Blog

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

Too many crazies out there

Sometimes I forget I even have a BMW M2 Competition: an expensive and fast car by normal standards. I would often look at car videos on Youtube and think to myself, “It would be so cool to have one of these”. Only to realize, “Wait a minute, I already own a cool car!”. One of the very best, too. Top Gear host Chris Harris has a BMW M2 (albeit in limited edition CS trim), and everybody knows he only buys the properly fun stuff.

It’s probably because I drive my M2 so seldomly - it’s almost as if I don’t have a car at all. With the recent high gas prices and the fact I walk to work, the weekend pleasure drives just haven’t been that often. I was also stuck in a rut because my new MacBook Pro has yet to arrive. The mental will to take the BMW out for a spin has largely been absent.

Then there’s the fact that coming out of COVID, drivers on the road are absolutely crazy. The de-facto speed limit on highways now are 80 miles-per-hour, which is a bit too fast for me who likes to cruise at 70. A month ago during a huge rain storm with heavy flooding on the roadways, people didn’t slow down at all! They either forgot how to drive in adverse conditions (it’s been awhile since the Bay Area had much rain), or they don’t care. The size of modern SUVs belies a false comfort that they can drive through anything.

Irresponsible drivers really piss me off.

Even on a typical Sunday morning, when everything should be relaxed and calm, there are still aggravated drivers. Way too much speeding and tailgating going on for my comfort levels. It’s a shame to say this, but I have come to detest driving on public roads. There’s no joy there, only stress. For sure one should pay attention to the road at all times, but it takes an extra level of concentration to drive out there these days. It’s tiring, so I don’t drive as much as I should with owning the fantastic M2.

Equilibrium

Finally. After six of the longest week in my human history, the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 Max chip has arrived on my desk. Never before have I waited so long for a piece of hardware. The chip shortage is real. God speed to my fellow travelers in the massive Reddit thread of people awaiting their orders.

50 days. I’ve gone 50 whole days without my main computer. In order to pay for a specced-out brand new MacBook Pro, I had to trade-in the old one (I say old; it was a 2019 model, which is still plenty fresh and capable). With the gift card in hand, then I was able to put in an order for the new unit. The last time I did this, I was only without a computer for about a week. This go round, the wait for truly awful.

The mighty supply chain, man.

I’m the type of person who hates the in-between times of things actually getting done. Especially something as crucial as replacing my main laptop, the one with my entire digital life on it. Compounding the frustration is the fact I can’t control any of it. What can I really do if Apple can’t build their latest MacBook Pros fast enough? At least with something like a broken appliance I can stay up all night if necessary to fix the problem. And I’ve done it. I can’t go to sleep knowing my monitor isn’t functioning correctly!

So yeah, it’s been a rough six weeks. I couldn’t get into the groove of life at all. Something just wasn’t quite right until the new MacBook Pro was in my hands. Soon as the backup was done transferring over from the Time Machine disk, I felt mentally whole again. Everything in my life is back to an equilibrium (selling the family’s leased Hyundai Tucson was another big thing on my plate), and I can simply get on with it.

The really small stuff

What I’ve tried to do lately is not procrastinate on the small things. To take care of the small niggles and matters soon as they pop up. Simple things like refilling the soap bottle right as I noticed it’s running low, or cutting up the cardboard and throwing it into recycling soon as I receive a package. I have to say the effort is worth it, because the future me is not rueing the present me for not having done the simple task already.

Try not to make the future you hate the present you.

I guess I’ve always been somewhat okay in that regard, proactively handle things as they come instead of putting it off further down the line. What I’m talking about here then is the really small tasks, the ones that takes no effort ignore. It’s no pain to leave that coffee mug unwashed until I come back from work. But when I do return in the evening, I do hate seeing that mug still in the sink, wondering why I haven’t washed it already.

Preparation is key here: to get as much done as possible so that I’m not piling on stress for my future self. Again, I’m talking about the small stuff: checking the tire pressure on the BMW M2 on schedule, or filling it up with gas soon as I notice the gauge is low (instead of waiting for the next drive). The future me is going to appreciate getting into a car with an already full tank of gas, and proper tire pressures.

Because the small annoyances of life that’s easily ignorable, like a squeaky door hinge begging for a blast of WD40, will compound into something significant if you don’t get it fixed. What’s better? Fixing the squeak right now, or having to listen to it every single day indefinitely? Easy choice to be sure, but in action it can be surprisingly difficult to not procrastinate. So that’s what I’m working on lately.

Let's take a walk

The Whole Foods at the local mall a few blocks away is finally opening up soon. I am one step further to having absolutely everything I need within walking distance. Of course, I don’t have the paycheck to afford a frequent Whole Foods habit, but let’s just gloss over that for a second. I can walk to a Whole Foods in less than 10 minutes! The hot foods section will be my sanctuary.

What would be clutch is if the same mall with the Whole Foods also had a post office, and either a UPS or Fedex store. I seldom send boxes out, but when I do, it currently still involves in getting into a car. Functionally I guess I can walk to the nearest USPS: the plaza is about 30 minutes away by foot. Same plaza also has a UPS Store and a Fedex Office. A bit of a walk isn’t so bad, now that I’m typing about it.

These days I really loathe to get into a car for anything. Coming out of the pandemic, drivers on the road are far too aggravated. Even on an early Sunday morning when everything is supposed to be relaxed and joyful, there’s still drivers who are too willing to tailgate, too willing to weave through traffic. What’s the bloody hurry, honestly? Way too many crazies out there that I can’t get truly comfortable in my M2. I’m always on high alert.

Leisure drives on a winding mountain road would counteract that, but have you seen gas prices lately? Two weeks ago I filled up on 91 octane at $5.25 a gallon! At that price, I actually wouldn’t have been able to fill up my old 911 GT3’s 26-gallon tank in one go. The one time maximum at most pumps is a measly $100 dollars. No such problems with the M2’s relatively tiny 13-gallon fuel tank. Gas prices would have to reach near the $10 dollar mark for that to happen.

Our European cousins would say to our gas prices: “That’s nothing!”

Suffice it to say then, I’m not driving all that much lately. Having almost everything within walking distance is truly a luxury, and a real stress reducer. An Asian city style of living that I adore so much.

There is a small FedEx drop-off point at work…

Waiting for aluminum

Now that I have a Pro Display XDR safely secured to my desk, I am really itching for the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 Max chip to arrive. I still can’t believe that it is scheduled to take seven weeks from when I first ordered it to (October 23rd) to ship to my door. The global chip shortage is real. Even so, even knowing I’ve got about three weeks of wait to go, I can’t help but check the order status page once every few hours, hoping against hope that perhaps I might get the new MacBook Pro sooner.

There’s even a thread on Reddit where all of us waiting for our Apple laptops can commiserate together.

I count myself lucky that I was able to get an iPhone 13 Pro on launch weekend. Apparently the stock of those things, plus the new Apple Watch, are highly constrained as well.

The chip shortage seems to be getting worse, if you’re following the news. BMW announced that they are doing away with touchscreen on most of their lineup until further notice, save the expensive models with an ‘M’ badge. As an owner of a BMW M2 Competition with a touchscreen, I can say it would be no big deal to me if I were confined to only using the physical controls. I hardly touch the screen anyways, because I hate leaving fingerprints on it.

That’s a bit idiosyncratic to me for sure. If I had a BMW on order and now suddenly the dealer is telling me there will be no touchscreen function, I would be annoyed. Getting $500 back in return doesn’t really help the situation when there is an absolute shortage of new cars, and I’m probably paying MSRP (or above) for the BMW in the first place!

I’m so glad I’m not in the market for a new car right now.

Especially for a GM vehicle. Similar to BMW, they’ve announced they are also cutting features from their lineup due to the chip shortage. Instead of touchscreen, GM is doing away with heated seats. This move is baffling to me because heated seats is a feature that is universally loved, and we are heading into the winter season. On cold mornings I really appreciate the heated seats and heated steering wheel of my M2. I would hate to lose those functions just because the world has ran out of silicon chips.

I would bet a not insignificant amount of potential GM car buyers will look elsewhere. Losing touchscreen function is either here nor there; losing heated seats? That’s a deal-breaker in my opinion.

Pro Display XDR

Bottom line: the Apple Pro Display XDR is absolutely amazing, and worth the super hefty $5,000 entry cost.

In my search for an external monitor that led to the disappointing Dell UP3221Q monitor - one of the company’s very highest end displays - I was stuck with the realization that the best displays for Macs are the ones that are “sanctioned” by Apple. ‘It just works’ only applies to those monitors; everything else third-party have compromises few and many.

Unfortunately, as of current writing, there are only three monitors that Apple officially sells at their store: two LG UltraFine displays at 24 and 27 inch sizes, and the aforementioned Pro Display XDR. That is it, those are the only options. You either pay through the nose for the XDR, or pay reasonable amounts for the two LG monitors that’s been out since the mid 2010s.

Nothing against the LG Ultrafine: as a former 27-inch iMac owner, the LG 5K display has the same exact panel as the iMac. You absolutely cannot find this high quality and pixel density anywhere else. The problem is one of vanity: I find the LG to be incredibly ugly, with an industrial design that’s nowhere near the aluminum and glass enclosures of Apple-made products. We had a unit in at work, and the whole thing looks and feel of cheap plastic.

If Apple had taken that 27-inch display and encased it in an enclosure similar to that of the Pro Display XDR, I probably would have bought that instead, and pocketed the significant extra change. But Apple doesn’t, so here am I staring at the glorious 6K resolution of the XDR as I type these words.

I did not pay the extra thousand dollars for the Pro Stand. Instead I paid the (still expensive) $200 dollars for the VESA mount adapter, and about $190 for an Ergotron LX monitor arm.

The Pro Display XDR is the epitome of ‘you get what you pay for’. I would say to anyone that’s also looking for a display for their Mac laptops to look no further: this is the one you want. Delay the purchase and save up a bit more if you have to. A monitor is something we stare at for hours every single day; wouldn’t you want to invest and get the ultimate? The XDR’s quality and clarity is simply unmatched. Its aluminum casing is a work of art. It’s as good to look at from the back as it is from the front, a centerpiece in any home office.

It is a delight every morning when I press a button on the keyboard and the Pro Display XDR wakes from sleep immediately. A stark contrast to my experience with the Dell UP3221Q.

As with most things in life, save a bit more and get the thing you really want. The Pro Display XDR’s prohibitive price tag steered me towards a lesser option that constantly reminded me of its shortcomings. That’s not something I want to live with for the next 10 years. I’m happy I was able to return the Dell and get the display I wanted all along.

Vehicular longevity

Sometimes on my walks around the neighborhood, I would notice some vintage cars with plates starting in a low digit (in California, the higher the starting number, the newer the car tends to be). And these cars tend to be in relatively immaculate condition. There’s definitely some patina there, but I can tell for the most part these are well-loved machines, and cared for consistently. How else would a ding-free Mercedes sedan from the 80s survive into the modern age?

A slight amount of shame comes to me whenever I see these old cars, because my track record in that respect is horrendous. I’ve yet to own any of the new cars I bought for more than three years. Even the one used car - the beloved Porsche 911 GT3 - I’ve only managed to keep for two. I go through cars way more often that someone of my meager income really should. I’m sure the State of California is happy about the tax revenue it has received from me over the years.

To that end, I really hope I can muster the self-control to keep my current car, a 2021 BMW M2 Competition, for a very long time. It’s a little over one year since I bought the thing, so there’s two more to go before I am even with my previous best record of car ownership length. BMW’s free maintenance program for the first three years does make it easier to keep the M2, because my only outlay is gas, insurance, and payments (neither of which are cheap already).

Will I be able to go past three years? I certainly hope so. The only car I can conceivably see trading it for is a 997.1 generation Porsche 911 GT3. Having played the Porsche game and paid the Porsche tax once, I’m not sure I have the wallet stomach for it again. The most ideal scenario would be to keep the BMW as the last petrol-powered car I will ever buy. I’ll buy an EV to supplement it if the need ever arises. As of right now, I am quite okay.