Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

xwesx · November 4

Just a Tuesday morning in Fairbanks…

jmonroe1 · November 4

xwesx said:
Just a Tuesday morning in Fairbanks…

——————————————————-
Is that you taking your morning walk? When I do that I like to walk past palm trees.

jmonroe

nyccarguy · November 4

My server and 2 work stations are all approximately 10 years old. I was told that in a normal retail environment that terminals last 3-5 years max. The biggest thing is that we were told we could get hacked and our data being held for ransom or the server will eventually crash. Either scenario would leave us unable to conduct business for a certain amount of time.

ab348 · November 4

The Win10 laptop I just decommissioned was a 12 y-o Dell Intel I5 processor box. The amount it had slowed down was remarkable, and that is even with an upgrade to a SSD a few years ago. Computers are like people - they get cranky and slow down at a certain age.

stickguy · November 4

Bradd, back up. A lot. That way if you get ransomed just clean it off and start fresh!

tjc78 · November 4

nyccarguy said:
@corvette & @xwesx

My server and 2 work stations are all approximately 10 years old. I was told that in a normal retail environment that terminals last 3-5 years max. The biggest thing is that we were told we could get hacked and our data being held for ransom or the server will eventually crash. Either scenario would leave us unable to conduct business for a certain amount of time.

Unfortunately you probably don't have a choice! You have to stay 100% protected considering you process credit cards. PCI compliance is no joke.

corvette · November 4

I was about to say the same thing as @tjc78 - processing credit cards (and handling other financial data) is something you definitely need to have currently supported hardware and software to do.

oldfarmer50 · November 4

xwesx said:

nyccarguy said:
Looks like upgrading to windows 11 is going to cost me approximately $10K. Money I really wasn’t planning on spending especially given how much I’ve had to spend on inventory and how slow business has been as of late.

So, just throwing this out there as a short term option so you can plan upgrades over a longer timeline:

You *can* update to Windows11 even if the Win11 installer says 'no.' There's a bit of a trick to it, but you basically just mate the Win11 ISO to the Windows 10 installer file. Bingo - upgrade pretty much any machine.

I had my IT dept here breathing down my neck to dump about 20K into computer upgrades, and it just isn't in the cards right now. So, instead, I replaced four machines (out of ten) and upgraded the rest that way. They all receive their Win11 updates without issue.

I can't see the point in tossing perfectly good hardware over some arbitrary line in the sand drawn by software.

I feel sorry for any business owner who has to spend that kind of money on computers. I ran my little business on pen and paper, records, taxes, the whole works. I didn’t even have a cell phone until I started working for Enterprise and that was only because the boss texts start times.

Speaking of cell phones, I recently contacted Fidelity with a question on my company 401k using my land line phone (which is the linked phone) and you wouldn’t believe the trouble I had. Their computer voice auto system asked to send me a text code to verify my identity and just ignored me when I told it I couldn’t receive texts. I then managed to get a human who seemed completely perplexed as to what to do to verify me without a smart phone. I went through 6 people including the one who had to unfreeze my online account. These young wippersnappers hung up on me several times, ghosted me, lied to me and generally made it clear that without a smart phone they weren’t going to help me.

I’m glad I’m closer to the end than the beginning.

xwesx · November 4

nyccarguy said:
@corvette & @xwesx

My server and 2 work stations are all approximately 10 years old. I was told that in a normal retail environment that terminals last 3-5 years max. The biggest thing is that we were told we could get hacked and our data being held for ransom or the server will eventually crash. Either scenario would leave us unable to conduct business for a certain amount of time.

Yes, I was not saying "don't replace them." I was only stating that it isn't the emergency that the IT folks would make it seem. Upgrade the OS on your old hardware now, then you can plan for a system replacement when it works with your business' timeline.

I have a lot of machines that we replace on an 8-10 year timeline, and that is just fine for those because the computing demands on the hardware aren't excessive. It would be a waste of money to replace them on a 3-5 year timeline. I have other machines that we replace 3-5 years because they are taxed, and by the time the replacement time comes, we notice a huge performance improvement in the new hardware. My folks on the 8-10-year machines just get annoyed when I make them take new ones; they view it as nothing more than a hassle.

However.... if you keep using your old hardware with unsupported Windows 10, then yes, they are definitely at increased risk for unpatched vulnerabilities!

jmonroe1 · November 4

oldfarmer50 said:

xwesx said:

nyccarguy said:
Looks like upgrading to windows 11 is going to cost me approximately $10K. Money I really wasn’t planning on spending especially given how much I’ve had to spend on inventory and how slow business has been as of late.

So, just throwing this out there as a short term option so you can plan upgrades over a longer timeline:

You *can* update to Windows11 even if the Win11 installer says 'no.' There's a bit of a trick to it, but you basically just mate the Win11 ISO to the Windows 10 installer file. Bingo - upgrade pretty much any machine.

I had my IT dept here breathing down my neck to dump about 20K into computer upgrades, and it just isn't in the cards right now. So, instead, I replaced four machines (out of ten) and upgraded the rest that way. They all receive their Win11 updates without issue.

I can't see the point in tossing perfectly good hardware over some arbitrary line in the sand drawn by software.
I feel sorry for any business owner who has to spend that kind of money on computers. I ran my little business on pen and paper, records, taxes, the whole works. I didn’t even have a cell phone until I started working for Enterprise and that was only because the boss texts start times.

Speaking of cell phones, I recently contacted Fidelity with a question on my company 401k using my land line phone (which is the linked phone) and you wouldn’t believe the trouble I had. Their computer voice auto system asked to send me a text code to verify my identity and just ignored me when I told it I couldn’t receive texts. I then managed to get a human who seemed completely perplexed as to what to do to verify me without a smart phone. I went through 6 people including the one who had to unfreeze my online account. These young wippersnappers hung up on me several times, ghosted me, lied to me and generally made it clear that without a smart phone they weren’t going to help me.

I’m glad I’m closer to the end than the beginning.

——————————————————
If you want to hear about frustration try dealing with the Social Security Administration:

About 3 weeks ago someone forged 2 checks from my checking account. My bank immediately knew the checks were forged when I informed them and would put the amount of the 2 checks back into my account (just under 2 grand). However, I had to get direct deposit changed to my new checking account. The hassle you have to go through to do that with SS is unbelievable. Turns out that after going to my bank to get some info so the local SS office could help me, (after 2 trips to the local SS office), I found out that the bank can do this for me and they do it all the time. They have a link to some established outfit and they did it for me.

Another thing that bugs me is that the person at the bank who shut down my old account and started the new one didn’t mention anything about having to change any direct deposits to my new account. It’s only when I thought about this myself that more aggregation started. I didn’t deal with the woman I usually deal with but the one I dealt with was not a newbie. Almost like if you don’t ask, you don’t get. So, I’ll have to wait for the 3rd Wednesday of this month to see if it really works.

FWIW, the woman who forged the 2 checks deposited the money in her bank account which is also a local bank. That doesn’t seem too bright to me but I guess thieves aren’t usually the brightest bulb in the socket. Should be interesting to see if I have to go to court when they nail her.

jmonroe

xwesx · November 4

My grandmother had something like that happen a couple years before she passed; I think around 2018 or 2019. It was a huge hassle!

jmonroe1 · November 4

xwesx said:
My grandmother had something like that happen a couple years before she passed; I think around 2018 or 2019. It was a huge hassle!

——————————————————-
Thanks a lot. Are you trying to tell me I only have a couple years left?

jmonroe

xwesx · November 4

Hah! Absolutely not. She just wasn't doing very well by then, so it was doubly a hassle because of her limitations and all the runaround the SSA was putting her through. I think it took around three months for her payments to start flowing again.

xwesx · November 4

Unrelated except for being a bank account.... Last Thursday, I closed out the account my grandfather opened in 1960 with the local credit union. His account number was in the first 10,000, so only four digits long. Every single teller to whom I told that number would look at me expectantly, waiting for the rest of the digits, before I said, "that's it. Just xxxx." It always blew their minds! LOL

ab348 · November 4

That reminds me of many years ago when I joined the nearby golf club. I went through the application process, got member recommendations, etc and got accepted. When I went into the office to pay my fees for the first time, they gave me my membership card. I was member #3. Huh? Turns out that for some reason they recycle member numbers. Mine was from one of the founding fathers I guess.

andres3 · November 4

oldfarmer50 said:

xwesx said:

nyccarguy said:
Looks like upgrading to windows 11 is going to cost me approximately $10K. Money I really wasn’t planning on spending especially given how much I’ve had to spend on inventory and how slow business has been as of late.

So, just throwing this out there as a short term option so you can plan upgrades over a longer timeline:

You *can* update to Windows11 even if the Win11 installer says 'no.' There's a bit of a trick to it, but you basically just mate the Win11 ISO to the Windows 10 installer file. Bingo - upgrade pretty much any machine.

I had my IT dept here breathing down my neck to dump about 20K into computer upgrades, and it just isn't in the cards right now. So, instead, I replaced four machines (out of ten) and upgraded the rest that way. They all receive their Win11 updates without issue.

I can't see the point in tossing perfectly good hardware over some arbitrary line in the sand drawn by software.
I feel sorry for any business owner who has to spend that kind of money on computers. I ran my little business on pen and paper, records, taxes, the whole works. I didn’t even have a cell phone until I started working for Enterprise and that was only because the boss texts start times.

Speaking of cell phones, I recently contacted Fidelity with a question on my company 401k using my land line phone (which is the linked phone) and you wouldn’t believe the trouble I had. Their computer voice auto system asked to send me a text code to verify my identity and just ignored me when I told it I couldn’t receive texts. I then managed to get a human who seemed completely perplexed as to what to do to verify me without a smart phone. I went through 6 people including the one who had to unfreeze my online account. These young wippersnappers hung up on me several times, ghosted me, lied to me and generally made it clear that without a smart phone they weren’t going to help me.

I’m glad I’m closer to the end than the beginning.

Boomer is an insult these days.

Heck, I've been called a boomer by people losing an argument online, among other colorful words.

I worked with young colleagues at my prior job; they looked at me funny when I said I didn't have Venmo.

P.S. I now have Venmo. It's a good app, and helped facilitate the sale of my S4 as the guy was truly a bit "short" on cash.

benjaminh · November 4

In Louisville at around 5:20 tonight a UPS jet bound for Hawaii that was loaded with fuel crashed immediately after take off. There's a large fire in our city that is in the process of being brought under control. Not clear yet about loss off life, but the three pilots were clearly unlikely to survive, and it's possible there were fatalities in the industrial and warehouse area where the crash happened. Phones went off in the city alerting people to shelter in place. Even several miles away I can smell a bit of smoke.

andres3 · November 4

xwesx said:
Unrelated except for being a bank account.... Last Thursday, I closed out the account my grandfather opened in 1960 with the local credit union. His account number was in the first 10,000, so only four digits long. Every single teller to whom I told that number would look at me expectantly, waiting for the rest of the digits, before I said, "that's it. Just xxxx." It always blew their minds! LOL

BofA just added 4 zeroes in front of my 8 digit account number to make it 12. Or is it 5 zeroes to a 10 digit account number? Either way, you get the idea.

andres3 · November 4

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

xwesx said:

nyccarguy said:
Looks like upgrading to windows 11 is going to cost me approximately $10K. Money I really wasn’t planning on spending especially given how much I’ve had to spend on inventory and how slow business has been as of late.

So, just throwing this out there as a short term option so you can plan upgrades over a longer timeline:

You *can* update to Windows11 even if the Win11 installer says 'no.' There's a bit of a trick to it, but you basically just mate the Win11 ISO to the Windows 10 installer file. Bingo - upgrade pretty much any machine.

I had my IT dept here breathing down my neck to dump about 20K into computer upgrades, and it just isn't in the cards right now. So, instead, I replaced four machines (out of ten) and upgraded the rest that way. They all receive their Win11 updates without issue.

I can't see the point in tossing perfectly good hardware over some arbitrary line in the sand drawn by software.
I feel sorry for any business owner who has to spend that kind of money on computers. I ran my little business on pen and paper, records, taxes, the whole works. I didn’t even have a cell phone until I started working for Enterprise and that was only because the boss texts start times.

Speaking of cell phones, I recently contacted Fidelity with a question on my company 401k using my land line phone (which is the linked phone) and you wouldn’t believe the trouble I had. Their computer voice auto system asked to send me a text code to verify my identity and just ignored me when I told it I couldn’t receive texts. I then managed to get a human who seemed completely perplexed as to what to do to verify me without a smart phone. I went through 6 people including the one who had to unfreeze my online account. These young wippersnappers hung up on me several times, ghosted me, lied to me and generally made it clear that without a smart phone they weren’t going to help me.

I’m glad I’m closer to the end than the beginning.
——————————————————
If you want to hear about frustration try dealing with the Social Security Administration:

About 3 weeks ago someone forged 2 checks from my checking account. My bank immediately knew the checks were forged when I informed them and would put the amount of the 2 checks back into my account (just under 2 grand). However, I had to get direct deposit changed to my new checking account. The hassle you have to go through to do that with SS is unbelievable. Turns out that after going to my bank to get some info so the local SS office could help me, (after 2 trips to the local SS office), I found out that the bank can do this for me and they do it all the time. They have a link to some established outfit and they did it for me.

Another thing that bugs me is that the person at the bank who shut down my old account and started the new one didn’t mention anything about having to change any direct deposits to my new account. It’s only when I thought about this myself that more aggregation started. I didn’t deal with the woman I usually deal with but the one I dealt with was not a newbie. Almost like if you don’t ask, you don’t get. So, I’ll have to wait for the 3rd Wednesday of this month to see if it really works.

FWIW, the woman who forged the 2 checks deposited the money in her bank account which is also a local bank. That doesn’t seem too bright to me but I guess thieves aren’t usually the brightest bulb in the socket. Should be interesting to see if I have to go to court when they nail her.

jmonroe

An excellent story to support my reasoning to have avoided replacing my SS card at all costs. Based solely on the way other Gov't agencies make things difficult. If I die without a replacement SS card, I'm OK with that.

xwesx · November 4

benjaminh said:
In Louisville at around 5:20 tonight a UPS jet bound for Hawaii that was loaded with fuel crashed immediately after take off. There's a large fire in our city that is in the process of being brought under control. Not clear yet about loss off life, but the three pilots were clearly unlikely to survive, and it's possible there were fatalities in the industrial and warehouse area where the crash happened. Phones went off in the city alerting people to shelter in place. Even several miles away I can smell a bit of smoke.

Oh, that's rough! I hope the first responders are able to keep it contained. As we've all seen before, jet fuel can be extremely destructive and intense in an early-flight crash. This is going to be a big deal for UPS operations; Louisville is the beating heart!

corvette · November 4

@benjaminh - crazy situation. My neighbor was at Brown Park when it happened and said she could smell the smoke. The videos I've seen look like the plane barely got off the ground and that an engine may have caught fire during takeoff.

snakeweasel · November 4

andres3 said:

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

xwesx said:

nyccarguy said:
Looks like upgrading to windows 11 is going to cost me approximately $10K. Money I really wasn’t planning on spending especially given how much I’ve had to spend on inventory and how slow business has been as of late.

So, just throwing this out there as a short term option so you can plan upgrades over a longer timeline:

You *can* update to Windows11 even if the Win11 installer says 'no.' There's a bit of a trick to it, but you basically just mate the Win11 ISO to the Windows 10 installer file. Bingo - upgrade pretty much any machine.

I had my IT dept here breathing down my neck to dump about 20K into computer upgrades, and it just isn't in the cards right now. So, instead, I replaced four machines (out of ten) and upgraded the rest that way. They all receive their Win11 updates without issue.

I can't see the point in tossing perfectly good hardware over some arbitrary line in the sand drawn by software.
I feel sorry for any business owner who has to spend that kind of money on computers. I ran my little business on pen and paper, records, taxes, the whole works. I didn’t even have a cell phone until I started working for Enterprise and that was only because the boss texts start times.

Speaking of cell phones, I recently contacted Fidelity with a question on my company 401k using my land line phone (which is the linked phone) and you wouldn’t believe the trouble I had. Their computer voice auto system asked to send me a text code to verify my identity and just ignored me when I told it I couldn’t receive texts. I then managed to get a human who seemed completely perplexed as to what to do to verify me without a smart phone. I went through 6 people including the one who had to unfreeze my online account. These young wippersnappers hung up on me several times, ghosted me, lied to me and generally made it clear that without a smart phone they weren’t going to help me.

I’m glad I’m closer to the end than the beginning.
——————————————————
If you want to hear about frustration try dealing with the Social Security Administration:

About 3 weeks ago someone forged 2 checks from my checking account. My bank immediately knew the checks were forged when I informed them and would put the amount of the 2 checks back into my account (just under 2 grand). However, I had to get direct deposit changed to my new checking account. The hassle you have to go through to do that with SS is unbelievable. Turns out that after going to my bank to get some info so the local SS office could help me, (after 2 trips to the local SS office), I found out that the bank can do this for me and they do it all the time. They have a link to some established outfit and they did it for me.

Another thing that bugs me is that the person at the bank who shut down my old account and started the new one didn’t mention anything about having to change any direct deposits to my new account. It’s only when I thought about this myself that more aggregation started. I didn’t deal with the woman I usually deal with but the one I dealt with was not a newbie. Almost like if you don’t ask, you don’t get. So, I’ll have to wait for the 3rd Wednesday of this month to see if it really works.

FWIW, the woman who forged the 2 checks deposited the money in her bank account which is also a local bank. That doesn’t seem too bright to me but I guess thieves aren’t usually the brightest bulb in the socket. Should be interesting to see if I have to go to court when they nail her.

jmonroe
An excellent story to support my reasoning to have avoided replacing my SS card at all costs. Based solely on the way other Gov't agencies make things difficult. If I die without a replacement SS card, I'm OK with that.

I lost my SS card back in the 70's, I only replaced it earlier this year as my employer doing an audit of personnel files noticed they didn't have a copy of it and wanted to get a copy. This is after 17.5 years of employment.

roadburner · November 4

Juan Brown provided more information about the crash itself in three minutes than other news outlets have provided in three hours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3lXl9yfISM&t=1s

oldfarmer50 · November 4

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

xwesx said:

nyccarguy said:
Looks like upgrading to windows 11 is going to cost me approximately $10K. Money I really wasn’t planning on spending especially given how much I’ve had to spend on inventory and how slow business has been as of late.

So, just throwing this out there as a short term option so you can plan upgrades over a longer timeline:

You *can* update to Windows11 even if the Win11 installer says 'no.' There's a bit of a trick to it, but you basically just mate the Win11 ISO to the Windows 10 installer file. Bingo - upgrade pretty much any machine.

I had my IT dept here breathing down my neck to dump about 20K into computer upgrades, and it just isn't in the cards right now. So, instead, I replaced four machines (out of ten) and upgraded the rest that way. They all receive their Win11 updates without issue.

I can't see the point in tossing perfectly good hardware over some arbitrary line in the sand drawn by software.
I feel sorry for any business owner who has to spend that kind of money on computers. I ran my little business on pen and paper, records, taxes, the whole works. I didn’t even have a cell phone until I started working for Enterprise and that was only because the boss texts start times.

Speaking of cell phones, I recently contacted Fidelity with a question on my company 401k using my land line phone (which is the linked phone) and you wouldn’t believe the trouble I had. Their computer voice auto system asked to send me a text code to verify my identity and just ignored me when I told it I couldn’t receive texts. I then managed to get a human who seemed completely perplexed as to what to do to verify me without a smart phone. I went through 6 people including the one who had to unfreeze my online account. These young wippersnappers hung up on me several times, ghosted me, lied to me and generally made it clear that without a smart phone they weren’t going to help me.

I’m glad I’m closer to the end than the beginning.
——————————————————
If you want to hear about frustration try dealing with the Social Security Administration:

About 3 weeks ago someone forged 2 checks from my checking account. My bank immediately knew the checks were forged when I informed them and would put the amount of the 2 checks back into my account (just under 2 grand). However, I had to get direct deposit changed to my new checking account. The hassle you have to go through to do that with SS is unbelievable. Turns out that after going to my bank to get some info so the local SS office could help me, (after 2 trips to the local SS office), I found out that the bank can do this for me and they do it all the time. They have a link to some established outfit and they did it for me.

Another thing that bugs me is that the person at the bank who shut down my old account and started the new one didn’t mention anything about having to change any direct deposits to my new account. It’s only when I thought about this myself that more aggregation started. I didn’t deal with the woman I usually deal with but the one I dealt with was not a newbie. Almost like if you don’t ask, you don’t get. So, I’ll have to wait for the 3rd Wednesday of this month to see if it really works.

FWIW, the woman who forged the 2 checks deposited the money in her bank account which is also a local bank. That doesn’t seem too bright to me but I guess thieves aren’t usually the brightest bulb in the socket. Should be interesting to see if I have to go to court when they nail her.

jmonroe

Wow, that’s wild. I thought I was the last one in the world to write actual checks. How was she able to forge them? I’ve had little trouble speaking directly to a person at social security for both myself and my disabled son. The last time I had to get a direct deposit changed I did it by mail last year. My state pension just sent me a form an they handled the transfer.

corvette · November 4

benjaminh said:

Found it on the map. That place is probably going to be closed for a while:

Both of those semi-parallel roads off of Grade Lane deadend at the landfill... there could have been a lot of people stranded in those industrial buildings if they couldn't exit either of them.

jmonroe1 · November 4

oldfarmer50 said:

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

xwesx said:

nyccarguy said:
Looks like upgrading to windows 11 is going to cost me approximately $10K. Money I really wasn’t planning on spending especially given how much I’ve had to spend on inventory and how slow business has been as of late.

So, just throwing this out there as a short term option so you can plan upgrades over a longer timeline:

You *can* update to Windows11 even if the Win11 installer says 'no.' There's a bit of a trick to it, but you basically just mate the Win11 ISO to the Windows 10 installer file. Bingo - upgrade pretty much any machine.

I had my IT dept here breathing down my neck to dump about 20K into computer upgrades, and it just isn't in the cards right now. So, instead, I replaced four machines (out of ten) and upgraded the rest that way. They all receive their Win11 updates without issue.

I can't see the point in tossing perfectly good hardware over some arbitrary line in the sand drawn by software.
I feel sorry for any business owner who has to spend that kind of money on computers. I ran my little business on pen and paper, records, taxes, the whole works. I didn’t even have a cell phone until I started working for Enterprise and that was only because the boss texts start times.

Speaking of cell phones, I recently contacted Fidelity with a question on my company 401k using my land line phone (which is the linked phone) and you wouldn’t believe the trouble I had. Their computer voice auto system asked to send me a text code to verify my identity and just ignored me when I told it I couldn’t receive texts. I then managed to get a human who seemed completely perplexed as to what to do to verify me without a smart phone. I went through 6 people including the one who had to unfreeze my online account. These young wippersnappers hung up on me several times, ghosted me, lied to me and generally made it clear that without a smart phone they weren’t going to help me.

I’m glad I’m closer to the end than the beginning.
——————————————————
If you want to hear about frustration try dealing with the Social Security Administration:

About 3 weeks ago someone forged 2 checks from my checking account. My bank immediately knew the checks were forged when I informed them and would put the amount of the 2 checks back into my account (just under 2 grand). However, I had to get direct deposit changed to my new checking account. The hassle you have to go through to do that with SS is unbelievable. Turns out that after going to my bank to get some info so the local SS office could help me, (after 2 trips to the local SS office), I found out that the bank can do this for me and they do it all the time. They have a link to some established outfit and they did it for me.

Another thing that bugs me is that the person at the bank who shut down my old account and started the new one didn’t mention anything about having to change any direct deposits to my new account. It’s only when I thought about this myself that more aggregation started. I didn’t deal with the woman I usually deal with but the one I dealt with was not a newbie. Almost like if you don’t ask, you don’t get. So, I’ll have to wait for the 3rd Wednesday of this month to see if it really works.

FWIW, the woman who forged the 2 checks deposited the money in her bank account which is also a local bank. That doesn’t seem too bright to me but I guess thieves aren’t usually the brightest bulb in the socket. Should be interesting to see if I have to go to court when they nail her.

jmonroe
Wow, that’s wild. I thought I was the last one in the world to write actual checks. How was she able to forge them? I’ve had little trouble speaking directly to a person at social security for both myself and my disabled son. The last time I had to get a direct deposit changed I did it by mail last year. My state pension just sent me a form an they handled the transfer.

——————————————————
The bank is still investigating but the 2 forged checks were the same check numbers I had written to legitimate entities and they were the last 2 checks I had written. That seems like too much of a coincidence to me. In any case they were the only 2 checks my bank stopped payment on. One was to the gas company and the other one was to the woman who cleans the house. I called the gas company and told them what happened and since the legitimate check was presented for payment twice and then credited back to my old account, I thought for sure the gas company was going to hit me for issuing a bad check but they didn’t (the new gas bill came yesterday and I only have to pay for 2 months). I have since seen the cleaning woman and gave her a new check from my new account. I don’t know yet if her bank is going to charge me for presenting a bad check but my bank told me they’ll take care of any charges i might incur.

I still have to call the company that I have my 401K with and let them know because next month they will be issuing my RMD and I don’t want that to get screwed up. I’m sure I have to notify someone else but I can’t think of who that is yet.

This whole thing is more painful than I first thought it would be. What are my changes of collecting for pain and suffering from the woman that did this to me?

When this matter is resolved, I’ll let you guys know the outcome.

jmonroe

benjaminh · November 5

@corvette Thanks for that photo of the area. I'm wondering if those cars burning in the photo are part of a junkyard rather than a parking lot?

kyfdx · November 5

Last I heard, 11 people have died.

corvette · November 5

@benjaminh - yes, I think it's a pick-and-pull parts place.

tjc78 · November 5

Ugh -- so my China Visa is approved and they are taking my passport to the consulate to be stamped.

Now I must go! Leaving on Tuesday evening for a 1 AM Wednesday morning flight to Hong Kong and then a connection to my final.

JFK to Hong Kong is a 15 hour and 45 minute flight... not looking forward to this!

I'm in a premium economy seat on Cathay Pacific. Looks to be the width of a first class seat on a 737 with a ton of leg room and power recline and foot rest. They include alcohol (thank you!) and meals.

Could be worse I guess.. could be stuck in economy.

When my wife went she was with the head honchos at her company so they all flew business class (at more than double the PE cost)

ab348 · November 5

So, how’s your Mandarin?

nyccarguy · November 5

Glad that went through for you! Safe travels!

tjc78 · November 5

ab348 said:
So, how’s your Mandarin?

Non-existent! Luckily my factory reps all speak English and will take me where I need to go.

tjc78 · November 5

nyccarguy said:
Glad that went through for you! Safe travels!

Yeah - it was a fire drill for sure. It is going to be a great trip for business relations, but it is a lot of travel for 5 1/2 days.

nyccarguy · November 5

tjc78 said:

nyccarguy said:
Glad that went through for you! Safe travels!
Yeah - it was a fire drill for sure. It is going to be a great trip for business relations, but it is a lot of travel for 5 1/2 days.

Like when Bruce Wayne sends Lucius Fox to Hong Kong to cancel the merger with Lao's company?

andres3 · November 5

snakeweasel said:

andres3 said:

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

xwesx said:

nyccarguy said:
Looks like upgrading to windows 11 is going to cost me approximately $10K. Money I really wasn’t planning on spending especially given how much I’ve had to spend on inventory and how slow business has been as of late.

So, just throwing this out there as a short term option so you can plan upgrades over a longer timeline:

You *can* update to Windows11 even if the Win11 installer says 'no.' There's a bit of a trick to it, but you basically just mate the Win11 ISO to the Windows 10 installer file. Bingo - upgrade pretty much any machine.

I had my IT dept here breathing down my neck to dump about 20K into computer upgrades, and it just isn't in the cards right now. So, instead, I replaced four machines (out of ten) and upgraded the rest that way. They all receive their Win11 updates without issue.

I can't see the point in tossing perfectly good hardware over some arbitrary line in the sand drawn by software.
I feel sorry for any business owner who has to spend that kind of money on computers. I ran my little business on pen and paper, records, taxes, the whole works. I didn’t even have a cell phone until I started working for Enterprise and that was only because the boss texts start times.

Speaking of cell phones, I recently contacted Fidelity with a question on my company 401k using my land line phone (which is the linked phone) and you wouldn’t believe the trouble I had. Their computer voice auto system asked to send me a text code to verify my identity and just ignored me when I told it I couldn’t receive texts. I then managed to get a human who seemed completely perplexed as to what to do to verify me without a smart phone. I went through 6 people including the one who had to unfreeze my online account. These young wippersnappers hung up on me several times, ghosted me, lied to me and generally made it clear that without a smart phone they weren’t going to help me.

I’m glad I’m closer to the end than the beginning.
——————————————————
If you want to hear about frustration try dealing with the Social Security Administration:

About 3 weeks ago someone forged 2 checks from my checking account. My bank immediately knew the checks were forged when I informed them and would put the amount of the 2 checks back into my account (just under 2 grand). However, I had to get direct deposit changed to my new checking account. The hassle you have to go through to do that with SS is unbelievable. Turns out that after going to my bank to get some info so the local SS office could help me, (after 2 trips to the local SS office), I found out that the bank can do this for me and they do it all the time. They have a link to some established outfit and they did it for me.

Another thing that bugs me is that the person at the bank who shut down my old account and started the new one didn’t mention anything about having to change any direct deposits to my new account. It’s only when I thought about this myself that more aggregation started. I didn’t deal with the woman I usually deal with but the one I dealt with was not a newbie. Almost like if you don’t ask, you don’t get. So, I’ll have to wait for the 3rd Wednesday of this month to see if it really works.

FWIW, the woman who forged the 2 checks deposited the money in her bank account which is also a local bank. That doesn’t seem too bright to me but I guess thieves aren’t usually the brightest bulb in the socket. Should be interesting to see if I have to go to court when they nail her.

jmonroe
An excellent story to support my reasoning to have avoided replacing my SS card at all costs. Based solely on the way other Gov't agencies make things difficult. If I die without a replacement SS card, I'm OK with that.
I lost my SS card back in the 70's, I only replaced it earlier this year as my employer doing an audit of personnel files noticed they didn't have a copy of it and wanted to get a copy. This is after 17.5 years of employment.

I've gotten by through several employers over the last 15 years with a Passport. I used to have a birth certificate but it's possible I may have lost that in the last 10 years. No matter, now that CA is using "REAL ID's" I should be able to get by again with the Passport and/or Driver's License.

The craziest thing was to get badged the County asked for a Social Security card and that the other identity items I had wasn't going to cut it. There was one way out, to find a document (such as tax statements) with my name and address on it, but also with my entire social security number on it too.

This is NOT EASY. Most documents such as my W-2's at my last 3 organizations only put the last 4 digits of your social on paperwork, including tax year end documents. I sifted through at least ten or so tax documents and every single one was xxx-xx-1234. Finally, I found one that printed the whole SS number through sheer luck. The health care coverage one I think related to Obamacare to show you have health insurance each month listed the whole number. The one you don't even need to do your taxes became useful finally! Crisis averted.

oldfarmer50 · November 5

nyccarguy said:

tjc78 said:

nyccarguy said:
Glad that went through for you! Safe travels!
Yeah - it was a fire drill for sure. It is going to be a great trip for business relations, but it is a lot of travel for 5 1/2 days.
Like when Bruce Wayne sends Lucius Fox to Hong Kong to cancel the merger with Lao's company?

Yeah but he gave Lau a first class ride back to the states. 😂

xwesx · November 5

My daughter is learning mandarin currently; she is picking it up reasonably quick for how complicated it looks and sounds to me! When we drive by restaurants and whatnot with mandarin writing on them, she will say things like "Oh! That means blah blah... and, that one? I don't even know what that is supposed to say. I think it is just a couple words randomly joined, because it technically means blah, and that just doesn't make any sense."

roadburner · November 5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHW6HaS5mnc

imidazol97 · November 5

Thanks for the video.

corvette · November 5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAX2_mPr9W8

We haven't had a dishwasher post in a while... Good video by Technology Connections, and I agree with most of what he says. I've had good luck with *not* purging the hot water pipes of cold water, but my Bosch dishwasher also heats the water at more than the 800 watts he refers to as common, and I doubt it does timer-only heating in any cycle (another issue he cited with the test dishwasher), as the owners manual specifies peak wash temperatures for each cycle.

The side note about removing phosphates from detergents resonated with me. Up until they were banned, almost everyone I know used standard, cheap powdered detergent, and it worked fine, until suddenly it didn't. We tried additives (Lemi-Shine), but eventually resigned to buy the more expensive pods, which have overtaken the market, leading to his point about how, currently, manufacturers design powdered detergents as low end, whereas they could simply offer the same powder that is contained in a high-end pod as a premium powder... That said, the price point of the powder he's advertising is kind of self-defeating. If a major manufacturer made something similar, it would probably cost less, but they won't, so the premium powder is quite expensive.

oldfarmer50 · November 6

For those of us who have ecologically friendly septic systems there is no worry about phosphates since all they do to us is make the grass over the leach field grow better.😊

corvette · November 6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnBb3DLlVPw

He also posted a second video on his extras channel showcasing the different cycles of the test dishwasher. If you are looking for a master's level class in early 2000s dishwasher technology, or if you happen to own the same model of dishwasher, I'm sure you'll be riveted.

tjc78 · November 6

@corvette said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnBb3DLlVPw

He also posted a second video on his extras channel showcasing the different cycles of the test dishwasher. If you are looking for a master's level class in early 2000s dishwasher technology, or if you happen to own the same model of dishwasher, I'm sure you'll be riveted.

I can’t watch the video right now … but that is the exact dishwasher I have at the shore. It’s certainly not a looker but honestly I like it better than the TOTL Kitchen Aid at home. It’s quick and does a great job. It was installed in 2012. About a year ago I replaced all the seals because it was leaking a bit.

sda · November 7

I really have learned to appreciate wireless Android Auto to display navigation and traffic.

If you are familiar with Charlotte you probably know this location where I work. It's 5 days in the office and 5 days wfh. I hope that doesn't change to all days in the office.

corvette · November 7

My old office very strongly resisted having fully remote employees for a long time (but one day a week in the office was okay?). Corporate has since downsized their office space and they were forced to allow and encourage fully remote work. At my new place, my entire department is fully remote.

Michaell · November 7

Prior to 2008. I was in the office 5 days a week - our General Manager did not like having remote employees if you lived in Denver (there were a few folks who lived outside of CO).

I then transferred to a new org where everyone was remote. It was not related to my old job, so I started working from home full time at that point.

When I was laid off and found a new job in 2016, I continued to work from home, even though there was an office about 20 minutes from me. Again, it was more about the team being fully remote. I’d go into the office for a few hours every week or two to build and maintain relationships, but it wasn’t expected.

I think COVID showed that people could be productive working from home, but the investment in real estate meant that money was being wasted.l, hence the RTO mandates.

Now, with AI investment resulting in another big round of layoffs, what will these companies do with all the real estate?

andres3 · November 7

Michaell said:
Prior to 2008. I was in the office 5 days a week - our General Manager did not like having remote employees if you lived in Denver (there were a few folks who lived outside of CO).

I then transferred to a new org where everyone was remote. It was not related to my old job, so I started working from home full time at that point.

When I was laid off and found a new job in 2016, I continued to work from home, even though there was an office about 20 minutes from me. Again, it was more about the team being fully remote. I’d go into the office for a few hours every week or two to build and maintain relationships, but it wasn’t expected.

I think COVID showed that people could be productive working from home, but the investment in real estate meant that money was being wasted.l, hence the RTO mandates.

Now, with AI investment resulting in another big round of layoffs, what will these companies do with all the real estate?

real estate will always sell or rent out at the right price. It might not be the price the seller likes, but there's always a number.

snakeweasel · November 7

@corvette said:
My old office very strongly resisted having fully remote employees for a long time (but one day a week in the office was okay?). Corporate has since downsized their office space and they were forced to allow and encourage fully remote work. At my new place, my entire department is fully remote.

We went full remote work with Covid and recently made it at least 3 days a week in office every week. Prior to that it was department dependent on how often you were in the office. My department was three day a week for several years.

explorerx4 · November 7

PSA, I logged into my SSA account the other day and it's easy to change your Direct Depoisit info there.

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