Blog

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

Showering thoughts

What is it about showers that induce me to start thinking ahead to the next day? Why can’t I simply enjoy the shower itself and not really think about anything at all?

Is this caused by the particular time I take showers? I do so at night right before I go to bed, so perhaps it triggers a sort of preparedness protocol and I start to get ready for the next work day. Best to not let any time go to waste, right? Get ready for tomorrow while I lather myself with suds.

This is a bad habit of mine that I prefer to get rid of, because thinking about the future takes me away from the present, and that’s always a dangerous game, not the least of which I don’t get to have the peace that the present is giving me (a shower should be a calming experience). How short-sighted is it to be thinking about tomorrow’s work when there’s still a whole night’s sleep to go; what usually happens is I carry those worries and simulations of what the next day will bring right into bedtime, which affects how quickly I can fall into slumber.

I need to just let it be.

Perhaps it’s a sign of the current situation that those of us with employment are slightly worried about how permanent it will remain. The coronavirus is still raging through this country, so there’s absolutely no predictability to the future; security one day can be gone the next. What do humans do when they feel like they don’t have control? They cling, and I reckon stressing over doing the job for the next day whilst in the shower the previous night is a form of clinging. The false impression that if I try extra hard at work, that will somehow save me from the layoff axe, should that come to be.

Even if there may be some truth to that, and that one should always strive to do the best regardless, stressing over work during off the clock hours is never a good thing. Unless that work is your life’s passion project, which my current employment definitely is not. In these times of COVID-19, having balance is crucial; those of us lucky enough to have the option, anyways.

Take care.

On HD televisions

I can fondly remember the first time I upgraded to a proper HD television. At 32-inches, the Sony Bravia isn’t large compared to the common behemoths of today, but the huge jump to 1080p resolution was stunning all the same. Those were the days when I’d find any excuse to dig up some HD content to enjoy the sheer picture quality that’s being blasted in front of our eyes. The Planet Earth series was an absolutely treat; so was “The Lighting of the Beacons” scene in the The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. HD was such a significant leap that I felt like I was participating in something off in the future, but I’ve somehow gained early access. It was a delightful.

Fast forward to today, and here I am still with my 1080p television, though it’s since grown to a lofty 58-inches in size. The 4K revolution is largely complete now - I don’t suppose you can even purchase a 1080p unit right now - yet I still do not feel a great need to upgrade; the incentives just aren’t there. Broadcast television still isn’t fully 1080p yet, and with Netflix you have to pay extra if you want 4K streaming. The next generation of gaming consoles from Sony and Microsoft touts 4K playability, but until there is a game to entice me to upgrade (such as whatever the next Grand Theft Auto will be), I’m quite okay with my original SKU Playstation 4.

It’s really easy to get used to something that once awed you immensely, to become bored with it and needing to chase after the next innovation to placate the human insatiability for novelty. This is how people get onto the endless hedonistic treadmill, feeling the need to keep buying news things. As an owner of a sports car costing in the six-figures, I totally get it, though I also gained the understanding that these shiny objects aren’t going to make us happy if we’re not at a base level happy to begin with. The increase in joy from achieving whatever newness is momentary and fleeting, and soon we’ll be back to our old normal, chasing after the next hit.

Owing a 911 hasn’t made me any happier than before, though that’s okay because that’s something to work on from within, rather than hinging on external objects or circumstances. I think it’s important to remember the initial joy when we first attained our nice things - like a sports car or HD television - to carry that burst of happiness through to the present. This exercise makes me grateful to have these things now, and how much I’d wish I did if that weren’t the case. That should be satisfaction enough.

Please be kind

Though I try to remain positive, times are indeed chaotic right now, and many people are going through much difficulty. Even those lucky to not be ensnared by the grasp of the coronavirus may be facing intense economic hardship. or are at their wit’s end with concerning about their children’s education prospects in the immediate future. We’re all trying to be as normal as possible during these decidedly abnormal times, and I think it’s important to keep in mind that it’s possible to have a bad day, and to offer grace to those who may not momentarily live up to our perceive standards of social decency.

We have to keep kindness; for ourselves, and others.

Is there really any use being angry at someone else because things aren’t going your way? Perhaps the line into Trader Joe’s a just a bit too long, and you’re incensed that you have to wait for half an hour in the beating sun before you’re let in; what purpose would taking out your frustration on the line usher serve? An usher who cannot change the situation, and who is probably simply happy that he’s still got a job right now. We can’t treat our everyday situation as normal until things have completely gone back to normal, even if the facade says otherwise.

On the flip side, as a pseudo service person myself (IT support), I have to also be mindful the angry customer may be going through some issues, and them being unreasonable at this moment is a not a reflection of who they are as a person. They’re also simply coping as best as they can, and perhaps complaining why the turnaround time for a laptop service is in the weeks - seemingly forgetting what sort of time we are living in - is just symptomatic of the current circumstances. There’s no need for me to retaliate or increase the snark; it wouldn’t be productive, and I’d be the one suffering the stress.

Try not to be unreasonable during these times, but also don’t be upset at others being unreasonable; what we are living through right now is era-defining and unprecedented. Please be kind.

Internet usage

One thing lost in the work-from-home shuffle is how much additional Internet bandwidth we use while we’re all stuck at home. The lucky few may have unlimited Internet (hello, friends with Sonic fiber), but I bet most of our Internet service providers implement data caps. For example, my provider Comcast has a one terabyte monthly limit, with each additional block of 50 gigabytes costing $10 dollars (extortionate). Under normal situations our family of four would never approach that limit, but during these COVID times with many Zoom meetings and extra Netflix sessions, bandwidth gets used up rather quickly.

Due to the ever kindness of Comcast (ha ha!), it eliminated its data caps for the three months after the coronavirus outbreak began back in March. In support of people working from home and children learning remotely, customers like us were able to use as much data as we like. Which explains why it never entered my mind that all this extra usage would cause a problem in the future. July marks the first month the unlimited data is no more, though Comcast increased the typical one terabyte cap to 1.2, surely a result of having done the calculations, and the slight increase should cover a vast majority of customer usage patterns.

Comcast will also show customers how much bandwidth they have used during the initial quarantine months, so they can have a sense of scale and if needed, cut back now that the data cap is back in place. Unfortunately for my household, the stats are not so good: for the three months since March, we went over the one terabyte cap in all three; two out of the three we’ve even gone past the new 1.2 terabyte allowance. Now that the data restrictions are in effect, I’am going to have to keep an eye on our consumption and adjust accordingly.

This massive increase in data use is not something we’ve been talking about, though I suspect it will become an issue for people now that caps have returned. Companies expect employees to work from home, but what they don’t compensate for is the additional bandwidth needed to support that task, and if doing so pushes someone over the data limits, it can get really expensive. Unlike the self-employed, we don’t get to itemize home Internet as a business expense; I think one can reasonably argue it has become just that in the times of COVID-19.

Of course, I am incredibly lucky to still be employed and able to work remotely.

This is a special car

I wonder: how much this would have cost me if the car didn’t have its certified preowned warranty?

Yesterday I took the GT3 in for an unscheduled visit to the dealership because the HVAC system was not doing anything at all: no air would come out of the vents, no matter the setting. This issue was confirmed on Tuesday, and I was surprised I was able to get an appointment only two days later - provided that I select the option for waiting while the work is being done (Appointments where a loaner car would be provided are many weeks out). This would prove to be an error on my part.

Because apparently you cannot treat Porsche GT cars as normal; only a special group of mechanics are allowed to work on them, and depending on their schedule, your car might not be looked at right away. In essence, every time a GT car comes in for service, expect to leave it there for a at least a few days. Being new to the Porsche GT car world, I didn’t not know about this until yesterday when my service advisor informed me to the fact: diagnostics will take more than a few hours, and that I should find transportation home instead of waiting potentially the whole day at the dealership and still might not get to take the GT3 home at the end.

The proper way to do it - should I desire a loaner car - would be to either call the service advisor directly to schedule, or to select the appointment times with that option on the online scheduler. A 911 GT3 is definitely not the typical Toyota Corolla, though the Corolla probably wouldn’t need any unscheduled service visits because being a Toyota product, nothing will break ever. Honestly though, I rather get this fixed quickly than to wait a few weeks just so my service experience would be a bit more comfortable. Driving a car without any ventilation during Summer is far from ideal.

So what is actually wrong with my GT3’s HVAC system? Apparently the main blower has failed, and the entire unit is being replaced. Thanks to the car still having its CPO warranty, this will cost me exactly zero dollars out of pocket. This episode is a good reminder to purchase an aftermarket extended warranty once the CPO one expires; I simply cannot trust a German-made car to not have extraneous problems throughout its life. Insurance for the peace of mind is well worth it.

Sleep experiment day three

Today is officially the third day of shifting my sleep schedule experiment to an earlier sleep and wake hour, and honestly I am rather sleepy right now as I am typing this after having just woken up. I guess my body clock still thinks 6:30AM is insanely early, therefore it must be out of the normal for me to be awake, and hence this groggy feeling in autoimmune response. This is precisely why the first order of business every morning have been straight to the coffee machine.

I have to say it’s really nice to wake up during a time when the sun is just beginning to make its transition from sunrise to fully bright. To witness the ultimate power in our nature do the thing it has done for over four billion years is a humbling sight. It sort of reminds me of our sheer insignificance in the universe, how we’re all mere travelers on a spinning marble mass within a universe that’s an unimaginable light-years in size. Seeing a sunrise makes the small things that are currently bothering me right now becomes trivial in an instant, refocusing me onto truly what’s important in life.

Not sure I meant for a philosophical lesson simply by choosing to wake up earlier, but there it is.

The morning hours are indeed some of the most tranquil and quiet of the day, and I’m massively enjoying the early stillness to go into a meditative state and get some tasks done. It creates something to look forward to every night before I go to bed, that the next morning I will get to have these hours of blissful calm. It makes falling asleep easier, and also creates an eagerness to actually get out of the bed when the alarm clock inevitably signals.

Even though I’m still quite sleepy.

Not even air cooled

I always knew it’s was a reliability risk in buying a German car rather than one made in Japan, even one as beautifully engineered as a 911, from a brand - Porsche - that’s got a great contrarian record of reliability. My one plus year with the GT3 was going quite well free of any hiccups. but the curse of the German car gremlins struck this past weekend while I was taking the car out for a drive to charge the battery, after having sat unmoved for over three weeks (COVID conditioning, I’d call it).

It was a typical cool day in San Francisco, so I didn’t notice it initially; after 15 minutes or so on the drive, I started to feel a bit stuffy and hot, which is abnormal because the car’s automatic climate control is set to 70 degrees fahrenheit at all times. I checked the air vents with my hands and felt a slight breeze coming out, so I dismissed the thought of anything being amiss; perhaps I just happened to catch the sun at a bad angle or something.

It wasn’t until I got further south - and the outside temperature climbed into the upper 80s - did I realize that something was wrong: the cabin was indeed getting hotter and hotter. As a test, I pressed the button for maximum air conditioning, but absolutely no air came out of the vents: the usual loud cyclone of whooshing noises were nowhere to be found. I then turned off the AC, and manually bumped up the fan speed; again, nothing, not a breath of air can be felt from the ventilation system.

I found a highway rest stop to momentarily park the car to see if turning it off and back on (it’s a cliche in the tech support world because it works an amazing amount of time) would do the trick to resolve the problem. Sadly it did not. Faced with rising temperatures with no way to cool down the interior, I resorted to head home and make an appointment at the dealership for the earliest possible date. Hilarious that I was just writing last week about the the negative aspects of owning a car - the time and money you have to spend when things go awry, like a tire puncture, or in my case, a malfunctioning HVAC system.

At least I get to tick this off my list: a German-made car with an unscheduled visit to the dealer service department.