Personal « My Substitute Reality

Sunday August 14, 2016

What’s Happening? Part 2

Filed under: Cars,Family,Life,Personal,Work — don @ 10:39 am

Near the end of last year my company was looking for new people to help build our antennas. I was thinking our son-in-law Patrick was a smart person who learned quickly so I talked to my boss about bringing him in to see if he would be able to help. He started around the beginning of December and has worked out very well. Everyone likes him and thinks he is a great worker and asset to the company.

I stopped riding my bike to work because I was car pooling with Patrick. We took my F150 4X4 most of the time but that thing gets terrible gas mileage. I knew we needed something that would do better.

I started looking at information on electric cars. Daryl has had his Volt for several years and really loves it. I thought that might be an option and then I looked at the Nissan Leaf.

The Leaf is electric only which means if the battery runs out you have to either tow it or recharge it and there’s no gas engine to do it for you. But it also has an 87 mile range for the older versions and 107 miles for the 2016. I figured 87 miles would be enough since I could drive it the 30 miles to work and then charge it back up while there.

We looked at a 2013 Leaf that had 18,000 miles but it didn’t have the Level 3 socket which allows you to charge to 80% in 30 minutes. I felt if I was going to have one I might want to take it to someplace like Santa Barbara where I could do the Level 3 charge and then come home the same day.

We went to the Nissan dealer to see if they had any used Leafs but they didn’t. I started talking to them about what a new one costs. Turns out when you buy a new electric car you get a $7,500 tax credit from the US and a $2,500 rebate from CA. Nissan was also giving a $4,000 rebate and since I belonged to a credit union I got an additional $3,500 off. That’s $17,500 off the sticker price. That’s close to 50% off. I figured I might as well buy new and that way I got the Level 3 socket.

I’ve been driving it for several months and I have to say I love it. Since I got it I have only had to stop at the gas station once when I drove Betty’s Camry on a day it was low on gas. Since we have the solar panels on the roof most of the electric is “free”. It’s not exactly but very close.

I love being free from gas so much I’m contemplating trading in the Camry for a Volt. I would still get the $10,000 in tax rebates and credits on a Volt. I would definitely want to do it before the end of the year so I could take the Federal credit off my taxes next year. We will see how things go.

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What’s Happening? Part 1

Filed under: Family,Life,Personal — don @ 10:23 am

It’s been a long time since I’ve added a post so I figured I could give a summary of what’s happened since my last one.

My last post was about the birth of my first granddaughter Eloise (Ellie) Weiss. Betty and I flew out to Wisconsin in January to spend a little over a week with them. I had wanted to spend some time there since we don’t get to see Jocelyn and Eric that often.

We flew out at the end of December on American Airlines. One of my presents to Betty was going First Class. I had us on a 767 that had the lie down seats in FC so it was going to be quite an adventure. Unfortunately that plane had some problems so we were forced to get on a smaller plane but at least she still got to experience FC service.

I had decided to fly into O’Hare because the price was better if you were going FC. It was a mistake on my part as I didn’t think about how much air traffic would be using the airport in the middle of winter. Chicago had a blizzard on our way there and it caused lots of delays which caused lots of planes to stay at the gates which meant there was no place for our plane to go once it landed. We were stuck on the runway area for 1 1/2 hours. Really glad we were in FC then.

The trip to Racine took about an hour once we got out of the airport.

We stayed at a hotel I had found when I went out in 2014. It was a small place but the price was good and it was fairly clean. It was also only about 2 miles from Joce.

There was snow on the ground and it did snow a few times. Having grown up in Tucson and living the last 29 years in LA I don’t get to see much snow. It was very nice and I’m glad we didn’t get snowed in.

Michelle and Josh joined us a day or so later and we went to Milwaukee to meet them for dinner. They had problems with getting their car but eventually we met and had dinner.

The next few days we went various places and did family things. Then Michelle and Josh had to go home.

We stayed a few more days and had a great time not feeling rushed. One thing I had wanted to do was take a tour of a cheese making factory. There was supposed to be one not too far from Joce but it wasn’t open while we were there. We didn’t get to see any but we did get all the curds and cheese we wanted from the world famous Mars Cheese Castle where the owner is good friends with Joce and Eric.

When we flew home it was uneventful but we felt we had a great vacation.

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Saturday October 24, 2015

Granddaughter!

Filed under: Family,Life,Personal — don @ 11:12 pm

After 4 grandsons we finally have a granddaughter.

My youngest blood daughter Jocelyn gave birth to Eloise Elizabeth Weiss on Saturday October 24th at 5:09 pm in Kenosha, WI.

She was 8 lbs, 5 oz and 20 1/4 inches long.

Betty and I will be going out at the end of December with Michelle and Josh joining us a few days later.

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Friday September 11, 2015

Never Forget

Filed under: Family,Nothing,Personal — don @ 6:14 am

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Tuesday May 5, 2015

Heading Back Down

Filed under: Cool Stuff,Family,Life,Personal — don @ 12:42 pm

We will be heading back down to Mexico on June 30th. Since they need about 4 days to put in my permanent plate I figured I might as well take advantage of the extra US holiday that they don’t celebrate.

According to the email they sent me it takes 1 day to make the new plate then I have to go back for any adjustments the next 2 days. It’s possible I will be done on the 3rd and if so we could come back then instead of waiting for the 4th.

We are also going to stay in a hotel on the US side this time. It’s the Quechan Hotel and Casino right at the off ramp from I8.

Maybe I can win enough to pay for my implants! Ha! I’m a funny guy. I’ll be lucky if I don’t lose much. I do like the nickel slots though but I suspect they will be updated like the slots in Vegas where you don’t use money anymore.

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Tuesday January 6, 2015

Implants in Mexico

Filed under: Cool Stuff,Family,Personal — don @ 1:35 pm

I’ve been wanting to get implants on my upper for about 6 years but with the cost of them in the US I couldn’t justify it. I had actually had my middle four teeth on the upper pulled and a bone graft done about 6 years ago but when I was finally told the actual cost I decided to wait.

The cost in the US was going to be around $30,000 and that was for just 4 teeth (2 implants).

Earlier this year I realized since I was over 59 1/2 I could take some money from my 401K without a penalty so I started looking at dentists in Los Algodones, Mexico. I heard about Los Algodones from Richard and I know Dale and Donna also got some work done there.

The dental group that seemed to be the largest with many good reviews was Sani Dental Group. I got a quote from them and scheduled my first visit for December 27th-31st.

We arrived on the 26th and drove over the border without talking to anyone. We went straight to the Hacienda Los Algodones which is a hotel owned by Sani. It’s a very nice little hotel with decent sized rooms and very friendly employees.

The next day we went to Sani and they did a CT scan and a panoramic X-ray. Then I met with a diagnostic specialist. He said I needed an All on 4 (which is what I wanted anyways) and he suggested I get an implant on my lower back right molar (which had been extracted quite a few years ago). I agree with them and we also planned to do a post and crown on one of my teeth I had done a root canal on a few months ago.

They said to come back on Monday so we spent Sunday checking out a few stores in town. Every few feet someone comes up and tries to sell you something. We weren’t buying.

Monday morning I went in and they numbed my right lower side so he could put in the singe implant. That was completely painless so I was ready for the extractions.

He then numbed my upper right side and started pulling teeth. I had 4 on that side with one a molar. That wasn’t very pleasant and he had to keep adding Novocaine. He finally had them all out and started doing the implants. Again, the implants were not painful at all and he had the 2 in within 15 minutes or so.

Then he numbed my upper left and extracted the 2 teeth and then put in the other 2 implants. As before there was no pain involved (of course my mouth was very numb).

Next came the part I did not like at all. He said my bone was medium to soft and that he didn’t want to install the temporary plate that screwed on. He wanted me to use a full denture for the next 6 months. I told him I really didn’t want to do that as one of the reasons I went with the All on 4 was you get teeth screwed into the implants basically the same day.

He convinced me to try the denture but as soon as it was in I started gagging. I told him there was no way I could put up with that for 6 months let alone 6 hours.

He said he would go ahead and install the temp plate like I wanted as long as I signed a paper absolving them of any damage caused by not waiting. I went ahead and did that since I was not going to use the denture.

So later in the day we started doing the temp impression/plate. To do that they put a plate in your mouth and start painting what I believe was acrylic material so that once they had it done they used it to make the temp. That was probably the most uncomfortable procedure of the whole day. It was in my mouth for close to a half hour and wasn’t doing my gag reflex any good.

On Tuesday I went back to have the new temporary screwed in. It looks great and feels *okay*. I suspect I’ll get used to it in time. I do have to take it easy for the next 3 – 4 weeks and not eat anything hard. I figure I can handle that.

To sum it up my experience was mostly good with the exception of the full denture. I know I will be very happy once I get my permanent plate in about 4-6 months.

I should also mention that Betty got a post and crown while we were there. The cost for both including a panoramic x-ray was only $300.

I would like to say something about the town but we really didn’t spend much time walking around. On Monday we did go to a restaurant for lunch and then another one for dinner. The one we went to dinner at was called Kashas and it had excellent food for decent prices. When we first got there we noticed only one other couple. While there a bunch more people came in and they were all locals.

If you walk around town be prepared to be semi-accosted by all kinds of people trying to sell you trinkets, artwork, and various other items. Most of them would take NO but a few were very persistent. One guy actually scared Betty with his aggressiveness.

I highly recommend going to Mexico if you need any dental work that would be expensive in the US. You can save a lot over the cost in the US where it costs 300-400% higher.

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Sunday September 21, 2014

Time for Some Upgrades

Filed under: Family,Life,Personal — don @ 4:41 pm

After spending the last 20 years in the San Fernando Valley with only portable air conditioners and paying outrageous prices for energy Betty and I decided it’s time to spend a little of that money we’ve been saving for so long.

We figured the main problem with the energy cost can be improved with a quadruple prong approach.

Install central air conditioning.
Install modern windows.
Add insulation to attic
Install solar panels.

We have #1 done and have #2 in the works. We hired a window company and the measuring guy is here while I’m writing this.

#3 is going to be done tomorrow. We are having cellulose blown in to bring it up to R-38. I’m guessing right now it’s R-0.5 as the insulation in the attic is probably an inch thick.

#4 is going to be the long pole but should also be the biggest return.

I have asked Donna and Daryl both for as much information and feedback as they can give and it’s been very helpful. Of course they both have solar systems on their houses. Richard does too but his is a very different animal.

I’ve gotten multiple quotes and I’ve looked at both lease and purchase and I’m leaning more towards the purchase option. Daryl purchased and Donna prepaid a lease. Both have pluses and minuses but one of the things I’m trying to do is increase the value of my home. Having a prepaid lease solar system does improve your value but not near as much of it is going to end up in your pocket if you sell.

One thing we learned yesterday and today is different companies will give you wildly different price quotes. For instance the first company that quoted our windows said they could do them all plus 3 doors for a bit over $16,000. That really seemed high to me. I figured probably $10,000 but wasn’t sure. While we were about to go with the high price I got a call from another guy who said he thought he could beat the price by $6,000. We sent the first guy away and had the other guy come quote. He did quote at a tad over $10,000. While that guy was quoting Josh remembered there was a guy on his pool league who owned a window and door company so today he came out. He is going to do everything for $9,000. Moral of this story is never take the first quote unless you really know what it’s going to cost. We might have paid a bit more than we needed on the A/C but I did research that beforehand and feel we got a pretty fair price.

On Friday the A/C was installed and they left around 8pm. By 9pm Betty and I looked at each other and said we had never felt the house be more comfortable in the 14 1/2 years we’ve lived here. Another plus is we don’t have that annoying window or portable air conditioner noise. It’s just quiet and comfortable. I wonder why we waited so long.

All of these projects also qualify for government and power company rebates. The biggest one will be the federal rebate on the solar panels. That’s currently at 30% so will be close to $10,000. The power company rebate will be around $4,000 so it makes a big difference to the actual cost. The other upgrades also qualify for rebates at different values. Well, except for the A/C. If we had gone with a 16 SEER unit we could have gotten $400 back but it would have cost $1100 for the upgrade. The A/C guy said we wouldn’t really benefit from the extra SEER based on where we live so he suggested we not do it.

Along with all the upgrades we also plan to throw a bunch of junk away and generally clean. Painting the exterior is probably in the future but we don’t have anything scheduled yet.

Lots of stuff going on in our house.

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Wednesday November 20, 2013

Happy Birthday, I’m 10

Filed under: Cool Stuff,Life,Personal — don @ 8:27 pm

On Sunday November 17th a special day happened and nobody said a word, not even me. I forgot it until Monday morning. What was it? Ten years of sobriety. Ten years since my last drink. Ten years of a much better life.

I had been thinking about taking the day off work until I looked at a calendar and realized it was a Sunday. So I think I’ll take December 8th which is 4 days before my 60th physical birthday and combine that with this one.

I think I deserve it.

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