Last month at FinCon, my new friend Paulette asked me a question that I had no answer to:
What is something you have purchased lately that’s made you happy?
I thought about it a while but nothing stood out. Perhaps part of the reason was that I first considered physical objects. Life is pretty good and there isn’t really anything I need or want. What a place to be.
So then I let my mind consider experiences. Two stood out.
Quiet Car Time
Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) is in my backyard.
Well, almost. It’s 38 miles away, but close enough. I can see the mountains when I’m on my roof. (I get unreasonable enjoyment from being on my roof. Sometimes I go up there just for the hell of it.) I head to RMNP on a weekly basis. I go by myself to be alone with my thoughts and catch up on podcasts.
To get there, I ride in my Model Y. It’s quiet, comfortable, and I don’t ever have to go to a gas station. Has anyone very said this?:
I love pumping gas!
I think not.
And one feature of the Y that I’ve really come to appreciate is the autonomous driving. It’s not perfect and especially in town, you must be on high alert. While it’s much better than it was even 6 months ago, it occasionally does very naughty things.
But on simple mountain roads that are lightly traveled, the experience is quite enjoyable and stress free. I just sit there in quiet thought (still paying attention mind you!) and watch the beautiful world go by.
Note the Gratitude rock in the photo. If I’m not careful, sometimes my mind will slip to dark places. When I’m holding the rock, the rule is I can only have good thoughts. These peaceful rides up the twisting mountain roads make me feel good and I look forward to them.
Why does this make me happy? The autonomous driving feature frees up my mind so I don’t have to think about controlling the car. But it also keeps me in the present. I suppose it’s similar to other meditative activities that some enjoy like gardening.
The Sphere
I enjoy live music and interesting venues. Last year when I heard U2 would be playing the Sphere in Las Vegas, I bought tickets. This came after much deliberation as tickets were $400 each. Oof.
I went in with low expectations:
- Being a Las Vegas residency, I expected the show to be short: Would this be an 80 minute concert?
- Would the band phone it in? U2 was playing multiple shows per week. Would they have any energy?
- Would the Sphere just be a big, spherical gimmick? Would its graphics overwhelm the music?
I was wrong on all counts. U2 played a 2+ hour set. The band also brought loads of energy. If they were bored, it didn’t show. The graphics were awesome and complemented the band’s performance well.
Also:
- The sound was fantastic. I’ve been to indoor venues where the sound bounces around and the band sounds awful. The audio in the Sphere was the best I’ve ever experienced.
- I went with friends. Sharing adventures with people you enjoy always makes it more fun.
Why did this make me happy? I’m certain I enjoyed it more because my expectations weren’t high. But the experience was so good, I’m certain I’d still be writing about it here even if I went in expecting the world.
Random Thoughts
It took me a long time to come up with these two experiences. I’m not sure what to think about it. My life is pretty great. This year, I had awesome adventures including roadtrips to the Midwest, and Seattle, an Alaskan cruise, Germany, Cancun, and Los Angeles. Maybe it’s too much and I’m failing to appreciate it? But I have another thought.
As good as these experiences are, maybe they’re not for me. I know some folks just love to be on the road all the time experiencing new places. I enjoy travel too, but in moderation. When I’m on the road, I can’t keep my routine. It an be difficult to eat well and exercise. I really do miss work too. I enjoy writing, so my laptop is my constant companion. However, I enjoy physical work too.
I think that real joy in life comes when you enjoy daily existence; eating great food, having a wonderful relationship with your partner, having good friends who listen and challenge you, being in good health, and having interesting challenges to solve. I prefer to mostly experience all of these things in familiar places with familiar people. When we travel now, I prefer to plan destinations around friends, not places.
And one of the best uses of money is facilitating all the little things that make life easier and more enjoyable:
- TSA PreCheck: I really despise waiting in lines.
- Great hotel locations: It’s so nice when traveling to have a place that keeps you from getting in a car. Walkable living is underappreciated.
- Good concert tickets: If I’m going to see a live show, I’ll pay a little more not to be in the nosebleed section.
- Noise cancelling headphones: I like a quiet environment. Some days, I live in these things.
- Gym membership: I could exercise at home, but I enjoy the routine and environment of the gym.
- Rideshare services: Renting a car is tedious, time consuming and expensive. Lately when I travel, I rely on Uber, Lyft, or a bike share to get around.
Before I had money, I would lust after the big stuff. “It would be awesome to have the latest mid-engine Ferrari!” Now that I actually could afford one, no longer do I not want one, but the thought repulses me a bit. There is a lot of joy in simplicity and not owning things. The stuff that makes life more enjoyable doesn’t break the bank.
A great day is one where I exercise, do some work, have a good conversation with a friend, and eat well. Sprinkle in travel now and then to introduce some novelty into life. That’s really about it.
More 1500 Days!!!
You can also find me (and the dinosaurs) at:
Mile High FI podcast:
MindyOnMoney podcast!
Also here:
- Facebook: Facebook group and page
- YouTube: My channel is mostly devoted to home improvement, but I have some other material coming up soon too.
- Instagram: Pretty pictures of dinosaurs, sunsets, and nail guns!
- Twitter: Spontaneous, often insane, ramblings
- Coworking space: On the surface, MMM HQ is a coworking space. Look a little deeper and you’ll see that we’re really building community. The members of MMM HQ are some of the finest people I know.
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I love pumping gas. I add 450 miles of range in 5 minutes, there’s always a bathroom, snacks, and beverages available, there’s guaranteed shade so the dog won’t burn his pads on the pavement in summer.
Compared to supercharging in random skeezy parking lots it’s a dream.
Autopilot is pretty nice, I’ll grant you that. So is 450hp.
Hey Maverick!
Hmmm, the place where I charge, I have all of that stuff too. Plus, the food is healthier, cheaper, and the bathrooms are cleaner. It’s because it’s the plug in my garage. And because plugging in takes about 10 seconds, I spend much less time fueling my car than you. It takes longer, but it’s fueling up overnight while I sleep.
Since I installed solar panels on my house, it costs me nothing to fuel. But if I were paying for electricity, it would cost me $8 to go 300 miles. Way cheaper than gas.
You mention skeezy parking lots. Most of the charging stations I’ve been to are at hotels or shopping malls. Contrast that to gas stations which are one of the most violent public places in America: https://www.cspdailynews.com/company-news/c-stores-are-4th-most-common-location-violent-crime
EVs aren’t for everyone. If you live in an apartment without a charger, tow heavy loads frequently, or drive more than 300 miles every day, I’d probably keep a gas burner.
Having an ICE car as a second vehicle for long distance is paramount as EV’s struggle in the cold. and elevation gain. A couple years ago we took a friends VW ID4 from Denver to Steamboat. 3 adults, 2 kids, full trunk and skis on the roof. We had to charge up in Silverthorne due to range anxiety from the climb. Rabbit Ears pass closed so we hung out in Kremling for a few hours – public charger only maintained the existing charge due to the cold. The day before leaving Steamboat we left the car to charge overnight…picked it up early AM and it had 80% range. Temps were near zero all night. It really changed my perspective, but I understand the appeal.
I think ID4s have a battery conditioning feature. Did you notice it? This warms the battery so the cold doesn’t screw with your range.
With a Tesla through the app, you specify what time you’re leaving and the car warms up the battery so the range doesn’t suffer no matter what the temperature is.
Charging: Unless you have a Tesla or have access to Tesla’s charging network, road-trips are awful. I can see why people hate EVs if they’ve attempted to use a non-Tesla network. I rented a Bolt in Las Vegas because I knew that the hotel parking lot had 16 charges. 2 worked. No good.
All of this will change as the charging networks expand, improve, and Tesla lets other brands on its network. In the meantime, a road trip takes extra planning and time.
I don’t think the ID4 has battery conditioning – at least not in the sense that Tesla’s do. My friends is the 1st release and it’s buggy to say the least…screens have glitched out, refused to start a few times, etc. Unacceptable for a $50K+ vehicle imo.
I agree with you on the charging. The Tesla chargers work. Electrify America…it’s a hit or miss. The infrastructure just isn’t there yet for the masses. The ID4 Steamboat experience confirmed my ICE vehicle purchase. No regrets purchasing a new Mazda 3 years ago.
Oof, sounds like a horrible experience. I’ve read that VW has had a lot of software issues with their EVs. That’s supposedly why they are collaborating with Rivian now.
Yesterday, I drove a Chevy Bolt back a mountain town. We don’t have the adapter to use the Tesla network and I found that over half of the chargers (Electrify American and Chargepoint) were broken. In some cases, every charger at a location was broke. Sigh…
Agreed, if you charge mostly at home then the infrastructure challenges are moot. In four months of ownership our Y has gone on three big road trips, so we’ve gotten a handle on typical Supercharger locations in California and Nevada – and about 2/3 of them are in locations lacking at least one amenity of the holy trio: bathrooms, snacks, and coffee. I do anticipate that changing rapidly as gas stations upgrade their infrastructure. Hopefully superchargers next to gas pumps will become commonplace.
I’m also disappointed by the range – I struggle to manage 200 miles between charges, and gaining and losing elevation in the mountains really stunts range, on one drive we got only 150 miles going from 80% to 12% charge. Conditioning the battery to combat cold only works when you’re at a charger – if you’re camping on a long drive and wake up to a cold morning then that’s not feasible.
So far I wish I had bought a hybrid RAV4, and I still might do so.
Teslas are fantastic for daily/city driving, and they can manage road trips if you’re willing to deal with their quirks, but they have a ways to go before they’ll sway large swaths of the population.
I’m also disappointed by the range – I struggle to manage 200 miles between charges, and gaining and losing elevation in the mountains really stunts range, on one drive we got only 150 miles going from 80% to 12% charge.
Yeah, I’ve noticed the same thing on highways. The feds need to come up with a new formula for measuring EV performance. Tesla definitely figured out how to game the test cycle.
Something I purchased lately that’s making me happy is kitchen cabinets. I’m about 2/3 of the way though a kitchen remodel. The cabinets look great, but I’m mostly enjoying putting them in and seeing the project come together. I’m also enjoying the very sore muscles from spending the day today hanging uppers.
I replaced my 2016 laptop with a state of the art new Samsung 2 in 1. Probably have to be an engineer(geek/nerd) to have that be an epic purchase, but I am, so it was. But the best money my spouse and I have spent since retirement was buying our own little mountain in a wilderness location and building a cabin on it.
Damn, a mountain cabin sounds awesome! And probably similar to you, my laptop goes everywhere with me. I’ve forgotten to pack underwear multiple times *hello chafing**. I’ve never forgotten my laptop.
The best purchase I’ve made recently was a milk cow for our small homestead.
My wife has wanted one for a long time and I finally relented.
Fresh butter.
Amazing yogurt.
Raw whole milk homemade cheese.
It’s the gift that keeps on giving.
I wish she’d talked me into it earlier.
Lesson: listen to the wife.
Thanks, Carl, for the entertaining and informatjve blog….
Aaron!
A cow! That’s an answer I never expected. But there’s something interesting in that that I’ve been thinking about lately and it’s this: Most of the things that have brought happiness to our lives are the small things.