Hi frens,

It’s been an entire year since I last posted. Where have I been? What have I been doing? What’s going on? All good questions. But right now, I can’t find the words to describe my adventures from 2022. We’ll get there in due time.

For now, I’d like to restart my blog with a more casual spin. Instead of expecting too much from myself at once and forcing myself to publish polished articles and videos every week, I want to start small through curation. I want to share interesting things that I find. AKA things I find “yaaas worthy,” hence why this is called The Yaaas Column.

Yaaas Worthy Finds

#1 The Great Smoky Mountains

In November 2022, I went on vacation with some college friends. I had no idea where we were going, except that we were venturing out into nature, with the only viable activity being hiking (ew, I know). It was a short vacation with only two full days in North Carolina, but each day was packed with 8 miles of hiking various trails. Needless to say, I was pretty grumpy trekking up the mountain. But looking back, it was mostly fun, and the views were... nice.

#2 Uniqlo’s RFID Self-Checkout

I went shopping in person at Uniqlo the other day and was pleasantly surprised when I was directed to the self-checkout area. The employee instructed me to drop my items into a bin, which automatically detected the items I was purchasing without scanning! But how?! Upon investigation, I learned that Uniqlo had implemented radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology at their self-checkout terminals. RFID is the same technology used in Kit Check to automatically verify medication inventory of drug kits, such as code cart trays. It’s exciting to see this technology scaled to this degree, and it gives me hope for its use in the future.

#3 “Radiant Baby” by Keith Haring

During the same Uniqlo shopping expedition, an inconspicuous sweater caught my eye.

My first thought upon seeing it was, “Ohhh, golden baby,” which was close but not quite. I discovered the work was called “Radiant Baby” by Keith Haring. It symbolized youthful innocence, purity, goodness, and potential. I love how such a simple drawing could encapsulate so much meaning and hope.

That’s all for this week. Until next time.