Fixing a puncture

As a car enthusiast, it’s always satisfying to work on your own car. You know for sure that the job will be done correctly, and any mistake made you have nobody to blame but yourself. It sure beats making an appointment at a car shop, only to wait the entire day (if not more) to get your car back. (How long does it take to perform an oil change, honestly?) Never mind the fact shop labor rates have inflated just like everything else.

DIY whenever you can to save some money.

I drew an unlucky straw recently and got a puncture on the passenger front tire. No big deal, I’ve all the tools to plug a tire, provided it’s right on the tread surface (it was). On the BMW M2 it was my first time removing a wheel fastened on by lug bolts (instead of the lug nuts). The bolts came out easy enough, but the wheel was sort of seized onto the hub. Apparently this is a thing with BMW wheels. I’m fortunate to live in a mild climate, so a few hard wiggle of the wheel did the trick to loosen it.

The problem with lug bolts is when it comes time to put the wheel back on. On a car with wheel studs it’s super easy to align the bolt pattern. With no protruding studs of any kind on the M2, I have to masterfully cradle wheel whilst in a squat position, then carefully turn it to align the bolt holes. I should have done some Googling before this job, because apparently they sell an alignment pin to make this as effortless as wheel studs. Hopefully it goes on sale for Black Friday…

Those of us who lift weights consistently do so for the aesthetic appeal. Anybody that tells you otherwise is probably lying. Another aim for my resistance training is to be functionally strong. I insist on doing overhead pressing because holding a heavy weight above your head is a primary movement in everyday life. I squat so that I can be in a squat position comfortably for over an hour while fixing a tire puncture. I deadlift, so that I can hand-hold an over 40 pound wheel and tire for multiple minutes.

There’s really no downsides to weight lifting, other than the time commitment. And the soreness afterwards.

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I got this liquid gold for you.

Stock up, stock down

San Francisco is seeing the first big rain storm of the season. I am somewhat regretting not replacing the tires on my BMW M2 before this. The stock Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires are on the final few thousand miles of usable life. (Current mileage of the M2 is 20,214.) These high performance summer tires are not the best in the rain when new, so it’s downright sketchy when the grooves are worn down. I’m definitely not turning on the performance modes in these wet conditions.

The reason I haven’t yet replace the tires is because I am cheap. I want to delay the inevitable $1,500 charge to replace all four for as long as possible. That doesn’t mean I’m avoiding driving; like a good Chinese immigrant I simply wish to maximize the usage out of a product. I paid for the tires, did I not, in the original purchase price of the BMW? This is the equivalent of adding water to a near empty shampoo bottle in order to use every last bit of it.

The reason I’m being so unreasonably stingy (I don’t make bad money) is because our workplace is facing a fiscal crisis. While I am confident in my abilities and what I contribute to the job, I simply do not have the seniority years to feel completely secure. In the event layoffs do happen, and I am affected, I want to be fully financially prepared. That means stashing away money and squeezing out the utility of things I already have. Black Friday shopping for the dopamine hit will not be in my vocabulary.

Just because a university is a non-profit doesn’t mean no profits. Students pay tuition, staff and faculty have to earn a living. You can’t idealize your way out of hard numbers, especially when cuts have to be made. Under-utilized classes should be the first to go.

In turn, Universities should lean on majors that are popular. For as long as I’ve been at San Francisco State (since 2007), nursing is an impacted program. Meaning: demand outstrips supply. Why does this remain so? The nursing major should have expanded to accommodate the demand long ago. Leverage the popularity and competence to make SF State a known destination for nursing (and whichever other in-demand programs). Give the students what they want!

Capitalism is not without faults. So long as that’s the system we are in, that’s the system we have to work around.

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A bed of clouds.

Get the Michelins

Ally bank is sneaky. They are quick to email me when the interest rate on the savings account goes up, but not a single peep when it goes down. I didn’t even realize it went down until my friend told me that it did. It came as a surprise because the Fed has kept the federal funds rate at the same level for the past several months. So it’s double sneaky: why am I getting less interest when the benchmark rate hasn’t moved at all?

Don’t make me move to SoFi! I really don’t want to do that!

In this post-pandemic era of high inflation, it’s never been more important to have a money cushion. Unexpected items arise and you kind of have to deal with it. For example, my friend recently found a tire defect (a sidewall bulge, likely due to San Francisco’s lovely potholes) on his Tesla Model Y. Because of this - combined with significant mileage on the original set of tries - he had to fork over $2,000 to replace all four Michelins.

If (the royal) you don’t have a savings cushion, that $2,000 will be one of those setbacks that you see in people with heavy debt. They are making steady progress in paying off debt, then boom, an unexpected $2,000 kicks them right back down the chute. Okay, maybe they’re paying $1,000 instead for the Chinese brands. For four split payments with Affirm. Or Klarna.

Honestly, nobody really budgets for tires, right? They see the monthly payment for the car, and petrol, as the only true outlay. The rest is out of sight, out of mind - because they occur not nearly as often. Insurance renewal only comes around twice a year. Maintenance - unless you drive an overwhelming number of miles - is once a year. Tires? Let’s say once every few years. But, if you have a money cushion, then these maintenance events won’t ever be shocks to the finances.

The interest rate may have lowered slightly on my savings account, but that money serves a critical, foundational purpose: emergency fund for unexpected expenses.

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Sakura season.