Blog

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

Two things of awesome

No matter how many times I empty the water tank on my dehumidifier, it never ceases to amaze me just how much moisture it has pulled out of the air. A true wonder of technology that the same heat pump that functions as an air conditioner can also serve to dehumidify a space. What did people do before its invention? Oh right, Chinese people used mothballs - to prevent mold - so much that it became a discriminatory meme.

In humid San Francisco - the city’s famous fog is essentially 100% humidity, a dehumidifier is an absolute must. Especially if you’re like me and live on a semi-subterranean first level of a very old house. I’ve found out the hard way that if not controlled for, humidity will cause mold growth in closets and drawers. Any steel that isn’t stainless will rust.

Another gadget that’s an absolute must in San Francisco is a dashcam. Even for someone like me who does not have a driving commute, having a recorder in the car is cheap insurance against the vagaries of other San Francisco drivers. You just never know if some old lady might plow her car into a bus stop. When actual auto insurance is the complete opposite of cheap, it matters greatly there exists concrete proof of your innocence. (Conversely, if you drive like an idiot all the time, maybe don’t get a dashcam to record your crimes against fellow humanity.)

For what brand of dash cam to buy, this Project Farm video is a fantastic reference. For my particular car - a 2019 Volkswagen Golf GTI - I was able to draw power from the rain sensor right above the rearview mirror, using this device. No need sling and tuck a huge length of cable in order to power the camera. The dashcam turns on and begins recording automatically when the Golf’s ignition is pressed. It’s something to setup once and forget about.

Because you really don’t want to have to use it, right? Even if an accident is not your fault, it still requires time and effort to get the car repaired. In my many hours of watching online dashcam fail videos, the best device to prevent collision: brakes. It seems the larger the ego, the less willingness to used the brakes. Me? A bruised ego and temporary indignation is worth the tradeoff for an unblemished car. Drive wisely, my friends.

Old man father

I know it’s going to sound supremely ungrateful, given the rest of the country is covered under layers of snow: did San Francisco really get a winter? It seems like we got one true week of coldness, then it was back to the same mildness we get year around. This weekend it got to the mid 60s during the day! Perfectly comfortable weather. I’ve even stowed away the winter duvet.

What’s it like to see your parents visibility age? I was recently shocked to noticed my dad have turned into complete old man status, replete with balding head and entire grayness of hair. The relationship has reversed now: instead of parents taking care of me, it’s my turn to return the favor. Physical and mental decline is a great worry when small mishaps can now easily morph into disaster. The mortality rate for falling and breaking a hip is alarmingly high.

You know how we complain about old people driving on the road? Yeah, my father is of that age now. It’s tough: the more you don’t do it, the faster the skills decline. But there’s got a be a certain threshold where you take the keys away before the risk becomes too high. Whether the parent will willingly give up said keys is also a challenge.

Which I think the fast emergence of self-driving taxi services will be a timely solution to that problem. For my parents who seldom need to drive, the few times that they do can be covered by calling a Waymo. The service will only get cheaper, with better coverage, over time. It of course helps to live in a city with solid public transportation options, and in a neighborhood with shops.

Atrophy comes for us all. We can only do our best to stave off the worse consequences by practicing excellent self-care - diet, sleep, exercise - as much and as early as possible.

Let the games begin

It is that time of the year again: dodging potholes. The winter rain has once again revealed the absolutely sorry condition of our roads. Craters are everywhere, ready to ruin your day. The problem is that the municipality never goes beyond filling the potholes. The holes get covered only for the next winter rain to wash it all away. Thus the cycle continues.

I remember one year this particularly gnarly pothole ruined the evening of five cars. I drove by to many emergency flashers, the drivers flabbergasted at what to do with a broken rim in this heavy rain. Best strategy would be to carry a AAA membership. You might have to wait a bit for a tow, but at least it’s a problem for someone else to deal with. $99 per year is worth not having to change a wheel in the pouring rain.

Not that you can change a tire in modern cars anyways. A substantial amount are not equipped with a spare tire. My old BMW M2 did not have one. It was outfitted with a can of goo instead. In the event of a tire puncture I would plug the can into the tire valve. The foam then fills the injured tire, keeping air long enough allow the car to get to a service point.

I’ve never had the pleasure, but the goo reads like really messy business. Nothing beats physical replacement tire and wheel. That’s why I am glad my current VW Golf GTI comes with a honest to goodness spare tire. Pro tip: make sure to periodically check the tire pressure on your spare tire. Last thing you want is to have to use it, only to find it severely under-inflated. A life saver turning into salt on the wound.

To the drivers behind me perhaps wondering why I am darting side to side on the road: I’m trying to avoid the potholes! Replacement tires in this economy!?

Too busy adulting

I recently loaned my car out to a friend for a few days. He’s back in town from spring break. Because I have a walk for a commute (thank the lord), the friend is free to use the car during my work-week.

Which is just as well because I otherwise would not be putting much miles on my BMW M2. Upon returning the keys to me, the friend marveled at how little I drive it. He can’t imagine owning such a fantastic machine and not drive it at every opportunity.

Welcome to true adulthood: you have to make choices on what you spend your time on. We don’t get a spring break. They also lied to you: you cannot have everything.

Soon as the weekend hits, the last thing on my mind is taking the M2 out of a leisurely cruise. There’s groceries to shop for, laundry to do, exercises to perform, and general life maintenance that I didn’t get a chance to do during the work-week. By the time that stuff gets done, well, it’s evening again. Perfect time to drown myself deep into YouTube land.

Never mind that gas prices and insurance costs are not getting cheaper.

Obviously, I can make driving the car a priority, but something else would have to go. (It definitely would not be sleep.) That’s not a trade I’m willing to do at this moment. In a hypothetical world with infinite money and infinite time cheat code, sure, there’s lots of things I would like to include in my repertoire of hobbies. But in this real world, I can only pick a few at a time.

We all do. Those who birthed kids but are still clinging onto some semblance of their prior life will only drown.

It's just a car

I find that I am far calmer when I am driving not my own car. That is not to say I am more careless when driving other people’s cars. I still drive defensively, and avoid the assholes on the road as best possible. (Because the best way to win a fight is to not get in one in the first place.) But for some reason, I am more amped up when I am driving my BMW M2. It’s skin in the game: when the car is bought with your own money, you are wont to stress more about its condition.

Conversely, when something is borrowed, people tend to treat it worse. The fastest car in the world is a rental car. At my workplace, you should see the state of some of the laptops we get in return from users. They treat the computers with utter carelessness. I want to say they wouldn’t treat their own laptops like that, but I have to wonder. How a person do anything is how they do everything.

I have to say, it is nice to drive around with less stress. Perhaps I should lease a new car every three years, though that is a hefty price to pay for a slight increase in peace of mind on the road. Not sure about that one.

Because outside of rent, the automobile is our second largest expense. Spending unnecessarily high on cars is how people fall behind in personal finances. I would know. People talk of cutting back on the three dollar daily coffee (it’s probably six dollars now with inflation) in order to get ahead, and it is stupid. The much bigger lever is the car. You can have all the Starbucks you want when you are not spending hundreds (even thousand) of dollars on transportation per month.

You know what also would lower my stress while driving my own car? Not owning such a “nice” car in the first place. I might as well turn in my car enthusiast card in now…

A touch of curbing

One of the worst feelings as a car enthusiast is doing damage to your own car. One day you’re driving along, having a good time, and then boom. Apparently you took a turn too sharply, and the back wheel had a brief kiss with the concrete curb. And now your wheel has a rather nasty rash on it. And by you, I mean me. It seems there is no car in my ownership history that I’ve not hit the wheel on the curbs at least once.

Perhaps I should take up the finance manager on the extra wheel and tire insurance next time…

Speaking of driving: now that my dad is proper retirement age, it slightly worries me whenever he gets behind the wheel. It’s plain fact that as we age, our attention and reflexes deteriorates. It only takes one scant moment of inattention for something negative to happen. If I can carelessly misjudge a corner, then my father at twice my age is just that much more accident-prone. It’s not a value judgement, simply math.

Whenever I get in my friends’ vehicles, I never have to stress about their driving. I can afford to pay zero attention to the road, and have pleasant conversations. Not so when riding in my dad’s Toyota RAV-4. I am compelled to pay attention to the road for him, on the off chance that his total bandwidth isn’t enough to spy that rogue truck that is running a red light. Who knew that getting driven around can be so un-relaxing.

So I solved the problem completely: whenever I am on the road with my dad (my mother doesn’t drive), I will always be the one driving. This gives me peace of mind, and also puts my destiny in my own hands. If the BMW M2 gets damaged - a wheel curbing, for example - I want it to be me who did it. Then I get to stew in my own stupidity for at least the rest of the day.

I rather be wrong

One of the YouTube rabbit-holes I fall into are car dash cam videos. Compilation of idiots on the road causing car accidents. It’s not the sadist in me that enjoys watching the suffering of others. I like watching dash cam footage because I get to observe and learn what not to do when I am on the road.

And also: we all should install a dash cam in our cars. Should misfortune befall you and it’s your word against the other driver, video footage (caught in 4K) can potentially save you a ton of money. I would have a dash cam permanently installed in my BMW M2 if I had a commute. As a weekend car, I simply use a mounted GoPro.

The most important point I take from watching the dash cam videos: don’t play the vigilante. You are not the police, so don’t play the enforcer of road rules (written or otherwise). There’s always going to some drivers on the road doing something stupid or being a bully. The best thing for us to do is to stay as far away from that action as possible.

I’ve see way too many footage of drivers playing cop. For example: blocking someone from “illegally” merging, or refusing to slow down/change course because they had right of way. What ends up happening is they collide with the offending cars. It’s so stupid: sure, they’re logically in the right, but now they’ve got a mangled car to repair. Even if the other driver’s insurance will cover it - if they’re insured at all - those drivers are still out the time and energy to take the car to the shop.

Stubborn drivers, piloting 4,000 pounds of fast-moving steel, refusing to back down is some scary shit! No wonder our insurance rates are so freaking high.