Blog

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

A quicker way

Whoever invents muscle protein synthesis in a pill form is going to make many billions. Who the heck would want to workout many times a week just to be in decent shape? Even the most insufferable lovers of the gym will have lazy days, when they much rather lie on the couch with a laptop. But, until the day the muscle-making pill becomes reality, I shall continue pushing these weights on a consistent basis.

Fitness is tough work, multiplied over many months and years. I can see why people are quick to hop off that train. Shortcuts - what’s what we want, right? Shortcuts for everything. Social media has shown us the fantastic end results that we all want right now. How can I get as rich as Warren Buffett without putting in the decades of work and patience? (Crypto, obviously.) How can I lose fat without the immense willpower needed to eat less over a long period?

Ozempic. Kind of crazy to realize that we essentially have an effective diet pill. (Yes, I know these semaglutide GLP-1 agonist drugs are needle shots - you get the idea.) If I weren’t already skinny and lean, I’d be shooting myself weekly with that drug. Why put in the work when there’s a shortcut? Sure, there’s no free lunch, especially when it comes to drugs. But there’s downsides to exercising, too: time loss, working out becoming your entire personality.

I think semaglutide drug for weight loss is great news for folks in the higher BMI ranges, the people who have struggled to lose weight. Even the absolute lazy ones deserve a chance to lower their all-cause mortality by getting leaner. These drugs will only get better - in terms of mitigating side-effects - and cheaper. Thereby more accessible by more of the population. Health insurance companies should be very happy to cover Ozempic, because that open heart surgery down the line costing cost way more will be obviated.

Pharmaceutical companies: please do muscle-protein synthesis next. Because some days, working out is a total chore and a half.

Spend spend spend

The 2024 Summer Olympics starts this week in Paris. If it seems like it’s only been a short while since the Tokyo Olympics, that’s because it was held in 2021. Thank you, Covid pandemic. We hardly think about you these days. Due apologies to the long Covid sufferers.

I keep hearing the term “revenge travel” these days. Coming out of the pandemic, people are eager to travel, to make up for the lost time. My only question is: “How the French are people affording to travel?” I flew out the country twice this year (already, though no more plans to do so) and honestly I had some trepidation about spending the money. It was all worth it, obviously. In these days of high inflation I would prefer to have a bit more buffer in the bank account. You just never know when the cost a thing (that you absolutely need, of course, like YouTube Premium) will suddenly spike in price.

Though, word on the street is that Japan is currently relatively cheap to travel to. Because the Japanese yen is weak point against foreign currency. Weeaboos rejoice: your American dollars will get you more things in Akihabara.

Maybe the revenge part of revenge travel is on bank accounts. Swipe it on credit cards, pay it (much) later. If a chance leak at a lab in Wuhan, China (allegedly, probably) can trigger a global death event without any warning, wouldn’t you live life with a more short term view? Let’s cram all the fun things we want to do now. Who cares if we don’t have the means to pay the tab - we might be dead in a few years anyways. (DJ Khaled voice: “Another one.”) In America, debt of the deceased dies with them - next of kin bears zero responsibility, unless they (stupidly) co-signed on the debt.

Sometimes I feel like a crazy person, still concerned with thinking for the long-term. YOLO is a good BTS song, not a protracted life strategy. Travel to Paris for the Olympics? Not in this economy of the $200 per night common hotel room.

It's inside the house!

Pour one out for the IT support homies out there having to deal with this CrowdStrike fiasco.

If I understand the situation correctly: CrowdStrike is a Microsoft Windows security software that lives in the kernel (read: deep) level to protect systems from outside attack. The company rolled out an automatic update last Friday that broke any computer it is installed on. (The threat is coming from inside the house!) PCs all over the world restarted to the infamous blue screen of death. What’s worse: IT support has to essentially go to each and every endpoint to resolve this massive problem. CrowdStrike can’t simply roll out a fix en masse.

That’s why as of today - three days later - flights are still being cancelled. It will take quite some time for things to return to normal.

I am in the IT support business, but thankfully our organization does not deploy CrowdStrike. Last Friday was just a normal Friday for us. Praise be.

You know who’s got to be having a bad year? Lloyd's of London. The UK company is famous for selling insurance to cover extraordinary events. If you ever wonder how a sticky situation plays out in terms of insurance, Lloyd’s is probably behind it. Like the container ship that ran into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. That is a hefty, hefty insurance bill that the likes of State Farm would never dare to underwrite.

Similarly, this CrowdStrike disaster is affecting hospitals, airlines, banks - a ton of crucial businesses. Whoever underwrites CrowdStrike's insurance policy - probably Lloyd's - got to be sweating bullets.

No presidency for old man

Ladies and gentlemen, our national nightmare is over: President Joe Biden will not seek reelection this November. Thank you for your multi-decades of service, Mr. President. Think about this: Joe Biden retired from politics before Grand Theft Auto 6 comes out.

Anybody who watched the (first and only) debate between President Biden and Donald Trump can tell that Biden is simply not mentality fit for the job. Not right now, not for another four years. Democrats are no better than Trump supporters if they bury their heads in the sand about this. Trotting out a senile old man and pretending everything is going to be just fine. Hey, vote for our caricature of a fully functioning human, because, you know, the other guy is truly horrible!

Cognitive decline for someone in his 80s is fine, normal, acceptable. You simply cannot expect President Biden to serve competently for another four years. Have you seen how eight years of the presidency has utterly aged Barrack Obama? It would be cruel to make Biden continue on, honestly. He deserves to retire and live the rest of his life as peacefully as possible.

Good news for Americans: our Sophie’s choice between a convicted felon and a senile grandfather is no more! Short of nominating Bernie Sanders (who is even older than President Biden), any candidate the Democratic Party nominates will seem like a breath of fresh air, a ray of excitement. Maybe it’ll be enough to sway those who otherwise would not vote for either Trump or Biden.

Can't return a house

Not that I could ever afford to buy a house here in the San Francisco Bay Area. But, if I were hypothetically able to, it’s kind of a crap shoot, isn’t it? I’m talking about one thing you cannot change after you’ve bought a house: bad neighbors.

Buying a house in a supposedly “good neighborhood” is no guarantee of good neighbors either. Sure you may not have to content with the constant loud music and occasional robbery shooting. But maybe your new neighbor next door runs a wood-working shop out of his garage. Good luck concentrating with that ruckus whilst trying to work from home. Because you do work from home, right? Who can afford a house around here without a remote software engineering job anyways.

That’s why I am a fan of renting (and not just because I can’t afford a house). The longest I would be ever stuck with a crappy situation is one year. Heck, if it’s truly unbearable, I’d have no problem paying to break the lease and get out of there. You simply cannot do that with a 30-year mortgage! Call up the bank and be like: “Yeah, I would like to return this house…”

It’s too bad you can’t test-live a home. Move in for a month, and if your neighbors happens to be from hell, you have an escape clause.

I actually like the idea of homeowner associations. There’s a clear set of agreeable rules that every homeowner in that subdivision has to abide by. If Jacob next door likes to practice guitar late into the morning, a polite email to the HOA will take care of that quickly. HOA takes care of any potential bad neighbors anxiety because the rules are typically what a civilized society should be: don’t intrude on others.

Buy nothing to save 100%

It is Amazon Prime Day, a sort of Black Friday for those of us with an Amazon Prime membership. A not so elaborate ruse to separate you from your hard-earned money.

Because the item you actually want to buy would never go one sale during Prime Day. That’s not how it works. What do go on sale are things you didn’t even realize you wanted to buy. Take for example the AirPods Pro 2 going for a never before seen low price of $170. This utterly fantastic price creates intense FOMO to hook in customers. Because, what if we never see this price ever again?

Then again, who doesn’t already have a pair? My set of AirPods Pro 2 gets plenty usage on the daily.

In previous economies (as in: not in this economy), I would have bought the AirPods Pro 2 at that rock-bottom price. (True ballers have backup earphones in case their main unit gets lost or craps out.) See how that works? Amazon would have tempted me out of $170 that I had zero plans to spend. People see an item with a tremendous percentage discount, and their minds immediately switch to justifying. I can really use a new Dyson vacuum! Look at how much money I am saving!

Spending money to save money. That’s the essence of Prime Day and Black Friday. Guess what? I saved 100% by not buying anything.

Well, that’s not true. This Prime Day I was able to snag a 50-pound kettlebell for $50. When it comes to gym weights, you want to aim for paying one dollar per pound. I’ve long since progressed from my current 40-pound kettlebell, and have been eyeing a 50-pounder for a few months now. I was not expecting it to be discounted for Prime Day, but I was pleasantly surprised. Well played, Amazon.

Bangkok, Part 10

Traveling to Thailand was my first time ever attending a so called destination wedding. My friend’s now wife resides in Thailand, so I guess he lost the fight as to where the ceremony should be. San Francisco would have been must easier logistically for the friends on his side, obviously. But, we’re all in our late 30s making decent money, so a wedding on the literal other side of the globe is affordable, if not exactly affordable.

Even if I hypothetically had to debt-spend my way to Bangkok, it’s still an easy decision to attend. Money can always be made, debt can always be repaid. Your friend you’ve known since high school is only (hopefully) going to get married this one time. It’s a can’t miss.

And for my friend, a ceremony in Thailand has got to be way cheaper than the equivalent in San Francisco. As I said in previous blogs about Bangkok, the American dollar goes a massively long way when exchanged for the Thai baht. The friend was able to rent hotel rooms for his people, charter a bus to ferry us to and from the venue, and the venue was this amazing compound with everything one can possibly need for a wedding. If it were similarly held in the States, the total bill is likely close to $60,000.

What’s most important when attending a destination wedding is that you actually make it there in one piece. This is especially so if you are in the wedding party. I can see how in a city like Bangkok, one can go fully The Hangover and never make it to the ceremony. Because you’ve broke an ankle, lost all your money, or worst, got arrested and thrown into the Bangkok Hilton. If I’m going to Australia for a wedding, I’d put the over-landing trip through the Outback after the ceremony - not before!