February 6, 2023
Day T2: Errand Man
If you thought the post-lockdown catchup errand madness was finished in Canada you were wrong. It would spill over into the US also. There are actually quite a lot of reasons why I'm doing this trip. It's hard to explain them all in a few sentences, for example like to a border officer. But today was quite the success in getting some key things done.
After such a late and exhausting night of cycling, I slept in on purpose then biked my way towards the gas station where I was going to call an Uber and knew that I would actually get one. In fact most of the day would be done with two Ubers. A good thing too as the winds were blowing furiously out of the south and would become massive headwinds if I tried to bike this.
After wasting $10 in the gas station slot machines I called an Uber. My driver was, I kid you not, Jesus. He showed up in a massive pickup truck and we got chatting right away about all kinds of topics. Much of the conversation was spent with us taking turns bitching about the online payment system and how your credit card company takes delight in blocking your account or other ways you can't access your own money.
First stop was to check out an Orange Theory studio to do a fitness class. I made it just in time. This location was picked because it was very nearby Target and T-Mobile so I could try for another attempt at a SIM card for the US. The class went very well and the coach was awesome.
Unfortunately the service at both of those nearby places to get a SIM card was atrocious. Target seemed to be operating out of the stone age while they asked if I had an unlocked phone (I did) and not one that was jailbreaked (it was not). In 2023, are not all phones unlocked? I thought you can get prepaid SIMs anywhere also. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't they also pass a law that you cannot lock a phone to a contract anymore? Evidently not in Target it seems. The guy was also saying something about choosing GSM vs. CDMA which again I thought was outdated information since most networks are 5G now. The guy who could actually help was busy serving other guests. In the end I left and went down the street to T-Mobile.
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They were a little better over at T-Mobile and I got the prepaid SIM card issued for about $50. But they didn't tell me that it needed to be activated, nor did they go about the activation process. I eventually figured out that I needed to do that myself, but then over the phone they wanted all kinds of information like the IMEE number of my phone. I gave them the Chinese phone IMEE which was a big mistake. I only did that because I couldn't access the IMEE of my Canada phone while talking to them. They said the China phone was incompatible. Well of course it was. I told them I would have to find the information they wanted. They said they would call me back but they never did.
As a bit of a learning experience, this exercise ended up being proof that you cannot use a phone from the Chinese mainland and put a US SIM card in it. If anyone is thinking of trying this, don't bother. You'll need a Google compatible phone for sure. Huawei or anything issued in the mainland might as well end up being thrown into a river.
Realizing how much time this was wasting, I abandoned ship and started biking towards East West Bank. This was a more important errand because during the pandemic my account in the US had gone dormant. They would be closing soon and it was a half hour bike ride to get there. Sitting around in T-Mobile waiting for service wasn't doing any good.
At the bank it was quite the success to re-activate the account, make a deposit, and update my information. They also showed me the online banking app where I can wire money in and out. One of the best features is that this account can be directly linked to Chinese Paypal, but wiring the money to this account must be done from either Hong Kong or Canada
The teller asked, "So how are things in China?" I told her "It's a big mess and you don't want to know the half of it. Buy hey, I got out of the Matrix at least." She just burst out laughing.
Fact of the matter is despite how incompatible China is with the rest of the world, that country is where the money is at. East West Bank is really good for my needs and my businesses, hence the name. The staff are also very helpful.
But then it dawned at me that maybe there are other countries besides China where you can make a lot of sick cash. The teller did recommend South Korea actually, as she said a lot of business comes from there also.
Once that was done, my Canada SIM on the Chinese phone finally kicked the bucket. It was never supposed to work in the US anyway. So I walked across the street in a really sketchy part of town and used the McDonald's WiFi. The attempt was to call an Uber with the app on my Chinese phone that I reinstalled just for this. Amazingly it worked! I couldn't believe it. However, out of safety, I didn't want the Uber picking me up in this dodgy area. I opted for the gas station across the street which was safer.
On the app, I saw the Uber driver getting closer and closer to the gas station then took my chances and went out of WiFi range to the pickup point. I then put all my luggage including the folding bike in the Uber then he took me to the next Airbnb.
Dropping off my bags in the Airbnb, I assembled the bike and went off in search of grub.
Unexpectedly there was another T-Mobile shop I just bumped into. At that shop the sales rep did an amazing job. We chatted about fitness and workouts while he multi-tasked with me and other customers. This sales rep was really pissed on my behalf because the earlier service at the Irving branch was shit. He said so many times, and that the guy back there should be fired. But this guy here sorted me out greatly and the US SIM card is all ready to go so I can finally shut down all the SIM cards on my Chinese phone.
The Airbnb was bliss and a much needed break before the biking starts to get serious tomorrow.
Today's ride: 18 km (11 miles)
Total: 972 km (604 miles)
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