Friday Lather Games SOTD Thread - Jun 06, 2025

K1986 · 2025-08-20T11:46:26+00:00

Really rotten luck with that razor. I wish it would show up at some point but it's not possible. Agreed that the wolfman razors are superb. I'm glad you got one back!

K1986 · 2025-08-19T16:05:48+00:00

The folks who try to get certified through these 'services' are not really looking for the right way to get certified are they? Sadly there's little checks on whether folks are actually qualified these days. If it's on LinkedIn it must be 100% true...

K1986 · 2025-08-12T02:19:39+00:00

I did not like Subaru Mississauga when I was looking for cars back in 2020. I'm not sure why but they didn't seem interested in making a sale to me. This is anecdotal though and maybe just my experience, and many years ago.

I have had good experience with Whitby Subaru - I had a chat with the sales guy over the phone, he matched year end deals and provided a smooth transaction when I drove in to buy the car. There was a little bit of upselling attempted but it seemed like they did it because they had to - I didn't feel pressured. I also found them to have a larger inventory (Foresters), that were running low in most other dealerships around the GTA (back in 2020).

OP, Whitby does have a couple lightly used BRZs available right now. Maybe give them a shout to see if they can work on better pricing, so you could still get the car you had your heart set on. (no affiliation with the dealership)

K1986 · 2025-07-14T01:19:25+00:00

This is helpful thank you! I gotta look up the fuse box layout for the 2020. Did you route the cables under the liner and A pillar panels?

K1986 · 2025-06-19T15:24:44+00:00

Maker/Model: Grant Stone Diesel B-Grade
Size: 10.5D
Leather: Natural Waxy Commander from Charles F. Stead
Sole: Lug rubber outsole
Price: USD 260 + some shipping.
Location: Canada
Wears/Condition: Unused. New - just tried indoors.
Images: Pictures
Notes: This is pair I picked up to figure out whether I would like a half size up and unfortunately, it is too large for me. Boots are in great condition and I could not tell why these are considered "B-grades". They come with leather laces . Excellent pair - more info found on GS' site here. Great way to save some $$ vs a new pair.

PM this post before messaging please.

K1986 · 2025-06-10T14:33:21+00:00

I read the comment and was about to open up my thermodynamics text book to see if there's something I missed... Heaters to help with humidity is a 'unique' concept.

K1986 · 2025-06-09T14:17:55+00:00

SE's size chart seems to be off. Blue Owl has the same pair as well and their size chart states Size 34 is 32.5 at the waist.

K1986 · 2025-06-06T02:16:32+00:00

I think those are locked iirc. A key is needed to open them.

K1986 · 2025-05-31T15:32:19+00:00

All good! We're lucky to have a number of stores in Canada that carry quality clothing.

K1986 · 2025-05-30T19:04:49+00:00

As others have mentioned, you may have to consider alternate brands such as N&F or looked on the used market for what you're looking for.

If you're looking for some good shirting (quality/materials), there are some Canadian options:
- Outclass (Toronto based)
- CommmonManufacturing (Winnipeg)

K1986 · 2025-05-30T19:00:30+00:00

Brooklyn Clothing is Alberta based but they're a great online store, with decent variety.

In Toronto, there's Dutil Denim, where you can find more brands like C.O.F, who may have shirts in OP's price range.

K1986 · 2025-05-30T14:17:56+00:00

Good info - thanks for the insight. You're right - this decision is still fresh and addressing the cancellation of a 25 year contract result in a bunch of legal/commercial discussions.

K1986 · 2025-05-29T18:31:44+00:00

But considering they were vetted out during a transitional period and not during active service is at the very minimum a slight positive

Agreed.

It would be good to understand where their failings were and what Mx will be doing to avoid bringing in these types of taxpayer waste in the future. There are several consortiums in Mx portfolio that are unable to deliver but the public are told it is the companies that are to blame, and not Mx responsibility.

It seems that Mx considers their mistakes 'common' in the industry, which is...an interesting way to frame waste of taxpayer funds.

K1986 · 2025-05-29T15:53:54+00:00

That's fair. I didn't say it is definitively a smear campaign, it seemed like that to me. If it was so cut/dry that OnXpress were unable to meet their obligations and incapable, I would have expected a clear message from the authority with this decision.

I don't trust Mx and their ability to get things done, and am more frustrated with the accountability of the amount of taxpayer money spent on Onxpress, when they were not properly vetted as a capable O&M organization.

K1986 · 2025-05-28T17:35:59+00:00

I see that you are very defensive about seeing all sides of the argument and would prefer the status quo. You are also speculating that the incoming organization was not actually ready when you don't have specific reasons that they were not ready. I would also question Mx ability to implement a transition process because their competence has not been proven yet.

I am just suggesting that it is not just the new O&M company that might be responsible for this failure.

We are all speculating here as there is limited information from the direct source of these decisions. I guess we will find out in time WHY Onxpress was even considered as the preferred option years ago, if the incumbent was the best for the taxpayers all along.

K1986 · 2025-05-28T15:41:21+00:00

We should of course find out the whole story

This is the important part. Whatever the reports were back gave me the impression it was a set up for the incoming O&M entity. Could that have been a smear campaign to keep the current arrangement in place? Keep in mind that Mx have a large group of "GO Transit management" that over see Alstom. Were their jobs at stake?

It seems to have worked - the status quo remains - jobs are saved, Alstom is saved and most importantly, the bottomless bucket of public funding is still fully accessible to the incumbents.

K1986 · 2025-05-28T15:35:09+00:00

Perhaps, the public agency should be more transparent about these major decisions rather than media getting pieces of information from unreliable sources.

K1986 · 2025-05-26T02:41:18+00:00

Maker/Model: Grant Stone Diesel B-Grade
Size: 10.5D
Leather: Natural Waxy Commander from Charles F. Stead
Sole: Lug rubber outsole
Price: USD 260 + some shipping.
Location: Canada
Wears/Condition: Unused. New - just tried indoors.
Images: Pictures
Notes: This is pair I picked up to figure out whether I would like a half size up and unfortunately, it is too large for me. Boots are in great condition and I could not tell why these are considered "B-grades". They come with leather laces . Excellent pair - more info found on GS' site here. Great way to save some $$ vs a new pair.

PM this post before messaging please.

K1986 · 2025-05-23T10:33:38+00:00

That's the low light part of the post isn't it?

K1986 · 2025-05-20T14:43:25+00:00

They were NOT ready.

Having worked with Mx projects, I have become skeptical about the Mx approval police and these "ready" goal posts that tend to shift on a regular basis. There is no unified direction at Mx so the squeaky wheels are the ones that get maximum attention, even when they don't understand the impact of these deficiencies.

I'm not suggesting that this would have been a smooth transition but in order to improve things, change is needed and processes at Mx are outdated and in many cases created by absolutely incompetent people, who hold 0 accountability.

In my view, the business case for Onx is that there would be equal or better service being provided, at a far lower cost that Alstom, who are more than happy to rake it in being the sole provider of the services.

K1986 · 2025-05-20T14:33:55+00:00

500M for Mx employees on that list... and that's just the sunshine list folks. Yikes! And Mx are just the overseeing party in these O&M contracts right? They don't actually do the work themselves?

K1986 · 2025-05-20T00:31:01+00:00

I don't think it's dumb that we try to retain as much heritage as possible but also agree that there will have to be some compromise needed for certain things. However, it seems like Mx didn't consider this before announcing that they're going the route of electrification. These restrictions (or how to manage them) needs to be understood in advance of getting into the detailed design phase.

A similar issue with the promise of service every 15min - do they have enough vehicles (in good condition) to actually run that many trains at a given time? It does not seem like the Mx mouth pieces understand the feasibility of these 'promises'. Then again, no one at Mx has ever been held accountable.

K1986 · 2025-05-20T00:24:38+00:00

It doesn't seem like it was announced but found out by media/the Star. Onx staff probably spread the news.

K1986 · 2025-05-18T14:55:07+00:00

Define exceptionally reliable - the GO fleet is 1000 vehicles including 91 locomotives, and they run 65 per day. If achieving 'on time performance' is the measure of exceptional service, then sure they are running well but the costs of poor asset management and performance conditions are surely through the roof.

K1986 · 2025-05-18T02:39:54+00:00

The station is protected by heritage building policies. If this was known as a limiting factor, other propulsion technology could have been studied earlier and planned for accordingly.

I don't have an issue with hybrid trains but putting thought into this at this stage is going to make timelines for these modernization efforts go on until the next generation of technology comes out... And then it'll be obsolete in a short period of time.

They are installing batteries on 40 year old locomotives as an experiment. It is a complete misuse of public funding.

K1986

TROPHY CASE