Blog

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

Day of updates

First world problem: it’s always a tiresome day when Apple rolls out software updates to all its products. Each one has to download its respective update, prepare it, install, then restart. The whole process takes about 45 minutes, during which I am deprived of functional usage. Thumb twiddling is a great exercise!

Of course, the real problem is I own too many things from Apple - that’s why updating takes so long. Not one, but two laptops (granted, one is from work). There’s my beloved iPhone, and an iPad. Two sets of AirPods (though these update whenever, automatically). An Apple TV 4K and a HomePod mini. Finally, there’s the newly-purchased Apple Watch, which oddly needs to be actively charging in order to run updates. These things all delightfully enrich my life, to which I am sure Tim Cook is very happy about.

But just a humble request to Apple: stagger the software updates to different days, for different device type. It’s such a chore to update all my Apple products at once.

What isn’t a chore is deciding to not upgrade to the refreshed MacBook Pros. The M3/Pro/Max chips in the new refresh may be two generations newer than the M1 Max in my current MacBook Pro, but functionally the delta is mere icing on the cake. The M1 Max chip still chews through everything I can throw at it, a testament to how great the first-generation Apple Silicon chips was and still are. There’s zero enticement to upgrade, not even the new black color. Truly gone are the days when I bought a new MacBook Pro for three straight years…

Not of this reality

It seems what’s popular these days amongst millennials and Gen Z is buying old iPhones to take pictures. I guess these folks don’t want the latest and greatest in imaging technology that Apple has to offer? An iPhone 7 offers a comparatively nostalgic look in its photo processing, yet still has enough megapixels to do prints. (I remember it was around the iPhone 7 era that I was able to use photos taken with the phone in making calendar-sized prints.) I often see on social media people carrying two phones: an older iPhone strictly for photography, and a modern one for everything else.

I can understand why. Honestly, I am not a fan of how the modern iPhone processes its photos. It’s too sharp, too crunchy, too much HDR. Computational photography deserves kudos for what it can do with such a small camera sensor in smartphones, but at some point it gets to be a bit too processed, a bit too perfect. A photograph’s job is to be evocative, to elicit an emotional reaction. A direct technical copy of how a scene is in real life is not a requirement. A black-and-white picture taken from the real world of color is a great example of this notion.

It seems nostalgia and retro-ness always have a place. What was once old becomes new again. Just look at the return of bell-bottoms and baggy pants (that was the fashion of my high school days). We all think a decade ago were better times: we were objectively younger, with less ingrained responsibilities. The photographs from that time have a certain look, which explains why people are buying older phones (and cameras) to replicate that feel.

The instant film - be it Polaroid or FujiFilm Instax - will never go out of style, even though smartphones have surpassed it in technical image quality a long time ago. It’s the look that people want: a feel that isn’t of this reality, because our reality it too burdensome to bear. That’s how instagram came to its immense popularity, isn’t it? Nostalgic filters to make a photo look not of this present. I too have rose-tinted fondness for the early days of instagram.

Respect the Thanksgiving

It’s November, and you know that means: it’s officially Christmas season. Well, not in my house! In this rented studio of mine, we have respect for the major holiday before Christmas. That’s right, I am talking about Thanksgiving. The Christmas tree (and decorations) goes up after the fourth Thursday of November, not before. There won’t be any Mariah Carey on the music rotation. And if I see Santa at the mall available for pictures - before Thanksgiving, I am punching him in the throat (tongue fully in cheek).

I get it: the Christmas atmosphere is pretty awesome. To get two months of it - from the beginning of November to end of the year - stretches out that specialness. I certainly like Christmas more than Thanksgiving. The latter doesn’t have songs to compete with the many famous tunes related to Christmas (shoutout the woman being horny for Santa). Aren’t Thanksgiving decorations simply autumnal-themed? Pumpkin spice latte can never compete with the evocative Starbucks holiday cups. (Or for the folks on the American political right: Christmas cups.)

You know what does respect Thanksgiving? Capitalism. The local Walmart may already have Christmas decorations up, but it hasn’t forgotten that it’s (day after) Thanksgiving that brings in the biggest revenue of the year. It seems like Black Friday has morphed from Friday after Thanksgiving to an entire month of sales and consumerism. These big box stores all have Black Friday sales way before the actual day. Take the Walmart example: if you join their membership program, you get first access to “Black Friday” sales on the second Wednesday of November (that’s tomorrow).

Black Friday is the best time to do your Christmas shopping. If you’re the frugal, non-procrastinating type.

Increasing feedback loop

A new bill in California going into effect next year will see fast food workers - in chains with at least 60 locations throughout the United States - earn at least a $20 minimum wage. That is great news for the workers, but bad news for patrons. McDonald’s and Chipotle already signaled plans to increase menu prices in response. In a time when eating a full meal at McDonald’s is already upwards of $10, prices getting even more expensive is kind of grating.

And it won’t be just McDonald’s and Chipotle, that’s for damn sure.

Because corporations aren’t going to cut into (often times fat) profits to pay its workers more. Shareholders simply wouldn’t have it: “What do you mean there’s less profits this quarter due to labor cost?!” That burden gets passed onto the customers. The UAW strike against the American big three automakers? The concessions made by the automakers will no doubt increase vehicle prices. Kaiser Permanente staff successfully bargaining for a raise? Insurance plans pricing is going up!

Isn’t it all kind of creating its own feedback loop? Labor costs go up, so prices increase in response. Then that makes people feel like their money doesn’t buy as much anymore. So they ask for wage increase at their place of employment (collectively bargained or otherwise). Of course, whatever that employer sells will have to go up in price (remember: got to protect the profits). Back and forth in symbiosis: workers get paid more, things get more expensive. An inflation arms race.

I am all for labor getting more money. I am a proud union member, super fortunate to enjoy collectively-bargained wage increases on a regular basis. That said, sometimes I wonder: what good is more pay, if everything else gets more expensive? It all cancels out! I’m not kidding: last year’s wage increase all went to paying for food, which has price inflated tremendously in recent years.

Can't touch me

Word on the street is that YouTube is cracking down heavily on ad blockers. Videos absolutely will not play if you don’t disable/whitelist. I intensely abhor watching YouTube with ads, especially when videos are less than five minutes. If I had to watch a 30-second commercial before a three-minute music video, I would just skip both entirely. More than any other streaming service, YouTube is where I spend most of my viewing time. A smooth experience with zero ad interruptions is kind of important (first world problems).

Over the years, browser ad-blocking extensions have done well to keep the YouTube ad machine in check. However, even before this latest crackdown, YouTube has been doing whack-a-mole on the extensions for a long time. It would work fine one day, then the next you’re suddenly seeing ads on videos, wondering why your ad blocker isn’t doing its magic. The solution is to switch to another one, and if that also gets whacked, then to another. Perhaps you’ll end up back to the ad blocker you started with, because it's received an update to combat the YouTube shenanigans.

Frustrated by this, I picked the obvious solution to the problem: pay for YouTube Premium. I bet that’s what YouTube hopes to achieve with its latest crusade against ad blockers: get more folks to pay up. At a not cheap $14 per month, I get the full YouTube experience completely ad-free. Best of all, I can watch videos on my Apple TV’s built-in YouTube app, also without ads. It’s not possible to run an ad-blocker on TV apps, so prior to subscribing, I avoided watching YouTube on my much larger (than a laptop screen) LG TV. These days, a majority of my YouTube time is on the TV.

Crack down on ad blockers all you want, Google. I am chilling over here. The people complaining about it are sitting in the cheap(skate) seats.

Acne finally

During my annual checkup last week, I finally asked my doctor to prescribe a remedy for my acne. I am right smack in the middle of my 30s, and I am still breaking out like a pubescent teenager. It’s been this way since I actually was a pubescent teenager. It’s never been serious enough (no pepperoni pizza here, though still quite oily) for me to consider asking for the big guns. It’s just been a steady regiment of salicylic acid-infused face wash and benzoyl peroxide cream, hoping it will all go away as I age.

Obviously that has not happened. Constant mask use during the pandemic exacerbated the problem. The mask material interacted horribly with my oily face. Changing one out every few hours did not do much to stem the tide (my apologies, landfills). Even with the pandemic over, and far less frequent mask use, the acne did not recede at all. Which is why I finally talked with my doctor about an oral medication. Decades of topical remedy has accomplished very little.

I think most people are familiar with Accutane: the hammer against acne. It’s the final boss, for when everything else has failed. My doctor did not think Accutane is necessary. Apparently there’s a similar drug to take before exercising the Accutane trump card. It makes sense, because the side effects of Accutane is kind of notorious: constantly dry skin, and potential depression.

The doctor and I are hoping to avoid that by having me take doxycycline, a twice daily oral tablet for three months. It’ll be some time before I can say for sure whether this medicine is effective or not. What I can say is that it’s certainly working on something. One of the warnings on the bottle is users may become hugely sensitive to sunlight. I can directly confirm that is correct. Good thing I am starting this regiment during the autumn/winter months!

Continuous glucose monitoring

Last week I wrote that I scored a 5.7 on the HbA1c test during my annual checkup. That number is just into the range of pre-diabetic, which is rather alarming. With no other levers to pull - my sleep and exercise regiment is on point, the only lifestyle choice I am making is to limit carbohydrates. More so than I’ve already been doing for over a decade. It’s kind of difficult to cut carbs when I hardly eat any sugary products to begin with. I would be cutting into the staple carbs I eat with meals: rice, bread, noodles, fruits, et cetera.

Ideally, I want to be able to see which of those carbs are spiking my blood glucose level. It’s not prudent to cut out carbs completely, because I need some of it for sustenance, especially after workouts. Therefore it would be helpful to see if white rice spikes blood glucose, but a slices of wheat bread does not (or vice versa, I don’t really care). I will then only eat the carbs that do not elevate blood glucose.

Turns out there are devices called continuous glucose monitors (CGM). Exactly as the name suggests, it constantly measures a person’s blood glucose level (every five minutes). An app on a smartphone collates the data, and users can see in real time if it’s normal, elevated, or too low. Originally developed for type one diabetics - they need to check their blood glucose constantly, CGM devices are now broadly used by people (diabetic or otherwise) wanting a clear picture of their glucose profile.

I asked my doctor to prescribe one to me, and she agreed. But there’s a problem: because I am not a type one diabetic - or any form of diabetic, Kaiser Permanente insurance does not cover the CGM. I will have to pay out of pocket (in the American healthcare system, there is no money in prevention). The primary cost driver are the patches that sticks to the skin (for measuring). Those need to be replaced every 10 - 14 days (depending on the brand).

It’s a necessary expense. I need to see if my blood glucose level is indeed higher than what is considered normal. No better method than measuring (kind of) at the source. Sometimes HbA1c results can skew higher by other factors, so I want to check if that 5.7 might be a false positive (if you will). More to come!