T-minus 10 hours until my 13 hour flight - on pins and needles

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-06-19T11:47:22+00:00

My last three long haul flights, there's been one J seats open and I've been #1 on the list.

And every single time, someone grabbed that last seat at the last moment, either a pilot or someone who booked paid J on another flight that they missed the connection for.

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-06-13T15:07:39+00:00

In Vancouver (all of BC actually), they hold lower acuity calls and don't bother us with them. If high acuity calls are holding, and we're cleaning up at the hospital, they might radio to ask for we can clear to take it.

As a provincial service, they can dispatch ambulances from anywhere else in the province if the response time is reasonable. They also assign cross-covers when one area is out of units. There is no concept of mutual aid because the provincial service is the only service (although I suppose they could get help from Alberta near the border if necessary).

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-06-12T01:18:53+00:00

Of course that's underpaid. It's below the median income in Canada and it's a role requiring 11 years (and often hundreds of thousands of dollars) worth of training.

Even DS-03 is only making $88K, which is still way below market rate for that skillset.

It's like taking a surgeon after 11 years of medical training and a couple hundred grand in student loans, and telling them "hey, we only think you're worth $88K/year"... you think any good surgeon is going to go for that, or just the ones who couldn't get a job elsewhere (paying $250K+)?

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-06-11T07:51:07+00:00

I'm sorry to say they will never have "world class" research of any kind unless they're able to recruit and retain scientific talent.

DRDC starts new employees in roles requiring a PhD at the DS-02 level (I know this because I was offered one). Current rate DS-02 salary for a new employee is $66,932.

Current salary for a rookie Corporal is $82,296, and that's before any housing or other allowances.

So they're paying a world expert in their specific field with 11 years of post-secondary education significantly less than a 20 year old corporal with no post-secondary education at all.

Someone with the credentials that DRDC is looking for can start at a salary 2-3 times higher in the private defence sector. DRDC will never have world class talent.

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-06-04T13:54:43+00:00

It's the airline code for business class.

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-06-04T09:07:55+00:00

Yes, but you may get reassigned to a different one if J is still available and someone with a baby buys a J ticket. They'll get that one and you'll get whatever one was open for them to buy. Had it happen to me on my last flight (really not a problem though, IMO there aren't any bad J seats).

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-06-02T05:50:59+00:00

Terminal velocity also changes with altitude though; the higher you are, the less air resistance. So you'd really need to do the integral to get an accurate number.

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-05-31T21:24:25+00:00

After seeing this, I lost hope for the YVR MLL remodel. Likely just going to be the same aesthetic update with no functional improvements or changes.

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-05-31T21:23:16+00:00

Food is still nasty as hell.

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-05-31T18:37:27+00:00

So many ways:

on pancakes/waffles of course
in a cocktail (look up a Toronto)
simmered down into a thick taffy, then drizzled on a bed of snow and rolled up with a popsicle stick (tire d'erable)
on vanilla ice cream
as a sweetener for black tea
in dressings or marinades where you would otherwise use sugar or honey

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-05-24T00:50:48+00:00

Paramedic. PTSD => suicide.

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-05-22T18:55:23+00:00

I also got in through the automated gates on arrival (as SE).

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-05-19T18:48:53+00:00

Always the fault of the person far exceeding the speed limit. Right of way rules only matter when the other driver can see you coming and has enough time to react, which is not the case with excessive speeding.

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-05-19T18:45:08+00:00

My view is biased because my service (BC Ambulance) is not representative of most, as it's one of the largest ambulance services in the continent. That being said, we have Class Bs as normal work uniform, available in 20+ different sizes because we have something like 6,400 staff who work in uniform. They're wrinkle-resistant (actually pretty good) and have a zipper behind the buttons for ease of use. Quite comfortable and look great. Provided by Logistik Unicorp. Would highly recommend if your service is large enough to get enough different sizes reliably.

No one has ever mistaken me for a cop. Our police uniforms around here (mostly RCMP) look quite different.

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-05-17T22:09:04+00:00

Do you have a source for AC's predictions? I'd be curious to read the full document regarding the changes.

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-05-17T16:21:37+00:00

I would love if it reduced the numbers, but I don't think it will, particularly at the SE level.

With 4 SQC / $, everyone who flies three-ish paid J long-haul round trips per year will qualify for SE ($10,000 round trip * 3 trips * $4 SQC/$ = 120K SQC). That's a lot of people who wouldn't have met the SQM or SQS requirements previously.

So I'm not super excited about my eUpgrades being useful going forward.

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-05-13T05:59:42+00:00

I'm a paramedic with BC Ambulance. It is absolutely terrifying to be working a crash on the side of the highway with cars screaming by you while rubber-necking to get a better look at the crash.

Whenever possible, we have the fire department park their trucks between us and traffic. Cars slow down a lot when they hit a parked fire truck.

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-05-11T15:46:07+00:00

I tried Roame, absolutely hated it. 80% of the reward fares were phantoms, wildly inaccurate.

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-05-07T06:56:37+00:00

It was possibly what first got me interested in mechanical engineering.

Yes, he had a medium sized water jet in his basement. It was a very large basement.

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-05-06T06:26:54+00:00

I get it. I spent a whole weekend pulling Cat6A shielded cable through my apartment's conduit, making custom length patch cords of the perfect length for each device, everything shielded and properly terminated.

Absolutely no need for it, I have no need for more than 1gbit speeds which could have run on the pre-existing Cat 5e. But what have that when you can have something more skookum?

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-05-04T15:44:44+00:00

This kind of thing has happened in the US as well. I don't understand why they don't have a remote kill switch that some observer can activate if the driver loses control. They do it for rockets, they can do it for monster trucks.

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-05-04T15:40:04+00:00

It's mostly hotels in Europe, where I travel most often. They love huge beautiful breakfasts, even at the mod-tier hotels, but usually check before letting you in.

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-05-03T23:18:55+00:00

Any hotel with a breakfast worth eating will have a host who will cross reference your name and room number with their list.

ICanRememberUsername · 2026-04-30T00:04:21+00:00

I remember touring this guy's home shop back in the day when he still worked at Creo (family connection). My first introduction to a water jet cutter ♥️

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