–Finally got bagels at Noah’s. Expensive.
–Took a shower.
Month: January 2022 (Page 2 of 3)
–Some progress in online finance: Tried again in Edge to set up a link between BofA and Heritage. Failed again. Went to Safari and succeeded immediately. Don’t know what it is about Edge–ad blocker perhaps–but it has given me problems. So I now have Edge and Safari in the dock–Safari for Kraken, BofA, Heritage, Vanguard; Edge for everything else. Took a little setting up, but it works fine.
–Played with watches, got some more thoughts (and crystals) sorted out.
–Cranked up the Veepeak/Bimmercode app on the iPhone (it wouldn’t connect with the Samsung, possibly because I didn’t have the Veepeak pushed in far enough) and (a) turned off Auto Start-Stop and (b) defaulted to starting in Sport mode. Quick scare when I first tried to start it– it demanded that the key be placed near the steering wheel–but it was fine after that.
–Ordered yet another iPhone SE 2020 (black) from Apple. I love the Samsung, but the Apple is smaller; I figured out how to open it without the passcode; it worked with Bimmercode; it handles calls better in terms of automated hearing aid/earpiece/headset transitions; etc.
–Things continue to fall apart:
–On the brighter side, the Rolex bezel remover came in; blades are nicked up, but I’m working on them. The On-Board Diagnostic tool came in; I bought the Bimmercode app on my Samsung and will probably brick the Electronic Control Unit tomorrow. Ha Ha! Just kidding!
–Went to Noah’s for bagels. Skeleton crew and no sesame bagels.
–and that’s about it…
–Tested the Mini: putting it in Sport mode after starting does disable the auto-stop function.
–Still can’t buy crypto at Kraken (seven-day $10k rule, though it seems like today would be okay). [edit] Tried again at 8:30 PM and was able to buy $5,000 Ethereum via BofA. Still can’t set up transfers at BofA for Heritage: they seem to be looking for ATM card info instead of checking/savings account info. Guess I’ll try it in person.
–Bought and installed Bimmercode on the Samsung; ordered an OBD (on-board diagnostic) connector from Amazon. Should allow me to do many things to the Mini, like starting in Sport mode.
–Took the Mini to the Folsom farmers market for clementines and broccoli, then to Black Sails for coffee–he hadn’t put it out yet. Went back a couple of hours later and got it.
–Took a shower.
–Got a call from Vanguard and sorted out my login problem. It was not–as I suspected–a case of all new accounts having a seven-day hold. It seemed to be the the ad blocker in Edge. I white-listed V in the blocker and all seems good. It looks like I could get access to Grace’s accounts, but I’d need her phone for the 2FA.
–Tried to buy some bitcoin at Kraken, was told no: $10k max in a rolling seven-day period (I was able to buy $5k Algorand yesterday via Heritage). This is getting surrealistic.
–Picked up the Mini Cooper S at Niello. They initially wanted to add a $5,000 “market adjustment” and a $995 tracking device. I put the kibosh on those pretty quick. Car is small, nimble, not terribly powerful, and may have a front-end wobble of some sort. All in all it seems sort of anti-climactic: nice new car, nowhere to go.
–Called support at Vanguard (got the number from google, not Vanguard). The good: I got a tech on the phone pretty quickly. The bad: she wasn’t terribly knowledgeable, and apparently it’s fairly common for new accounts to be on hold for 7 days–except for Grace’s. Super annoying how I’m not being allowed to move/access my money.
–Takada santoku came in. Nice polish, but feels kind of sterile factory rather than hand-made. Will sell or something.
–Not a word–phone or email–from John Escudero at Vanguard. I emailed him yesterday after our call, and left him a voice message today. Very disappointing. [edit] John called around 3 PM, introduced us to a tech who walked us through the elaborate procedure of setting up the transfers, which should be final in a week or so. Meanwhile, I had to use Safari to log in, perhaps because I had the anti-paywall extension on (not clear), and now I have a hold on my account. The delays in my attempts to organize/optimize my finances are really getting obnoxious.
–Went to Costco with Grace for water, polish sausage, pasta, peanut butter pretzels, toilet paper. Then to Bel Air for apples, milk, cream cheese, cream cheese.
–Spent a while trying to figure out how to order pickup pizza at Il Forno Classico. Gave up and ate Marie (so to speak).
–Got a call from Niello BMW: the Mini Cooper is here. Will pick it up on Thursday.