Blog

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

Are we not entertained?

Are we having fun with the tariffs yet? With so many things that we buy being manufactured in China, it's about to get expensive really quickly. The proverbial death by a thousand cuts. The best position to be is not needing to buy anything beyond pure sustenance for the foreseeable future.

Or you had the foresight to buy the things before the tariffs hit. Anecdotally, I've heard of people buying new cars before foreign-produced vehicles get taxed. Another person bought the made-in-China MacBook Pro before Apple has to figure out how to pass along the cost of a 145% tariff on Chinese imports. I'm going to convince my dad to upgrade his iPhone 11 somewhat soon.

I myself bought a set of bumper weight plates from Rogue Fitness. The plates are made in China, of course. As of this writing - April 11th - the price for the same set has already increased $25. Surely it will go up even higher still when inventory gets replenished with shipments coming after the tariffs went into effect.

Or maybe not? The directive coming out of the White House is so inconsistent. Hard to predict how much inventory will cost in two weeks' time because tariffs might not be a thing anymore. And then a few days later, it may be back again!

The people who are truly getting fucked over are the small businesses with a Chinese supply chain. You can easily imagine the situation where an order was made before the tariffs, but it shipped after the tariffs. Congratulations, your cost of goods sold is so expensive that you no longer have a viable business.

Better move that supply chain to the States, am I right? (Sarcasm.)

How much for Mario Kart!?

As a person who don't understand gaming on portable devices, I can at least be happy for my friends who are excited about the incoming Nintendo Switch 2. The Japanese company continues to prove that customers don't care about specifications so long as you build something absolutely fun. Leaving Sony and Microsoft to battle the spec wars remains a brilliant strategy.

What caught my eye during the Switch 2 announcement is the pricing. Not of the console itself; $449 appears to me competitively priced with the Windows handheld counterparts. It's the pricing of games that's alarming. $80 for the digital version of Mario Kart is utterly hilarious. I don't care that if you adjust for inflation, that price is right in line. I personally do not adjust for inflation. I evaluate the cost of things as they are right now in the moment.

So I guess I am priced out of mainstream gaming. Just like I am priced out of mainstream fast food, and going out to the movie theatres. It doesn't matter that proportional to my current income it's effectively the same price. The higher number on the price list throws an illogical barrier that stops me from paying it.

Because I can remember a time when $80 is the price you pay for a special edition of a highly-anticipated AAA title. That is my price anchor, so seeing that same dollar amount for plain-Jane Mario Kart is challenging. If other game studios follows the lead of Nintendo, video gaming as whole has inflated beyond my reach.

But I am just one guy, right? There's no doubt Nintendo will continue to print money. Folks complained loudly about the $2,000 entry price for an Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU, but there's no shortage of Reddit users with that card in their flair. You really cannot underestimate the ability for American consumers to debt-spend their way out of inflation!

Direct flights, baby

As a member of the jet-setting class entirely reliant on credit-card points (rather fake-rich if you ask me), I've had the pleasure of sitting in the various classes on an airplane. (Right to privilege jail, right away.) As obvious as it may be that the further front you sit the more comfortable, in my experience it doesn't ease the pain of the truly long-haul flights. 15 hours from San Francisco to Hong Kong is arduous no matter if you are wealthy enough to lie completely flat to sleep. A pressurized metal tube with superbly dry air is a bad combination no matter what.

I think the lever to pull in terms of comfort is shortening the time spent on an airplane. It's a shame there were never follow-up to the sound barrier shattering Concorde. For the rest of plebs in the real world, direct flights are absolutely worth the extra costs.

Since 2014 - only interrupted by the COVID pandemic - I've flew back (birth) home to Guangzhou, China every single year. 2025 marks the first year I took a direct flight from San Francisco. Previously I had to make a transfer at Hong Kong, entailing another four hours of travel time on top of the 15 hours I just continuously spent on an airplane. Usually I am completely spent by the time I reach home.

Let me tell you: direct flight is magnitudes better in experience. This year I was back in the heart of Guangzhou by 9:00 AM (previously it would have been at least 1:00 PM). Not only that, it's a slightly shorter flight to CAN compared to HKG. For the first time, I actually had energy in reserve on arrival day, rather than zombie it through until I can properly sleep on the first night.

Let's hope China and United States relations remain amiable enough that the direct route from San Francisco to Guangzhou remains viable. But honestly the next three years is super difficult to predict. As I write this there's a 145% tariff on goods originating from China into the States. It does feel kind of weird to be a former Chinese national with a U.S. passport traveling between the two countries…

Sitting pretty

With the (supposedly) looming 25% tariffs on all automobiles assembled outside of the United States, the people in the best position is drivers like me: owning a fully paid off car that’s made in this decade. So long as my BMW M2 doesn’t get totaled in an accident (knocks on wood), I don’t have to worry about the price increases that are sure to come. That is, if President Trump actually goes through with the threat.

With so much economic uncertainty in the near horizon, a debt-free position, with multiple months of cash in reserves, is more crucial than ever. The only reason a recent auto insurance premium increase did not cripple me is because my car is paid off. Funds that would otherwise have gone to service a loan (the average new car payment currently is a whopping $742 a month) now acts as a buffer.

And it’s having a money buffer that keeps the stresses at bay. Friends have checked in on me recently, because my place of employment is facing a budget deficit. Layoffs are definitely on the table. Am I worried about my job? Not as much as I should be, as perceived from the outside. A emergency fund runway for many months of spending allows me to not stress about any job loss. The world is not going to end. I’ve got the time and resources to reset at my own pace.

Even outside of losing a job, life will keep throwing financial curveballs at you. That’s just part of the game. Unexpected expenses are unexpected. Living on thin margins month-to-month leaves you vulnerable. Having a buffer is just good preparation.

I know, I know: sob story about how everything is more expensive, and people aren’t as privilege as me. Okay, someone please square this hole: if many folks are so struggling, then explain the record-breaking 2024 holiday shopping season?

Why must it be difficult?

Earlier this week I got blister on my hand (insert joke). This annoying bugger was definitely going to interfere with my weightlifting. No worries; pop that sucker, then tape it up before handling the barbell.

I needed a roll of athletic tape in a hurry. Shouldn’t be problem, given I live within walking distance to a Sports Basement. Except… the store did not have any athletic tape in stock. How is that possible? Even if us weightlifters are a niche within a niche, other activities that are popular in the Bay Area surely create a demand for tape? Rock-climbing gyms! Crossfit was invented right down the street in Santa Cruz.

Anyways, my friend clued me that Target may have athletic tape in stock. And indeed it does. Wonderful. I joked that I sure hope it isn’t locked behind a glass partition (to prevent theft), whereby I would need to call an associate to open. Surely the hottest item on the stolen goods black market isn’t a roll of athletic tape.

So of course it was locked behind a glass cabinet. Why can’t we have nice things? Target is lucky I was in a rush. Otherwise I would have left immediately and ordered the same item on Amazon. Vote with my feet, as it were.

When the authorities fail to punish crime, it ruins it for everybody else. Who wants to go a store where everything is locked up, and the items that aren’t are frequently stolen with impunity? (I definitely saw some shady characters while buying the athletic tape.) When enough people opt out of that shopping experience, the particular store will close. And people will then blame the “greedy” corporation instead of pointing the finger at the actual problem.

It’s long past time to hold the criminals accountable. And if they are under adult age, hold their parents/guardian accountable.

Return of the oil

As I approach the end of a seven months long Accutane cycle in about a week, my lone trepidation - other than the acne returning - is my previously oily skin coming back. The consensus on Reddit is… mixed. Some say the oiliness returns with a vengeance, some say the dryness remains.

I very much hope it’s the latter for me. While I am on Accutane, it’s been so lovely to be able to touch my face without leaving any hint of residue on my fingers. The sunglasses no longer keeps sliding down the nose. My hair has stopped being matted down with grease less than a day after a shampoo wash. Secondary to the acne being gone, the drying out of my face and scalp is equally life-changing.

So it’s easy to see why I am apprehensive about stopping the medication. Let’s see if I am one of the lucky ones to have continuously dry skin. If it means keeping the constantly chapped lips that Accutane is famous for, that’s a trade I am willing to do. It’s far easier to replenish dryness than to fight greasiness.

Obviously, it’s more important for the chronic acne to be gone for good. Unfortunately it’s not uncommon for people to need a second cycle some years after their first. Fingers crossed, but I would not be surprised if I’m a part of that group. I’m basing this on the fact I refuse to stop whey protein supplementation, even though I know for sure it was flaring up my acne big time.

Give up muscle gains to have clear skin? I don’t know about that…

Price sensitivity

The goal of President Trump’s tariffs threat is to bring manufacturing back to America, right? The downside of course is that things will become more expensive. Manufacturing didn’t leave America because of some evil corporate plan. The simple reality is that labor is cheaper elsewhere. Lowering cost of goods sold is a big lever to increase profits. Or have profits in the first place.

Tariffs are merely tacking those labor savings back onto the purchase price. There’s one for sure loser, and it’s the consumer.

For sure there are plenty of cheap crap coming out of China. But in the year 2025 it’s beyond pass time to acknowledge that China can also produce things of the highest quality. Did we forget the iPhone has been made in China since inception? The Apple smartphone is as precise a device as it gets.

“Made in the U.S.A.” still denotes a higher quality in people’s minds. Whether or not it’s actually true is up for debate. What is definitely true is that it’ll cost more compared to foreign-sourced manufacturers. I recently bought a barbell, and the unit made with American steel is $85 dearer than the Chinese-made equivalent from another company. The decision was easy.

Coming out of the high inflationary period of the pandemic, I am always looking for the best deals on anything. And doesn’t everybody? Who has the money to boycott Amazon (because big bad Bezos)? If a particular item is the cheapest on Amazon, I am buying it there. I do not have the income to support an artisan soap business at a farmer’s market. If you do, please go ahead.

I will live life as cheaply as possible, because everything else has gone up in price. Tariffs - if they come to full fruition - is only going to make it worse.