As you’ve surely gathered by now, I’ve spent the past week in North Carolina, which means I am also in the Eastern Time Zone.
When I do travel, which I try to avoid, it reminds me how lucky I am to live in the PST when it comes to trading hours. See, I’m an early riser naturally, getting up no later than 5:30 in the morning on my own (and more typically 5). That gives me at least an hour to putter around pre-open all by myself, which typically means walking my bigger dogs, reading Palo Alto’s slender daily paper, and having some breakfast. It’s still dark outside, but I have just enough time to get myself ready for the day, which I normally anticipate with eagerness.
On the flip side, it means that my day is wrapped at 1 p.m., which means I’m available to whatever the family requires. Of course, I never stop working at 1. I crank out something like 50 to 70 posts every week, and I enjoy doing so. The point is that my hours and lifestyle are exceptionally comfortable and flexible.
Here in the EST, however, it doesn’t feel right at all. I still get up at 5, but there are HOURS to go until the market opens. By the time the market deigns to let people trade at 9:30 (which seems insanely late in the day already), I already feel off kilter. Worse than that, when the closing bell rings t 4, I can never get used to the fact that the day is, in fact, pretty much over. It’s a time phase I truly don’t like, so I’m pleased to report I’ll be getting on a plane this evening to go home.
Squirrel was kind enough to suggest a couple of post topics: one was my off-handed remark that Durham, NC made Palo Alto, CA seem like MAGA country, and the other was reflections on owning the same Tesla car for so many years. I don’t have a ton to say about either of those, so I can cover them both in this post.
As for the Tesla, it has about 170,000 miles on it, which is vastly more than I’ve ever had on any other car. I bought it in 2012, I think, and after a trip to the very overpriced car wash, it still looks fantastic (on the outside, at least; I’ve got 3 dogs, remember). I’ve never had any serious trouble with the car, or even medium-level trouble. In all these years, and all those miles, the most serious fix I’ve needed was getting the automatic handles replaced, since they tend to wear out over time. Those replacements were done free of charge.
I would also add that, over those 170,000 miles, which is almost as far away as the moon from Earth, I’ve had to replace zero filters, zero fan belts, zero oil, and had to purchase zero gas. The charging has been completely free, since I bought it so early and it came with lifetime $0 charging. So, yeah, it was a really, really good decision, and my wife wants another Tesla Model S just……..because. Thus, this older model will become the dog car exclusively.
As for the politics around here, my remark was probably not actually factually accurate, but my impression is drawn from the various bars and restaurants I’ve been to, since I’ve seen way, way, WAY more, shall we say, unusual people than I ever see in my own town. Tattoos seem to be virtually a legal requirement, and there’s all kinds of colored hair, cross-dressing, rainbow flags, trans folks, pierced God-knows-what, and all sorts of other Tim-is-too-boring-to-do-this-stuff kinds of things going on. It also feels like a Bernie Sanders rally held in Berkeley, which must make it weird for these people in the middle of an otherwise very red state.
The poverty, too, is striking, since in spite of the fact that the races are VASTLY more integrated here than Palo Alto (I cannot overstate that, and I’ve written about it before), the neighborhoods are likewise highly Balkanized by wealth. And when I say “wealth”, I am not referring to the kind I am accustomed to, such as the fact I live only a few blocks away from Mark Zuckerberg but my street isn’t quite as nice as his. I’m talking about the difference between a neighborhood where peoeple manage to pay their bills on time and a neighborhood in which you feel your very life is in danger after 8 p.m. That’s, ummm, kind of novel for me.
Anyway, as I said, today is my last day here, and I look forward to being with my dogs, my big-ass monitors, and my chickens once more. I’ll see you when the market eventually opens later.
