Blog

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

Walking home

With summer semester going into action at the university, the staff are being asked to work on campus fully for two to three days out of the week. California is getting ready to fully open in about a fortnight, so things are returning to normal quite rapidly. Every weekend in May, I’ve gone out to places and ate indoors at restaurants. I’ve hung out indoors with a relatively large group of friends, unmasked. We are back, baby.

Except for much of the rest of the world. Rising COVID rates in countries with formerly ultra low outbreaks such as Taiwan and Vietnam show that vaccines are the only solution out of this mess. It’s perverse luck that the United States is amongst the worse in COVID deaths, yet we are the amongst the first to achieve an appropriately high level of vaccination. I read on twitter that some people are contemplating travel to America just to get the vaccine.

From worst to first, the underdog story. That’s America!

Anyways, being back to working a full day at work makes me appreciate how nice it is that I now live only a 10 minute walk away. To end a nine-hours day on campus without a commute slog in a car afterwards is just the best feeling. Yesterday evening I walked by heavy traffic on 19th Avenue on the way home, and thought to myself how grateful that I’m not the one stuck in a car amongst that quagmire. Maybe it’s not the job that’s soul-sucking, but it’s the commute?

I think this is why plenty of people are thriving with working-from-home. The commute time they get back in turn allows them to perform better. They are less stressed because they have more time. Unfortunately they’re going to hav a rude wake-up call if and when they are asked to return physically to work. Something for employers to look out for, surely.

Walking to work

One of the major reasons for my recent move to a new place is for its utter proximity to work. Instead of a 45-minute multi bus ride or a 20-minute car ride (relying on others to ferry me), I can now walk to work. And I’ve timed it, too: about three songs’ worth, going at a leisurely pace. Living this close to work truly has no downsides: walking is tremendous for your health, and the time that would otherwise be squandered towards a long commute, you get that back to use productively (or not) within the day.

Being able to walk to work takes stress off me that I didn’t even know existed. Not having to do the whole song and dance of getting ready and watching the clock just so I wouldn’t miss the bus and be late is such a luxury, one that is worth the extra money I am spending on housing costs. At the end of the work day, I am not dreading a slogging commute home or fighting with the crowds on a bus. I can now take my time and stroll back home slowly, taking in the glowing sky of the setting sun, and smelling the freshness of the air. In 10 minutes, I would arrive at home, calm and unbothered.

This have obviously spoiled me for life: I am going to try my damnedest to not have a long commute ever again. To waste up to two hours of my day stuck in traffic or on public transport just feels wrong, no matter how many insightful podcast episodes I consume along the way. It is indeed a privilege that I am able to move home like this and be this close to work; the circumstance of others aren’t so convenient. If I had to buy a house right now, there is no way I’d be able to afford a one anywhere near my current place of employment.

Every single workday, I’d be stuck in a car for hours like so many out there, resigned to the malaise of San Francisco Bay Area traffic. A day in the future might come where I may indeed have to do that, but as I’ve said, I’m going to try really hard to avoid such a situation. In the meantime, I’m going to really enjoy living so close to work.

No driving for young man

Here’s the grand total of how many miles I drove during the month of September: 74.

That amount marks an all-time low in monthly miles for my 911 GT3. The perfect confluence of wildfires and unhealthy air meant there was no opportunity to take the car out for weekend drives. I mean, I still could have done it, but the responsible thing to do with air quality being so poor is to not add more pollution needlessly. These fancy sports cars are toys, after all, and not what I would call essential motoring. And this is coming from a person who absolutely adores cars.

During this time I am still physically going into work, and it’s thanks to the generosity of my brother and father, who have taken up taxying duties, that I am able to make the trip back and forth. In an ideal world, I would commute with the GT3, but here in the real world, there isn’t a place at home to safely park it for that to be feasible. Street parking in my neighborhood is both highly contested and rather dangerous. Just this past weekend, an idiot in a Ford Mustang (it’s always a Ford Mustang, or a Dodge Charger/Challenger) did donuts on our intersection and then promptly spun into the parked Corolla of our neighbor’s.

That’s the sort of anxiety I don’t need on top of my already chronic anxiety issues.

I had plans this year to move out of the house and rent a spot that’s very close to work. That way I can simply walk to work instead of having to slog in on the commute. One less stress item off my mental list would be certainly be beneficial - and well worth the rental cost. I’d have easier access to the 911 as well, since it’s parked close to campus. Of course, the pandemic utterly destroyed all of our 2020 plans, and as of right now I’m just happy I still have a job, and a proverbial roof over my head.

We’ll return to our regularly scheduled programming soon enough.

I'm heading out

Some days it’s nice to simply get out of the house.

Today was one of those days where I had to physically go into work, and I have to say I quite enjoyed it. Routines are nice, but sometimes it’s cool to break it up and do something different. Who knew that actually going to campus for work would be the thing that is out of the ordinary, but such is the time that we are living right now. Of course, it’s a blessing that I get to drive my brother’s car for the commute, rather than take public transport; it probably wouldn’t be enjoyable at all if I had to slog it with the masses on the bus.

Nothing against buses, but you really cannot do social distancing inside one.

It is eerie indeed to be one of the few people on campus, a sort of silence that even during the breaks between semesters you wouldn’t find. Picture an entire floor of the library building, and it’s just me, my supervisor, and the attending security guard. Everything seems to be in suspended animation, other than the few items I interact with. It sounds a bit perverse, but it’s as if Thanos did the snap, and I’m amongst the few survivors combing through everything that’s been left behind. The coworkers that I’m used to interacting with have seemingly vanished.

On the other hand, I also like the silence very much. Where I live it’s not the quietest street in the world, and sometimes it’s difficult to concentrate on my third-floor room that faces the road. On campus - with almost everyone gone - it’s far easier to keep focus, and not be momentarily annoyed at the car driving by that’s playing music at the volume level of a rock concert. I know I shouldn’t let such a trivial and uncontrollable things distract me, and I really try not to, but to be in an environment where I know for sure that no such mental intrusion will ever occur, the mind is that extra bit calmer.

I reckon physically going to work once a week is a good thing for the mind.

Steering feel is important

Today was a rare day (during these times) I had to physically go to work, so I borrowed my brother’s car for the commute. With COVID-19 still running wild in these streets - despite what the massive protests may look like - I was not about to get on a bus full of people. Nothing again the people on buses; you simply can’t properly socially distance inside one. Even UBER or LYFT isn’t that safe, since you’ve no idea who the previous riders are, if they’re asymptomatic of the coronavirus or not. I think those of us lucky enough to have a choice of commuting with a private car are going to opt for that over the other options for the foreseeable future.

Had my brother not gotten laid off from his job due to the quarantine and therefore leaves behind a car for me to drive, I probably would have purchased another car by now to get me to work.

His car is a lovely Audi A3, 2018 edition, which honestly is a bit of a letdown compared to my weekend toy of a 911 GT3. Granted, I’m not a snob about these things: cars serve a purpose, and for the tasks of getting you from point A to point B, dull and boring is quite okay. So long as the car is a comfortable place to be, which is the A3 is. What I can’t overlook however - as soon as I turned the wheel around the block - is how awfully numb the steering is. There’s almost no feedback, as if I’m controlling the car like one does in a racing game with a wheel controller. I think my family’s Hyundai Tucson has more steering feel than the A3, which is a great shame.

Not even superb Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires can save the experience.

Of course, I’m merely nitpicking here, because as a commuting tool the Audi A3 suffices perfectly. If it were my own money, I’d probably get something with slightly more feel in the steering. It doesn’t have to drip with feedback like the rack in the 911 GT3, but I would prefer at least some sensation on what the front-end is doing at a given time. Barring a reputation for good steering feel, my next car purchase for a daily-driver - should it come to that - must involve a test-drive. Numb, lifeless steering is probably a deal-breaker.

If a Hyundai SUV can provide some semblance of feel, other cars and manufacturers really don’t have an excuse.

No more taking the bus?

One thing I definitely don’t miss about normal work life is the commute. During this current quarantine situation, it’s been really lovely to simply roll out of the bed each morning and login to work on the computer. No need to wake up two hours before official work start time: an hour to get ready to head out, and then an hour to take the bus. The time saved has been tremendous, though my amount of podcast listening have decreased dramatically.

One thing I do miss being physically at work is interacting with my coworkers. Zoom is great for teleconferencing, but you cannot replace face-to-face collaboration, at least in our line of work. Some tech problems need multiple heads banded together to solve, and it’s much easier and more effective to do so when we’re all in the same place. It’s what I’m most excited to return to - work-wise - once this shelter-in-place order is over.

Of course, that would mean the return of the commute, and up brings a conundrum: do I go back to public transportation? Lockdown being over doesn’t mean social distancing won’t still be required; the coronavirus won’t abate anytime soon, and once we’re back outside we will need to take the utmost precautions. A crowded bus then is to be avoided if possible, which means I'm going to need to buy another car to commute with (it’s not happening with the Porsche). As of this moment, I’m heavily leaning towards doing that.

Good news (somewhat perversely) then that used car prices are projected to be down in the foreseeable future. Circumstances stemming from the coronavirus have absolutely cratered demand for automobiles, and with a glut of inventory sitting at dealership lots, those with the means to spend are in a good position. I’m on a casual hunt, for now.

Second car and ride-sharing

Periodically, I surf on the Craigslist classifieds to look for a cheap car to buy. Mind you I don’t exactly need another car: I already have a sports car for the weekends, and I commute to work using public transportation. I guess I’m merely looking for a challenge: buy a cheap used car to drive and fix it up along the way as needed. It’s certainly far cheaper than buying a brand new car, and the repair skills I would learn along the way can totally justify the few thousand dollars spent.

But that’s only for the price of the car and future repairs; it’s easy to forget that there’s other costing components to car ownership, such as gas and insurance. When I include those things into the total equation, I cannot square with the comparative low cost of taking the bus to work, which buying a second car would replace as the commute method. I’m lucky to live in a city where public transportation is decent, and on the rare occasions when the next train isn’t due to arrive for more than a half hour - fairly common for late evening hours - the convenience of calling an UBER of LYFT is hard to beat.

Because parking is also a great pain in San Francisco, and buying another car would add that headache as well.

The occasional 20 bucks to get me home via ride-sharing is way less expensive than the fixed cost of owning a car, even one bought on Craigslist for a thousand dollars. UBER and LYFT have so infiltrated our regular everyday function that sometimes I wonder if both companies have reached the mythical “too big to fail” status. Indeed, neither UBER nor LYFT have ever made an annual profit in their existence, but the ride-sharing has become so ubiquitous that people’s livelihoods are wholly dependent on it, be it a driver that needs the income, or a car-less person who needs it to get to work.

A lot of people would be really hurt if UBER and LYFT were to collapse and go away - as money-losing companies are typically wont to do. I guess it’s that prevailing force of preservation that is somehow keeping both companies in business, even though there’s not a cent of profit made. Ride-sharing has become a subsidized method of transportation for the public good, and it’s not far-fetched to imagine one day the government stepping in to provide that subsidy.

I mean, it sure is nice to be able to quickly get home from anywhere, at any hour of the day, without needing my own personal car.