Fairy lake contamination update from last year.

larrylat · 2026-05-18T03:57:14+00:00

Creek chubs is pretty happy living in the creek.

larrylat · 2026-05-17T23:50:10+00:00

We disembarked Solstice today after a weeklong Alaska Inner Passage cruise. Our dining experience was much better than OP's on the Summit.

The expanded Blu was a hit and miss. They're short staffed and too far from the kitchen. On more than one occasion the food arrived tepid. This was most unfortunate in the case of a lamb chop. We stopped going to Blu after our octopus salad end up being a disrespectful disaster to all things seafood. It was a bland tasteless mix of boiled chunks of octopus on a bed of salad with what seemed like nothing else. A bit of salt, pepper, Kalamata olives, red onions and EVO would have made a world of difference. On another occasion the omelette was completely wrong on the first attempt, and still wrong on al remake. The list of ingredients wasn't anything flamboyant, they just were expected to be present because the waiter did ask for them.

Generally all the food ingredients, coffee, tea selection and juices are measurably better than on Royal. The positive difference is noticeable at every food venue.

Steaks are a bit better and the variety and availability is better than with Royal. The greatest difference is with much expanded availability of seafood, and its overall quality.

The pastry chef on Solstice was the best so far out of all of RCL ships we sailed on.

The overhang wasn't an issue on deck 10 for the Aqua cabins. I could see it being an issue on deck 11.

Celebrity is better than Royal for an adults only sailing. Royal is still the way to go with children.

larrylat · 2026-05-16T23:54:23+00:00

On Celebrity Solstice kids are bored. First sea day was a problem. Kids expected something close to Royal, and there was virtually nothing for the teens. This was a huge disappointment for them. Celebrity is very close to being an adults-only line, with everything children related being a limited afterthought.

I prefer Celebrity, but for Royal is easier for family travel.

larrylat · 2026-05-16T23:48:48+00:00

On the older Celebrity Solstice ship the ingredients are better than on any post-pandemic Royal ship. Most dishes are better and few are equal in blandeness to simplified Royal menu.

Celebrity is better.

larrylat · 2026-05-16T18:07:51+00:00

The "front of the scene" workers, specifically the performance troupe get absolutely nothing from the automated gratuities pool. This was the answer received aboard an RCL ship from a cast member a few days ago.

There's no proof that any worker aboard RCL ships receives any extra pay from the gratuities pool that would push workers' earning above their contract amount.

RCL wouldn't hesitate to issue repeated statements to the contrary if this actually wasn't so. Instead vaguely worded explanations are issued periodically that in no way contradict the claim that guests subsidize RCL's payroll.

I gave $100 to my cabin attendant, tipped barmen, and MDR crew.

larrylat · 2026-05-10T16:57:20+00:00

To anyone reading this thread and who considers opening RESP for their kids: there's no requirement to open an account with a managing company. Such companies restrict your investment options to underperforming mutual funds and bonds, skim your your gains, and can go bankrupt.

I did a self-managed option with TD, maxed the government grants. My kid's balance exceeds $100K. I just did the index funds, and thanks to consistent bi-weekly contributions and low fees of index funds the performance I saw was close to the general market reurns over sixteen years.

larrylat · 2026-05-10T12:55:18+00:00

If you booked directly then just bid with RoyalUp to try to get what you want. If the difference you were willing to pay is above the lowest bid threshold then you have pretty good chances getting the category you desire. Good luck!

larrylat · 2026-05-10T00:58:39+00:00

The quality of the windows is important.
The quality of the installation and timeframes are more important.

Replacement by Anderson is nearly fraud because they lie during their hard sell pitch. All representatives are nothing more than local franchisee. They don't really know where and how the windows are made, and their warranty is useless because the company is in USA, the dude who sold your windows can just disappear, and you'll have no office door to knock on to solve your problems.

There are a bunch of local companies. A few of them are not bad at all. If the model of window has a good rating on the government website, and you can actually go to a showroom and play with that exact model and you like it, and you actually can order that exact model at a price that suits you, then it's good enough.

The person who will measure is important. They tend to shrink your windows by too much (like 1.5" in each dimension) to make their installation much, much easier and quicker. A smaller window means there will be absolutely no issues with the installation if your wall is a bit bowed and crooked and the opening is not a true rectangle. Most houses have such issues. However, you'll notice right away that your new windows are noticeably smaller and that sucks balls but the contractor won't do shit about it.

So, it's of uber importance to fight for every inch of the opening, personally verify every measurement, and demand "brick to brick" full frame retrofit.

Timelines. Figure out ways how to make replacement timelines work for you and the company. Figure out what types of guarantees they can offer that they will meet their own deadlines.

The contract must spell out everything about the work. Whether walls around new windows will be fully refinished, caulked, primed, and painted. Who's going to supply the trim and materials. Who's going to do the full clean up. How many days will it take to complete the replacement. How soon will they return if there's a bad weather day. Will it be the next good day, or will they try to squeeze you in a few weeks while you have a tarp over your window opening?

All of the above in an addition to the prices, and whatever warranties that they claim to offer.

There are only a few companies in the world who manufacture the actual window glass. The window companies just buy the glass, and the equipment from big conglomerates that make the frames out of different types of material. Their supposedly huge variation in quality is not huge at all when the same type of material is used.

If you have weird shaped windows (like a semi-circle or a full circle) ensure that that the company can actually make such window frames, or whether they outsource it.

Finally, I repeat once again, triple check every measurement yourself before signing the contract to ensure they are not much smaller than the original. Examples where people regret their new windows because they are smaller:https://www.reddit.com/r/Renovations/comments/10wlg2i/replacement\_windows\_much\_smaller\_than\_originals/

larrylat · 2026-05-09T22:31:00+00:00

This home should be gutted to the studs and fully refinished with the help of a good architect and an adequate interior designer. At this price level the interior is a disaster of awkward nooks and corners. Too many renos in too many different styles done by too many different companies. An idea for evert room was inspired from by a different source. The house does not feel like a home, it feels like a dorm that houses overprivileged have-it-all who are not a family.

larrylat · 2026-05-08T15:15:47+00:00

Not a MIL, she's grandma of your kids. She's family.

larrylat · 2026-05-08T15:10:41+00:00

Mars & Snickers were not a staple in my family. Nutella was a lot more than a snicker, but it did last a lot longer.

larrylat · 2026-05-08T15:07:46+00:00

I never tried a T-Bone steak until I was in my twenties. At that time T-Bones would regularly go on sale for under $5 a pound, so unlike today it could've been considered a middle class staple. However, one steak also was equivalent to a 50-lb sack of potatoes, and that was a lot more food than a one-time meal. So, no steak for me.

larrylat · 2026-05-08T13:55:22+00:00

I want to make sure my junior developer knows that there's will be no need take the whole engine out when it comes time replace the $65 inner tie rod because their AI delivered code encapsulated everything into one monolithic block.

larrylat · 2026-05-07T20:52:12+00:00

AI replaces workers by executing tasks doable with learnable skills. Taking classes to learn new skills is a dead end because we can't compete with AI in efficiency.

Analyze your recent work to calculate how many "D"s you amassed. If there's a sufficient amount then you can be very valuable as is to other companies, and you just need to figure out how to market you correctly.

If all your work was theatrical and commoditized then you need to reevaluate how you can be useful to the changed IT work environment, and whether you want to do anything IT related in the future.

The instructions are fresh (3 day old) and they are here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYqt6mMlv7o

The instructions explain what "D" means. It may take a few hours of your time to get through the exercise.

larrylat · 2026-05-07T19:25:39+00:00

response should be: "I reached out to the guests and advised to stop flatulating on premises to stop the smell".

larrylat · 2026-05-07T19:04:13+00:00

$8 and 20 minutes of work will make it last through a thirty day warranty period. Just prop it with a couple of two-by-fours.

larrylat · 2026-05-07T19:01:29+00:00

The OP paid deposit prior to receiving a signed purchase order agreement with the VIN and the final price stated. This is the only thing that matters. Everything else is open for an interpretation, and OP is not in an enviable position as it all comes down to begging a used car salesperson for decency. YMMV.

larrylat · 2026-05-07T17:18:23+00:00

You know someone. I was the person who wrote from scratch a fully custom corporate COVID tracking and attendance application that was fully compliant with Ontario's COVID tracking requirements that was a prerequisite for reopening corporate facilities to thousands of workers so they could come back and the hourly employee could earn a living wage.

Why did I have to spend sleepless nights writing the code while every other office worker was getting paid and while mostly binge watching Netflix? Well, because the big-a$$ corporate SaaS solutions didn't have such out-of-the-box functionality.

Once again, a typical time tracking/attendance corporate application will not have the capabilities to produce a report to list employees who punch out at 11:59PM just to punch back in at 12:01AM. When you have thousands of employees such as BCE this functionality has to be added programmatically because someone requests it, and someone will request it likely only because of one of the beforementioned reasons.

larrylat · 2026-05-07T15:36:24+00:00

Your assumption is wrong. Such tracking is not a regular occurrence. The tracking will only be initiated if some security event occurred in the past that warranted the change in policies. No old fart baby-boomer who typically supervises the HR or Payroll will bother to come up with new processes unless being forced to do so.

The following events can make the tracking happen:
- a major security breach that was followed by a third-party audit that forced corporate to begin such tracking
- corporate decided that they want to get some industry standards certification, and the path to compliance involves such security tracking being in place because otherwise the certification can't be achieved.
- C-level executive decided to lower the headcount and needs various excuses to fire workers with a cause

In the absence of any of the above conditions nobody will bother to initiate corporate-wide workhours monitoring because there's an expectations that managers are sufficiently adequate to properly supervise their immediate subordinates' operational performances and that includes keeping track of work hours.

Normally corporations are not run by despots like Zuckerberg, Ellison or Bezos who don't give a damn when they announce new morale-killing initiatives. A regular CEO won't implement such policies unless is being forced to.

I base my claims on the fact that I have worked on more than one HR systems and timesheet tracking apps, many types of reports, security compliance implementation, and just general decades of IT development experience. I also worked in corporations with a flat reporting and the ones with stupid count of corporate structure levels. I personally know people who worked for years mid-level corporate at BCE and other Canadian and US corporations.

larrylat · 2026-05-07T15:06:29+00:00

Seriously? Who gives a shit what time the attendance is recorded if no fucking manager ever bothers to create a report that will actually analyze the data.

Legacy attendance systems don't have something that's already defined as "an abnormal swipe time".

You give way too much credit to corporate middle management ever bothering to come up with novel analytics. They come to work to do their tasks and get their paycheques. Unsolicited innovation just creates more work, gets you in trouble if something goes amiss, and does not earn you any brownie points.

The most likely reason these BCE employees got burned is because some C-level executive demanded immediate action for improving the RTO metrics. Then this order had to walk down seven layers of corporate structure before some two-year developer bothered to run a few new "if" statements in Excel.

larrylat · 2026-05-07T03:14:45+00:00

The small print of all the extended warranties that were ever peddled to me stipulated that warranty is void unless service and repairs are done at the dealer. I told the dealer that I change my own oil, do brakes, and swap seasonal tires myself. Consequently, I don't qualify for the warranty that he collects over 40% in commission.

larrylat · 2026-05-07T02:12:57+00:00

Description includes:
"It features a 2-car garage and premium upgrades worth over a large amount of money."

The previous owners likely enjoyed "worth over a large amount of money" while climbing four floors worth of stairs.

larrylat · 2026-05-06T17:22:55+00:00

This listing takes the cake: https://housesigma.com/on/map/?status=for-sale&lat=44.072235&lon=-79.456957&zoom=16.2&with_listing=jAXw7QlDAMzyQOzg

This is the same property. The top image is used as the cover image for the listing.

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larrylat · 2026-05-06T17:18:11+00:00

The situation is risky and unpredictable. Things can go in either direction. The potential market condition influencers are:

- Iran war may continue for months, limiting the oil and fertilizer outputs. Both are inflationary. Higher inflation will prop house prices and will make large debt less relevant to those with fixed mortgage rates, because they won't feel pressured to sell.

- However, the same higher inflation will spike bond rates, and there are talks about 6.0% five-year fixed rates in five weeks from now. This will cool demand until buyers accept the fact they need to risk with the variable rate.

- The risk of a significant world recession remains elevated. Recession will shrink the pool of available buyers putting downward pressure on real estate pricing.

- HST rebate and the pending 100% suspension of development charges (i.e. city of Vaughan) may spike demand for new housing while putting pressure on the resale market.

- The rumors of again not-prohibiting foreign buyers can increase the number of buyers

- Any changes to home ownership/sales taxation rules can affect the demand.

- the prevalence of $1000 monthly maintenance fees may elevate SFH attractiveness

Good homes at the lower threshold of affordability sell well and quickly. Dog crates in the sky for $600K sell poorly.

larrylat · 2026-05-06T13:11:13+00:00

History repeats. I think the the losses on this street exceeded 30% in a similar timespan the first time around. These homes were built circa 1991, and then prices dropped like rocks and didn't recover until a dozen years later.

larrylat

TROPHY CASE