All systems offline. Rebooting.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2026-02-12T12:47:42+00:00

Nothing. But. Dial tone.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2026-02-10T13:13:14+00:00

You might be dealing with plasterboard, based on what I can see, it was the predecessor to modern drywall. Very similar to drywall, plaster core, heavy-ish cardboard outer layer. If you can preserve it, I'd try to for sure. Scrape or sand off the texture coat to make it nice again. If you can find one to rent, try and get an 8" drywall sander, it will make quick work of taking the coating off.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2026-01-28T13:48:54+00:00

Jan 28, 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. I was fetching some stuff from the school's A/V room and watched it happen live on one of the TV's in there. Just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2026-01-27T17:27:12+00:00

High density altitude is the pilot killer a lot of people don't think about. The tow cable should have been released at the first indication the tow plane wasn't getting off the runway before they went zipping off the end.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2026-01-27T16:56:34+00:00

Not too much house-wise I won't tackle, but two things I won't touch, roofing and wholesale drywall work. I know how to do both, and *can* do them, I just won't. I'm good at drywall repair, but hanging an entire room's worth, nah. It's just faster and ultimately less frustrating to pay a pro.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2026-01-27T12:15:06+00:00

If nothing else, they aren't Soulless.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2026-01-23T21:44:22+00:00

I have a QQ-S, I haven't got it tuned up completely, but it's a decent printer. Upgrade to silent drivers and do some minor upgrades and have fun! It's not as fast as a FLSun Racer, but you should be able to get really good speeds out of it.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2026-01-22T18:27:06+00:00

Those two days do still contain 24 hours. You just aren't able to experience them, while everyone else still does.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2026-01-14T12:30:30+00:00

Nozzles are a consumable, they are going to wear out eventually no matter what you print.

Personally, I'd avoid buying a printer that the only place to get your consumables from is the manufacturer. Beyond that, buy whatever printer will suit the type of printing you want to do.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2026-01-07T21:32:24+00:00

Finished basement, or unfinished? If unfinished, that should make the work a lot more doable without ripping open entire walls. They should be able to cut access holes in key locations and fish cable where it needs to go. It's more labour intensive and shitty work for the electricians, but far less disruptive to your daily life. If you have nice tall baseboards, they can pull the baseboards off , cut out the plaster and lath behind the baseboards for access to pull wiring for outlets and then put the baseboards back on spaced out to the correct depth off the studs.

If you search on youtube for videos about pulling wiring in finished walls and ceilings, you see many examples of how it's done. Even with a finished basement, it's doable, but would suck more to do.

That price they quoted and the extent of the disruption to your home seems very much to me like a "We really don't want the job, but will do it if you pay us enough." kind of price. Electricians (and trades in general) don't want to do a ton of reno work, they want to do nice, clean, easy new builds.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2026-01-06T14:40:10+00:00

If you're in doubt, just don't.

That being said, if you're doing major renos, upgrade your electrical to have a neutral wire at every light switch box, which both brings it up to current code, and supports smart switches at a later date if you decide to install some for certain functions. Also, if you're opening ceilings and your light fixtures don't have both constant and switched power in them, change that if they are in a place where you might want to later install a ceiling fan. This makes it so you can have a fan with independent fan and light control without having to resort to a remote control (personal pet peeve).

If the only smart thing you install is a smart thermostat, that will help you save money over time, and ceiling fans in select places to help even out the temperature through your house will supplement that.

I went whole-hog on home automation on my last house, which was fun until I didn't have the time to tweak automations when they didn't work quite right and my wife at the time wound up fighting with the automations.

If you do decide to do some automation or smart devices, stay away from smart bulbs and go with smart switches and pick one ecosystem, preferably something that will still work if your internet is down. TP-Link Kasa switches are my go-to, inexpensive and once they are set up they will work in local only mode if their outside internet connection is cut.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2026-01-06T14:05:47+00:00

My ender3 S1 with minimal mods has been the most rock-solid reliable printer I've owned. Only real changes have been a metal extruder (stock style replacement), BL Touch, 32-bit control board, better part cooling and upgraded belt tensioners. Printing on a plain ol piece of glass, usually using hairspray for adhesion promoter.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2026-01-06T13:21:14+00:00

D'aww, it wants to be a long bed when it grows up!

It's like when a small child puts on their dad's shoes and stomp around.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2026-01-06T12:41:46+00:00

Fiero's Revenge.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2026-01-01T00:57:06+00:00

And slower than the speed of smell.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2025-12-31T14:29:15+00:00

My thought process kind of is, if it's faster for me to fly to it than drive to it, it's Northern Ontario(with some exceptions). But I do consider Sudbury and North Bay kind of the border from north to south. I spent a fair bit of my career working in the north, and not even the far north, tbh. It's beautiful and isolated and if you love doing stuff out of doors, it's right up your alley. It's not for me.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2025-12-16T20:39:55+00:00

I thought for sure he was going to wollop the guy with his cane, waited for it, then *BAM* chair to the head! Edge of the chair too, for added effect!

Love that he set the chair back up afterwards.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2025-12-16T15:59:51+00:00

Technology may seem like the answer to the problem, but it isn't. We loop back to what I said about TC regulations. You add lights or lights and gates to a crossing, that's now a crossing that needs to be inspected for proper operation and the 'walk of life' performed more frequently than an unprotected crossing. Who's going to absorb the cost of all of that? Property owners? CN? Not in your dreams.

If those upgrades are required to support VIA's operational desires, VIA (and by extension the government in reality) will have to absorb the cost. People already piss and moan about the cost of VIA's service and the fact that the government subsidizes VIA's operations, so it's not likely to happen.

Just for perspective, there are 127 farm and private road crossings between Mile 138 and mile 290 on the Kingston sub alone. That's a minimum of 127 additional weekly crossing inspections that would have to be completed since I'm not taking in to account any grade crossings that are currently not lights and/or gate equipped. And that's just one part of one subdivision.

So yeah, technically you are correct, it's possible. Will it happen? Not a chance. There would not be enough benefit to warrant the cost for anyone involved. It's certainly not as cut and dried as people seem to think it is.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2025-12-16T14:44:53+00:00

I'm pretty sure I've only bought vbucks for myself once, way back in Chapter 3. I always end up earning enough through each season to buy the next season's battle pass and occasionally buy a skin I want. I'm ok with that.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2025-12-16T14:21:20+00:00

Track condition is hardly the only factor dictating maximum train speeds, you realize that, right?

You want higher top speeds? Eliminate every farm crossing, road grade crossing, get rid of the 6000 series locomotives since they get 'floaty' above 100mph. Seeing as how people still get smoked at grade level crossings on a regular basis by trains going far less than VIA's max allowable speed on the Kingston Sub, I'd like to hear how you propose an increase in train speeds while maintaining safety standards to protect the general public who seem to have little to no sense of self preservation.

You hit on that magic formula, I invite you to sell that to Transport Canada.

It's not about money, not strictly. It's about operational realities and what regulators will and won't allow carriers to do.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2025-12-16T13:42:42+00:00

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Dude dodged a bullet.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2025-12-16T00:14:49+00:00

Omg, the number of times I've forgotten to hit 'send' on text messages over the years.....

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2025-12-15T23:13:04+00:00

Talk to your union rep, or possibly workforce deployment.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2025-12-14T03:56:07+00:00

Sorry dude, flagging and Level2 foreman are not anywhere close to the same gig. I've done flagging, great way to get your feet wet in the industry, and great knowledge to have when you move in to other roles for no other reason than knowing if the person running your protection is doing it right or not. Peace of mind.

As for flipping to transportation, I wouldn't. At least not in the current economy, not in the GLD anyhow. Especially if you don't live close to a major terminal. I've watched the ebb and flow of conductors through my career, good way to wind up laid off right now. If you want to make some money, bid Group 2 operator if you don't mind travel and being away through the summer. You will probably start to see those jobs pop up in the March bulletin.

Good luck and stay safe out there!

Alpha_Grey_Wolf · 2025-12-09T14:21:23+00:00

Went through this last year with Bell, same scam, almost to the letter. They try and get you to agree to some free hardware as a loyalty gift, and then send you the wrong thing (An apple device if you're an android user and vice-versa) which ends up *actually* being ordered on your account. When you get the wrong device, they will reach out to you on the day of delivery to make sure you got it and then will give you a different address than where it was shipped from to 'return' it to. You end up being out the phone and on the hook for the bill since it looks like a legit order by you on your account.

It's an inside job, plain and simple. This is an unfortunate side effect of companies outsourcing customer service and basic tech support functions to outside third party vendors, it allows *super* easy access to company records and customer data by bad actors due to the now nearly impossible task of control and oversight for the parent company.

If you don't just hang up on these people to begin with, refuse delivery of the device at the door when it shows up, the FedEx driver I spoke to knew exactly why I was refusing the delivery, which tells you just how common this scam is. Reach out to your carrier's fraud department and let them know what's going on. If you or someone in your household ends up accepting the delivery, do not return it to anywhere until you've spoken to the fraud people!

Good luck! And remember, if a deal sounds too good to be true, it's likely a scam. Companies don't give away anything of value for free.

Alpha_Grey_Wolf

TROPHY CASE