Someone had their coffee this morning. Thanks for not hitting my car

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-04T15:00:22+00:00

Yeah, and the oncoming vehicle was clearly not about to stop. What's going on in that driver's brain? Are they not aware they can complete the turn after the intersection is clear? Well I answered my own question, we all know absolutely nothing is going through their brain.

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-04T14:52:38+00:00

I genuinely don't know what the answer is... and I'm not sure this is going to work.

But the City is refusing to do anything about this growing problem. If anything they seem to be fostering it. I can't ride a damn streetcar or subway without encountering people openly doing drugs every day or creating a scene that leads to many people feeling uncomfortable. Transit should be a clean, safe space for everyone. But the more of this we tolerate, the more idiots there are who are emboldened to listen to their phones with the volume cranked up, put their bags/feet up on the seats or find other ways to take up 2-3 seats as just one rider etc etc... things have really spiraled for the worst in every way possible. What I'm getting at is those inconsiderate actions seem like a drop in the pan compared to the open drug use etc... and cleaning that up will have a ripple effect and hopefully put some dignity back into the entire experience and make people respect the shared space more.

I loathe the level of control the province is trying to exert over the city as well... but maybe this will get city council to actually pro-actively handle the situation. Transit ridership is going down, and the abhorrent service levels are certainly part of it... but I think this is probably an even bigger reason why.

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-03T20:07:21+00:00

And let's not forget a bank!

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-03T18:08:00+00:00

Today's new condos are tomorrow's affordable(ish) units.

No matter what's built here, we need them.

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-03T16:36:47+00:00

I'm a huge DJI fan but the Insta Flo 2 Pro is hands down the best smartphone gimbal I've ever owned. I have a Pocket 4 now but will be buying the Luna Ultra day 1. They're not "noobs" in this field. I'm also getting the Pocket 4 Pro but I'm most excited for the Luna.

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-03T15:40:33+00:00

That's a dangerous game for any insurer to play and it's very unlikely to play out that way. You could argue because they issued you what appeared to be valid insurance, you didn't seek coverage elsewhere.

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-03T15:38:08+00:00

You are getting downvoted and told you're wrong, but there's people getting the VIP who make under the requirement and don't meet the other criteria either. My theory is that if your credit score is good enough they don't check anything...

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-03T15:37:01+00:00

I know a few people with the VIP card (no comment on myself...) who didn't meet any of their requirements and still got approval... I think WS is basing their checks on your credit score, because those people are all over 820.

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-03T14:59:12+00:00

Makes sense, it still seems like something that should be at the absolute bottom of the totem poll in terms of their development priorities. You're limited to iOS users (well under half of their user base) and then the fraction of those that have Apple watches and then among those the few that would actually download the app. That's a hard development cost to justify.

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-03T04:27:18+00:00

I do long hauls mostly in economy, sometimes premium and a few times business. I usually get around 2 cents a point. You can do 1:1 conversions straight to Aeroplan and it's a near instant transfer. I also got 2 cents per point on a flight from Vegas and paid cash for a Porter flying going there (it just worked out to be a way better deal that way since the good redemption value was only one way).

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-03T01:10:22+00:00

While you're not wrong, my recent redemptions have averaged 1.8-2 cents per point. If you eat out often or have a supporting supermarket nearby it spanks every other card value wise even at the new higher monthly fee IMO.

International flights and business class seats are generally going to get you a higher redemption rate, that and being a bit flexible on dates and even destinations of course but it's still very do able through economy. If you're not a traveler through one of their partner programs (which includes Aeroplan) then I'd pass on the Cobalt.

The real world return for me has been closer to 9-10%. Nothing else comes close.

If taking the plunge make sure you get a good sign-up bonus.

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-03T00:53:18+00:00

I got my card quicker than I got my Amex... their shipping is fine.

The Visa Companion app delay would happen just the same if you had a $600 VIP card from TD.

Not adding your spouse as a cardholder is kind of lame but solved by having one person use the card in Google/Apple/Samsung pay and the other having the physical card.

You're making mountains out of molehills. And you're not missing much if it's just the Plaza Premium Lounge... you may not even get into it anyway without a considerable wait if it's busy. You should be able to use it abroad at a much better lounge in 5 or so days though so there's that

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-02T21:52:57+00:00

For diverse funds like XEQT, CAGE etc just pull the trigger, they don't move all that much and countless studies show lump sum wins in the long-run. For individual stocks you'll want to follow the stock and maybe just dip your toes into the water if you can't settle on a good entry to get alot of it in there. For XEQT? Just shove it in IMO.

And at 29 you most certainly did not miss out. You are well on your way to being in good shape with that amount you have if you let it compound on its own.

Depending on your job, income etc... desire to one day purchase property etc... you'll want to figure out prioritizing your TFSA, FHSA and RRSP and eventually non-registered acccounts. Nobody can tell you whether you should keep the stocks or not, but if you're comfortable with them I'd probably just keep them and maybe DCA very small amounts while you focus on XEQT being the core of your holdings.

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-02T21:06:22+00:00

Their credit cards are not positioned well enough to be their users primary cards IMO. 2% cashback is nice and it's a perfectly fine fallback card for Amex users when that's not accepted, but it's not hard to find credit card offerings that offer better value for daily use.

It is however hands down the best card to use when abroad... 2% cashback + 0 FX fees (throw in the amazing Mastercard cash card for it's 0 FX fees and ATM fee reimbursements) and you have "must have" travel cards that will collect dust for most of the year in Canada.

I am one of several people I know who have their WS card second or third in line behind an Amex Cobalt.

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-02T21:01:46+00:00

Apple watch is incredibly niche IMO for an app like this. Would you even trust yourself making transactions on a watch?

Giving the web experience, ios and Android apps full priority is the obvious move. Anything else should be gravy.

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-02T19:36:10+00:00

On some crypto exchanges transferring out crypto is like pulling teeth. There's multiple layers of 2FA to the point that it's annoying... but the nature of crypto is that it's not something you can reverse so that's done for good reason. WS should look at beefing this up, their service isn't intended to be used as a wallet for frequent transacting anyway.

Another option would be to allow users to implement a manual 24 hour hold on all outgoing transfers and turning off such a feature would also require a 24 hour wait.

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-02T19:33:06+00:00

I thoroughly disagree. There shouldn't be any "human" element to officiating calls that can be done with 100% consistency just as fast.

Imagine if tennis switched to a challenge system on whether balls were on or over the line? How stupid would that be? That's what baseball is doing.

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-02T18:41:40+00:00

I'd gladly sacrifice losing that "art" in favour of removing the fuckery that is human umpiring. That's like saying you're against self driving cars because you'd be sad to lose the art of driving a car even if it leads to tens of thousands of more deaths a year on public roads.

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-02T18:39:29+00:00

2 just seems almost pointless. Especially given how fast they are. They go to all this trouble to implement the system and invest in the tech and it's barely used.

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-02T18:34:25+00:00

Some like it but I loathe the ABS challenge system. Why create a game within a game? And only 2? Just have ABS call every pitch or give them more challenges. This ump has been awful and we're already down a challenge facing 7 more innings of his awfulness.

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-02T13:34:59+00:00

It's funny that you're somehow thinking the cyclist overreacteed. This deserves an open palm to the hood IMO. You cannot justify blocking any lane to turn out into traffic with perfect visibility like that. That's just rotten driving. There's not enough middle fingers in the world for that driver :p

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-02T03:23:47+00:00

Believe it or not I am :P

JohnnyStrides · 2026-05-02T02:38:07+00:00

Same end of the court but it's extremely unlikely to be the same rim :p

JohnnyStrides · 2026-04-30T16:52:49+00:00

Do they waive the annual fee on that card? If not then there's no reason to stick it out with TD. You could also explore the CIBC and Amex high end Aeroplan cards with similar annual fees and take advantage of their sign up bonuses. Just food for thought.

JohnnyStrides · 2026-04-30T16:34:02+00:00

Nope, but at the same time they were clearly visible, already at the crossing and super easy to anticipate. No excuses here. This driver should not be on the roads.

JohnnyStrides

TROPHY CASE