It was time for me to request a technology upgrade at work. Moving from a 10th gen Intel Dell Precision 5550 to an M2 Pro MacBook Pro. It should be here on Monday and I am very excited to get more than two hours of battery life. 🍎
I went to see Chipman pass in Lees Summit today and saw it has been destroyed. They are putting in a three lane. I am totally crushed. I would come here late at night to do runs on summer evenings. maps.app.goo.gl/qc53TWqiN…
It was a special day today.
I went into the Acura dealer to take a look at the Integra Type S. I had been interested in it for a while now, but it was nothing more than a passing interest. However, after talking with a few of the sales reps, they gave me a deal I could not refuse. They offered me the MSRP sale price of my 2019 Civic Type R as trade in value. In other words, they offered me a trade in credit equal to what I paid for the car brand new in 2019. 🤯 I took the deal and quickly got into a gorgeous “platinum white pearl” Type S.
This is not a typical “day in the life” type of event for me (clearly), but it is something I must write about. I’ll miss my Civic Type R; that car did a lot for me. It was a purchase of passion that followed my renewed interest in the automotive field. This interest pulled me out of a sadness that had followed me for years prior. It’s hard to explain, and it sounds very silly and materialistic. It wasn’t the car itself that put me into a better place, thankfully I can take the credit for that. The Type R did, however, symbolicly represent that special moment in my life where I felt a new passion for the first time in years. It represents the bloom of my 20s, even if that bloom came quite late (27).
I don’t have many new photos of my new Type S as of writing, as it was pouring rain today. Fitting for a bitter sweet day; the beginning of fall in the USA. There will be more photos to come once the weather improves, but for now here are a few from my garage.
Here’s to my 30s, I suppose! I can’t wait to take this car on some new adventures.
It’s the last day of summer for 2023. Hope you enjoyed it, folks!
A strict exercise and diet routine no longer works for me as it did just a few years ago. I am not sure what changed, outside of aging, but it is really frustrating. Somewhat recently, I tried intaking around 1400 KCal / day (on average per-week) along with low-sugar intake and my weight barely budged even after a few months. I really don’t think I can go lower than this, so off to the doctor I go! Hopefully I can get a metabolic study done, or at least get my thyroid looked at. Thankfully my weight has not ballooned, but I should be about 30 pounds (13.5 kg) lighter than I am today.
Lambda looking a little frightened… a normal response to being picked up by a giant.
I had an awesome day at the Kansas City Zoo! I wish I took more photos but I get pretty swept up with the sights.
So psyched that football is back. Go Chiefs! 🏈
For many years now, I have used Dyson products: two Pure Hot+Cool HP04, one Pure Humidify+Cool PH01 and a few of their vacuums. When it comes to the vacuums, I couldn’t be happier with the performance and experience provided. As for the humidfier and heaters, though… it is complicated.
Originally, I purchased a pair of Pure Hot+Cool HP04 heaters for the winter time. I keep one in my bedroom and one in my office where my pet guinea pigs live. I made a quick assumption during my purchase that you “get what you pay for.” Dyson’s products are attractive and expensive, so I figured they would offer the highest performance. As it turns out, in this case, it isn’t true.
My first and chief complaint about these devices: they all suffer from build quality defects that lead to noise pollution. I don’t use that term lightly. It is seriously unbearable at times, to the point that I *must* turn the device off for my own sanity. Typically, the issue happens at the lowest speeds. There is some sort of fan oscillation going on that leads to the highest pitch squeeling imagineable. This happens with three of my Dyson fans; this is no fluke. When the fan is set to run above level 4 (out of 10) the squeeling will subside. Still, not ideal. Nearly a deal breaker for the product as a whole, in fact.
My second complaint is that the air filtration offered by these machines is horrifically poor. The CADR (clean air delivery rate) rating is laughably low, and cheaper products exist that do the job far better. In fact, strapping MERV 8 rated HVAC filter on to a box fan does a better job. No, I’m not kidding. Check out this CBC News video for details on that one.
Not only is the filtration unbearably slow, the filters within the unit cost around $80 to replace as of writing (2023), and they only last about one year before the Dyson app warns about ordering a replacement. In contrast, BlueAir offers a 211+ auto model with a filter that lasts WAY longer with over 4x the CADR. The replacement filter for the BlueAir? It is only $50. As of the time of writing, the BlueAir machine costs a whopping $250 less than what I paid for my Dyson, and it costs less in filter replacements, too. All of this is why my dining room / kitchen area is proudly accompanied by a BlueAir 211+ Auto.
My final complaint (whew, as if I could be any more negative) is that the Pure Humidify+Cool PH01 takes what feels like forever to humidfy a room of any size. I believe this problem is very much aligned with the CADR problem. These fans simply do not move a lot of air, and that is by design. They are very nice to use as a personal fan, as they are (supposed to be) quiet and focused.
However, the Pure Humidify+Cool PH01 has a benefit I haven’t seen in other humidifiers in that it actually cleans the water before it puts it out into the room. It does this with UV light, which rocks, because typical humidfiers you see on Amazon are utter garbage in this respect. Don’t believe me? Buy a random Amazon humidifier and let it run while it sits next to a smart air filter such as a Dyson or BlueAir. Your air filters will fight for their lives trying to pull the gunk out of the air. With the Dyson PH01, no problems, the air is clean.
Now here is where things get complicated. These machines all perform a very specific subset of features that you will not find elsewhere. After getting fed up with the compromises, I started looking for alternatives only to find myself at an impasse. I wanted the best possible result in each of the respective areas (do one thing and do it well).
If I wanted the best possible air filtration system, I could get a BlueAir for my bedroom and for my office. However, these are not heaters. Because of this, I’d also need to buy a set of heaters, and as it turns out, really good space heaters cost really good money. For example, De’Longhi offers a very nice oil-filled radiator style heater for around $170. Ouch! But wait… the BlueAir filter is not a heater, and it is also not a fan. So now a pair of high-quality fans are required. At this point, I’m up to a total of six devices (three for each room) to replace the two Dyson machines that I have. That means three total electrical outlets instead of one, and three times the space (which I do not have). The total cost of these machines added together would be in the same ballpark range as a Dyson. Whoops! No money saving to be found here (this wasn’t the goal, but it would have been nice).
All of what I have touched on so far doesn’t address the problem of finding a good humidifier that outputs clean air (good luck with that shit, I tried). The integrated IoT (internet-of-things) capability was also not accounted for in my quest for the best, though you likely won’t find anything that works together as seemlessly as Dyson.
I guess this is essentially where Dyson has the market. It’s a bit strange, but this is a case where the market leader is a jack of all trades, and master of none: It’s not the best fan, it’s not the best heater (or humidifier), and it’s not the best air filter… but it does all three of these things while using very little space, and for a competitive price.
For now, I’ll be coughing up $80 for an air filter.
September is here once again… it has quickly become one of my favorite months. For whatever reason, around this time in the year, I start to reflect on where I am in life and where I want to be.