Bought the Braun BC03B analog alarm clock. It finally arrived today. I decided it’s time to go back to the basics. In a world in which I somehow ended up relying on my Apple Watch to wake me up, I realized I wanted to de-escalate technology a bit. One interesting thing I realized was that in order to turn off the analog alarm clock in the morning, I actually have to press the OFF button. This means I have press that same button before I sleep to turn it on. I totally forgot the phone and watc...

I have started reading the book Digital Minimalism. So far I'm only 10% done. But I did finally take some interventions Turn OFF notifications for most apps, except for communications apps. Turn ON scheduled summaries for notifications. This way I can try to check what's going on at certain times of the day, rather than "constantly." Put my phone AWAY from my bedside table. I used to do this, and lasted 1 month or so. Now it's time to do this again... I tried it for one night last night - was ...

Indeed, title is accurate. I probably spent 1 or 2 hours at a patient's bedside in the ICU. Solely for trying to control blood pressure and constant checking up on vital signs. This is an extremely stable patient, but just with a very severe brain and brainstem hemorrhage (from AVM rupture) in an otherwise completely healthy person. This made me think - hmm, the fact that I find it pretty extraordinary that I spent that long at the bedside - is not a good sign of the times. I was reminded by on...

Today I installed Linux Ubuntu after discussion with a colleague. He summed up my situation very accurately You are so on board with privacy and all. And you basically already run Linux on your Mac with all your open source apps. So it was time to install Linux (again), after a failed attempt around 2020 or so. And another failed attempt in 2022. I used the laptop gifted to me, which already runs Windows. And voila. I managed to get all the way to even discovering that the remote login sof...

Title somewhat self-explanatory. Well, maybe not. Anyhow, I do need to be a bit mindful of the future. Today, post-speaking with an attending physician who seems to actually give a crap about life in general, my thoughts on how to transition away from being a slave to the hospital/healthcare system were validated. As much as I do love clinical work, somehow it feels that the world of medicine seems to be getting a bit harder and less friendlier. Many factors are at play, but this would take mo...

The world these days has run mad on subscription models. One of those is an automatic car wash. At one point I was paying $56/month for said service. And yet, one only gets a rather quick wash, diluted chemicals, and some micro-scratches on the paint from leftover dirt from other cars. So now with quite a bit of advice and tips from another car enthusiast, I shall wash my car myself and do my best to keep it clean. Will be quite the labor of love and cost savings. ...

See 2024-01-18 follow-up to the bet on TSMC. That post aged like fine wine, but much quicker. Super Micro Computer bets allowed me to max out IRA contributions for the year, complete 80% to my emergency fund, and make another certificate of deposit account for something else quite significant. It became too volatile for me though once it hit Wallstreetbets. Good run indeed. ...

A recent acquisition Around two weeks ago at the time of this riding, I finally acquired a watch that I had purchased in November 2023. The brand is called Studio Underd0g, And I specifically ordered the Field Series 02 "Pink Lemonade." interestingly, I was actually able to look at the watch in person for the first time before I even received it in the mail, at a boutique in Australia while I was on my vacation over there. I think this is really what actually opened me up to the kind of design...

What actually happened TSMC did not really do as well as I thought it would in the short-term. So instead I made some money on Super Micro Computer. And plan on making even more money on that small company. ...

Why So apparently, after using the budgeting app Copilot, I discovered that I spent about $700 in coffee, and about $300 in milk tea in 2023. Clearly, things somehow got out of hand, and I did not even know it. Without the luxury of being able to track expenses, it becomes very easy to go way over budget for somewhat frivolous things that could be made at home. It’s interesting for me, because I have so many high-quality tea leaves and coffee beans at home. But, of course, convenience itself as...

Some time ago, I decided that I would try to read 100 books during my three year internal medicine residency. so far, I’ve read 76 books. Just 24 more to go. seems to be pretty good mix of nonfiction, particularly finance books plus classic fiction plus modern fiction a by variety of authors and covering a lot of genres, including historical fiction, fantasy, young adult, etc. ...

Since 2016-07-05, to today 2023-08-04, I have finally read 100 books. that’s around one book per month. Yay! ...

Index funds. Index funds. Index funds. I don't know how to be any more clear. ...

You know that weird feeling when you don't want to do much but you sorta do and so you end up randomly cleaning stuff? Somehow I managed to: Organize my closet dresser. The rearrangement of the 3 drawers actually saved me a lot of space. Organize my kitchen/dining room cabinet. Now my batteries are in one spot, while scissors and box opener are in another spot. Organize my cleaning supply cabinet. Now it's just easier to get things when I need to refill. It's rare that I have such a long da...

How I learned personal finance Lots of reading A new thing I discovered We listened to the audiobook version of "I will teach you to be rich" by Ramit Sethi. It actually does have really good advice. Basically combines advice from “The intelligent investor“, and even some other weird books like “Security analysis" and “Common stocks and uncommon profits." Yes, I read all of those - they're also worth the read. ...

My usual principles As of 2023-05-18 1151 PST, on the Gurufocus website, the fair value (using the discounted cash flow DCF model) of the stock of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., aka TSMC (ticker: TSM) is $168.84. As of 2023-05-18 1153 PST the stock trades at $92.74. For me, this indicates that the stock is basically trading at a "steal." So what did I do? Well, 2-3 months prior to this, I already bought x shares. And now I own 2x shares. What happened in the meantime The stock more o...

As told by a specialist physician with 35 years of experience, there are 3 A's of success:: Attitude: No one likes a jerk doctor. Many doctors are jerks though. Aptitude: No one likes a doctor who doesn’t know what they’re doing. Access: No one likes a doctor who is unavailable. Patients are stuck in an involuntary situation, and they need our time, for example, updating their families. Can definitely see how this could be applied elsewhere outside to life in general. ...

The time I saw one I think it was 2012 when I saw my first electric vehicle. I remember seeing a couple on the road in Northern California. I was fortunate to be in an area where I could see those bright, red or bright blue Tesla Roadsters - not the new promised ones that never really made it to production even up to this day, but those old ones that no one really ever talked about. The time I saw one in a showroom By this point, it was around 2013, when I finally got to see electric vehicle ...

The importance of retirement money Eventually, our income supply will probably run out, thus there is a need to save up for retirement. Ideally though, one should probably get to making a decent stream of passive income to never have to worry about retirement. I am still working on that. Watch this space. I hope. The difficulty One difficulty remains still, which is moving the money out of the financial group that the employer may contract with, to one's own chosen bank retirement account suc...

Previous experiences with reading I recall when I would be assigned to read at least 20 minutes per day. This was perhaps in around the 2nd to 4th grade of elementary school. I remember on very lazy days, I would inflate the hours I read per day. For example, when I had to read 40 minutes per day, I was probably only reading 27 minutes per day, and somehow that was running up to 40 minutes per day. What changed I recall in 2019, when I was preparing for my medical school interviews, I decided...

Previously Per my last post, I was actually tracking my financial expenses daily on my own personalized spreadsheet. What I eventually realized Of course, since I always like to do the math in my head, so I can say "I did the math." I realize that just sitting down and opening my spreadsheet, and entering the transactions daily, was taking at least 4 to 6 minutes per day. Given I was doing this probably at least 300 days a year, that's around 1500 minutes a year just spent on typing redundant...

The comments so far "Wait bro are you actually wearing two watches? Oh my god pick one." "This guy wearing two watches!" "How do you wear two watches? Just read the time on the Apple Watch." "Ah, well you are the real master of redundancy." I'll add that none of those comments were said in a mean or judgmental way. Indeed, the commenters seemed more surprised that I was somehow wearing and using two watches. So I thought I would write a post to explain the rationale. When COVID hit, what ...

What typically occurs People end up using specific messaging apps because their friends use those specific apps. While this is certainly the approach of convenience, there can be unintended consequences to this. The benefits and consequences will be discussed. Benefit: Familiarity and ease of use I agree, this is one hard reason to stick with anything. Not even just messaging apps. For example, iPhone vs Android. That switch is a long and painful process for anyone. But when it does come to ...

The rationale We should be tracking our own expenses. But admittedly, it can be very difficult to find time for this. A decent population of people probably end up, choosing the more convenient option, referring back to their mobile banking app to find transactions. I think that certainly is a valid approach, especially when some of the apps actually already break down the spending into categories, so one gets an idea of where exactly one's money is going towards. However, for my purposes, I ...

My first thoughts on release of Apple Watch gen 1 "It seems a bit excessive." "I can type faster on my phone." "The battery life is short to the point I would need to charge mid-day if I were working." (In 2015 I was just starting university.) "I should just wear one actual analog watch that only tells the time." Some years pass by So I eventually learn that the Apple Watch battery life is improving. Great, that takes care of one problem. Apparently the functions are not too excessive. Th...

The rationale After having been through 7 years of school (3 undergrad, 4 grad), one already loses on 4 years of salary. To most people, this is probably negligible. However, as one ages, each year becomes arguably more valuable (we're all dying right?). I previously did the math for a medical graduate vs. an undergraduate working in an office (approximately USD$60,000 - $100,000 salary). Very gross estimates accounting for investable income, investment returns with compounding, and a very cru...

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