New Audi Q5

So Mar-17-2016 was a big day for us. We leased a new Audi Q5 2.0T , Premium Plus. I think everyone including the little one  is excited about the new car.

What I learned about the financial element. 

Despite haggling the MSRP by12%, The dealer refused to budge on the overheads on the lease costs, and those are substantial. The cost of money is a lot higher than the finance option, and there was an upfront charge. In short, the only advantage I see of leasing is to split a purchase into two halves.

1. The super expensive first half. 

2. And a reasonable second half. 

First Impressions 

We are at 100+ miles right now, so well within the break-in period for the tires and the engine. 

What I Love so far:

1. Looks - It was hands down the best looking SUV we tried. We looked at the X3 ( ugliest), GLC300 ( not too bad ), Infinity FX35, The Lexus 350. The best feature if the car are the tail lights and the headlights, and the beautiful Audi Grille.

2. Interiors: A bit on the plainer side, but very well refined and lots of attention to detail.

3. NAV and the center screen between the analog dials. Cant go wrong with Google maps. 

4. Audi Connect: Very nice and capable system. Next gas, or Next restaurant would be a nice touch on road trips.

5. Spaciousness: The cabin is super spacious, Plenty of room in the front and the back. One great feature is that the rear seats slide forward to make more room for cargo if needed. 

6. Panoramic roof is gorgeous. I would love to see how it feels to go on a scenic drive with that.
Andrew certainly enjoys it.

7. The B&O sound system is crystal clear .

8. The rear seats recline a tad bit, and can shift back and forth to make room for more cargo.

9. The puddle lights, pretty useful feature.

10. The auto mirror fold on locking the car

11. The passenger side mirror folding down for better view of the verb.

12. The auto dimming feature on the mirrors is really cool.

13. Backup camera and the parking sensor are really nice.


What I don't like:
1. Size of the MMI screen and the fact that it is not a touch screen
2. The MMI system is slow. Very slow.
3. Voice recognition needs a lot to be desired.
4. The side mirrors, although great for visibility to the back, is so big, that it creates a blind spot in the front.
5. Ergonomics of the system is a B at best. The functionality of some common stuff is buried too deep.
6. The wheel controls should have had more ways to control the MMI. esp track +/-.

First Half Marathon.

Synopsis:
------------
Average Pace: 10:23 / mile.
Training Lead Time : 4-5 Weeks.
Longest Training Run: 10.2 Miles.
Average Training Pace: 11:00 - 11:30

About 4 weeks of training is what it took. And towards the end, I seemed to have overtrained, so I rested for the last 4-5 days. And that helped.

When I was training, I could rarely get my speed up above 5.2-5.4 mph.

My first few miles were a little rough, with some cramping in my legs. But that opened up and I got a lot faster after that. The last 4 miles, I began to feel the fatigue, but from my splits it would appear that slowed only marginally.

During training, my longest run was 10 miles. But the last three miles were not too bad, although my legs were clearly not conditioned.

Another thing that helped was the weather and the carb gels, I must have had 6 of them.

So in the end, I finished strong at 2:17. I surprised myself, because I was projecting between 2:30-2:40.

So in all, happy, But I am done with running distance for at least 4-5 months. I am now switching training to strength and TKD.

The stormy beginning to 2016

2015 ended on a personal high note for me. Vacation in india for a month, was relaxed, without my usual fears and worries.

But I was not watching the markets. The last month of 2015, the markets were correcting. China troubles and oil in free fall.

When I came back, I was dismayed by Apple's fall to below 100. Today its at 95. A lot of the hoped for gains have evaporated.

Along with that both wealth front, and OptionHouse are down about 8-10%. My 401K is down 11% just in the last 3 months.

I have arranged for larger than usual 401K withdrawals to take advantage of the dip. But there is little hope in sight.

On top of that seems like I might have to buy a new car. The Audi is having issues with oil pressure. and we drove a bit with it like that. We will have a better picture in a week or so.

So I am out a whopping 3K for just fixing the car, without too many assurances as to what other damage may have been inflicted.

On the upside, my wealth front and OH accounts turned positive, and AAPL surged to 100. I sold all holdings.

Now I am wrestling with the decision to buy a luxury car. I think a nice luxury SUV will provide a lot of utility. And its something I can take pride in. So steaming ahead with the plan.

Plan is to trade the Audi in.

===
Update mid-march.

So an expensive spike has ended. The Audi has been traded in. Got a meer 4K for it. Signed up for a Brand New Q5 Lease. Aggressively brought down the MSRP, however, the finance cost of lease are quite high.

In the end, I suppose the only advantage of a lease is you buy the same car twice. Half of it each time and this in total is more expensive than buying it outright. But it has the benefit of easing your cash flow at any given time.  So I will stop thinking about the finances, and put aside 4-5K for a years worth of payments and enjoy the car.

Upped my insurance payments quite a bit.

On the up side. I own a gorgeous new Audi Q5.
My Option house account is positive, Wealthfront is almost 10% up, regained most of my 401K losses. And AAPL is at 106. So A lot better than how the year began.

2015 - A very good year.

2015 comes to a close. And I don't remember a time in my life that I have been happier.
For most of it, 2015, was a relaxed year. Nothing too exciting, just plain old relaxed and good times.
We bought our first home in the US in the beginning of the year, and that was a very big and positive experience.

Doing things with Andrew in our neighborhood, biking with him, going on walks, was such a great thing.

Stress at work probably dropped to about half of its usual intensity.

We saved for the future, while we furnished what is pretty close to our dream home.

Had good times with friends. And now at the end of the year, I am back in India, amazing food, lots of sleep, and three marriages.

2015 ended on a perfect note. thank you 2015.

My first ever 10K

After the exciting yet somewhat dis-appointing Shasta Summit bid, I have decided to throw away all my reservations and fears. I am not impulsive, and even though I failed at Shasta, I was a lot more richer for the experience. So staying in the same spirit, I impulsively have signed myself up for my first 10K. I am not good at running, but I think my attitude to running really holds me back.

I found a 10k, a mile from my place, at the coyote Creek trail. This is the same trail I go cycling at. The event is on September 9th. Which is , IMO, just enough time to get somewhat prepared. It cost me around 40 dollars. So it was reasonably affordable, very close to my place, reasonably soon but not too soon. All the conditions were right. It was too easy and convenient for me to pass up.

I will start training tomorrow and see how far I get. I am guessing, I will run at 4 miles an hour.  So , without even starting, I am setting my goal at 100 minutes. I will adjust this up or down as the training progresses.

Planned training course 1. Approx 3 miles.

This is the training template I plan on using:
http://www.actionaid.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/10k_schedule.pdf

My first run was 2.6 Miles, and my second was 4.5 Miles. My pace seems to be an easy 11 min/Mile.
I was not cardio-vascularly challenged at the pace, but my legs need strengthening before I can push the speed, I have not run significant distances for more than 2-3 years. I think I should be able to finish the race in about 70 mins as of Jul 31, 2015.

I did my first ever 5 Miler. I took me a little less than an hour. It included a steep hill in the 3rd mile, which slowed me down. I can now see, that its not so easy to cut down the time. When I was biking I was gaining 10% speed everytime I rode. My running pace has been flat. I was not particularly winded today at my ~ 11min / mile pace. I don't have any doubts that I can complete the 10K, but, at my present time I am going to take 70+ minutes. The goal now is to be done close to 60 minutes.

{UPDATE} Managed to finish the race in 69 minutes.  Felt a lot tougher than planned. Because I stopped training.. But all in all I felt great for having completed.

Mount Shasta - Just not enough!

In the early morning of 25th july 2015, I tried climbing Mount shasta, and I was found wanting.

There were a lot of things that went wrong with our plans, but in my heart, I know that I probably would not have made it to the summit even in the most ideal of conditions.

The first piece of bad news was received as we were getting ready to set out to mount shasta. Rahul, Ashwin, Nitish and I had gathered at Nitish's place, when we got a call from our guide company. A freak rainstorm had wiped out the road leading to the trailhead. One thing lead to another and we were eventually routed to the avalanche gulche route. 

When I first heard it, I was a bit surprised. As far as I knew , it was too late in the season to try that route. 

But we had no choice and we soldiered on. But the change of route led to a significant change in the equipment list And very expensive delays. Essentially , the guide suggested that on the first day we just hike a short 1.7 miles to horse camp. And try for a direct summit push at midnight. 

Typically Helen lake is a better staging ground for a summit push, but given our late start , it was deemed a bad option. 

The hike out to horse camp was decent enough . We had 45-50 pound bags and made it into camp. From here, things went wrong for me. I started getting a bit unnerved about the prospect of being on exposed sections on the trail. 

I had been mentally prepared for the scree slopes of the clearcreek route. But the idea of trekking through ice and snow scared me. 

Going through self arrest school made things even worse, as i now imagined all the ways i would slip and fall on the ice. 

We were scooted off to bed at 6 pm. From here things got worse for me. The first day's hike was easy and i was not at all tired. It was also my first time sleeping in a tent, on the ground, outside. I was also at about 7800 feet, a lot higher than I was accustomed to. At first , i felt very anxious about the climb, and struggled to fall asleep. As the clock ticked by, i tried all methods to calm down and relax. Eventually, the gorgeous night sky and our locale calmed me down, but yet no sleep. By the time, wake up call came , I had not slept a wink, and I felt very defeated. 

I had gotten up early and packed my bag. I was so pissed off at myself for being unable to fall asleep. I knew then that without sleep i had no chance. 

The night before that i had slept in a room with four friends and restful sleep was very rare. The two days before that i had horrible apnea incidents and felt fatigued the whole day. I dont know if i overtrained or just did not train enough.

Anyhow, we left camp at 120 am. Our initial climb revealed quickly to me that i was having trouble. I became short of breath very quickly. I knew within the first hour that i was in trouble, but i pushed on. Things got better for a bit. My legs were being taxed but not unduly so. I just felt exhausted , and was feeling light headed. I pushed through to Helen lake , and told the group that i was having trouble. It must have been terribly disappointing for them , the guide also expressed his reservations about our likelihood to summit .

In short, that was that. We spent half an hour climbing the ice fall heading up to the heart. But we knew, our summit attempt was over.

I didnt feel too disappointed then, because the experience was so novel, so beyond the normal for me. I had always known that the goal was too ambitious for me. I had been a dedicated couch potato for two long years before working out for two months, and it was plain to see that my conditioning just did not make the cut. Cardio, endurance, quads, all fell woefully short. 

But I went out and did something i had dreamt of for years. I an proud of that. I experienced something that i have never experienced before. 

I also learned the true limit of my abilities. And i know now that i must push harder. 

New Homeowners Adventures - Six months in.

This feels like home now. Still love it. Love the space. Love the privacy (kind of)... Love the views, at least till they build the houses in front. Which should not be that long. Our dishwasher continues to give us trouble. Two leaks and a lot of floorboards later, Lennar has agreed to replace the unit. Hopefully, that will be the end if it. 

The drive to work is not half bad. It takes 20 mins or so in off-peak hours. But on most days I take the bus. In the near future, I am hoping that I will start going to TKD, and that will involve more driving. Utility bills are indeed higher , but in all , I am still quite happy that we took the leap. 

The one big disappointment was my inability to re-finance. Two factors made this particularly hard.

1. I have a HELOC and I am not anywhere close to 80% equity
2. Interest rates are climbing in anticipation of rate hikes.

My far-fetched and ambitious goal was to refinance within six-months to a combination of lower rates and removal of HELOC. But from the looks of it, the HELOC is here to stay.  The combining of the two loans would have de-risked me significantly, while also easing my cash flows. 

So I guess, I am most likely going to stick to plan B. Which is pay down my HELOC as fast as I can. 

So far, I have paid down about 30%. But the rate of repayment should slow down now.