A productive weekend

I'm proud to say this past weekend was much more productive than the one before. I somewhat successfully avoided the Youtube blackhole and got some proper work done. There were two specific moments where I was at the crossroad of action or inaction and happily I chose the former. 

First of those tasks was putting together a new photowalk article on the Presidio Main Parade Grounds. I'd already edit the photographs a few weeks back but have been procrastinating on posting up the content. Saturday afternoon rolled around and I was desperately close to forsaking it to yet another week. Just as I was ready to watch more Youtube video, I opened the folder containing the pictures for a bit slight peek and then momentum surprisingly took over. Next thing I knew I was hours deep into composition and editing the article.  

The forward progress and dopamine hit of accomplishment must have spilled over to the next day because on the agenda was changing the oil on my father's car. Once again I was dangerously close to letting it slide to the following week until I thought about how awesome it felt to finish the photowalk post on Saturday and it'd be lovely to experience it again when I'm done with the oil service. The sun was beating down (one of the rare sunny Summer days in San Francisco) but out came the tools and half an hour later dad's Toyota Corolla is filled with fresh golden-colored motor oil. 

It's interesting indeed how completing a task begets positive momentum for the next. Just as laziness tends to breed further lethargy, I want to constantly feel good and productive so I keep on executing tasks one after the other. It's a continuous game of "what's next?" One thing I'm super proud of this summer is the consistency in writing my daily blog posts Monday through Friday every week. 

I've had a incredibly busy day at work today yet here I am at home spending the half hour or so typing out these words. I could easily not do that and watch videos on Youtube, but I mustn't break the streak; because I'm done writing this post now and it feels wonderful. 

Freshly buffed and squeeky clean. 

Veterans Day weekend

The wonders of having a three day weekend (Veterans Day) is whatever I had planned to do, instead of having two days to execute, I get three. The leisure time afforded in between was quite welcomed and made this past weekend a refreshing one indeed.

On Friday while performing oil change on the car - $35 total for 5 quarts of synthetic and filter, the heavens decided to open up and it rained biblically for a good half hour. To avoid getting soaked the easy thing would be to stay under the car for the duration, but I believe too much in superstition to be beneath a vehicle supported by jack-stands for any longer than necessary.

At least the rain washed away the oil puddle that invariably forms due to the stream missing the catch-can. No matter how good I think I've positioned the reservoir, the first unleashing of oil from the engine pan will always find the ground. For sure it isn't the most environment friendly thing to do, but I'm not paying the $80 or so the dealership charges for a simple oil change - the Miata needs one every six months. 

On Saturday I went over to my sole house-owning friend's place. He's in the middle of having solar panels installed on his roof. The reality of having a climate-controlled house year-round is extremely nice indeed, and because the friend doesn't live in San Francisco - no fog, the place will get plenty of sun. To achieve the same level of pampering I'd have to live in my car. 

Sunday was the first opportunity to try out intensively the iPhone X's camera. Perhaps I'm spoiled by my Sony A7R2's 42 megapixel images, the X's camera isn't completely wowing me, save one feature: portrait mode. It's been one year since Apple introduced the feature, and it's gotten spectacularly good. The boundary between what's in focused and blurred is executed so well now that it's often difficult to tell the difference from a proper DSLR. Check out these flowers I took yesterday, unedited: