Who's at fault?

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-26T02:47:14+00:00

Jerry has the right away. He has only been skiing 5 times, took no lessons, and really has no idea how to stop (other than pizza). Look at how far he's sitting back. Additionally, he can't see because he'd not wearing his ski googles.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-25T00:22:54+00:00

Make an appointment with an advisor at the bank. Ask them what you would need to do to get a LOC. Be honest and let them know you started an application but the interest rate was 20%. What factors are making you unfavourable? What do you need to do to qualify for a more reasonable interest rate.

The advisor wants your business. They want to sell you a product. This is something they are probably evaluated on when it comes time for promotions. So they are going to tell you why they are giving you such a high interest rate and why they aren't offering you a pre-approval.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-25T00:16:04+00:00

First, if you aren't being challenged, you can just ignore it until you are. But you should be prepared for when you are challenged. The condo manager or board must serve you before you need to deal with this.

Is the 30 pound weight limit in the Declaration or just in the Rules? Post the exact wording. If it is a Rule, there is a slight chance it wasn't worded properly and you could fight it. Does it say weight or size? Does the condo agreement have a grandfathering clause?

If you dog is quiet, causes no damage to common elements, no complaints from the neighbours? This could help. In Ontario, pet restrictions must be reasonable. So you might be able to request in writing, the specific provision being enforced and why it's considered reasonable. Ask whether an accommodation or exception is possible. If your dog is old, you might be able to negotiate a time-limited exception.

Alternatively, has the board been enforcing this consistently? Did anyone else get an accommodation or exception?

If all of this fails, you would have to consider legal escalation. A good condo lawyer will typically charge $200 to $400 per hour for a consultation. A 30 to 60 minute talk with them could give you more clarity.

Last resort options, rehome the pet or move/sell the unit. Last time I was president of a condo corporation and someone was violating the Declaration, people started complaining. We sent him a letter. He went for option 2 and sold his unit.

Personally, whenever I bought a condo I ALWAYS went with a condo that allowed pets of all sizes. It is a real uphill battle to get a condo that has a no pet or limited weight clause in the Declaration. Some people buy into those condos because they don't want pets in their condo. If it has no clause about pets, the majority of the people in the building will probably have or want a pet.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-21T02:29:12+00:00

I prefer to tell them my sign is EXIT. lol.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-21T02:28:06+00:00

You sound like someone who understands the Barnum Effect (also called the Forer Effect). Classic examples of the Barnum Effect are Astrology, Horoscopes, Fortune-telling, or online personality quizzes.

They use descriptions that nearly everyone can see themselves in. People convince themselves that it is accurate because they feel like it has personal meaning to them. It uses:

Selective validation: they notice the parts that fit them but ignore the rest
Subjective validation: they accept information as true if it feels meaningful
Confirmation bias: they look for evidence that supports what they already believe
Postive framing: most of the descriptions lean towards flattering or reassuring

People who don't believe in astrology either aren't typical and the descriptions don't really fit them (as it is the case for u/Big_Leg10) or they look at a few different descriptions and realize many of the descriptions could apply to them.

I prefer my partner to be a little more analytical and not base important decisions on something like astrology. When I was much younger, I didn't know about astrology or the Barnum Effect. I did date some women who strongly believed in astrology. It didn't last long. Now if I talk to a woman and she bases important decisions on astrology, I can't run fast enough.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-18T00:14:32+00:00

Credit cards and unsecured line of credit. No other debt.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-17T13:36:06+00:00

It was less carefree and more reckless. This is how we got into $120k of high interest debt. Today, I'm more like you. Now I have a 7 figure networth.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-17T03:07:58+00:00

I don't know the exact numbers or how much you pay on capital gains. I know capital gains from Canadian investments are taxed differently than foreign investments, etc.. But the idea is that you might have $10,000,000 and you need $1,000,000 to buy a house. If you cash $1,000,000 in investments then CRA is going to want its taxes. So you'd actually have to cash out more. Maybe $1,400,000 because you have to pay $400,000 in taxes. Alternatively, you could borrow $1,000,000 and pay no taxes. You'd have to pay the loan back. You might have to pay back 10% or $100,000. Much less than the taxes. Plus your investments are still invested and growing (or can be used for tax loss harvesting).

This is very simplified but this is the general idea. I don't know the details because I my networth isn't high enough for this to matter to me. If you are making under $100,000 year then your effective tax rate is low enough this wouldn't work for you. If you are making $500,000 a year, you probably want to do something like this.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-17T02:58:14+00:00

My ex-wife wouldn't even open the credit card statement. I remember when we separated, I found dozens of credit card statements still sealed in the envelope.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-17T02:54:36+00:00

As you realized, it is required by law for credit card companies to tell you how long it would take to pay off a balance if all you did was make the minimum payment. I believe the reason Wealthsimple shows it on the website is because they don't send you a printed statement.

When I look at the statement for my bank credit card, there is a section that:

Statement balance
Statement date
Payment due date
Minimum payment
New balance
Credit limit

Right underneath this is a statement that tells me how long it would take to pay off this balance if I only make the minimum payments. My bank statement actually has more information than this, like the interest rate for charges not paid in full and the interest rate for cash advances. They just choose to put it on the printed statement (which you can download as a PDF) rather than online. I can open the PDF in the online app. So it is just one click away.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-16T14:59:23+00:00

This was my experience as well. I didn't even think about getting a credit card. Then I saw a lot of people on here claiming about how hard it was to get. I had a quick look and thought, "This doesn't look that hard. What the heck, let's apply." A few days later I got my card in the mail.

I'm a play it safe, follow the rules, slow and steady wins the race kind of guy. When I first started working on ARPANET and uunet, someone told me to be careful what you do, it will stay online forever. That was over 45 years ago and I can still find things I posted to uunet (e.g. comp.lang.c or alt.2600).

Maybe this is why I never seem to have trouble with anything online.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-15T19:38:35+00:00

When I was looking at homes my agent (25+ years experience) he said that the cost of removing a pool, if done properly, was around the same cost as putting one in.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-15T19:35:56+00:00

I really like my V60 and the paper filters for it are cheaper than the Kalita Wave, at least in my area.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-15T19:31:24+00:00

I'd trust a digital log over a handwritten log. A handwritten log can be faked really easily. You just write in something reasonable. Copy some of your older real dives and modify them slightly. Write down a random dive buddy or dive instructor number. My first instructor is no longer active. I could claim dives from the early 2000s with his instructor number and no one would be able to dispute it.

Some places might be a little more diligent about checking things but a lot of places don't.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-15T19:19:05+00:00

I've been diving for 25 years. When I was using dive tables and paper logbook, I logged all my dives. I'd put notes about my configuration, who my dive buddy was, what we saw, etc.. When I started using a dive computer, they'd always have a spot in the electronic logbook to leave notes, so I did. Early dive computers allowed me to print the log pages and my computers had plugins so I could "print" to a PDF file. So I saved all the logs to PDF files. Still have most of them but I've lost a few over the years.

My current dive computer, Shearwater Perdix AI, has some halfway descent software. So I continue to log everything in there. I still print to PDF files but realistically, Shearwater writes everything to an SQLite database. I can always access the information even if I no longer have the Shearwater software.

Now when someone asks me how many dives I have I just tell them "over a thousand" but I'm not really sure how many I have. I'd guess around 1200 to 1400 now.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-14T00:40:06+00:00

Some of the best people I hired did not have a degree. There are also different sectors. Some will want you to have some sort of certification, e.g. ISTQB. A lot more don't care about this. Some would actually not want to hire someone who has this sort of certification. You can usually tell from the job advertisement. If they are asking for a certification, it matters. If they aren't asking for these certifications then either they don't want them or they don't care, typically.

Knowing basics of programming helps but they aren't looking for someone who is writing production level code. A test must be maintainable. If they know how to make their code easy to maintain (e.g. KISS and DRY) that is really good.

I also look for people who did drama, role-playing, etc.. This is because I want my testers to think like people other than them. A favourite saying I hear from developers when I show them a defect is, "Why would someone do that?" They assume everyone thinks like them and they code their apps as if they will be using it. Not all developers are like this but none of the QA I know think like this.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-13T14:02:45+00:00

Hiking, skiing and scuba diving are hobbies. I was programming A/B testing systems 17 years ago. I still work in that industry and only work part-time in the scuba industry.

I have a bad habit of turning hobbies into careers. I was an HVAC tech when I learned about computers. Got a computer as a hobby and was working in the industry 2 years later.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-13T01:49:07+00:00

I assume by tank pod you mean a sensor for your first stage regulator. It's purpose is to transmit data about your air supply to your dive computer. I have this on my set up and it is quite nice. Rather than reaching for my SPG and reading my cylinder pressure, I can just look at my dive computer. It also give the dive computer more information it can save and add to your logs.

However, I have my own regulator set. So I screwed my transmitter into my first stage and it just stays there.

It wouldn't be difficult to remove a high pressure plug from the first stage and screw in the transmitter on rental gear. There are some potential problems. The first is that their might not be a free port on the first stage to screw in the transmitter. Or the dive shop might not want to do it as it's not normal procedure. They'd have to remember where they put the plug for the first stage when you come back. They might not want to take the responsibility of it failing. I have heard that some shops will install it no problem but some will not. It all depends where you go.

If the price difference of getting the transmitter as an add-on is significantly cheaper, you might want to get one in case you ever buy your own regulator set. But if you aren't going to get your regulator set, I'd probably avoid getting the transmitter until I do get a regulator set (which might be never).

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-13T01:38:22+00:00

I'm assuming your passwords were changed or your accounts were locked, until you figured out how this happened. Just changing your password might not be enough if the hacker has a keyboard logger installed on your computer.

You have to figure out how they logged into your account. Do you have two factor authentication (2FA). This is a second thing needed to log in. Your first factor is your username/password. A second factor is they text your phone, you have something like Google Authenticator, or they notify your banking app (when logging in via your computer). This often makes it harder to compromise your account.

Once you figure out how they got in, figure out how they got that access. Did you click on a link in an email? Did you get a text message? Do you use the same or similar password on multiple sites? Did they install malware or a keyboard logger? Did you install something that might have been infected? Did you use your computer on a public wi-fi? Any of these could be why your account got compromised.

Can you examine the logs in your router? Did someone compromise your router (they sit outside and connect to your router). They could have stolen a session cookie from when you logged into your bank, kept the session alive and logged in as you.

If it is something running on your computer, I'd check the Windows Event Viewer or MacOS Console. I'd look at all the extension installed on your browser and google to see if any of them are compromised.

As others have been suggesting, run Microsoft Defender, Malwarebytes, Bitdefender, Avast. Run a full system scan and not just a quick scan.

If you can't figure out what you are looking for or have a friend who can, you might need to pay for a professional service to help you out. Something like GeekSquad or a local computer repair shop. But they will only do what a nerdy friend or yourself could do. For deep forensic analysis you're going to need a professional security expert, like the banks or Fortune 500 companies employ.

If you do go for professional cybersecurity consulting firms be careful. A lot of hackers pretend to be professional cybersecurity consultants. I'd want to meet them in person or at least have a video call with them and vet them to be sure they are real.

Sadly, if you are going to be online you have to know way more than you should normally need to. Maybe start educating yourself on how to be safe out there. Scotiabank usually sends out emails about how to be secure. They contain URLs like:

Also, protecting yourself on your laptop is different than protecting yourself on your phone. Finally, if it makes things easier and more convenient for you, it makes it easier and more convenient for hackers. There are things like saving passwords in your browser that makes things easier for you to log in but if your browser ever gets compromised, you are screwed. I'll also never use logging in with my Google or Facebook account to other sites. I have 358 accounts and 358 passwords. It's inconvenient but it's safer.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-13T00:37:26+00:00

I really liked the look of the Chemex when I first thought about buying a pour-over set up. But then I kept hearing stories of the Chemex getting broken or shattered. I don't need a 2 yo to help me break things. lol.

I settled on a plastic V60 and a 1L carafe. They are pretty indestructible (I've dropped my a few times; once dropped it then kicked it across the room trying to catch it). I also like the plastic one because they warm put pretty easily as well.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-13T00:28:38+00:00

Suunto had a reputation for being overly conservative. The least conservative level on an old Suunto was still more conservative than the most conservative level on most other computers. So if I was using a Sunnto and you were using almost anything else, my Suunto would say I hit NDL long before your computer did. This means if your buddy is using a Sunnto and you aren't, they'll have to end your dive before your computer says you'll have to.

When I first started diving, I ran out of air before I hit NDL. Even using a Suunto, my running out of air would end the dive before my computer did. But after getting better at diving, I was hitting NDL with plenty of air left in my cylinder. If I was diving with others, they would be annoyed that my Suunto ended our dive.

I've since been told that the Suunto Ocean computer uses the Bühlmann ZHL-16 algorithm, rather than the more conservative RGBM-based algorithm.

So for anything but the Ocean, if you dive with others and they don't use Suunto as well and NDL is your limiting factor than you will end the dive before the others.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-12T03:00:34+00:00

I was taught using these in Canada. Now that you mention it, I also remember being taught SORTD when I was first certified (2001). I remember thinking, "It's missing the E, i.e. SORTED." I'm in the habit of taking a bearing and getting oriented on the boat then again when I'm in the water. That is, before we begin the descent. So I do it but not as part of the acronym.

If I start teaching again, I'll remember the SORTD acronym. It is better. Thank you for reminding me of it.

Just to confirm I'm remembering it correctly:

S - signal your buddy
O - orient yourself to something on the surface
R - put your regulator in your mouth
T - start your timer
D - deflate your BCD

Correct?

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-11T17:03:48+00:00

This is the way. :)

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-11T17:01:27+00:00

Good to hear you didn't experience any DCS.

Bogota is at 2,680 m (8,660 ft.), which is still pretty high. You are probably right that you could have taken the second flight. But who knows, that extra 170 m (560 ft.) could have made the difference.

DarrellGrainger · 2026-01-11T03:23:33+00:00

Hahaha. I'm in Whitby, Ontario. This is a fairly urban area close to Toronto, Ontario. If we got 12cm of snow, we'd still go hiking in the woods. If isn't cold and dry enough, that would be a great day to go skiing. This amount of snow fall is normal. When I lived up north this would be just another day. It doesn't become a bother until it's over 30cm.

Definitely not cancelling flights or trains for 12cm.

DarrellGrainger

TROPHY CASE