Simple Living

Starting a maintenance log for my 2016 Toyota Highlander. 10/10/2020 - New Tires - $750 04/02/2021 - Oil Change & Tire Rotation - $120 09/03/2021 - Oil Change & Air Filter - $259 02/03/2022 - Oil Change - $126 06/01/2022 - Oil Change, New Brakes & Rotors - $1200 They did a terrible job on the brakes.  Had to go back 5 times until they finally fixed most of it.  Still squeals, so never going back to this shop. 10/05/2022 - New Battery - $122 Car died and suspected the battery so got a new one at Costco and installed it myself. Part# 852154 Group# 24F 07/07/2023 - Oil Change - $140 Standard oil change and asked to check the brakes. 09/03/2023 - New Tires - Michelin - $900 Didn’t realize I need to perform a wheel alignment and never did it when I bought tires back in 2020.  So I learned  the hard way to do an alignment. 09/09/2023 - Trans Flush, Coolant Flush, Wheel Alignment - $650 Did the wheel alignment as well as trans and coolant flush as I hit 70.8k miles. 11/04/2023 - O

It’s been a while and I’ll get back into the habit of cleaning my knife collection.  I’ll need to get some oil, sharpeners and other tools to do this properly. For now it’s simple cleaning off any residue on the knives and implements as I often use them to open packages and get all the tape gunk on the blades and scissors. My Trekker sees the most action and I’m finding the Phillips head is useful.  I’ll need a Deluxe Tinker or Handyman to include a set of Pliers.

There are many Pho restaurants in Richardson and I tried a bit south that it’s in Dallas,  La Me in a different strip mall area, the place is a bit dated and rundown in some parts, but La Me was clean and friendly. Food was excellent and I can see why some rate this place higher than Pho Pasteur.  The broth is more subtle and defined.  Pho Pasteur has a richer broth that after a while is overwhelming.  Something about the combination of ingredients made this pho extra tasty. The spring rolls were good.  A bit unusual they serve the sauce with whole peanuts, most places grind them a bit, but otherwise it’s tasty and good. Slight edge over Pho Pasteur giving this place 8.75 out of 10.

This is my 3rd Pax & Beneficia Coffee location I’ve enjoyed in DFW having already been to Las Colinas and Grapevine.  The Plano location is nearby the old Collin Creek Mall. Overall, it’s a gorgeous location with ample parking.  Fun place to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee.  I had the Cappuccino and Cortado.  Between the two as the espresso was slightly bitter, but more than acceptable the Cappuccino masked it nicely with whole milk.

Did a small haul and got 8 pristine Swiss Army Knives. Fieldmaster x 2 Huntsman x 2 Tinker Delemont Evo Junior 9 - Sold Pruning Knife - Sold Bantam Champion Plus Deluxe Climber I’m now fully stocked on Huntsman and Fieldmasters as I wanted those for my car and backpacks.  Now let’s take inventory of what I have in the collection… I did some adjustments and sold the Delemont and Pruning Knife.  I’ll keep the Bantam, kinda cool knife. Current Collection - 35 knives 111mm - 1 Trekker Black // 2011 91mm - 18 Swiss Champ Red // 2011 Champion Plus Red // 2009 - 2016 Huntsman Silver Tech // 2009 - 2011 Black // 1979 - 1985 Red // 2011 Red // 2011 Camo // 2011 Fieldmaster Red // 2011 Red // 2011 Explorer Red // 1991 - 1992 Deluxe Climber Red // 1992 - 1998 Climber Red // 1979 - 1985 Traveler // 1979 - 1985 Hoffritz // 1985 - 1990 Ruby // 1999 Camper Red // 1999 - 2005 Spartan  Red // 2005 - 2009 Black // 2009 - 2011 Ruby/Sapphire // 2009 - 2011 Tinker Red // 2011 58mm - 10 Classic Classic x7 S

Mariana’s Tacos is decent.  I got the Chorizo, Pastor and Barbicoa.  All were tasty and a good size.  It didn’t quite match what I had at Del Sur, but so far it’s second best in North Texas for me; although there are so many more places to try before I can say that. I will dine here again as I forgot to take photos of the food.

The pho is excellent at Pho Pasteur II in Carrollton on Belt Line Rd.  I was curious and was pleased that I tried the Bahn Mi sandwich.  One of the best I’ve had. Update - March 2024 - Bahn Mi is still awesome.  Prices seemed to have gone up though to $6.50, but still good.

Pricing is decent and they are a bit on the dry side in texture, but overall a decent taco from Mr Tako in McKinney.  Giving it a 7 of 10. You’d need double the street tacos to match the size of a loaded taco.  Both had their merits and if you’re hungry buy loaded, if you want flavor go with street.

I’ve been here 5 times in past 2 years but never stayed more than a few hours.  I remedied that and stayed 2 nights to catch up with how Los Angeles is doing.  Overall it has the same vibe as when I remember it from a decade ago. Day 1 - Arrived LAX - Hilton Hotel Day 2 - Santa Monica , El Segundo Day 3 - The Grove, Departure LAX Day 1 - Flight In to LAX and stayed at Hilton LAX Had some drinks and chilled. Day 2 - Santa Monica after Starbucks Breakfast and Dinner at Kagura Sushi Starbucks for breakfast.  Then Santa Monica and finished off at Kagura for dinner.  Fun, cruising about. Then Santa Monica Place & Pier Kagura in El Segundo for dinner.  Umai! More beer.  Enjoying the Lobby.  Kinda nice actually. Day 3 - Flight home Went to Century Blvd McDonald’s for breakfast.  Then ice tea at The Grove as well as a light lunch and said bye to LA.

My first $100 bottle of wine.  And I was impressed.  The Barnett Vineyard 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon was my first real experience of a Napa Valley Red and I’m hooked. What I liked was how balanced it tasted with fruit forward flavors and a perfect dryness that reminds me of some good sake. I’ll reserve these special experiences for worthy celebrations and this was a New Year’s treat to ring in 2023. In hindsight, this was a wine that you’re supposed to wait and enjoy a decade later.  It was still delicious, but as I learn more about wines, I’ll start rotating and leaving these special bottles for future occasions.

Fiction is my favorite shop for the best espresso drinks in all of DFW.  This is a tall order and after trying 30 shops I can’t find any better. The espresso has a hint of butter that you cannot actually taste but just sense it’s there.  The taste is more like dark chocolate so it’s going to be my baseline when comparing other shops.  I’ve become accustomed to ordering both the espresso and another drink so I can evaluate both.

Another excellent taco shop is El Gordo’s south of intersection of I-75 and 380.  It’s not as heavy a portion as Del Sur, but very nicely balanced. Between the two, I’d go with Del Sur, but this place is also excellent and it’ll be hard for me to go back to Fuzzy’s or Torchie’s after discovering these amazing places. I’ll give this spot 8 out of 10.  Very decent tacos.

Yelp has rave reviews for Del Sur Taco in McKinney, Texas so I wanted to check it out and the reviews were spot on.  This place is amazing! Compared to what you can find in North Texas, Del Sur is awesome.  Prices are reasonable considering what they provide. Worth a visit.  I ranking it above El Gordo’s with 8.5 of 10. Another round of Barbacoa and Cochinita Pibil.

I’ve owned various iPhones starting with the iPhone 5 in 2012 and now in my 12th year enjoying my current model the iPhone 14 Pro. 2012 - iPhone 5 2016 - iPhone 6s 2020 - iPhone 11 2022 - iPhone 14 Pro 2027 - ? I was upgrading every 4 years until the iPhone 14 Pro was released and picked it up only 2 years after buying the 11.  I decided to do so as I was previously buying older models  2 years past their original release date so I figured buy the latest and greatest so I can enjoy it for 4-5 years. I will likely save money in the long run by changing my iPhone less often if I upgrade to the latest model available.  So on that theory I won’t upgrade until 2026-2027.  But I may buy iPhone's every 2 years if there are good deals, so who knows. My hunch is to wait 5 years til 2027 as that’ll be the 20th anniversary iPhone. Favorite iPhone?  iPhone 5 In terms of favorite?  I really loved my iPhone 5.  It was the perfect size and design wise was why I wanted the 14 Pro as it looks so m