Simple Living

Gonna do an epic road trip for 3 days and 2 nights from Los Angeles, California to Dallas, Texas.  A distance of about 1,500 miles. Route Choice - I-10/20 vs I-40 I debated between I-10/20 and I-40 and opted to try a hybrid and go I-10 to Phoenix then cutover to I-40 and Albuquerque. !!!Important!!! Check the Weather! In hindsight, after my horrendous road trip, I should have checked the weather as there were storm clouds over NM and TX and I was hydroplaning, forcing me to stop in Santa Rosa.  Then powered through to Texas....1,070 miles...terrible idea.  Barely made it to Dallas. My journey: Day 1 - LA —> Phoenix ; 400 miles - 11 am hit the road for Palm Springs - 1 pm - Lunch 🌮 Felipe’s and look at the Dino’s. - 3 pm - Joshua Tree 🌵  - 6 pm - Phoenix, Arizona - 6 pm - Dinner 🌭 Nogales or Lupita’s Sonoran Hot Dogs Day 2 - Phoenix —> Amarillo ; 705 miles 🌧  - 7 am - Breakfast 🥞  - 9 am - Payson, AZ — mountain drive! 🌵  - Noon - I-40 / Route 66 - Painted Mountains - 2 pm -

Making some room as I find stuff that I seldom use anymore. Victorinox INOX watch - $300 Swatch - $400 Timex - $170 Tiffany Ring - $250 Tiffany Bracelet - $200 iPad 2018 - $150 GoPro 5 - $150 Switch Lite - $125 PS4 - $175 Fire HD8 - $25 Sansa Clip - $40 Anker Speaker - $15 I’m taking a bath on the electronics all selling for less than half their original purchase price…but that’s the reality of tech, they depreciate in value. Overall, not a bad haul and about ~$2,000 in cash.  Although that’s 60% of the original value of all these things. The Switch and PS4 were worth it in terms of how much use I got out of them..the rest I’ll need to reevaluate my spending habits . Update - 12/4/22 Added a few more items for sale this year as I clear out my storage and collections.  Was good timing as I ended up spending over $1,200 on new stuff this year. Update - 12/25/23 It’s actually cheaper and more profitable if I don’t buy stuff that I end up having to resell later at a loss.  While sometimes

It’s amazing what a simple strap change can do to the look and feel of a watch.  I’ve tried multiple combinations with the Zenith and none felt right (leather - to dressy, NATO - to casual, all metal - this is not a sports watch…) I never considered the Hirsch as it’s meant for 20mm lug width and the Zenith is 19mm, but surprisingly it fits, barely. And wow, I’m really liking this combo.  It feels like a good compromise between semi-formal and semi-casual; that sweet spot to make this watch ideal for daily wear. Never stop experimenting, you never know what cool new thing you may discover. Update - 8/2/22 - Timex Mk 1 Mechanical The watch bug is biting again and I saw the beautiful Timex Mk 1 Mechanical for sale at $99 and was sorely tempted to pick one up, but instead sought out my Zenith to prevent me from spending money. It seems to have worked and only way I'll opt for a new field watch is to replace the Zenith.  Ironically, I have the best field watch out there in the Rolex Ex

For 2022, I’ve reduced my collection to six watches.  I’m planning on adding 3 more watches (Apple Watch 7/8/SE2 Timex Mk1 and an Omega x Swatch). As it stands my collection: Rolex - Explorer 114270 Omega - Seamaster 2531.80 Zenith- Cal 126 Seiko SKX781 Casio - Gshock DW5600 Casio A168 Future additions: Omega x Swatch (Mars) - Nov 2022 Apple Watch SE2 44mm - Oct 2022 Timex Mk1 - Aug 2022 — Oct 2022 My daily wear has been mostly quartz models and occasionally sporting an automatic like the Seiko or Omega. My hunch the Timex Mk1, Omega x Swatch or Apple Watch will become my main daily wear with only some slight wrist time for my other quartz watches and sparingly my mechanical watches. Culling the Herd Again?  Parting with the INOX & Zenith I parted with the INOX to get to six and am considering also letting go the Zenith to limit myself to 7-8 watches if and when I acquire the Apple Watch and MoonSwatch. I’ve considered also parting with the Seiko, but at same time it’s a rare and c

Drove to Austin.  About 300 miles one way.  In hindsight, I should have left earlier and with a full tank of gas. I ended up stopping halfway to fill up when the Camry could have easily gone all the way without stopping, but a brief 10 minute stop was nice. I’m total about 5.5 hours on the road.  I stopped at about 3 hours to fill up. Budget Hotel - $50 Gas - $67 Food - $50 Parking/Bike - $16 Total $183 Normally, the hotel would have cost $150, but used some Hilton points. Stayed in Pluegerville at the Tru by Hilton.  Decent place, the breakfast was free, it was simple fare with mostly oatmeal, waffles and scrambled eggs.  I’d prefer some choice of fresh cut fruits.  Enjoyed the unlimited free coffee. Room was small, but clean and comfortable. Breakfast at Tru. Austin River Walk.  Was over 91 degrees so could only stand it for an hour or so.  Tried a bike ride and that was fun. Lunch was at De Nada.  Mexican Food.  The Barbacoa was amazing as well as their Queso. Rest of the day was ch

I got a chance to visit the Surplus Store in Austin and it lived up to its name in finding cheap Victorinox Swiss Army knives. They had them arranged in several set of bins ranging in price from $1 for basic 58mm Classics to $3-4 for 91mm and specialty scales 58mm Classics. Most were in rough shape and had seen better days, but there are a few hidden gems and for $9, scored 6 58mm Swiss Army Knives: Memory Signature Rambler Classic x3 The Memory, Signature and Ramblers go for $15-20 each online and the Classics at least $3 a piece so overall a $69 value for $9. This is the price point that makes this hobby fun. Update - 7/1/22 - Cleaning 🧼  Finally got around to cleaning the knives I bought.  Most were surprisingly already clean with no dust or debries between the scales. I’m liking the Rambler and may use that for my EDC.

I received a free Inland 256GB SSD Hard Drive from a friend and decided to try it out.  I always wanted to upgrade my Linux Rig (HP15 i3-4010u from 2014) even though it runs perfectly fine on a traditional 500GB HDD. Overall, it’s a decent upgrade and even on a cheap SSD (these go for under $30) the performance boost is noticeable. I'm rating level of difficulty from Easy 1 to Difficult 5. Physical Installation - Easy 1 (well if you know your hardware)   Installation was straightforward and I'm familiar with taking apart the HP15 and swapping in the SSD.  Took me about 15 minutes.   Linux Install - Medium 2 (took me 3 attempts)   Installation of Linux however took several trial and errors.  I used several different USB drives and found the best method was to boot up to non-persistent mode in Linux Mint then perform the installation. I tried both Lubuntu and Elementary as I had them loaded on different USB keys.  I love Elementary for its GUI, but its sluggish and Lubuntu used t

I'm going green for my jackets in 2022 and so far splurged on a dark green varsity jacket, an olive green chore over shirt jacket and am waiting for Adidas to have in stock again a suitably collegiate green track jacket. I'm finding green suits my wardrobe now that I have all the basics down and ready to add a bit of color. I wear it now almost like a uniform.  Blue jeans, white shoes, black or white t-shirt and a green jacket. Helps break the monotony of wearing only white, navy or black jackets. Planned Purchases: Varsity Jacket - $28 - Donated Chore Over Shirt Jacket - $40 - Donated Adidas Track Jacket - $40 - Never Bought I went with entry level version of these classic jackets to try out the style, colors and textures then will upgrade later to better quality versions. Exception is the Adidas track jacket.  I already own 3 of them and satisfied with this level of quality in materials and style. Update - 11/28/23 - Know your Jacket size I ended up donating both jackets purc

I didn’t get one yet…I was in line on Saturday morning, but alas they only had a few units for sale.  But I’ll keep checking in and eventually try to snag the Mission to the Moon and Mars versions. Kinda cool and exciting that Omega and Swatch did this wild collaboration…it actually makes sense. I’ve always liked Chronograph’s and someday do want to own the original Omega Speedmaster Professional…this Swatch version would be a fun daily wearer.   Update - 4/20/22 I'm hearing word that some of the watches bleed ink and saw a video for the blue Neptune claiming to show the blue dye left a stain on a person's wrist.  Hopefully, this is limited to specific colorways and doesn't impact the red Mars or gray Moon that I'm waiting to acquire.    

I kinda liked logging my car maintenance and gas fill up’s when I owned the Lexus and will do the same with the Camry. Jan 2022 - $900 - 90k Service I like to do preventive maintenance so I paid $900 to do whatever was needed. 3/8/22 - 27.7 mpg 9.8 gallons on 271 miles.  Did a partial fill-up as prices are going up daily and have easily gone up a $1 in just a few days! Had I filled up a few days earlier I would have saved $8 on 10 gallons of gas. 3/13/22 - 31.4 mpg 9.45 gallons on 297 miles.  Did a 260 mile road trip on the weekend.  Most of it was highway miles so was expecting better gas mileage. 3/23/22 - 26.8 mpg 8.2 gallons on 220 miles.  At this pace I’m using a full tank every 10-20 days or about 15 days.  At that pace I need to fill-up 24 times a year. That’s 408 gallons of gas (17 gallons x 24).  At $5 a gallon that’s $2,040/year or $170/month on fuel cost. To save some money, I’m gonna cut that down by 25% to 306 gallons or 18 tanks.  That’ll save me $510/yr. It’s feasibl

I was curious about the entry level Android devices and got a $100 Samsung A32 5G. Initial thoughts , the A32 5G is an impressive phone for the price.  It's on par or exceeds my iPhone 11 in most areas except maybe the screen display, which is a pity considering Samsung usually have amazing screens, but they had to cut corners to make the low price point. In hindsight, while the processor, ram and storage are good...I miss the AMOLED screens of some older models like the Note 4 and S8+. I'm not much out-of-pocket so it's fine as a backup phone and can honestly work as my primary phone as well. Screen quality matters... In hindsight, you want a better screen as these days one of the most valuable feature of a smartphone is the ability to stream high-quality video. 2 year review.   The A32 5G still is an excellent phone and very responsive and snappy.  It's on par with my brand new A15 5G, a testament to buying quality can last.  Had I gone with a cheaper A13 back then I

I'm really liking the simplicity of the Casio A168 and normally rock that most days (swapping for my G-Shock 5600 for weekends). I'm also preferring a lighter weight kit and went back to the Victorinox Cadet. It's otherwise the same gear I've been rocking for almost 2 years and while the iPhone 11 has done great, I'm wanting something with 5G. I'll wait and upgrade to the newer iPhone in November. Feb 2022 EDC: Apple iPhone 11 Victorinox Cadet Swiss Army Knife Casio A168 Watch Leather Wallet   

Found a nice example of a 1991-1992 Swiss Army Knife Explorer model.  I dated it based on the tang stamp on the main blade is from 1986-1992 and it has to be after 1991 as it includes the carrier hook on the bottom tools. The old style grey magnifying lens confirms it’s an older model Explorer and those were from 1973-2004. Overall a good find for $20.  And something I wanted to complete my collection as a counterpoint with the similar 4 layer Huntsman.  The choice of Phillips and magnifying lens makes this a useful choice.

I haven’t worn GAP sweaters regularly since college, but got into a habit and now have 3 GAP hoodies and 1 crew sweater, to complement by Uniqlo crew sweaters. Keeping it simple and got mostly white or beige GAP sweaters that seem to go well with my blue jeans; my navy jackets and tops were clashing so to break up the monotone blue, going with white tops and white shoes.  Very simple, classic and easy. I can now sport at least 4 different white sweaters to break up the week and do a mix of a black crew neck.  My Navy GAP hoodie, I’m relegating for those days I wore black or khaki pants. So glad my new job allows me to wear hoodies again!  Spent 3 years stuck in slacks and button down shirts.