ethanwhatsgood

For the past 10+ years, I've driven in confidence with my E46 BMW. I've always had a full-size spare tire in my trunk. Whether commuting around town or traveling on an over 9-hour leg of a road trip, a flat tire was the least of my roadside repair concerns. However, I have a new car that presents a new challenge for me. My new-to-me E85 Z4 3.0si has no such full-size spare tire. I have a compact spare tire but it takes up most of my precious cargo space. From the factory, my Z4 came with run-flat tires. These tires are designed to work with no air pressure for a limited time at a limited speed. They are also awful. Awful for performance and handling and awful for comfort. The previous owner was nice enough to ditch them and install probably the best tires money can buy at the time - Michelin Pilot Super Sports. The Pilot Super Sports are a traditional radial tire. When they're flat, they're flat. Meaning unlike the run-flats, the tire has to be changed when punctu

As an outdoor hobbyist, you can find me at my two Vegas REI locations weekly. Whether I'm looking to modify my Hydroflask, picking up CO2 canisters, or stocking up on energy gels for an upcoming ride, it is always a pleasure to visit my REI. So upon landing in Seattle with no particular plans, it made sense for me to bolt straight to the REI flagship store. After downing a local beer and eating some poutine, of course. The flagship store can be easily spotted from the I-5 southbound lanes with its towering glass structure. It's an easy trek from the Capitol Hill light rail station, which I rode to from SeaTac Airport, baggage in hand. With 2 floors, an indoor rock climbing wall, and tons of gear for the outdoor enthusiast, this particular store is a dream to visit. Although REI stocks thousands of items for any outdoor occasion, I was here for one thing: cycling. In particular, mountain bikes to test ride on their on-property test trail. The test trail has some

I drove to LA for a day. I don't like cats. I hung out at the Cat Cafe Lounge on South Sepulveda Blvd. for an hour. Elevated two stories above the streets of Los Angeles, exists the Cat Cafe Lounge, a sanctuary for rescued cats. These cats are refurbished, brought into the cafe to serve for an undetermined length of time, and will then hopefully go home with a customer who is willing to adopt them to live out the rest of their days. A more personable approach to the traditional no-kill animal shelter. A narrow stairway leads up to the cafe A tough sell to the Cafe is the price of admission. Although it includes tea or coffee, it may be quite steep to the casual cat person.  Once you pass the admission with your drink in hand, you enter the double chamber doors to enter the Cafe itself. I was impressed with the construction of the place with its shelves, bridges, and towers for cats to parkour on.  I was bummed out to find that most of the cats don't do

On a work trip to Tempe, Arizona, I stayed right across from Sun Devil Stadium at Arizona State University. The surrounding town is littered with these shareable electric scooters from two companies, Lime and Bird. My work group was intrigued by these things and decided to try them out to commute to places around town. We used both Lime and Bird. Here's what I thought about them. Convenient  These scooters are easy and convenient to hop on an go. There are no docking stations, so you just grab an available one that' s standing on the street, scan it with their respective app, and then scoot on your way. The Lime app is easy to use. I didn't have any problems aside from connecting my Google Pay account at first, but within 5 minutes of initial setup, I was on my way.  These things are dangerous  These scooters top out at around 18.5 mph, and most of the time, you'll be traveling at that speed. You're supposed to share the bike lane with these things w

My E46 in the Angeles Forest. At the rate that I've been driving, I'm guaranteed to hit 200,000 miles in my E46 this year. I'm very proud of the miles that I've racked up as it is not easy maintaining a high-mileage, out-of-warranty German vehicle. This car hasn't seen the inside of a shop since 2013, aside from receiving alignments. At the time of writing this, I am currently at 191,891 miles. In order to make it to 200K and eat up the remaining 8,109 miles in the coming months, I plan to tackle some work that ranges from basic maintenance to a complete overhaul of some systems. Basic maintenance. The easy stuff. 1) Oil and filter replacement. I use Mobil-1 0W-40 European Car Formula engine oil. For the filter, I use either OEM BMW or Mann Filter . 2) Tire rotation 3) Differential fluid flush Cosmetics. 1) Every change of season, I like to clay and wax the paint. I'm overdue for another round. Currently, my preferred wax is Collinite No. 845 .

My Disney-carry is sacred to me. What is the result of years of experience, including my year as an Annual Passholder visiting the Disneyland Resort, I have perfected an essential list of items that I need while spending an entire day expressing my Disney side. If you are interested in any of these items, I've set up Amazon Affiliate  links to purchase them.  1)  PacSafe Vibe 25 PacSafe makes some incredible anti-theft baggage. Is it effective? Don’t know. But it offers some awesome peace of mind while traveling through thick crowds, such as those at a Disney park. The Vibe 25 is perfect for travel. It’s my personal item on flights, my urban explorer bag, and even my main hiking bag. It’s the perfect size for storing tons of items without being too large. That’s what you want for underneath and airplane seat, covering miles throughout a cityscape, or in this case, storing on the floor of a roller coaster train while you launch into the first inversion of Rock ‘n’