Blog

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

Throw money at it

A friend of mine, who recently adopted a dog, have decided to pay for professional service for certain things, instead of doing it herself. She calls it “Throwing money at the problem.” Let the pros handle giving the dog the biannual bath, and clipping its nails. I think it’s a brilliant strategy. The point of earning money is to make our lives easier - rather than to buy more things. Mundane tasks that aren’t enjoyable should be outsourced if possible. It gives you more time to do the things you actually like. In that friend’s case, it’s watching Succession.

She’s also hires a mobile detailer to come wash her car from time to time. While personally I’m not at that level of income, I think it’s worth considering having my BMW M2 professionally detailed every few years. Most of the time the car is sat outside in the elements, and these days I’m not as consistent in washing it as I was back in my early 20s. Detail the car every two weeks? Who the French has time for that.

It’s been nearly three years since I bought the M2, and I think the time is right to enlist professional help. To take three years’ worth of accumulation off the paint, polish it up nicely, then put on a layer of ceramic coating on top. The latter is important because ceramic coating is like a semi-permanent wax that last for years. It protects the paint from UV damage and prevents outside elements from sticking to it. Car wash becomes dead easy because I can simply to hose off the car at local wash. Only periodically would I need to bring out the towels and cleaning solution.

I previously had such a service done to my 2013 Subaru WRX STI, a rather long time ago. I skipped the service on the 2016 Mazda Miata because the car is tiny and it takes little effort to wash. The 2015 Porsche 911 GT3 already had ceramic coating done by the previous owner, which was a nice bonus. I’ve lagged on getting the M2 done because at the time I lacked the money to throw at the problem.

It seems I’ve got the money now!

A stamp when you need one

When is the last time you sent an actual letter? The Internet have largely negated that part of the communication experience. It’s so much easier - and less waste of paper - to send stuff digitally. The invite to my friends’ baby shower is completely digital. Long gone are the days of receiving it in the mail and having to tick a box then send it back via post.

But sometimes I do want to send something through snail mail. What catches me always is my lack of stamps on hand. I mean, does anyone just have a stack of stamps at home these days? I certainly don’t. On the rare times I want to send a letter the traditional way, I have to make a trip to the post office. You would think then I would buy a book of stamps to keep at home, but I never seem to learn the lesson. The frequency is rare enough. Besides, I can use the walk.

Something else I don’t have readily on hand these days is cash. No, I have money, but hard cash is something I never carry with me. I can’t remember the last time I touched coins. Your restaurant is cash only? I guess I won’t be patronizing it. Sorry, nothing personal.

Unless of course a friend invites you to a luncheon celebrating his graduation, and it’s at a cafe that only accepts cash. Worse, we didn’t find out until we’ve sat down and ordered. Everybody in our table only carried credit cards. When said friend came around to our table to say hi, my first remark was jokingly, “Do you have cash?” Fortunately there was a Chase branch a few blocks away. While I never carry cash, I do at least have a debit card with me for (let’s call it) emergencies.

Will I start carrying some cash, and have a few stamps stashed at home? Yeah… Probably not.

Not out of the woods yet

You may think the supply chain crunch from the pandemic is over, but it’s not really in reality. Two evenings ago I was at the local Target to buy milk, and there were zero whole milks on the shelf. Organic or inorganic, grass-fed or corn-fed, didn’t matter. The only milks on the shelf were the 2% and 1% variety. I guess most people, like myself, do not consider low-fat milk to be milk at all. Honestly, you might as well just drink water.

In my job, computer components break, and we have to call Dell or Apple for replacements. Recently a brand new Dell laptop had a faulty AC adapter. No big deal, right? It’s under warranty, Dell will replace the adapter no problem. Well, the problem is the supply chain. As of writing, we’ve been waiting for the replacement adapter for three weeks now - supply of which is severely backordered. Obviously, being a proper IT department, we had spares on hand for the user. Imagine if you’re a regular customer, though: your newly purchased Dell laptop cannot function going on three weeks. Hugely unacceptable.

And that’s why I recommend Apple. At least you can go to a local Apple Store to complain!

I’ve read that if you bought a new Land Rover sports-utility vehicle, and were unlucky enough to need a windshield replacement, you might be shit out of luck. There’s a supply shortage of windshields, and Land Rover rather concentrate on what little stock they have towards making whole vehicles (more profit in that enterprise). So what does the owner of a six-figure Range Rover to do? Apparently, Land Rover dealerships are buying back the cars, presumably enough compensated for owners to get another new Range Rover.

That's not what you want

A coworker of mine is dangerously close to being diabetic. The doctor has him on three medications already to try to stem the tide. Yesterday I regrettably informed him that being diabetic does indeed increases the risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia. Just as smoking increases the risk of lung cancer. Maybe that will finally be the impetus for my coworker to change his lifestyle. Because losing the mind - our consciousness - is a horror no one wants.

Obviously, type two diabetes is overall bad news for practically every facet of the human body. My late maternal grandfather lived with it for the latter part of his life. It was a never-ending cycle of dialysis. It’s a surprise that he lived to 93, because he did not adhere to the strict diet and exercise advice typically prescribed to diabetic patients (you know, the part that doesn’t involve drugs). Maybe there’s hope yet for my coworker, because he’s failing massively to change his diet, and let’s not even talk about working out.

The easiest on paper prescription is the toughest to follow. I’ve another friend who got told by her doctor that if she doesn't change her diet and exercise habits, she won’t live pass 40 to see her kids graduate. That should be a sufficient wake-up call, right? The friend has changed her diet somewhat, but flat-out refuses to do any sort of exercising. It’s sad to see, honestly. My coworker also has a young daughter to live for. How much stronger do incentive need to get for people to change?

And to think the impetus that got me to change my diet and exercise - way back in college - was a mere borderline hypertensive blood pressure result during a routine checkup. I get it: most other people want an easy pill to swallow. Habits are difficult to build. Short term rewards are more salient than long-term thinking. All I’m saying is, the latter two decades of my grandfather’s life was no life at all. That’s cautionary tale enough for me.

Inflation is too damn high

It’s always funny to me when I see Mac laptops get discounted on Amazon (and whatnot). It’s funny because it’s sad I can never buy those models - they come with too little internal storage. It’s always the base specs that get discounted. 512 GB hard drive is hardly enough for what I’m doing. I custom ordered this MacBook Pro I’m typing on with 2 TB of storage, and it’s already more than half full. Because of this, I’m destined to pay full price for Mac computers forevermore (3% cash back with an Apple Card, though).

Not that I need a new laptop anytime soon. Especially not in this economy. Inflation is still very much a scourge. I recently reordered some skin care products from Amazon, and the prices have increased enough to give me lament. What used to cost in the $10s is now nearly touching $30. In the grand scheme of thing it isn’t too bad because I only buy skin care products once every few months. But man, the seemingly sudden spike in price still stings.

I always say to people that I’m lucky vis a vis inflation because I only have to support myself. A 2X increase the price of milk is not a big deal - there’s a limit to how much I can drink (challenge not accepted). Inflation must be really hurtful for people who have to support families. And it isn’t just groceries bills, is it? Everything have gotten tremendously expensive. Those supporting multiple persons undoubtedly have had to cut back in certain spending categories. Perhaps less restaurant outings (a single fast food meal is over $10 now), or buying more stuff in bulk when it’s on sale.

And they wonder why millennials aren’t quick to marry and have kids. One, everything is expensive. Two, many don’t want to give up the young-person-with-money lifestyle. The tradeoffs that come with settling down with kids is too difficult to confront. What do you mean I can’t travel anymore?

Again and again

It’s one of those rare weekends that I hardly spent any time home, other than to sleep. While the homebody me isn’t inclined to do so every weekend, it’s nice to have a packed schedule once in a while. I mean, that’s what we’re all chasing after, right? Novelty. A break from the monotony that is our work week. We fight so hard for change and excitement, yet the Sisyphean task of rolling up the rock remains ever constant. It’s Monday again! Time to go back to work.

You either enjoy the process, or be miserable.

Like the friend I was with yesterday. During dinner, after a long day of hiking around Angel Island, he lamented the oncoming workweek. I mentioned that perhaps he doesn’t sound all the enthused about his job, to which he replied, “I hate my job.” Quite a succinct way to say exactly what I was asking! Why stay at a job you actively hate? Why do most people, really? It’s the money, of course. And the sunk cost of the previous effort (read: education) to get you at that job in the first place.

No one wants to - or can - take a pay cut switching to a less stressful job. They’ve adapted their lifestyle to their current income level. Decreasing that means having to make other hard choices as well. For someone already miserable at a job, adding that complexity to the decision means they rather not make it. Or perhaps they can’t: the cost of mortgage and kids can’t really decline, can it? So let’s just slog through the workweek for that sweet reprieve of the two day weekend. Some weekends you might be lucky and get three days.

Then the loom of Monday creeps in on Sunday evening. The joy of that reprieve vanishes in a flash. To each their own, obviously, but that’s not how I want to live my life. Work is a necessity, yes, but I won’t stay a job that I actively hate. Life is too damn proverbially short for that.

Build another PC?

In a fit of nostalgia, I’ve been toying with the idea of building a PC. I used to be a huge custom PC enthusiast. I built my first custom Pentium 4 machine back in middle school. I’ve done a dual AMD processor build, back before multiple cores on a single die was a thing. The last PC I built was used as a media center connected to an HDTV. That one got confiscated by the Feds (it wasn’t me). Since then, I’ve been entirely on the Mac platform.

Obviously I don’t exactly need a PC. This M1 MacBook Pro I’m typing on is my main computer. The LG TV I have has its own operating system, so I don’t need a PC for that either (besides, far easier and cheaper to buy a streaming stick from Apple/Amazon/Google). I don’t need a PC to game, either: there’s a PlayStation 5 for that.

So building a new PC in the year 2023 would be a pure vanity project for me. What I really miss is the craftsmanship and meticulousness that go with putting all the components together. There’s a tactile art to proper cable management and fitting the parts in harmony. It’s as close to building a car for those of us lacking the skill and money to build our own car. The satisfactory joy from pressing the power button and the PC coming to life for the very first time. That’s what I miss.

Of course, in this economy, I’m not spending money on what is essentially an art project. As mentioned, I have no use for a built PC. And these days I’m trying to eliminate as much superfluous stuff as possible. I shall be content with living vicariously through the people building PCs on YouTube.