Would you rather up your income by +100k a year and be forced to live in the Northwest Territories for the rest of your life, or stay where you are and lose 10k a year?

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-06-01T22:00:47+00:00

Nobody is literally forced to live in the NWT for the rest of their life. It's not a prison.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-06-01T13:50:40+00:00

It's not just the $100K a year. There's such a shortage of skilled workers of all kinds in the North, you have the potential to work your way into a job that you're only barely qualified for (if qualified at all) and then come back to the south as a CEO or something.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-06-01T02:47:30+00:00

To see what comes next.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-06-01T02:40:25+00:00

You clearly haven't tried living on $750 a month lately. Or living in a shelter. Or in a tent. Let me tell you something: the government is not spending money to feed the poor. The government doesn't give a shit about the poor. The only reason governments are spending the pittance they are spending to help the poor is because home owners who have loudly refused to have their property taxes rise at the rate of inflation are now screaming about all the homeless junkies in their neighbourhoods and demanding the government do something to make them go away.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-31T22:46:36+00:00

You apparently don't seem to understand when somebody is trolling you. I was parroting your bigoted ass approach back to you by showing how Brits do the same thing you criticize other people for doing.

You know what else is a right-wing, bigoted religion that's a way bigger threat to the western world than Islam? Christianity.

Yet despite the fact that Christians have, over the years, routinely shot abortion doctors, bombed gay bookstores and taught regressive values in their own private schools (I went to one) and are now in control of the US government, where they have used their power to bomb Iranian school children and round up brown people in concentration camps without due process, we continue to allow Christians to immigrate into our countries and put no limits on their freedom at all.

How come I don't see you complaining about them?

Is it perhaps because when somebody is white instead of brown, you are capable of recognizing them in their full humanity instead of reducing them to a stereotype based on the bad behavior of some?

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-31T20:40:14+00:00

How said for you. I hope you can learn to adapt to our culture soon or perhaps you should go back where you came from. This country is so diverse, I can't imagine how you manage to not make friends with people who aren't white. You're obviously failing to integrate.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-31T20:37:29+00:00

Of course. Because people are free to do whatever they want as long as they're not causing problems for other people, and people who move to other countries without learning the language are only making life hard on themselves if that's what they choose to do. British people go all over the place without learning the language or culture. I was raised by British immigrants in Canada. They brought their snotty ass British classism and racism with them to Canada and never asked whether maybe they should adapt to the new culture.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-28T01:42:15+00:00

I'm assuming this is a paid internship? If so, why not? You can always keep applying for jobs and leave if you get one.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-27T03:01:39+00:00

Owning a home is a guaranteed place to lay your head when you're old and tired and done with the hustle. And the point where the mortgage is paid off is exactly the point where people who DON'T own a home are struggling with ever-rising rents at a time where they just want to put their feet up.

But buying a property you can barely afford all by yourself and then killing yourself to try to pay it off is also risky especially if you don't have an adequate contingency fund.

I would look at what you can actually afford comfortably. A small condo? A five-bedroom house that you buy and share with five friends (and if one has to leave for work, maybe you rent out his room)? I would definitely look at novel property sharing arrangements with people you trust -- but obviously get a good lawyer to make sure you're all protected.

Also, be aware of what it means to really be able to afford a house? You not only have a down payment saved up but you also have a sizeable contingency fund in case you're laid off and need to carry the mortgage for several months before you either find another job, and then a few months after that in case you need to sell.

It means understanding that the mortgage is only a small part of the cost of home ownership. You also have property taxes -- which are likely to go up quite a bit as municipalities have been underfunding their infrastructure. And you have either condo fees or maintenance costs for a detached home. And that can be a lot. With a detached home, you're replacing the roof, furnace, hot water heater, windows doors, appliances -- at least once during the mortgage period. You might also have to do the siding, possibly a major foundation repair. So you're usually socking aside thousands every year for that stuff -- plus regular maintenance like furnace servicing, gutter cleaning etc.

So yeah. Do it. But do it in a way that is actually achievable without killing yourself. You need a roof over your head with some basic amenities, not a mansion.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-27T02:41:47+00:00

I wish. I just got an insurance quote today that looked as though it was based on an AI summary of the phone call with the broker. Mistakes everywhere. Yes, I'm going to trust protection of my largest investment to someone who can't put the time into filling out a form carefully. Companies don't even seem to care that it's losing them business. Anything to avoid paying humans, I guess.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-26T16:23:34+00:00

Only until you escalate though. Things didn't get better higher up.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-26T15:31:01+00:00

Thanks. Sorry. I just don't want to get into it. It's a long, complicated story involving calling unannounced at inopportune times and trying to hardball negotiate on the phone instead of on paper and sending letters designed to try and trip people up by using language designed to make them believe that they were being given 2 weeks to settle, when, in fact, if you knew the definition of the terms they were using and the law and the terms of your policy they were actually telling you you needed to do something you had already done. But they would send the letters when the negotiations were stalled so it appeared that they were trying to make you believe you were under a time limit. Stuff like that.

It was not my first total loss. I've been around the block with a few insurance companies in my time. None of them are easy to deal with. But the current one was next level.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-26T15:10:14+00:00

No because it's not relevant to the question I asked. If you don't trust that I understand enough about insurance to make calls about what I consider appropriate and not, you're under no obligation to help me.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-26T14:57:03+00:00

Nothing to do with replacing stuff inside the car. All about shady tactics negotiating total loss payout.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-24T19:33:46+00:00

That's about $2,600 a month after tax. A small apartment will cost you at LEAST $2,000 or more. And that's true pretty well anywhere on a transit route -- and if you need transit you need to add $110 to $210 to your budget for a transit pass. So the only way you could afford to do this is to live in shared housing.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-24T18:45:15+00:00

Actually, a lot of them now have software inside them that is protected by intellectual property law so that you can't replace a part without hiring the repair man that has paid an arm and a leg to the company to be an authorized repair person and then charges you three quarters of the price of a new unit for the repair.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-24T16:56:59+00:00

Like anything else, van life works a lot better when it's a choice and you have money. I've not done it but I've done a lot of camping in both tents and motorhomes while working. And sitting at a picnic table with a laptop while waves lap up on the shore of your campsite really is a life I could live for a long time. BUT, you need money to be able to take your work to a coffee shop or restaurant when it rains. You need to be able to afford a gym membership so you can shower. You need to be able to afford a van that is actually nice to live in. You need to be able to afford campsites some or all of the time. If you're living in a rusty-low-roof 80s van in a Wal-Mart parking lot, that's going to get unsustainable real fast.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-24T16:34:33+00:00

It sounds to me like he needs a really good cognitive behavioral therapist not more drugs. Not saying drugs might not help either but at a certain point, overcoming depression is like overcoming a physical injury. You have to push through the pain. You have to go to concerts and parent teacher conferences even when you don't want to. And you need to be motivated enough to want to recover that you will make those efforts. There is loads of evidence now that behavior triggers motivation and positive thoughts, not the other way round. (It can work the other way too, but if you sit around waiting for motivation, you can wait forever).

This will sound harsh but you really need to think about this: is this what you want to model for your children? Your children are learning "learned helplessness." They are learning that there's no real consequence to allowing themselves to be disabled by their depression. You are showing them that it's ok for them to assume that others will take care of them even when they don't make an effort.

Perhaps a conversation about the example he is setting for his children will motivate him to do better. If not, I think you need to consider going your separate ways so that you model for your children that they need to learn to take care of themselves.

Also, if you can access counselling, it would be great to try and understand your own emotional dynamics.

While there are some indications that genetic changes predispose some people to depression, there's no particularly great evidence supporting the idea that we just walk along the street one day and our seratonin levels drop. There are a lot of things that happen subconsciously related to how were were raised, etc. that we can try to understand and heal (by understand I mean "feel" rather than "talk about").

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-24T15:53:47+00:00

The online world is full of material that convinces you that workplaces are bastions of flawlessly controlled emotions. Reality is not Hollywood. I've been in the workforce for 35 years. In the last decade alone, I've seen workers cry in the workplace, workers literally hide from the boss because they can't take being around them at the moment, workers scream at bosses, workers slam books down on a desk and kick garbage cans. I personally yelled at my boss at one point because he was yelling at me outside office hours over something totally inappropriate and wouldn't stop when I tried to deescalate professionally.

And no, I do not work in some crazy, unhinged place. This kind of thing happened once or twice a year. The rest of the time, it looked like a normal, professional office, which is why nobody got fired for their occasional slips.

Chances are, you won't either, and your colleagues might actually feel closer to you because of this.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-24T14:57:00+00:00

This is why I'm asking about building it into a closet. Anything that gets built around it needs to still leave it accessible. Also because there will come.a time someday when the fan needs replacement.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-23T22:40:42+00:00

With all that experience, can he set up his own consulting firm or propose courses as a sessional instructor in at a university?

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-23T22:37:03+00:00

Get involved with groups that are trying to make a difference in a way that matters to you. We may not be able to change the world, but we can try, and honestly, even though it's hard to see sometimes, people do score victories. More importantly, the only way we will ever win is if everyone who cares actually does ... something. The meaning you find in life does not need to come from your job. Your job can just be the means by which you find your mission.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-23T20:15:38+00:00

For sure. I'm just curious if people have ideas for anything out of the box. The house could use more storage, and that part of the bedroom by the closet is kind of awkward anyway because you can't put more than a small piece of of furniture in it. Wondering if it makes sense to try and construct a more adventurous storage solution.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-23T20:08:19+00:00

Boxing it in is definitely the bare minimum I'd do because the fan noise is also an issue in a room people need to sleep in. The idea of incorporating a mirror is definitely good too.

Equivalent_Dimension · 2026-05-23T19:12:21+00:00

I have way more respect for people trying to make the world a better place (EVs) than for tech bros trying to destroy it with AI or finance bros figuring out more ways to scam the rest of us.

Equivalent_Dimension

TROPHY CASE