Blog

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

It's over over

At work, the first batch of Dell laptops we purchased in response to the pandemic, in support of fully remote teaching, is about to expire on its basic warranty. Can you believe that? It’s been a whole three years since the start of COVID. Sometimes it takes a laptop warranty expiring to remind me just how long ago that is. Obviously, plenty have changed, both in the external world and my own personal life. And yet sometimes it can still feel like we’re in a bit of stasis since March 2020. A long continuation of (hopefully) the worse global pandemic in our lifetimes.

Of course, we don’t hear or talk about COVID-19 anymore. No more daily hospitalization numbers, no more masking guidelines. Even the vaccination campaigns have gone radio silence. It’s down to personal decisions now, on how careful you want to be. And we should respect each other’s rights to do so.

The pandemic is over. Life is back to normal. This past weekend I attended a lovely baby shower, in a recreation center room with about 50 people. Think back to two years ago: you wouldn’t dream to do such a reckless thing. Not without masking, lots of open windows, and minimal hugging. COVID is something we no longer think about. And while it’s taken longer than we’d all like, three years is not so bad in the grand scheme of things. We can, and have, finally move on.

Even the ultra-restrictive China have opened back up to complete normalcy. Foreigners can finally get into the country, on previously issued visas (or you can get a new one). I am not doing any traveling this summer. (Have you seen the prices of everything travel related?) The only flying I’m planning on is at the end of the year: to China. To visit relatives I’ve not seen in person in three years. In sha'Allah that will come to fruition.

Uh, what to do?

How are you handling the great Reddit blackout? Every subreddit that I care to go to have gone private in protest of the onerous API fee changes Reddit is set to implement by the end of this month. There goes the last bit of social media that I use! Though I would say Reddit is more like discussion forums. I quit twitter about a month ago, and you can’t pay me enough to use the Chinese spyware that is TikTok.

Interesting to see the (let’s call them) NSFW subreddits have not participated in the blackout protest. I guess horniness is still the dominant factor above all else…

The protest is only suppose to last a few days. But because Reddit refuses to backdown from the untenable API changes (effectively dooming any third-party clients), many subs have decided to stay private indefinitely to force a change. I say, good for them. A vibrant Reddit is good for the Internet. Plenty of times I’ve googled something, and ended up on Reddit with the correct answers to questions. Let’s take some momentary pain now, for a better long term future. (So un-American!)

Reddit is nothing without its army of volunteer moderators, and the millions of users contributing content. I am surprised the company have decided to essentially go to war with the people that made it great in the first place. The problem is: it’s extremely difficult to charge for something that was once free. Excellent third-party apps have sprouted up because the access APIs have been free. To now charge for those APIs, exorbitantly to the point of detrimental, is going to make people incredibly unhappy.

It doesn’t help that Reddit’s own official app is utterly garbage. The best way to surf Reddit is via browser, with an ad blocker on. Sorry, not sorry.

Go watch Ted Lasso

Hello there! Strange to be writing the first blog entry of June in the middle of June. I am sad to report that I’ve suffered a right-hand injury two weeks back. Naturally, that makes it slightly difficult to do hand-related activities, such as typing (washing my hair was an inarticulate mess). I’m glad my BMW M2 has an automatic transmission, because were it the manual, I wouldn’t have been able to drive.

I am on the mend, obviously, and therefore able to type on these pages again. Nothing will make you value your overall health like when it’s taken away from you. With an injured hand, I haven’t been able to workout with weights. Shame, because I just bought a 40 pound kettlebell to replace the measly 26 pounder I’ve been using the past few years. I ordered from Amazon because it was the cheapest, though the poor delivery person had to schlep that 40 pounds from the truck to our front door step. Sorry!

In the meantime, I’ve been lounging on the couch and watching episodes of Ted Lasso. What a wonderfully fantastic series! I’ve heard people refer it as a happy go-lucky show, but there’s so much layers to that cake. You don’t get that happiness and positivity without being emotionally vulnerable and dealing with your demons. The second season especially, shows the titular character finally confronting the darkness stemming from the lost of his father. Ted Lasso narrates all of that in a wrapper that reminds audiences to be kind and selfless towards others, and ourselves.

The series is an easy recommendation, well worth the $7 to subscribe to Apple TV+ (for one month) to watch all three seasons in one go.

Beg some asshole

On a recent perusing of Reddit, I encountered a discussion about how difficult it still is to buy a new car these days. Inventories remain low, therefore dealership markups are still a thing to contend with. Basic supply and demand: whichever party has the power can dictate the terms.

Of course, that doesn’t mean people can’t complain about it. Especially those who want to buy a new car, but not exactly in a hurry to do so. These buyers can wait it out and try different dealerships to get the best price possible. But that in itself can be a time consuming, frustrating process. You’re begging people to shut up and take your money, yet they won’t do it. One Reddit commenter summed it up perfectly: “I just fundamentally can't bring my self to go beg some asshole to take my 60K.”

I think that is a big reason why the Tesla Model Y is the best selling vehicle - in the world - for the first quarter of 2023. Tesla sells cars directly to the customer, one price (that can change periodically), no markups or discounts. You can do the entire transaction on your smartphone, never needing to talk to a dealership salesperson. There isn’t a finance manager to upsell you on extended warranties either. In a time when when finding a car at MSRP is akin to hitting the lottery, the Tesla method of selling is highly attractive.

The pendulum will eventually swing back in the customer’s favor. Unless the traditional automaker constrain supply intentionally. That would be too cynical. I don’t think the automakers can sell (especially) electric vehicles while still relying on the dealership/markups method. Tesla’s direct-sale model will simply continue to eat their proverbial lunch. Those with the money and patience want low hassle above all else.

Rocket. Rocket Raccoon.

I did not expect to be emotionally compromised watching a Marvel movie, but there I was. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 is a fantastic movie that beautifully closes off the various character arcs into a satisfying finish. One of the characters - Rocket - got this origin story told in this movie. Of how he came to be a talking brainiac of a raccoon. I have to say, it is heavy stuff. Director James Gunn seemingly wanting to tear our hearts out.

Lovers of animals and pet owners should be fore-cautioned - you may want to sit this chapter of Guardians out. The story of how Rocket came to be is effectively disturbing. Scenes of animal cruelty are three-dimensionally animated right in front of our eyes. I nearly lost to tears already at the beginning, when they showed a young Rocket post his traumatic transformation. A large stitched circle on his shaved head, denoting the point of entry to his brain. It is intense, and that story arc is weaved throughout the movie, never letting the audience relax.

Kudos to Sean Gunn (the acting stand-in as Rocket), Bradley Cooper (voice actor of Rocket) and the animators. A combined performance to make the drama utterly believable. Disturbing as it may be (and has to be, I would say), the audiences’ empathic connection to Rocket and his animal friends is profound. The cathartic payoff at the end is that much sweeter. Tears of horror turn into tears of joyful relief.

I did not expect to cry so much watching a Marvel movie, and I was an emotional wreck the rest of the day. The typical Guardians of the Galaxy hijinks is there, but more importantly, Volume 3 carries the message that we should always treat our animal friends with kindness and care.

Sonny

It was a somber workday yesterday. A coworker got the news that her mother is diagnosed with cancer, and not the good kind. Not to say there is a good kind of cancer, but you know what I mean. My own mother has had breast cancer, which while scary, is imminently survivable. She’s in remission to this day (god willing).

Obviously, my coworkers was in a bit of shock. As a coworker, I was at a lost of what to say, other than how sorry I was to hear the sad news. Was there more to be said? I’m not so sure. It’s tempting to encourage him to take the rest of the day off, but people handle bad news differently. Perhaps being at work and actually doing the work is a needed distraction from the difficulties to come.

It’s never fun when human mortality surfaces right front and center. Most of us go through life running away from contemplating our mortality. That in turn governs how we act each day. We think we have all the time in the world, but reality can snatch it away in a quick second. A normal workday will be utterly interrupted by the news your mother has terminal cancer. What a cruel joke! Just a minute before, another day was going swimmingly.

Sometimes you wish there’s a button to turn back the time. Like there is in a role-playing video game.

The constant contemplation of death should influence our actions. To not sweat the small stuff, be quick to forgive, and say the things you want to say now. Because it can all go away in an instant.

Hello, boredom

How is the no-twitter experience going for me? The complete lack of any social media! One word: boredom. Boredom is back in my life with a vengeance, and I have to say, it’s alright. Instead of watching the twitter feed scroll by on a separate monitor at work, I just zone out. Sure there was an initial itch to take out the phone, only to realize there aren’t any social media apps on there either. I either sit with the boredom, or go chat with my coworkers.

Boredom it is!

Twitter was how I got the news in the morning. The problem was: after I’ve read up on the latest news, the scrolling afterwards can be endless. Since deactivating my account, I’ve been relying on actual website. The good thing about those is the amount of new content is finite. I’d look at ESPN for the scores, and that’s it. No more scrolling. It’s really liberating.

What I do instead is simply lie on the couch and listen to music. Remember when we use to do that exclusively? Music wasn’t just background accompaniment. Back in the days of cassette and compact discs, we’d put on an album and listen to in attentively all the way through. No social media to distract, no smartphone to scroll through. I’ve reclaimed some of that experience, and it’s quite nice and relaxing.

It is said that the smartphone killed boredom. We’re so stuck to our phones now that I don’t think we know how to handle boredom. The horror of having to stew in our own thoughts for even one second. The itch to bring out the phones whenever we encounter boredom is immense. Would you be able to stand in a grocery store line just standing, waiting? You’d probably be the odd-looking one out. There’s something wrong with you, who is not face deep into your smartphone.