"Mercedes Streeter" (smart)
08/14/2017 at 11:53 • Filed to: tucker
5
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"Mercedes Streeter" (smart)
08/14/2017 at 11:53 • Filed to: tucker | 5
| 19 |
After Bank of America discriminated me on Saturday (update on that below) my family and I went out to see a fireworks show. Well, we got there 5 hours early and I had too much time to kill...so I decided to wire up and align my lights!
But I didn’t stop there! Riding on the momentum of my completed wiring project, I decided to mount the rest of the lights!
Interestingly enough, the tint of the blue lights fade to a purple after spending enough time in sunlight, oh well.
Now, I have to wire those lower lights, fix the wiring on the fog lights (the wires to the left light touched the radiator), then do some more aiming, then we’ll be ready to rock!
Also, my rear tyres are worn to hell, so that means I’ll be getting tyres, the lift, and the alignment later this month too!
Bonus: Positive affirmations!
I finally beat Bank of America. I discovered that all the branches in the county over still have drive-thrus. I entered one this morning and tried to take all of my monies out. Apparently one of the two branches I went to on Saturday flagged my account to require two photo IDs. The branch I went to somehow circumvented this and had me my monies in 15 minutes. Still going to close that account, but massive props to the ladies that got around the blocks this morning!
RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
> Mercedes Streeter
08/14/2017 at 11:59 |
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Awesome, Tucker is looking better by the minute! :D Glad you got around the BoA BS as well!
As for your rally lights, looking good, but the ones on the hood seem to be aimed awfully low to me for driving lights?
CaptDale - is secretly British
> Mercedes Streeter
08/14/2017 at 12:01 |
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The rally Smart is looking awesome! Can’t wait to see it with the lift etc.
Glad you are getting your BoA issues fixed. I had to close my account with them years ago for being utter trash.
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Mercedes Streeter
> RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
08/14/2017 at 12:02 |
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As for your rally lights, looking good, but the ones on the hood seem to be aimed awfully low to me for driving lights?
Firstly, thank you! Also thank you for noticing that lol. Yeah, the upper ones point down and it’s annoying. I’m trying to overcome that. The slope of the service flap panel means they point down like that. I’ll have to backyard engineer a wedge of some sort.
TheRealBicycleBuck
> Mercedes Streeter
08/14/2017 at 12:23 |
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BoA really screwed with me regarding my mom’s accounts. She had a significant amount of money which we were using to pay her bills while she was in hospice and keep them current while things were settled after she died. After she passed, they froze the accounts as expected. It took four months and multiple letters from a lawyer and countless phone calls from me to get the money released. I discovered that they use a pack of legal assistants to determine whether or not the paperwork submitted meets the letter of the law. The part of the submitted paperwork that they felt was ambiguous and didn’t meet the legal requirements was a direct quote from the Oklahoma statutes. That’s when I started accusing them of practicing law in the state of Oklahoma without a license.
That’s when they finally realized that we weren’t messing around.
The checks for the final balances of her accounts arrived about a week later.
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RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
> Mercedes Streeter
08/14/2017 at 13:03 |
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There’s no adjustment on the base to aim them up higher? If so, that seems really odd...or are they maxed out on their ‘upward adjustment’...?
Very cool that you finally have them working - what did you wire them too? It could just be the daylight, but the service flap lights seem a bit dim too?
(Not trying to be critical!!! Just interested! I am looking into getting some driving lights to mount on my Accent for night driving as I find the original headlights are OK, but in a semi-rural part of Nova Scotia, there are many deer waiting in the ditches and the more chance I have to see them, the better...)
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Mercedes Streeter
> RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
08/14/2017 at 13:26 |
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They are cheap eBay lights (under $20 a pair), and the cheapness does show with the materials xD.
Unfortunately, the max upward adjustment is slightly higher than level. The service flap has a little steep-ish downward slope. I can get the left side perfectly level, but I think that’s because the width of the bullet hole allows me to adjust the hardware itself...that or there are manufacturing differences between each light.
The bulbs themselves are pretty bright on their own, but the tinting on the glass seems to filter A LOT of light. I’d have to replace the halogens with HIDs or CREE LEDs to get any really usable output. I at least hope the lower ones have a better output since the glass isn’t as tinted. It’s kinda clear that the blue ones weren’t really made to actually be used. lol
The wiring is the best part. I have them wired to the circuit I originally designed for the fog lights. I have those grounded, fed through the firewall through the stock grommets (no way am I drilling into that) and connected to the car’s computer’s “ignition switched” outlet. This means those top lights are now my DRLs instead of the aforementioned fog lights.
My recommendation would be to spend more money and get better quality lights. Being cheap like I was will bring problems!
CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
> Mercedes Streeter
08/14/2017 at 14:55 |
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You are in my Anthropology “race and ethnicity” class readings for this week!!!!! Your perspective and your thoughts are valued btw.
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Mercedes Streeter
> CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
08/14/2017 at 15:00 |
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WOAH! Wait, I am? How?
And thank you so much. It took a very long time to realize that I am valued. :)
Kiltedpadre
> Mercedes Streeter
08/14/2017 at 15:46 |
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I’ve had some terrible issues with Bank of America myself. My ex-wife and I had a loan through them. One of the terms of the divorce was that I was removed from the loan. I received all the paperwork showing that I had been removed and thought that was the end. Nope, she defaulted about 6 months later and their legal department starts sending me notices that I’m “required” to sign paperwork to be added back onto the loan to get the payments up to date. Fighting that claim and fighting to get my credit repaired cost me more in legal fees than the divorce.
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Kiltedpadre
> Mercedes Streeter
08/14/2017 at 15:54 |
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I’m not sure how you currently have them mounted, but maybe adding something like this would give the adjustment you need.
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CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
> Mercedes Streeter
08/14/2017 at 16:03 |
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You are in my readings of this week’s unit “Rachel Dolezal and the Limits of Constructivism” and my Prof made sure to point out early on in the class on the analyzing of the comments of this specific article on Rachel D. I just skimmed through this specific reading right now after printing it out.... And seems like the profs goal is to make sure people understand what Constructivism (in the sense of societal constructs that exist and imagined but have to be acknowledged to be taken seriously in real life). But seeing my prof fluctuates in both terribleness and racism tendencies, your comments in my readings makes this class so much better in the sense of less terribleness. Thank you, Miss Mercedes!
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Mercedes Streeter
> CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
08/15/2017 at 11:33 |
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You’re so welcome! Wow, out of all the places I’d expect one of my Kinja comments to end up, I totally didn’t expect “class material on Rachel D” would be one of them. I love it! I’ll keep doing what I do. :)
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RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
> Mercedes Streeter
08/17/2017 at 09:58 |
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Coolness! I’m just adding a small little pair of LED DRLs in the next little while, but I want them controlled by a switch on my dash....hoping to add some actual Driving Lights down the road for better light at night.
My big issue is trying to find a suitable place in the firewall to get my wiring run though. I don’t want to have to have to drill a hole either, but the hole I think I’ve found where the main harness comes through in my Accent is quite low and I am not sure I can reach down into the engine bay to get the wire I am sticking through, haha!
GeekGirlKatie
> Mercedes Streeter
08/25/2017 at 13:35 |
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I’m sorry you had to deal with that crap with Bank of America. I actually closed my accounts that I had with BoA when I started transitioning years ago because of how horrible they treat trans people. Even though they are the main sponsor of the Pride festival here in Charlotte and say they are a trans friendly business I can tell you that they are not. Unless you are an employee who is way up the food chain and meet their standards of passability they treat you like shit and HR won’t do shit about it. So yea fuck BoA!!!!!!
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Mercedes Streeter
> GeekGirlKatie
08/25/2017 at 13:44 |
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Oh my oh my oh my I haven’t seen you around here in a while! How are you? I hope you’re doing lovely!
The worst thing about this is that I still have not been able to close my account yet. The local branches are tripling down and are saying that I have to now legally change my gender before I can do anything. I can’t replace my card, can’t close the account, and now the account is overdrafted and I can’t even pay off the balance. That bar owner that kicked me out in Wisconsin Dells was somehow more humane to me than my local BofA branches. *smh*
Yet, at Chase they’re so much nicer. The bankers and tellers don’t even flinch when they see me or my ID.
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GeekGirlKatie
> Mercedes Streeter
08/25/2017 at 14:20 |
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I’ve been doing good! Just busy with all the fun of working full time and being a full time single mom of twin 10 yr old boys. So I rarely get time to myself and I even had to trade in my manual Honda Civic for a Hyundai Santa Fe Sport SUV to carry all the sports gear for my kids. So i’m now in the soccer/sports mom mafia as I call it. Though hopefully next year i’m gonna get a Volvo C30 T5 as a second car to commute in because driving almost a 100 miles a day in an SUV sucks!
Now when it comes to BoA they legally can not hold your account hostage just because the gender marker on your licence hasn’t been changed. If you have all the proper documentation such as name change court order, birth certificate, and SS card then you should good. Now if you have a Passport then they can properly fuck off because that is the golden ticket for ID’s when it comes to this fuckery. I would also contact BoA customer service because those branches are violating their HR policies for interacting with trans employees and customers. Also to close an account it only requires one of the two parties to do it. I know their policies inside and out. I worked for BoA as a teller and Personal Banker from 02-04 (Second to worst job ever!.....The first being a dish washer / janitor at a grocery store back in 2012 since nobody in IT would hire me I got laid off when I came out.)
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Mercedes Streeter
> GeekGirlKatie
08/25/2017 at 18:13 |
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You go girl!!! I’m still just chaotically sailing through life somehow landing on my feet here and there. However, the constants in my life right now (my career and now a house) are some of the best things ever. The new car was also a pleasant surprise. :3 I’m also happy to hear that Miss Tesla’s doing better, and that our relationship was definitely a learning experience for us both.
By the way, you’d look so cute in a C30! :D
For me, I had both my SSN and my birth certificate on me this last time I tried going. They would not budge. Two branches demanded I change my ID photo while two others demanded that and rubbed salt into the wounds be also demanding a gender change. I pleaded that such demands are impossible if my money’s being held hostage by my bank.
I will be calling BofA customer service because this is getting rather insane. One branch is one thing, but four is simply unacceptable. Thank you so much for the advice! However, I sure am not paying those overdraft fees. I wouldn’t be overdrafted if they simply allowed me to close my account nearly a month.
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GeekGirlKatie
> Mercedes Streeter
08/25/2017 at 18:34 |
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You shouldn’t be responsible for those overdraft fees at all. They should refund the fees and allow you to close the account. The main customer service center should be able to take care of that and if they don’t then you should just demand to speak to a manager at the customer service call center. Worst case let me know and I know some people pretty high up with BoA who are also trans and they can get an investigation started into those branches and employee’s who work there who treated you the way they did. How they acted is a huge code of ethics violation which is in their employee handbook.
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Mercedes Streeter
> GeekGirlKatie
08/26/2017 at 14:34 |
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Today is part of the reasons why I can’t love myself. I never got my license picture changed, thinking I’d do that when I got my legal name changed. I also never changed my address at work, because idk really. Now my incompetence shall cause a destructive ripple through my life.
Apparently it takes 3 pay cycles for my direct deposit change to take. Where does my check go during that time? Of course, to my old address where someone else is already living!
Apartment management says they’ll call the new tenants whenever and ask if they collected my mail.
Okay, so I tried to check with USPS. Interestingly the guy working today didn’t understand basic English, so I have no idea if my mail is being held. Oh and at the time there was a 1.5 hour phone wait, so that wasn’t a logical option.
Next thing up, call BofA! They said that they will reverse the charges that made my account negative, but for whatever reason not put a hold on my account so it doesn’t go further negative again between today and Tuesday (how long it takes to reverse the charges).
And despite me saying over and over again why I want to close my account (discrimination), they just kept offering to send out a new debit card. Got a manager on the phone, they said that my only choice is to close the account at a local branch on Tuesday...completely ignoring me telling him twice that such isn’t possible.
So fine, I guess. I’m just spending the remainder of the day crying in bed. Had I just done the things I was supposed to this would be a normal Saturday. But nope, I keep finding exciting ways to make life consistently miserable...