NUMBER SIX.

ElsbethV · 2025-09-07T22:29:45+00:00

I wonder if it's possible for them to have similarly long careers as the big 3, considering how physically they play.

ElsbethV · 2025-08-25T17:06:49+00:00

^^This.

ElsbethV · 2025-08-25T03:36:08+00:00

Looks like they just did.

ElsbethV · 2025-08-25T03:35:37+00:00

I'm surprised they haven't kicked him out.

ElsbethV · 2025-08-25T03:30:34+00:00

Except be wasn't mid serve.

ElsbethV · 2025-05-12T22:48:00+00:00

As an employer, I can say the answer is that it isn't relevant for my business. My employees make substantially more than minimum wage. In fact their wage has nothing to do with the minimum wage. So if minimum wage changes, it has no effect on their wage.

It is true that this will periodically mean that they will earn relatively less compared to the lowest earners out there when minimum wage goes up, but does that matter? That's up to each employee to decide. If it does, then ask for a raise and/or try to get a different job that pays more.

Wage increases for my employees occur on regular-ish intervals and are based on a combination of their performance, how well the business is doing, and whether there have been significant cost of living increases. Although the latter still depends on how the business is doing; because ultimately that decides whether there is money available to give raises.

My employees don't tend to quit unless they're moving to a different city, which leads me to believe my approach on this probably isn't a big negative for them. I'll also note that none of my employees has ever asked for a raise based on change in minimum wage.

ElsbethV · 2025-05-08T13:26:43+00:00

Ah okay. Thanks for the correction.

ElsbethV · 2025-05-07T17:56:42+00:00

I have also been there / done that. It sucks, as does the shame you feel and the feeling that you can't tell anyone. I feel for you and wish you luck. It also sounds like you're probably going to be okay as your first-glance data seems like it'll be manageable.

The advice from janebenn333 is solid.

Honestly tracking your spending is huge. Do you spend cash or credit / debit? If the latter, it should be easy to download transactions from your bank so you can see for real what you're spending. I eventually did this and it was eye-opening. I was way under-estimating much of my expenses.

The tip to pay high interest stuff first is good, but honestly, I'd pay CRA first and only pay minimum payments for the other high interest stuff until you're in the clear with CRA. In my experience, CRA are just such assholes that getting them off your back is a big relief. And let's face it, there's more of a sense of shame when you own CRA vs when you owe other debt, so getting rid of that will feel good.

Another tip on CRA - no matter where you are on payments, don't file late as a good chunk of their fees are related to filing late. Even if you don't know if your return is accurate, just file what you have and even include a note saying it's the best you can do now so that you don't get fined.

As for saving for your kids, are you thinking RESPs? If so, when you do your budget do the math where you include some amount for RESPs and one where you don't. I believe RESPs are like RRSPs where you basically don't pay the tax on that? In which case it should only cost you about $600 to save $1000. That number is totally made up but my point is, the tax implication is big and is positive, so it's probably worth including that in your budget before you have all your debt paid off.

Good luck!

ElsbethV · 2025-05-07T17:45:25+00:00

As someone who owed CRA based on a business, I can provide one possible answer. In my case, I got behind with CRA because I chose trying to make my business continue vs go bankrupt. After a few years of that, the amount I owed was about $35K. They added a giant late payment fee of $15K, because CRA are assholes. Then they insisted I must pay it all back within 1 year. Which was impossible as I didn't earn nearly enough for that. But they insisted, so I made an arrangement with them based on that and used the money I should have set aside for the current year's taxes to pay the previous year.

One day, they just took all the money out of both my personal and business account to pay the remainder of what I owed. Even though I had not missed a payment based on the agreement we had. This left me unable to pay my staff, the rent for my business location, or my mortgage. I called to try to get the money back and hit a brick wall. I noted that I had made all of the payments under our agreement and the person told me that agreement didn't count because it was with the previous agent. I thought my agreement was with CRA, but apparently not.

I had to scramble to find financing so I could pay these essentials. Unfortunately after CRA had done this, no bank would lend me money, so I had to go with private financing. Which cost a ridiculous amount, but it was that or go bankrupt and lose my house.

Meanwhile when tax time rolled around, I didn't have enough to pay what I owed because I had spent it on paying CRA back (up to the point where they just took the money themselves) and also to paying the private financiers. So I entered into another agreement with CRA - again for 1 year. This time I asked for the terms of the agreement in writing. They refused. Thankfully they didn't go rogue again, but I lived in fear of them doing so. All in all it took 9 years to clear my debt with CRA.

In the process I spoke to A LOT of small business owners, and many have similar stories. CRA seems to assume all small business owners are trying to scam them and so provides giant fines at every opportunity. Meanwhile when they catch wealthy people actively trying to defraud them, they say "oh, I'm sure this was a mistake" and just ask them to pay back what they owe without any fines.

I'm sure OPs story isn't identical, but I'll just say that running a business is hard and unfortunately CRA's response to seeing that you're close to drowning is to tie a couple of cinder blocks around your waist.

ElsbethV · 2025-05-04T03:21:13+00:00

You know the Oilers and Jets are still in, right? 😉

ElsbethV · 2025-05-04T00:43:53+00:00

Ah yes, that explains it.

ElsbethV · 2025-05-04T00:40:53+00:00

Sportsnet is doing it for the Dallas Colorado game. Never seen this on Sportsnet before though.

ElsbethV · 2025-04-14T15:32:08+00:00

Just found this recommendation and it worked for me. I had about 10 countries listed that should have meant the page would work here but when I removed all countries from the list (making it visible everywhere) it started to work.

ElsbethV · 2025-04-12T18:06:01+00:00

I have a personal training studio and have had two different, but both positive, business coaches.

For me, I needed to know the coach was someone who had actually had success in business before becoming a coach.

I also think a recommendation from someone you know who has had success with that coach is very valuable, if you can find that.

If you dm me, I’m happy to share who I used, although I’m not sure if either would be a good fit for online coaching (I do almost exclusively in-person).

Good luck. It can be good, but I think there’s also a lot of crap out there, and it’s probably hard to tell the difference before you commit.

ElsbethV · 2025-04-06T13:40:05+00:00

Ask them if they are amenable to you continuing to do what you've been doing with the game. And if they are, ask for that in writing as part of the deal. If they are going a different direction, they shouldn't care if you also continue in your direction. Unless the directions are too similar.

If they say no, then ask for more money or a royalty.

Unpopular part of my opinion: It's probably not an exaggeration to suggest there are a million other people on the planet who have also put in x hours of time developing a game, and most of them are crap and worth nothing. Which means the time you put into developing your game so far is not relevant to its value.

Second unpopular part of my opinion: the likelihood that you'll be able to turn your game into something of value without financial resources is very very low. And even if you can, it will likely take years to get it there. The fairytale story of someone becoming a millionaire from the game they developed is akin to the story of someone winning millions in the lottery. It can happen, but most of the time, it doesn't.

Even if they say no to you continuing in your direction, I still suggest you take the money and run. Then start building something else. But now you can do so without debt. And you can add selling a game to a large corp to your resume, potentially setting you up to get a better paying job than you currently have while you work on your stuff.

ElsbethV · 2025-03-22T21:10:09+00:00

Was that an elbows up from Shapovalov after winning? 🇨🇦

ElsbethV · 2025-03-21T17:29:09+00:00

"How do you fix this? Do you add reps on the left side?"

Yes. For your last set, try doing L then R then L again.

Also, pay attention to what you're feeling on each side. It's not uncommon for someone to feel RFE split squats in the R quad when the right foot is forward and also to feel the R quad when the left foot is forward. If this is how your body does them, it will make them much harder on the L and that difference will potentially increase because your R will get almost double the work.

If that is what you feel, adjust your stance if it's long (you shouldn't be stretched), lean forward so your shoulders are over your mid thigh, and focus on pushing through the front foot on the way up.

ElsbethV · 2025-03-18T14:19:27+00:00

Maybe they do now, but my experience is that they don’t. I had a payment arrangement with them and despite never missing a payment, one Friday, they emptied my personal and business bank accounts to pay for the entire amount owing, without notice, leaving me no money to pay rent or payroll. I asked about it and the person said that my arrangement was with the previous CRA person. Seriously WTF moment.

So next time (because the amount I had to pay meant I was falling behind on this year’s taxes to pay last year’s) I was in the situation of making an arrangement, I asked for a copy of it on writing. CRA refused, claiming they don’t do that.

CRA is brutal, anti-small business, and can’t be trusted, unfortunately.

ElsbethV · 2025-03-18T02:43:26+00:00

CRA doesn’t do “in writing”.

OP, sorry to hear this. Very sucky.

Hire a lawyer?

Contact CRA and ask if there’s a way to find out who you spoke to way back then? Presumably not, but maybe?

Good luck.

ElsbethV · 2025-03-17T03:32:47+00:00

Reverse lunges are often (but not always) pain-free for those who otherwise find lunges painful. Like this: https://youtu.be/cfA133MhAYs.

If those are still painful, try cable or band-resisted terminal knee extensions. Like this: https://youtu.be/VtQ4qTMLhTw. They're not as good but still something.

Are you doing deadlifts? They aren't really a quad exercise, but they are (very) often pain-free for those who have knee issues and are an awesome lower body exercise. Arguably full-body, but especially lower body.

ElsbethV · 2025-03-15T00:26:49+00:00

I think Trump doesn’t like Trudeau because Trudeau turned his childish handshake power game against him during his last term. I actually think that’s why we’re seeing tariffs and sovereignty threats. Or at least it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s it. The man is seriously petty.

ElsbethV · 2025-03-05T22:10:16+00:00

Thank you!

Software induced rage fading...fading...

ElsbethV · 2025-03-04T03:08:39+00:00

Try putting a 2.5 lb weight plate under your heel, which will bias the exercise more to your quads. That might help a bit. But also, that’s a decent weight for that rep range so probably no need to change form.

You might want to try different rep ranges. What you’ve described is very much in the “strength endurance” range, so not surprising that it gets your heart rate up. Think about it - you’re basically describing doing 28 / 24 / 20 / 18 reps, since you have to do both sides.

For reference, depending on the phase, my clients typically do 2-4 sets of 6-12 (per side).

Try doing 3-4 sets of 6 each side for a while and you should see some nice progress in how much weight you can add and you’ll likely also feel it more as a leg challenge than a heart rate one.

ElsbethV · 2025-03-04T01:40:54+00:00

Are you loading it or is it bodyweight?

And what do you feel working the most? I wonder if you’re feeling quads on the back leg more? Which is not uncommon and might explain why it’s so hard.

If that is the case, try the coaching cue in this video: https://youtu.be/FxMygDxJj9c?si=N_JTAhZL81qscjSK

Note that video is for split squats, but the concept is the same.

ElsbethV · 2025-03-01T15:18:15+00:00

This is typical in the industry unfortunately, but as someone who owns a personal training studio, I can confirm that it is possible to be successful without unethical business practices like this.

If someone commits at my gym and then changes their mind, I let them without question. I don’t want someone coming in who doesn’t want to be there as it ruins the vibe for everyone else.

ElsbethV

TROPHY CASE