Y fight the impulse, New technique
Yesterday out of the blue and for no particular reason I got the idea in my head that I should think about trading in my Model 3 for a Model Y. In a matter of 5 minutes I had specc’d out a potential car and gotten a trade in value of my 2019 Tesla. The number I got wasn’t what I would have expected so I threw my car specs into Carvana to see what sort of number they would offer on a straight buy. The number was a couple thousand better than Tesla but the gotcha is the sales tax savings from trading the car in pretty much negated the better Carvana number.
From a numbers perspective there were things I could talk myself into like lower interest rates on car loans now and an overall lower payment than what I am currently spending by between $100-$200. This savings would only take place if I opted to forego FSD (full self driving) on the Model Y which has inflated to a ridiculous 10K extra ( I paid 4 or 5K) There were also numbers that were negatives like stepping back into another 72 month loan and eating a 15K depreciation hit. Plus I still have my deposit on a Cybertruck which should begin production in earnest in 2022. I can’t carry two automotive loans and still feel like I am being fiscally responsible.
The one other variable is the talk that the federal tax credit of $7000 could be restored to Tesla and GM as part of Biden’s green energy push. The bill is in committee right now so doing anything before knowing the outcome of that would be dumb. So the bottom line is I will just control this impulse buy urge and be happy with my Model 3 for the foreseeable future, or at least until a new stronger urge comes along.
Last night Cindy told me Katie was getting in VR. Katie gets in after DJ goes to bed which often is when I normally would be getting ready for bed myself. However I always have fun when we get in there together so I told Cindy I would slap on my goggles. Katie and I played a new game which is a bizarre combo of Break Out, pinball and racquetball. You are in this huge dome hitting a ball at targets in 360 degrees. As seems to be the case in almost all VR games we play together, Katie kicked my ass. As we played Katie told me she had another long session in VR Chat the previous night. She again had tons of hilarious interactions.
We then VR bowled a few games where I abandoned traditional bowling technique which had not been working for me very well due to my lower body/back not feeling great. Instead I started “throwing” the ball down the lane, overhand. The end result was a backwards spinning ball that I was able to control pretty accurately. I actually beat Katie twice, including a 149 game which may be my best thus far. We shut things down around 11:30 after Cindy sent us both an in game message reminding of the time. Oculus really has a tight and well executed environment, allowing you to interact seamlessly with others on your phone just as easily as if you were in VR with them real time.