Topics

This page shows posts grouped by topic. I expect to reorganize this page a lot over time.

You can also go to the home page if you just want to see what’s new.

Photography

Here are some photo-focused posts, but my photos are also scattered throughout the other pages on this site.

Recently, I’ve been trying out 35mm film photography:

Some black and white film photography (Sep 2023-Feb 2024)
Summer 2023 film photo dump (Jun-Aug 2023)
Spring at Bolinas Ridge on Expired Kodak Ultramax (May 2023)
Some film shots from a weekend in Yosemite (Feb 2023)
Learning the basics of color print film photography (Jan 2023)
First roll of Portra 400 (Jan 2023)
I shot a roll of film! (Dec 2022)

Some older assorted photo posts:

I don’t use my camera anymore - where to go from here? (Dec 2022)
Evening walk: Mount Olympus, Tank Hill, Belgrave Ave (Jul 2022)
Cabin Fever (Jan 2022)
Tomales Point Trail (Mar 2021)

I have an old photo site at photos.jamesxli.com. It contains selections from Jan 2014 – Feb 2021.

Collecting Music

I’m starting a music collection! More to come…

Cycling and Running

I’ve always been into cycling, though I haven’t written much about it on this site. In 2023, I got into running a bit. If you know me IRL, you can find me on Strava here!

Video: Hawk Hill Backside Descent (Mar 2023)
Learning to run slowly (Mar 2023)
Into the fold: A fling with Brompton (Jul 2022)

Cars

The car experiences closest to my heart:

My first car: 2003 Mazda Protege5 “Octobirb” (Apr 2018 – Feb 2020)
My second car: Goodbye, 2007 Honda Fit Sport: Thrift, Logic, and Simplicity (Apr 2021)
Seeking Zen in a rental Miata (May 2023)

Other thoughts and notes about cars:

Deciding whether to buy a Miata, and test driving an NB (May 2023)
Dexos-1 Motor Oil for a Gen 2 Chevy Volt (Dec 2022)
5th-gen Prius redesign (Nov 2022)

Tech

Some assorted thoughts about our tech world.

R.I.P. DPReview.com (Mar 2023)
R.I.P. Dark Sky, the only good weather app (Jan 2023)
Freakonomics Radio on the monopoly of Google (Dec 2022)
Things on my mind, November 2022 (Nov 2022)
Up against the Twitter login wall (Aug 2022)

Reading

Books I read in 2023
Books I read in 2022
The Soil Will Save Us by Kristin Ohlson (May 2021)
The New Map by Daniel Yergin (Mar 2021)
“Going South” by Lorde (Mar 2021)
Nomadland by Jessica Bruder (Feb 2021)

Housing, Living, and Miscellaneous

Living slightly larger (Mar 2024)
Buying Binoculars (Jan 2024)
Reflections on living without a car (or 2,000 words complaining about transit) (Dec 2023)
Quitting car commuting, and taking BART to work (Sep 2023)
Watching the fog on an e-ink display (Aug 2023)
Trying out a portable heat pump (Dec 2022)
Whynter ARC-1230WNH Heat Pump Defrost Cycle (Dec 2022)
Descent Into Los Altos (Sep 2021)
Group House Hunting in the Suburbs (Apr 2021)

This Website

Ditching Wordpress and rebuilding this website from the basics (Mar 2023)
Website Updates (Jul 2022)
Hello World! (Feb 2021)

Undergrad Projects

Projects and writeups from my time at MIT.

11.188 GIS Lab Final Project: “Unnecessary Walking is No Fun” (Spring 2019)
“Project Argus” mixed reality exploration (Fall 2015–Spring 2016)
2.1 Audio System (Fall 2015)

I still need to migrate the below projects over from the previous iteration of this website. Drop me a note if you really want to see any of these and I’ll prioritize it:

2.00b Toy Product Design (Spring 2016)
CityOffice Amoeba Wall (Summer–Fall 2016)
2.007 robotics competition (“May the Torque Be With You”) (Spring 2017)
2.671 bicycle disc brake fade investigation (Fall 2017)
FSAE ARBs and rockers (Fall 2016–Summer 2017)
2.008 yo-yo manufacturing (Spring 2018)
2.009 Product Engineering (“Tempra”) (Fall 2018)
11.007 urban air quality network (Fall 2018)

Older Projects

Fold-out car trunk table for road tripping (June 2015)

James Li's Website