Unexpected Expenses

Over the last year, I've had to endure 3 major expenses unexpectedly. :'(

Car Repair:

My IS250 is approaching 12 years at 160,000 miles.  Last year, the clutch went out to the point where I could not even accelerate effectively and it was almost dangerous to drive the car on the road.  I took my car to the dealer (I know, some people will say to take it to a 3rd party mechanic, but I guess I am more trusting of the Lexus service shop than a 3rd party for something like this).  They estimated about $4,000 in repairs needed to fix the car, most of it going towards the clutch and clutch assembly.  They believed there was still value in the rest of the car being in good shape, and given that I was only at 160,000 miles, there was still a lot of life left in this car.

I began to weigh my options.  Should I just buy a new car?  If I spend $4,000 here, the car would last me what, another 5 years or so?  Could I even get any value back for my IS?  Maybe $2,000 at best knowing that it would need repairs for whoever bought it?  It was a tough decision for me, especially since this is my first car and my realistic dream car from 2006.  I wasn't ready to give her up just yet and decided to fix her up.  This was the first major repair ever needed on her since the 100,000 mile warranty ran out, so I figured she earned it.

My hope is that she'll last at least another 5 years before her time is finally up.  I want to get another Lexus, but they don't make them in manual transmissions anymore, so I'll really have to enjoy this time until I am basically forced to buy a new car...

Golf Clubs Replacement:

So around October of last year, a friend of a friend needed a place to stay for just a few months.  I was feeling nice at the moment and offered my place to him.  That ended up being a horrible decision.

So you may recall that just 2 years ago I started really getting into golf and got myself a brand new Taylormade set for about $800.  Well one day, the roommate left the house through the garage and left the garage door open (even though I asked him to exit through the front door instead of the garage).  I was one of those people who leaves their clubs in the garage, so as you can imagine, by the time I had realized the garage door had been open for so long, the clubs were gone.  Who knows, maybe the roommate even took them, I'll never know.  A strong lesson learned here, never leave anything valuable in the garage.  But I will also argue that the roommate didn't value my belongings like I would, so him accidentally leaving the garage door open wasn't a big deal to him.

Now I was out an $800 set and very upset.  In addition, we decided that the roommate couldn't live at my house because he couldn't co-exist with Duncan (Duncan haaaaated him and wouldn't allow him to enter my house without hissing and attacking him).  In the end, he would eventually move his stuff out and give me $200 for storage, but the headaches of having to be home when he needed something he left here at the house, having my clubs stolen, and the effort of moving stuff around in my house to make room for his, it was just not worth it.  Another lesson learned here.

I still wanted to play golf so eventually I had to rebuild my set.  I wanted to go back to the Taylormade Outlet Store in Tucson, but they ended up closing shop in March.  Unreal, what bad timing!  So now I was forced to shop online, but that experience was eye-opening and actually worked out really well.  First I went to the PGA Superstore to try out all the brands and sets that I would consider buying.  I ended up really liking the Callaway clubs and shopped online for them.  Here's what I bought:

	Club Description	Vendor	MSRP	Sale Price	Discount Price
Irons	XR OS Irons (8 Iron Set, 4-PW,AW) Graphite	Rock Bottom Golf	899.99	649.99	617.49
Driver	2017 GBB Epic Driver 10.5°	CallawayGolfPreowned.com	499.99	349.99	244.99
Wood	2017 GBB Epic 3 Wood 15°	CallawayGolfPreowned.com	279.99	199.99	139.99
Hybrid	2017 Epic 3 Hybrid 20°	CallawayGolfPreowned.com	279.99	181.99	127.39
S Wedge	Mack Daddy Forged Chrome 56°-10	CallawayGolfPreowned.com	169.99	78.99	55.29
L Wedge	Mack Daddy Forged Chrome 60°-08	CallawayGolfPreowned.com	169.99	83.99	58.79
Putter	White Hot RX Rossie 35"	CallawayGolfPreowned.com	189.99	98.99	69.29
Bag	2017 X-Carry Stand Bag	DICK'S Sporting Goods	129.99	129.99	108.68
		Totals:	$2,619.92	$1,773.92	$1,421.93

Only my irons are brand new, but the quality of the preowned clubs are actually phenomenal.  I think the preowned clubs may have been display sets even, or struck just once and returned because they didn't like them.  There was even an additional 30% off on order $300 and more the weekend I bought them!  Here is a picture of my driver, which basically looks brand new:

I'm really happy with my new set and already took them out to the course once.  A $2,600 set for $1,400!  Not too shabby at all.  But if you think about it, it's still about $2,200 in expenses (since I lost the Taylormade set for nothing).

Don't worry, I no longer keep my clubs in the garage.  They stay in a protected area inside the house so that they will never get stolen again!

HVAC Replacement:

My house is 18 years old in 2018 and the original air-conditioning system finally went out on me early this month.  I had a couple companies come look at it, but I decided to go with Hamstra based on their reputation (multiple friends referred me to them) and their inspection was very knowledgeable and informative.  I honestly felt they would do the best job and they had a very competitive price.

Unfortunately, HVAC replacements are not cheap.  I would go on to pay $8,000 for a 3-ton Night & Day set including installation and a Nest.  However, it does feel super nice in the house once again (it was so miserable that one week alone without A/C)!  And hopefully the system will save me some money in energy savings in the long run too.

A lot of major expenses to handle unexpectedly, but at least we're good to go for a while now.  I guess that's why they say you should try and save up a nice nest egg of monies for times like these!

Tyler & Tina's Wedding, Another Bowling Championship

Tyler & Tina's Wedding

February really took a lot out of me.  All those Vegas trips were wrapped up by Tyler and Tina's wedding in Mesa, AZ.  I stopped keeping track, but this was another wedding I was in but probably the first time I had ever been in someone's vows!  My 30th birthday in Scottsdale was a memorable one, but not just for me, for Tyler and Tina as well.  While the two of them had met before at pool league at the Fox and Hound, it wasn't until my birthday weekend that they really hit it off.  Tina needed a ride and and Tyler offered one, I bunked them up together in the same room, and well I guess the rest is history.  Tyler was kind enough to mention me in his vows, saying how he "knew he loved [Tina] ever since Andy's birthday."  I am quite honored to have been a part of their connection.

I got to Phoenix on Friday night and got changed at my parents house in Scottsdale.  The rehearsal dinner was at Salud in Tempe and several of us decided to go out to Old Town Scottsdale afterwards.  Most of Saturday was devoted to getting ready, but since guys can get their tux on in less then 20 minutes, it was really just drink and relax time.  The wedding was at the Red Mountain Ranch Country Club and fortunately I didn't have to give any speeches this time.  The next morning there would be your typical brunch (this was hard for me as you know I am not a morning person) and then we were on our way back to Tucson.  Another successful wedding in the books!  Apologies for the lack of pictures this time, I'll have to do better next time.

Maybe I'll steal some from their photographer whenever they finally get posted to Facebook... Hehehe. :)

IBM Bowling League Championships

The championships for my bowling league were held on March 15th and my team defended our title and won for the 3rd year in a row, wow!  We've now won 6 championships over the 9 or so years I've been bowling.

As for me, I didn't meet my expectations of averaging a minimum of 190 pins for the second straight year, finding myself in the 180's again.  After learning more about the way I bowl, I have decided I'd like to try a new ball next year (I've had this one for 4 years and my previous one for 5).  I don't throw as hard as everyone else, but since I'm more about finesse and consistency, a ball that suits my slower ball-speed would be better for me.  We'll see though, got a long offseason ahead before having to make that decision.

Thanks for stopping by my blog again!  Until next time!

RE: A Vegas Trifecta

January and February were busy months for me that included 3 trips to Las Vegas in a 6-week period.  That's a lot of Vegas for any one person to handle, even myself.  Nonetheless, we continue to Make It Happen and here's a recap of how the 3 trips went:

Jan 12-14: Mike's 30th Birthday

My fellow IBM colleague and friend Mike was turned 30 this year.  He moved away to Austin several years ago and while I don't see him as often anymore, we still keep in touch through work or when playing video games online.

I arrived in Las Vegas on Friday night and met up with everyone at the Westgate.  We would be staying at the Hilton Grand Vacation Suites near the Westgate since our friend Chris's parents owned a timeshare with the chain.

This trip was about trying some of the things that people talk about in Vegas but never actually do.  For example, the first night we rode the ferris wheel of balls at the LINQ.  For 30 minutes, you go around in a ferris wheel of spherical rooms that overlooks the strip.  We also went ziplining down Fremont Street, something I've never done anywhere.  We got two drinks literally in ice cups at the ice bar "-5", which was way too cold to want to spend more than 40 minutes inside.  They also got me to try one of those oxygen bars, but it didn't do anything for me.

For a 30th birthday, I was disappointed that half of Mike's friends didn't show up for him in Vegas, but it is what it is.  He still had a great time and while the tables weren't as nice to me this trip, I was happy to have tried all the new activities that I'd seen but never actually thought about doing.

Airfare: $230
Hotel: $75
Gambling Wins/Losses = -$500

Feb 3-5: Christina's 30th Birthday & Super Bowl LII:

The next Vegas trip would include a stay at the Flamingo.  The D.C. group of friends who I know through my other friend Mike were all going to Vegas this weekend for their friend Christina's birthday.  This was a busy weekend with the Super Bowl on Sunday, so I flew into Las Vegas on a Saturday afternoon for a cheaper flight.

About 20 people were in for this weekend and it quickly became what one would call the proverbial shit-show.  Groups would connect and disconnect constantly and for the most part I just stuck with Mike wherever he went.  They had all wanted to try the ferris wheel at the LINQ again, but I passed since I had tried it just three weeks earlier.  I later met up with my friend Matt from Tucson that night and taught him the game of craps.  It's Las Vegas, so chances are always good that someone else I know will randomly be there the same weekend. :)

Sunday would be the big day, Super Bowl LII between the Eagles (woooo!) and the Patriots (boooo!).  We went to a restaurant called Hofbrauhaus that included an all-you-can-drink-and-eat deal for the game for $120 in advance.  It was a fair deal and guaranteed that all 20 of us could sit together in the same area.  The service was poor, but it was crowded.  The food was okay, but filling.  Overall, the restaurant experience was average and not really worth the price tag.  However, the result game was excellent, which made my day at least!  One of the more entertaining parts of the game was Mike putting down about 15 proposition bets of $10-$20 each and watching him hit or miss on several of them.  I think in the end he netted $5.  As for me, I made one bet, which was $50 on the eagles.

The rest of the weekend would include more drinking and gambling sprinkled here and there.  While everyone left early on Monday, I had a late flight out to save money from the busy weekend.  When everyone was gone, I didn't want to spend more time gambling since I was actually up for the weekend for a change.  So I decided to kill time by catching a movie at the Planet Hollywood.  I finally saw "The Last Jedi" and while some are critics of the movie, I certainly enjoyed it.

Airfare: $290
Hotel: $200
Gambling Wins/Losses = +$250

Feb 17-20: Tyler's Bachelor Party:

The final Vegas trip would be for Tyler's bachelor party, which was also at the Flamingo but fortunately we stayed at the Grand Vacation Suites this time instead of the actual hotel (thanks again to Chris who was a part of two of my Vegas trips).  Anthony and I got into Vegas on Saturday afternoon and that night we would mostly spend just gambling, finding a decent craps table that engulfed us for 3 hours.  I also got to meet up with my fellow IBMer and AHGL teammate for StarCraft 2, Chapin, and we gambled a bunch at Planet Hollywood before calling it a night.

On Sunday, the 7 of us in the party went golfing with Tyler's "golf friends" that come to Vegas on an annual basis.  They're mostly Tyler's uncle's friends who invite him out each year to play several rounds.  We played a course called Aliante, which was pretty nice yet still affordable.  I proceeded to shoot my usual double-bogey golf.

Later Sunday night, Tyler wanted us to try a steakhouse called the Golden Steer that they always visit as part of the "golfing" weekend.  Allegedly it has some historical value to it, "being Frank Sinatra's place", but in my opinion it was grossly overpriced.  I ordered a 24oz prime rib which was very good, but for $54.  There were 12 of us at dinner and not everyone had the same to eat and drink, plus the sides were all really expensive for such little amount.  Overall, there was a $1400 bill that we ended up splitting and I really don't feel like I just ate a $130 steak.  Regardless, it was what Tyler wanted to do, so it is what it is.

On Monday, we were supposed to go golfing again, but we decided to cancel given the previous night of drinking and the cold weather that day.  We made our way out to Fremont Street since a few of the guys had never been there.  I then found us an Escape Room where we could go the same day, which was a lot of fun and we escaped with 5 minutes left to spare on the clock.  That evening, 2 of the party had left and we were down to just 5, and we proceeded to have a friendly $20-a-person competition at Circus Circus, seeing who could be the first to win 7 of the carnival games, winner take all.  It was a close matchup and Tyler should have won, but eventually Anthony came back and stole it at the last minute.  Yours truly ended up with 5 points, but hey, at least I got a stuffed panda for Duncan.

At the end of the night, we were able to find a blackjack table at the Flamingo were everyone could get seated.  It was a good table (for most of us) and we ended up playing there for 4 hours!  A good way to end the weekend.

Airfare: $230
Hotel: $150
Gambling Wins/Losses = -$800


Sooooo finally the trips are done and I don't have to travel anymore for a while.  Yay!  The wedding was this past weekend, but I will save that for another blog entry.  Until next time!

Rockscaping Project

So you may recall from a previous blog entry that I have this one side of the house that has a big weed problem, and not the fun kind of weeds.  The weeds on this side of the house grow fiercely, especially during the monsoon season.  At least once a year they'd get so tall that I'd get a letter from the homeowners association and have to hire landscapers to come out and clean it all up.

While hiring landscapers is the easy way out, it adds up in costs over time.  Plus it does look pretty yucky out there when all the weeds are fully grown.  So for a while, I've been thinking about laying some tarp down and covering the area up, to help with the weed prevention.  After the section was free of weeds, I laid down the same tarp that I've used in my backyard, which for years has worked very effectively.  I also made sure to do this project during the winter time so that it wouldn't be too hot outside.

Took me about 4 hours across two days to shovel up gravel and lay the tarp down.  After that, it was time to order me some rock and I had my eye on the "rip-rap" type.  I went to two locations in town: Acme Sand & Gravel and D & D Materials.  I started with Acme and they quoted me at needing 6 tons to cover the 220 square feet I wanted to cover.  At about $40 a ton and $60 for delivery, that would've easily run me over $300.  I then went to D & D and they quoted me at 3.5 tons for the same type of rock.  They also let me buy a bag of rock (about 40lbs worth) for $2.50, so I took that home to lay on the yard so I could get a better estimate of how much I actually needed.  In the end, I decided I only needed to order 2.5 tons of their 3-6" Coronado Brown.  At $40 a ton, this ran me about $100 + $60 for delivery.  Not bad.

The rock was delivered on Friday and was a daunting pile to say the least.  I had inquired how much my landscapers wanted to do the job, but they quoted me at $450. :(  That seemed like a lot, so I decided to move it myself and just ask one of my friends to help out.  On Friday, I took a half-day off to start moving the pile with Anthony coming on Saturday to help me finish the rest.  It was challenging on my own since I didn't have a wheelbarrow.  Instead, I used a bin on a dolly to move the rock back and forth from the street to my yard.  Over 3.5 hours, I was able to move a 3rd of the pile.  *phew*  Exhausting work!

On Saturday morning, my legs and back were already sore from moving rock the previous day and there was still a lot left to move.  Anthony arrived at noon and fortunately brought a wheelbarrow with him, although the tire was flat.  We overcame the flat tire and used it anyway, alternating between the barrow and the bin.  Anthony had some experience moving rock and the barrow sped up the process.  After just 2 hours we had moved almost all of the rock over!  After we had covered the entire section of the yard, I still had rock left over that I had to remove from the street and sprinkle over the area.  After about another hour of solo work, I was finally finished.  Exhausting work and in hindsight, probably should've ordered just 2 tons at most (who knows, maybe they even gave me 3 tons).  Regardless, the project is done!

We'll have to see how it holds up, but hopefully it'll be just as effective as the area in the backyard.