Blog

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

That's not very nice

It’s not everyday you get woken up at 6:00 AM to a tornado warning. Actually, it’s the first of its kind ever in the recorded history of San Francisco. Though I wonder how far back that stretches. What did they do for alerts before the advent of the cellphone? The emergency sirens dating back to World War II, I suppose.

The tornado warning advised to “Take shelter now in a basement or an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building.” Seeing that it was early Saturday morning, most of us were already indoors - asleep. Good news for me, my room is already the bottommost floor of the house. So what did I do with the warning? Sent a screenshot of it to my friend group-chat, and then promptly went back to sleep.

I think the proper thing to do was to get up and hunker down? I don’t see what difference it would make. If a tornado actually materializes in our vicinity, that in it of itself will promptly wake me back up. You know what? I now understand how folks in tornado and hurricane alleys refuse to heed warnings and stay put. Just like soldiers going into battle, you never think you would die. Despite the mathematical probability staring at the face.

Along with the tsunami warning from last week, it’s been a wild time for San Franciscans. Let’s hope it’s not one of those precursors to a giant earthquake. They’ve been telling us about the next big one since I was in elementary school - three decades ago.

Not twinning

Frequent listeners of podcasts (or followers of gym girls on instagram) have undoubtedly heard of EightSleep pod covers. A cooling layer between you and the bed so that you can sleep better during the hot summer days. It’s rather expensive, and the latest version even requires a subscription. But, if you live in Texas and your summers are three months of 90 degree nights, a pod cover for the bed is likely much cheaper than running air conditioning for the room.

Here in San Francisco, we really only have one week of “true” summer. And it’s during October. The one week that makes me pine for a cooling solution so I can actually sleep at night. But even if I’m willing to pay the high price, there’s a problem: EightSleep’s smallest size offering is a full. I have a twin mattress, of which I just purchased two years ago. There’s no way I am changing (read: paying even more money) that arrangement just to sleep better for a week out of the year. Maybe. Thinking about it.

To the fine folks at EightSleep: why discriminate against broke boys like me? I can’t afford a place in San Francisco with enough space to fit a full size (and above) bed. Not in this economy! I want you to shut up and take my money (thousands), yet you guys refuse to make a twin size version of your product. Or perhaps you’ve done customer studies, and people who have twin size beds (children, and space-efficient adults like me) aren’t likely to be customers. Either way, I am very disappointed.

At least my Helix mattress has a sewn-in cooling top layer. No, I don’t have a discount code for you. A website with dozens of readers is atomically insignificant to receive brand deals.

We are sitting too comfy

Apparently, July 2023 is the hottest month in recorded history. It sure does not feel like it here in San Francisco, though I’m sure it’s been absolutely sweltering soon as outside of the city confines. Just a week ago I was sweating it out across the bay in Oakland at an A’s game. But soon as I cross back over to San Francisco, the marine layer welcomes me like a blast of chill in a summer’s desert. We are damn lucky the city have stayed relatively cool, whist the rest of the world is melting down. Granted, we sure pay dearly - in cost of living - for it.

Sometimes I wonder if we ought to have survivor’s guilt, vis a vis climate change. Other than the droughts and smokey wildfires of past years (never forget the big orange sky), I would say San Francisco have been relatively unscathed thus far. Good thing increased carbon emissions in the atmosphere doesn’t cause a correlative uptick in earthquake risk? They’ve been telling us since middle school (that would be early 2000s for me) that we are due for the next big one, and we ought to be prepared. Yet we’ve still not experienced anything close to the 1989 quake.

I really should get that earthquake preparedness kit (finally) in order.

It’s been devastating to watch the wildfire tragedy in Maui unfold. Nearly 100 people dead, whole neighborhoods burned down, and the fires still burning throughout the island. The deadliest wildfire in over a century, and it’s in Hawaii of all places. The islands are not what you would associate with fire disasters (Hurricanes or tsunamis would be more apt), so it makes what’s going on even more shocking. Please donate to the first-respond efforts: American Red Cross is always good. For something more local, the Hawaii Community Foundation’s Maui Strong Fund is recommended (That is where I donated).

It's windy sideways!

Man is it windy out there! Starting yesterday afternoon, the San Francisco Bay Area has been experiencing an epic wind storm, with gusts well above 50 MPH. On campus, a giant tree toppled onto a building. When walking outside I literally had to hold onto my hat, head down so that debris doesn’t get into the eyes. More of the same today, with addition of rain and very cold temperatures. Bundle up and lotion up!

As a car enthusiast, the one thing I worry about during these windy weather patterns is my street-parked car. I’ve an irrational fear of a rouge trashcan getting blown by the wind right into my BMW M2. Good thing trash day was the day before yesterday’s wind storm. And good thing I actually moved my car into my work’s covered parking structure. Ah, the privilege of living so close to work: I can utilize its facilities to the full potential. The reason I don’t park the M2 there all the time is I like to look at it parked out front of the house through my window.

That’s the one downside about tree-lined streets: during wind and rain storms the plants can turn deadly. To things and humans. On the walk home yesterday through the wind I purposely avoided walking under trees. Can’t risk a branch falling off and ending it all right there. That stuff can happen during the best of times: I remember the woman who died from a fallen tree branch at Golden Gate Park. Horrible way to die, and who can you blame but the act of god?

I think it’s important to be alert and aware of the surroundings whenever you’re outside, no matter how adverse or not the weather is. Get your head out of the smartphone and look around instead. There’s lots of AAPI hate these days: walk around unawares and a Infiniti G37 sedan might pull up unnoticed and rob you. Got to be careful out there!

It's raining sideways!

Last night was the first time in a few nights I slept through the entire time. Northern California has been experiencing continuous deluge of rain and wind since the end of December. 50 miles-an-hour winds and heavy rain (and hail!) keep waking me up from slumber. These are heavy storms through and through, and it’s not over yet: the forecast says we won’t see the end of it until the 20th. As of typing we are expecting another full day of rain and crazy winds. Floor advisory in effect for the afternoon hours.

I was lucky yesterday to have smarty moved my BMW M2 to my work’s covered parking garage. One of the perks of living so close to work is I can use the garage whenever I need to stash the car for relatively long term. Either when I go on vacation, or when I need to put the BMW away from harmful weather. For about $25 of my pre-tax dollars every month, it’s a convenience worth paying for, even though 95 percent of the time I don’t park any car at work.

Shoutout to the coworkers who have to navigate fell trees and blocked roads to get to work. At least they are dry and warm in their sealed vehicles. I have to walk the half mile to work in the elements. Thankfully the storm have held up thus far during my commute hours, though I’m definitely prepared to go to a full poncho setup. An umbrella with these winds would just be utterly useless.

Another thing to worry about during times of heavy rain is leaks and flooding to the home. We’ve been fortunately in that regard, though I’ve heard too many anecdotes about roofs needing repair. My supervisor’s garage got flooded, a nasty confluence of geography. His house is situated on a plot where water naturally accumulates when there’s lots of rain within a short period time. No prevention - the only thing to do is pump the water out.

Stay dry and safe, everyone. More to come, unfortunately.

It's cozy season!

It’s gotten properly cold in the mornings around here, well into the 40s. It makes getting out of the warm and toasty bed incredibly difficult. I wake up well before I actually have to go to work, so the impetus of leaving the bed is totally up to me. There are indeed days I succumb to hedonistic incentives and simply stay in bed until I actually do have to get ready for work. Especially so during the winter months.

But not today! Because here I am typing this out this morning, with a hot cup of coffee as fuel. A woman walking her dog just passed by outside my window. She was reading a book while doing so, which is kind of weird because shouldn’t you be focused on the actual task? I guess it’s slightly better than staring at a smartphone that everybody else does. It’s a cool and crisp morning! Look up and take in the fresh air instead.

Having a pet dog does keep you honest about keeping a consistent schedule of going outside. That bit of exercise - three times a day - benefits the dog and the owner. I think if you’re stressed or otherwise in need of some movement in your life, adopting a dog from a shelter is as much of a win-win situation as there is. You can never have a bad day when you see the incessant joy a dog has when you come home.

Sadly for me, I’m more of a cat person. Nor do I have space in my studio for a pet.

But shoutout to the morning dog walkers! It cannot be easy leaving the warm cocoon of home and having to put on thick layers. People without pets like myself struggle to even get out of bed. I do love this winter weather though. As the kids say these days, it’s cozy SZN!

Historic heatwave

Man, that was some heatwave, wasn’t it? Even the west side of San Francisco got up to the 90s. That’s still not as bad as the rest of California: soon as you leave sight of the ocean, you are in the 100s. I feel most bad and concern for my father who works in construction. It cannot be fun at all yesterday at the work site. God bless the men and women who have to work outside under these scorching conditions. The construction workers, the firefighters, and the guy with a food cart selling hotdogs to the neighborhood.

Yesterday afternoon we got an email from campus saying PG&E is instituting rolling blackouts from 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM. The funny part is the email cautioned us to avoid using the elevators - if possible - during that time. Make sense: last thing any of us want is to be stuck inside an elevator that’s only going to get hotter because no electricity means no circulation, either. Folks in the downtown campus simply left and went home. I guess there’s less oversight over there!

Turns out much of California was under potential blackout conditions during peak hours yesterday, our house included. Thankfully it never came to pass. It seems enough household heeded the warnings and reduced their energy consumption enough to mitigate the need to cut off power. It’s a good reminder for me to be prepared. I really should get one of those fancy multi-hundreds of watt battery generators. The type that people take to go camping or hashtag van life.

Just like air conditioning, you’ll be glad you have it when you need it. Speaking of which, I’m lucky my studio is somewhat subterranean so it stays cool even when outside temperatures are in the 90s. If that weren’t the case, I would be running a portable air conditioning unit for sure. As a friend said: “Comfort [at the home] is paramount.”