The South Carolina women had a buzzer beater yesterday. I was waiting for a take out order at a Chinese restaurant and following along in Apple Sports on iOS. The time went to 0:00 and assumed they’d lost. Then, a second later, the score changed. When I saw the replay, I realized the shot was taken right before the clock hit zero, and went in the basket after time expired. So Apple Sports was showing it as it happened. Pretty impressive.
South Carolina Women’s Basketball goes to 31-0 on a last-second three pointer by Kamilla Cardoso. Her first made triple of her college career. Incredible.
Electric truck and SUV manufacturer Rivian announced their new R2 SUV today, but surprised everyone with a smaller R3 version as well. I love smaller cars and I’ve been waiting for new smaller EVs to hit the market, hopefully at a lower price point. The R3 looks adorable and it reminds me of a VW Rabbit, which I used to drive.1 But Rivian didn’t publish any specs so it’s hard to gauge how big R3 is.
Thankfully, they provided high res imagery and it’s easy to see the tire details — Pirelli Scorpion MS 235/55 R20. So based on a 20-inch rim size, and with a nice profile shot,2 it’s possible to estimate the size with a little bit of simple math.
These numbers are rough, obviously. But here’s what I got:
Rivian 3
Length: 149 in.
Height: 55 in.
Wheelbase: 102 in.
That length looks a little short, but as you can tell from the picture, there is very little overhang in front or behind the wheels. For a point of reference, I compared those numbers with the specs of another EV model that I like a lot:
2024 Hyundai IONIQ 5
Length: 182.5 in.
Height: 63 in.
Wheelbase: 118.1 in
The Rivian R3 looks to be a good bit smaller than the IONIQ 5 in all dimensions. In fact, the R3 looks closest to the size of a four-door gas-powered Mini Cooper:
2024 Mini Cooper Four-Door
Length: 158.5 in.
Height: 56.1 in.
Wheelbase: 101.1 in
Of course, there are lots of caveats to this comparison. My numbers are rough, the car is a prototype, and things can change as the car moves to production. Who knows when it will be available to purchase, but I’m excited about the Rivian R3. I’m not in the market right now, but my next car purchase will be an EV. That size is actually perfect for what I want – a small EV to commute back and forth to work. Now we’ll see where the price falls.3
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. And Bob likes small cars.
The Rivian R3 looks exactly like what I’m looking for… And by the time it comes out, I should be in the market for an electric car.
Stopped by the @bncolumbiasc grand opening this morning. Beautiful store. Lots of people braved the nasty weather.
Took today off because I knew I had grad school work to do. One task is to write a review of a journal article for the health and science communication class I’m taking. Opened the article and the topic is news coverage of suicide and cyberbullying. Challenging topic to start my day off with…
Went to the Apple Store in Charlotte for an Apple Vision Pro demo. It’s an experience. I can absolutely see the potential and the flaws, but I’m impressed.
I used to dread calling my grandmother on her birthday. My mom died on that day and so every time I’d call, she’d start with “Well, you know, I wish Nancy was still here.” And that always bothered me and usually made me tear up, so I would wait as long as I could to call. I was pretty sure that I was the last grandkid to call each year.
Twelve years ago today, I called GiGi1 to wish her happy 89th birthday. She answered the phone upbeat and excited, telling me about all the people who had called her earlier in the day (including my siblings and all of my cousins, letting me know that I was, in fact, the last grandchild to call.) But she closed with a surprising statement, subtly mentioning that she “helped someone old today.” I was intrigued and asked for details.
GiGi was at the gas station filling up when she noticed an “old” man struggling to take the money up to the cashier. She took the money up for him and they struck up a conversation. The man was recovering from a double knee replacement. He was upset with his doctor that they’d done both knees at the same time, and told him that “next time, we’re doing them one at a time.” The doctor told him “Mr. Jones. You are 99 years old. We aren’t doing another knee replacement.”
I tell that story often, but realized I’ve never written it down. I love how many lessons about attitudes, expectations and perspective are packed into one story. GiGi passed away a few years ago, living to the age of 98. Today would have been her 101st birthday. There are many stories to tell, but this is the story I tell about her most often and wanted to share it on her birthday.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina.
Growing up, I called her “Grandmother Caldwell.” My cousin called her “Granny.” But once the grandkids arrived, she became “GiGi.” ↩︎
Forgot how much I like the “Relics” episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. A nice send off for Scotty. 🖖
March 3, many years ago, my mom died unexpectedly. In perhaps one of the greatest understatements ever, I struggled with her loss. Some days, I still struggle with her loss.
I discovered that on March 3, every year, I was grumpy. Kinda pissed off. And in general, not a fun person to be around. So I declared the day “International Bob is Grumpy Day.” Gave it a silly name. Explain to people how I’m feeling. I told coworkers that it probably wasn’t the best day to ask me challenging questions. Or rely on me to be particularly tactful. In short, March 3 was the one day a year that it’s best to leave me alone. It worked. People left me alone, and I, predictably, was grumpy.
March 3 was also my grandmother’s birthday. I’d call her and she’d mention how much she missed mom. And usually, I’d tear up. Maybe the anticipation of the call was what made me grumpy. I don’t know. Over time, I became less grumpy on March 3. Still sad, but I was able to understand the grief a little better. Decades heal. In my most recent job, my coworkers understood, but also didn’t let me sit in my office alone.1 They worked hard to keep my spirits up.
This year, I’ve decided that it’s time to retire International Bob is Grumpy Day. Instead of sulking, we are taking a day trip with the whole family — my oldest is home from college on Spring Break — and I’m going to enjoy the company of the people that I love. And take pictures. Because honestly, that’s the way mom would have wanted it.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina.
Mostly because I didn’t really have an office. Open floor plan… ↩︎
Craft and Draft Irmo was the perfect place to hang out on a nasty, rainy evening last night.
Ryan started his lacrosse season this week, and I got recruited to help out with the goalies. So I guess I’m a goalie coach now? I need to study up.
Tina Roth Eisenberg (aka Swissmiss) commented over on Threads that she misses the in-person office culture. I agree completely. I understand why others don’t miss it, but I think we lost something that can’t be replicated by Teams or Zoom.
Apple has canceled its decade-long program to build an electric car. And while I think it’s probably the right call to end the program, I do understand why Apple tried.
Ten years ago when Apple started the project, it was the perfect moment to rethink the automobile. With the change to battery powered electric powertrains, many of the traditional constraints of car design were no longer relevant. You no longer need a motor, or a gas tank. Cars are more reliant on their technology stack. There were very few competitors and they were almost all selling cars at the high end of the market. It seemed like a perfect time for Apple to step into revolutionizing the design of cars, questioning the established conventions of the past. Changing how cars were designed, manufactured and sold.
And yet, today, that’s not what happened. In general, electric cars today look like gas-powered cars, but without the tailpipes. There are reasons for this, I think — consumer buying habits, aerodynamics and federal safety laws — but the result is that this isn’t the revolution that it looked like it might be. Couple that with the fact that the no-steering-wheel, self-driving tech that Apple was rumored to be pursuing is decades away from being truly reliable.1 Battery advances are slow. When they started, there were few competitors, but that’s changed and lots of established car makers are committing to electric cars, with the addition of new upstarts like China’s BYD.
I understand why Apple started their car program. But after a decade of being stuck in neutral, I also understand why they finally ended it.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina.
If it ever actually happens. ↩︎
Today, I learned that Tim Hortons has locations in the United States. Had coffee this morning at a location near our hotel in Atlanta.
Many of you know my wife is an amazing kindergarten teacher, but this summer, she will add another role: part-time Ph.D. student. Yesterday she was accepted to the @uofsc Teaching and Learning Ph.D. program. This is something she’s wanted to do for a long time and I’m so proud of her for taking this next step to being Dr. Wertz.
My first guess in Wordle today eliminated all but one word. Solved in two.
The Apple Sports app for following games in progress is so much better than using ESPN’s web site. Simple, but really well done.
Just thinking … @manton … would it be possible build a Facebook import into Micro.Blog, similar to how the Twitter import works? I shared family memories when my kids were little, and I’d love to have it on my site. Facebook allows an export, but I don’t know how challenging it would be to import.
I’m really glad I was able to export my tweets and move them to Micro.Blog. It gives me a record of all of my activity on Twitter on a site I control, but it also discourages me from going back to Twitter because I know the listing at bobwertz.com/tweets/ is complete.