Angelo DiNardi

I finally got a chance to visit New York City (technically for work, but better than nothing). While there I took some photos.

Some folks have probably realized that for the past month or so I’ve begun wearing a watch (again). Here’s what convinced me to do it.

My phone as been my “pocket watch” for years. I recently decided to try and “detach” myself a bit from my phone, twitter, email, and all the distractions we’ve invented. I realized that I check the time frequently and if I pull out my phone I’ll not only check the time but also read the notifications, unlock and read my email, twitter, and whatever else is demanding my attention.

Now, instead, I can raise my arm, look at my watch, and be done. No extra distractions.

So far I’m finding that I’m still subconsciously pulling out my phone instead of looking at my watch. I believe this is because I’m not really “checking the time” as much as checking for anything new that’s been pushed to me. I’m getting better at catching myself. When I can get to the point where I’m only consciously pulling out my phone when there’s something I want to do – I will have broken the information addiction.

I like to track things over time. Looking back over the last year I realized the path I took was, well, a bit random at times.

• February: Moved, again. So far I haven’t lived in the same town twice yet, but we’ll see how long that lasts. This was the 5th town I’ve lived in here in California.
• May: Bought a Cannon T1i to so that I could really begin to learn photography. Getting out to photograph things has been coming in spurts, but overall I think I’m improving. It has given me a new appreciation for excellent photography. In general, it’s nice to have high resolution reminders of the past.
• May: Bought a meat smoker and experimented with another way to cook delicious food. I’ve used it a few more times since then and have improved my methods a bit.
• June: Embark with friends on an attempt to build a 6 person “bike-car”. Although we’ve so far failed at doing so, it got us to buy lots of fun and useful power tools. I’ve learned to weld steel, which has come in useful for repairs to the Beetle. Most of the other tools have also come in handy. Having a well stocked workspace is incredibly convenient. I hope that even if the “bike-car” is a failure, we eventually do finish some sort of large-scale project.
• July: Traveled to the Washington D.C. area to see some old friends.
• July: Bought a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle. I’ve been interested in the Beetle since I was very young and have always said I’d get one “someday”. During a commute on Caltrain, I have no idea why, I opened up craigslist and looked at Beetles to get an idea of availability and asking prices. I asked myself why I shouldn’t buy one now and I couldn’t come up with a good reason. Found a great listing, checked it out, bought it. It is definitely the most random and awesome purchase I’ve ever made.
• August: Took a family trip to San Diego. The weather and the area was awesome. Relaxed on the sand, went snorkeling, read books, and took pictures. It was a great trip.
• October: Traveled to D.C. again for my friend’s wedding. It was absolutely some of the most fun I’ve had all year.
• November: Apture, where I had been working for about 20 months, was acquired by Google.
• November: Trip to Orlando with the family to see my grandparents. My family is full of silly people.
• December: Started working through a book to learn Italian. I’ve meant to do this for years. So far I’m a couple of lessons in to the book. Hopefully I can keep it up; I get distracted easily.

I’m sure there’s more I’ve forgotten. I classify a lot of the random stuff I’ve picked up this year as a “quarter-life crisis”. I was always using the excuse of being “busy” and that ”I’ll do it when things slow down”. Things never slow down. If you don’t do it now, life will pass you by. Sure, there’s more opportune times than others and you may have to plan ahead to meet financial goals – but in general there’s no better time than the present.

I also decided this year that my single track of focusing on software and computers all day, every day was becoming monotonous. Building software products is a great, rewarding, and challenging career which I absolutely love. But to come home and keep doing that at night and on the weekends leads to burnout. I decided to primarily focus on software at work and home was for all the other hobbies. I’m much happier because of the change.

The arbitrary measure of time that was 2011 turned out well.

Recently I decided to re-upholster the seats in the Bug. Thus far I’ve made it through the two front seats. It’s been about 16+ hours of labor so far.

The process is basically:

• Take out seat

  

• Strip seats to frame

  

• Make repairs to frame/spring

  

  In this case I had to weld the backrest spring back together.

• Put new cover on spring

  

• Put new cushion on

  

• Cover cushion with felt

  

• Put cover on seat

  

• Attach buttons on backrest

  This was interesting because I didn’t have new buttons to attach. The original seats were red and the new seats would be black. I decided I’d keep a little bit of the old car in there by keeping the faded, red buttons on the black seats. It adds a bit of uniqueness to the car.

  

  

• Put seat in car

  

  The seat on the left is the re-upholstered passenger seat.

The full gallery of images is here.

I’ve accomplished a whole bunch of stuff over the past month on the Bug (but I haven’t had time to post about it).

• Washed the car
• Lubricated frontend
• Checked master cylinder
• Adjusted the brakes
• Adjusted e-brake setting
• Adjusted steering wheel alignment (hooray driving straight!)
• Fixed the passenger defrost vent airflow adjustment dial
• Passenger seatbelt was attached incorrectly, causing it to be twisted
• Replaced the door window rubber seals
• Replaced door seals
• Replaced visor clips
• Fought with bent hinges on the driver side door (door doesn’t close right)
• Replaced trunk liner
• Replaced door panel attachment clips
• Replaced trunk wiring cover
• Replaced trunk rubber seal
• Replaced engine rubber seal
• Attempted to adjust the camber of the front, passenger wheel