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stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,520
7,069
Colorado
With a few exceptions, I put everything on a CC with cash back, then pay it to $0 at the end of each week or at least monthly.
Auto-pay, 100% due balance. Less work and you don't miss payments.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553
I do not do Auto Pay

but I do my spreadsheet for each month. I aim for $500.00 in checking after all bills paid. Everything else to/from my taxable account at Betterment.
 

Nick

My name is Nick
Sep 21, 2001
23,928
14,449
where the trails are
also ...


AND!

 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553
Same, 2% on a Citi card against everything we can use it for.
Most of y'all are less profligate than me on travel and dining out, but it might bear doing the math on whether the Chase Sapphire Reserve would be a better deal overall. Annual fee but travel credit, random perks, accrue 3 pts per dollar for travel/restaurants, and redeem against said travel/restaurant spending at 1.5 cents per point.
 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,520
7,069
Colorado
also ...


AND!

And... @Nick no longer has any money. But he has Porsche.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553
Time to redo my e-bike math with new assumptions:

- assuming no meaningful battery degradation since it seems that most commutes I use at most 30% of the pack's capacity
- benchmark against $5/gal gas in my 14 mpg-around-town Land Cruiser, and 10 cents maintenance per mile
- I paid just over $2,700 for it including tax, and let's assume it has a $1,000 residual value once I put a few thousand miles on it
- round trip bike commute is 14 miles per my usual route, 12.4 miles round trip in the car
- 35 Wh/mi, irrelevant due to effectively free electricity via my oversized PV array

Therefore costs are basically 0 for each e-bike ride, and $5.67 each time I grab the Land Cruiser's keys. So payoff for that $2,700 minus residual value is after 295 round trips, or 4,130 miles. Still a long time although I'm at about 500 miles thus far.

On the other hand, it also means I gain about 45 minutes of exercise time per day (although some of that otherwise might be watching a show after the kids are asleep, but for simplicity's sake...). Multiply that time savings daily by my usual extra-shift hourly rate and then it paid for itself in under 9 days of commuting.

:D

The truth probably lies somewhere in between, I suppose.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553
shenanigans.PNG


Financial shenanigans proceeding as planned.

Again, this chunk of money is 0 fee, 0 interest x 15 months via a Union Bank promo offer. I'm using it to invest more this month and next, whereas I would have had to make an untimely withdrawal from my taxable account otherwise. At the worst it'll have financed yet more investments that Betterment will reset the basis on via tax loss harvesting, and at the best it'll have financed some nicely on sale investments that earn me actual money instead of tax writeoffs.

Free money is free money, and once I repay this at 15 months this account's fee-free existence will only serve to lower my credit utilization ratio even more. (Normally I'm in the 1-3% utilization range each month.)
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553
Out with the old gas cooktop. Almost in with the new induction one. Granite cutout turns out to be about 3/8” not deep enough. Gah. Granite cutting is above my pay grade so going to hire that part out. Hmph

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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553
Just got a booking for 13 nights starting today! So now have a decent summer booking schedule actually. :) Note the dynamic pricing adjustment on Vacasa’s part re these 13 nights vs 7 in July.

284BE3AB-3B05-4D56-A54C-A5886295143D.jpeg
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553
Do you guys avoid using Le Creuset cookware on it? The info sheet said to not use it for fear of it adhering to the glass.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553
I should buy an Ioniq 5



gah: already sold, bad info from email sales guy. and $5k ADM on orders and floor stock vehicles.

yeah, nah

on the upside, verified that DCU deems me finance-worthy for 0 down, 65 months, 2.99%-for-efficient-vehicles, which is fine in this rate market.
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553


Put a refundable $100 down on an ID.4 as configured above. "Mid 2022" hmm.

Ex $7,500 Federal, $2,500 Colorado (down from its high point of $6,000 back in the day!), and subtracting out what I should be able to get for the Land Cruiser on Bring A Trailer this could make sense.
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553
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New induction cooktop in and connected to the interwebs. Didn't electrocute myself. :) I used screw in connectors for the two non-ground wires and quite enjoyed that experience vs. wire nuts.


Maiden voyage was just boiling water for mac 'n cheese that the middle kid desired. It is super quick, looks slick, and was easy to clean. Approve, especially since I now have 100% less NG combustion-byproducts inside my house.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553


Put a refundable $100 down on an ID.4 as configured above. "Mid 2022" hmm.

Ex $7,500 Federal, $2,500 Colorado (down from its high point of $6,000 back in the day!), and subtracting out what I should be able to get for the Land Cruiser on Bring A Trailer this could make sense.
Saw over on NASIOC of someone's ID.4 order now being delayed to Dec, a whole year. Not ideal.

Therefore I hedged my bets, found a local dealer taking Ioniq 5 orders at MSRP + $599 doc fee (so same as the ID.4 deal--McDonald Hyundai in Littleton for locals), and placed an order with them. $500 deposit, refundable until the car hits US soil.

He said it may be 12-18 months, but since I'm flexible on color save for avoiding the matte grey (just would want an AWD Limited) then it might be quicker. Hyundai doesn't build to order but instead takes dealer requests and then sorts them against their predetermined build lists to allocate cars.


Edit: also popped down $100 refundable (but if they go bankrupt who knows :D) against a Canoo Lifestyle Vehicle. Because that would be awesome.
 
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Nick

My name is Nick
Sep 21, 2001
23,928
14,449
where the trails are
Rather than take up space on DH/DS, I'm going to set up camp here. Now that I have a digital camera, the pics will be flowing in constantly, and I'll post links to their index pages on my website.

Update-the-latest: both my old old domain name (tjclark.ath.cx) and my new old domain name (toshiclark.com) are now both defunct. Google+ and imgur are so competent as image hosting services that it seems silly to maintain or pay for one's own server.
holy shit I just noticed that this fucking thread is over 20 years old!


I can't state strongly enough how disappointed I am in all of us, myself included. :disgust1:
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,232
20,016
Sleazattle
holy shit I just noticed that this fucking thread is over 20 years old!


I can't state strongly enough how disappointed I am in all of us, myself included. :disgust1:

Did you also notice it was in the Northeast forum? At least Toshi had the decency to remove "ride" from the title.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553
I would like a heat pump down the road that can handle both forced air and water heating duties.


By the time my high-SEER AC and dual speed NG forced air furnace bite the dust the market for this will likely be more mature yet.
 

Pneuma

Chimp
Nov 5, 2021
57
29
Do you guys avoid using Le Creuset cookware on it? The info sheet said to not use it for fear of it adhering to the glass.
We use a Le Creuset enameled cast iron Dutch oven and enameled Stab pan on our induction range all the time, no trouble. If you were worried about something happening you can place a paper towel or silicone pad between the two surfaces.

The range is Cafe brand (GE)

I may have missed the warnings…

Anyhow, that has been my experience.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553


Today I test drove an Ioniq 5 and an ID.4, because why not? (Both dealers were actually more or less on my way back from my ride this morning so it worked out nicely. Plus it's not like I'm going to catch COVID there now.)

2022 Hyundai Ioniq SEL RWD, test driven at Planet Hyundai

Pros:

- looks very sharp inside and out
- even in RWD (thus lower power) trim felt very snappy
- very quiet in both road and wind noise
- adequate visibility, albeit not as glass-house feeling as our minivan, for sure
- strong lane centering when turned on

Cons:

- display in front of wheel doesn't move with the wheel, thus with my torso length/eye position I actually had to adjust the wheel up a bit from where I'd otherwise like it so as to not obscure the speedometer and other peripheral information
- couldn't figure out how to configure said main display with just the speedo front and center as I'd like it
- materials felt quite plain, and the absence of the glass roof was noticeable in terms of feeling closed in
- cruise control layout very unfamiliar, although I'm sure I'd get used to it

2022 VW ID.4 Pro S AWD with the Gradient Package, test driven at Larry H Miller VW

Pros:

- nice looking beast in a generic sense, especially with the Gradient package's chrome D pillar accent
- materials inside feel a step up from that in the Hyundai
- feels a touch wider inside
- driver binnacle moves with the steering wheel stalk, and has a simpler/less busy layout of information
- similar adequate outward visibility

Cons:

- even in Sport mode with the AWD variant felt just a bit sluggish in accelerator response even if not slow, per se
- much more road and even wind noise than the Hyundai, the former no doubt exacerbated by the Gradient package's stupid 20" wheels with resultant short sidewalls
- while materials are nice, too many busy details in the interior, imo, and stupid reliance on touch controls for everything: while AC had its own capacitive fixed buttons, the rear window controls by the driver don't, instead requiring one to hit Rear then use the same two switches. Stupid.

Verdict:

Between these two I prefer the Ioniq 5 for sure, but only in the Limited trim that would have the glass roof. Planet Hyundai has no ADM and no doc fees, but does require one to purchase the clear paint protector and all-weather mat packages as a small concession to their bottom line. $500 deposit, but only payable when a car in question hits US shores. Until then one just gets on an informal list for free, so now I'm on their list for an Ioniq 5 Limited AWD in any color save for the handwash-only matte grey--ain't nobody got time for that.
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,190
19,156
Canaderp
View attachment 177714View attachment 177715View attachment 177716

New induction cooktop in and connected to the interwebs. Didn't electrocute myself. :) I used screw in connectors for the two non-ground wires and quite enjoyed that experience vs. wire nuts.


Maiden voyage was just boiling water for mac 'n cheese that the middle kid desired. It is super quick, looks slick, and was easy to clean. Approve, especially since I now have 100% less NG combustion-byproducts inside my house.
Sorry kids no dinner tonight, the stove is doing a firmware update and bricked itself.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553
Canceled my ID.4 reservation just now, informed by my drive today. I'd rather have an Ioniq 5. Less busy interior, quieter, and my gripe about the speedometer layout would be obviated by the HUD on the Premium.

The Ioniq 5 is a bit more expensive than the ID.4 when in the nice, glass-roof Premium trim. This, in turn, shall inspire the creation of… A Spreadsheet. In this I shall map out options at and within financial spitting distance of the $55k Ioniq 5 AWD Premium.

Things I must have:

- EV, or at least a PHEV with 30+ miles of range
- AWD
- at least equivalent interior width to the Ioniq 5
- heated seats and wheel
- glass roof
- 2" hitch
- not associated with Elon Musk
- good front headroom
- plausibly available this year

Things I would like:

- unencumbered knee room
- ventilated seats
- good rear headroom
- 3rd row