Even though he was nearly 30 years old Chris Wilson always told people that he didn't know what he wanted to be when he grew up but he dreamed of being a guitarist in a band. He had a hard time holding down jobs and never worked in one place for very long. In his late twenties his mom bought a hair salon in Wenatchee and Chris decided to start attending the Academy of Hair Design in order to maybe follow in her footsteps. Throughout his life Chris had a number relationships what different women some serious, some casual. He had even been engaged a time or two. One woman he dated on-again-off-again was named Tessa Shuyleman (Source). We will get more to her later.
Descriptions of Chris vary widely depending on who you ask, most people will tell you he liked being different. For years he dyed his hair black, occasionally wore eyeliner, chose to wear clothes that were “punk” or “goth”. Most people will also tell you that Chris Wilson was interested in things dark and macabre. He was obsessed with a show called Dexter which is about a serial killer. He was also interested in dark art and movies. He enjoyed talking about death, and serial killers and most of his time on the internet was spent on serial killer forums. Of course, Chris's friends always have stressed that he wasn't evil; he was just different and had unusual interests. Researching serial killers and liking shows like Dexter after all isn't really that unique. Wilson also sports a tattoo Hannibal Lecter on his forearm. He had been fired from at least one funeral home in Wenatchee due to “inappropriate” behavior that made his boss uncomfortable. Chris's former boss has never elaborated on this statement claiming it was not his place to talk about these things outside of court (source). However, another manager at the funeral home described Chris as an excellent employee (source). One woman who worked with Chris at Academy of Hair Design described him as “intimidating but not physically intimidating.” Other coworkers and neighbors remember Chris as artsy but was otherwise a typical guy (Source).
At one point Chris Wilson lived in Ellensburg, Washington and worked at a Goodwill in town. According to some sources, one night his manager discovered him rifling through the dumpster at Goodwill in order to take home a mannequin with him. (Some reports say it was a paper statue.) He told his co-workers that this was for his art. He took the mannequin home, dismembered it and painted it like he murdered body, then shared pictures of this artwork online (Source). Friends of Chris said that he found the mannequin already painted. They claim that he called the police and then photographed the limbs for his art (source). It appears that a police report was made so Chris’s friends may have the more accurate account of this particular event.
Wilson told another acquaintance that he strangled a woman to death with a belt in a hotel in Ellensburg (Source). Police said they have no evidence that a murder like this had ever occurred. One classmate interviewed reported that on Halloween The Academy of Hair Design was having a contest. Students were allowed to do a hair and makeup on a mannequin head however they liked, in a type of dress up competition. Wilson took a straight razor to his mannequin’s face and peeled the skin off, something that disturbed her deeply. Others though have said they didn't think it was that weird as it was for a Halloween game (Source). Wilson's love of Dexter, his tattoo, and the mannequin incident were not allowed to be brought up during trial the information was prejudicial rather than probative, but they are all important parts if the story.
Chris Wilson's odd behavior aside, law enforcement began looking into Chris's movements on the days around Mackenzie’s disappearance. Security footage showed that Chris Wilson left the Academy of Hair Design within 72 seconds of Mackenzie leaving (Source). He was shown walking across the parking lot at approximately 3:02 p.m. It was also determined that Wilson left through a different door than Mackenzie, which would explain why no one seemed to remember him leaving right after her. In the video, he slinks near the alley rather than walking across the lot (Source). As far as I can remember the Academy of Hair Design was rather open inside, so I think other students would have been able to see Mackenzie from wherever they were in the school, meaning Chris could probably see that Mackenzie left the building.
In February 2012, Chris lived in a studio in a building called the Burke Hill apartments. The tenement is across from the courthouse in a sketchy area of town, adjacent to a bail bonds business. The building is on Orondo Street only a few blocks from Academy of Hair Design. When Mackenzie car was last seen, it was actually headed towards Chris Wilson's apartment, which was the opposite direction from the Orondo boat launch. Verizon Wireless was asked if it was possible that Mackenzie's last text messages were sent from Chris Wilson's apartment rather than the Orondo boat launch. When they reviewed the data, they admitted that it was just as likely that Mackenzie was in the vicinity of the Burke Hill apartments, rather than the boat launch (Source).
Chris never returned to the Academy of Hair Design that day after leaving at 3:02 p.m. His whereabouts for the rest of the day are unknown and he doesn't have an alibi. His mother claims that at one point he swung by her house to pick up a plate of cupcakes, but it doesn't appear that Chris stayed with her for any amount of time (Source). Chris’s phone went unanswered from 3:30-3:50 pm (source). What we do know is that Chris Wilson had a car, but that a little before 4 p.m. he called his friend asking to borrow this friend's car. His friend said that he could borrow the car until 5 p.m., Chris said he needed the car for a longer but his friend told him that wasn't an option. Chris may have borrowed the car and returned it at 5:15 p.m. Chris’s defense attorneys claim that Chris did not end up actually using the car, and say that video surveillance shows that the car never left its spot in the parking lot (Source). Unfortunately, I could find no other information on this discrepancy, but we do know that Chris did ask to borrow the car on the afternoon of February 9th.
From 3:02 pm forward on February 9th, Wilson was in regular phone and text contact with his ex-girlfriend Tessa Shuyleman. Shuyleman and he talked 8 different times in between 3:30 and 6 pm. Shuyleman’s phone records revealed that she was also in contact with her current boyfriend who lived in Quincy, Washington only three miles from Crescent Bar. Tessa called her current boyfriend twice around 6 pm, and then also called him at 9 pm in a panicked state. She said “something really, really bad has happened” and then “please pray for me.” The man thought the request was odd as he described Tessa as “anti-religion.” He could not remember the exact day of this conversation but he believed it to be February 9th or 10th. Phone records showed that the time of the phone calls most likely happened on the 9th. Phone records demonstrated that this 9 pm call as well as another call Tessa made around 10 pm “may have originated in the Quincy area.” Another ex-boyfriend of Shuyleman reported that Tessa came to his home to pick up some things, sometime between Feb. 9th and 13th. He described her as agitated and fidgety. She stayed with him for about twenty minutes but left the residence without collecting any of her things (Source).
Additionally, Chris matched the description of the man seen walking down Pitcher Canyon Road, although this description could fit a lot of men in the area. School records show that in the days following the discovery of Mackenzie’s body Wilson was rarely at school, leaving for no reason at all or simply not attending (Source). Chris Wilson was not on anyone's radar until the summer of 2010 when police began re-looking at leads and then finally received the letter from Theo Keyes.
In August Wilson, along with other people who worked at the Academy of Hair Design, were interviewed by police. Later that month police got a warrant to DNA test students at the Academy thus obtaining Chris Wilson's DNA. Court documents say that Wilson gave his DNA willingly. Wilson's profile was sent to the crime lab. Wilson did not match the DNA in Mackenzie’s car, fingernail, or on the murder weapon, but his DNA was consistent with the one of the male profiles found on the duct tape at Crescent Bar. With this information police asked Wilson to come down to the station again to be interviewed. Law enforcement agents asked him if he had ever been to Crescent bar. Wilson denied this and was promptly placed under arrest for the murder of Mackenzie Cowell (Source). Detective John Kruse claimed that at this point, Chris looked at him blankly with no emotion on his face, and didn’t deny the accusation instead saying “I think I need a lawyer.” (Source).
Soon Chris Wilson's strange behavior and hobbies we're common knowledge among the people of Wenatchee. Pictures showed that he went to Mackenzie's funeral (Source). Chris Wilson claimed he did not know Mackenzie and had never talked to her before, although he did admit that he knew who she was. Subsequent interviews with the people who worked at the Academy of Hair Design revealed this wasn't exactly true. Many people remember Mackenzie talking to Chris. One person even described a relationship or friendship developing between the two. One woman claimed that Chris Wilson had told her that he found the Mackenzie “hot” (source). Adversely, Chris's mother claims that Mackenzie and Chris we're not friends on Facebook or Myspace even though they both used those websites. She also claimed Chris and Mackenzie never talked on their cell phones (Source), which is far as I can tell is accurate. Chris's friends stated that while Chris talked about some people he worked with at Academy of Hair Design, they never remember him mentioning Mackenzie (Source).
After his arrest police looked at Chris's cell phone records and his computer. They also located his car in Spokane, Washington which he had sold in April 2010 (Source). LE thoroughly searched the apartment he was living in which was the basement of Salon Couture, a building which his mother owned. Police ripped apart the apartment not realizing that this was not the apartment Chris was living in at the time of Mackenzie's disappearance and murder. They reported to the newspaper that luminol test showed blood in the stairwell. The blood was sent to the crime lab, which revealed that the blood did not belong to Mackenzie. One woman who worked at the salon recalled that when the salon was being painted a painter had cut his hand in the stairwell (Source). The blood was not connected to the case and police instead got a warrant to search the studio that Chris was living at in the Burke Hill apartments months earlier.
Chris had vacated his apartment in June of 2010. On Chris's computer police found some strange photographs as well as two strange videos. The photograph, which is not publicly available, is allegedly of Tessa Shuyleman laying on the floor of Chris's apartment posing as if she is dead on top of a brownish stain. Tessa gave two different explanations of this photo. In one explanation Tessa said that she had passed out drunk in Chris's apartment where he snapped the photo (Source). Another time she said that Chris and asked her to lie on the ground and then he took a photo. Tessa also said that she had no memory of anything that happened from February 9th to 13th and that she was not involved in the disappearance of Mackenzie.
The videos featuring both Tessa and Chris we're taken on June 26th and June 30th. They feature someone carrying around a camera and videotaping parts of the empty apartment. On the video from June 26th a brown reddish stain can be seen on the carpet. Right before the video ends, the videographer zooms directly in this stain, before going to the bathtub panning around the bathtub and then cutting off. In the June 30th film which is very similar, Chris and Tessa can be heard talking. Chris says “does it look clean in here?” and Tessa says, “clean for…? clean considering what's…. happening? Yes I think it's clean” and then zooms in again on the exact same part of the carpet but now the stain is barely visible (Source) (Source). Chris said he made the videos in order to show his landlord so that he could get his deposit back. He also said the stain on the carpet was from a party when someone had knocked over bong water. He said the stain smelled really bad so he cleaned it with Simply Green and got the stain out (Source). Some of Chris’s supporters say that the video shows nothing at all but others say the video is very damning, especially the remarks that Tessa makes.
When police entered the apartment and sprayed the area with luminol, the stain lit up. The carpet and carpet pad were cut away and sent to the State Crime Lab. The piece of carpet was very small, only a few inches square (Source). The State Crime Lab was able to determine that the stain was blood that belonged to Mackenzie Cowell (Source). This piece of evidence was the nail in Chris Wilson's coffin. The DA charged Wilson with second-degree murder.
The town of Wenatchee was shocked, bit by bit everyone's stories, memories, and recollections about Chris Wilson we're on the front page of the newspaper every day. Chris was arrested in October 2010 with his case would not go to trial until 2012. In early court documents Chris is represented by a public defender Keith Howard, who was once awarded one of the best lawyers in Washington State. Howard explained in court documents that the DNA found on the duct tape was not a complete profile and that the DNA sequence matched thousands of white men, perhaps even dozens of them in Washington State. He also pointed out the fact that Chris Wilson's DNA was not found on the murder weapon nor was there any evidence that Mackenzie had been in his car or that he had been in her car. After all the DNA from Mackenzie's car didn't match Chris Wilson either. Further, there was a second male DNA profile on the duct tape that was someone else entirely. Judge Bridges allocated $10,000 worth of public funds for the DNA to be retested at a private facility in Ohio before going to trial. Howard also discovered one of the DNA profiles found on the murder weapon belonged to a fingerprint analyst at the crime lab in Cheney. He also discovered that the second profile found on the knife could not rule out a deputy who arrived at the crime scene. Howard pointed out how sloppy this made investigators look and reminded the public that the DNA evidence was not as cut-and-dry as it seemed. For example, the profile on the duct tape was a y-str profile. It was not complete and could match one in 2700 males. This particular profile is most common among white men, and excludes all women. One in every 1,047 Caucasian men have this particular sequence, and it would be most common among Chris Wilson's relatives (Source). Chris Wilson however, had no male relatives living in the area as he was not a Wenatchee native. Chris’ biological father is unknown. His siblings do not share his y-str DNA as they have a different father than Chris.
Early on in my research did the math, and this profile could have belonged to approximately 7-14 people in Wenatchee- more if you include the outlying areas. While is it is not 100% matchable to Chris Wilson, it is a pretty good indicator when coupled with other evidence.
Everyone thought the case with the DNA evidence was a slam dunk, but then Chelan County district attorney did something that shocked everyone. He offered Chris Wilson a plea deal. 6 1/2 years for manslaughter if he would only plead guilty (Source). The move astonished the community. Chris Wilson rejected the deal saying he wanted to go to trial so that the truth could come out.
Preliminary hearings were held with Chris Wilson's new attorney John Henry Browne, a very prestigious lawyer out of Seattle. Browne has defended some famous criminals such as Ted Bundy and the Colton Harris Moore- the Barefoot Bandit. Browne planned on calling Liz Reid to the stand and throwing suspicion at suspects like Cerros, Cuevas, Joaquin Villasano, and Joey Fisher. He argued that all of these men had motive which his client Chris Wilson did not have (Source).
Browne also defended some people in 1995 during what was dubbed the Wenatchee Witch Hunt (Source). Many of us in the true crime community have heard of satanic panic. In the 1980s and 90s teachers, daycare workers, and others that worked with children were accused all across the country of participating in ritualistic abuse of children. There was a variety of very huge trials and scandals. One of the last major satanic panic scandals occurred in 1994 and 1995 and was dubbed the Wenatchee Witch Hunt. All in all, over 40 people were arrested for ritualistic child abuse in the Wenatchee Valley many of them daycare workers, preschool teachers, and Sunday school supervisors. Eventually, all of these trials ended in mistrial, overturned convictions, and acquittals. I
This phenomenon is a perfect picture the issues that can arise when people let emotions cloud their judgment, coupled with bad psychological advice, and a misunderstanding of how to interview children. Early on some people were convicted and sadly convections fell along class lines, with wealthier accused typically hiring good lawyers and being acquitted while poor defendants with no options more likely to be convicted. Eventually the state acquitted all of these defendants but several people involved in the Witch Hunt were able to keep their jobs in the Wenatchee Police Department and the DA’s office, including the DA himself (Source). Because of this history John Henry Browne was planning on pushing for the idea that Mackenzie's blood had been planted and Chris Wilson's apartment. And he was planning on using the story of the Wenatchee Witch Hunt to show the jury that law enforcement in the area could not be trusted (Source).
Browne’s strategy was a bold one. Many people had a hard time believing that police would collect blood from Mackenzie with the purpose of planting it in the apartment of someone who wasn't even on their radar when they collected the blood. This also assumes that police somehow knew that there was a stain in Chris Wilson's apartment that he would videotape and that they would be able to collect for evidence. Others have wondered why the police would try to frame someone with no criminal past and only vague connections to Mackenzie, when they could have easily framed someone like Buddha Cerros who had a very long criminal record. Police also were in possession of Buddha’s car, so planting evidence wouldn’t have been challenging.
Browne has also pointed out the sloppiness of the investigation. Of the three male DNA profiles collected from knife at the scene, one, possibly two, of the three profiles on the knife were determined to have belonged to law enforcement. One belonged to a finger print analyst at the state crime lab near Spokane. Another sample was a partial profile could not exclude one deputy who responded to the crime scene. The third profile is still unknown. Law enforcement has said that while there are steps to avoid contamination, it actually happens often, which is why the DNA of all analysts and officers is kept on file. Police also admitted to moving Mackenzie’s body from the river onto the shore without waiting for a forensics unit. They expressed fear that the body would float away due to dam fluctuations if it was not moved. However, in this event some evidence may have been moved, lost, or damaged (source).
Browne also spearheaded the idea that Chris might have been arrested for being weird in a small town. Like many people, Browne was also troubled by the apparent lack of motive that Chris had for killing Mackenzie. Right before trial a change of venue was requested by the defense. While that was being decided many pieces of evidence and information from Chris’ life were ruled inadmissible at trial (Source). Shawna Novak’s testimony along with some of Chris’s "weird" interests were to be supressed.
As jury selection got underway, approximately 85% of potential jurors admitted that they already thought Chris Wilson was guilty. A similar number of jurors have followed the case and knew about suppressed evidence (Source). On the day before trial was set to begin, Chris Wilson entered a plea of guilty for Mackenzie's manslaughter and requested the DA's previous deal of six years. The DA countered with a 14-year sentence in exchange for a signed document that said Chris had caused the death of Mackenzie Cowell. Wilson took the plea looking miserable the whole time, and was sentenced to 14 years, with the possibility of getting out in 10 with good behavior.
Browne explained to media outlets that sometimes defendants have to do what's best for them which is sometimes taking a plea deal even if they're innocent (Source). As soon as Chris Wilson was placed into prison he immediately tried to go back on his guilty plea and once again claimed he was innocent. Wilson seemed to think that if he did this he would get an immediate retrial or some sort of appeals process but this was not the case and today he is still sitting in Clallam Correctional Facility in Washington State (Source).
When the media asked why DA Riesen would offer such a lenient sentence for Wilson, he said that the reasons were two-fold. First, he felt that the jury would want a motive for the crime and he felt he and his team could not provide one, except for that maybe Chris Wilson was interested in becoming a serial killer himself, which is a pretty far-fetched idea. The other issue was is that while Mackenzie's DNA was in Chris's apartment the DA said he had no proof that Chris was there when it happened or that he caused Mackenzie to bleed. This coupled with the fact that his DNA was not on the murder weapon made him feel like his case was not as strong as the people Wenatchee seemed to think it was (Source).
There are still many unanswered questions about this case. Chris has maintained his innocence since the moment he was placed into prison. He says he regrets many things about his life especially his Hannibal Lecter tattoo which biased the public against him (Source). The biggest question many have is motive. According to all sources Chris and Mackenzie did not really know each other that well. There were no problems between them, they did not run in the same circles, they were not similar ages, were not in the same “grade” at the Academy, and they apparently did not talk to each other online or on the phone. Mackenzie was not sexually assaulted which doesn't necessarily rule out a sexual motive but it does make things a lot stranger. Further, there's still the question of the unknown DNA on the knife, on the victim’s fingernails, and in her car. These things seem the point to the fact that Chris Wilson must have had an accomplice. But who is he? I discovered one article which claimed that two inmates at the county jail were involved in the crime, although I could find no more detail on this matter (Source).
Others including Chris's attorneys have pointed out that Cowell's jugular was cut (Source). Injuries like these produce massive amounts of blood. If Mackenzie was killed in Chris's apartment why was there only a very small patch of blood on his carpet? Some have speculated that Chris may have laid down plastic in his apartment like on the TV show Dexter in order to make his clean up easier. But this would mean that the crime was planned out in advance and it would produce additional evidence such as the bloody plastic sheets. There's also the question of how Chris got Mackenzie into his apartment in broad daylight. Did he invite her up? Mackenzie was an athlete who regularly worked out. At 5’8” she was only a few inches shorter than Chris, who would have had to get her body from his second-floor apartment to his car which was parked on the street, without anyone realizing that he was carrying a bleeding, full grown woman. This further implies that he must have had an accomplice. Police have always theorized that Schuyleman was his accomplice but Tessa was ruled out as being a contributor of any of the DNA in the case. Further, her car was searched but nothing was found. Because of this her charge of aiding and abetting a criminal was dropped. Tessa legally changed her first and last name and moved out of the area as soon as the sentencing concluded. She was never charged with any crime.
In the years since this crime the 48 Hours episode and places like Web Sleuths and Reddit have allowed doubt to be thrown on Chris Wilson's conviction. Ever since John Henry Browne pioneered the idea that Wenatchee police are corrupt and planted Mackenzie's blood, people have questioned the validity of the other evidence in the case. I know I was a bit skeptical of police after hearing this but when I started doing my research, I realized the police might be able to plant physical evidence, but they cannot plant circumstantial evidence, and there was a good amount of circumstantial evidence that points to Wilson as the perpetrator. I am very perturbed by the lack of motive and by the four unknown male DNA profiles, one on Mackenzie's steering wheel, the duct tape, her fingernails, and the other on the murder weapon as it makes me feel like there's much more to the story and that murderers are potentially walking free. It was a surreal experience to have everyone in the area so convinced of Wilson’s guilt in 2012, only to have everyone start questioning their convictions after the 2014 CBS special revealed new or different information only a few years later.
Wilson supporters online have even wondered if homophobia is to blame for Wilson's arrest. Chris Wilson was definitely different, his dyed hair and penchant for eyeliner apparently made some people assume that he was gay even though he describes himself as heterosexual. Also he was one of only 3 male students at the hair academy (source). Personally, I have always found this a bit of a stretch as Wilson's on-again-off-again girlfriend was arrested with him, but I will not rule it out as I am sure Wilson has been on the receiving end of some not-so-nice comments especially in a small town like Wenatchee. I don't mean to say that a homophobia does not happen, but I don't think it was Chris's dyed hair that made people view him suspiciously rather, it was his odd behavior and frankly disturbing interests. For this I would say that his weird behavior is more to blame than homophobia. A lot of men dye their hair, but few dismember and paint mannequins like murder victims. At the end of the day, homophobia was the least of Chris Wilson’s worries.
Others have pointed to Liz Reed’s testimony and a question why Reid’s story was thrown out while Keyes’ story was believed. When asked why DA Gary Reisen trusted Keyes rather than Reid, Reisen said that Keyes’ story had merit. Not only did party goers back up his account of the choking incident, DNA confirmed Keyes’ suspicions about Wilson. Reid said that Liz’s story about Cuevas and Cerros is nothing but “blatant hearsay.” “Show me one thing that connects Cuevas to this crime,” says Risen, “One thing. There is nothing.”
Many locals are still skeptical of Buddha Cerros and Sam Cuevas. I remember at one point Buddha was working at a grocery store or convenience store and people would always side-eye him. Buddha has always said he is not involved and Liz Reid is someone who likes to ruin other people's lives. Sadly, Sam Cuevas has passed away but it appears that he did not get into any more legal trouble after his first run-in with the law. Cerros has always denied involvement and says that he's not a violent person and that he is trying his best to live an honest life, but as of 2020 Buddha was in prison yet again for heroin charge.
Other Things
A few things I wanted to mention but could not find a place for are theories for motive as well as Wilson’s lack of denial. Amateur detectives have long wondered what Chris Wilson’s motive was for the crime. My mom for example, has always speculated that Chris offered to sell Mackenzie drugs or even alcohol, which prompted her to meet Chris. Obviously, Cowell thought this would be a quick encounter and for whatever reason the exchange went sour and ended with Mackenzie’s death. I can find no indication that either Chris or Mackenzie used drugs, but this would explain why Mackenzie went to meet Chris and why she possibly entered his apartment willingly. It also explains that while Chris and Mackenzie left at around the same time, but they were trying to look like they weren't leaving together. Another theory is that Chris met up with Mackenzie and made a sexual advance that she rebuffed, ending in murder. A third theory is that Mackenzie knew that Chris was doing something unsavory at work (such as selling drugs or stealing money) and she threatened to tell. This could have led to an altercation. An alternative theory is that Chris Wilson was a burgeoning serial killer who simply wanted to commit a murder. Finally, some have wondered if Chris Wilson worked with Cerros and Cuevas to kill Mackenzie although it doesn’t seem like there is any evidence the men knew each other together.
I do not mean to accuse Mackenzie of being a drug user or imply any other negative behavior as there's really no evidence for any of these theories, but I did want to mention them in the name of being thorough.
Another thing that deserves a mention in this piece is Chris Wilson’s lack of denial. Although Chris has maintained his innocence since landing in prison, audio and video interviews with him show something interesting. Whenever Chris is asked if he killed Mackenzie or hurt Mackenzie or was involved in Mackenzie's murder, he doesn't really deny it. Instead, he answers with a question such as, “where did you hear that?” or “who is saying that about me?” It is a little bit odd to me as it seems like he deflects questions does not answer them head-on. Like many things in this case this fact alone does not feel guilt or innocence, but it is part the story that I wanted to include.
Timeline

1. Mackenzie left the Academy of Hair Design at 208 S. Wenatchee Avenue at 3 pm, asking a classmate if she had to sign out if she was only going to be gone 15 minutes. Mackenzie left the area on foot and walked to her car in a lot behind the salon. Classmates assumed that she was leaving to get coffee at her favorite stand, a place called Auto Mocha which was only a five-minute drive away.
2. 3:01 pm surveillance video shows Mackenzie walking to her car, getting in, and driving away.
3. 3:02 pm Chris Wilson seen on surveillance video exiting the salon and driving away within one minute of Mackenzie leaving. Chris left the salon out a different door so no one initially remembered him leaving right after her.
4. ~3:02 pm security video shows Mackenzie’s car driving west on Kittitas St. towards Chris Wilson’s apartment
5. 3:26 pm Mackenzie texts her boyfriend “hey”
6. 3:02-3:33 Wilson texts Shuyleman 4 times
7. 3:33-3:50 pm, Wilson does not answer his phone
8. 3:42 pm Joaquin Villasano texts back “hey” This is the last activity on her phone.
9. ~3:50 pm Chris Wilson calls his friend and asks to borrow his car at 4 pm, despite having his own car.
10. 4-5:15 pm Chris borrows friend’s car (possibly)
11. 4:04 - 4:08 pm Chris calls Shuyleman and is one the phone for 4 minutes
12. 4:36 and 5:03 p.m. Chris calls Shuyleman 4 times- one minute each time
13. 5:42 pm Mackenzie’s phone “pings” presumably when it is shut off.
14. ~ 4:30-5:30 pm Mackenzie’s car is abandoned in Pitcher Canyon. A man walking away from the car who vaguely resembles Chris Wilson, seen by three locals walking down the road toward town
15. 5:40 pm Reid Cowell calls Mackenzie- her phone goes straight to voicemail. He continues to call.
16. ~6 pm Shuyleman calls her boyfriend who lives in Crescent Bar twice, it does not appear that he answered
17. 8 pm a rancher calls police to report that a red sedan has been abandoned near his driveway since at least 7 pm
18. 9:10 pm Shuyleman calls her boyfriend in a panicked state and says “something really bad has happened” and then “please pray for me.” The call may have come from the Quincy area.
19. A little before 10 pm a police officer is dispatched to assess the abandoned car, he runs the plate and calls the owner, Reid Cowell, who explains that his daughter is missing.
20. 10 pm Reid Cowell and Mackenzie’s boyfriend Joaquin arrive at the scene. The car is empty but Mackenzie’s purse and her gym bag full of clothes are in the car. Only her phone and keys are missing. There are only one set of footprints in the snow; they lead away from the car towards the road.
21. Shuyleman and Wilson called and texted “several times” between 10:35 p.m. and 11:09 p.m.
22. February 13th 1 pm a body is found floating in the Columbia River. Two days later it is identified as Mackenzie Cowell

In order to see the pictures and videos referenced in this piece I would watch the CBS documentary called “Secrets of the River.” It is the only place one can watch the video of Chris leaving the salon, as well as the only place that you see the bizarre apartment video and the carpet stain. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/48-hours-secrets-of-the-river-be-careful-what-you-plead-fo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Mackenzie_Cowell
The Wenatchee world has over 200 articles on the case available on their website https://www.wenatcheeworld.com/
Finally, two good podcasts on the case are first degree podcast and true crime brewery.https://www.stitcher.com/show/true-crime-brewery/episode/the-beauty-school-murder-who-killed-mackenzie-cowell-51131251
https://podtail.com/podcast/the-first-degree/mackenzie-cowell/
There are so many questions that make this “solved” case a mystery. Who killed Mackenzie Cowell? Is the right man in jail? Or was he railroaded for being a unique person in a cookie cutter town? If Wilson isn’t responsible, then who is? If Wilson is responsible who helped him? What do you think happened 17-year-old Mackenzie Cowell?

Good Morning All!
One month ago, I submitted a post regarding Unifi Talk Here showing my personal review of the product as a whole after a couple days of testing. I would like to expand on that post showing to what I am seeing after about of a month of testing and using the products!
Again as of before, these opinions and reviews are purely my own, and are used to perhaps provide some insight on this upcoming product!
Unifi Talk is currently in Beta and is expected to have bugs that they are working out, and this should be kept in mind if you are looking to purchase the products for yourself.
Here are the current versions I am running:
UDM Pro: 1.8.6
Talk Controller: 1.9.1
Unifi Talk: 1.2.342
Starting off, I would like to thank the Ubiquiti team! They do seem to be working on a consistent basis on the products, and Talk has received a couple of major updates that have drastically improved the product each time.
Protect: PROTECT WORKS NOW! The stream on the Protect App, has the live view accompanied by the timeline. There also is no timeout on the screen, so it will stay up whenever protect is running. Whenever you get a call though, it automatically switches to the Talk app, though the process of switching takes 2-3 seconds to do, while the phone is still ringing in the mean time. This still provides an ample opportunity to answer the call, but may be an inconvenience to some.
I ran into a couple of annoying talk issues that I didn't notice before.
Phone Call Quality: When answering a call there appears to be what I can best describe as an audio syncing delay for a few seconds. This is actually a massive issue for those using the phones for business use, and if a call representative answers the phone with a script. The person on the other end may only hear the latter half of the script, which offers very poor customer experience. I found that I ended up waiting a few seconds after answering the phone before I said "hello".
I would suggest that the Unifi team looks into that issue as a major fault, especially this being a business product, expected to be used in offices and call centers.
Another issue that everyone wanting to experiment with Talk should keep in mind is to make sure that the phone has enough bandwidth. It takes very little considering it is only voice, however if you are downloading a game from Steam for example without throttling (depending on your internet speed), whoever you are talking to will hear you breaking up on their end. Though this should be fixable though the UDM Network settings to give the phone priority, I would recommend that voice be given priority over most other traffic as a default setting.
Moving on to the Talk Controller interface, I found that there was an issue that I constantly ran into when reviewing my calls.
Call Log: You are able to create contacts on both the talk device and the controller which are synced instantly. Creating and mass importing contacts is incredibly easy to do, and they work well EXCEPT for the call log.... The call log on the controller only shows phone numbers, not the contacts.
For example, if you had 555-555-1234 assigned to Bob as a contact, in the call log you would still only see the number 555-555-1234, not Bob's name. There is no way to associate the phone number with the contact in the call log. The log recognizes Talk users as contacts, and will use their names, but not regular contacts. This makes it extremely difficult if you make a lot of calls and need to see the last time you spoke with Bob, especially if you do not have his number memorized. You would have to go to Contacts, find Bob, copy his number, go back to the call log, and past the number in the search field. If the number is in your contacts, it needs to show the name of the contact, not their number. I think the information still needs to be shown once you open the entry for the call, but not on the main view.
Another (perhaps bug) that I found with the call log was the consistency to how the numbers are presented. A part of the issue is user-based, but odd nonetheless. All incoming calls (us-based) would start with +1 555 555 1234, however the outgoing calls would be different. If the person was in your contacts that you called, it would show as the same (+1 555 555 1234), but if you called the number directly, it would appear how you dialed it, without the spaces. (5555551234). This is mainly a consistency issue, not necessarily a major bug.
Talk Dashboard: On the main Talk dashboard, I found that the system status message would occasionally go from "System Performance is Great!" to "Needs Attention" with no rhyme or reason. The message usually goes away quickly or with a refresh, but if you are comparing to my Call Experience Log, its hasn't gotten below 99%. There has been no issue with the call experience when it tells me that it needs attention either. I believe that, at least the error I am getting, is a false negative.
Voicemail: There is currently no way (that is obvious to me at least) to change the voicemail greeting. Currently the greeting you get is "The person at extension 0001 is not available. Record your message at the tone. Press any key, or stop talking to end the recording." You are able to access the voicemail in the call log as a call recording, however for some reason it shows as a different entry than the actual call. One entry will show as a missed call, and a new entry would show all the same information, but with a different icon.
I admittedly haven't looked too deeply into it, but there does not still seem to be a way to customize.
No Dark Mode: There is a personal preference that I would like to see implemented as well: Dark Mode. Currently dark mode only works in Settings on Talk, all the other tabs are light.
Now for the good stuff that I want to praise them for, and a couple of questions I have received from the last posting.
This is to be included over my last posting, so this post focuses more on new issues I found rather than features.
Unifi Protect: The biggest improvement that I have seen is that Unifi Protect is now working on the phone. From the previous post, you had to log in and then it would be asking for a few Android-based permissions, just to end up not working at all. It would force you into the Android settings and would not let you move on. Now, its turn key, and functions in nearly the exact same way as it does on my Iphone. The resolution on the Unifi Touch Phone is significantly lower, but you are still definitely able to tell what is in the video stream. Although it does work, It goes off the same interface as a smart phone, so certain features such as Alerts do not work, but the main functionality is there! Whoop Whoop!
Call Recording: The Call recording feature continues to impress me. Not only has it been amazing for going back and reviewing calls and reviewed information, they have sped up the experience dramatically. The longer the call, the longer it takes to load, but most load fast. The ability to download the call (.wav) for archiving/sharing/backup is also an amazing feature that has been very useful, especially to hear how you sound to the person on the other end of the call.
SIP: I have gotten a lot of questions concerning SIP and everyone's own SIP information. Unfortunately I can't provide a whole lot of information on the process except for starting out the process. For my testing, I am using Unifi everything, so I have not set this up with an external provider.
Here are the initial setup attention statements, and here are
I can provide a bit of additional information however. I added the screenshot here for Advanced SIP settings. The resource link that they mention can be found here and leads you to Freeswtich.org.
Exact phone number selection: HUGE. Midway through writing this, I found a new feature that allows you to select your specific phone number before purchasing! Under the numbers tab, when going to purchase new numbers you are able to search the number registry. You are able to select the country area code, then local area code. Based on that it will give you a drop down showing all available numbers! Huge update and thank you to Ubiquiti!
Updating the Phone: I have received a question regarding to how the phone is updated. Its managed in nearly the same way as the Unifi Cameras. Using the devices tab inside of Talk, you can select your device -> Configure > Update. This is also the same way you can reboot the device if it is acting weird.
Payments: If you go through Unifi for the phone number, I have went through a couple cycles now for paying them. You have 3000 minutes in the cycle that is included in the $9.99 subscription per number. They refill on the date that is shown on the dashboard. The payment breakdown they provide is here.
Phone Numbers VS. Extensions: I've had a few questions regarding how Talk handles both phone numbers and extensions. There was one instance only I have not checked for, and that is what happens when you don't pay the bill. Theoretically since the setup has already been completed, you may still be able to call extensions from the phone, however you would not be able to call outside of the immediate network. You must have a phone number to get initially set up and into the dashboard. You may be able to bypass paying anything by using the free 24 hour trial.
The way I view it is that extensions would work one of two ways; if Unifi is making all calls, to the extensions or not, go outside of the UDM pro, then they would fail when you don't pay the bill. However, if the UDM handles all internal calls, regardless of having a phone number or not, you should still be able to make internal calls. This is not something I am able to test at this time.
It appears that as long as you have the SIP addresses or are willing to pay, you can have as many phone numbers as you'd like, and you would be able to "tie" them together using the switchboard. Each phone number is able to handle up to 10,000 extensions (x0000 - x9999) per phone number.
Example: 2 phone numbers can handle a total of 20,000 total phones) More than enough for any organization. Each phone has to have its own unique extension, however you can create Talk groups, so you can tie in several extensions as a ring group if a certain selection is made.
I also noticed from their Early Access site for Unifi Touch phones (currently available as of writing this), they have added a white and gold phone in addition to the standard black and silver.
Next are the features that are not implemented, that I would like to see added in which I havn't already mentioned in this or my last post.
Dark Mode, transcribe call recordings, ability to change voicemail, ability to use your own audio file for the switchboard options, more fields for contacts, such as multiple numbers (work, office, cell) for each contact and things such as addresses, anti-fingerprint screens.
If you have any questions, or would like to see me look into something, please let me know! As always, have an amazing day!

NEW INFO 5 Results from share redemption are posted. Less than .2% redeemed. Very bullish as investors are showing extreme confidence in the future of PLBY.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/playboy-mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-120000721.html
NEW INFO 4 Definitive Agreement to purchase 100% of Lovers brand stores announced 2/1.
https://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Playboy+%28MCAC%29+Confirms+Deal+to+Acquire+Lovers/17892359.html
NEW INFO 3 I bought more on the dip today. 5081 total. Price rose AH to $12.38 (2.15%)
NEW INFO 2 Here is the full webinar.
https://icrinc.zoom.us/rec/play/9GWKdmOYumjWfZuufW3QXpe_FW_g--qeNbg6PnTjTMbnNTgLmCbWjeRFpQga1iPc-elpGap8dnDv8Zww.yD7DjUwuPmapeEdP?continueMode=true&tk=lEYc4F_FkKlgsmCIs6w0gtGHT2kbgVGbUju3cIRBSjk.DQIAAAAV8NK49xZWdldRM2xNSFNQcTBmcE00UzM3bXh3AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA&uuid=WN_GKWqbHkeSyuWetJmLFkj4g&_x_zm_rtaid=kR45-uuqRE-L65AxLjpbQw.1611967079119.2c054e3d3f8d8e63339273d9175939ed&_x_zm_rhtaid=866
NEW INFO 1 Live merger webinar with PLBY and MCAC on Friday January 29, 2021 at 12:00 NOON EST link below
https://mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/press-release-details/2021/Playboy-Enterprises-Inc.-and-Mountain-Crest-Acquisition-Corp-Participate-in-SPACInsider-ICR-Webinar-on-January-29th-at-12pm-ET/default.aspx
Playboy going public: Porn, Gambling, and Cannabis
!!!WARNING READING AHEAD!!! TL;DR at the end. It will take some time to sort through all the links and read/watch everything, but you should.
In the next couple weeks, Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp is taking Playboy public. The existing ticker MCAC will become PLBY. Special purpose acquisition companies have taken private companies public in recent months with great success. I believe this will be no exception. Notably, Playboy is profitable and has skyrocketing revenue going into a transformational growth phase.
Porn - First and foremost, let's talk about porn. I know what you guys are thinking. “Porno mags are dead. Why would I want to invest in something like that? I can get porn for free online.” Guess what? You are absolutely right. And that’s exactly why Playboy doesn’t do that anymore. That’s right, they eliminated their print division. And yet they somehow STILL make money from porn that people (see: boomers) pay for on their website through PlayboyTV, Playboy Plus, and iPlayboy. Here’s the thing: Playboy has international, multi-generational name recognition from porn. They have content available in 180 countries. It will be the only publicly traded adult entertainment (porn) company. But that is not where this company is going. It will help support them along the way. You can see every Playboy magazine through iPlayboy if you’re interested. NSFW links below:
https://www.playboy.com/
https://www.playboytv.com/
https://www.playboyplus.com/
https://www.iplayboy.com/
Gambling - Some of you might recognize the Playboy brand from gambling trips to places like Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Cancun, London or Macau. They’ve been in the gambling biz for decades through their casinos, clubs, and licensed gaming products. They see the writing on the wall. COVID is accelerating the transition to digital, application based GAMBLING. That’s right. What we are doing on Robinhood with risky options is gambling, and the only reason regulators might give a shit anymore is because we are making too much money. There may be some restrictions put in place, but gambling from your phone on your couch is not going anywhere. More and more states are allowing things like Draftkings, poker, state ‘lottery” apps, hell - even political betting. Michigan and Virginia just ok’d gambling apps. They won’t be the last. This is all from your couch and any 18 year old with a cracked iphone can access it. Wouldn’t it be cool if Playboy was going to do something like that? They’re already working on it. As per CEO Ben Kohn who we will get to later, “...the company’s casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth.” Honestly, I stopped researching Scientific Games' sports betting segment when I saw the word ‘omni-channel’. That told me all I needed to know about it’s success.
“Our SG Sports™ platform is an enhanced, omni-channel solution for online, self-service and retail fixed odds sports betting – from soccer to tennis, basketball, football, baseball, hockey, motor sports, racing and more.”
https://www.scientificgames.com/
https://www.microgaming.co.uk/
“This latter segment has become increasingly enticing for Playboy, and it said last week that it is considering new tie-ups that could include gaming operators like PointsBet and 888Holdings.”
https://calvinayre.com/2020/10/05/business/playboys-gaming-ops-could-get-a-boost-from-spac-purchase/
As per their SEC filing:
“Significant consumer engagement and spend with Playboy-branded gaming properties around the world, including with leading partners such as Microgaming, Scientific Games, and Caesar’s Entertainment, steers our investment in digital gaming, sports betting and other digital offerings to further support our commercial strategy to expand consumer spend with minimal marginal cost, and gain consumer data to inform go-to-market plans across categories.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tMDAA1
They are expanding into more areas of gaming/gambling, working with international players in the digital gaming/gambling arena, and a Playboy sportsbook is on the horizon.
https://www.playboy.com/read/the-pleasure-of-playing-with-yourself-mobile-gaming-in-the-covid-era
Cannabis - If you’ve ever read through a Playboy magazine, you know they’ve had a positive relationship with cannabis for many years. As of September 2020, Playboy has made a major shift into the cannabis space. Too good to be true you say? Check their website. Playboy currently sells a range of CBD products. This is a good sign. Federal hemp products, which these most likely are, can be mailed across state lines and most importantly for a company like Playboy, can operate through a traditional banking institution. CBD products are usually the first step towards the cannabis space for large companies. Playboy didn’t make these products themselves meaning they are working with a processor in the cannabis industry. Another good sign for future expansion. What else do they have for sale? Pipes, grinders, ashtrays, rolling trays, joint holders. Hmm. Ok. So it looks like they want to sell some shit. They probably don’t have an active interest in cannabis right? Think again:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/09/24/playboy-gets-serious-about-cannabis-law-reform-advocacy-with-new-partnership-grants/?sh=62f044a65cea
“Taking yet another step into the cannabis space, Playboy will be announcing later on Thursday (September, 2020) that it is launching a cannabis law reform and advocacy campaign in partnership with National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Last Prisoner Project, Marijuana Policy Project, the Veterans Cannabis Project, and the Eaze Momentum Program.”
“According to information procured exclusively, the three-pronged campaign will focus on calling for federal legalization. The program also includes the creation of a mentorship plan, through which the Playboy Foundation will support entrepreneurs from groups that are underrepresented in the industry.” Remember that CEO Kohn from earlier? He wrote this recently:
https://medium.com/naked-open-letters-from-playboy/congress-must-pass-the-more-act-c867c35239ae
Seems like he really wants weed to be legal? Hmm wonder why? The writing's on the wall my friends. Playboy wants into the cannabis industry, they are making steps towards this end, and we have favorable conditions for legislative progress.
Don’t think branding your own cannabis line is profitable or worthwhile? Tell me why these 41 celebrity millionaires and billionaires are dummies. I’ll wait.
https://www.celebstoner.com/news/celebstoner-news/2019/07/12/top-celebrity-cannabis-brands/
Confirmation: I hear you. “This all seems pretty speculative. It would be wildly profitable if they pull this shift off. But how do we really know?” Watch this whole video:
https://finance.yahoo.com/video/playboy-ceo-telling-story-female-154907068.html
Man - this interview just gets my juices flowing. And highlights one of my favorite reasons for this play. They have so many different business avenues from which a catalyst could appear. I think paying attention, holding shares, and options on these staggered announcements over the next year is the way I am going to go about it. "There's definitely been a shift to direct-to-consumer," he (Kohn) said. "About 50 percent of our revenue today is direct-to-consumer, and that will continue to grow going forward.” “Kohn touted Playboy's portfolio of both digital and consumer products, with casino-style gaming, in particular, serving a crucial role under the company's new business model. Playboy also has its sights on the emerging cannabis market, from CBD products to marijuana products geared toward sexual health and pleasure.” "If THC does become legal in the United States, we have developed certain strains to enhance your sex life that we will launch," Kohn said. https://cheddar.com/media/playboy-goes-public-health-gaming-lifestyle-focus Oh? The CEO actually said it? Ok then. “We have developed certain strains…” They’re already working with growers on strains and genetics? Ok. There are several legal cannabis markets for those products right now, international and stateside. I expect Playboy licensed hemp and THC pre-rolls by EOY. Something like this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/842996758/10-playboy-pre-roll-tubes-limited?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=pre+roll+playboy&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&organic_search_click=1 Maintaining cannabis operations can be costly and a regulatory headache. Playboy’s licensing strategy allows them to pick successful, established partners and sidestep traditional barriers to entry. You know what I like about these new markets? They’re expanding. Worldwide. And they are going to be a bigger deal than they already are with or without Playboy. Who thinks weed and gambling are going away? Too many people like that stuff. These are easy markets. And Playboy is early enough to carve out their spot in each. Fuck it, read this too: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimosman/2020/10/20/playboy-could-be-the-king-of-spacs-here-are-three-picks/?sh=2e13dcaa3e05
Numbers: You want numbers? I got numbers. As per the company’s most recent SEC filing:
“For the year ended December 31, 2019, and the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s historical consolidated revenue was $78.1 million and $101.3 million, respectively, historical consolidated net income (loss) was $(23.6) million and $(4.8) million, respectively, and Adjusted EBITDA was $13.1 million and $21.8 million, respectively.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Licensing segment contributed $44.2 million in revenue and $31.1 million in net income.”
“In the ninth months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Direct-to-Consumer segment contributed $40.2 million in revenue and net income of $0.1 million.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Digital Subscriptions and Content segment contributed $15.4 million in revenue and net income of $7.4 million.”
They are profitable across all three of their current business segments.
“Playboy’s return to the public markets presents a transformed, streamlined and high-growth business. The Company has over $400 million in cash flows contracted through 2029, sexual wellness products available for sale online and in over 10,000 major retail stores in the US, and a growing variety of clothing and branded lifestyle and digital gaming products.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
Growth: Playboy has massive growth in China and massive growth potential in India. “In China, where Playboy has spent more than 25 years building its business, our licensees have an enormous footprint of nearly 2,500 brick and mortar stores and 1,000 ecommerce stores selling high quality, Playboy-branded men’s casual wear, shoes/footwear, sleepwear, swimwear, formal suits, leather & non-leather goods, sweaters, active wear, and accessories. We have achieved significant growth in China licensing revenues over the past several years in partnership with strong licensees and high-quality manufacturers, and we are planning for increased growth through updates to our men’s fashion lines and expansion into adjacent categories in men’s skincare and grooming, sexual wellness, and women’s fashion, a category where recent launches have been well received.” The men’s market in China is about the same size as the entire population of the United States and European Union combined. Playboy is a leading brand in this market. They are expanding into the women’s market too. Did you know CBD toothpaste is huge in China? China loves CBD products and has hemp fields that dwarf those in the US. If Playboy expands their CBD line China it will be huge. Did you know the gambling money in Macau absolutely puts Las Vegas to shame? Technically, it's illegal on the mainland, but in reality, there is a lot of gambling going on in China. https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/10/19/magic-johnson-and-uncle-buds-cbd-brand-enter-china-via-tmall-partnership/?sh=271776ca411e “In India, Playboy today has a presence through select apparel licensees and hospitality establishments. Consumer research suggests significant growth opportunities in the territory with Playboy’s brand and categories of focus.” “Playboy Enterprises has announced the expansion of its global consumer products business into India as part of a partnership with Jay Jay Iconic Brands, a leading fashion and lifestyle Company in India.” “The Indian market today is dominated by consumers under the age of 35, who represent more than 65 percent of the country’s total population and are driving India’s significant online shopping growth. The Playboy brand’s core values of playfulness and exploration resonate strongly with the expressed desires of today’s younger millennial consumers. For us, Playboy was the perfect fit.” “The Playboy international portfolio has been flourishing for more than 25 years in several South Asian markets such as China and Japan. In particular, it has strategically targeted the millennial and gen-Z audiences across categories such as apparel, footwear, home textiles, eyewear and watches.” https://www.licenseglobal.com/industry-news/playboy-expands-global-footprint-india It looks like they gave COVID the heisman in terms of net damage sustained: “Although Playboy has not suffered any material adverse consequences to date from the COVID-19 pandemic, the business has been impacted both negatively and positively. The remote working and stay-at-home orders resulted in the closure of the London Playboy Club and retail stores of Playboy’s licensees, decreasing licensing revenues in the second quarter, as well as causing supply chain disruption and less efficient product development thereby slowing the launch of new products. However, these negative impacts were offset by an increase in Yandy’s direct-to-consumer sales, which have benefited in part from overall increases in online retail sales so far during the pandemic.” Looks like the positives are long term (Yandy acquisition) and the negatives are temporary (stay-at-home orders).
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921006093/tm213766-1_defa14a.htm
This speaks to their ability to maintain a financially solvent company throughout the transition phase to the aforementioned areas. They’d say some fancy shit like “expanded business model to encompass four key revenue streams: Sexual Wellness, Style & Apparel, Gaming & Lifestyle, and Beauty & Grooming.” I hear “we’re just biding our time with these trinkets until those dollar dollar bill y’all markets are fully up and running.” But the truth is these existing revenue streams are profitable, scalable, and rapidly expanding Playboy’s e-commerce segment around the world.
"Even in the face of COVID this year, we've been able to grow EBITDA over 100 percent and revenue over 68 percent, and I expect that to accelerate going into 2021," he said. “Playboy is accelerating its growth in company-owned and branded consumer products in attractive and expanding markets in which it has a proven history of brand affinity and consumer spend.”
Also in the SEC filing, the Time Frame:
“As we detailed in the definitive proxy statement, the SPAC stockholder meeting to vote on the transaction has been set for February 9th, and, subject to stockholder approval and satisfaction of the other closing conditions, we expect to complete the merger and begin trading on NASDAQ under ticker PLBY shortly thereafter,” concluded Kohn.
The Players: Suhail “The Whale” Rizvi (HMFIC), Ben “The Bridge” Kohn (CEO), “lil” Suying Liu & “Big” Dong Liu (Young-gun China gang). I encourage you to look these folks up. The real OG here is Suhail Rizvi. He’s from India originally and Chairman of the Board for the new PLBY company. He was an early investor in Twitter, Square, Facebook and others. His firm, Rizvi Traverse, currently invests in Instacart, Pinterest, Snapchat, Playboy, and SpaceX. Maybe you’ve heard of them. “Rizvi, who owns a sprawling three-home compound in Greenwich, Connecticut, and a 1.65-acre estate in Palm Beach, Florida, near Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg, moved to Iowa Falls when he was five. His father was a professor of psychology at Iowa. Along with his older brother Ashraf, a hedge fund manager, Rizvi graduated from Wharton business school.” “Suhail Rizvi: the 47-year-old 'unsocial' social media baron: When Twitter goes public in the coming weeks (2013), one of the biggest winners will be a 47-year-old financier who guards his secrecy so zealously that he employs a person to take down his Wikipedia entry and scrub his photos from the internet. In IPO, Twitter seeks to be 'anti-FB'” “Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia looks like a big Twitter winner. So do the moneyed clients of Jamie Dimon. But as you’ve-got-to-be-joking wealth washed over Twitter on Thursday — a company that didn’t exist eight years ago was worth $31.7 billion after its first day on the stock market — the non-boldface name of the moment is Suhail R. Rizvi. Mr. Rizvi, 47, runs a private investment company that is the largest outside investor in Twitter with a 15.6 percent stake worth $3.8 billion at the end of trading on Thursday (November, 2013). Using a web of connections in the tech industry and in finance, as well as a hearty dose of good timing, he brought many prominent names in at the ground floor, including the Saudi prince and some of JPMorgan’s wealthiest clients.” https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/technology/at-twitter-working-behind-the-scenes-toward-a-billion-dollar-payday.html Y’all like that Arab money? How about a dude that can call up Saudi Princes and convince them to spend? Funniest shit about I read about him: “Rizvi was able to buy only $100 million in Facebook shortly before its IPO, thus limiting his returns, according to people with knowledge of the matter.” Poor guy :(
He should be fine with the 16 million PLBY shares he's going to have though :)
Shuhail also has experience in the entertainment industry. He’s invested in companies like SESAC, ICM, and Summit Entertainment. He’s got Hollywood connections to blast this stuff post-merger. And he’s at least partially responsible for that whole Twilight thing. I’m team Edward btw.
I really like what Suhail has done so far. He’s lurked in the shadows while Kohn is consolidating the company, trimming the fat, making Playboy profitable, and aiming the ship at modern growing markets.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-ipo-rizvi-insight/insight-little-known-hollywood-investor-poised-to-score-with-twitter-ipo-idUSBRE9920VW20131003
Ben “The Bridge” Kohn is an interesting guy. He’s the connection between Rizvi Traverse and Playboy. He’s both CEO of Playboy and was previously Managing Partner at Rizvi Traverse. Ben seems to be the voice of the Playboy-Rizvi partnership, which makes sense with Suhail’s privacy concerns. Kohn said this:
“Today is a very big day for all of us at Playboy and for all our partners globally. I stepped into the CEO role at Playboy in 2017 because I saw the biggest opportunity of my career. Playboy is a brand and platform that could not be replicated today. It has massive global reach, with more than $3B of global consumer spend and products sold in over 180 countries. Our mission – to create a culture where all people can pursue pleasure – is rooted in our 67-year history and creates a clear focus for our business and role we play in people’s lives, providing them with the products, services and experiences that create a lifestyle of pleasure. We are taking this step into the public markets because the committed capital will enable us to accelerate our product development and go-to-market strategies and to more rapidly build our direct to consumer capabilities,” said Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy.
“Playboy today is a highly profitable commerce business with a total addressable market projected in the trillions of dollars,” Mr. Kohn continued, “We are actively selling into the Sexual Wellness consumer category, projected to be approximately $400 billion in size by 2024, where our recently launched intimacy products have rolled out to more than 10,000 stores at major US retailers in the United States. Combined with our owned & operated ecommerce Sexual Wellness initiatives, the category will contribute more than 40% of our revenue this year. In our Apparel and Beauty categories, our collaborations with high-end fashion brands including Missguided and PacSun are projected to achieve over $50M in retail sales across the US and UK this year, our leading men’s apparel lines in China expanded to nearly 2500 brick and mortar stores and almost 1000 digital stores, and our new men’s and women’s fragrance line recently launched in Europe. In Gaming, our casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth. Our product strategy is informed by years of consumer data as we actively expand from a purely licensing model into owning and operating key high-growth product lines focused on driving profitability and consumer lifetime value. We are thrilled about the future of Playboy. Our foundation has been set to drive further growth and margin, and with the committed capital from this transaction and our more than $180M in NOLs, we will take advantage of the opportunity in front of us, building to our goal of $100M of adjusted EBITDA in 2025.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
Also, according to their Form 4s, “Big” Dong Liu and “lil” Suying Liu just loaded up with shares last week. These guys are brothers and seem like the Chinese market connection. They are only 32 & 35 years old. I don’t even know what that means, but it's provocative.
https://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/1832415.htm
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-ii-002600994.html
Y’all like that China money?
“Mr. Liu has been the Chief Financial Officer of Dongguan Zhishang Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd., a regional designer, manufacturer and distributor of LED lights serving commercial customers throughout Southern China since November 2016, at which time he led a syndicate of investments into the firm. Mr. Liu has since overseen the financials of Dongguan Zhishang as well as provided strategic guidance to its board of directors, advising on operational efficiency and cash flow performance. From March 2010 to October 2016, Mr. Liu was the Head of Finance at Feidiao Electrical Group Co., Ltd., a leading Chinese manufacturer of electrical outlets headquartered in Shanghai and with businesses in the greater China region as well as Europe.”
Dr. Suying Liu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp., commented, “Playboy is a unique and compelling investment opportunity, with one of the world’s largest and most recognized brands, its proven consumer affinity and spend, and its enormous future growth potential in its four product segments and new and existing geographic regions. I am thrilled to be partnering with Ben and his exceptional team to bring his vision to fruition.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
These guys are good. They have a proven track record of success across multiple industries. Connections and money run deep with all of these guys. I don’t think they’re in the game to lose.
I was going to write a couple more paragraphs about why you should have a look at this but really the best thing you can do is read this SEC filing from a couple days ago. It explains the situation in far better detail. Specifically, look to page 137 and read through their strategy. Also, look at their ownership percentages and compensation plans including the stock options and their prices. The financials look great, revenue is up 90% Q3, and it looks like a bright future.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
I’m hesitant to attach this because his position seems short term, but I’m going to with a warning because he does hit on some good points (two are below his link) and he’s got a sizable position in this thing (500k+ on margin, I think). I don’t know this guy but he did look at the same publicly available info and make roughly the same prediction, albeit without the in depth gambling or cannabis mention. You can also search reddit for ‘MCAC’ and very few relevant results come up and none of them even come close to really looking at this thing.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gOvAd6lebs452hFlWWbxVjQ3VMsjGBkbJeXRwDwIJfM/edit?usp=sharing
“Also, before you people start making claims that Playboy is a “boomer” company, STOP RIGHT THERE. This is not a good argument. Simply put. The only thing that matters is Playboy’s name recognition, not their archaic business model which doesn’t even exist anymore as they have completely repurposed their business.”
“Imagine not buying $MCAC at a 400M valuation lol. Streetwear department is worth 1B alone imo.”
Considering the ridiculous Chinese growth as a lifestyle brand, he’s not wrong.
Current Cultural Significance and Meme Value: A year ago I wouldn’t have included this section but the events from the last several weeks (even going back to tsla) have proven that a company’s ability to meme and/or gain social network popularity can have an effect. Tik-tok, Snapchat, Twitch, Reddit, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter. They all have Playboy stuff on them. Kids in middle and highschool know what Playboy is but will likely never see or touch one of the magazines in person. They’ll have a Playboy hoodie though. Crazy huh? A lot like GME, PLBY would hugely benefit from meme-value stock interest to drive engagement towards their new business model while also building strategic coffers. This interest may not directly and/or significantly move the stock price but can generate significant interest from larger players who will.
Bull Case: The year is 2025. Playboy is now the world leader pleasure brand. They began by offering Playboy licensed gaming products, including gambling products, direct to consumers through existing names. By 2022, demand has skyrocketed and Playboy has designed and released their own gambling platforms. In 2025, they are also a leading cannabis brand in the United States and Canada with proprietary strains and products geared towards sexual wellness. Cannabis was legalized in the US in 2023 when President Biden got glaucoma but had success with cannabis treatment. He personally pushes for cannabis legalization as he steps out of office after his first term. Playboy has also grown their brand in China and India to multi-billion per year markets. The stock goes up from 11ish to 100ish and everyone makes big gains buying somewhere along the way.
Bear Case: The United States does a complete 180 on marijuana and gambling. President Biden overdoses on marijuana in the Lincoln bedroom when his FDs go tits up and he loses a ton of money in his sports book app after the Fighting Blue Hens narrowly lose the National Championship to Bama. Playboy is unable to expand their cannabis and gambling brands but still does well with their worldwide lifestyle brand. They gain and lose some interest in China and India but the markets are too large to ignore them completely. The stock goes up from 11ish to 13ish and everyone makes 15-20% gains.
TL;DR: Successful technology/e-commerce investment firm took over Playboy to turn it into a porn, online gambling/gaming, sports book, cannabis company, worldwide lifestyle brand that promotes sexual wellness, vetern access, women-ownership, minority-ownership, and “pleasure for all”. Does a successful online team reinventing an antiquated physical copy giant sound familiar? No options yet, shares only for now. $11.38 per share at time of writing. My guess? $20 by the end of February. $50 by EOY. This is not financial advice. I am not qualified to give financial advice. I’m just sayin’ I would personally use a Playboy sports book app while smoking a Playboy strain specific joint and it would be cool if they did that. Do your own research. You’d probably want to start here:
WARNING - POTENTIALLY NSFW - SEXY MODELS AHEAD - no actual nudity though
https://s26.q4cdn.com/895475556/files/doc_presentations/Playboy-Craig-Hallum-Conference-Investor-Presentation-11_17_20-compressed.pdf
Or here:
https://www.mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/default.aspx
Jimmy Chill: “Get into any SPAC at $10 or $11 and you are going to make money.”
STL;DR: Buy MCAC. MCAC > PLBY couple weeks. Rocketship. Moon.
Position: 5000 shares. I will buy short, medium, and long-dated calls once available.

Hey guys, it’s Coooolin! It’s Throwback Thursday, and 2 more days til the weekend!! How was everyone’s day!? Gooodd ? Baadd? Let me know, dooown beloow !!
Here’s the new cards today, thanks as always EA!

Silver Master Icons

MARTIN ST. LOUIS - 91 OVR - TBL / RW - BAR² , WH²
Billy Smith - 91 OVR - NYI / G - 5’10” / 185 lbs - SWA² , DIS²
*Brendan Shanahan - 91 OVR - DET / LW - H and S² , SH²

Sets

All these guys to upgrade to their 91 OVR cost their specific 86 OVR card , plus 9 Icon Collectables.
9 ICONS TO UPGRADE - short said .
—-

Primetimes

NHL

(Flooded with a team that beat the sens... lets not talk about that game..)
Will Update wanting to pump this out with Silver Master Icons
Elias Petterson - 89 OVR - VAN / C - GLA¹ , PP¹
Matt Duchene - 87 OVR - NAS / C - LTL¹ , MAG¹
Thatcher Demko - 86 OVR - VAN / G - 6’4” / 192 lbs - SPA¹ , BAL¹
JIMMY Howard - 85 OVR - DET / G - 6’1” / 218 lbs - SWA¹ , DIS¹
Nick Cousins - 82 OVR - NAS / C - SPE¹ , WH¹
Jordie Benn - 81 OVR - VAN / LD - SH¹ , PP¹
Jay Beagle - 81 OVR - VAN / C - LTL¹ , GLA¹
Kevin Lankinen - 80 OVR - CHI / G - 6’2” / 185 lbs - BAR¹ , SWA¹
Tyler Motte - 80 OVR - VAN / C - SPA¹ , WM¹
Jarred Tindroi - 77 OVR - NAS / LD - DIS¹ , WH¹

Other Leagues

Zachary L’Heureux - 83 OVR - HAL / C -
Aleksi Klemetti - 77 OVR - KAL / LW -
• • • • • • • • • • - - - - - - - - - • • • • • • • • • • • •

Packs Available

Quantity - 1,736
Double PT PACK - 37.5k C / 750 P
13 items, at least 5 Players with 2 guaranteed Primetime Players.
— From previous day —
23H / 40M
• Jumbo Premium Players Pack - 45k C / 900 P
20 items , all Gold Players, at least 5 80+ OVR Players
• Mega Pack - 37.5k C / 750 P
30 items, at least 15 Gold Players, and 4 80+ OVR Players
• Jumbo Premium Pack - 15k C / 300 P
20 items, at least 9 Players with at least 4 Gold Players

P.S.

• Squad Battles Rewards
• New Season of HUT RUSH — 3M POINTS FOR FREE ICON COLLECT

HOCKEY NEWS TODAY

• Hockey History Today
• Winnipeg Jets back in runnin
Fantasy Hockey Pickups
Who should be on your team?

STOCK MARKET NEWS - WHAT JUST HAPPENED

• Gamestop See-Saw
• Disney Rising from its tumbled down
Corona News
• Corona News Today
• Ontario Reports Fewest Deaths

BELL LETS TALK DAY

• Bell Lets Talk
• Bublé is in on BLTK (Bell Lets Talk Day)
That’s the most important stuff I found today!
——————

What’s to Come?

• New Event Tomorrow - 5pm EST
• Weekend!!
—————

Summary of the day

Quick Read
Best Forward of the Day - PT - is ELLLIIAAASS PETEERSSONN OVR 89 with the syn GLAAADDIIATOORR and PASSSINN PLAYYMAKERRR
Best Defence of the Day - PT - is JOORRDIIEE BEENNNNN OVR *81 with the syn SHUUTT DOWNN and PASSSINN PLAYYMAKERRR
• Squad Battles Rewards!!
• New Season of HUT RUSH!
———— —— ———

Important Notice

Today is Bell Let’s Talk Day. Today is a day where Mental Health is in full action and everyone talks about it. You can help Bell Lets Talk Day gain money for Mental Health by; tweeeting #BellLetsTalk , Snapping friends with the Bell Lets Talk Day filter, sharing / liking / commenting their post on Facebook...and many other ways, as well as the obvious - simply donating.
Mental Health is HUGE especially with everything going on in the world.
Please know you are loved, cared for, and that your someones reason to smile, and wake up. You are a blessing to this world, put here for a reason. You are so strong, capable of anything you put your mind to. I know I am just some stranger on the Internet that does these “Daily Posts” but I am here for anyone in need of just talking about their problems, venting away, or just someone to talk to.
Bell Let’s Talk Day is one of my favourite / least favourite days because I personally love talking about Mental Health.... but I personally believe that it should be a week, or a month.. or just seriously for more people to talk about it on a daily basis.
Let’s end this stigma around Mental Health.
You can make a huge difference to someone’s life. Simply just be nice to one another, smile, and just say “I appreciate you” or some nice positive thing like that.
You recieve what you give away... karma goes a long, long ways.
I hope your 2021 and years to come are full of love, happiness, kindness, laughs, blessings, and success.
You deserve what you give to people. So if you give hate —- I’m sorry, but you’ll recieve that..
Love you all, I’m very appreciated of everyone who likes these posts, and strives me to keep posting. Its so much fun!!
My PM / Chat is open to anyone !! Don’t be afraid . We’re all in this together!!!
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Interested in Stocks?

EA’s Stock Price, after hours - Jan 28
$ 143.01 (usd) —- Currency Converter
we looked at the stock at $137.54 usd
—— That is a difference of ( $5.47 / 3.98% ) —
Disclaimer - I am not a financial advisor. It is your money, please do your own due diligence. I am not responsible for your money. This is *not** advice. I added this section for an added educational purposes only. YOUR CAPITAL IS AT RISK. Happy Investing.*
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NEED A SOUNDTRACK TO LISTEN TO?

• I made this for everyone. I’ll update it whenever I feel like it, but its been often!

TONS OF PEOPLE SEEM TO LOVE THE PLAYLIST!! How are you not listening to it already!?
Comment songs to add, and please give feedback! It’s much appreciated!!
I currently have “Skin” by “Sabrina Carpenter” stuck in my head.... which you can play, recently added to the playlist!
Sidenote - How do you guys like the playlist!? I have a friend who makes music...and I really want to surprise him with some new people listening to his music... if you wanna help me, please click Here!! it would mean a lot to me!!
———-

Sites To Bookmark!

If you click here you will be redirected to bilasport. Bilasport is the best Online Streaming site for your entertainment needs for all sports! (Not affiliated)
A great streaming source recommended by NHLStreams is SurgeSport. Click on Hockey and you’ll be good to go!
Want to make your dream team, and show others what you’ve been working on, and much more? I will redirect you HERE!.
Here’s a helpful pack guide for you! Click!
Want to know how the market is holding up? With a simple TAP! you will be on the newly fresh made website for the HUT market, made by one of the guys on the sub!
.... what do the stats on a card mean? Is my card I want / pulled good? Click here to find out!!
When is my favourite team playing? When do they play!? Here you can click on this link, and tap on your favourite team. From there, tap “Schedule” . You can add this to your homescreen on iPhone by clicking the square with the upwards arrow, scrolling down, and tapping “Add to Home Screen”
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Fighting a Gambling Addiction?

Don’t feel scared to click here. Winning is SO much louder than losing. Know that you are NEVER alone. We are all here for eachother, and it is never too late to get help. I am here for you.
This is a VERY important thread, especially if you are new to HUT. Here!

Story Time!!!

“Happiness” - By Anonymous Person
Then I stopped to think, if helping a little kitten could make me smile, maybe doing something for people could make me happy.
So the next day I baked some biscuits and took them to a neighbour who was sick in bed.
Every day I try and do something nice for someone. It made me so happy to see them happy.
Today, I don’t know of anybody who sleeps and eats better than I do. I’ve found happiness by giving it to others.
When she heard that, the rich lady cried. She had everything money could buy, but she had lost the things money cannot buy.
The beauty of life does not depend on how happy you are; but on how happy others can be because of you.
Happiness is not a destination, its a journey. Happiness is not tomorrow, it is now. Happiness is not dependancy, it is a decision. Happiness is what you are, not what you have!
P.S. - Hope you have a happy fun filled day
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28 / 365
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Thanks for reading.
I’m always welcome to feedback, please let me know what I can improve on.
If there’s anything missing, please let me know!
Take care, happy gaming! TODAY IS BELL LETS TALK DAY!!
• Coolin Killin It
(Life is like a puzzle, you just have to find the right piece.)

NYC Frugal Tips

Manhattan NYC is very expensive. Although I make a fairly substantially large income from varying businesses, I am still VERY very frugal. It is a game to me. I can't help it, I enjoy it. Here's what I do, you are welcome to take my tips or even give me suggestions. I'm not counting in any business expenses.
​
RENT- This one I cannot avoid. I was "convinced and hoodwinked" by my previous girlfriend into getting a really nice apartment, only to break up a few months later and be stuck with this fat ass rent. I refuse to move out because I love this place so much. Solution? I eventually got a new girlfriend, we split the rent and a lot of the home expenses.
Coffee - Although I love coffee so much, I really just need the caffeine content. I'll either buy my own coffee grounds from amazon, or I'll take a caffeine/theanine capsule occasionally. If I really need the energy and productivity I'll take 100mg (a half) of Modafinil prescribed by my doctor for free. OCCASIONALLY, I'll get a $1 iced coffee from taco bell, they're the only ones that seem to have it this cheap haha. You wont EVER catch me at starbucks or Dunkin, F that what am I rich! haha. My bank Capital one usually has a coffee shop inside, where if you use your capital one debit card you get 50% off. I'll usually flash them my capital one debit for the 50% off, but use my chase sapphire reserve for the 3x points on it, double win.
Clothes - I love clothes as a guy. However I cannot get myself to spend on clothes because I already have clothes. They need to be really torn and tattered or holy for me to replace them. I'm embarrassed to say this, but I'll find great clothes of brands I like on ebay or poshmark, second hand. RARELY will I buy new or in person. I HATE paying retail for anything. My parents always insist on gifting me something for bday or xmas, I'll always suggest shoes and underwear. The other day I walked by a Levis store, my GF makes fun of me for always having a hole in the crotches of my pants, I don't know why but this happens to all my pants; anyway checked out some sales, they had 70% off PLUS an extra 20% off for signing up to their rewards card. Too good of a deal at 90% off, I bought some new good quality jeans and pants thatll last me for years.
Alcohol - I've been abstaining from alcohol here and there. Dry January has been extremely productive to me that it makes me never want to go back. I truly don't really miss it. Living in Manhattan, I live near hoboken NJ where there's a beer distributor. Once a month, Id buy a few 30 packs just to keep stocked at home at cheap prices. When I used to throw "parties", I used to buy cheap liquor and pour them into expensive bottles. I began doing this when I realized so many ungrateful people would come to my place, and drink my stuff dry. Well now ya get the cheap stuff ya freeloaders.
Going Out - Prepandemic. I LOVED going out. In manhattan, you have the best of the best in terms of bars clubs and restaurants. Expensive though. Solution? Be friends with bartenders and club promoters and club owners and managers. Pre-covid, Id hang out at this bar called Hidden Lane. My best friend was the head bartender, and my friends worked there as well. Id drink for free all night and so would whoever my date was, Id just tip the staff. Then, I'd go out to one of the clubs with my promoter friends. For those that don't understand this "promoter" term: Nightlife Clubs will literally pay a fat salary to these promoters to bring out beautiful girls and keep them at the "table" and the club would provide free bottles of vodka, tequila, beers, champagne, and even food sometimes. My promoter buddies would text me "hey man come out and help me tonight, so many girls at my table I can't entertain alone". As a single guy, this would be a no brainer, drink for free all night w/ my friends AND get to be around beautiful single women. Being in the city, Id citibike (bike share) to the club or bar, and uber or lyft back.
Food - I don't believe in going cheap when it comes to groceries because the food you eat is your HEALTH. With that said, Trader Joes is insanely cheap. There are only a few things I'll buy organic and buy lean meats, but everything else is for the most part cheap. I'll spend $50 a week, $100 a week for the 2 of us.
CAR - The beauty of living SMACK dab in the middle of Manhattan is not needing a car. I wont even take the subway. I literally citibike everywhere, my annual $160 a year membership is free because I participate in a program called Bike Angels, by inadvertently rebalancing bike stations, Id earn perks rewards and free membership. At the start of the pandemic, I bought myself a 15 year old little mini cooper so I can go on road trips and trips to the beach since things were closed. I paid $2200 for the car, another $1700 on maintenance and preventative maintenance, and $30 a month on insurance, and very little on gas since it's a 4-banger, I hardly use it, but Its there when I need a car as we love to escape the city.
Weed - I like to be very productive and weed doesn't allow that for me. However I occasionally hit my bowl or weed pen, just once or twice before a movie on a friday night. A gram will last me literally MONTHS.
Credit cards- My favorite topic! Credit cards can be a double edged sword. Use them wrecklessly and the 16-24% interest will murder you. Use them correctly, and they are your best friends.
I use the chase 'trifecta'-
Chase biz ink preferred for wifi bills, cell phone bill, shipping, social media ads and get back 3x points per $1.
Chase Sapphire Reserve (the main card)- for 3x on food , dining, transportation, drinks, parking, tolls, etc. I also get 10x on lyft, 15% off lyft, $60 a year on doordash, airport lounge access, and a bunch of other features, $300 travel credit a year, etc . It's a $450 a year card, but after crunching numbers not only does it come out to free, but the benefits greatly outweigh the costs.
Chase Freedom unlimited- on everything else not mentioned above at 1.5x per $1.
Chase Biz ink unlimited - on everything else business related.
Chase allows me to combine all these points together and if I use them through Sapphire Reserve's portal, they are worth 50% more! If you are even slicker you can transfer them to airline transfer partners and find even cheaper flights and better deals. This has allowed me to never have paid for a flight for me or my girlfriend in years, in probably like 6-7 years.
VERY IMPORTANT- I keep it on autopay, ALWAYS pay your balances off in full. NEVER ever pay interest. i always say id rather lose a finger than ever pay interest. I have autopay on a safety measure, I actually pay the balances off once a week usually on fridays and mondays , so I can watch my weekend damage, but also to keep my balance always at zero to keep any balance from being reported to credit bureau's. This keeps my credit score at 800+ which in turn allows me to get very cheap lending for business purposes.
​
TAXES - Another important topic. Without going into too much detail. I'm able to create LLCs and SCorps for my businesses and holdings, allowing myself to pretty much expense a good portion of my expenses. I even file as a loss in some cases for some businesses, according to my accountant's strategy. When I "trade up" properties , I avoid paying Capital Gains taxes by deffering into the new investment property , I also max out my IRA for a free tax savings. Taxes are a place where people spend the majority of their income. I have friends that make 300k a year, but really they make 150k a year due to their restrictions to play with tax loopholes as wage earners. Taxes suck.
​
Buy ONLY TO REPLACE- This is a little out of place after taxes but I am human and prone to sin and purchases, but I've taught myself to buy things ONLY to replace the current one I have. I want the new iphone (biz expense), ONLY if I trade in my current one. I want the new mac mini m1, again only if I sell my current one on ebay or marketplace, I want the new v11 vacuum but only if i sell my current v8, etc you get the point. This way the trade in value of the "older model item" goes towards paying of the new model item. I also get to live very minimal and own only what I need and no clutter.
Monthly Streaming Apps- Netflix is now $18 a month! F that, we use my girlfriends fathers account. HBOMax and Hulu I group share buy and pay $3 a month. Amazon Prime is the only one I buy annually at retail, I actually do use prime shopping and video though. Youtube is my most prized app. I learn so much from youtube that I need and deserve the ad-free premium. I refuse to pay $15 a month for youtube, so I'll use my sisters college email for a college discount of 50% off. I don't ever listen to music, but we use my girlfriends spotify app on all our echo devices.
Unrelated tip- your internet provider charges you for renting you your routemodem. It's usually $15-20 a month! Buy a compatible used routemodem on ebay for like $20, BAM $240 annual savings.
LIQUIDS- by this I mean shampoo, conditioner ,hand soap, body wash, dish soap, all purpose cleaner, windex, etc. I buy all these by the gallon on amazon. If you do the math it comes out to pennies per FL OZ. I keep them in nice dispensers instead of buying and replacing one time use store bought dispensers. Same for TP and paper towels. I buy in bulk- I try to get TP down to 33 cents a roll, and PT down to 82 cents a roll.
​
It's possible to live frugally and still enjoy life. I think one of the most important things is what you do with your free time. You can either sit around and waste time playing video games or whatever your vice is or you can teach yourself new skills constantly that can be useful and worth money in the real world. Money left over from savings goes into stock portfolio, ROTH IRA, index funds, investment properties, or reinvest in my businesses. Skills pay the Bills!

Brevity is not my strong suit. No one is going to read this whole thing, but as long as one person reads at least one section of this, I'll be happy. Feel free to skip ahead to a section you specifically want to read a comparison about, if you don't want to read the whole thing. I recommend the Performance and Gaming sections.
Firstly, here is a Dropbox folder of photos, screenshots, gameplay footage, (no camera videos yet) for the things I will be referring to.
Secondly, I am no phone reviewer. I buy phones once every 3-4 years, until this time where I jumped the gun to switch to a Pixel, so I have only used 5 phones in my life (mostly midrange) and don't have too much to compare to.
Thirdly, this is long enough to have an outline, so feel free to jump to read something that interests you if you don't want to read the whole thing:

1. Introduction
2. Dimensions
3. Haptics
4. Display
5. Fingerprint sensor
6. Speakers
7. Microphone
8. Battery
9. General software and features
10. Default Launcher
11. Always On Display
12. Performance
13. Gaming
14. Camera
15. Dual Screen
16. Conclusion
17. tl;dr

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Introduction

Hi /GooglePixel I picked up a LG G8X as about 4 months ago when my Moto Z Play died on me, and the LG G8X seemed to have everything I wanted in a phone at the great price of $500 CAD (at the time – the phone’s even cheaper now!). Snapdragon 855, 4000 mAh battery with positive battery reviews, AMOLED display, wide angle camera, 128gb storage + expandable, headphone jack, front-facing fingerprint scanner (in this case, in-screen). I also could have bought a separate dual screen if I wanted.
Unfortunately, after having used it for 4 months, I started feeling wary of the phone. I wasn’t sure if I was imagining it or not, but I felt the performance felt faster than the MZP definitely, but not… remarkably faster than this 4 year old midrange phone with a Snapdragon 625? The phone was heavier than I’d like and was actually straining my wrist with prolonged usage (weak wrists I guess), the standby time at my home was draining about 2%/hour, recently opened apps and websites seemed to require refreshes frequently, and most frustratingly of all, the “previous app” gesture was completely busted to the point I just use the Recent Apps page to go to my previously used apps.
For Boxing Week in Canada, lots of carriers had the Pixel 4a 5G for $260. This is the phone I would have bought if it had been out when my MZP died, so I decided to pick it up. If I didn’t like it, I’d have 15 days to return it. If I did like it more than the LG G8X, I’d try to sell my LG G8X. My fears were that the Pixel would have worse performance with its midrange SD765 (especially compared to the LG G8X's SD 855, 2019's fastest Android processor), possibly worse battery, I’d miss the expandable storage, and most importantly… that I wouldn’t be able to sell the LG G8X at a reasonable price to recoup the costs.
So here is an ludicrously in-depth, very long-winded comparison between the two phones, based on my personal experiences with them. Keep in mind the LG G8X is a 4 month old phone so in some ways may have deteriorated in terms of performance and battery. I guess you could say it’s a bit unfair to compare a brand new days-old phone with a 4 month old phone, but I guess it could also be said that it’s a bit unfair to compare a SD 855 phone with a SD 765 phone. That being said, I haven’t noticed an appreciable decline in performance or battery on the LG.
So, which came out on top? (Spoiler: surprisingly, despite its “worse specs” on paper, the Pixel won out in nearly every regard, completely creamed the LG in memory management, is basically the same in terms of app and website opening speeds, even games better.)
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Dimensions

Perhaps a dumb reason, but one of the main reasons I was thinking of switching away from the LG G8X is the weight. I didn’t realize how much of a difference 27g would make, but my wrist gets tired using the LG G8X after a while, whereas my wrist does not with the Pixel nearly as much. In terms of the length and width, though the LG is bigger, it doesn’t feel much bigger to use (outside of the weight).
Some people like huge phones, and good for them! For me, the Pixel’s lighter profile wins out by far.
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Hardware

Power buttons for both phones are on the right side. Pixel has volume also on the right, which makes taking screenshots a pain. LG has the volume buttons on the left, much more convenient for screenshots. LG also has a useful Google Assistant physical button on the right below the volume buttons, which is not remappable. Pixel has a matte plastic back with a camera bump, the LG G8X has a glass back that is completely flush with the camera. In theory this sounds nice for the LG G8X, but I suspect the glass contributes to the weight of the phone. This is an incredibly slippery phone! The weight of the charging cord is often enough to pull this slippery guy off a tabletop. Can be solved with a case.
LG wins here. The glass feels more premium, and the buttons are a lot nicer. The flush nature of the device is really nice.
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Haptics

Not something I care too much about honestly. I had read some review somewhere saying the LG haptics were bad, but I didn’t mind it at all at the time. Similar to the MZP. Now that I have the Pixel though, I think I see what they mean. The LG feels …tinnier? than the Pixel. The first time I received a notification on the Pixel I almost jumped out of my seat at how full and robust the vibration was.
Pixel wins here, I think. Maybe. But I don’t really care much for haptics so it’s a non-issue for me.
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Display

LG G8X has a slightly bigger screen at 6.4” vs 6.2”. In practice I can’t really tell the difference. In terms of image quality, I am no expert at distinguishing this. Pixel appears a bit brighter than the LG G8X at max brightness. Pixel appears a bit darker than the LG G8X at minimum brightness. Honestly not a huge difference either way. At low brightness, the LG has a bit of a “black smear” effect that I notice while scrolling that isn’t as evident on the Pixel. Colours, I don’t know. Reds and whites look more natural on the Pixel otherwise hard for me to tell much of a difference. However, LG gives you a lot of flexibility in playing around with the colours of the display and stuff and I’m sure you could get it to look the way you want. The Pixel only offers 3 colour options. Finally, the status bar on the Pixel is HUGE and feels like they could’ve saved a lot of space if they cut it down. Thus for many apps the LG G8X feels significantly more spacious because of the status bar – the Pixel’s status bar is, from what I can visually estimate, literally twice as tall as the LG’s. Auto brightness: LG G8X is way better. Smooth gradation, whereas Pixel is abrupt.
Overall I think the Pixel is maybe a tad nicer on default settings, but I’ll give it to LG G8X for the flexibility with adjusting the screen colours however you want, as well as the extra real estate afforded by the much smaller status bar (and of course bigger screen).
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Fingerprint sensor

LG G8X fingerprint is frustratingly inaccurate. I am only successfully like 60-70% of the time with my thumbs. Sometimes it’s fantastic, other times I cannot get it to work 5 times in a row and I need to enter the passcode manually. I can’t seem to recreate the conditions where it doesn’t work. That being said, I really like having front-facing fingerprint scanners: my phone is often sitting on my desk, and it’s really nice to be able to check things on my phone without having to lift up the phone or entering a passcode. Also, when my phone is on my desk, I unlock my phone with my index finger which is a lot more accurate than when I use my thumb, I guess because the index finger has such a smaller surface area. Thus that frustration with inaccuracy isn’t as big of an issue when my phone is on my desk, but it’s still generally much slower than a regular fingerprint reader.
The Pixel fingerprint reader on the other hand works ridiculously well (maybe because of the index finger thing? Though my old thumb Moto Z Play was also a lot quicker and more reliable than the LG G8X), and is much quicker in recognizing the fingerprint. There is also a “Swipe down on fingerprint reader” gesture to bring down notification panel. I constantly get false positives when I accidentally rest my finger on the sensor, so I’ve turned it off. The fingerprint reader is incredibly shallow to the point where I sometimes don’t know where it is because it’s hard to feel. As a result, sometimes I need to search for it a bit, and other times I accidentally turn it on without even noticing that I activated the fingerprint sensor. Both problems could be solved with a case (which I don’t have yet)
Overall it’s a tossup for me. I like the reliability and speed of the Pixel’s, but I like the front-facing sensor on the LG for when I have the phone laying on my desk (which is a lot of the time).
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Speakers

I can’t tell. They both sound different. The max volumes are very similar in volume. The Pixel has a much quieter, almost imperceptible min volume. The Pixel 4a 5G sounds more… spacious? Maybe echoey. The LG G8X’s speakers sound more… precise? There is an obvious difference in the two sounds, which sounds “better” might be an obvious difference to others but I can’t tell. I have to assume that the LG G8X’s headphone jack audio is much better than the Pixels with the HI-Fi Quad DAC thing, but I don’t have any high end headphones so I can’t test it really. The LG G8X has some fancy “DTS:X 3D Surround” effects, which all sound terrible always, so I never leave them on. LG G8X has an equalizer, Pixel does not. Audio for both come out of the bottom right “speaker grille” and the earpiece speaker grille. For both phone the bottom speaker is louder than the earpiece, but the Pixel’s speakers are closer in volume than the LG G8X’s: block the bottom speaker, and the audio is greatly diminished.
I think the LG wins this one with the audio options and flexibility? There’s probably something fundamentally different between the speakers on the two phones but I really I can’t tell which I prefer. People had a lot of complaints about the Pixel 5 speakers, I have no clue if the 4a 5G have the same problems.
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Microphone

Take a listen for yourself. I read a very relevant CBC report with both phones about 15 cm away from my face. I also recorded my laptop playing some music, about 30cm away from the phones. I think the Pixel maybe takes in more sound, but as a result also has more background noise than the LG. On the contrary the LG sounds tinnier to me.
Overall I still think I like the Pixel better, but again take a listen yourself!
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Battery

The Pixel has a 3800 mAh battery, the LG has a 4000 mAh battery. That being said, there are obviously many other factors contributing to battery life (processor, cell signal, etc). If I just use both phones nonstop, they both have great SOT. Both get about 8-9 hours for me of SOT uninterrupted. It’s the standby time that the Pixel excels at though. Overnight drain is <1%/h on the Pixel whereas it’s about 1.5% on my LG. Standby drain while out and about is about 1%/h on the Pixel whereas it’s about 2%/h on the LG. It’s unfortunately the standby drain that turns the LG G8X from a true 2 day phone to a not-quite-fully-2 day phone. (Also keep in mind cell signal plays a big role in battery drain – the signal in my area isn’t super great. I’m sure the drain for others isn’t as bad as the 2%/h I’m experiencing, but you might live in an area with better reception!)
Both phones have great battery life. I will give this one to the 4a 5G for the great standby time. I’ve included screenshots of my (very phone heavy) holiday break battery life, as per Accubattery. I may continue to add Pixel battery life screenshots as the days go by.
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General software and special features

Mostly just going to list features here, bear with me. Pixel has the huge advantage of having day 1 Android updates for 3 years. LG G8X has maybe 1 update left in it, if at all? Both phones have double tap to wake. LG has double tap the status bar to sleep, which is very nice. Pixel has call screening with the phone, Now Playing song recognition. Notifications are basically identical. LG G8X technically has a 1 handed/Reachability mode, but it has worked a grand total of 2 times for me despite trying it countless times. Would have been nice. The Pixel’s “Recent apps” screen has a Screenshot button and a Select (text) option. I don’t find the screenshot button very useful at all as I can just take a screenshot with the (admittedly uncomfortable) Power button + Volume Down combo. Select text I have not used yet but I could see being useful. The LG has an, in my opinion, much more useful set of frequently used icons on the bottom. Not customizable, but pretty true to what I use frequently. I use the feature very often. In addition to split screen apps, LG also gives you the option for a “pop up window”, Windows style, that you can drag around the screen, which could be useful for multitasking I guess but I’m still not sure in what use cases you’d have multiple windows-style windows open (they don’t work on the dual screen).
LG apps
LG has a bunch of bloatware that I never use and I disabled right away. I haven’t tested out the Whale browser at all. LG has its own LG Health app which I did not check out. It has an FM Radio which could be useful. There is a screenshot tool/app which could be useful, but I just use the regular screenshot shortcut. (Speaking about screenshots: Android 11 brought with it screenshots that are instantly taken as soon as you press Power + volume down, which is fantastic on the Pixel. On the LG, you still have to hold the buttons for a second or two. That being said, it is very annoying taking screenshots on the Pixel due to the volume and power buttons being on the same side. Android 11 also removed the ability to take a screenshot by holding the power button, which could have been great.) LG also has a pretty robust “HD Audio Recorder” app with lots of flexibility, but doesn’t do the transcribing that the Google audio recorder does (Which you can download though to the LG via apk). LG G8X has 2 apps you can assign to each bottom corner of the lock screen, which is where I put my GCam. Both phones have double tap power button to turn on camera shortcuts. LG also has a “Context Awareness” feature, which lets you adjust your sound profile, Bluetooth, wifi settings automatically based on your location. Also lets you find your parking spot. Neat in theory, but I didn’t use it much for concerns about battery drain (did not test to see if it really drained much). LG has a “Floating bar” you can turn on, which is a little tab which gives you shortcuts to apps that you can set, audio controls, screen capture, quick contacts. I could see this being really useful! I didn’t realize til just now writing this that we could set our own apps though, so I haven’t tested it to see if I’d actually use it. Finally, the G8X has a desktop mode, which I unfortunately don’t have access to. I can imagine this being useful in certain situations.
LG's previous app gesture
One big complaint that I have a big reason I was tempted to ditch the LG. The “previous app” gesture is completely busted on the LG. I won’t talk about it much here as I’ve already documented it elsewhere. In short, it’s completely unreliable and only works the way you’d expect it to work like 30% of the time. It is infuriating and makes me want to chuck out the windows at times. I’ve stopped using the gesture entirely and just open the Recent Tabs instead, which over time adds up a decent amount of time. The Pixel has no such problem. Generally the LG is also buggier than the Pixel, with jankier animations, turning off out of nowhere, sometimes getting stuck on the Recent Apps screen, completely going unresponsive at times – the latter three problems being quite rare, but they’ve happened.
Pixel power menus
Emergency info, power off, restart, Google Pay, Google Home devices. No longer has screenshot. LG power menu: Power off, power off and restart. Pixel definitely wins here.
Volume menus
Pixel has media volume slider, notifications toggle, Live Transcribe, and a shortcut to an audio settings overlay. LG has a context-sensitive volume slider (media volume slider when there’s audio playing, call volume during a call, notification volume otherwise), and a drop-down menu for individually controlling the different types of volumes. If you don’t want a context-sensitive slider, you can also set it to by default open just the one type. Pixel wins here for me: though the context sensitive slider can be useful, Live Transcribe is a pretty neat feature. Pixel also lets me control both notifications (Toggle) and media volume slider within one tap, whereas the LG only lets me change (in one tap) whichever context sensitive option is available at the time, otherwise I’d have to open the menu.
Overall, LG has a lot of features crammed in, but I rarely if ever use any of them. They are functionally bloatware for me. LG does have some genuinely useful software quirks like double tap status bar to sleep, the Floating Bar (I guess), and the lock screen shortcuts, but I have never been so aggravated with a phone before in my life with the previous app gesture and other bugs that I have to give Google the win here. (Also, reliable frequent software updates, less bloatware, and other useful features like Call Screening, Live Transcribe, Now Playing). The caveat is I haven’t used the Pixel long enough to see the bugs present in the Pixel.
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Default launchers

Google uses the Pixel Launcher. Very minimal flexibility, but it is pretty slick to use with great animations. Google search bar on the bottom, At A Glance (temperature, date, calendar events) at the top, Google feed to the left. You can’t adjust icon packs or grid size. App drawer showing frequently used apps at the top, and the rest of the apps in alphabetical order in a scrolling pile/list. LG has their own launcher with more flexibility (screen swipe effect, icon shape, grid size, option for left swipe to be Google feed or LG’s whatever feed). Unfortunately LG’s app drawer is truly horrendous, a horizontally moving multipaged mess that doesn’t automatically sort (if you add an app, you need to manually sort alphabetically to get them all alphabetical again). I never know which page I am on (there is an indicator at the bottom, but still) and thus it takes me far longer than it should to find an app I’m looking for. Just give me a scrolly bar!
Either way, both launchers aren’t great (except for animations -they’re both slick) and you should really use some 3rd party launcher instead. I use Microsoft Launcher personally, which has some janky animations but lots of great functionality. Nova of course is another popular option with even more customization.
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Always On Display

Pixel Always On Display displays 5 notification icons, time, date, weather, battery. No customization. LG G8X lets you customize the home screen quite a bit (you can add your own images, change aspects of the format, displays time, date, battery but only displays 3 notification icons. Has quick icons you can swipe to access to eg. turn on flashlight, change songs, etc. The Pixel’s is dimmer than the LG’s, which I think I prefer. The LG’s is very bright at night when I’m trying to sleep. Finally, picking up the Pixel will wake it up and bring it to the lock screen. Picking up the LG does nothing.
Kind of a toss up. At first I was leaning toward the LG for its flexibility, but the Pixel’s 5 notification icons are frankly more useful to me. I also like the dimmer AOD of the Pixel. If you’ve got the Dual Screen, you’re almost never even going to see the AOD on the LG.
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Performance

Okay, so I realize that “opening apps and web pages in quick succession” is not something anyone ever does in real life. That being said, I think there is a little bit of merit to it.
Another reason I was thinking of switching away from the LG G8X was that this supposedly high end Snapdragon 855 didn’t feel nearly as quick or snappy as I thought it would. A definite improvement from my Moto Z Play, but also not quite the blazing fast speed I was expecting? So I did a ridiculously unscientific speed test between the two. Keep in mind the following caveats:
- MY LG G8X is 4 months old
- LG G8X has 111gb used of 128gb, Pixel has 75.14gb used of 128gb.
- Apps are close to parity but not quite
- I love reading about tech, but have not myself owned too many products. I am not a professional reviewer by any means, and have never really owned any high end phones (I had an iPhone 4 when it came out, the next “highest end” phone I’ve owned would be this LG G8X). So eg. with displays, I’m not the best at judging.
- I only got the dual screen a day before I got the Pixel, so most of my LG G8X impressions are from Dual Screen use. I’ve also used the Dual Screen for a bit since getting it, so I do have thoughts in its own section.
- I did comparisons in two different scenarios: 1st scenario, both phones were restarted, full battery. 2nd run, both phones had been on and used over a period of about 48 hours without turning them off. LG G8X was at 70% and Pixel was at 100%. Pixel was used generally much more than the LG phone was all day. The reason for doing it both after a fresh restart and after a few days on is that I had noticed that my LG seemed to perform worse after several days, and seemed to be better after a fresh restart.
1st run
With both phones freshly restarted and at the same battery percentage, geeeeeeeeeeeeeenerally the LG G8X was faster at opening apps than the Pixel. But honestly not as frequently as I was expecting. The LG G8X was generally able to open more intensive apps a bit faster than the Pixel. I’ve attached the “stats” here. In short, the LG was able to open 12 apps less than half a second faster than the Pixel, whereas the Pixel was able to open 9 apps less than half a second faster than the LG. The LG was able to open 8 apps more than half a second faster than the Pixel, and the Pixel was able to open 6 apps more than half a second faster than the LG. The phones opened 7 websites equally quickly. In terms of websites, the LG was able to open 23 websites faster than the Pixel, and the Pixel was able to open 9 websites slightly faster than the LG. They opened 3 websites at the same speed.
The most egregious thing here was the Pixel completely smoked the LG in terms of keeping app and websites in memory. It wasn’t even remotely close. Even before I got the Pixel I had noticed my LG seemed to be dropping apps quickly, but it wasn’t clear how quick it was until I directly compared these two phones. On my first run, after loading tons of Chrome tabs, both phones had to reload 80 days (the most recent app). After that, the LG continued to consistently reload apps, whereas the Pixel was able to load at least 7 apps without having to reload before I stopped testing.
2nd run
At this point I had both phones on for about 48 hours and had used my Pixel for about 3 hours that day (then charged to 100%) and then used my LG for about 2 hours right before testing it (battery about 70% when I started testing). I cleared all the apps from memory. I have no clue if the battery difference contributed or what, but the results completely flipped around, and quite dramatically. The Pixel was able to open apps slightly faster by <0.5s than the LG with 38 apps. The LG was slightly faster by >0.5s than the Pixel with 10 apps. The Pixel was noticeably >0.5s faster than the LG with 8 apps, and the LG was noticeably faster >0.5s than the Pixel with 6 apps. They were equally fast at opening 17 apps.
Really striking results. I rarely turn off my phone, which is maybe why I’ve been feeling my LG gets sluggish pretty easily? Clear something about keeping the LG on for periods of time causes… stuff… to build up, and the Pixel completely smoked the LG in terms of app opening on the second run. That being said, the <0.5s speed advantages really are quite miniscule, could very much be due to margin of error from my tapping, and of course there are always a million variables impacting how quickly an app opens up. But still, the Pixel is no slouch with its SD 765.
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Gaming

I also ran the Dolphin emulator on The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. Both phones performed equally well, hitting 29-30 fps for Wind Waker and 59-60fps for Fire Emblem consistently. Genshin Impact ran a bit smoother on the LG than the LG (and the default setting for LG was “Medium” graphics, while for the Pixel was “Low”.) Both phones had lots of frame drops. I’ve included some screen recordings of Genshin Impact, both ran at medium settings, as well as the Dolphin games at default settings, using each respective phone’s default screen recorders. I’m not sure why the LG recording is such miserable quality (and muted), they both visually looked the same while actually playing the game. Similarly, I have no clue why the Pixel recording made the voices all echoey, they sound fine normally. Similarly, with the Dolphin emulator, normally Wind Waker is able to hold 29-30 pretty well, I suspect also running the screen recorder simultaneously caused it to drop frames. I repeated the Dolphin emulation after resetting the phone, and I still got frame rate drops. But uh, yeah, the Pixel also held its framerate better with the screen recorder than the LG did (normally they’re both good at holding the framerate).
Using Dolphin to emulate Xenoblade was a completely different story. Through the opening sequence, both phones (and my laptop) hiccupped at the same places. That being said, outside of those hiccup spots in cutscenes (and one area with a larger concentration of enemies), the Pixel 4a 5G was mostly able to maintain 30fps. Exploring Colony 9 was a smooth 30fps throughout the city. The LG G8X hiccupped in those cutscenes, but in other places where the Pixel was 30fps, the LG G8X was chugging along at 15-25fps. Most notably this occurred while exploring Colony 9. I have no clue what’s going on here, I didn’t actually expect the Pixel to perform so well here, or the LG G8X to perform so poorly. I tried walking around Colony 9 again when my phone cooled down a bit and it performed better, but quickly tanked back down to ~20fps within 15 seconds. I suspect LG throttles its phone pretty hard?
Overall, shockingly, I have to give the Pixel the win here. It’s no comparison. You can check out the gameplay vids yourself. I don’t know if I have a lemon of an LG G8X or what. If anyone else is able to emulate Xenoblade on their LG G8X, let me know how it performs for you. Is my phone a lemon? Or did LG just optimize their phone extremely poorly? (ALSO Apologies for the terrible resolution for the LG recorder, I didn’t realize you could change the resolution to full HD til my rerecording after the phone had cooled down).
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Camera

I thought the LG’s camera was fantastic coming from the Moto Z Play. Then I got the Pixel! GCam does help, but unfortunately you can’t set it to the double-tap-power button shortcut. The LG camera app does have some merits (lots of flexibility in image settings if you have the time to tweak settings to take a photo), but for a quick point and shoot it just doesn’t compare to the Pixel a lot of the time. That being said, I feel the LG actually sometimes takes more accurate photos? If I take a photo of something drab and dull, the LG captures it pretty accurately, whereas the Pixel takes a far nicer looking photo but doesn’t look like the drab reality. The Pixel though also takes much nicer, realistic photos of nice vibrant things, whereas the LG’s photos look more washed out. For day shots, or shots facing light, the… dynamic range? Is that what it’s called? For the Pixel is far better than the Pixel. The LG will blow out eg. the details in clouds (ie. Clouds will just appear white and uniform), while the Pixel will preserve the detail and colour of the clouds. For night shots, the LG actually takes better non-Night mode night shots than the Pixel. But the Pixel’s Night Mode absolutely smokes LG’s Night Mode, no questions asked. LG with GCam’s Night Sight helps a lot though. The LG’s selfie camera focuses off into the distance instead of your face so is functionally useless. Finally, I don’t take videos so won’t really comment on it. LG’s wide camera is a lot wider than the Pixel’s, which is a plus for LG.
Overall, the Pixel has a better camera but the LG isn’t too shabby, and sometimes takes nicer shots than the Pixel. Non-Night mode shots are actually better on the LG, but usually Pixel’s night mode turns out better looking. I’ll let the photos do the talking, where I have comparison shots between the LG (with the LG cam as well as the GCam), vs. the Pixel. I’m a lot more interested in shots with challenging lighting, thus the weird dark shots. Unfortunately the weather isn’t great here so no nice outdoor shots. Also unfortunately I have now noticed that a lot of them are blurrier than I’d like – I am too lazy to change them now! I may add more photos to the albums later.
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Dual screen

I just picked this up a day before the Pixel came in. I was pretty excited for it because there are definitely times where I want to multitask, or where I’ve got split screen open trying to copy some text from what window to the other but the keyboard pops up and blocks my view.
Unfortunately, the dual screen implementation feels far more half-hearted than that of what I’m hearing about the Surface Duo. The two screens feel more like two separate machines with a tenuous link, than like two parts of the same unit. At the same time, the 2nd screen doesn’t have the same functionality as the main screen: you can’t split screen it, you can’t change the launcher, the home screen is not continuous at all with the main screen’s home screen, and when you throw one screen’s contents over to the other screen, it often feels like a mystery what will occupy the screen whose contents you just threw over to the other screen.
Using one screen as a keyboard for the other screen in theory sounds really neat, but it only works with the LG keyboard, which has an embarrassingly tiny dictionary with terrible autocorrect suggestions. Even when it works with the LG keyboard, when you tap in a text field on the top screen, the phone does this janky animation where the keyboard first shows up on the top screen before jumping down to the bottom screen. If you tap on a text field on the bottom screen, it won’t by default push the bottom screen contents up and open the keyboard on the bottom screen (which could be what some people want, I guess).
Very, very, very few apps make good use of the dual screens, even with the 3rd party Wide Mode app which forces any app into Wide Mode (which just turns apps into Tablet Mode rather than giving unique content to each screen). The LG Whale browser seems to be the best app to make use of the dual screen (you can open links in one screen on the other screen) – that being said, I’d much rather use other browsers. Chrome does a reasonable job, and you can open taps from one screen in the other screen. I can’t find a way to get Youtube to open a video on one screen and me scrolling through comments/searching through other videos on the other screen.
Overall something I really wish they would have incorporated was, say, opening a link in one app and the internet browser automatically opening in the other screen, or at least giving me the option to open in the other screen! Say, a friend sends me a link to a website and then I open the website in the opposite screen automatically and then continue talking to my friend on the first screen. Not a feature that is currently implemented.
The LG Gamepad mode seems like a great idea: the top screen acts as the screen, the bottom screen acts as the gamepad. Supposedly the games will detect it as a native gamepad. Unfortunately, it was not compatible with Stadia, Xbox GamePass Streaming, or Dolphin Emulator. It was compatible with Final Fantasy V and PPSSPP. Games like Genshin Impact, a game without controller support absolutely begging for it, work really well with it as you can also create a custom gamepad with buttons that correspond to tapping areas on the game screen. I was most looking forward to it working with Stadia, Gamepass and the emulators though (I don’t play too many native Android games) so I definitely am pretty bummed.
My biggest complaint though is there just simply is no easy way to type with the dual screen vertical. Though I’d like to make use of the dual screen features sometimes for the occasional time I want to multitask, I sadly discovered the few times I would use the dual screen to its potential does not warrant having the carry this colossal phone around with its incredibly uncomfortable typing position. The obvious solution would be to have a “wide mode” split keyboard, which actually does appear if you Wide Mode an app and then use the keyboard. But from what I can tell, there is no way to “wide mode” a keyboard when you’re using the dual screens as, well, dual screens. On single screen phones I usually type with two hands, whereas I can’t type with one hand on this phone because the keyboard only shows up on one screen, and the other screen is in the way. On this phone, the only way to type is to hold the phone with one hand, and use a finger on the other hand to peck at or swipe the keys.
Overall, I think I like a dual screen in theory, but LG didn’t execute it very well at all. Instead of feeling like an extension of the main screen, it feels like its entirely own entity and doesn’t always flow well with the main screen. The absolute paucity of apps making use of the dual screen to its full potential is unfortunate. The biggest culprit is that typing in dual screen vertical mode (The way I use it most frequently) is extremely uncomfortable. All these drawbacks don’t make keeping the dual screen on worthwhile, as someone who only occasionally requires the dual screen.
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Conclusion

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading! This wound up being nearly 7000 words… wasn’t expecting it to be, like, even a quarter that long. I'll be happy if even one person reads through 50% of this.
I think the Pixel demonstrates that spec sheets really are not everything. Either that, or I got a lemon of an LG G8X (not outside the realm of possibility). With the caveat of the LG having much more fuller storage and being used for 4 more months, despite the LG’s supposedly better chip, performance is objectively pretty similar between the two phones in terms of app opening and opening websites. The Pixel was actually beating out the LG pretty consistently after both phones were used for 48 hours. Both phones run Genshin Impact kind of miserably, and run Gamecube games on Dolphin without a hitch. The Pixel was significantly better than the LG in emulating the Wii. The Pixel consistently destroyed the LG in terms of memory management. The Pixel’s smaller battery capacity of 3800 mAh outlasted the LG’s 4000 mAh battery, even when the LG was brand new. The camera in the Pixel is far better than the LG. The software experience of the Pixel is smoother and less buggy (and certainly less frustrating). The fingerprint sensor is a tossup for me. The audio is maybe better in the LG, but I can’t really tell. Screens are similar. The LG does “feel” more premium, but I do prefer the lightness of the Pixel. The one definitely advantage the LG has over the Pixel is the expandable storage.
Needless to say, I think I am going to keep the Pixel. I didn’t want to leave the LG G8X community behind though without giving a good reason to do so, and I hope this 6000+ word document with accompanying Dropbox folder of photos, screenshots, and screen recordings explain why I did so, and also demonstrate that spec sheets aren’t everything. I’ll probably try to sell the LG G8X + Dual Screen, but taking a look at how long these phones stay on Facebook Marketplace/eBay, I’m not very hopeful I’ll be able to sell it at even a fraction of what I bought it for. Anyway, thanks for reading.
I spent way too much time on this.
Also I haven’t proofread this, so I’m sure there are mistakes abound.
Also I really need to get working on actually important stuff. Thanks for reading!
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Much needed tl;dr (Which is still long):

- Spec sheets are not everything.
- Was getting tired of LG G8X's weight, previous app gesture being busted, standby drain, general glitchiness, slower performance than expected, so I picked up a Pixel 4a 5G.
- Did lots of tests which you can check out in the Dropbox
- I subjectively like Pixel's camera, speakers, microphone, default screen colour balance, software cleanliness better.
- Really surprisingly, my specific days-old Pixel 4a 5G outperforms my 4 month old LG G8X in app opening and website opening (unless I freshly restart both phones). REALLY surprisingly, my Pixel ran circles around the LG in Wii emulation, and was equally competent at Gamecube emulation and Genshin Impact
- I will be keeping the Pixel. I will try to sell the LG G8X but am not hopeful. I will miss LG G8X's expandable storage but not much else.

Section One: Assets and Debt
Retirement Balance: $25,000; I didn’t start contributing until last year. I got out of grad school end of 2017, and once I got my first job I focused on saving up a good emergency fund since I live in such a HCOL city.
Savings account balance: $25,000; $20K emergency fund, $5K for car down payment (I’ll be making this purchase soon)
Checking account balance: $1,300; I try to only keep bill money in there + $500 buffer, payday is in a few days so this is low
HSA balance: $3,600; Since I chose the HSA plan at work, my company fills it up to the deductible every year. This is my money to keep, and this has been racking up after a few years of low medical expenses. It came in handy when I had to have surgery this year, I was able to pay exclusively from this account.
Credit card debt: none, I pay balances off each month
Student loan debt: $20,000; This is all from undergrad tuition: my living expenses were paid by working and some help from my parents, my grad school was paid with fellowships. Payments have been suspended during COVID. My original plan was to pay it off this year, but COVID and everything else has made me rethink that. Instead, I’ve decided to put money toward moving (with rent prices down I was able to move to a much nicer place for only a little more) and putting a hefty down payment on a reasonably priced car. With help of my bonus and tax refund I can definitely clear my debt in 2021, but I’ll wait until we know more about what Biden plans to do about student debt.
​
Section Two: Income
Income Progression:
• During college: $10K-13K a year; this was through various part time jobs in retail + working at a lab at my university later in college. It wasn’t much but it paid for my living expenses. I’m really glad I worked in college, although I wish maybe I had worked a little less so I could have more of a social life. Regardless it set me up to be a lot more independent than most of my peers
• Grad school: $30K a year stipend; Right after college I went straight into grad school to get a PhD in biomedical science. Programs in this field usually cover tuition and provide a stipend since you’re working in the lab of your advisor. Tip for anyone looking at getting a PhD in this field: if a school offers you admission but won’t cover tuition and stipend through research or teaching assistantships, DON’T DO IT. It’s a red flag, plus you’re better off minimizing debt if you want to stay in academia.
• First job in biotech: $97K salary + up to 10% bonus; Once I graduated, I got a job at a biotech company on the peninsula. I didn’t negotiate because I didn’t know that I had any leverage to since I was just coming out of school. Turns out negotiating really isn’t part of the company culture and people really are paid the same market rate for the same work within the company so it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Typically get a 5% cost of living raise every year.
• Promotion early this year: $123K salary + up to 10% bonus; this was something that was expected, my boss and I had been in discussions about my work
• Unexpected raise: $135K salary + up to 10% bonus; Recently got an unexpected pay raise, I suspect this was pre-emptive since I’ve recently picked up extra work that makes me more marketable. I probably would have asked for this eventually, but they beat me to it. My company works really hard to make sure people feel well-compensated and appreciated, which really helps when the workload gets stressful.
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Main Job Monthly Take Home:
Deductions:
• Roth 401K: $1,125 a month (10% gross salary)
• Medical/dental: covered 100% by work.
Monthly take home after deductions: $6,300
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Section Three: Expenses
Rent: $2,900; I live alone in a one bedroom apartment with my cat. Moved from a studio this summer, I would never had been able to get a place this nice (nice building, remodeled kitchen+bathroom) without the COVID rent drops.
Renters insurance: $15
Savings contribution: $1000 a month at least. Right now that goes towards a car down payment. After that, it’ll be split to extra debt repayment (to pay student loan faster) and short terms savings like for vacations.
Student loan: $300 a month (suspended due to COVID)
Donations: $175 a month; Split amongst food banks, KQED, ACLU, and planned parenthood. Every time I get a raise I pick up a new donation. I also gave about $2K this year in ad hoc donations.
Electric: ~$35 a month. Steam heat (radiator) is free in my building so this doesn’t fluctuate in winter.
Wifi: ~$35 a month
Cellphone: $110; includes iphone payment that ends in a year
Subscriptions: $50; Netflix, hulu, amazon prime, hbo max (I really should cut on of these)
Car insurance: $100; Two years ago I gave my car back to my family for my brother to use after I moved to SF, but I still came back and drove it enough for me to need to keep my own insurance on it just in case. When I buy the new car it’ll get transferred to that one.
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Day One (Monday)
8:00 a.m. — My alarm goes off, and I’m technically awake but still so tired. I cuddle with the cat and catch up on youtube for a while before I get up and make some tea.
9:00 a.m. — I settle in the start the day: mostly just triaging emails and dealing with some small tasks so I can get them off the list. I’ve been working from home since March; I work in data analysis, so my computer is my lab. For the most part it’s been pretty successful, but sometimes I fall for the lure to work in my pajamas. After about an hour of work I quickly shower and get ready for my first meeting.
12:00 p.m. — My meetings are done so I heat up lunch- today its pasta leftovers from last night, along with a coke. I spend the break watching a West Wing episode, I’ve been bingeing recently and I’m almost done!
2:30 p.m. — I hit a lull in work, so I get my bags and mask and walk to the grocery store. The best part of working from home is being able to go do errands on off hours, especially now that we’re all trying to avoid crowds. I listen to podcasts on the way over: this time I’m catching up on the Wall Street Journal Money Briefing.
2:45 p.m. — I buy my groceries for the week: ingredients for chopped salads, a few snacks, and a few frozen meals. Since I have a lot of leftover pasta to eat, I don’t need as many things as I usually do, so I use the opportunity to stock up on a few staples. You have to think ahead when you have to carry everything home every week! $48.76
3:30 p.m. — I get home an put everything away. I eat a lacey cookie and make sparkling water out of my sodastream while I settle back into work. Right now I’m doing all the prep for a big analysis coming up soon, so it’s a lighter week. Once that data comes in, I’ll be working like crazy.
6:00 p.m. — Done for the day! I decompress and play silly games on my phone, then get up to make dinner while I watch more West Wing on my iPad. Tonight’s dinner is chopped salad with romaine, cucumber, tomato, green apple, bacon, blue cheese, avocado, and balsamic dressing. I only need part of the green apple for the salad so I slice the rest to eat on the side. I also crack open a shandy to have with dinner.
8:00 p.m. — My period is coming and I have a hankering for sweets. I warm up a slice of pancake bread I got today and try a little bit of the peppermint bark liqueur I found this weekend. This combo is everything!
9:30 p.m. — I’m trying to go to bed earlier so I turn off the TV, settle into pajamas, and read before bed while cuddling with the cat. Right now I’m reading Dying: A memoir by Cory Taylor. I turn out the lights at 10 and listen to the Dear Hank & John podcast on a sleep timer.
Day One total: $48.76
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Day Two (Tuesday)
7:30 a.m. — Even though I went to bed relatively early I still wake up exhausted. I hit the snooze button a few times before getting up, making tea, and getting ready.
11:00 a.m. — Done with morning meetings so I take an early lunch, more leftover pasta. I also clean up around the house for a little while, it’s hard for me to concentrate in a messy environment.
2:00 p.m. — Feeling sluggish so I make another cup of tea before my last meeting.
3:30 p.m. — My meeting is over, so I take a minute to take care of some life admin before I get back to work. I write out my rent check, drop it off in the office downstairs, and send my mom a link to an immersion blender since she wants to know what I want for Christmas. I see Naturalizer is having a 50% off sale on boots so I buy 2 pairs. My boots wore out last season and I still haven’t replaced them. I also set up a monthly donation for the Oakland food bank (see monthly expenses). I recently got a raise and want to up my donations. Since I already give to SF food bank I thought I’d spread the love. $107.43
6:00 p.m. — The last thing I need to do for work today requires running some code for a while, so I start that before making dinner. Tonight it’s another chopped salad and some sparkling water. I eat while watching more West Wing.
8:00 p.m. — Pre-period cravings are kicking my ass (or at least that’s my excuse). I have another slice of pancake bread and some tea while browsing NPR’s 2020 book concierge and tagging books on my libby account. I also text my boyfriend for a while and we make plans to hang out later this week (standard COVID note: he also lives alone/WFH and we live in walking distance to each other, so we consider ourselves one bubble).
10:30 p.m. — I get ready for bed and read more of my book. Light’s out by 11.
Day Two total: 107.43
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Day Three (Wednesday)
7:30 a.m. — My alarm goes off, and the cat jumps into bed immediately for cuddles. We hang out for a few minutes then I get up, make tea, and start getting ready for the day.
9:00 a.m. — I start work, this morning it’s a bunch of code to review. Queue staring at my screens for three hours.
12:00 p.m. — Lunchtime! More leftover pasta, I’m getting bored of these leftovers but I don’t want to waste food. I have that and some more sparkling water.
1:00 p.m. — I recently got a new ipad, and I need to drop off the old one at Fedex to get the trade-in credit. I walk over to drop it off and enjoy the fresh air. On the way back I order a peppermint mocha from Starbucks on the mobile app. I try to order from the million independent coffee shops near my house most of the year, but the holiday drinks bring me back to Starbucks every time. During the walk I listen to podcast about Biden's cabinet picks with some interesting discussion about foreign policy. I don't know enough to have a strong opinion yet, but I would like to learn more! $5.50
4:00 p.m. — I just spent a good chunk of my afternoon talking with so many people just to make a small update to code. So frustrating! I'm tempted to make a drink to have while I finish work, but I resist and just have more sparkling water.
4:30 p.m. — I get a call from the medical center I got a procedure from last month. They said they sent me a statement, but they somehow not only got my street number wrong but also the zip code. I pay the $140 bill using money in my HSA (that's money put in by my company, so I don't count as an expense).
6:00 p.m. — I just spend way too much time ironing out another issue, I’ve earned my drink. I crack open a beer and make another chopped salad for dinner. Tonight I’m drinking a Baked Hawaii pastry stout from Temascal brewing. It’s absolutely delicious, but halfway through drinking the can I realize it’s 11% ABV!! Tonight just got interesting.
9:00 p.m. — Turns out drunk at home me isn’t that interesting: I spend the night watching West Wing and texting a friend. I’m in bed by 11ish.
Day three total: $5.50
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Day Four (Thursday)
7:30 a.m. — I get up and make tea like I always do. I decide to actually get ready properly with makeup and jewelry today so that’s new.
9:00 a.m. — Start work, this morning I’m working on an internal presentation.
11:00 a.m. — I prep an apple and peanut butter for a snack.
12:00 p.m. — I heat up the last of leftover pasta for lunch. Good, I’m really getting sick of it.
1:00 p.m. — I sit down for my meeting. I present the first half, then spend second half munching on a few sour jellybeans I had left from last week.
3:00 p.m. — I make more tea and move to the couch to finish up my workday. I also customize my imperfect produce order for next week. I don't actually get a ton of produce from them, but I really like some of their meat and dairy options. I get apples, oranges, kiwi, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, avocados, bread, salmon, chicken breast, bacon, snack cheese, and some peppermint chocolate covered pretzels. That, plus my hello fresh coming next week, will be most of my food a few weeks. Those will get charged to my account next week when they’re delivered. I try to spend $250 a month of groceries, but craft beer and fun cheese sometimes make me go over.
5:30 p.m. — I’m sick of working, so I get changed out of sweats into decent clothes and walk over to my boyfriend’s place. I stop by the market on the way over to buy tea and a can of water chestnuts (the only other thing I need for meals next week). $7.58
6:00 p.m. — I get to my boyfriend’s place just as the food delivery arrives, I get chicken tikka masala, rice, and garlic naan. I only eat half so the rest is saved for leftovers. We split a stone espresso stout and talk. Since vaccine schedules look so good and cancellation policies are great, it makes sense to consider booking a trip to Hawaii for late summer. We agree to think about it and pull the trigger before Christmas. $25 for Indian food
7:00 p.m. — I’m not a fan of the stout so I open up a cider. We settle in and watch TV
9:45 p.m. — Technically we're under a 10pm curfew, although I can't really figure out what that means this time. I'm tired anyway, so I say goodbye to my boyfriend and walk home. No one is out, so I walk home with my mask off. Something about being in nice clothes and without a mask on hits harder than it probably should. I miss normal city life so much. Just as I think that a big-ass raccoon pops up walking on the next block, which ironically never happened to me in normal city life even though it totally sounds like it would. Luckily the raccoon is more scared of me than I am of it, and I make it home in one piece.
10:30 p.m. — I make a cup of decaf tea and settle into bed. I decide to start a new book Survivor Song, I find zombie-ish apocalyptic books oddly comforting right now (finished Severance by Ling Ma a few weeks ago). This one is about a rabies-like disease, really glad that raccoon ran away earlier.
3:00 a.m. — Oops, got so engrossed with the book I stay up incredibly late to read the whole thing in one sitting. I reset my alarm to 9. WFH for my company has its perks!
Day four total: $32.58
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Day Five (Friday)
10:30 a.m. — I accidentally sleep through the alarm and wake up in a panic. It isn't the end of the world, but I still go straight to my laptop while still in pajamas and start work. There was a mini crisis early this morning that luckily I wouldn't have been much help in, but I spend the rest of the morning dealing with that and various other fires.
12:00 p.m. — I shower and get dressed. Lunch today is frozen lamb vindaloo for lunch and a coke to try and perk me up.
1:00 p.m. — I’m still predictably exhausted, so I make some tea and try to power through a task before a meeting.
3:00 p.m. —More tea and a lacey cookie before meeting.
6:00 p.m. —I still have more work to do but I'm drained, so I call it a night. I heat up last night's Indian food, grab some more sparkling water and catch up on youtube to decompress.
8:00 p.m. —I clean up a little round the house while I watch the new Grey’s Anatomy. I can’t believe I’m still watching this show.
11:00 p.m. — Watched more West Wing while curled up on the couch. I head to bed; I want to get up at a decent time.
Day five total: $0
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Day Six (Saturday)
8:00 a.m. — My alarm goes off. I stay in bed browsing the internet on my iPad.
9:00 a.m. — I get up, make some tea and prep breakfast. Today I try the pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes from Damn Delicious. My resolution this year was to make 50 new recipes and I’m on track to make it! These pancakes are fantastic, I’ll definitely make them again. I pack up the leftovers to bring to my boyfriend’s house later.
10:00 a.m. — I settle in on the couch and spend the rest of the morning playing games on my ipad and listening to podcasts.
12:30 p.m. — I jump in the shower and get ready. I’m training for when we’re back in real society again, so I actually do my hair and makeup today. Today I play with eyeshadow and do a purple smokey eye. My boyfriend texts to say that he already ate lunch so I heat up frozen lamb vindaloo for lunch.
1:30 p.m. — Time to head to my boyfriend’s house. I pack up my overnight bag and the pancakes, put my boots on, and head out. I drop my stuff off at my boyfriend’s house and we head out to walk around the city. We started doing this when the pandemic started, it’s a great way to spend the afternoon. On the walk I finally see the parrots of Telegraph hill, although we aren’t at telegraph hill. They’re really cute, but so loud, I’m glad I don’t live closer to them!
3:00 p.m. —We stop by a place to get Irish coffee but the line is massive (this is the last weekend of outdoor dining, so everyone is out). I don't want to wait in line, so we keep walking to find somewhere else to go.
3:30 p.m. — We see a Mexican restaurant and decide to stop for snacks and drinks. As a bonus the tables are really spaced out and there aren’t a ton of people seated. We want to help businesses out and enjoy a last weekend being able to eat outside, but it seems counterproductive to eat at a crowded place. We get 2 margaritas each and split some appetizers, making sure to tip extra. $51.26
5:30 p.m. — As we walk back towards my boyfriend’s apartment, we see that the cocktail bar he really wanted to try has a ton of tables available. We pick a table far away from the others and have 2 more cocktails each. I also get some garlic shrimp noodles. We each tip extra here too. $66.71
7:00 p.m. — We trudge up the hill and head to my boyfriend’s apartment. I buy some snacks and a la croix at a corner store on the way. $7.00
7:15 p.m. — We spend the rest of evening watching TV and sobering up. We end up going to bed pretty early, around 10.
Day six total: $124.97
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Day Seven (Sunday)
9:00 a.m. — I wake up and laze around in bed for a while. After I get up we eat the leftover pancakes and I help my boyfriend with some chores that require 2 people (there are a few disadvantages to living alone).
11:00 a.m. — I gather my things and walk home. Once I’m there I drop off my things, and head straight back out to grab a few items. I’m out of body wash so I walk to Walgreens to buy that and a soda. On the way home I realize I don’t have any food for today (Hello Fresh is coming tomorrow), so I pop into the deli and get a sandwich and some chips. The sandwiches are huge so it’s enough food for lunch and dinner. $27.20
3:00 p.m. — The rest of day is spent alternating between cleaning and hanging out on the couch. I look at my email to see that Aerie is doing 10 for $35 on underwear, so I fill up my cart with 10 pairs + a swimsuit and sweater. I haven’t bought any clothes this year, but now things are starting to wear out so I need to replace things all at once. $89.47
7:00 p.m. — I toast up the other half of my sandwich. I spend the rest of the evening reading and watching TV, I’m in bed by 11.
Day seven total: $116.67
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Total for week: $435.91
Grocery + Dining Out: $239.01
Fun + Entertainment: $0
Home + Health: $10
Clothes + Beauty: $196.90
Transportation: $0
Lastly, reflect on your diary: This definitely was a more expensive week than normal. I’ve been delaying buying clothing for a long time, so I finally have started to catch up. I tend to do that after I get a raise. This was also the last week of outdoor dining for SF so I used this as an excuse to eat out more, I feel so bad for all the workers about to get laid off again.
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Have a happy and safe holidays everyone!
(Edited because I found a few typos I missed when I proofread, so embarrassing! TA me from 4 years ago would be so ashamed haha)