LIFE: I am sad that I find coupons and discounts still feel too expensive to buy

Just received some coupons for fast food restaurant. I remember in my youth when these were great deals, but now even the discounted price seems too high too buy. 

$X.00 off? No longer even 50% off the item good.

BUY 1 GET 1 for $X.00? No longer BOGO?

Plus how expensive fast food is lately, I can only count my blessing that I am past the age of convenience. Inflation is also crazy... X%? It's more like 200%. My groceries typically cost around $100 just a year ago but now $300 for the same items.

I stopped using Microsoft Visual Studio and Azure (2019)

I am mostly a hobbyist developer. I had moved to more process management in software engineering. So the cost of paying for the professional version ($1200 / $800) of Visual Studio is quite steep even though I still paid for several years. I am aware there is an Express version which I had used initially but the professional provided a lot of neat features also provided Azure credit so I figured it compensated some of the cost.

I was content with paying but then my real work got busy for several months, also many things came up in my personal life, so I had neglected programming for a bit. When I returned, I realized Visual Studio no longer let me log in. I eventually found that my subscription had expired. I then noticed that I had received a bunch of emails that said I was overdue. This was due to a fraudulent charge on my credit card which was canceled, and that card was the one on record to renew.

This was extremely confusing, because I thought they had moved to subscription basis which I had been paying. When I paid all the overdue costs, I was still unable to use VS 2019. But somehow VS was separate and that had expired several months past, so it will cost me another $1200 to repurchase to use. I am still a bit confused exactly what is what, like what was Visual Studio and what was monthly subscription.

My current understanding is that I was paying monthly for Azure which does not include VS. I had paid for VS the prior year. Sadly, I didn't notice that I had been paying some much to MS for so long. So I still have Azure to host my site temporarily, but absolutely no access to VS. But if I paid for VS, then I should basically own my copy of VS. After talking to support, this was confirmed to be the case. I was unable to find a key in my MSDN subscription. I just grew tired and frustrated, then just refused to use VS again... not even the Express version.

On top of that, since I had purchased VS 2019, I should have had $50 monthly credit to Azure so why was I paying the Azure monthly costs (which was under $50 / month)?! Ugh.... this is so painful.

In Summary

I had once forgot to renew in the past and paid the full cost, so this is the second time. I was barely ok with the cost. Then they moved me to subscription basis which I had complained about because I just wanted to pay a flat amount. Then I found out that I still had to pay the VS subscription and I guess I was paying the Azure subscription. I had been using VS for over 10 years, maybe around 15 years.... and absolutely no sympathy for my situation. I have been a promoter of MS VS, .NET, and MS SQL, but no longer. I don't hate them, but definitely no love anymore. 

And so, I have moved to Google Cloud, Linux, Python, Apache, Django, and Postgres. After one week, the pricing scheme is very reasonable for hobbyists and people who wants to experiment before going full production. First impressions for this new tech stack will come in the future.

Will I go back? Maybe if there were some changes, but unlikely. I'll continue to use MS Windows, although a good chance I may move

My Thoughts: "...people used to be called pirates. Now they're open source enthusiasts."

I found it quite entertaining reading the comments to a blog by Jeff Atwood (https://blog.codinghorror.com/we-dont-use-software-that-costs-money-here/). A large amount of them were dedicated to a single paragraph: "It's tempting to ascribe this to the 'cult of no-pay', programmers and users who simply won't pay for software no matter how good it is, or how inexpensive it may be. These people used to be called pirates. Now they're open source enthusiasts."

Why I find this so fascinating was how at-arms people were defending themselves as if the paragraph was a personal attack on them as software users. At first, I just thought it was the one or two people who always make a big deal about a small thing (the paragraph was not even the point of the blog). But as I continued to read, you see comments (paraphrasing): "long time reading, but not anymore." All over few statements (did I mention that it was not even the point of the blog?).

Still and in a more serious tone, the commenters even appeared to have missed the whole point of the paragraph. First to address the logical problem that keeps irking me. A lot of commenters were basically saying "pirates != open source enthusiasts" but the paragraph reads more like "pirates then open source enthusiasts".

Besides the logical discrepancy, the definition of "pirate" isn't the typical use of the actual people who "steals" software. From the usage, I took the scope of the meaning of pirate to be the group of people who used paid-software for free by downloading hacked or opened software or obtaining keys illegally. Common things that I saw back in college: MS Windows, MS Office, Starcraft, etc.

To me it was felt so ironic that those defending to never have been a pirate probably has used pirated products (I am clumping in MP3 and movies here)... with or without their knowledge. At least back in the day, that was the sign of a good technical engineer... so it is very hard for me to imagine an IT/SW person to not have used pirated products.

Perhaps the confusion is due to the use of the term "open source" instead of "free" or "cost-free" software. Because some commenters were saying "free" being open-source instead of closed-source software. But the article is about costs, so I am not sure why the confusion exists.

Basically, I read the paragraph of people who were users of pirated software are now users of open source software. I have the same sentiments. With more readily available no-cost software, most people have steered more away from pirated software.

Disclaimer

I am pretty sure I've posted a blog about this (blame my fault memory). The periods outside of the quotes are intentional... it just bugs me to use periods within quotes when it is not related to the quote.

Also, I am not sure why I am easily amused by these things.

Reference

https://blog.codinghorror.com/we-dont-use-software-that-costs-money-here/
https://perlbuzz.com/2008/04/10/open_source_is_not_piracy/

Review: Replacing Flat Tire on Honda Civic 2012 (1 hour)

I do not know what I ran over the other day, but I suddenly got a low air alarm on my car as I was driving last night. When I got back home, I could hear the air coming out of the front driver side tire. It was dark and rainy so I figured I'll look at it in the morning.

Sadly (but not surprised), my tire was flat as can be in the morning. This is my first time having to put on a spare tire. All the previous times, I had enough air to make it to a repair shop.

So, I tried to see how far I can go but I got on stuck on the very first step, where to put the jack. I went to the trusty YouTube videos. The jack went where it seemed pretty obvious. There is a notch near each wheel on where the jack should go. This is where I would have guessed if I were stuck in the middle of nowhere. I was concerned because the area is an edge not a flat surface which was what I was expecting.

Before raising the jack, I had loosened the lug nuts as recommended on the video. Then, I spent a lot of time trying to raise the jack. I had some trouble because I was too close to the lawn so I did not have complete clearance to make continuous circles. Eventually, I got it to where it needed to go.

The lug nuts were easy to figure out although I had to put a lot of weight into it to loosen them up before. Everything up to this point is demonstrated in the first video [1]. I even laid the nuts out so that I could put them back in the same order.

Then I got stumped because my tire was stuck. The video [1] shows the tire easily came up, practically just fell off. I was really tugging and at some point I realized that I should stop before I knock the car off the jack. Then, I looked for another video [2] on stuck tires.

Fortunately, someone happened to come by and was able to help me. He was able to get a piece of plywood and a mallet. He basically did what was on the second video except he used the plywood to prevent any potential damage the mallet could do. With a couple hard hits, he was able to get the tire to pop off.

I put on the spare, then put the lug nuts back on in a star pattern as recommended in the video. I brought the car to a tire repair place nearby and had my tire patched up for $28 including tax and service. The guy even said that it was patched from the inside and 'plugged' from the outside. Supposedly, patching the inside is better which made sense to me.

Although I was a little bummed by the flat, I felt good about the experience in putting on a spare and getting this all done in a day. I probably could do the entire process within 15-30 minutes.

I still had the low air warning with the spare tire. I am not sure if it went away when they replaced the tire or if they had to enter some code to reset it.

Steps to Replace Flat Tire with Spare

1. Loosen lug nuts
2. Place jack in appropriate spot
3. Raise car until front tire is off the ground plus a little extra if the tire is extremely flat
4. Remove lug nuts
5. Remove tire
6. Put on spare
7. Put on lug nuts and tighten in a star pattern
8. Clean up tools, put flat tire in car

Reference

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gSyHyrFN2Y - Video on replace the front driver side tire on a Honda Civic
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7PWwrcGREM - Video on getting tire off when stuck (EricTheCarGuy)

Review: 2013 metrics for Honda Civic 2012

Gas Data for 2013

First full year of data for my Honda Civic 2012.

Total Miles Driven	10696
Total Gallons of Gas	311.72
Total Cost of Gas	$1,025.22
Gas Milage	34.31
Average Price per Gallon	$3.29

MPG

Gas Mileage has dropped from 35 mpg to 34.31 mpg. Now average 34.86 mpg lifetime. I'm not sure if this is due to my mom using my car for a month but somehow her mpg is much lower than mine.

Average Gas Price

Interestingly, gas price is lower than total average $3.34 and a 2012 average $3.43. 

Insurance

Premium went up $10 with Geico.

Reference

http://douglastclee.blogspot.com/2013/08/review-honda-civic-2012-age-450-days.html

Review: Honda Civic 2012 - Age 450 days

It has been almost half a year since my last cost analysis of my car.

In general, the car still drives well. In a long drive, I have actually managed to get around 49 miles / gallon for about a mile. I am not sure how much historical data the car uses to calculate that, but that was around 2 hours into my trip. My gas efficiency for the entire trip (calculating from my gas receipts) was around 44.5 miles / gallon. The ticket efficiency for highway is 41 mpg, so I am still quite happy about that.

During that trip and judging from the gas efficiency meter, the car drives most effectively between 55 mph to 65 mph. I think it is most effective around 55 mph including all the slight hills. When I reach 70 - 75 mph, the efficiency drops sharply just to maintain a constant speed. Also to note, there was a lot of rain during my trip. This may be a factor but I am not knowledgeable to know.

As for the life of my car, I am averaging around 35 mpg and $3 per day on gas. The cost per day for the total cost on the car has dropped to $54.28 per day from $81.73 per day since the previous post. This cost is estimated to reach $6.78 when the car reaches 10 years assuming gas and insurance remains the same.

It is still cheaper to not own a car in New York City and pay per trip ($2.50 per trip) if you go out once a day (including work). A monthly pass is clearly a cheaper alternative to a car. To top it off, the cost of the car would be greater than $6.78 if you need to pay for parking and lower fuel efficiency. The positive of owning and using a car is the convenience and possibly safety.

Life: What is the cost per day to owning a car (Take 4 of infinite)

Purpose: There was a period of time that I lived in the city and did not own a car. I have always wondered what are the cost benefits of not owning a car. Besides the cost of the car, I also wanted to include gas and insurance.

Assumptions: Cost of the car is the total cost. This includes tax, fees, paperwork, registration, and basically anything to the one-time payment to purchasing a car. If you do not know how much those are, the cost of the car alone will probably be around $20-21k depending on where you live. The metrics that I have provided are from a 2012 Honda Civic which is about 10 months old. I did not include any other maintenance costs at this time but given a 10 year period, this cost should be negligible. I used 10 years because I figure almost all car models should be last at least 10 years. Calculating months, I assume month is approximately 30.42 days or (365 days / 12 months).

Estimate corrections: The car is newer so will be slightly more gas efficient than older cars. Gas efficiency is mix between regular mode and gas efficient mode. 80% of trips are within 15-30 miles; 20% 120 miles; about 2-4 trips over 500 miles.

Conclusion: The metro is approximately $2.50 / trip or $112 / month (45 trips to break even) or about $1350 / year, so commuting would save approximately $4000 / year. Living expense is much cheaper outside the city. On rent alone, I save approximately $800 / month or $9600 / year. Also, I expect my car to last more the 10 years (hopefully, 20 before any major problems occur) so effectively the final cost will be $6.58 less per day after 10 years. If you expect about $1000 in maintenance, then add approximately $2.80 per day.

Metrics:
Car: $24,000

Expected life: 10 years (~365 * 10)

Car per day: $6.575

Insurance (comprehensive): $1600 / year

Insurance per day: $4.38

Miles per day: 35 miles / day

Gas efficiency: 35 miles / gallon

Gas usage: 1 gallon / day

Cost of gas: $3.50 / gallon

Cost of gas per day: $3.50 / day

Total cost / day: $14.45 / day
Total cost / month: $439.52 / month

Total cost / year: $5,274.25 / year

Costs do not include repairs, oil changes, and other maintenance costs.