downloadable

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had this discussion with credit card companies.  “I want to download the transactions made,” I say.  “Yes,” they say, “you can download statements online.”  “No,” I say, “I don’t want statements.  I want transactions, downloadable into my accounting software, Microsoft Money.”  “That’s the same thing.  All the transactions are listed on the statement.  Isn’t that the same thing?”  “Ah!” I exclaim. “No!  I don’t want PDFs!  I want the transactions!”  “Oh – … you can get the statements and then just type it into your program,” they offer.

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snow tires and rims – Chrysler T&C

I finally got new snow tires for the Chrysler van.  I know it is the middle of February, and I should have done this before, but money is tight.

I got new rims, too, so I wouldn’t have to rely on a garage to change over from summer to winter tires and back again.  Unfortunately, it changes the look of the van completely.

completed puzzle – Busy Trains

Floyd, and to a lesser extent I, finally completed the Busy Trains puzzle.

This was an unusual puzzle in that each of the puzzle pieces’ shapes were so extremely close to similarly coloured pieces.  Yes, I know, that’s what puzzle makers do.  But the extent to which this was done was maddening, making it necessary to remove and replace several dozen pieces.  Maddening, I tell you!

freshly ground coffee

Okay, so there’s nothing really interesting to say about this. It’s just freshly ground coffee. But, to me, it’s a thing of beauty … in looks and smell!

getting ready for morning coffee

 

unprepared for havoc

Okay, I admit it.  Havoc happened.  I went out to start the van this morning, and it wouldn’t start.  I forgot to plug it in.  So I plugged it in and waited.  Still, the engine spun around and around, but it didn’t fire up.  I used the little Noco Boost Plus battery booster, and it still just spun around but didn’t fire.

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havoc (or cold snap)

It used to be the norm here in Alberta – -20-40°C – but lately we have become soft.  Up until about a week ago, we’ve been hovering between -2°C and +15°C, but that all changed.  Our home weather station said that we got down to -37°C yesterday morning at 8:00am.  Are people prepared?  You’d think it was the end of the world.  The newspaper says,

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online shopping (temu.com)

I wrote to the website, temu.com, to share my views.  I think companies ought to know why someone passes them by.

As soon as I try to view a product (from duckduckgo.com), I’m immediately brought to a registration page. I’ve tried several times to view something and have to pres the ‘esc’ button to prevent it. When trying to view details, it does the same thing. Either this is a glitch on your website or a heavy-handed approach to push customers to sign up. Either way, it has dissuaded me from purchasing from you. You seem to have a great selection of what I want, but I am unwilling to put up with this. I wouldn’t allow this in a physical store of any kind, a work environment, a church, playing cards with friends, or any other environment. Let ME choose if I wish to sign up.

Think they’ll care?

another one bites the dust (HBC Neo MC)

I cancelled another credit card – this time HBC’s Neo MasterCard.  Why?  I think 24% is a bit excessive, don’t you?  As well, I can’t download transactions into Microsoft Money (my accounting software).

You’d be surprised at how many banking / credit card people who don’t know the difference between transactions and statementsTransactions are they actual purchases, payments, charges, etc. that one incurs, downloadable as digital whatnots that financial or spreadsheet software can read.  Statements are paper or PDFs that you can download to view the transactions of a given period.

Scotiabank, Home Depot, HBC Neo, and Walmart MasterCard all have no downloadable transactions.  So, I rarely use them … except for Scotiabank because they give me a sweet interest rate.

heat pump explained (with boiler)

I found this while snooping around on the internet.  For those of you who keep hearing about heat pumps but still know nothing about them, this is a pretty good visualization.

A fridge but in reverse? The fascinating science of heat pumps – visualised – The Guardian (newspaper in the UK)

…except that boilers are certainly not the norm here in western Canada.  Substitute boiler with heat exchanger.

So I’ve had a heat pump at 520 for over a year now, and it works well.  To be honest, though, we still haven’t had much of a winter yet this winter.  If / when it ever gets down to -40°C, then we’ll actually put it to the test.