Blog

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

First dose aftermath

It’s been two days since I got the first dose of the COVID 19 vaccine (Pfizer), and the intense soreness of the receiving arm has largely subsided. Thankfully I did not experience any other symptoms or side effects. My body is essentially fighting off COVID and creating antibodies, so I am fortunate to be good shape. I know people who have received the vaccine and suffered major symptoms afterwards. It’s part of the process, of course, but I’m definitely happy to be on the “feeling well” side.

There’s still the second dose to come, obviously. Anecdotally, that’s the shot that will enduce the COVID-like symptoms of fatigue, brain fog, and fever. I shall find out on the weekend of March 18th.

The drive-thru vaccination site at the City College of San Francisco - run by University of California San Francisco - is very efficient. Once you are checked in at the gate - and given a second mask to go over the one you should already have - you drive up to one of the 20 plus lanes and await your turn. From arrival to the needle going into my left arm (you get a choice) took about 30 minutes. After the shot, you are then to wait for 15 more minutes at another parking lot. This is to see if there’s any allergic reactions to the vaccine. Should that occur, paramedics are on hand to assist.

I am incredibly relieved to be (half) done with vaccination. It feels like I can finally relax now, even though I’m not easing up on any precautions until a solid majority of people are vaccinated. That day might come quicker than we thought: the Johnson & Johnson one dose vaccine have now been authorized by the FDA for emergency use. With three vaccines now in supply, I bet we can all return to some semblance of normal by summer.

And that would be just sweet.

First dose

Today is a highly anticipated day: I am getting my first COVID vaccine dose! After months of waiting since the vaccines were approved for emergency use, I finally get my turn at this big step in returning to normalcy. The sense of relief was palpable when the appointment confirmation came through. With the second dose marked for mid March, I’m in the endgame now.

My eligibility for the vaccine is predicated on me working at San Francisco State University. The first tier of people eligible were those over the age of 65, and healthcare workers. Education is lumped into the next tier - tier 1B - because I guess they really are trying to open back up the schools as quickly as possible. Tier 1B came in effect yesterday, and I was lucky to snatch an appointment for the following day.

I am to receive the Pfizer vaccine, and it’ll be interesting to see if I experience any adverse symptoms. Anecdotally, people I know who got the Moderna vaccine had a rough time with COVID-like symptoms for the few days after the shot. Those that got Pfizer seems to be okay for the most part. It’s probably idiosyncratic to the individual, rather than which company of vaccine. Obviously, I don’t care which one I get, and neither should anyone. The goal is to vaccinate as many as possible.

I reckon the Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine is going to be the next game changer.

It takes two weeks for the vaccine to take full effect, so I reckon by early April I’ll be fully shielded from COVID. That’s an exciting thought, and I look forward to going outside and doing stuff with way more impunity - vis a vis the virus - than I’ve done the past year.

Long live the roadster

Due to adverse circumstances of my brother, I am going to be taking stewardship of his Mazda MX-5 for awhile. It’s quite the fortuitous timing, because I’ve been pining drive a manual transmission car these days. I can now give up dreams of buying a Honda Civic Type R, and enjoy one of the purest sports car experiences money can buy.

And I’m reminded of just how sweet the Miata is. I am no stranger to the ND generation of the classic Mazda roadster, though it’s been more than five years since I sold mine. My brother’s MX-5 is the improved “ND2” version. The primary difference from my 2016 “ND1” is that It’s got a more powerful engine, with a higher 7,500 RPM redline. There’s a federally-mandated backup camera now, which in a car the tiny size of a Miata it’s rather superfluous.

The other bits of the car are largely the same, which is just fine. The manual gearbox is just as satisfying to row as I remembered. This rod-actuated AISIN six-speed unit is truly one of the best available on the market. The feel is solid, yet it snicks into each gear with precise ease. Ultimately, I don’t regret getting the M2 Competition with the dual-clutch automatic instead of the manual, but barring having my brother’s MX-5 around, I really want a manual car in my life.

Maybe the Type R dream isn’t dead after all.

What else? I was surprised at how little steering feel there is. The rack itself doesn't transmit much information, but because the MX-5 is so small and light, sensation from the suspension can be felt directly in the hands on the steering wheel. Therefore, I don’t bemoan the lack of actual steering feel. I’ve yet to drive an electric-assisted rack that can hold a candle to the hydraulic unit in my old Subaru WRX STI. And that includes a bloody Porsche 991 GT3.

If pure sports car is what you are after - no requirements for any utility factor - it’s hard to imagine why you’d spend any more money than an ND2 Mazda MX-5. I’m glad Mazda makes it, and I’m glad my brother has bought one. Long live the roadster.

No Internet for early man

Yesterday morning I woke up to the home WIFI not working. Because I rent, and all utilities are included, I don’t control nor have access to the Internet modem. I’m an incredibly early riser, so I wasn’t about to wake up my friend and landlord upstairs at 6:30 AM in the morning, just so I can have Internet. It will have to wait until he has woken up, and realizes the WIFI connection has stopped.

At least I still had cellular network on my iPhone. I can never quit you, twitter!

It turns out I didn’t really need the Internet for the first two hours of my morning. Indeed, I did use my phone to check the socials for a bit. After that, I didn’t bother to tether the phone to the MacBook Pro, even though I could (my cellular plan is unlimited). Lacking an Internet connection, I wrote my morning blog in Microsoft Word instead of directly onto the Squarespace CMS, as I am doing now. And then I read a book until breakfast.

The Internet has given us many wonderful things; it’s good to be reminded that I don’t have to be completely reliant on it to function normally. My morning didn’t get ruined just because the WIFI was down. It reminds me back when I lived with my parents, when I was in charge of the home Internet. Whenever the system was down, I’d immediately get a knock on my door from my parents informing me of such. As if they couldn’t bare to be without connectivity for one minute.

Sometimes I would wryly retort that they should go read a book, or do something non-digital (have a conversation with each other, perhaps). Not having Internet for the 10 minutes it takes for the modem to reboot is going to be just fine. Take a breath! At home we either stare at our phone or the computer screen constantly, so it’s good to have breaks from it from time to time. Even if said break is induced by nonfunctioning equipment.

A touch of curb

It’s one of the most terrible sounds in the world: the wheel-rim of a car grinding on a sidewalk curb. Try as you may to be careful during parallel parking maneuvers, it only takes one moment of carelessness to ruin an otherwise perfect wheel. The feeling in the driver seat, the dread of getting out of the car to check damage, is uniquely dreadful to a car enthusiast.

We suffer greatly when we put too much value to things material.

It used to be that something as benign as curbing a wheel would absolutely ruin my day, though perhaps I am improving. Last Friday I had the unfortunate tragedy of tagging the M2’s right-front wheel on the curb as I was pulling off to the side to park. Thankfully, the damage isn’t too awful, but I just couldn’t help to bash myself with my own stupidity. Reality seems to always bite soon as you get too comfortable and complacent.

I quickly forgot about the transgression, however. I was on my weekly visit to see my friend’s kids. I owe it to them to give my undivided attention. Stewing over the mistake of curbing the wheel serves no purpose other than feeling bad for myself and showing a negative vibe to the kids. I was somewhat surprised then that I was indeed able to put the wheel damage behind me and devote fully to playing with the little ones.

I’ve come a long way from the intense obsessive compulsiveness vis a vis my cars that I used to have. Maybe if the actual damage was worse, I wouldn’t have been able to forget it so quickly. Either way, I’m glad I didn’t stress about something that I cannot turn back the clock to change.

992 GT3

We have a new 911 GT3! The 992 generation of the do-everything track-toy carries over the same 4.0-liter naturally aspirated flat-six from the previous car, along with the beloved six-speed manual. You can of course still option for the automatic PDK gearbox. Straight line performance of the new GT3 isn’t any quicker, though it really doesn’t need to be when the 991 GT3 already reaches 60 miles an hour in the mid three seconds.

GT3 is a car for lap times and track performance. The advancements in the 992 is all down to aerodynamics and kinematics. An increase in downforce is visually evident in the swan-neck rear spoiler and the fancy rear diffuser. Double-wishbone front suspension makes an appearance in a 911 for the very first time, promising better geometry as the suspension loads up in the corners. Mustn’t forget the tires: Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires are a step above the non-R equivalents of the prior generation.

You may lose to a Tesla car at the stoplight sprints, but you’ll be faster than the 918 Spyder hypercar around a racing circuit. That’s what the vaunted GT3 badge is all about: absolute speed at the bendy bits.

The new car looks attractive, too. Especially the front-end, which utterly apes the look of the racing Cup cars. The signature rear light-bar of the 992 generation 911 is still ugly. No amount of aero bits in the GT3 can mask that ugliness.

I would lying if I said the announcement of the 992 GT3 didn’t make me pang for my departed 991.1 GT3. While the M2 Competition is quite the consolation prize, a 911 is still a 911. The BMW inline-six is venerable in its own right, but it cannot match the Porsche flat-six, one that revs to 9,000 RPM, for pure character.

I vow to get back into a GT3 in due time. In fact, I’m rather happy to see another generation of the lineage. Porsche sold relatively many 991 GT3s, so combined with the 992 production run, there’s going to be plenty on the used market for me to choose from. It’s not going to become some appreciated unobtanium like early air-cooled 911s.

Soon.

Pandemic spending

Now that I’ve moved out of my parents’ house and on my own, the extra monthly rental cost looms large over my overall spending budget. To have a sizable chunk of my income that I once could squirrel away for something super fun (like a Porsche 911 GT3) now just utterly gone every first of the month is a huge change indeed. Priorities have shifted, and I definitely cannot be as cavalier with money as I used to.

Budgets, then, is something I now how to keep a keen eye on. For the few months since I’ve moved out, I’ve done rather well. However, we are still in the middle of the pandemic, and therefore spending levels are depressed. The inability to go out and do stuff quite naturally saves a bit of money. No doubt that once the world returns to normal, my monthly spending on restaurants and whatnot will certainly increase dramatically.

Obviously I’ll have to make that adjustment.

That said, I am very excited for the day I can spend a Friday evening hanging out with friends at a restaurant. Even a homebody like myself have reached a toleration limit with the lockdowns. Deprived of the option to socialize, there’s nothing I want more now than to call up friends to see what’s happening on the weekends. Funny how that sort of psychology works.

So it’s going to be okay when my monthly spending inevitably goes up. That means the pandemic is over, and we’re back to our regularly-scheduled programming. Having been essentially locked inside of my house for nearly a year, I am most ready for the pendulum to go the other way. To hang out with friends and going places every weekend. Perhaps, even weekday nights!