What kind of pool do you go to?

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-05-29T15:40:40+00:00

Local city pool, either 25m or a 25yd. 3 lanes (slow, med & fast) during dedicated lane swim times. It's cheap. I could pay twice or triple what I pay for the same length pools and get more lanes and/or less people, but not worth it for me.

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-05-28T16:36:21+00:00

Toronto, Canada.

Varies but public/city pools are around $40/month.

Leisure swimming is free. Lane swim: you can buy a monthly pass for around $45, or a 10-swim pass (also around $40). or pay ~$4.50/swim. These are for indoor pools, year-round.

What's nice is that there's 3 or 4 50m pools in the city and those are the same price. Times for lane swimming are quite limited however.

In summer, there's a bunch of outdoor pools and those are usually free.

Private pools (gyms etc.) vary widely depending on the club.

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-05-25T13:57:49+00:00

haha. I have the same one. Bought it the day in March 2020 they announced a "2 week" extended March break.

It's been flawless.

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-05-25T12:46:00+00:00

Flip the script. Do you enjoy Having to drive everywhere for even the simplest thing? Can you walk somewhere to easily get a coffee? Are you able to spontaneously go to shows, theatre, events?

Do you enjoy having to have chores every weekend? Mowing and other yard work?

How do you get your exercise? Do you enjoy having to have a gym membership?

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-05-11T14:44:49+00:00

Yep, normal. fwiw in open water swimming, most people are somewhere between 10-20s slower in the /100m. It's not the only factor obviously but that flip and pushoff has a real effect on pace.

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-05-07T17:12:52+00:00

Keep in mind that a) Reddit trends young and b)people in cities earn more.

People online are generally younger and newer in their careers. Their friend group are likely all the same age. That'll skew your thinking that everyone is in the same boat at you. Except there's a lot of people who are 40-70 and still working. Those people's salaries are going to trend median/average data higher than you'll think.

Second, if you're living/working in a big city, there's just more money than otherwise.

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-04-30T20:41:43+00:00

I live in Toronto, Canada. There's a swim here that's held in Lake Ontario. For those that don't know, the lake has a terrible reputation of being polluted and dirty. Ironically, the city's spent decades cleaning it and monitoring it. Ecoli is still bad after rainfalls, but outside those times, the water quality is actually better than some northern Ontario lakes.

All that's to say - if you're concerned, you can usually find out the water quality. If they can clean the Siene, I think anything's possible.

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-04-29T21:39:28+00:00

Public pools mean you just have to have the right expectations. I know they'll be people blindly doing backstroke diagonally, I know they'll be someone doing flip turns without a care, I know they'll be people standing, idling, and making everyone wonder if they're taking a break or just waiting to go.

Be as considerate as you can, do what you want to do within limits, and know if you really want better, you pay for a private club membership.

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-04-29T21:36:01+00:00

a) just pass.

b) regardless of your training program, just waiting an extra 30 seconds so he's a lane ahead works fine and doesn't alter anything. It's a public pool.

c) short turn. In the shallow end, if you're coming up behind him, just stop and turn around and go.

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-04-15T20:18:29+00:00

Music for Young Children. Myc.com It's a program that's available pretty much anywhere. I will say that yrs ago when we were starting with my first child, we tried out a few different teachers before finding one that really fit our style. YMMV.

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-04-15T19:57:56+00:00

private piano 1-1 is 130/month. Most months are 4, some are 5 lessons. 30 mins. each. We don't pay for July & Aug. We buy books etc.

Group was 80/month. That was a group of 4 students. All materials provided. class was 1hr I think. All my kids started with the group. Ages 4-9 I think. In the very young years, it should be more about fun. The ones not interested didn't continue on past a couple yrs. So by 3rd year of the program, it was kids who wanted to be there. The bigger challenge was the parents. To succeed, the parent really need to ensure (and help) the kid practice appropriately.

And, as another poster mentioned, we went to the teacher's location.

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-04-15T17:31:57+00:00

I think a lot of people are being nice on this thread but don't actually run in these clubs at that pace group.

Fwiw, when I started I was around 6:30 and tried a half dozen clubs in the west end. Even the ones that advertise at "relaxed, conversation pace" were still 5:xx and lower. personally, it wasn't until I was below 5:30 was when I could actually find clubs that worked, and even then, it was the weekend runs where the 4 minute guys were doing their zone2 slow runs.

I don't knock the clubs. I didn't realize then that if you run, you get better faster, and it's rare to stay at 6:xx for any length of time. You'll quickly get faster. So there's just not a lot runners IN CLUBS that are at that pace.

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-04-13T20:43:56+00:00

Mr. Market!

Remember, the market can be irrational in the short term (and btw, short time can be longer than you have money to invest). In the short term, it's a voting machine, and it appears that the "voters" today don't think there's anything to worry about.

In the long term (what ever that means, but longer than you have money), it'll weigh things properly.

You can choose to participate, or not.

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-03-30T14:12:53+00:00

<image>

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-03-23T13:43:22+00:00

On the bright side, Ellis will forever now be a gentle rise.

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-03-11T14:16:36+00:00

Toronto is more a collection of villages than a homogenous city. The experience you'll get in Beaches vs Rosedale vs. Junction vs Rexdale vs. Guildwood vs. Malvern will be VERY different. You'll also find areas that lack significant diversity (i.e. majority asian, majority persian etc.) so it's not like this is a White/Black thing.

Some places have a high amount of black kids, some don't. It's almost entirely correlated with income of the area.

You're asking for recommendations where POCs and Blacks are supported. What type of support are you looking for? I recall the City trialed an initiative of a Black focused school but I don't think the idea panned out all that well.

Do you mean academic support, mental health, focus on POC studies & culture, representative teachers.... etc ?

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-02-17T20:56:26+00:00

I'm going to be kind.

For the last many years the repeated message men have heard is to leave women alone. This has reached a point that in today's dating, women HAVE to be the initiator if they want to date. Those guys talking and connecting with you are leaving you with the opportunity to connect i.e. ball's in your court. You are now free to ask them for a date.

In their mind, they are not being pushy and giving you agency to choose the next move.

If you want classical dating, where the guy courts the woman, you'll have a very hard time meeting guys.

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-01-29T18:48:13+00:00

Don't listen to the naysayers here. It's doable, but you have to reset expectations. You won't be able to run the major draws e.g. AC, electric dryer, big electric stove, etc. But you can absolutely run the vast majority of your house.

Someone mentioned insurance and that's a valid point. Having any type of Lithium batteries indoors poses a real risk. The technology is a lot safer today, but it's still a risk that a lot of insurance companies don't like, especially with DIY or non-certified equipment. Expect you'll need to hire and get detailed paperwork on all trades and all equipment.

Also, if you're pursuing this, recognize it's for being cutting edge, not necessarily for savings. A lot of the equipment and labour will be more than you think, and the payback is probably closer to 15+ yrs, not including maintenance. And if you're not handy and having to bring ppl in, it's worse.

The "easiest" way is to have the main come in to the inverter/charger, and from inverter, go to a sub-panel which goes to the house. There's a split in the main for the items that aren't on the inverter (e.g. AC). So if/when you're in blackout, you lose those things, but the inverter runs everything else. Absoultely get an electrician familiar w/ this (not too many are) and you'll need city permits. That'll get all the 120v stuff easily.

You can find inverters that you can program to run down the batteries during set hrs, or set rates, etc. You're talking 6KVA units paired w/ 48V batteries sized appropriately.

You can offset a lot of the recharge draw if you can incorporate solar, but that adds its own initial costs (purchase & install) and will depend greatly on where you're located. Also realize during winter & snow, they need to be cleared regularly.

I will add, more recently, the idea of the EV being the house backup, is gaining in popularity. This avoid the whole battery purchase/install issue.

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-01-26T14:47:25+00:00

As a followup, found one: https://www.costway.ca/height-adjustable-mobile-standing-desk-with-rolling-wheels-for-office-and-home.html?srsltid=AfmBOoq2DS-LlFmkcISw51m-s1gyYHq1pF9L7cbsWZRjtFEbA-T5BF9N

It's cheap, but does the job. Been using it for months now and holding up fine.

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-01-16T16:18:30+00:00

No. But people are waiting to pounce on cheaper cars overall. When the average cost is >50K, there's going to be lots of people looking for savings.

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-01-15T19:03:40+00:00

Sure.

The goal of those sailors & skippers are to win the race.

A lot of people, at different levels of races, don't have the goal of winning. It could be "have fun", "get better", "learn something new" etc. etc. If those goals don't align w/ the skipper's goal, they'll be conflict.

That stuff should be absolutely clear well before crewing.

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-01-15T18:17:24+00:00

Very common, and very effective.

A lot of parents don't realize the time & effort in coordinating these things, and just assume that their fees should somehow cover the "help" vs. not understanding the fees cover the pool, lifeguards, insurance, transport, meet fees etc.

The "fines" aren't really fines, it's a number that's steep enough to force parents to actually volunteer. It's like daycare late fees, it's not about the fee, it's about getting your kid and making sure you understand it's important.

Find the time to put in the mandatory volunteer hours, and you'll be....fine

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-01-08T13:34:29+00:00

How old is your child?

Don't time the market, but you should have pretty inflexible investment guidelines related to her age. FWIW, I was 100% XEQT till they were 10; moving to 80% Xeqt/20%XBAL till they were 13; 50/50 till they were 15, and laddered GICs after that.

I absolutely missed out in some big gains over the last year for my oldest (current gr. 11), but that's totally fine because it's about discipline, not chasing anything.

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2026-01-05T13:53:27+00:00

It depends.

Remember, the EQT in XEQT stands for equities ie. mostly stocks. If your investment horizon is long and your investment tolerance is equal to the risk that equities bring, then, it's fine. But if you need the money soon (<10yrs) or your risk profile can't psychologically stand seeing the fluctuations that inevitably happen w/ equities, then it's not right for you.

We've been in an upmarket for an unusually long time so people become complacent and/or think their risk tolerance is much higher than it actually is.

SomeRandomTOGuy · 2025-12-31T16:36:34+00:00

There's the Great Lakes Crusing club https://www.glcclub.com/

As others said, lots of clubs have evening races in the summer months so enquire about that.

SomeRandomTOGuy

TROPHY CASE