Thanks Quicken

Got a new laptop a few months ago.  Did the "transfer Quicken to a new computer" and it lost a year and a half of transactions.  Completely gone.  Overwrote the old files, didn't do a backup even though I had the "do a backup" button checked.  Had to rebuild them manually.  Took me hours.

Today I get a prompt.  Your bank requires a new method of downloading.  Go through all the steps, authorize everything, it allegedly downloads stuff, and nothing there.   It also won't let me link some accounts to accounts that are already in Quicken, only "create new Quicken account".  I tell it not to do this, but to link the rest that it will let me link.

Now there are exactly zero downloaded transactions from the past six weeks or so.  Which means that my accounts are six weeks out of date.  Since I don't use most of the accounts much, other than my main "daily expenses" account, most of them aren't a big deal.  But I shouldn't have to do this sh$t.  It's 2024 and I can't just have an account register on my computer that requires minimal effort to keep up to date?

Ridiculous.  A couple years ago I looked into just switching software but from what I could find nothing else works better and most of the smaller outfits can't automatically download your transactions from your bank because that requires a level of cooperation from the banks that small companies can't get.

Thanks Quicken

Update: And now it won't let me reconcile an account either.  It gives me a message saying "There are no uncleared items to reconcile" even though there are six items that haven't been reconciled yet.  I think it may be broken.  Might be time to buy a checkbook register.

Update: Quicken has become almost unusable and there are no solutions to be found online.  Not only can I not reconcile my accounts but the "online balance" claimed by Quicken is wrong every time I try to update accounts, even though the balance on my bank website matches perfectly with the balance online.

1902 Singer 48K

1902 Singer 48K

Serial: R686637

Purchase: Morro Bay, CA auction, approx $250

Picked this up at an auction in Morro Bay, CA.  Stayed down in California for several months until a friend was recently passing through the area and was able to pick it up for me.

I just used it to make a storage bag out of some light waxed canvas I got from Joanne Fabric and this thing is wonderful to sew on.  I like the handcrank better than the treadle although to be fair, the heavy fabric meant I was able to sew with one hand.  When I needed an extra hand I just let go of the hand crank and it would swing to the bottom and stop.  I suspect that playing with the position of the crank relative to the handwheel would allow you to set where it stopped so I'll be looking into that a bit moving forward.

2024 AP Calculus answers to released free response questions

 

Update: All my work on #2 was right, but all my answers were wrong, because I forgot to put an "end parentheses" in the calculator after the ln entry.  I've corrected and rescanned #2.

Speaking of "unfit to hold office"

 From my local state government representative:

I also championed a bill in 2023 to change our state's police pursuits law

Next line:

In 2024, I co-founded a public safety caucus and voted in favor of the citizens-backed initiative to the legislature that will allow police to pursue any driver if they have reasonable suspicion to believe they have violated the law.  Our police can now pursue suspects for more crimes, which is desperately needed to restore safety to our neighborhoods. 

An initiative that was a direct response to the 2023 bill that changed police pursuit policy in the state to prevent the police from pursuing criminals in most cases.  There was even a recorded 911 call that circulated where a criminal called 911 to tell the operator that she needed to call off the cops because it was illegal for them to be chasing him.

This person is completely unfit to hold public office but presumably will win in a landslide due to holding the "correct" party affiliation.  In case you were wondering, it starts with a "D".  I have sent this along to the local "R" party but we shall see.

Can't resist the waffles

General Electric 139G38, pretty common, came with waffle and sandwich plates.   I don't like the mounting hardware as the top screw is a) hard to get to and b) seems to be a little bent already, probably from being hard to get to, so I won't likely use the sandwich press part. 

Cost me $12 on 20% off everything day.

Uncommitted delegates?

 In Washington state, in the current Presidential Primary, you can vote in the Democratic Primary for "uncommitted delegates".  Forty years of voting and this is the first time I have ever seen this.

Makes me wonder how much confidence the WSDP has in President Joe Biden.

Projects

 John Wilder mentioned that he was going to forego blogging this week in order to get a project done.

That made me think about starting and not finishing projects, a failing of mine.  Usually because halfway through I realize that I am either missing something or don't know how to do something and have to figure it out, which figuring will take more time than I have.

So here's yesterday's project as illustration:

Yesterday I decided to finally rebuild the front forks on my Harley.  It's about a three hour job but I had the day off.  I have new chrome fork sliders and covers, plus a new handlebar clamp that holds the bars better.  It's also time to change that fork oil as the spec on the Progressive monoshocks is about 50k.

• Move the shop trailer over nearer to the garage.

• Move the bike to the pavement behind the trailer (can't do front end on the lift)

• Jack up the bike, remove brakes, wheel, fender, cowling, left fork.

• Disassemble fork and discover that I am out of the correct size fork seal, which I thought I had lots of because I keep them in stock.  Instead I have 25 of the next size down which I won't use up if I work on bikes for another ten years.

• Spend twenty minutes digging through the trailer to see if I might have a bag of overstock seals somewhere (spoiler alert: I don't)

• Realize that the new (second hand but still in the box) fork slider covers I bought are clamp on covers, not replacement.  They look terrible so I wouldn't have bought them if I'd realized.

• So now I have motorcycle with no forks or front wheel suspended on a floor jack in the street and it's going to rain.  Can't get parts because it's Monday and motorcycle shops are generally closed Monday around here, especially in the winter.

• Put the fork back together without seal or oil and reinstall on bike.  Put the wheel back on.  Take the bike off the lift and run it into the garage.  Pack all the other parts in a bin, put the tools away, clean up the shop trailer, put the shop trailer back in its spot.

• Now I have to drive three hours round trip to the nearest Harley shop, after working all day, to buy fork slider covers and seals (assuming they have the fork slider covers in stock, they'll definitely have the seals but that doesn't really help as I'd have to take it all back apart again when the covers came in) so that I can get the bike done this weekend as the next weekend I have a memorial ride to attend.

Update: Not only are they not in stock, but they are back ordered til the end of April.  Sigh.  I've ordered aftermarket and the likelihood is that they won't be as good quality.

• Second sigh. This is why I don't start projects.  There wasn't a damn thing wrong with the bike.