Diary Entry: Monday, Feb 19th, 2024
Weather: Clear, 36F / 2C
This past week I took a few extra days off for Lunar New Year in 2024 where it's year of the Dragon. In the zodiac cycle there are 12 animals, so if someone tells you which animal they can reverse engineer your age. The cycle is: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig.
For example, recently we met a new friend that said they were born in the year of the Tiger. Since it's the year of the dragon that means you can only be 12, 24, 36, or 48. Tiger is only 2 years behind dragon, so that means she was likely 34 since her appearance did not look like 22 or 46.
Recently, I also switched Cooper to a new diet from We Feed Raw. His coat has started to look much more red since I first got him when he was quite frazzles and scrawny. In addition to the patties from them, I also include pumpkin puree, peas, carrots, chicken drumstick, liver, and some kibble (1/4 cup). The first few days he was farting more than usual, but by the end of a week there was no more as I suspect his digestive system got used to it.
It has also been about two months since we've had foster kittens. Last week the shelter sent out a nice at 1:00PM EST, I replied at 1:10PM EST and was already too late. It's unbelievable how competitive NYC is even to get foster kittens. I'll start signing up with other organizations since I have a dedicated foster room that is not being used.
Red pickled onions have also been a game changer lately, I've been adding it to my egg & cheese bagel, burgers, fried rice, and pizzas. I had read about this on KZread a few years ago, but could never get the balance of vinegar, water, and salt correctly to be enjoyable. The acidity makes everything much more appealing and it's easier than eating onions on their own. The pink coloring also makes most foods look more presentable, in particular if you have green vegetables as the contrast makes them stand out.
We also filed our 2023 taxes this year, looking forward to getting the both state and federal refund and re-investing into more stocks this year. I've got enough emergency savings that holding onto a few thousand more gaining 4-5% interest (as of 2024 rates) won't really do much for me, versus putting it to use longer term with a better ROI. Definitely a nice problem to have, so I'm not going to complain.
My thesis is spatial computing will be bigger than we think, right now the Apple Vision Pro just released their first version, and it will always be the worst one they release. My view is that it will be similar to what cell phones did to landline telephones - but for computer monitors. Today, you need to use a screen to interact with the digital world whether it's on a TV, phone, laptop, or desktop. I suspect spatial computing will allow you to remove the monitor from the equation that's connected with HDMI cables, and you "carry" it with you wirelessly through the augmented reality headset. So instead of sitting in offices, you could work in nature, sit on a mountaintop, or do tasks that won't require a keyword or mouse in the future.
The form factor and clunkiness of it still needs some work, as there are plenty of memes making fun of it now. But I suspect once they can get it down to glasses or even contact lenses the game will be very different. Contact lenses might be too ambitious or futuristic, but who knew that in 2024 everyone would have a phone in their pocket 1000x more powerful than the Voyager satellite still orbiting around Jupiter with 69kb of RAM?
Until next time,
- Your past self