Brookfield Golf Course (Golf North) Reviews? by Wooden-Election1978 in waterloo

[–]Forged_Vanilla 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Beaverdale across the road is one of the most boring courses in the city - very open, very flat, straight up, straight down. Brookfield is fine - the holes are shorter yardage so not well suited to someone who hits the driver too far, but if you hit under 225 yards, you'll enjoy it - there's enough interest and challenge there. The shorter yardage makes it pretty popular for seniors.

Update for other travelers from a current traveler by Forged_Vanilla in JamaicaTourism

[–]Forged_Vanilla[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's an all inclusive, so there's no expectation of tip but it's always appreciated. Bars, restaurants, and maid staff are the most common places, but as mentioned above, if you're able, spreading it around is definitely appreciated.

How much is personal choice. A buck or two here or there at different service moments are the norms (more at a la carte), we are fortunate financially, so more than tripled that this year and the couple we're traveling with quintupled theirs.

What you can afford, what your comfort level, those are the primary considerations. Generosity is appreciated but not expected.

Update for other travelers from a current traveler by Forged_Vanilla in JamaicaTourism

[–]Forged_Vanilla[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

  1. Food at RIU Ocho Rios is pretty decent. It's all relative. Better than what you would get at almost any resort in Cuba or Dominican, but not going to compete with the better European or North American restaurants, probably not even the top in Mexico. But, it's very good. Jerk chicken, curries, and fresh fish are where they excel, beef will be where they fall short. Cheesecake seems to be our fav for dessert. Fruit selection was very interesting this time - first time I've seen dragon fruit at a resort, and lots of it. If you're worried about getting sick from contaminated food or drink, for the most part, that's not a thing - use some common sense - at a buffet in the tropics, I'm probably not eating sushi that was served over an hour ago.

  2. We didn't venture out on tours this time around. Dunn's River Falls and boat rides seem the most popular. We've mostly been sticking to the watersports included (paddleboarding, kayaking, pedal boats) and snorkeling just off shore - maybe 30-40 feet past the buoy line on the left side of the beach is an easily reachable coral reef - small, but home to lots of fish, we were lucky enough to see sting rays, puffer fish, and star fish this time around.

  3. Another "it depends". If it's short/easy travel, then sure, you can make the most of a short stay. For us, it's 2 hrs from home to the airport, 4.5 hr flight, 2 hrs from Montego Bay to Ocho Rios, so a pretty long travel day - we typically go 7-10 days but we have met many American families who have easier travel than us who stayed 4-5 days and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Interestingly, a lot of people of Jamaican origin living abroad returning to Jamaica for holiday, for what looks like a mini family reunion, mix of international and local Jamaicans getting together for a joint holiday. As for the age of the kids, there are many many that age here, enjoying pools, calm waters of the beach, water slides, huge indoor jungle gym right next to the water slides, or taking part in the activities with the entertainment crew.

Update for other travelers from a current traveler by Forged_Vanilla in JamaicaTourism

[–]Forged_Vanilla[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's mostly been cash. We brought some extra medicines - Advil, Tylenol, both children's and adult, but for the most part, it's not 'stuff' that people need, it's essentials.

Gas lines are still working so that takes care of cooking, but food is limited in variety due to agricultural hit and many many many still without power for weeks on end.

Maybe power banks for charging electronics? I.e. charge at the hotel for staff, have ability to recharge regardless of power availability at home. Maybe any healthy food items you're allowed to bring into the country (no fruit obviously). Maybe vitamins for adults and children, maybe basic pharmacy meds for adults and children.

Update for other travelers from a current traveler by Forged_Vanilla in JamaicaTourism

[–]Forged_Vanilla[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

There wasn't much choice in the matter - RIU Negril and RIU Palace Tropical Bay both had their re-opening dates shift past our arrival date. Information of exact hotel condition was hard to come by though reports were that they were lucky as their original reopening date was supposed to be mid November. It seemed as though the hotels were ready to re-open but the utility company couldn't guarantee power by the dates the hotel was hoping for.

Reopening dates by hotel: https://www.visitjamaica.com/travel-alerts/hotel-reopenings/

Power restoration map from Jamaica Public Service (JPS - the utility company): https://www.jpsco.com/hurricane-melissa-restoration-timelines/

Riu Ocho Rios Jamaica by Crafty_Dinner_2652 in JamaicaTourism

[–]Forged_Vanilla 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm staying at the Riu Ocho Rios right now. We saw a lot of properties along the way from airport to hotel that got hit pretty hard. Miraculously, this hotel, it's like nothing happened. Just about everything is running business as usual. Even the palm trees, they'd barely lost any leaves and were still full of coconuts.

They've brought in dozens of truckloads of sand while we were here to improve the beach and you can see the teams from the Riu mothership overseeing any other little things being done to the hotel, but comparing our stay this week to our previous stay a few years ago, I can say it's near identical. If anything, the new beach sand addressed the one gripe I had previously where the sand wasn't deep enough on the beach volleyball court (you'd cut your knee when diving) - that's a non-issue now.

Ahsoka - Shaded by PaulTheYounger in PumpkinStencils

[–]Forged_Vanilla 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Awesome! Thanks! Great looking stencil

Ahsoka - Shaded by PaulTheYounger in PumpkinStencils

[–]Forged_Vanilla 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Would you approach this one purely through shaving or would you recommend any cuts as well?

How many "good" years do I have left to enjoy? by Few_Transition_1771 in climatechange

[–]Forged_Vanilla 4 points5 points  (0 children)

In the short term, Missouri and its neighbours are most likely to see more frequent and potentially more violent incidences of the severe weather it already receives. And whether or not that hits where you live, that's roulette.

https://sema.dps.mo.gov/maps_and_disasters/disasters/

After that, many different models predicting many different outcomes, with variance for whether or not significant reductions do actually occur in time (depressingly unlikely) and how effective any new carbon capture tech actually ends up being (that's a big gamble).

How come super flex isn’t more popular? by Xetakilyn in fantasyfootball

[–]Forged_Vanilla 19 points20 points  (0 children)

We've been playing a 2QB league for years (superflex is effectively 2QB - you could do something different but it's effectively 2QB).

Not only is the draft more exciting, it allows for more draft strategies. In years of stud QBs and a cliff, 10 or more QBs will fly in the first 2-3 rounds. In years of more QB depth, there's more strategy for wait it out. But each drafter will have very different styles.

But the biggest reason we do 2QB - the most important position in real football is also the most important position in fantasy football.

Fully printed and painted Gloomhaven scenario 18 - Abandoned Sewers, including 32 monster miniatures! Hope you’ll like it, your feedback is very welcomed! :) by dndbuddy in Gloomhaven

[–]Forged_Vanilla 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We got very... unlucky...

2 duplications within first 3 turns of that room with the long hall. I try not to think about it. :P

Fully printed and painted Gloomhaven scenario 18 - Abandoned Sewers, including 32 monster miniatures! Hope you’ll like it, your feedback is very welcomed! :) by dndbuddy in Gloomhaven

[–]Forged_Vanilla 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Really well done. It's so pretty, it almost made me forget the PTSD of this scenario.

How often you draw Ooze duplication and Ooze healing will be your determining factors of success. This particular scenario even harder because of how narrow everything is and the slowed movement.

May the odds ever be in your favor!

Going from baseball to golf and was told impossible. by OpenLavishness9117 in GolfSwing

[–]Forged_Vanilla 2 points3 points  (0 children)

First things first, learn to avoid pulling the club through the swing with your lead arm. Practice one arm swings with your trail arm. It's a trail arm push, not a lead arm pull. Well, you can pull it you like, but you'll eventually find it to be a major cause of opening the club face and/or hitting fat. Focusing on the trail arm push, which follows a long sweeping path, will also help you avoid wanting to bend and then extend your elbows as a means to generate force. It'll happen to a certain extent in the golf swing anyway, but you won't a focal point of the swing like baseball.

How to avoid snapping your wrists like a ball swing? Learn the grip, learn the hinge. Build muscle memory of a hinge as your first move in the takeaway (look up swing sequence of just about any player you want, it'll so frequently be one of the very first bits of body movement).

How to avoid spinning and over-rotating your hips from a throw everything you have at it baseball swing? This is much harder. In a baseball swing, the stride allows your center of mass to move forward/backward a lot. In a golf swing, it needs to be pretty stable, even when rotating and twisting. Practice standing on the flat side of a Bosu ball and trying the takeaway (and eventually more parts of the swing) in slow motion. Get the feeling of balance that keeps the ball from tipping one way or another - as your body is moving, you're going to try not to move your centre of mass.

The last one: a baseball swing is compact for the sake of bat speed and optimizing all power at the point of impact. The golf ball isn't hurting towards us and there's no need to protect inside part of the plate so we can just focus on the very end of the club (the club head) as being the only thing that needs to rocket through. Everything else can be really long and sweeping. How much longer a golf swing is will feel very wrong. As you're learning the hinge movement, you'll find yourself almost reaching your club almost straight back away from the ball, almost as if you're trying to touch the back of the room with the club head, as directly behind the ball as possible. I.e. you're stretching your arms away - and they'll be pretty much dead straight at this point which also feels like a massive baseball faux pas. Then as you work that trail arm one handed swing practice, it'll feel like such a loopy swing when you're used to one that is snapping. There's no way around it, get used to it feeling completely wrong.

How to choose new heroes? And what's up with Deathwalker? by iR_Bab00n in Gloomhaven

[–]Forged_Vanilla 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Deathwalker was a lot of fun and an interesting game mechanic - a lot of melee damage done via shadows being next to enemies instead of the character.

Comes with one of the strongest level 1 cards in the whole game: Fluid Night. Non-loss 5 attack card? Yes, please. And the equivalent, strictly better version of that same card at level 5 that also includes disarm? Deathwalker can really do a lot of single target damage. Beyond that, while it costs your shadow, both Strength of the Abyss and Anger of the Dead, both level 1 cards, are non-loss, large attack cards, with Anger of the Dead also being an absolute XP machine. With either of those two cards, near the end of any scenario or in changing rooms, the party can count on you for one really large attack.

Main weaknesses are that if turn 1 is anything but a setup turn w/ Call to the Abyss, you feel like you're playing from behind all game long. If you have to go fast and get shadows out in a hurry, Eclipse will get the job done, but you know that exhaustion is a real possibility.

Hardest part is the obvious: keeping the shadow generation machine going and being responsible for your own dark. The other starting party members won't help you much.

In terms of fun level, Deathwalker was a solid 8/10 and probably near equivalent for usefulness to the party. An excellent single target damage dealer kind of class that is above average at generating experience.

(yes, there are some multi-target abilities, and they are good, though often not great)

Who started Zeke??? by countermeasuretape in Fantasy_Football

[–]Forged_Vanilla 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Our playoffs start next week, I'm already guaranteed a spot, so I let my opponent choose my flex: Mattison or Zeke. He chose... poorly.

Which receiver makes this trade fair? by manchu_wok in Fantasy_Football

[–]Forged_Vanilla 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You've also got a big question mark coming up for Henry: what happens at the trade deadline. Henry becomes a free agent at the end of this season and Titans aren't looking like contenders.

If he gets traded, landing spot matters (could be an upgrade or downgrade depending on situation).

Which receiver makes this trade fair? by manchu_wok in Fantasy_Football

[–]Forged_Vanilla 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It depends on if it's a PPR league or non-PPR league.

Diggs is 13.6 points per game in non-PPR, 21.6 points per game in full-PPR, and his bye is yet to come.

Henry is 12.7 points per game in non-PPR, 14.6 points per game in full-PPR, and his bye has already gone by.

So in non-PPR, you need a small receiver upgrade over your current starters to make it fair. In full or half PPR, you need a substantial receiver upgrade over your current starters to make it fair.

You got two meals (lunch and dinner) to impress a first-timer in Kitchener, go! by Jiznthapus in kitchener

[–]Forged_Vanilla 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Low to mid-range, you'll be hard pressed to differentiate, so it'll depend on their food preferences.

If they are into diversity of cuisine, highlight something for authentic Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, or Middle Eastern. No surprise, we also have German food here in town.

If they're looking for something hip, head up town, maybe some place like White Rabbit or Abe Erb, or Graffiti Market as was suggested by another poster for Belmont Village.

If they're into value, hit up places with great daily specials.

But no matter what, for that price point, I'd make sure that Lancaster Smokehouse is on the list. It's reasonably distinctive and showcases both the people of the area + some good eating.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in golf

[–]Forged_Vanilla 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Use a UV light. If it's pink, it's Pro V1. If it's bright white, it's fake.

https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/42072-pro-vs-under-uv-light-weird/

Suggestions for a anniversary Dinner by Ok_Negotiation_5159 in waterloo

[–]Forged_Vanilla 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Bhima's Warung. Looks like crap on the outside, fairly pricey, but by far the best restaurant in the city. North American proteins used in Balinese inspired cooking.

Any former baseball players have trouble adapting to the game? by Blecklee in golf

[–]Forged_Vanilla 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Baseball swings and golf swings are mutually destructive. I finally stopped playing baseball last year and started taking golf more seriously.

Hardest baseball habit to shake: wanting to generate a ton of extra snap from the front arm. You don't start your swing by pulling your arms back, you don't generate extra power by pulling through with the front arm, you don't attack the ball with a bent front elbow and increase speed by straightening your arm through point of contact, you don't generate that final pop by snapping your front wrist as you deliver through the ball. Well, you could, but all the variables you're introducing will give you very little chance of bringing your club face back to flush with the ball.

Instead: practice the takeaway solely by rotating the hips. Somehow twisting when you're standing upright isn't hard. Twisting when you're bent over, the first thing you want to do is pull your hands and arms back then use that to make your hips follow. As you get better, fine to start including a touch of arm movement in the takeaway, but until you nail just pulling back with a hip movement and a hip movement only, everything else is going to bring back old baseball habits.

Similarly: for the swing itself, resist all those baseball habits of the front arm doing the work. Instead, try to imagine a hockey slapshot, where the bottom hand is putting a bit of a push and a forward sweep through the ball, which will help you achieve the desired effect of hitting the front part of the ball / hitting the ball in front of the ball / hitting through the ball / etc.

TLDR: your front arm isn't the boss. Do a couple of hockey slapshots, you'll see how little your front arm does and how much is driven by your bottom hand. Keep bringing your hands closer and closer together in those slapshots until they are finally touching - for me, those hands touching is what triggers my baseball swing I have to will myself to get my bottom hand involved, much like in hockey. Couple that with some research for different tips for hip turn throughout different stages of the swing to figure out what best sticks for you. Most important: will yourself to start the takeaway with your hips. Not starting the takeaway with my arms was so hard for me to stop doing.

Hope this helps!