Work anniversary and spaghetti

Yesterday was my work anniversary. I have been with my employer for twelve years.

My manager acknowledged it, and thanked me for supporting and leading our team. It was nice. I essentially got a $100 e-certificate, which I spent at Amazon.

I fell asleep an hour ago. I dreamt of spaghetti. I wonder what it means.

Connecting my satellite radio to my car that doesn't have an aux port

I have been working on an interesting challenge with my new car. It doesn't have an auxiliary (aux) port.

I have owned a SiriusXM satellite radio since my past car didn't have the app built in to the system. It requires an aux port to get the music going.

On Saturday, I managed to get it to work. My car has two USB ports. The one at the front makes Android Auto work. The other one is in the storage compartment next to me.

I managed to get an adapter that has one port for USB C charging and an aux port. This setup only works if I use the USB port on the dashboard and not the adapter.

Instead, I got a transmitter where you insert the audio plug into the aux port of my radio. It then becomes a Bluetooth device. I connect my car to it and I can play music. It works nicely.

The problem is that if I want to use Android Auto, I can't stream from my satellite radio. Android Auto does have the SiriusXM app, but I don't want to stream music as I drive.

So, the key is to use my GPS on my phone and connect my satellite radio as a bluetooth device from my car's console to play music. It's a nice workaround. It's simply a bummer that I can't have my GPS map displayed on my console and listen to music on my satellite radio simultaneously.

It's a minor inconvenience. I'm simply glad that I got my old satellite radio to work.

My new car and my awesome product advisor

I got my new car on Wednesday. I love it. It's like my previous car, but quieter and with more features.

I asked my product advisor (he's really my sales guy, but his new title makes more sense) if I could get protector film on my new car, similar to what I got on my old one. It protects the car from stone chips and such. I remembered this feature a week before getting the new car, so I knew that it may not be applied in time.

Sadly, it wasn't. I went back on Friday to drop off my car to get it installed.

The problem was that the dealership doesn't offer shuttle services since the pandemic. I'd have to wait for the work to be done.

"I'll drive you home," he said.

"Really? Thanks," I said.

"You're welcome," he replied.

He took me home and dropped me off at the dealership once the work was done.

He has been my product advisor for three different leased cars. I truly landed a good one.

Concert was fabulous!

The concert last night was wonderful. I saw Boy George and Culture Club for the first time in my life. I'm so glad that I decided to try my hand at getting a ticket.

The drive to get to the venue is roughly 1.5 hours from where I live. I got a t-shirt. Yay

I'm taking it easy today. I will need to briefly head out in a few hours, but it's a quieter day this long Labour Day weekend.

Selling a concert ticket and getting protective film on my new car's hood

Roughly two years ago, I bought three concert tickets for two friends and me. I had a special code for early access. Unfortunately, I couldn't get three tickets together. Instead, I got a single ticket for me and two tickets together for my friend and her boyfriend.

She paid me back for her tickets. The pandemic happened and this concert has been rescheduled to two weeks from now.

Her boyfriend can't go. So, my friend and I will sit together. I need to sell the single ticket.

I have been able to sell my last two tickets for the Minnesota Wild and Lady Gaga. Here's hoping that I can for this concert.

As for car news, I asked my salesperson if I can get protective film installed on my new car's hood. I have it on my current car and it has been wonderful. I do not have any paint chips. I'm happy that it will be installed in time for pickup next Wednesday.

New car on Wednesday that is now insured

Yesterday, I got word towards the end of my workday that my new car will arrive next Wednesday. My hope that it would be ready next week came true!

The last time I had to deal with my insurance company, I was on hold for nearly two hours. This time, I decided to call at 7 pm. I got a representative immediately.

The downside? There was so much feedback on her end. I could hear a male colleague and a female colleague more clearly than my representative. It was frustrating and difficult, but I managed to get through this call that lasted nearly fifty minutes.

At least it's done. Some cool things happened:

• Because I use an app to monitor my driving habits, I got at 25% discount on my insurance rate for the year. I saved roughly $1,100.
• My insurance rate has dropped $13 a month with the new car.

I thanked the woman for helping me out. I let her know that it wasn't her fault that the background was super noisy, but her manager may be able to do something.

I hope to get a survey. She'll get a high rating, but hearing all that noise in the background and envisioning the call centre's sound setup needs help.

It's the Labour Day long weekend coming up. I'm glad that I can spend some time with my car before it gets traded in.

Clearing out my belongings from my car and looking forward to the long weekend

I have been slowly cleaning out my car. What remains are items in the trunk that I need to remove. It won't take too long.

At this rate, I don't think that my new car will arrive this week. I am somewhat relieved, mainly because it's not payday for me this week. Next week would be better. I'm also going into the Labour Day long weekend and don't necessarily want to feel poor before it by putting down my down payment!

I will miss my current car. It has been great. I always feel sad when I trade my current car in, but the sadness doesn't last.

I am more looking forward to having a longer weekend to relax.