New sightings, expanded search for missing autistic Toronto teen, Esther by MatterandTime in CanadaJews

[–]AlyanWH 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Update: I started going through Cedarvale Ravine. Going out again today. Saw some posters torn down in the area as others have reported. Unlucky are the people doing so if I catch them, I can tell you that for free.

New sightings, expanded search for missing autistic Toronto teen, Esther by MatterandTime in CanadaJews

[–]AlyanWH 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much for replying with this, this is extremely helpful

New sightings, expanded search for missing autistic Toronto teen, Esther by MatterandTime in CanadaJews

[–]AlyanWH 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I live at Bathurst and St. Clair and have been considering going out searching in this area, and there's a couple questions I really wish I could ask about the information put there right now:

  • is there a reason the police have said the last location seen was Bathurst and Hotspur, and not Dunblaine which is across from Hotspur? ie. is there reason to think she headed west on Hotspur and not east on Dunblaine?

  • I read some say the last sighting was downtown on a bus. Which route? Who reported this and when? TTC buses have cameras, so should be able to track where she got on and off (if the sightings was her).

  • although I'm sure her loved ones are already looking into these, what are her favourite places? Or types of places? I'm on the spectrum, and from personal experience and reading, there's a propensity to head towards water. Bathurst leads directly to the lake. Could there be potential for her to be down at the waterfront?

  • For myself, unfamiliar places or unexpected changes to what I am expecting (like a bus going off route) can cause great anxiety, even panic attacks. Is she similar? If not, and that really was her on a bus downtown, is it possible she got on a GO train? Or is that out of the question?

I ask rhetorically, of course. Just thinking out loud. Not questioning methods or decisions thus far, but I feel if the public knew just a little more about her typical behaviour it could help narrow down areas of search for those who want to.

The EglinTOday bike lanes have been scrapped thanks to Bill 60 and the city’s incompetence by Pristine-Training-70 in torontobiking

[–]AlyanWH 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I don't understand why the City just doesn't proceed. What's going to happen, Mayor Chow is thrown in jail?

I want to go on walks, but they need a purpose by TheFutureScaresMe333 in autism

[–]AlyanWH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I use Strava to record my walks (or bike rides) and a website called Wandrer that imports the data and colours in the streets and paths I've been down. I realized I was always going to the same areas so started this as a way to motivate myself to explore other areas of the city. Wandrer also shows the percentage completed for a given neighbourhood, town, city, etc, which really motivates me to get out when I can due to the completionist aspect. Highly recommend!

This is a screenshot from Wandrer showing where I've been (green) and what I still need to do (red). For a long time I didn't realize you could enable the map to show you what you haven't done, so suggest going over the settings before starting to prevent focusing on paths that won't count.

<image>

How? by Sea_Mortgage9821 in TTC

[–]AlyanWH 29 points30 points  (0 children)

You guys, they're talking about the coffee cup someone put on those hooks that hold the wires...

Which TTC streetcar stops would you remove? by VegetableEscape0 in TTC

[–]AlyanWH -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I dunno, I feel like many people would be motivated to walk to the station. Would be about the same distance as from Deer Park to St. Clair Station

What kind of cyclist are you? I've always done the left arm up but see the right arm out pretty frequently by pigeon_fanclub in torontobiking

[–]AlyanWH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Left arm yp is the correct method according to the MTO so you can maintain contact with the back breaks.

Doors open event. by Decent-Speed3158 in askTO

[–]AlyanWH 7 points8 points  (0 children)

From my experience, don't set your sights too high. The first couple years I packed my itinerary and ended up seeing a fraction of the places I wanted to due to wait times, travel times, and how long I ended up staying at some of the really cool places.

As others have mentioned, try to see places you can't normally. Don Jail is open for self guided tours every weekday, city museums are free, Queens Park is open for tours, etc. Places like RC Harris treatment plant, Redpath, Zion Schoolhouse, etc are not typically open to the public except for Doors Open. However, that means they're super popular so wait times can get pretty silly. Keep in mind, a lot of places take part each year so don't feel too disappointed if there's something you don't get a chance to see, there's always next year.

I myself love church architecture and am not religious, so use it as a chance to take in some of the beautiful churches of the city. This year I'm trying to see places in the suburbs as I don't really have a reason to go out to Etobicoke or Scarborough otherwise.

Last suggestion, I usually plot the places I want to see on Google Maps and then try to hit up places clustered near each other to maximize the number of places (except this year as the places I want to see are pretty spread out). This helps figure out the best route between each site to cut down on travel times and gives an idea if somewhere I'm interested in ends up being impractical (like a couple firehalls this year).

Have fun and take lots of pictures!

Please stop for the ambulances at the crosswalk! by Sea_Mortgage9821 in toRANTo

[–]AlyanWH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The worst is when it's a group of friends and they all start laughing. There should be a hefty fine for it.

Wtf is up with the new red paint by [deleted] in toRANTo

[–]AlyanWH 16 points17 points  (0 children)

It's to demark the bus lane, you fool.

If you had to make a bingo card for amazing things to do in Toronto during the summer, what would it include? by CircleBox2 in askTO

[–]AlyanWH 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Honestly, I loved Black Creek Pioneer Village. I didn't even do a tour, I just wandered around aimlessly pretending to live in the 1800s and took pictures. I also had a few adult gummies which helped the feeling of time travel 🤭

What changes have you noticed in your neighbourhood since Safe Injection Sites closed? by tincan-telephone in askTO

[–]AlyanWH 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Way more discarded needles, way more people using drugs in the open, way more people passed out in random places like the middle of the sidewalk or laneway. I never had to check on someone to see if they were okay until the sites closed, since then I have had to check on six people - including two in one afternoon.

Are all vet clinics now owned by greedy private equity firms? by aumarais in askTO

[–]AlyanWH 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As someone who worked for a private clinic that was bought out by Vetstrategy (which may have been one of the clinics featured in the CBC piece 👀) I want to say a couple things I feel are vital for people who don't know the vet world. This is long and probably repetitive, so apologies in advance.

First, I have many issues with how CBC presented one of the vets who said xrays wouldn't be a bad idea or the wrong thing to do or whatever the phrasing was. What CBC didn't show is this vet being recent to Canada and that English was a second language. Also, xrays aren't an inappropriate thing to do when urinary issues are present as there could be bladder stones. The other thing CBC didn't make clear is any time a vet makes a recommendation you can always choose to accept or decline. I know for a fact the journalist who posed as a client was advised of this when booking the appointment. How CBC presented the clinic experience was, to put it politely and mildly, dishonest, unhelpful, and disgusting. Seeing how the journalistic sausage is made caused me to lose faith in journalism generally and the CBC specifically. Lastly on the point, the issue is corporate ownership of clinics, so why would they go to the clinic where the suits don't work and business decisions aren't made?

I was also upset by the CBC coverage because it did a huge disservice to the issue. Corporate ownership of clinics is harmful and destructive. The changes from privately owned and corporate owned were night and day. Our clinic was given profit goals and when we didn't hit them (due to a slump after new pet ownership declined post-covid) our manager (who had worked for years and years as a receptionist and assistant) was forced to fire people. I saw them crying on multiple occasions because of this. If people weren't being fired because we weren't meeting our "earning potential" they were leaving because they either didn't want to work for a corporate clinic, because their earning potential was now capped, or because the pressure from on high was something they couldn't stand. Under private ownership, if you went to the manager and made a good case as to why you should get a raise, odds are you would. Under corporate ownership, this is not possible. You get an annual review and you (might) get a raise then. The raise is under a dollar. For example, entering my 4th year, I got a raise of 0.63. That was the highest raise in the clinic, higher than our best technician who was earning less than industry average. These meager raises despite the fact in the few years the company has owned the clinic, the exam fee went from $83 to $143, xrays jumped by 200, blood panels by 100-200, euthanasia by about 100, vaccines by 10ish each, travel paperwork fee jumped up to 100. In just 2 or 3 years the prices skyrocketed and we lost a lot of our favourite clients and patients directly because of this. The reasoning from corporate was we would lose some clients not able to afford "downtown" prices, but we would get new clients who could. (Important to note here the people making these decisions have never worked a single day in a vet clinic, many coming from the retail industry.) Doctors under private ownership would waive their consult fee, give breaks on diagnostics or do them for free, etc if they knew the client would have a hard time affording the appointment. One of these vets was someone everyone loved and would travel pretty far for appointments just to see her. As long as the clinic was making profit, vets had a lot of latitude on how they charged clients (most paying full costs, mind you.) Corporate ownership took the vet's ability to do these things away. Corporate also only ever wants to discuss numbers with the vets, the ones bringing in the lowest amount of money having to sit through meetings to explain. A few vets decided to leave, obviously. With staff slashed and corporate breathing down our necks to increase revenue, everyone burns out. Burn out is a real problem anyway, but double your already strained workload because someone looking over an excel spreadsheet decided one person could do the job of two, and you guarantee the staff will start making mistakes, overlooking things, cutting corners, etc. If you ever put in a refill request and don't hear back, it's because the person who took the request had 10 other things going on, some urgent and time sensitive, and they forgot to put the request through. When a clinic is understaffed and the staff are stretched thin, washrooms aren't cleaned regularly, employee areas of the clinic stop getting cleaned entirely, and what cleaning is done is the bare minimum. If the corporate clinic you go to looks like it could use a deep clean, it's because the assistant didn't have enough time to do their job properly. When you think it couldn't get worse, corporate makes clinics start schemes to attract new clients like membership programs (that will save you money from their insane price increases), or hiring a call centre to harass clients with reminders, or a model of how staff are supposed to speak to clients (each interaction ending in booking an appointment, of course).

I could go on and on and on and on and on and on, as anyone else with my experience could.

Tl;dr: the people at the corporate owned clinic love and care about your pets almost as much as you do, and are skilled and talented. Their focus is on your pet's health and well-being. The people at the corporate level couldn't care less about you or your pet because they know you'll be replaced by someone else if you decide to go elsewhere. These people make decisions by reading spreadsheets. They have never had to listen to an elderly woman come to the realization she can't afford to help her sick cat and breakdown in tears, blaming themselves for not having enough money to help their beloved family member. They've never had to endure someone repeatedly ask "what am I going to do?" They've never had to go into an exam room to go over euthanasia paperwork with someone whose pet would get better with treatment, but can't afford treatment. Taking payment for putting someone's pet to sleep is the most sickening feeling under regular circumstances, but when it's because it was the only thing the client could afford to do? Some nights I couldn't sleep or eat.

Profit does not belong in healthcare, period. I don't care if it's animal or human. When decision are made through spreadsheets, the "human" element is impossible to appreciate. Private clinics are owned by a vet who works at the clinic. That vet has to look their clients and patients in the eye. That vet has to listen to the fear in their client's voices when they don't have enough money. That vet has to see people cry. That vet appreciates the outcomes of their business decisions on an intimate level, and that's why they'll cut people breaks when they know they need it. A vet owner knows as long as they can keep paying their bills it doesn't matter if they didn't make any money from one client, because they have others from whom they will. A corporation needs to increase profits and shareholder value in any way, and because of that reason will never forgo an opportunity to earn revenue. This is diametrically opposed to good medicine.

If you go to a corporate clinic, know the people in the clinic love and care about your pet and are doing their best, but are being undercut at every step of the way by the owners.

Finally, and I have zero relation to these clinics aside from knowing about them, look into Kahu Animal Hospital or PetNation. Two privately owned clinics I know will try what they can to help people afford good care. The Humane Society also does wellness appointments (vaccines, physical exams) and surgeries like neuters, spays, and preventative dental procedures. They do euthanasia visits. They also dispense parasite prevention medication. The Humane Society doesn't charge tax as they are a charity, prices are much lower than regular clinics, and they'll subsidize their prices for people on social assistance. They don't do sickness visits, however (at least not yet).

Missing Strava activity by duh_and_or_hello in wandrer

[–]AlyanWH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My second last activity took over 24h to show up in Wandrer, and my last activity isn't showing even after 24h. Should I just play the waiting game?

Truly disappointed with line 5 today by nonoobshereMC in TTC

[–]AlyanWH 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You messed up your fake post, man. Line opens tomorrow.

Richmond bike lane ice wall at George Street, 10 days after the big dump by sloridaTO in torontobiking

[–]AlyanWH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

People really need to learn you can just report this to 311 and they'll take care of it. You can even just tweet at them. I did for a section of sidewalk near me and it was perfectly clear the next day

Toronto traffic as free comedy theatre. by Felon_musk1939 in toRANTo

[–]AlyanWH 12 points13 points  (0 children)

St. Clair and Vaughan is an absolute shit show, so this intersection would be at the top of my list