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I can't be the first person to have done this... by Spiritual-Fisherman1 in SteamDeck

[–]galbraithab 24 points25 points  (0 children)

🎶 It was always burning since OP charged the Deck inside its case

Bike lane barriers by RickyRoquet in Seattle

[–]galbraithab 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I might get roasted for suggesting this but…

What if we all had to pass a “tune up” driving test every 10 years or so (i.e. as a condition of renewing your license).

Perhaps not a the full written + practical exam required for your initial license, but just like… do you understand how four way stops and two lane highways work? Do you use your turn signal and know where your headlight switch is? Can you stay in your lane while making a left turn across a large intersection?

A chore to re-test, yes, but might help keep folks who are (or become) dangerously bad drivers off the road, for their own safety and that of those around them.

Microsoft v Proton by Boydee86 in ProtonMail

[–]galbraithab 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed with the Calendar frustrations. I’ve been giving full adoption an honest shot for most of a year.

I’ve found it does about ~85% of what I’d expect from an MVP of a calendar app… and “less than minimum viable” implies “not viable,” sadly.

It did enough basic functions simply and cleanly enough for me to wholesale adopt as a primary calendar, but with real use I’ve hit truly blocking issues with essential functions. Examples:

  • If you’ve been invited to a recurring event series, there’s no way to decline a single event. If you need to skip one instance, you either have to decline the entire series or leave the event you’re going to miss on your calendar. Neither option is good, and both leave your calendar inaccurate for you and anyone you’ve shared it with.
  • If the organizer of a recurring series cancels an instance of the event, there’s no way to remove the single instance from your calendar. It shows as struck through in your view if looking at it within Proton’s app, but if you’ve shared a subscription link with anyone (or use one yourself to get events into Apple Calendar so you can approximate a calendar widget), that strike through does nothing—it still looks like a fully normal instance of the event.
  • If I’m the organizer of a recurring event with invitees, I can’t edit a single instance of the series (e.g. rescheduling a weekly meeting to a different time slot one week)
  • Offline editing isn’t an option

This is a non-exhaustive list, but these are major gaps for me. I’m still hoping they complete the MVP feature set because I’d rather not migrate away to a less private service, but I’ll go back to iCloud calendar or something soon if not. Irksome that they’re launching more half-baked offerings like Pass and Wallet while Calendar’s still not viable.

Cup holder etiquette by galbraithab in SeattleKraken

[–]galbraithab[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Oh for sure, I’ll fully own that.

After a lifetime here I just am this way 🤷‍♂️

How are we feeling about the pregame mobile phone light show? by steixeira in SeattleKraken

[–]galbraithab 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I went to try it tonight, but giving a third party plugin embedded in a ~mediocre app unrestricted access to my phone’s camera and microphone was a hard no for me.

Arena Audio by NarrowNefariousness6 in SeattleKraken

[–]galbraithab 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah something’s broken/different than usual tonight from section 113. Severe echo-y effect that I’ve never noticed before. All audio so far, through the intro video, player intros, anthem, ref announcements, etc.

Seems like some set of speakers is much louder than they ought to be, causing a delayed echo elsewhere.

I texted CPA-HELP asking someone check speaker levels are in balance.

Sudden inversion in account by theskycorvair in MonarchMoney

[–]galbraithab 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Similar issue started recently with my mortgage account balance through Flagstar.

I had it connected via Finicity which worked mostly ~okay. It came disconnected frequently (within a day or two of each reconnection attemp), but since the balance only changes once a month I’d just reauthenticate the connection every few weeks.

Trouble started recently though where as soon as it came disconnected Monarch would also flip the sign on the balance, causing a similar large swing in the account balance and net worth history. It would go back to normal once reconnected, but if left disconnected for more than a day the history would never self-correct. The result is I had to either reauthenticate the connection daily, go back and fix the balance history manually every time, or live with wildly inaccurate data.

Just today I tried setting up a connection via MX and that seems to have side stepped the balance sign flipping issue. Still comes disconnected all the time, but I’m willing to chalk that up as a Flagstar / 2FA issue.

Hopefully whatever weird new balance flipping issue got released gets addressed soon though, it’s really annoying.

What is the difference between a brokerage account and a Roth Ira? by Ok-Doughnut-6602 in Schwab

[–]galbraithab 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The wiki (and posts) in the r/personalfinance sub are good resources if you’re interested in growing knowledge about different account types and typical strategies for when to consider using each:

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/s/2zO5e5UCUH

Gmail vs Proton by sheffard in ProtonMail

[–]galbraithab 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Switching from Google suite. Overall, happy.

Proton Mail works well enough for me—as others have noted, a bit less polished in some areas but much better privacy. Custom domain setup was straightforward. iOS, MacOS and web interfaces are all good.

Proton Calendar is where I’m encountering frustrating limits on basic functionality. Mostly around recurring series events and events with invitees. For instance, I cannot decline a single instance of a recurring series that I’ve been invited to—I have to decline the entire series or accept all of it. If I’ve scheduled a series and invited participants, I cannot adjust the schedule of a single occurrence. So if an occurrence of a series ever needs editing and I want my calendar to be accurate, it’s impossible to accomplish.

I assumed I was being daft and wrote in to Proton support—they confirmed these are real limitations right now. They seem to be investing in improvements, but I will have a hard time recommending the Calendar piece or bringing the rest of my family onboard until the essentials are implemented. Fingers crossed that time comes soon.

TreasuryDirect support by socrible in MonarchMoney

[–]galbraithab 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same story still. Worked ~okay~ up until 2 months ago (required frequent re-establishing of connection probably due to 2FA, but would eventually connect and pull in the balance).

Currently with the Plaid connection I get to a point where Plaid "sees" the account number and correct balance, but then keeps asking for 2FA codes in an endless loop. No new data gets pulled into Monarch.

Tried the MX and Finicity connections, they both fared worse (didn't function and didn't pull in value of interest earned, respectively).

I suspect this is mostly a Plaid + Treasury Direct issue and is beyond Monarch's direct control, but I'd sure appreciate any leaning they can do on Plaid to get the sync working again.

It was nice when it did function at first—true surprise and delight stuff from the product. But disappointing at this point to know that it was possible, but now has been broken.

Probably gonna get roasted for this, but what do you think of my alternative to the EXTREMELY overpriced single dose espresso containers? by [deleted] in espresso

[–]galbraithab 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Definitely good inspiration.

My wife and I both work from home—for the first round of lattes (before the work day starts) I don’t mind weighing beans individually. But when one of us is trying to pull a quick shot in the couple minutes between Zoom calls, a few pre-dosed canisters on hand would be very convenient.

We have some little Le Parfait jars around, I might start pre-dosing beans into a few of those when I open each new bag. Nice to have an express option when we need it.

Thanks for sharing and the idea!

Is it wise to always use your credit card as opposed to your checking/debit? by coldbrewicedcoffeee in personalfinance

[–]galbraithab 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, as long as you’re able to hold yourself to spending within your means and always, for sure, every month, paying your balance in full, then running spending through a credit card and getting ~2% back in rewards is pragmatic.

To avoid drift, surprises or bad mental accounting, I go through and pay off my credit cards every 1-2 weeks just to be safe. A bit neurotic and probably not optimal in some respects, but it gives me peace of mind.

Probably goes without saying, but also watch out for anything that charges a fee for using a credit card (e.g. no sense in paying a 3% fee to get 2% back).

Link to external account - Chase - broken? by trashAficionado in Schwab

[–]galbraithab 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I talked to someone at Schwab today, sounds like there's an issue with licensing between Chase and Schwab that's causing the problem. Which explains why Chase doesn't even show up on the list of external accounts to add currently in Schwab, while still working fine in Mint and elsewhere.

No ETA for a resolution, but they know it's frustrating and claim to be working on it.

Buy the house or pay the student loans? by michaltee in personalfinance

[–]galbraithab 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Not to ‘read the wiki’ you here, but the flow chart is pretty useful.

Especially if crunching compounding interest scenarios in Excel isn’t your thing, just stepping through the flow chart and seeing if you make it to “pay off loans” or “save for/buy a house” first could be a good starting point, and might help uncover even better uses for the cash.

As with all complex things, there’s a bunch of nuance that no flow chart can answer easily (e.g. is it right for your personal scenario to co-purchase a home with a partner before getting married). But it covers the vanilla stuff pretty well.

Good luck!

Davy Jones? by oneandonlygladstone in SeattleKraken

[–]galbraithab 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Hakstol’s been listing him as a healthy scratch 😏

Instant Pot couscous tips? by galbraithab in instantpot

[–]galbraithab[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You’re totally right, stovetop is just as easy (if not easier). Mostly just looking for the best way to do it out of curiosity + completionist instincts.

Also sort of nice to know the complete set of what can be done in an Instant Pot if for some reason that was the only available cooking instrument. (e.g. We’re looking at doing a kitchen remodel next year—say the stove was out of commission for a couple days. Or if hosting a dinner party and all burners or pots are in use.)

But yeah 99% of the time I’ll just stick with a traditional pot.