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Poco F1 + Google Camera

I bought a Xiaomi Pocophone F1 in September of 2018 and it’s basically been my main since then. Aside from sensitivity issues when typing with both thumbs, it’s been a really excellent phone. Besides offering flagship specs for 1/3 the price of an equivalent Samsung, the camera is top notch. A couple months ago, I got it into my head to try a custom ROM, but ended up just installing the Google Camera apk instead. It’s been fun. Here’s a couple of shots after sundown last night, one in normal mode and one in night mode, both shot unsupported:

You can click through a couple times for the original size photos.

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I ride a “big bike” in Thailand

This is what it feels like in the city, even when you’re not rushing a kid to the hospital:

Quotes are in the title because my CRF is only 250cc; it’s the correct term for Thailand in both the Thai language and the English dialect of Thailand.

From the YouTube page: This is the incredible moment a hero biker saved the life of a young girl having an epileptic fit – by rushing her to hospital while her family were stuck in a traffic jam. The girl’s father Sorachat Sadudee, 51, was driving home after picking up his two daughters from school in Phitsanulok, central Thailand on Thursday (23/05) evening. His youngest daughter Kaimook, eight, told him that she felt sick and very tired, so he tried to make his way home as quickly as he could.

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Why, Ben, why?

I remember seeing the original scene for the first time and that was all I could think. Revision time:

Next station, Synthwave (I heard where we’re going is actually closer to Retrowave, but whatever):

Tomorrow, I will blast this in the Crown (New! Improved! Exhaust Note!) with all the windows down and melt into the Tatooine sunset.

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Farewell to Nam Kaeng

The Nam Kaeng (Thai: “Ice”)

Cats come and go at this house, but Nam Kaeng was special because she was so sassy and a patchwork quilt kind of mean girl. The first time she ran up to me, I thought she was rabid because she was so familiar and insistent on getting scratched on the head. It turns out she was just claiming her new servant.

We’d never really noticed a cat with orange eyes before!

It turns out she came from a neighbor’s house and just decided to live here with our other cats, much to the consternation of her owners. I took her back to their house several times, and they kept her in a cage, but she managed to escape and come back every time. One time, she came back with a lion cut.

We laughed at this for hours, and she never stopped with the stink eye.

So as it turns out, this murderous heat wave was probably just too much for her. She died in our driveway on the first day of Songkran, and we didn’t find her until two days later… So sad!

Goodbye, Nam Kaeng!

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Heisei Arigato

Alt. view:

Apparently he just walked off when the boat docked.

That’s the Ebisubashi bridge (Nampabashi/Hikkakebashi) under the famous Glico neon sign, where I spent approximately 0.004% of my total time in Japan. If I remember correctly, that was just enough time for me or my friends to throw someone else off that bridge… Was it me? I was pretty OK at drunk judo… Was it Dave? Was it on TV? For the life of me, I can’t even remember the name of the guy we threw off… I remember he was a real ass, though.

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Beautiful Gmail

If all you need out of Gmail is the e-mail functionality, check this out: Darwin Mail

If you want to try something similar with a Chrome extension that changes the look of Gmail and was created by the former lead designer of Gmail, you can try Simplify Gmail. This is what I’ll be trying first, since I use Hangouts and sidebar categories a lot.