Blog

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

It's my birthday

Today is my birthday. For moment I had to do some calculations to remember I am turning 34 years of age. It seems since turning 30, you don’t really keep precise track of how old you are. The entire decade of your 30s is just one giant blob. Only when it’s time for the big 40 will there be another existential crisis and reckoning. Much like how turning 30 was.

No need to lament getting older; it’s part of the natural process. It sure beats the opposite: death. A bit morbid, yes, but that’s how I like to keep things in perspective. I’m immensely grateful for another full turn of the calendar.

10 years ago when I turned 24 I wrote that I would play for the next decade. Once I turn 34, I will settle down and get serious about being an adult. Well, here I am 10 years later, and all I can say is: don’t make goals and predictions that far out into the future. What does “settling down” even mean anyways? Domesticity is definitely not something I want nor ready for. I’ve only barely moved out of my parents’ house last year! I’m enjoying the single and alone life quite well at the moment.

I bought a whole plate of poké from Costco yesterday and ate it all by myself. Tell me if that’s not the dream.

Besides, these last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic definitely put the timeline (so to speak) on pause. It’s partly why I forgot how old I was turning today. What chance is there to properly celebrate birthdays when it isn’t safe to gather together? No matter how much we’ve improved or what skill we learned during these times, the coronavirus era is definitely lost years.

What I’m saying is: that pseudo pledge I made 10 years ago? Doesn’t count! Not yet, anyways: I need at least two years tacked on top. Cheers to many more returns.

Ergonomics and amortization

In my search to perfect (as much as possible) the ergonomic situation with my desk, the best thing I bought for that purpose actually costs very little. It’s a footrest, to elevate your feet for a better posture. With my chair set at the proper height (arms at 90 degree angle when typing), my feet are a bit dangly in relation to the floor. This $40 piece of memory foam solves that problem. It’s been an absolutely revelation since it arrived. I should have bought one way sooner.

A two-hour photo editing session with no discomfort whatsoever. What a joy.

I’m still debating whether or not to get a standing desk. I’ve got one of those at work and I try to stand as much as possible while there. So I figured that once I come home, it’s quite okay to sit the rest the time. But what about on weekends? It would be nice to alternate between sit and stand every now and then. However, I just spend nearly $9,000 on a monitor and a laptop, so I’m not in the mood to drop another thousand on the standing desk that I want.

That said, I’ve been using my current desk - the long discontinued IKEA Fredrik - for well over a decade. I fully expect any new desk I purchase will be used for at least that long. A thousand dollar amortized over that length of time isn’t all that much money from that perspective. That’s the same rationale I used for spending $5,000 on an Apple Pro Display XDR: I plan to keep and use it for at least 10 years.

Perhaps a standing desk will be coming soon. But first I need to get my piano situation sorted. I’ve been unable to practice because I gave my iPad to my father. The tablet is where I load lessons from Piano Marvel. Due to circumstances, my father needed an iPad quickly, so I let him have mine, thinking it would be easy enough to buy a plain iPad (not Air, not Pro, not anything) from the Apple Store. Unfortunately, the crazy supply chain is at it again: the cheapest iPad you can buy is backordered into the middle of January.

No (new) practicing until that time, which isn’t ideal for my progression, honestly.

Too many crazies out there

Sometimes I forget I even have a BMW M2 Competition: an expensive and fast car by normal standards. I would often look at car videos on Youtube and think to myself, “It would be so cool to have one of these”. Only to realize, “Wait a minute, I already own a cool car!”. One of the very best, too. Top Gear host Chris Harris has a BMW M2 (albeit in limited edition CS trim), and everybody knows he only buys the properly fun stuff.

It’s probably because I drive my M2 so seldomly - it’s almost as if I don’t have a car at all. With the recent high gas prices and the fact I walk to work, the weekend pleasure drives just haven’t been that often. I was also stuck in a rut because my new MacBook Pro has yet to arrive. The mental will to take the BMW out for a spin has largely been absent.

Then there’s the fact that coming out of COVID, drivers on the road are absolutely crazy. The de-facto speed limit on highways now are 80 miles-per-hour, which is a bit too fast for me who likes to cruise at 70. A month ago during a huge rain storm with heavy flooding on the roadways, people didn’t slow down at all! They either forgot how to drive in adverse conditions (it’s been awhile since the Bay Area had much rain), or they don’t care. The size of modern SUVs belies a false comfort that they can drive through anything.

Irresponsible drivers really piss me off.

Even on a typical Sunday morning, when everything should be relaxed and calm, there are still aggravated drivers. Way too much speeding and tailgating going on for my comfort levels. It’s a shame to say this, but I have come to detest driving on public roads. There’s no joy there, only stress. For sure one should pay attention to the road at all times, but it takes an extra level of concentration to drive out there these days. It’s tiring, so I don’t drive as much as I should with owning the fantastic M2.

Equilibrium

Finally. After six of the longest week in my human history, the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 Max chip has arrived on my desk. Never before have I waited so long for a piece of hardware. The chip shortage is real. God speed to my fellow travelers in the massive Reddit thread of people awaiting their orders.

50 days. I’ve gone 50 whole days without my main computer. In order to pay for a specced-out brand new MacBook Pro, I had to trade-in the old one (I say old; it was a 2019 model, which is still plenty fresh and capable). With the gift card in hand, then I was able to put in an order for the new unit. The last time I did this, I was only without a computer for about a week. This go round, the wait for truly awful.

The mighty supply chain, man.

I’m the type of person who hates the in-between times of things actually getting done. Especially something as crucial as replacing my main laptop, the one with my entire digital life on it. Compounding the frustration is the fact I can’t control any of it. What can I really do if Apple can’t build their latest MacBook Pros fast enough? At least with something like a broken appliance I can stay up all night if necessary to fix the problem. And I’ve done it. I can’t go to sleep knowing my monitor isn’t functioning correctly!

So yeah, it’s been a rough six weeks. I couldn’t get into the groove of life at all. Something just wasn’t quite right until the new MacBook Pro was in my hands. Soon as the backup was done transferring over from the Time Machine disk, I felt mentally whole again. Everything in my life is back to an equilibrium (selling the family’s leased Hyundai Tucson was another big thing on my plate), and I can simply get on with it.

The really small stuff

What I’ve tried to do lately is not procrastinate on the small things. To take care of the small niggles and matters soon as they pop up. Simple things like refilling the soap bottle right as I noticed it’s running low, or cutting up the cardboard and throwing it into recycling soon as I receive a package. I have to say the effort is worth it, because the future me is not rueing the present me for not having done the simple task already.

Try not to make the future you hate the present you.

I guess I’ve always been somewhat okay in that regard, proactively handle things as they come instead of putting it off further down the line. What I’m talking about here then is the really small tasks, the ones that takes no effort ignore. It’s no pain to leave that coffee mug unwashed until I come back from work. But when I do return in the evening, I do hate seeing that mug still in the sink, wondering why I haven’t washed it already.

Preparation is key here: to get as much done as possible so that I’m not piling on stress for my future self. Again, I’m talking about the small stuff: checking the tire pressure on the BMW M2 on schedule, or filling it up with gas soon as I notice the gauge is low (instead of waiting for the next drive). The future me is going to appreciate getting into a car with an already full tank of gas, and proper tire pressures.

Because the small annoyances of life that’s easily ignorable, like a squeaky door hinge begging for a blast of WD40, will compound into something significant if you don’t get it fixed. What’s better? Fixing the squeak right now, or having to listen to it every single day indefinitely? Easy choice to be sure, but in action it can be surprisingly difficult to not procrastinate. So that’s what I’m working on lately.

Let's take a walk

The Whole Foods at the local mall a few blocks away is finally opening up soon. I am one step further to having absolutely everything I need within walking distance. Of course, I don’t have the paycheck to afford a frequent Whole Foods habit, but let’s just gloss over that for a second. I can walk to a Whole Foods in less than 10 minutes! The hot foods section will be my sanctuary.

What would be clutch is if the same mall with the Whole Foods also had a post office, and either a UPS or Fedex store. I seldom send boxes out, but when I do, it currently still involves in getting into a car. Functionally I guess I can walk to the nearest USPS: the plaza is about 30 minutes away by foot. Same plaza also has a UPS Store and a Fedex Office. A bit of a walk isn’t so bad, now that I’m typing about it.

These days I really loathe to get into a car for anything. Coming out of the pandemic, drivers on the road are far too aggravated. Even on an early Sunday morning when everything is supposed to be relaxed and joyful, there’s still drivers who are too willing to tailgate, too willing to weave through traffic. What’s the bloody hurry, honestly? Way too many crazies out there that I can’t get truly comfortable in my M2. I’m always on high alert.

Leisure drives on a winding mountain road would counteract that, but have you seen gas prices lately? Two weeks ago I filled up on 91 octane at $5.25 a gallon! At that price, I actually wouldn’t have been able to fill up my old 911 GT3’s 26-gallon tank in one go. The one time maximum at most pumps is a measly $100 dollars. No such problems with the M2’s relatively tiny 13-gallon fuel tank. Gas prices would have to reach near the $10 dollar mark for that to happen.

Our European cousins would say to our gas prices: “That’s nothing!”

Suffice it to say then, I’m not driving all that much lately. Having almost everything within walking distance is truly a luxury, and a real stress reducer. An Asian city style of living that I adore so much.

There is a small FedEx drop-off point at work…

Waiting for aluminum

Now that I have a Pro Display XDR safely secured to my desk, I am really itching for the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 Max chip to arrive. I still can’t believe that it is scheduled to take seven weeks from when I first ordered it to (October 23rd) to ship to my door. The global chip shortage is real. Even so, even knowing I’ve got about three weeks of wait to go, I can’t help but check the order status page once every few hours, hoping against hope that perhaps I might get the new MacBook Pro sooner.

There’s even a thread on Reddit where all of us waiting for our Apple laptops can commiserate together.

I count myself lucky that I was able to get an iPhone 13 Pro on launch weekend. Apparently the stock of those things, plus the new Apple Watch, are highly constrained as well.

The chip shortage seems to be getting worse, if you’re following the news. BMW announced that they are doing away with touchscreen on most of their lineup until further notice, save the expensive models with an ‘M’ badge. As an owner of a BMW M2 Competition with a touchscreen, I can say it would be no big deal to me if I were confined to only using the physical controls. I hardly touch the screen anyways, because I hate leaving fingerprints on it.

That’s a bit idiosyncratic to me for sure. If I had a BMW on order and now suddenly the dealer is telling me there will be no touchscreen function, I would be annoyed. Getting $500 back in return doesn’t really help the situation when there is an absolute shortage of new cars, and I’m probably paying MSRP (or above) for the BMW in the first place!

I’m so glad I’m not in the market for a new car right now.

Especially for a GM vehicle. Similar to BMW, they’ve announced they are also cutting features from their lineup due to the chip shortage. Instead of touchscreen, GM is doing away with heated seats. This move is baffling to me because heated seats is a feature that is universally loved, and we are heading into the winter season. On cold mornings I really appreciate the heated seats and heated steering wheel of my M2. I would hate to lose those functions just because the world has ran out of silicon chips.

I would bet a not insignificant amount of potential GM car buyers will look elsewhere. Losing touchscreen function is either here nor there; losing heated seats? That’s a deal-breaker in my opinion.