Blog

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

Half of it is gone

Surprise! Half of 2026 is already gone. I hope you are able to look back and say the past six months has been time well spent. And if you cannot say that for yourself, then it’s time to get off your ass!

I would say my first half of the year has been rather uneventful. But that’s good, right? Boring is good. It is suppose to be boring. Novelty is great, but too much of it means a lack of focus. You pick something to do for a long time and there are for sure going to be dog days.

Much of my weekends in 2026 was focused on getting my new-to-me 2019 VW Golf GTI up to shape. It was exhilarating to wake up on Saturdays with the lastest thing to fix, or the latest item to install. If fairy godparents somehow bestowed upon me the endless money glitch, buying used cars and fixing them up would be something I genuine would do everyday.

Obviously that’s not how reality works. People speak of following passions, but as someone with an entrepreneurial business degree, passion is only the spark. The fuel to sustain the burn is where the proverbial rubber meets the road. Often times people are unwilling to marinate in the minutiae of it all. How are you going to sell your talents? Putting down “it will work out” for the marketing section would have gotten you an F in class.

Or perhaps there isn't fuel to burn at all - the thing you’re passionate about is not financially viable. For me, there’s very little business in fixing up used cars to then not sell. So a hobby it remains. That means for five days out of the week, I have to put in time at a place I’m not nearly as enthused about, in order to be able to do the thing I am super motivated for. And honestly, that in between time can get mighty frustrating. Never mind the other parts of human living that gets in the way, like eating and self care.

Those afflicted with passion can attest to the times when you’re so into doing something, sleep is a mere suggestion. You just want to keep going. And you do!

I think I’ll spend rest of 2026 coming to terms with that fact that my ability to follow my passions is predicated on accepting that it will be cyclical. And that the days without will be way more numerous than the day with. No wonder artists of pre-modern times had moneyed patrons!

Don't be a robot

It remains to be seen what the supposed AI revolution means for us ordinary working peasants. We will all be out of jobs - essentially replaced by robots? If that’s the case, we need Andrew Yang to return to the stage and resume extolling the virtues of universal basic income. We got to eat!

I do have a tip on how to avoid being replaced by AI: don’t act like a robot. Because if you act like a robot, then you can be easily replaced by a robot. We’re all familiar with this type of worker. Every assignment needs to be spelled out precisely down to the punctuations. If this, then that. Should the worker encounter a scenario that isn’t explicitly listed out previously, they immediately get stuck and asks for help. No critical thinking, zero problem solving.

If all you are is an if-then machine, then you’re going to get replaced by a machine.

Even before AI, computer automation has already happened. Car companies don’t need humans anymore to paint cars. Robotic arms can perform to the millimeter precision, with very little downtime. But manufactures still employ human final paint checkers, because the discernment of the human brain remains unrivaled in the world of ones and twos. That’s where the money is: critical thinking, ad hoc problem solving, and genuine creativity. If you’re capable of such skills, employment will never forsake you.

If you’re just an input and output device, not only can AI replace you, but so can a fresh college grad who can be hired for way cheaper.

We're all paying for it

You know RAM prices have truly gone off the deep end when Apple of all companies is raising prices on their products. The same Apple that famously already charges a premium for extra storage and memory. It seems even those fat margins are not enough to swallow the hyper inflation of semiconductor chips due to the supposedly AI revolution. It now costs $1999 for the base MacBook Bro, up from $1699. Kind of insane.

I guess this M1 Max MacBook Pro of mine will solider on until it literally dies.

All eyes now turn to the annual September iPhone event. Will the iPhone get a price bump for the first time in a long time? Place your bets at your prediction market platform of choice.

AI has been cashing checks and making promises (still a solution looking for a problem if you ask me), and yet the downstream negative effects are burdened by everyone. We’re all paying for it, just so Silicon Valley can keep on minting fresh new millionaires and bilionaires. An iPad for grandmother is now $150 more expensive - thanks to AI-caused inflation, even though AI won’t touch her everyday life in the slightest. Our utility bills keep going higher thanks to data centers drawing energy the equivalent of entire cities.

Whether you use Chat-GPT or not, you’re paying for it one way or another. That’s not very fair, is it?

World Cup fever

Attending a World Cup game has certainly lived up to the hype.

The rowdiness of the Australian contingent was something to behold. Lacking a rooting interesting in the game between the Socceroos and Paraguay, I was just content to revel in rowdy atmosphere. The concourses at Levi’s San Francisco Bay Area Stadium was jammed with cheers, songs, and copious beer drinking. To be amongst the festivities alone was worth the hefty price of admission.

The Paraguayan fans were equally as vocal. The World Cup is truly sports fanaticism at its very best.

Because the game itself was certainly not all that entertaining. That’s the trap of drawing the third match of the group stage. The stakes can either be high, or non existing. Australia and Paraguay could both advance to the next round with a draw, and the two teams played to that advantage. Neither side seems to press forwards with any verve, and the few actual shots on goal were right to the goalkeeper. If this were a normal football game, I’d ask for my $500 back.

But how often can you say you’ve attended an actual World Cup match? Probably just this once, in my lifetime. I’m very happy to have ticked this box on the kick-the-bucket list.

And good on the live audience to boo the hydration break in between the halves for exactly what it is: a blatant money grab. The American broadcast partner wanted to sell more ads. In no circumstances do the best in the world need a mandatory break from the action in dry, breezy, 72 degrees °F weather. (Shoutout to our European cousins weathering a tremendous heatwave currently.)

The United States really might be the best country to host the World Cup. I’m pretty sure America has the largest diaspora of many nations. It’s that diversity that makes hosting this international event so convenient. The traveling contingent is mixed in together with a sizable group locally. Take Iran, a team with very little to no traveling supporters from the home country due to the ongoing war, was able to find their tribe in Iranian Americans living in Southern California.

That’s pretty beautiful.

Don't be like me

If I ever get the fortune to have children, I pray they won’t be afflicted with perfectionism and obsessive compulsiveness like me. Attention to the details may have positives, but mental anguish definitely exists on the other side.

Perfectionism is a myth, is it not? Everything on this earth is experiencing atrophy. We’re all decaying at a certain rate, animate or otherwise. Putting a brand new car in a hermetically sealed chamber is only delaying the process. And now you can’t even use the car.

It’s with cars where my enthusiasm and obsessive compulsiveness collide into sleepless nights. Even though I know perfect is but a monetary phase when the car gets final released at the factory, it doesn’t stop me from trying to preserve it. But that’s just not possible! No matter how careful you are, as you interact with the car, where be driving it or maintenance, blemishes are bound to happen.

Most recently I replaced the glovebox on my Golf GTI. I wanted the nicely felt-lined version that my 2019 model did not come with. During the process I slightly mangled a piece of the interior plastic. Ask any other person and they would genuinely say it looks fine. But not me! I’ve been trying all sorts of remedies to realign the piece to just a bit more perfect, and every attempt seems to have compounded the issue.

Of course, the best solution is to buy the piece brand new. Good thing my psychopathy doesn’t permeate to personal finance. If I’d bought a brand new replacement piece for every time I merely scratched a part on a car - and yes, that does frustrate me to no end - I’d be a guest on Financial Audit.

The lesson I am telling myself is to know when to stop. Obsessing over the details is fine up to the certain point. I can’t let perfect get in the way of functional. Actions have reactions, and sometimes the pursuit of perfection (hello, Lexus) can only make things worse.

World Cup fever

It is World Cup season, and it’s fantastic to once again the event hosted on this side of the globe. There’s no need to wake up - or stay awake - at ungodly hours just to see some football magic. Instead we get to pretend we’re working at work, only to be otherwise glued to the television screen.

I fondly remember one childhood summer where all I did was watch World Cup matches for the entire day. Ah, to be young and have zero responsibilities. We can’t quite do that anymore.

Great shame to the Chinese people that even with the first ever expanded field from 32 to 48 countries, the Chinese national team has, once again, failed to qualify for the tournament. The second most populous country on this planet and yet we can’t find 11 blokes with enough talent to make some noise on the world stage. The only way this could be worst is if the most populous country - India - made it in. Good thing they didn’t.

Come on, China. Let’s get it together. Spend some money, put some academies together.

In the meantime, I will be rooting for my adopted Asian country, Korea. Let’s go Tigers!

I am greatly looking forward to attending a group stage game here locally. A once in a lifetime opportunity and experience for sure. Never mind that we have zero rooting interest between Australia and Paraguay. To quote Hamilton, we just want to be in the room where it happened. A solid match between the two countries is what we can ask for.

Picking a winner for the 2026 edition? I have to say the French team looks really good. They’ve go the reigning Ballon d'Or winner, and Kylian Mbappe. Three straight World Cup finals for Les Bleus looks to be a lock.

Overnight parts from Latvia

In my ongoing quest to make my 2019 VW Golf GTI just a bit that perfect, I’ve had to source parts from many vendors. eBay has been clutch for interior pieces out of wrecked cars. Many hundreds of dollars were saved instead of buying the parts brand new. For everything else, there’s MasterCard.

For new replacement parts, a source I’ve successfully used is E-acca. A parts sourcing company located in Latvia (try finding it on a world map), E-acca procures OEM parts in Europe and sell them for far cheaper than what I have to pay at an American dealership. It’s cheaper even when factoring in international shipping, and import tariffs (thank you, President Trump).

This is the positives of globalization in action.

The only caveat is that you’re going to have to wait a bit for the items. If you’re spoiled by Amazon Prime shipping, or simply walking into a parts department, then a month’s lead-time from order to delivery might not be for you. Even if E-acca has the part in stock at their own warehouse, those of us in the United States are still looking at two weeks of logistics time.

Personal example: I ordered a harmonic damper for the MQB platform (which the GTI is based) on the 5th of May. E-acca did not stock this internally, so they had to order from their supplier. That process took until the 27th of May, which is when I got an email asking to pay for shipping. (Actual shipping cost is calculated once the item is packaged and ready to ship.) The damper shipped out via Fedex on the 1st of June, arriving at my door on the 8th.

Obviously, if you need a part rather quickly, E-acca is not a good option. However, if you’re like me and want to maximize savings in this economy, not-so-overnight parts from Latvia is a very good option. On that single damper alone I saved about $30 versus sourcing it from a company in the States. That difference can add up tremendously over multiple parts, of which I plan to buy plenty of in the near and far future.

E-acca, can recommend!