Blog

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

Suburban hiking

The problem with taking Thanksgiving week off from work is that I feel disgusting to be sedentary during that time. This year, I even got a gadget that reminds me just how much I am not moving: the Apple Watch. With me staying home the entire day, those daily fitness rings are definitely not closing. Can the gamification of fitness actually help me get off my butt?

Yes it can! (Thanks, Obama.) That Monday afternoon of the week off, the unfinished fitness rings were staring right at me from the watch face. On a typical work week, those would have been fulfilled by that time. Not content to let the streak die, I reluctantly put on some outside clothes - because wearing the same clothes outside and inside the home is kind of dirty - and headed outside for a walk. 30 minutes later, mission accomplished (like President Bush), rings closed.

And then I did the same the following day, and every week day during Thanksgiving week.

Turns out, taking a walk around the neighborhood is kind of nice (file under: duh). Obviously, it helps to be in a safe and leafy neighborhood. I can’t imagine doing this 20 years ago living near the Sunnydale housing projects. It also helps to go outside during golden hour - the period just before sunset. The views are often spectacular this time of year, with many clouds and no fog. A meditative stroll is a great way to end the day before heading to a hearty dinner.

New habit, then: I shall take walks around the neighborhood on weekend days - and weekdays when I am not working - where I’ve only been inside the home. Got to close those Apple Watch rings! The health benefits are cool, too.

Running in the 190s

This past Sunday was the first time running with the Apple Watch, and I have to say it was delightful. To be able to run without the iPhone - either in an armband holder, holding it in my hand, or it sloshing around in a pants pocket - is such a luxury. I preloaded my running playlist onto the Apple Watch, and it alone was able to play music through to my set of AirPods Pro. Don’t need to rely on the iPhone for tunes anymore.

I also don’t have to reply on third-party apps to track my running. The Apple Watch’s native workout app does the job superbly, without selling my information to a third party. (As always: if the produce is free, you are the product.)

What the Apple Watch can do that the iPhone absolutely cannot is heart-rate tracking. It’s interestingly informative to see the stats post exercise. For example, my maximum heart-rate during the run was 191 beats-per-minute (BPM), with an average of 175 BPM. That sure seems like a lot of blood pumping to me! What’s most fascinating is that my heart-rate remained elevated for the hour immediately after running. I was just lounging on the couch watching football! I guess the extremities are still crying for energy delivery, even after the exercise is over.

I’ve become that person now: checking their Apple Watch every now and then during a workout to see the progress. Even during the normal day-to-day, I am moving the left wrist up to see my current step count (got to get the daily 10,000!). I hope this gamification of health doesn’t become obsessive compulsive. The Apple Watch is suppose to assist, not become an albatross.

Somewhat FOMO

It was a weird feeling being at the Apple Store this past Friday. For the first time in eight years, I won’t be getting the latest iPhone. So to be at the Apple Store on iPhone launch day, then, gave me some modicum of FOMO. It was bittersweet to be amongst the eager revelers standing in line for their pickup appointment, minutes away from getting their hands on that new titanium. That could have been me also! Honestly, if money was no objection, I’d be standing right in line with them. But, as the saying goes: “Not in this economy!”

I was there on iPhone launch day because it was also the launch day of this year’s latest Apple Watch. The 9th iteration of the Apple smartwatch proved to be the right amount of waiting for me to get my first ever (smartwatch of any kind, that is). I’m not a watch person at all; it’s been years since I’ve worn a “dumb” watch. I stopped wearing that Hamilton watch soon as the battery died. I was too lazy to take it to a watch repair shop to get it serviced. That’s how unenthusiastic I am about watches.

And that’s also why it took me - a huge fan of all things Apple - so long to get an Apple Watch. I reckon nine years is a decent enough length for the Apple Watch to mature into a well-rounded product. The Series 9 receives a processor and screen upgrade over the Series 8, which is just lovely. A smartwatch can never be too fast, and its screen can never be too bright in battling the outdoor sun. I bought the cheapest model: the aluminum 41mm. Well, count ourselves lucky if we can refer to $399 anything as “cheap”.

More so than telling time (I’ve got an iPhone for that), I bought the Apple Watch for its health tracking capabilities. Already I am learning quite a lot from just the heart-rate monitoring function. The data (so far) says my resting hear-rate is 49 BPM, which is apparently quite good. When I’m walking, the average BPM is 90. I’ve yet to do a run with the Apple Watch (air quality was horrendous this past weekend), so I’m very excited to see what my vitals are during workouts.

And those hourly reminders to get up and stand for one minute is pretty effective. Got to close those activity rings!

Finally, the Apple Watch

Here I am on a Thursday evening, super relaxed in knowing that I won't be waking up at 5:00 AM tomorrow morning to preorder the new iPhone 15 Pro. Because I am not making the upgrade this year, as I’ve written yesterday. TLDR: not enough improvements in the 15 Pro to entice me out of my 14 Pro.

The money I am saving by not upgrading will go towards buying the Apple Watch Series 9 (announced alongside the iPhone 15 Pro this past Tuesday). This will be my first smartwatch ever, and I’m excited to do one exact thing: be able to go on a run without my iPhone. I look forward to loading my playlist onto the Apple Watch and playing music off of it. No more clumsily holding onto the iPhone in one hand while I run. It can stay in the car for the duration.

Pro tip: if you’re leaving any computer electronics in the trunk for a period of time, be sure to shut down the device completely before tossing it in. Doing so stops the device’s bluetooth and WiFi antennas from broadcasting, thus preventing detection from thieves. Perps troll around parked cars with signal sniffers - that’s how they know to break into your trunk even though your computer bag isn’t visible.

Obviously, nothing you can do if they actually see you put stuff in the trunk. Eyeballs emoji.

Other than tunes whist running, I am also excited about the Apple Watch’s health tracking capabilities. It’ll be nice to constantly monitor my heart-rate, and get notified when there’s abnormalities (knock on wood). A more accurate step-count, too, will be interesting to keep track of. Just when I thought I was saving some money by not getting the newest iPhone, I go spend that cash on something else. Of course!

I’ve still never ridden on one of these.

Smartwatch FOMO

I went on a hike last weekend with a some friends. Before we began the trail, everybody but me raised up their smartwatch to push the button for starting an exercise. Two things: one, I wouldn’t classify San Francisco’s Lands End trail as “exercise”. Secondly, I totally felt left out! I’m reminded of a time when everybody had a smartphone except me. I was waiting for the iPhone to come out on Verizon. Remember a time when the iPhone was exclusive to AT&T? Pepperidge Farm does.

Is this the year I finally get a smartwatch? Maybe, maybe not. It would be a nice item to have, and I’m fairly into the whole fitness tracking thing. Alerts when there’s a sudden spike in heart-rate seem pretty useful. Eventually, I’ll get both my parents an Apple Watch because fall detection is so critical for elders. But for me, I still struggling to justify the few hundred dollars for yet another tech gadget. I’m not a watch wearing person to begin with: my iPhone tells time just fine.

Besides, exercise is exercise, whether it’s being tracked by a smart device or not. An Apple Watch isn’t really going to help push my health to the next level (as Tim Cook like to say in the keynotes). What matters are the actual workouts and being active overall. I don’t need a gadget to keep me on track and focused. If you do, that’s great! I genuinely hope the smartwatches my friends have are concretely pushing them to move more.

Get your steps in!

I'm not getting the Apple Watch!

With release of the latest Apple Watch Series 6, is it finally time for me to hop onto the smartwatch game? As much as I love stuff from Apple, I’ve managed to avoid buying any of the first five generations of Apple Watch, principally because I don’t believe in dropping that few hundred dollars on a watch only for it to be slightly more functional than the true mechanical watch I was wearing. For sure it would be nice to have some of the health monitoring functions– the heart-rate monitor should be hugely beneficial in noticing when my anxiety levels have increased – but the barrier to entry in terms of price remains something difficult to get over.

Until now! Alongside the introduction of Series 6, the Apple Watch can now be bought on a 24-month interest-free installment plan using the Apple Card. Much the same as an iPhone, I can now spread that relatively high entry cost over a long period of time. $20 dollars a month is definitely more palatable than dropping over $400 at one time. Coincidentally, I recently just finished paying off my iPhone’s own installment plan dating two years back, so there is a $60 per month hole burning in my pocket right now.

But that’s how they get you with the lure of payment plans, isn’t it? To entice you to buy things you wouldn’t otherwise, had you needed to cough up the whole cost at once. It’s indeed a clever trick that got me pondering the viability of buying the Apple Watch now that I can do so in installments with zero interest. What’s another $20 a month on top of the numerous things I am already doing monthly payments on? I’d be using the Apple Watch to monitor my health and keep me fit! That’s worth something, isn’t it?

Ah, so many ways to justify wantonly spending money. I just plop down quite a bit of cash for a built-to-order 16-inch Macbook Pro, so I’m not terribly inclined to spend yet more money on a shiny Apple gadget, even if I can now amortize that price over a longer period of time. Payment plans are a great tool of flexibility for people who can otherwise afford the Apple Watch but have better things to do with their money, and if I ever do buy one, I’d be going that route.

Until then, let me say for the time being I am not getting the new Apple Watch Series 6. Hold me to this, blog-reading friends.

September Apple

A happy Fall Apple event day to you all. Under normal times, we’d be highly anticipating this annual tradition of the next iPhone release, so eager to give Apple ever more of our monies. High-end smartphones have gotten so expensive that I would not be surprised if soon people would be able to finance the purchase of one for longer terms than the typical two years. Think expensive pickup trucks and the often absurd seven or eight years payment plans that go along with those. Would we soon be doing the relative same with buying our beloved iPhones?

I mean, if interest is zero…

Anyways, 2020 is definitely not normal times, and by most accounts, this typical September Apple event will not be about the annual iPhone release at all. Instead, it will be focused on the Apple Watch and the iPad, plus surely various news on when we can expect to download the the latest major releases of iOS and macOS software. Can the tech-buying audience get excited about a keynote without the singular most important product in Apple’s portfolio? We’re about to find out in less than two hours as of this typing.

I won’t be tuning in, not because I don’t want to, but because I have work during the livestream.

Would I even upgrade my iPhone this year - whenever the new one comes out? I’ve done the yearly upgrade like clockwork since way back to the iPhone 6S, and in this year of the pandemic, I’m not sure there’s incentive to do so. My main reason for spending so extravagantly to get a new smartphone every year is because of the camera: when traveling it’s nice to have a phone with a capable camera system so I’m not relying on the big DSLR setup the whole time. Break news: I’m not doing any traveling anytime soon due to COVID, so perhaps my current iPhone 11 Pro will be just fine for one more rotation of the calendar.

Of course, that’s counting on Apple only giving the new iPhone incremental improvements. Should it wow me with, say, a 120Hz display, then what I said in the previous paragraph can be considered moot.