with reopening plans; as much as I really want to have a meal at a restaurant with my friends, right now is still seems far from the ideal time to do so. You’d hope to at least see a statistically significant dipping trend in new cases first.

We are so not there yet.

I think we are absolutely playing with fire with the protesting that’s been happening all around the country. This is not to disparage against the message of the protests; the fact it has to happen during this crazy time of quarantine is such an unfortunate coincidence. This many people clustered together cannot be a good thing for stopping the virus spread, no matter if people are wearing masks. Because if the opposite is true, then we wouldn’t have had to majorly shutdown for three months, and my friend’s wedding isn’t getting postponed.

Again, it has to be said I greatly support the message of the protests, and if the negative consequences towards potentially prolonging the COVID-19 pandemic is a necessary cost to move this country forward, then so be it. But then cities will have to allow other gatherings as well, because on a base level it’s super unfair to (for example) the person who just lost a grandparent and is prohibited from holding a proper ceremony with attending family and friends. I don’t think it’s right to be selective about what gatherings are allowed; there’s no rational explanation - the coronavirus doesn’t discriminate.

If protests must happen, then you might as well open back up other gathering opportunities as well. Whether or not people will actually go to those things is another matter, but it’s wrong to forbid a gym from opening when there are people protested down the street.

I bought something

Well, I did it! It took three months, but I finally made a superfluous purchase since the COVID-19 lockdown began in March. With so much economic uncertainty in the air, I was in absolute savings mode from the very beginning, hoping that I wouldn’t need that money, but it would be a lifesaver if I do. Other than the standard amount of bills that never seems to go away (hello, Porsche), I spent as little money as possible on extraneous things. I did make a point to support my local restaurants by ordering out more frequently than I ever had before.

But enough virtue signaling; with some money burning a hole in my savings account, the itchy shopping fingers are always on active duty. I would be lying if I said I didn’t peruse the Internet for things to buy, from yet another set of headphones, all the way to a whole entire car (a used 2016 Mazda Miata Sport, please). Lucky for me I didn’t pull a trigger on any of it, until yesterday afternoon when a creator I’ve been following for the longest time offered a set of prints for sale on his storefront. As a self-proclaimed artist myself, it’s a mission of mine to support fellow artists that I like.

Joey Lee’s brand - The Chronicles - of automotive storytelling is something I’ve kept tabs on for over a decade now. He combines together the three things I like most: cars, writing, and photography. I really admire his endeavor of striking out and finding his own freelancing niche; as someone who has to answer to corporate overlords, it’s a sort of example of what my life can look like if I ever had the balls to do the same. But then I would surely have to sell the GT3, which as of right now is not something I can remotely entertain; I am still madly in love with that car.

Anyways, Joey threw up a set of prints up for sale, and a particular one that caught my eye is of a Honda Civic hatchback doing a night blast on the freeways of Osaka. Not a day goes by that I’m not nostalgic about my trip to Japan from last summer, so having the print up on the wall will be a nice reminder and inspiration. The problem then becomes, are frame places even open during these times?

Another Apple switch

I can still remember way back when Steve Jobs announced that Apple is transitioning from the PowerPC to Intel processors. Back in 2005, I wasn’t quite the Apple product evangelist as I am now, so my initial reaction was one of fancying the idea that I can finally run Windows on a Mac. Even in those days, Apple had the edge over PC makers in terms of aesthetics and build quality (titanium Powerbook, anyone?), but the Mac lineup was woefully underpowered compared to the PCs I can build running on Pentium processors. The switch to Intel allowed me to finally seek out a Mac computer, and during my second year of college in 2007, I bought my first Macbook.

Funny enough, to this day I’ve yet to run an instance of Windows on any of my Apple computers. I didn’t know it in 2005, but MacOS (or OS X as it was then called) offers a vastly superior experience to the Microsoft operating system.

These days, strong rumors are circling around that during this year’s WWDC, Apple will announce a transition to the ARM architecture for its Mac, a seismic shift similar to the change to Intel some 15 years ago. Who could’ve thought that Intel will suffer the same fate as the PowerPC, and become abandoned by Apple because of failure to innovate at as quickly as Apple wants. Apple’s engineering on the ARM processor for its illustrious iPhones and iPads have so surpassed Intel’s development on their own chips that Apple seems to have finally pulled the plug on the partnership - it sees no future with the chipmaking icon.

Especially not when Apple’s own A series chips are soundly beating Intel processors in synthetic benchmarks, and for a fraction of the costs, one presumes (vertical integration and whatnot).

What a time to be alive that I get to witness another revolutionary switch to the Mac architecture. It will be interesting to see how Apple will handle the change from the x86 instruction set to ARM. If history is anything go by (hello, headphone jack), legacy apps are going to get swiftly left behind with no mercy. However, I reckon software makers are quite ready for the transition, because so many are already used to coding for the iPhone platform that’s been on the ARM architecture for over a decade. Surely Apple will do the most to help make the conversion to ARM as quick as possible. I bet when the first Mac is released with Apple chips, there won’t be an emulator for x86 apps in MacOS.

MacOS running on ARM; imagine that!

Steering feel is important

Today was a rare day (during these times) I had to physically go to work, so I borrowed my brother’s car for the commute. With COVID-19 still running wild in these streets - despite what the massive protests may look like - I was not about to get on a bus full of people. Nothing again the people on buses; you simply can’t properly socially distance inside one. Even UBER or LYFT isn’t that safe, since you’ve no idea who the previous riders are, if they’re asymptomatic of the coronavirus or not. I think those of us lucky enough to have a choice of commuting with a private car are going to opt for that over the other options for the foreseeable future.

Had my brother not gotten laid off from his job due to the quarantine and therefore leaves behind a car for me to drive, I probably would have purchased another car by now to get me to work.

His car is a lovely Audi A3, 2018 edition, which honestly is a bit of a letdown compared to my weekend toy of a 911 GT3. Granted, I’m not a snob about these things: cars serve a purpose, and for the tasks of getting you from point A to point B, dull and boring is quite okay. So long as the car is a comfortable place to be, which is the A3 is. What I can’t overlook however - as soon as I turned the wheel around the block - is how awfully numb the steering is. There’s almost no feedback, as if I’m controlling the car like one does in a racing game with a wheel controller. I think my family’s Hyundai Tucson has more steering feel than the A3, which is a great shame.

Not even superb Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires can save the experience.

Of course, I’m merely nitpicking here, because as a commuting tool the Audi A3 suffices perfectly. If it were my own money, I’d probably get something with slightly more feel in the steering. It doesn’t have to drip with feedback like the rack in the 911 GT3, but I would prefer at least some sensation on what the front-end is doing at a given time. Barring a reputation for good steering feel, my next car purchase for a daily-driver - should it come to that - must involve a test-drive. Numb, lifeless steering is probably a deal-breaker.

If a Hyundai SUV can provide some semblance of feel, other cars and manufacturers really don’t have an excuse.

The ultimate driving

It was the best drive I’ve had in a very long time.

This past Sunday, it was time once again to take the 911 out for a spin. It’s been an entire month since I last moved it - due to the COVID-19 lockdown situation - so it was somewhat overdue for a bit of mechanical warmup and battery charging. Of course, in typical German fashion, the Porsche started right up on the third spin of the starter motor. The exterior that hasn’t been washed since the February is decidedly dusty now, but as they say, you can’t see the outside once you are sat on the inside.

For some reason, this particular drive was extra good. In recent weeks, it feels as if there’s been a weight taken off me, a part of an ongoing practice of being in the present. There’s been a breakthrough of sorts that allowed me to let go of something that’s been subtlety bothering me for the longest time. Freed from those burdens, I was able to concentrate fully on simply driving the 911, rather than having a thousand other thoughts running through my mind. I rediscovered what a joy and privilege it is to be able to own a sports car of this caliber; the scent of the leather, and the tactility of the controls.

Even though the San Mateo mountains were teeming with outdoorsy folks enjoying a sunny weekend, and the roads were mired with more traffic than usual, it didn’t dampen the spirit of the drive any less. I was so completely focused on interacting with the car that it didn’t matter I wasn’t able to go the speeds a car enthusiast would prefer. The bliss was purely from being there driving, and going nowhere in particular. With music playing on the stereo in the background to accompany the sweet engine noise, it was calm and meditative experience. I can still feel the euphoric glow as I’m typing this a whole day after.

Being utterly present in the moment and letting go of things that don’t matter is such a powerful practice.

Yeah maybe not

Okay, maybe this is a bad idea.

Every weekday I try to watch at least one hour of Korean-language television. It’s part of my ongoing quest to learn Korean that’s going on its fifth year. I’ve long surpassed the stage of book study, and now must rely on Korean shows to keep my mind fresh of the language. In my day-to-day life, there’s obviously very little exposure to Korean, outside of music.

The television shows I tend to watch are variety shows, because the words spoken between people are more natural and “everyday”, matching what you’d hear if you were dropped in the middle of Seoul (I can confirm). In contrast, the dialogue in scripted drama series always sounded a bit contrived to my ears, which is why I seldom watch them for my studying. Besides, I’m afraid that a series would be so good, I wouldn’t be able to stop and move on to other tasks.

Today I made the mistake of choosing a travel program to watch. Its’ a show about Kpop group ITZY’s adventures in Paris, France. Not to say there’s anything wrong with the program, it’s just that seeing people traveling to foreign countries and enjoying life threw up a massive mirror back to our current coronavirus predicament - none of us are taking a trip anywhere via airplane anytime soon. It’s a bit sad that I wouldn’t be visiting somewhere far in 2020, a would-be continuation of a binge of foreign trips in the past five years.

This would have been the year I finally make it to Europe, or go back to my beloved South Korea; you know, to use my improved Korean skills. But, as we can all see on social media, there are far bigger things going on right now.

Zoom zoom

Someday, I am sure there will be books written on just how Skype have utterly lost the video-conferencing market to Zoom. In this new coronavirus world, Zoom has become the de-facto standard for remote communication, the keyword that comes out of the tongue when we wish to contact a group of people simultaneously. Zoom is now to video-conferencing what Kleenex is to tissue, an astounding achievement given that just a decade ago, Skype was the verb for remote video calling.

How the tables have turned.

Working in the field of IT support, it’s thanks to Zoom that my coworkers and I were able to transition to telecommuting so easily. More than simply providing a medium for face-to-face contact, Zoom has support-focused features such as remote control of a user’s computer, allowing us to troubleshoot as if the particular laptop were physical right in front of us. It even allows a tech to prompt a user to restart their computer, and upon boot up, Zoom would automatically launch and rejoin the same meeting.

It’s all rather magical, and it just works. (Shoutout to Apple.)

Of course, Zoom has nearly singlehandedly keep education alive during this quarantine, enabling teachers and students to conduct virtual classrooms. It wasn’t without an adjustment period, but for the most part, at least from an IT support perspective, Zoom has been consistent and super reliable. I can remember some time ago when Zoom was announced as the official conferencing platform for our school. My initial thought was: why not Skype? What the heck is a Zoom? Little did I know that many years later, Zoom would play such a crucial part to campus functions during COVID-19.

Of course, having a paid Zoom account - due to work - allowed me to host meetings with my friends on weekends. No need to worry about the 40 minute time limit that free Zoom accounts are restricted to. To be able to remotely gather around each Saturday to chat and play some games was a much-needed distraction from the lockdown situation, a semblance of the human connection we dearly missed being thus confined to our respective homes.

Microsoft isn’t hurting financially by any means, but they’ve got be a little sour that Zoom has taken the crown from Skype, right?