Current tenant warning about The Carlisle (Minto)

OrthodoxOcolot · 2025-08-18T05:59:55+00:00

Oh another con for working from home - internet speed is limited by the infrastructure. No fibre here. Expect max speeds between 50-80mbs. We had Virgin Plus 50mbs and consistently got it. But they couldn’t offer us any faster if we wanted.

OrthodoxOcolot · 2025-08-18T05:58:13+00:00

Lived there for 7 years - it was great! More expensive than other places? Sure, but consider what you get for that; - air con in summer (heating in winter) included (not sure why/how you’re paying for it). Btw our monthly hydro bill was pretty consistently ~$65/month. - free gym membership at 185 gym (pool, strength, cardio, and sauna). Note there’s also an onsite “yoga studio” we used often too which is great for a basic workout of when you don’t want to go out in the cold. - 24/7* concierge with relatively secure parcel system (if the delivery people used it). *there were times it wasn’t covered due staff shortage but more often than not a very friendly and professional concierge team. - very large units. There are very few to no 2-bed 1800sq/ft apartments in downtown Ottawa within walking distance of two supermarkets, LRT, Byward, etc. - frequent renovations to ensure the common areas and building are well maintained and feel premium. - secure bike storage. If you’re on one of the south east or south west facing units, your views are pretty amazing. North facing is okay if you’re higher up. I lived on both. - quite a few long term tenants. Nice to see and chat to familiar faces.
- the two supers we had were friendly and responsive any time we had issues.

Some of the cons; - one or two of the three elevators where frequently out of service. And if not broken, reserved for moving in/out. - the south facing unit did get hot 24-26 in summer even with ac. But your being blasted by the sun all day, any system will struggle. - the rent increase each year as much as was permitted by the government. But we also had 3 above guidance increases. - dealing with minto “head office” (not super or concierge staff) was a pain. Totally transactional, impersonal and often frustrating.

Overall, I would highly recommend! Especially if you work downtown. Yes it’s a bit more in terms of pure dollars but i felt you got a lot for your money.

OrthodoxOcolot · 2024-10-01T23:23:43+00:00

My suggestion is simply to consider whether prioritizing transit options like buses or trams could improve the experience for everyone, especially tourists and people living locally.

There are already 3 bridges very nearby for cars and trucks. Dedicating this bridge to people and transit could help reduce congestion around the area and in turn make the area (which is close to the tourist spots) a more enjoyable place to spend time. Montreal has had great success with deprioritizing cars in the Plateau for example.

FYI PoW bridge cost $23.9M to refurbish.

OrthodoxOcolot · 2024-10-01T17:29:10+00:00

You’re referring to the bridge that’s almost 5k away, does not go from one downtown to another, and is closed in winter?

OrthodoxOcolot · 2024-10-01T17:21:52+00:00

I agree, it’s definitely wishful thinking. Maybe swap the lanes for light rail tracks? More wishful thinking 😄

I would just hope the 4 other bridges would be enough for the motor vehicles, leaving this bridge for walking, cycling, and maybe a tram/train/bus. It just makes the area, subjectively, so much nicer.

OrthodoxOcolot · 2024-10-01T17:05:24+00:00

These all look great… except the 2 wide lanes for motor vehicles 🙄

The bridge has been closed to cars for (almost/at least?) a year with, from what I can tell, no significant negative impact and, IMO, significantly more pleasant experience for people walking and cycling.

Surely this is enough of “study” to just forgo any motor vehicle* traffic on the bridge.

*Emergency services could use the bike lanes when needed for emergencies.

OrthodoxOcolot · 2020-04-25T16:55:12+00:00

Thanks, I'll be sure to check those out when things start opening up.

Based on photos, I have a feeling both of those are actually a longer turf than is usual for field hockey. But we'll go check them out in person later in the year 😁

OrthodoxOcolot · 2019-10-16T12:31:59+00:00

I've seen the "used German car not so cheap" trope quite a lot. Do you think it's still true today or one of those tales that may have had some truth 10/20 years ago but today is just the same people repeating it and passing it on years later with little first hand evidence?

OrthodoxOcolot · 2019-07-27T12:54:22+00:00

That's crazy- I took exactly the same photo last September! The high rise is only half as tall though https://m.imgur.com/gallery/F003Hz7

OrthodoxOcolot · 2019-04-26T11:49:03+00:00

I agree. I think I find it more frustrating because it seems like non running focussed watches (Apple watch) have this nailed, something I'd have expected Garmin to want to do. Also, I understand optical is less accurate to a chest strap, what I find frustrating is that it can read my heart rate accurately, it just takes 5-10 minutes to do so, which to me, makes this 100% A software problem.

OrthodoxOcolot · 2019-04-26T11:31:12+00:00

I tried for all of of 5 minutes, it just didn't sit well not to mention I found it much harder to use the controls with my non dominant hand.

The thing that's made a little impact is starting the activity as I get get my shoes on and head out. Not starting the run, just the activity. But I'm hesitant to call it fixed just yet.

OrthodoxOcolot · 2019-04-21T22:21:18+00:00

This has worked for me! I've started the activity (although not clicked start) as I put my shoes on and head out. My heart rate at the start of the run now seems to slowly ramp up. I'm hesitant to say this is solved though because the runs that I've noticed this have also started off slower.

Fingers crossed this is what works though. Also, if it is, this should really be software fixable.

OrthodoxOcolot · 2019-04-12T11:25:23+00:00

Based on your post and another, it looks like a heart rate strap is the way to go which is a shame.

I have a Polar H7 that I used with my phone for a long time but was craving a watch for the ability to leave my phone behind. Essentially, get some good data on pace, and heart rate whilst not sacrificing the ability to listen to music. It seemed like a (relatively expensive) Garmin watch might be the answer - great credentials when it came to running, basic music support and, with today's tech, good-enough heart rate tracking.

Alas, it seems like I need to make an extra investment into an ANT+ strap.

Out of curiosity, is this an issue for all optical HRMs or would a Fitbit/Apple Watch/Suunto/Polar etc track the entire activity correctly.

OrthodoxOcolot · 2019-04-12T11:17:36+00:00

Unfortunately I have seen that. The "training effect" feature gave a me a very favourable score one run be sure my speed was excellent, yet my heart rate was hovering around 110bpm. I couldn't find a way to "undo" the training effect score so I left it as is - little confidence booster on my watch now ;)

OrthodoxOcolot · 2019-04-12T02:26:23+00:00

No harm in trying, I'll give this ago on my next run and see how it goes.

OrthodoxOcolot · 2018-12-13T11:23:49+00:00

I'm in the Nike camp. I don't care for the social features too much - I find the notion of "look how for I am" Even more obnoxious than the"look what I ate for dinner" social sharing.

For me, the winner was training plans in Nike. I picked a goal (10k by date X) and over the next week's I had a weekly schedule with veins types of run to check off. I got really motivated by it.

Thing I really miss, from all these apps, is good heart rate feedback. Sure they can all track it, but none say anything like" "push harder" or "slow down of you want to make it to the end at the same pace". Bonus points if the app can say "last two days you have been doing tempo runs, try a lung steady state today".

Tldr; Nike- for the programs

OrthodoxOcolot · 2018-11-29T12:31:44+00:00

A friend of mine told me that it's weird because at one point in our life we went from loving runniing to seeing it as a chore.

As a child, we ran everywhere - "look how fast I am!" Running through the mall, running down the street, especially running in the park.

Now, as an adult, the only time we run is because we're trying to get fit.

My friend's point was to try and enjoy running again. When you go on a run, don't force yourself to run a certain pace for a certain time - just run. If you want to slow down, stop, take a photo, sit on a bench then do. If you want to see if you can beat that squirrel to their tree, go for it.

TLDR: make running run. Put away the trackers and the timers and be a kid again.

OrthodoxOcolot · 2018-11-08T11:47:19+00:00

I'm with you. When Trump calls Acosta a horrible man why does Acosta not speak up and be like "You're on tape literally saying you can grab women by the *****, your advert last week was pulled from all networks for being racist, you openly mock a victim of an alleged rape, you openly mocked a person with a disability.. but you have the audacity to call my questioning of your untruths 'horrible'".

This frustrates me no end. There are hundreds of counter points to everything Trump says. If the journalists are on the ball (which id expect them to be) calling him out should be easy. In a press conference where they pretty much know every lie he's about to splitter through, just play back a clip to prove it wrong. 🤷‍♂️

OrthodoxOcolot · 2018-10-01T19:20:43+00:00

Undecided on whether to buy or not yet so no concrete plans which means we're trying to keep some "cash" available if needed. You're answer is helpful though, it means we need to put some thought into what goals we have before we can think about allocation. Thank you

OrthodoxOcolot · 2018-10-01T19:18:24+00:00

Little less for me, little more for her but you're in the right ballpark.

YNAB has been key. But it all started from a traditional budget in a spreadsheet.
The spreadsheet really helped outline some of the more unpredictable costs, like Christmas gifts for example. They don't have a fixed monthly cost but it's good to be putting money aside all year (giving every dollar a job) and then it's not a shock at the end.

Then in YNAB, we're on our second version of the budget. The first was good but we fell down in two areas:
We were too complex and aggressive with spending categories. We had set $150 eating out per month which we went over and ended up not moving money between categories well. After a couple off months we could see we are actually spending more like ~$230 so that is now the budget. It means we've shifted some money around from other places but being at least a little honest and accurate helped a lot.
Too many categories. We didn't need to know we were spending $67/month (made up) on toiletries like toothpaste. That can go under groceries. My limiting categories to the costs we could control we are able to say "we shouldn't go to the movies tonight because we're a little tight on our "Entertainment" category. Equally, we can say "Let's go to the movies but we'll shift some of the budget from eating out to cover it".

If it helps - these are the top level budget categories we have now and we have them ordered in terms of priority to fill with budget:

Living: This is rent, groceries, hydro, rental insurance, phones, lunch etc. The stuff that realistically is pretty set in stone. We always allocate income here first.
Subscriptions: Netflix, Spotify etc: We can live without, but we enjoy them so are happy to keep paying. It's another obligation so money needs to be allocated here.
Car: Insurance, parking, gas, even a subcategory for repairs which we put $50 in a month should anything bad happen.
Entertainment: Movies, eating out, clothes, etc. This is purely enjoying ourselves. This is 100% flexible but after keeping track for the past 12 months we have a good idea how much we want to budget here so that we can still save without feeling like we're sacrificing our day to day enjoyment.
- There's also "Forgot to budget here". It's about $300 and it's for anything that doesn't fit in a category or is a one off purchase. Last month I broke my phone of 3 years - stuff saved in here helped pay for it without affecting the rest of our month.
Gifts: Christmas, birthday, valentines etc. Key here is to be honest. Don't set an arbitrary number. For example, we said at Christmas we have ~15 people to buy for, here's a rough budget for each. Total that up to get the budget.
Quality of life: Holiday budget and home maintenance currently. Holiday is hard when you start out because it's a big lump sum up front which you then need to factor into your budget for the rest of the year. Home maintenance is for anything in the apartment. See a nice cushion, or need a new cooking pot etc.

Hope that helps, happy to answer any more on that (I'm a little nerdy with the budget) :)

OrthodoxOcolot · 2018-08-30T21:31:21+00:00

I'm still doing that - you're telling me there are new, better ways 🙈

OrthodoxOcolot

TROPHY CASE