Perfect weather, can't get no better - 10 things I think

10 THINGS I THINK

1. Where were you the night Reddit when all to hell? I seldom frequent the website (I personally find it difficult to navigate), but it was interesting to see the uprising of the site’s moderators in protest of the administration. Who knew that underneath the immense success and traffic volume, lays such amounts of discord and dissatisfaction?

Judging from my Twitter feed, quite a few of the people I follow have sworn off Reddit for good. And good for them, because rather than spending inordinate hours of time in front of a computer screen reading message boards, people should go out and take in some of that fresh air while they still can - before climate change destroys it completely.

2. 11AM east coast baseball games should be banished from existence. This past Fourth of July I was extremely annoyed to wake up to a baseball game that has already gone on for a few innings, and it was only 9AM! Whoever did the scheduling for this particular day ought to swiftly walk themselves in front of a moving bus.

I understand baseball’s need to schedule a slew of games for the holiday, but they must take into consideration the home markets of the respective teams. MLB simply can’t schedule an early east coast game for a west coast team. I missed nearly a third of the Fourth of July Giants game, and would’ve been even more incense had the early innings been critical to the outcome. Get it together, baseball.

3. 50 wins might only get a team the 8th seed in the NBA’s western conference next season. It appears the Warriors’ historic season has prompted other westerly franchises to load up and retool. The Spurs became the instant favorites after the acquisition of LaMarcus Aldridge, Durant and the Thunder will be back with a vengeance, and the likes of the Rockets, Mavericks, Clippers, Grizzlies, and Pelicans will only improve from the previous season. There’s the x-factor of Kobe’s final season with the Lakers, too. Of course, with Draymond Green back with a long-term contract, the Warriors are doubly equipped to defend their recent crown.

More so than other years, it’s looking to be an absolutely gauntlet to emerge out of the western conference. And you already know the Cavaliers are coming out of the east.

4. I’m not overly fond of Fourth of July, because living in the hood means all through the night there will be a constant barrage of illegal fireworks from the neighborhood children. It’s literally non-stop bang after bang from around 7PM onwards until hours pass midnight. It must’ve been terrible for normal folks trying to get to their slumber but don’t possess proper earplugs (I’ve got a pack of them for this exact occasion).

Also, it must be said that people who dabble in illegal fireworks during the holiday are being massive assholes towards pets and war veterans with PTSD.

5. McLaren Group CEO Ron Dennis referring BBC F1 pundit Eddie Jordan as the village idiot of Formula One was completely hilarious. No one dishes out insults in the most prim and articulate manner quite like the British do. Big Ron could’ve simply used any of the common, single-word insults to disparage Edide. Instead, the audience gets to enjoy this roundabout yet elegant prose: "I consider F1 a kind of family and a village always has a village idiot and [Eddie Jordan] is the idiot."

6. Many congratulations to the United States women's national soccer team on their World Cup triumph in Vancouver this past Saturday. What a brilliant display of dominance from the first whistle on, with Carli Lloyd doing something (a hat-trick in a World Cup championship game) only done once before in either the men’s and women’s game. What an inspiration the team is for the many young girls in this country; that gender shouldn’t and isn’t an impediment to pursuing whatever they dream to do.

7. Starbucks raising prices on its drinks is coinciding perfectly with my recent decision to stop drinking coffee. Not by choice, mind you. Readers of this blog should know that coffee’s innate acidity is preventing me from enjoying the good cup. Even the less acidic cold-brew method has proven futile to stop the stomach’s protests.

8. Greece and China’s financial sectors better get their shits together, because my domestic and international investments are taking quite the beating thanks to their economic malcontent. Particularly, Greece should leave the Euro, default on their debt obligations, and start anew. For sure there will be immense amounts of financial hardship the first few years, but I reckon by allowing the free market to work, Greece will come out better and stronger than continuously accepting bailouts from European banking consorts.

9. Whatever labor/wage exploitation that Amazon is doing to offer Prime members free same day shipping, I don’t care - I’ve seen the future and it is awesome. I click to buy something in the morning and by the time I return home the item is there waiting.

This past weekend I ventured to IKEA to do some furniture shopping (needed a new bed-side drawer) and eat Swedish meatballs. While there I was reminded how hassling it is to wait in a long line to pay for your purchase. I’ve been so pampered and spoiled by the benefits of Amazon Prime - having stuff deliver right to my door in two days’ time - that Brick and Mortar shopping has largely been relegated to last-resort status. Now with Amazon offering free same-day shipping on certain items, I just might never leave the house to do shopping other than for food (unless I can get on the Soylent program).

10. "Our cars are meant to be driven, not polished." - Ferdinand “Ferry” Porsche   

Love is love - 10 things I think

10 THINGS I THINK

1. How serendipitous and fitting that the United States Supreme Court effectively legalized same-sex marriage across the nation the same week the annual Pride celebrations are happening. It must’ve have been a raucously good time this past weekend at the respective parties and parades. It’s very well deserved, too.

I think even the most optimistic of us would say that we’d never thought the day love ultimately prevails would come so soon, but damn was it such a moment. It was especially fun turning to Fox News after the ruling was handed down to watch conservative squirm and yell at the clouds in resounding defeat. Religious freedom? You’ve still got it, my fellow Americans. Gay people marrying aren’t going to all of the sudden corrupt whatever’s going on inside your Church. As for what you call “traditional marriage” and “core family”, please explain to me the national divorce rate.

2. Apple Music launched yesterday, and I’m in love with it thus far. I most enjoy the ability to cue up my own music library right on the phone (a function I use often in iTunes on the Mac), letting me interject the playlist with a new song without disturbing the rest of the list. I can also now see the once shuffled song list, and can rearrange the track order to my liking. Cuing up a set of songs for my weekly runs is going to be much easier and more enjoyable.

The brand new, 24-hours live BEATS1 radio station has supplanted my go-to Pandora station as the in-car music of choice. Apple is brilliant in bringing back the human element to Internet radio, something I did not realize I missed until I fired up BEATS1 yesterday evening. I can’t wait to try the Apple Music playlists that are designed by music experts from round the globe. Even the non-curated, algorithmic radio stations have been much better than the previously atrocious effort - I can listen without it turning into a total skip-fest.

3. The Greece debt crisis situation is putting an enormous damper to my international stock holdings. It’s continuously baffling to me how a country that makes up only 2% of the entire Euro Zone output can affect such disastrous consequences if its economy were to fail. Perhaps the UK was smart to keep its pound sterling and not integrate to the Euro currency, because the European Union’s singular monetary device is precisely the reason why the other nations feel impelled to prop up tiny little Greece time and time again.

On a related International fiscal tangent, the Chinese stock market isn’t look so good, either.

4. Donald Trump made some outrageous and highly erroneous comments regarding Mexican immigrants during his campaign announcement, yet it’s incredibly telling that not one single person from the field of GOP presidential candidate hopefuls came out to denounce his statements. Their silence on the matter might as well be the equivalent of a tacit endorsement, which is not exactly surprising given the recent anti-immigration history of the conservative party.

Good to see Univision and NBC Universal take stand against the ignorant Trump in disassociating themselves from the Miss USA pageant, even when its likely not in their greater financial interest to do so. Freedom of speech is only freedom consequence from the Government, Donald.

5. The final Top Gear episode, as known and renowned in its current formula, aired the past Sunday. It was a bittersweet moment indeed for me seeing for the very last time the trio of Clarkson, Hammond, and May on the television screen as Top Gear presenters. Of course, the three will undoubtedly move on to do another motoring show on another medium, but that happy thought doesn’t diminish the melancholy of the occasion at all.

I quite literally grew up on Top Gear. I’ve always had an affinity towards cars, but BBC’s famed motoring show taught me how to love them, and enjoy the automobile for the fun and freedom they represent. The program never fascinated itself too much with numbers and specifications; the endgame is precisely about driving, and how a car makes you feel when doing so. The show’s stunning and awe-inspiring cinematography was the perfect playground to showcase the world’s beautiful locales being made better by the roaring sounds of an automobile.  

This golden-era of Top Gear will be dearly missed.

6. When I do my running exercise on Sundays, I always head to Chipotle afterwards for the post-workout meal. This past weekend, I ran at an earlier time than usual, leading me to discover that Chipotle chains don’t open for business until 11AM. Unfortunate for me, I finished my exercise around 10 AM. First world problem for sure, but I didn’t particularly enjoy having to wait that hour for the local Chipotle to open up. I might need to find another spot to satiate myself after running.

7. Media coverage of the annual “Race to the Clouds” Pikes Peak International Hill Climb has got me extremely excited about my trip there in two weeks’ time. While I won’t have quite the same machinery as I make my very own drive up the famed mountain (a rental Nissan Versa, as it’s projected), I’ll be too busy taking in the spectacular scenery to care. I just hope the weather cooperates and the latter half of Pikes Peak wouldn’t be shut down due to snow, like it did for the hill climb. 

8. John Oliver is on the absolute point, as usual: 

9. The end of Justice Kennedy’s opinion on the same-sex marriage ruling is simply beautiful:

10. This: