Blog

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

Gym, tan, Thanksgiving

I hope you’ve had a great Thanksgiving day. I certainly did. I cooked a meal, worked out, and then ate that meal. What more can you ask for on a day off? Thanksgiving is just another day off for me because my family did not celebrate it growing up. One, because we were immigrants from China (where it’s obviously not a thing). Two, because our mom did not want to take the pots and pans out of the oven just to cook a 20 pound turkey that would take forever to eat.

What’s wrong with a chicken?

For the Thanksgiving holiday my friend is going on a cruise with his family to Mexico. He told us he will be unreachable until he gets down there because the ship does not have free WiFi. For the privilege of an Internet connection, the cost is $40 per day. Absolute thievery. I guess we have a new pro tip: if you would like to do a digital detox, go on cruise! Unless of course you are rich enough that $40 per day for Internet is of no consequence to your finances. (Or charge it on a card like a good Gen Z.)

I do wonder what it would be like to be without Internet for multiple days. The longest I’ve been without connection is the 15-hour flight to Hong Kong. The smartphone has largely gotten rid of boredom, so it’s an interesting dynamic to see people having to be bored. I have doubts: folks can’t even use the restroom without bring in their phones. At work I see people scrolling while filling up their water bottles. Our inability to be still for even a minute is astounding.

Never say never, but I don’t think I’ll step foot on a cruise ship. If I wanted to be confined to a specific location with multitudes of entertainment and food options, I’d rather go to Las Vegas. To see the ocean, I would head to the local beach side (lucky to live right by the Pacific Ocean.)

Old trademarks.

Who's driving the car?

Lake Merced is where I do my weekly running. It is also where I first learned how to drive. Indeed, that concrete parking lot have played host to many a young driver’s first time behind the wheel of a car. It always warms my heart to see one of them out there learning how to drive, all the while I am prepared for my run. Because that was exactly me, exactly two decades ago.

I’ve been driving for twenty years? Jesus Christ that is amazing and sobering at the same time.

I wonder if the kids of the future will even learn how to drive, especially those living in big cities. UBER and LYFT remains ever convenient, plus the looming prospects of self-driving cars. Honestly, who wants to drive when they could be driven? I certainly would rather get chauffeured around. Drivers these days are freaking crazy. I’ve said it before: if I didn’t love cars, I probably wouldn’t own any right now.

California recently allowed “robotaxis” to operate in San Francisco unrestricted, 24/7. Meanwhile I am still waiting to get off the waitlist at both Cruise and Waymo, the two highest profile robotaxi companies. I am actually quite excited to try riding in a true driverless car. Though not nearly as excited as the person who had sex in the backseat of one recently. I want to ride in one just for fun; if I need to get somewhere promptly, I will still call an actual human driving car.

Because you can’t count on a robotaxi to be quick. Its first order of responsibility seems to be safety. I witnessed a Cruise taxi waiting behind a double-parked ambulance for way longer than a human car would have waited. The Cruise vehicle was stationary for such a long time than those of us watching wondered if it were going to move at all (it did, eventually). If that were me in the car, I probably would have gotten out and called an UBER.

Don’t worry, be happy.