Evan Yamoto

Blog

  • The Best Car I’ve Owned… So Far

    I’ve been fortunate to own a few cars and some of them have been pretty nice. However, I think this is the best car I’ve ever owned and I only kept it for 2 years.

    I was never really into convertibles, but the Honda S2000 is such a brilliant car and was only offered in a convertible, so I came to like them. I will say that there’s not much else like driving around a light-weight, rear wheel drive sports car on some windy roads. And if you’ve ever had a chance to drive an S2000, you understand why many people think has one of the best shifters ever made.

    Not only do you have to drive the car hard and rev it to 9k RPMs (or close to it in an AP2 – the second version of the model), but you have to shift it often and that’s a good thing because it just feels so right. There’s an ever so slight mechanical notch to it but the travel is short and it just clicks into gear. It’s really hard to describe but I can still remember what it feels like.

    I was so lucky to find a perfect example of one these, 30 minutes away from my home. And yet I sold it 2 years later.

    Sometimes I wonder why I sold it, but I’m also not haunted by it either. For as amazing of a car that it is, it’s incredibly impractical. I knew that when I bought it and that was also part of the draw of it at the time. I normally drive a mini-van, so driving a roadster was the exact opposite of that. But I didn’t realize just how impractical it was either.

    It hardly rains in southern California, but if there was a slight chance of rain, I wouldn’t take it out. I also learned that I didn’t like driving it with the top up, so I always had it down. But that meant driving it through some thick fog in the morning or late at night. And I didn’t like driving it much on the freeway either. There’s a lot of noise, exhaust and dirt on the freeway and you pretty much just go straight. It also doesn’t get very cold here either, but I felt a little strange driving a convertible with the top down on the 5 on a foggy evening.

    And as a husband and father, I felt a little irresponsible about it too. The open-air is something I came to enjoy, but I also felt very exposed. There’s something about a light metal roof and some glass windows that makes you feel invincible in a normal car even though it’s exactly just some light metal and glass.

    My oldest son wanted to ride in it and he probably could have because my model had an airbag cut-off, but I just didn’t feel comfortable with it.

    So, I did the unthinkable and sold it to a nice young man who I hope is enjoying it. I will miss it and will always remember that car, but the truth is, I’ve had my heart set on my next car. The next one has been very hard to find and I missed out on one that was from a seller right near where I bought the S2000. I thought I had another great stroke of luck and things were lining up perfectly, but someone bought it before I had a chance.

    So for now, I’ll think of the S2k. It’s such a beautiful car on the outside, inside and under the hood. And it doesn’t hurt that I was able to drive it for 2 years, had no issues at all (it’s a Honda) and sold it for more than I paid for it. It really was the best car I’ve ever owned.

    At least for now…

  • Retro Console

    I can’t recall when I made this, but a few years ago I built a small retro console.

     

    I assembled a Raspberry Pi and loaded the RetroPie image that has a bunch of emulators for old game systems like the Super Nintendo.  It’s pretty amazing that you can build a fully working computer the size of a deck of cards for around $50, that’s also way more powerful than those old arcade game systems of my youth.

    You can run this with a modern monitor, but I decided to go the full retro route.  I found and actually paid a guy a few dollars for a small CRT TV and built a cabinet around it.

    This project was really for me to learn how to use a router (woodworking) and do some more veneer work.  So I built a basic box, then used the router to cut the rounded corners.  Then I applied the walnut veneer, but made some mistakes that I haven’t gone back to fix. 

    I wanted to make a bezel, but I didn’t really figure out how to do this with the curves of an old CRT.  So, I just cut some wood strips with a chamfer bit to give it a small edge with an angled face and applied some adhesive foil to it.  It didn’t come out all that great, but I was ok with it.

    I bought the legs since they were too much for me to make, and I used some basic drawer pulls for the faux knobs. And used some speaker cloth to conceal a bluetooth speaker mounted inside the cabinet.

    Once I had this all put together, the only thing left to do was to play some old games from my childhood. I had so many fond memories playing games like Excite Bike, Punch Out, Zelda, and of course all of the Mario games. Then there were the action games, like Contra, with the cheat code that everyone still remembers 30 years later. And the sports games like the first Maddens and the NHL game that I loved, even though I’ve never been into hockey. And lastly, the original RPGs like Final Fantasy that I wasn’t into until later.

    So I sat down to play these and played them for … about 5 minutes. Most of the time, I could over-look the graphics, then sometimes the gameplay. Some of them are actually real hard and the RPGs don’t lead you down a path or give you any hints if you forgot what you were supposed to do. It was then that I realized that so much of the appeal was purely just the nostalgia factor.

    I’ve never really played it much, but I did end up playing through Final Fantasy and part of Chrono Trigger. I think the old RPGs are the most enjoyable because they’re more about the story and there’s something cute about the 8-bit graphics and midi music. But I would inevitably save the game and forget what I was supposed to do by the next time I turned it on, and then lost patience.

    But every now and then, my kids still ask to play the bubble game (Bust-a-Move) or the Ninja Turtles on the old TV and that makes me happy.

  • Figured Teak Desk

    So, my wife wanted me to make her a desk, so we made a trip up to our usual wood store. She found this figured teak board that she really liked. Most people really like figured wood, but I’m not normally a huge fan of it. I tend to like quarter sawn, long straight grains but this board was pretty amazing.

    I’m always nervous to cut nice, expensive wood but luckily I didn’t have to make many cuts. And the grain lined up relatively well. So I just drilled some holes for some dowels and glued it up.

    After a lot of sanding, I had to choose which teak oil to use – Starbrite or Watco. Anyone who’s ever used Watco can recognize it by the awful cap and the accompanying wrench that’s need to pry it open.

    I tried both on some of the scrap pieces and… I couldn’t really tell the difference. I thought the Starbright was a little less orange and I couldn’t find my wrench, so I went with that one. And it sure made the grain come to life.

    It’s hard to describe, but it looks almost like the grain is under a layer of glass. And all of the textures look almost 3D and reflect the light.

    All that was left to do was to attach some hairpin legs my wife bought on Etsy and her custom desk was complete.

  • Refinishing a Teak Outdoor Set

    My wife’s former co-worker had some family that lived nearby and wanted to get rid of some older outdoor furniture. It was made of teak, so we both knew it would look great when it it was refinished, but they were ready for something else.

    So we got it home and I sanded it down. I can’t remember what teak oil I used but it was probably the Watco one since I used the Starbrite on my wife’s desk – and I found my wrench.

    I sanded and tested a small section and it looked great, so I kept going.

    It was all cleaned up but it looked pretty plain. So I wiped on some teak oil and it looked much better.

    We weren’t found of the chairs, but we took them apart and my wife is working on a project with the reclaimed wood. They also gave us a lounge chair seen in the background, but I haven’t gotten around to working on this and just end up sitting on it. Maybe next summer.

  • Refinishing Practice

    There’s a TJ Maxx around the corner from my house, which is probably where I buy most of clothes while waiting for for my wife to shop. So, after I browse through the clothes and take the kids to check out the toys, the only thing left for me to do is to look at the furniture.

    Usually, it’s junk but every now and then, they have some things that are actually made of wood and is usually acacia.

    One day, I came across this stool. I forgot to take before pictures, but it really looked nothing like this. It was very blocky and looked unfinished, like someone took a machete and chopped out a basic shape and left it as that. And there were lots of white streaks of sap wood and it the wood was an unusual color too.

    But, I liked the basic shape of it and I recently worked with wood dyes, so I thought I’d be able to even out the sap wood. I picked it up and proceed to wait for my wife to checkout.

    Sometime much later, we were home and I sanded this thing for hours. I think I found out what kind of wood it was in between sanding breaks, but I have no idea what that was now. It was pretty soft so I kept going until it was smooth.

    Then I applied a bunch of different wood dyes more than a few times to darken the sap wood but it was taking. Once this was dried, I applied some gel stains and later finished it with Arm-R-Seal, which is a light weight polyurethane that’s not too thick or shiny. And I think I finished it off with some paste wax, but I really don’t remember.

    I think it turned out pretty good and it looks like a much more expensive piece that it is. But more importantly, my wife likes it now and I got a little better with wood dyes and refinishing.

  • Hawaiian Missile Scare – Why Design Matters

    Earlier this year, there was a lot of tension with North Korea and a huge accidental scare in Hawaii when an employee mistakenly sent out an emergency alert warning of a ballistic missile attack.  What made matters worse is that there was no way for the state to cancel the message and it took 38 minutes for them to retract it.

    I can’t image the state of panic, then relief and then anger when they learned it was all a mistake.  I have to believe more than a few people said some terrible things to some, confessed love for others or did  a whole lot of regrettable things.  But the worst part of it all, is that it was easily preventable with just the slightest bit of effort of UX/UI design.

    This is the the screen the employee had to use:

    How is that even possible for something so important?  My only comment is that I know (and love) Hawaii and I feel like I know how government contracts work and this is the result of the two.

    But I also know it’s easy to criticize and even ever to criticize without providing any solutions.  The internet is an amazing place and many people quickly mocked up some quick fixes, none more popular than this one by a UX Designer, Luca Milan.  He separated the different types of alerts and it’s so much more clear.

    When I thought about this, my first question was, why are the test and live alerts on the same system, let alone the same page?  And then, if they have to be on the same page, why aren’t they in different sections and why are they labeled so poorly?  But I’ve worked with plenty of engineers to know the reason why and I’ve without a doubt made some bad design decisions myself.

    So, I did something I don’t normally do and put together a page in a few minutes with all off the shelf stuff and I think it shows that just a few minutes of effort could really improve this site.

    I know it looks like it’s straight from Bootstrap and that’s kind of the point.  I used the starter template and copied examples in the documentation, added font awesome and quickly made a tabbed interface that groups and lists each type of alert clearly.

    I would never want to mix the test/live actions together, but if I had to, I think it should default to the one with less ramifications if it was sent in error.

    And the live links should have some visual indicators to show they are for actual emergencies.  Looking at the screenshot, I now think all of the links should be color coded as well, but there are a million other refinements that I would go add with time.

    Luca added an error management section to issue a false alarm.  I think it’s good to have a section for other links, but I’d also display a banner or some type of message to cancel the alert immediately after it’s sent.

    And there has to be some sort of confirmation to issue an emergency alert.  Realistically, it would be on the next page where they type in the alert message.  And as a side note, I’m not sure why the Bootstrap danger button color doesn’t match the danger alert and text.

    This is all out-of-the-box, basic Bootstrap stuff but I think some simple changes would make a big difference.

    And knowing Hawaii, I still have so many questions on this interface.  Like why the Amber alert is only for Kauai County or statewide?  What about the other counties?  And should this then be a different input to select multiple counties?  Maybe the North shore high surf warnings are supposed to be state wide, but I think of Oahu when I think of the North shore (and one of my favorite old, bad movies.).  But then, why is the landslide alert only for Hana, which is in Maui?  Would people on the big island need to get that alert?  Again, so many questions…

    If nothing else comes out of this, this is something that should be in every book about the importance of design.

    Here’s a link to my test page.

  • Strange things afoot in the OC

    Last week, we decided to go out to dinner and saw something unusual in the sky.  The first thing we saw was a glowing cloud, followed by a few different bright lights and some strange pulsing rings.  We pulled over and watched the last of it pass by and had no idea what we just saw.

    We turned on the radio and I checked Twitter, Facebook etc and it eventually got out that it was a SpaceX rocket launch.  But for a few minutes, we were left to wonder if this was the alien arrival we’ve seen in the movies.  I immediately thought, well, if they came all this way and and they want to destroy us, we have no chance against their technology.  And then we thought, oh well, we’re hungry.  Let’s go eat Chinese food because they’ll be open (which they weren’t, but for a different, non-extraterrestrial reason)!

    It was a really interesting experience.  We went from seeing aliens to welcoming our new alien overlords to wanting to eat Chinese food in a few minutes.  It sure would’ve been nice if Elon Musk and SpaceX announced it because a lot of people freaked out.  And I would’ve made time to look outside to watch the launch and we would’ve ordered Chinese food instead.

  • User Experience Journey – Part 1 & 2

    Over the past year, I’ve learned a lot more about User Experience (UX) Design.  It’s something I’m passionate about and I feel like it’s something I was meant to do.  10 years ago, my dream job would’ve been to work as a UI designer, but there were very few positions and UX wasn’t really a thing.  So I became a web developer and I’ve enjoyed a very nice career.

    But even with web development, most developers are more interested in coding and I’ve always been more interested in the creativity and design of the front-end.  I’ve been so interested in UX Design that I’ve thought about a possible career change. It’s a really tough thing to do but I’d like to at least explore the field and see where it takes me.

    Fortunately, I’m in a position where I can continue to do more normal web development work and also exercise what I’m learning in UX. And if I don’t end up pursuing a full-time UX position, the worst case is, I’ll be a better developer because I’ll have more knowledge about design.

    So far, I’ve read these books to get started:
    Don’t Make Me Think – Steve Krug
    Rocket Surgery Made Easy – Steve Krug
    Design of Everyday Things – Don Norman
    Web Form Design – Luke Wroblewski

    I’ve gone through half of an online courses on Udemy by David Travis:
    User Experience (UX): The Ultimate Guide to Usability and UX

    And I read a lot of blogs and LinkedIn posts every day to learn as much as I can.  So far, my biggest take aways are that:

    1. I’ll need to buy lots of Post-it Notes
    2. Ironincally, I’ve been peeling this wrong my whole life
  • Rebooting – Part 2

    Rebooting – Part 2

    It’s been nearly a year since I relaunched my personal website and I’m still back-filling blog posts. I haven’t spent as much time on it as I’d like to, but I’m pretty happy with how the WordPress API has worked out. When I started working on my site and the API was in beta, there wasn’t a whole lot of documentation or examples on how to use it. But I realize that APIs exist so you can do whatever you want and it’s really up to you to figure out how you want to use them.

    As always, I would’ve done some things differently if I were doing it now. The single function that handles the URL parameters and does an AJAX post to get the data works well, but I probably should use a JavaScript templating engine like instead of building HTML strings to display the posts. It’d be easy enough to convert it now, but I don’t know if it’s worth the time and also the resources of including another JS library like Mustache. I also would’ve started by using ESLint to format my JavaScript consistently. Again, this is something I could easily do now and fix whatever it doesn’t like with my code.

    But overall, I’m still pleased with how it’s working and the overall design. I just need to catch up on posts so I can write some in the present for once.  Hopefully I’ll get some time over the holidays.

  • Look at that S-car go

    This past June, I was lucky enough to pick up a 2007 Honda S2000 in perfect condition.  And for this post title, I could only thing of a bad joke from Trading Places 25 years ago…

    I’ve had some nice BMW coupes before I was married and had kids, but I gladly gave them up for our growing family.  We fought the minivan for a long time, but we eventually gave in (and it’s surprisingly great).  But it’s still a minivan and I like driving.  I told my wife that I’ll drive the van every day, but one day, I’m going to get something fun to drive too.  I just didn’t think it would be so soon.

    I was doing fine with the van until we bought my wife a new car (and I still had the van somehow).  It made me miss driving so I started looking around for fun cars to drive that weren’t going to be in the shop more than on the road.

    One thing I learned about myself is that I don’t care about the prestige of more expensive cars and I’m actually more embarrassed by it.  I looked at a lot of cars, but I kept coming back to the S2000 because of it’s unique engine, classic looks and Honda reliability.

    I missed out on one because I wasn’t ready and it was in Northern California.  I looked pretty seriously at ones out of state or even across country.  Then, I almost bought one from a seller who wasn’t prepared and the car had a weird title history.  I was still going to buy it until one day we went to eat lunch and I saw a listing for exactly what I was looking for.  I called immediately and happened to be about 15 minutes away from the seller.  He was the original owner and kept the car in perfect condition and only put 25,000 miles on it.

    I hardly get to drive it, but it puts a smile on my face every time I take it out.  I still feel extremely lucky that I was able to find a perfect car from the best seller you could ask for.

    And as a bonus, not only do my clubs still fit but they match too!