Blog

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

Two a days

When you’re training with a friend for a 10K run, and also going swimming with another friend to keep him consistent, sometimes you have to do both on the same day. That was precisely my scenario this past weekend. I ran about four miles in the morning, then did 15 laps at the local pool in the afternoon. A day of pure, unadulterated cardio. I practically did two out of a three events that make up a triathlon. And if I owned a bike, I probably would have done the third just to feel more fantastic.

The best part about working out that much in one day is of course the food afterwards. That’s certainly why I work out: to eat slightly unhealthily and still be okay. The aesthetic stuff is just a bonus. How else can I eat a KFC three-piece box meal without any guilt? It’s even better when you get to share the meal with the buddy you exercised with. Bonding over food and endorphins.

It is said that working out with someone keeps them accountable, but I disagree. Ultimate motivation still has to come from within. Having a friend there may keep you consistent for a few weeks, but for the long haul it’s up to you to sustain that consistency. When has telling a fat friend they need to exercise and eat better ever worked? They don’t need to be reminded of something they know innately. I’ve seen even the encouragement of a dearest spouse cannot force a person to change.

Which is kind of sad because it usually takes a health scare to create the impetus. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be big: many many years ago my doctor told me I was on the verge of high blood pressure. That was enough to get me on the path to healthy diet and working out. I hope no one ever needs to hear that they won’t live to see their children graduate college to get off their butts.

Daydream daydream

Shoutout to the person in Illinois who won last Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot worth $1.3 billion dollars. Your life will be irrevocably changed. For the better or worse? Only time will tell. Or maybe that person won’t come forward to claim the winning ticket, and we get to do this all over again. Joining in lottery pools with friends and coworkers for those impossible odds at winning.

Obviously, the fun is in the duration between purchasing the tickets and the numbers being picked out of a tumbler (do they still do that?) Let the daydreaming begin! What would you do with that sudden infusion of an enormous amount of cash? I would be able to finally afford a house in San Francisco! Though more than likely I’d probably prepare a move back to Asia. I am so done with the guns and violent crime of this country.

Amongst my friends, we reckon we wouldn’t stop working. A life of pure leisure leads to a quick death. We got to have something that gets us out of bed every morning. With the hypothetical lottery winnings in our bank account, we get the option to work on what we want. We’re no longer beholden to our current jobs for sustenance and health insurance. That’s the kind of freedom those in the FIRE community seek: the “F U” money.

I think the lottery daydream exercise can be instructive on informing us what we truly want. And perhaps it wouldn't necessary need millions in the bank account to execute on. A friend said with his hypothetical winnings, he would quit his software engineer job and go freelance to work on projects that inspire him. I would say he doesn’t need to win the lottery to get started on that. Sure, it’s a risk to leave a steady paying position, but we’ve only got this one life, my friend.

And I’m saying that for me, too.

Riding on rollerblades

About a year ago at work, our office chairs got reupholstered. A coworker made sure that his chair did not get lost in the shuffle - the one he parts with is the one he is to get back. It was easy enough: that chair has a feature distinct from the rest. Instead of the typical plastic casters the rest of our chairs have, the coworker’s chair has rollerblade wheels. On first impression, it looked completely weird. Can it even move properly?

I filed it to the back of my mind, chalking it up as a funky quirk of the coworker. The original casters on my chair works just fine!

Recently, however, I stumbled upon a tweet from someone I follow. He mentioned rollerblade wheel upgrade for office chairs, and how it is an excellent quality of life improvement, especially for work-from-home folks. The link to the Amazon page reveals a surprisingly low cost. For about $40 dollars, anyone can upgrade the casters on their chairs. I was intrigued, not by the promised benefits, but the price! It’s cheap enough to give it a go.

Performing the upgrade is super easy: the standard casters literally pop right off from the chair. The rollerblade wheels then pop right in. In less than a minute, I was done. I do suggest wearing gloves, because grease and dirt will get onto the hands.

I should have done this way sooner! Rollerblade wheels are such a revelation. Not only does my Herman Miller Aeron rolls incredibly smoothly, it’s also far quieter than before. I can glide from one end of the room to the other with minimal noise. The product claims it’s kinder to the floors, too, though my plastic laminate flooring didn’t suffer under the plastic casters. So I can’t confirm that part.

I’m going to ask at work if they can buy me a set for my office chair.

Get the good rice

As someone who lives alone and only has to cook for himself, I have no problems spending more for the good stuff when it comes to groceries. Milk from organically grass-fed cows. Eggs from free-ranging, organically-fed chickens. Kimchi imported from South Korea (available at Costco, surprisingly). My philosophy is: we’re eating to keep alive, so it makes sense to put the best in our body.

Obviously it’s a different calculation if I had a family to feed. Then it’s five dozen super non-organic eggs for five dollars at Costco. The free-range stuff I mentioned earlier? Five dollars can’t even pay for the single dozen.

Anyways, I eat rice for dinner almost everyday. My favorite kind is Japanese short-grain: fluffy, moist, and a distinctive taste. Recently I decided to go big and buy Japanese rice that’s produced in Japan. Most of the stuff available at supermarkets is actually grown right here in California. Those suffice just fine, but surely Japanese soil, sun, and water make even better rice. You certainly have to pay for that privilege: my 11-pound bag was nearly $40!

Again, I wouldn’t do this if I had more than me to feed!

As suspected, the made in Japan rice has a distinct flavor that is absent from the California-grown. I could eat just the rice with some roasted seaweed and nothing else. The rice is the star of the show, rather than something you must pair with another dish to eat. If you’re a rice enthusiast like me, then I highly recommend you try a bag of imported Japanese short-grain. Get it at your local Asian supermarket.

Raw salmon pairs well with Japanese short-grain.

Evening tech support

The thing about working in IT support is that I get asked by friends for help with their IT needs as well. Heath Ledger’s Joker in the film The Dark Knight famously says: “If you’re good at something, never do it for free.” He forgot to mention that when friends and family comes calling, you do have to do it for free.

Such was the situation last evening. I was all ready for the wind-down phase of my day. About to hit the shower, then straight to bed. Then suddenly a phone call from a friend. She somehow did a factory reset on the WiFI extender in her room, and it’s no longer working. Without a functioning extender, the network signal to her office is super weak, therefore extremely difficult for her to work-from-home.

Of course, it was me who setup the WiFi extender initially. So you can say I felt even more obligated to assist. No good deed goes unpunished. I guess I’m not going to sleep on time!

Thanks to the magic of video calling, I avoided having to make a house call (the friend lives close enough). With streamed visuals I was able to guide my friend through the setup process. 15 minutes later, she was all good once again. Indeed, it’s technologies like Zoom that allow IT support folks to do our jobs during this pandemic. Providing instructions while being able to see what the users are doing is exponentially better than asking them on the phone to describe what they see.

Especially when those users are our not-so-technically-inclined friends!

Road trip? Nah...

I spent much of Sunday evening watching two road trip videos. One from the boys at Gears and Gasoline, the other from duo at Everyday Driver. Both teams drove thousands of miles across America to reach their destination. During this period of insane gas prices! Worse, the cars driven here are sports cars that return miles-per-gallon in the high teens. Gears and Gasoline spent some $6,000 on petrol to get from Florida to Alaska. I don't think I’ve spent that much total on any one trip.

I’ve got a whole week off coming up the week after this, and I’ve been thinking about taking a road trip. Watching the two videos was suppose to inspire me to go. However, after seeing how much was spent on gas, I am not so sure. Prices have come down recently (thanks, Biden!) but around San Francisco, 91 premium remains in the high five dollar range. That only seem cheap coming down from the high six dollars just a few weeks back. The $5.99 per gallon I paid this past weekend is still insanely high.

So yeah, I am not going anywhere. I’ll take a few drives in the local mountains during the week off, and that will be it. Now is not the time to drop a few hundred (or more) on gas simply for the sake of driving wanderlust. Because there's also lodging to think about. Having recently booked accommodations in Austin for end of October, hotels are absolutely not cheap during these times. Everybody is trying to escape and go somewhere.

I’m going to hunker down and wait out this initial travel rush. Save some money in reserve while doing so, and hopefully wait out this current high gas price phase as well. More work to do yet, President Biden!

Type R or bust!

Two days later, I am still buzzing over the newly-announced Honda Civic Type R.

The hottest version of the 11th-generation Honda Civic looks absolutely fantastic. It resolves everything that was wrong with the previous generation Type R. The gaudy body cladding and fake vents are gone. The new Type R is way more subtle, with just hints of aggression. The wheels are 19-inch items now, instead of overly large 20-inch units on the last car. Even the prerequisite “big wing” at the back is now colored in black, blending in nicely with the rear windscreen. It's as if legendary Honda tuner Spoon did the styling on the new car. If you know, you know.

Fitting, then, that the new Civic Type R will be made in Japan. The Swindon plant in the UK - production home of the previous Type R - is no more. As illogical as it may be, a Japanese-made Civic Type R is immediately more attractive than one made elsewhere. Just as I would be less inclined to buy a BMW that isn't manufactured in Germany. I'm sure the forthcoming BMW M2 is completely fine being hecho en Mexico. But I'm extra glad my own BMW M2 was built in the fatherland.

Back to the new Civic Type R: I desperately want one. With the era of internal-combustion engines seemingly at the end of life, the performance cars of today are likely to be the last of its breed. This is the time to buy what you can and keep it forever. As an enthusiast that grew up on Japanese cars, I've had thoughts about getting back into a proper J-VIN vehicle. The Toyota GR86 has been so resoundingly well-received that the soft goal is to buy one to keep - soon as I finish paying off the M2. It seems the Civic Type R has entered the chat. And it's talking a very loud game.

It'll be a tough decision. Logic would follow the front-wheel-drive Type R, since the M2 is rear-wheel drive. However, the GR86 might be the last pure, affordable real-wheel-drive sports car, and there's something to be said about that. Bottom line is: I am not selling the BMW - the Japanese car will be an addition. I consider my F87-generation M2 Competition to also be the last of its kind. The upcoming M2 is heavier, uglier, and uninteresting.