those are for the fancier EQ vehicles: EQE, EQS. none for my lowly EQB afaik.
Toshi's thread
- Thread starter Toshi
- Start date
Jesus H Christ. That's what my mortgage used to be. Fuck that shit.
Fuck that shit.
Cut a hole in the drywall. I measured it as 12” but the 12” cover thing doesn’t fit snugly. Saw was very loud and not particularly effective (noting I did cut through that plate likely covering a wire beneath the insulation).
Anyway all that was visible was insulation so was a waste of effort. Given the performance of the saw I’m returning it to Amazon.
New expensive windows look good as they should
Re hung the window coverings on the second floor (so bedrooms and the loft area). That was a pain in the ass as some of the screws just love to go sideways on the bit. I should get a box of quality screws.
After getting done with that I set off a whole bunch of bug foggers. One per bathroom and bedroom up there, so six if I can add correctly. Edit: 7. One in the loft as well
Then, before thunderstorms and hail moved in, I put on three (of twelve total) reinforcement plates on the deck footers. My impact driver was working hard! I like this Simpson plate/screw combo product, designed to work together. I have a bunch of truss screws to drive in as well but didn’t get to that. Will do this weekend.
Before vs after
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Car dropped off at my house in exchange for the check from DCU. That makes up for wasting 2 hours of my life on Saturday. First impressions: nice interface. Quiet, quick. Don’t know how to turn on lane keep assist yet. Must grab a short USB-C to Lightning cable for CarPlay.
Did up the rest. My brushed impact driver that lives here was smoking and now smells bad. Some of the magic smoke may have escaped
Uneven alignment on the far side for the plates meant I bent the plates to fit via screwing them in. I also probably did the truss screws wrong but I sure couldn’t start them reliably at the 15 degree angle or the like that they wanted. 6” screws, those.
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This EQB is really quite small. Roof box will be a necessity this winter. But it is quiet as I mentioned above, the Burmester stereo sounds great, and it has enough range.
Only got 2.7 mi/kWh here (370 Wh/mi if I remember my math right) but that’s with significant elevation gain and the pass. Still over half of the state of charge-o-meter left even with this efficiency.
edit: my buddy with a Kia EV6 was up at MJ today (so identical weather) and got 2.6 mi/kWh on the way up, so this is entirely in the right ballpark.
Only got 2.7 mi/kWh here (370 Wh/mi if I remember my math right) but that’s with significant elevation gain and the pass. Still over half of the state of charge-o-meter left even with this efficiency.
edit: my buddy with a Kia EV6 was up at MJ today (so identical weather) and got 2.6 mi/kWh on the way up, so this is entirely in the right ballpark.
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Heck.
What all are you doing to that house again?
Loft —> new master suite. Covering up the extraneous second set of stairs there as well
bathroom refreshes all around for existing, with nice drop in bath/showers, for example, and new hardware to match
new kitchen on main floor. Old is crap: peeling Formica, old ass design worn cabinets, etc. new will be mid grade with island, induction, real range hood, drawer microwave for classiness touch
disposing of much old furniture and electronics. Will add TV screen-footage on net but old cabinets and crap TVs going away. New dining room table and such.
new lighting in many places. Old person chandeliers be gone
new carpet in upper floor, to extend down main (soon to be only) stairs instead of wood with carpet runners on stairs + old stained carpet upstairs.
I think those are the highlights. Will be + 1 real bedroom + 1 fake bedroom (heavy hanging curtains for space in basement too close to electrical panel) + 1 real bathroom. Hopefully should appraise at $1.5mm after all this.
Re home values, a house across the street from us is on sale. 24 days listed, dropped from 1.3 to 1.199 already. Much smaller than ours but nicer finishes than our house currently stands (ours will be comparable in finishes after all this, and again much, much bigger).
www.zillow.com
92 GCR 5141 Circle, Tabernash, CO 80478 | Zillow
92 Gcr 5141 Circle, Tabernash CO, is a Single Family home that contains 2267 sq ft and was built in 2008.It contains 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.This home last sold for $1,025,000 in September 2023. The Zestimate for this Single Family is $1,030,200, which has increased by $12,580 in the last...
www.zillow.com
They’re claiming done by fall! This fall, that is.We should start taking bets on how many years it takes to finish this remodel.
Denver crew that’d come up Monday, live in the basement all work week, work 12s, drive back Friday each week.
4.0 mi/kWh on the way back. That's 370 and 250 Wh/mi for each leg, respectively. 310 Wh/mi for the whole trip.
0.370 kWh/mi * 84 mi out + 0.250 kWh/mi * 84 mi back == 52 kWh used round trip. If just going to Mary Jane instead of to the house then that'd extrapolate down to 45 kWh.
This EQB has a 66.5 kWh usable pack capacity so this should work just fine, but I won't be charging less than 100% in the winter for sure. For summer months will cut down to 80% as I'll either be road tripping just to Winter Park or will have a chance to suck up juice at the house at 9.6 kW (or at 3.3 or 6.6 kW at the WP town garage, or the WP village garage, or…).
Well, the bugs are one thing. But the finishes and layout were why I got it for “cheap”. $206/sq ft in the mountains with a low HOA is a good deal, even with all the headaches I’ve had with it.
Discussed EQB impressions with wife a bit tonight, and the Land Cruiser has a chance of sticking around!
Her concerns are ski season kid-ski-gear changing room (fair as the minivan lets small people stand or almost stand and the Land Cruiser tailgate makes for more sitting room whereas the EQB has neither) and carpooling with extra kids beyond ours. My counter was that if it’s ski season use cases that are limiting then it’s the Land Cruiser we should keep as the FWD minivan even on Nokians doesn’t cut it some deep days without putting on the AutoSocks (in conditions one wouldn’t want to be outside in by definition).
For the carpooling side of things I ordered a Clek Fllo car seat for Baby Aya to use in the EQB. The astute reader will note I tried and returned a very pink colored Clek Foonf back when I was trying to make the Tesla work 3 across. The Clek will be significantly narrower than her current Britax Advocate Clicktight while not being an old, finicky design like the similarly narrow Diono Radian. That plus a slimmer booster for Yuna that we already have somewhere should let us cram 3 kids into the 2nd row. 3 in the second row plus 2 kids in the third row would be the same seating capacity for kids as the minivan, and their bags could be piled in the front passenger seat. That might just work.
This upcoming week my wife will take the EQB in on M/Tu/Th/Fr. I’ll get the hitch put on it on Wednesday and will otherwise e-bike commute as I do, so she’ll get one minivan day sandwiched in there for a good comparison. Hope is not lost yet, and thus I won’t schedule a pre-purchase/sale inspection for the Land Cruiser just yet either.
edit: worked out that she took it in Monday, was out sick yesterday and today. Did get the hitch installed today as planned, but overall she'll only have driven it one day. This was enough for her to decide she wants power sliding doors and an aisle through the second row.
Her concerns are ski season kid-ski-gear changing room (fair as the minivan lets small people stand or almost stand and the Land Cruiser tailgate makes for more sitting room whereas the EQB has neither) and carpooling with extra kids beyond ours. My counter was that if it’s ski season use cases that are limiting then it’s the Land Cruiser we should keep as the FWD minivan even on Nokians doesn’t cut it some deep days without putting on the AutoSocks (in conditions one wouldn’t want to be outside in by definition).
For the carpooling side of things I ordered a Clek Fllo car seat for Baby Aya to use in the EQB. The astute reader will note I tried and returned a very pink colored Clek Foonf back when I was trying to make the Tesla work 3 across. The Clek will be significantly narrower than her current Britax Advocate Clicktight while not being an old, finicky design like the similarly narrow Diono Radian. That plus a slimmer booster for Yuna that we already have somewhere should let us cram 3 kids into the 2nd row. 3 in the second row plus 2 kids in the third row would be the same seating capacity for kids as the minivan, and their bags could be piled in the front passenger seat. That might just work.
This upcoming week my wife will take the EQB in on M/Tu/Th/Fr. I’ll get the hitch put on it on Wednesday and will otherwise e-bike commute as I do, so she’ll get one minivan day sandwiched in there for a good comparison. Hope is not lost yet, and thus I won’t schedule a pre-purchase/sale inspection for the Land Cruiser just yet either.
edit: worked out that she took it in Monday, was out sick yesterday and today. Did get the hitch installed today as planned, but overall she'll only have driven it one day. This was enough for her to decide she wants power sliding doors and an aisle through the second row.
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if I do end up going this route a few options for the PPI (that I'd get on my own to make my listing stronger):
Lemon Squad, not to be confused with Lemon Party. $199. Mobile mechanics that come to you! Very convenient.
Japanese Auto Service, out by Ward Rd so not particularly close to me. Land Cruiser specialists apparently.
Slee Offroad off of 93 up in Nick's hood. (Also by Powder7!) Clearly LC/Toyota specialists, too.
my Baby Aya has a big baby brain
that is apparently functional, mind you
(this was testing within Denver Public Schools to establish eligibility for the 1st-5th grade magnet school her elder sisters go to. she is eligible, and might skip either ECE-4 or kindergarten to boot.)
edit: if she does skip ECE-4 then that'd be quite financially beneficial to me. ECE-4 is paid for by the government for a half day and we'll get some paltry extra sum from Denver Preschool Program towards the cost of boosting that to full day + aftercare (since the "full day" ends at 3:30 iirc). I think DPP is kicking in like $220/mo or something. Better than a kick in the teeth and overall better at ~$600/mo than the $1,600/mo as is the case this year (!). But free if she's nominally in kindergarten next year would be even better yet.
edit 2: after adding in aftercare and a weaker than expected subsidy ECE-4 will be something on the order of $1,100-1,200/mo. hmph
that is apparently functional, mind you
(this was testing within Denver Public Schools to establish eligibility for the 1st-5th grade magnet school her elder sisters go to. she is eligible, and might skip either ECE-4 or kindergarten to boot.)
edit: if she does skip ECE-4 then that'd be quite financially beneficial to me. ECE-4 is paid for by the government for a half day and we'll get some paltry extra sum from Denver Preschool Program towards the cost of boosting that to full day + aftercare (since the "full day" ends at 3:30 iirc). I think DPP is kicking in like $220/mo or something. Better than a kick in the teeth and overall better at ~$600/mo than the $1,600/mo as is the case this year (!). But free if she's nominally in kindergarten next year would be even better yet.
edit 2: after adding in aftercare and a weaker than expected subsidy ECE-4 will be something on the order of $1,100-1,200/mo. hmph
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After driving kids around on Monday the wife has come to the conclusion that she’d rather drive the minivan day to day rather than the EQB.
Her thoughts: the minivan is 95% electric for that use case and ease of access for the kids—especially for the third row—is much better with the power sliding doors and aisle down the middle of the second row.
Therefore I will sell the Land Cruiser unless the manual appraisal for my new EQB at Carvana somehow comes up equal to my net price for the EQB (MSRP + TTL - $9.5k forthcoming tax credits). If that latter situation somehow was the case then I’d sell it. Otherwise the Land Cruiser’s days are numbered. Should know in a day or two.
For now I’m moving forward today with putting the hitch on to the EQB under the assumption it’s the one sticking around.
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Being a Stealth Hitch the receiver part is removable (with a lock). I probably won't bother with that part of it.
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Getting HPV 9-valent vaccine shot 3 in a hot minute. If any of your reading this are 45 or younger—a low probability, I know —then I’d get the vaccine series scheduled if I were you. Protective against cancer. In women the main one in question is cervical, clearly not a concern if you’re XY and not androgen insensitive or the like, but in men there are benefits as well, namely anal cancer.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
—then I’d get the vaccine series scheduled if I were you. Protective against cancer. In women the main one in question is cervical, clearly not a concern if you’re XY and not androgen insensitive or the like, but in men there are benefits as well, namely anal cancer.
Prophylactic HPV vaccination and anal cancer
The incidence of anal cancer is increasing. High risk populations include HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM), HIV-negative MSM, HIV-positive women and heterosexual men and women with a history of cervical cancer. HPV has been detected in over ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Turns out this is as simple as writing a check from the HELOC account and then depositing it with DCU via the mobile app. Due to its size they only made available $10k of the deposited funds immediately (which I immediately put towards the credit card as I don't want to be too close to its limit given regular monthly spending floated on it), but the remainder should be available by Friday.
Using it at long last made me curious as to the draw period, and this is Third Federal's word:
Knee arthroscopy is getting pushed back due to my strep pharyngitis. Was to be this upcoming Tuesday (for a meniscal repair, not just a simple resection, with me being non-compliant and immediately weight bearing and mobilizing afterwards as that's what the literature supports and what would be much better overall functionally).
I ordered a narrow (16.9" vs 22.5" for her current Britax Pinnacle ClickTight) Clek Fllo seat, with the idea to squeeze all 3 kids in the middle row with a smaller booster for the 8 year old on the far side.
It came and it's constructed nicely, much narrower indeed.
But my babies are long in the torso as am I. This is with the shoulder strap in the second from highest position, noting that it's actually too low for front facing as it is since the strap must go up a bit from the shoulder in that orientation. We wouldn't even get a year out of this before she lengthed out of it, if you will.
Going to return it. Perhaps Britax has a tall-torso option like the Pinnacle but without the crazy side bolsters that make it so bulky.
edit: I had looked up such narrower Britax options in 2019, it turns out. Pioneer or Frontier were the choices then. since discontinued, because of course. now the Britax Grow With You non-Plus variant is the current equivalent. 19" wide, 20.5" harness height max.
It came and it's constructed nicely, much narrower indeed.
But my babies are long in the torso as am I. This is with the shoulder strap in the second from highest position, noting that it's actually too low for front facing as it is since the strap must go up a bit from the shoulder in that orientation. We wouldn't even get a year out of this before she lengthed out of it, if you will.
Going to return it. Perhaps Britax has a tall-torso option like the Pinnacle but without the crazy side bolsters that make it so bulky.
edit: I had looked up such narrower Britax options in 2019, it turns out. Pioneer or Frontier were the choices then. since discontinued, because of course. now the Britax Grow With You non-Plus variant is the current equivalent. 19" wide, 20.5" harness height max.
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Bike wrenching this afternoon.
New handlebar, grips, seat shifted from other bikes in the fleet, 34.9 mm x 180 mm throw OneUp internally routed dropper (drilled a hole in the seat tube myself) for the cargo bike. Awaiting Deore cable brake levers as the Radius levers’ ergonomics is very bad.
Note use of stick on Problem Solvers cable housing routing things. Also used some on the e-commuter to get rid of the hot mess of zip ties. Before and after
New handlebar, grips, seat shifted from other bikes in the fleet, 34.9 mm x 180 mm throw OneUp internally routed dropper (drilled a hole in the seat tube myself) for the cargo bike. Awaiting Deore cable brake levers as the Radius levers’ ergonomics is very bad.
Note use of stick on Problem Solvers cable housing routing things. Also used some on the e-commuter to get rid of the hot mess of zip ties. Before and after
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Sincere question...
Why dropper on the commuter bike?
Why dropper on the commuter bike?
Same reason for both bikes: when a kid is sitting in front of the rider on the Mac Ride seat (and especially if also another kid or two on the back) then using the dropper to get a foot down securely at intersections is key.Sincere question...
Why dropper on the commuter bike?
You ever done a back flip on a cargo bike with an extended seat post?Sincere question...
Why dropper on the commuter bike?
There comes a time to explain how one has defattened oneself, and this time has now come for me, I think.
I decided in 2020 or so to consciously try to become less fat: had an episode of increased LFTs, and even after that resolved had a fatty liver as documented on two MRIs. Tried keto + IF (worked a bit but not sustainable for me), increased my activity from baseline (didn't do much although my fitness improved). I did defatten a bit but stalled out.
I thus turned to the campus weight loss clinic and tried meds. Qsymia didn't do a thing to me, wasn't particularly cheap, and was annoying to take daily. So in 2021 I ended up starting on semaglutide, helpfully figuring out that my insurance would cover it if nominally Ozempic but not if nominally Wegovy.
Semaglutide really didn't do anything for me: no side effects but no real effects, even ramping up to doses higher than used in the weight loss trials at which it was so effective for ~85% of people. I didn't plot it all out, but the curve off the left of the graph saw me between 230-235 lb for most of it, really no trend over time.
I therefore switched to tirzepatide (aka Mounjaro). I successfully argued a prior auth for this with my insurer thanks to the documented fatty liver via MRI plus lack of response to semaglutide, which is considered in the same class. This was fortunate as this means it's therefore covered for me instead of being hostage to a time-limited discount coupon program as is/has been the case for many! But I digress.
Anyway, the long and short of this wandering tale here is that tirzepatide works for me whereas everything else hadn't, and I had tried many things—it's not like I wanted to be overfat. Even got to run a mini experiment involuntarily in February when CVS couldn't fill it due to a nationwide shortage.
Cliffs Notes: Toshi has defattened due to tirzepatide, and should probably go buy some new, smaller pants at some point.
I decided in 2020 or so to consciously try to become less fat: had an episode of increased LFTs, and even after that resolved had a fatty liver as documented on two MRIs. Tried keto + IF (worked a bit but not sustainable for me), increased my activity from baseline (didn't do much although my fitness improved). I did defatten a bit but stalled out.
I thus turned to the campus weight loss clinic and tried meds. Qsymia didn't do a thing to me, wasn't particularly cheap, and was annoying to take daily. So in 2021 I ended up starting on semaglutide, helpfully figuring out that my insurance would cover it if nominally Ozempic but not if nominally Wegovy.
Semaglutide really didn't do anything for me: no side effects but no real effects, even ramping up to doses higher than used in the weight loss trials at which it was so effective for ~85% of people. I didn't plot it all out, but the curve off the left of the graph saw me between 230-235 lb for most of it, really no trend over time.
I therefore switched to tirzepatide (aka Mounjaro). I successfully argued a prior auth for this with my insurer thanks to the documented fatty liver via MRI plus lack of response to semaglutide, which is considered in the same class. This was fortunate as this means it's therefore covered for me instead of being hostage to a time-limited discount coupon program as is/has been the case for many! But I digress.
Anyway, the long and short of this wandering tale here is that tirzepatide works for me whereas everything else hadn't, and I had tried many things—it's not like I wanted to be overfat. Even got to run a mini experiment involuntarily in February when CVS couldn't fill it due to a nationwide shortage.
Cliffs Notes: Toshi has defattened due to tirzepatide, and should probably go buy some new, smaller pants at some point.
I rode. ML is GTG. Wet shoes and socks from the first stream crossing (others have bridges but not the first). Broke a spoke and insta-flatted somehow late in the descent: bike now at GBS as they said they could turn it around quickly.
EQB did nicely to shuttle me up and down. Note radically different efficiency depending on direction: left on display is the return trip down to town, higher better on this mi/kWh metric. 322 Wh/mi when inverted so right on its rating.
EQB did nicely to shuttle me up and down. Note radically different efficiency depending on direction: left on display is the return trip down to town, higher better on this mi/kWh metric. 322 Wh/mi when inverted so right on its rating.
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Yard work this morning. Weeds were insane after the storms. Chopped them down, mowed (twice for the back yard to scalp it intentionally), then used the dethatcher on the back yard. Much thatch pulled up, much indeed. Will reseed at some point now that the existing grass isn’t being choked off by the thatch layer.
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what are you going to ask for it?
Hoping for $25k at BaT although I'd probably list it with a $20k reserve so I wouldn't be crestfallen when it sells for $12k
Land Cruiser 100-Series
Browse and bid online for the chance to own a Toyota Land Cruiser 100-Series at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online.
bringatrailer.com
at the link each dot is a clickable listing. all over the place depending on the vehicle and interest, it appears.
looking around more, BaT may be anomalous. KBB says $13-15k but that seems low. I'll poke around IH8Mud.
if it's really only worth $15k then it's worth it to keep around for its carry-everyone-to-skiing utility, IMO.
sampling some listings here
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/1998-toyota-landcruiser-fort-collins-co.1313549/
1998, so the lockers instead of ATRAC fwiw. 211k miles. 4.88 gears, OME springs, sliders, KO2s like mine. they want $19.5k.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/billings-mt-2003-land-cruiser.1313038/
asking $25k for a 2003 with 158k miles. multiple mods.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/denver-2003-lx470.1312499/
asking $18k for a modded LX 470 with a steering issue (!).
skipping down. bunch of old ones. here's one more like mine:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/fs-socal-toyota-land-cruiser-2006-black-garnet-pearl.1284987/
2006 (identical to my 2007). Black Garnet Pearl just like mine. 121k miles so fewer than mine. asking $32k (!).
in conclusion, I should list mine there at $25k. or BaT with a $20k reserve as I mused.
if it's really only worth $15k then it's worth it to keep around for its carry-everyone-to-skiing utility, IMO.
sampling some listings here
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/1998-toyota-landcruiser-fort-collins-co.1313549/
1998, so the lockers instead of ATRAC fwiw. 211k miles. 4.88 gears, OME springs, sliders, KO2s like mine. they want $19.5k.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/billings-mt-2003-land-cruiser.1313038/
asking $25k for a 2003 with 158k miles. multiple mods.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/denver-2003-lx470.1312499/
asking $18k for a modded LX 470 with a steering issue (!).
skipping down. bunch of old ones. here's one more like mine:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/fs-socal-toyota-land-cruiser-2006-black-garnet-pearl.1284987/
2006 (identical to my 2007). Black Garnet Pearl just like mine. 121k miles so fewer than mine. asking $32k (!).
in conclusion, I should list mine there at $25k. or BaT with a $20k reserve as I mused.
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So today I had to figure out how fast charging and complimentary charging work with the EQB, because it apparently didn't charge overnight. (Charged fine on the same EVSE this afternoon, and wife has it with her on her solo trip to her rehearsal tonight, go figure.)
Anyway, from the Mercedes marketing materials I knew I should have 2 years x 30 min free charging sessions on the Electrify America network. And when I set up the car I'd linked the Mercedes Me phone app to both the car and my ChargePoint account, with ChargePoint supposed to be the coordinating payment service. I didn't quite understand how that should work.
After 3 phone calls (to Electrify America then two to Mercedes Me support) and a text message exchange with my dealer sales guy who did the car dropoff/sign out I finally got the long and short of it, I think:
1) There's unadvertised free ChargePoint charging session access. This is oddly through a physical half-card-size RFID that came in a Mercedes Me-labeled pamphlet in the glove box. My sales guy didn't tell me about this so I had no idea it existed. Nice to know about it now but I'd gone to an Electrify America charger* so that didn't help me here.
2) Electrify America free charging session access isn't through the Electrify America app as is the case with some other marques with similar deals: those companies give you a promo code and then one's EA app has the free charging allowance accounted for.
Instead EA free charging session access is very non-intuitively done through the Mercedes Me app: just like in the EA app one searches for DCFC and then clicks on the charger port in question (like my Walmart bank had 4 and I was plugged in at #4 so picked this in the app) to activate the session, gratis.
For all of Tesla's faults they got charging right via their own network. This experience was a clusterfuck in comparison. But now I have it figured out, I think. Not sure how other charging networks (like EVgo) would play into all of this, and probably won't have to find out. But maybe it's all through Mercedes Me anyway?
The long and short of it is that I did get some electrons. Paid for some before found out how to use the Mercedes Me app as per point 2. Made it home with plenty of range--would have been on empty-equivalent with my trip to Floyd Hill and back otherwise.
* yes, in this situation "charger" is the correct terminology. It's a DC fast charger off-board, and the battery is charged by this off-board charger. In contrast, for level 2 AC charging the charger is one physically on the car itself and the thing you plug in from the wall is EVSE, basically just a fancy cable that queries the car's charger for its max power then gives it that much juice once negotiated.
Anyway, from the Mercedes marketing materials I knew I should have 2 years x 30 min free charging sessions on the Electrify America network. And when I set up the car I'd linked the Mercedes Me phone app to both the car and my ChargePoint account, with ChargePoint supposed to be the coordinating payment service. I didn't quite understand how that should work.
After 3 phone calls (to Electrify America then two to Mercedes Me support) and a text message exchange with my dealer sales guy who did the car dropoff/sign out I finally got the long and short of it, I think:
1) There's unadvertised free ChargePoint charging session access. This is oddly through a physical half-card-size RFID that came in a Mercedes Me-labeled pamphlet in the glove box. My sales guy didn't tell me about this so I had no idea it existed. Nice to know about it now but I'd gone to an Electrify America charger* so that didn't help me here.
2) Electrify America free charging session access isn't through the Electrify America app as is the case with some other marques with similar deals: those companies give you a promo code and then one's EA app has the free charging allowance accounted for.
Instead EA free charging session access is very non-intuitively done through the Mercedes Me app: just like in the EA app one searches for DCFC and then clicks on the charger port in question (like my Walmart bank had 4 and I was plugged in at #4 so picked this in the app) to activate the session, gratis.
For all of Tesla's faults they got charging right via their own network. This experience was a clusterfuck in comparison. But now I have it figured out, I think. Not sure how other charging networks (like EVgo) would play into all of this, and probably won't have to find out. But maybe it's all through Mercedes Me anyway?
The long and short of it is that I did get some electrons. Paid for some before found out how to use the Mercedes Me app as per point 2. Made it home with plenty of range--would have been on empty-equivalent with my trip to Floyd Hill and back otherwise.
* yes, in this situation "charger" is the correct terminology. It's a DC fast charger off-board, and the battery is charged by this off-board charger. In contrast, for level 2 AC charging the charger is one physically on the car itself and the thing you plug in from the wall is EVSE, basically just a fancy cable that queries the car's charger for its max power then gives it that much juice once negotiated.