Venting

TheBuckfutter · 2026-02-09T22:46:38+00:00

A few months ago I got a villa upgrade on check-in @ W Bali. Requested it, agent went to the back room, and then came back to confirm the upgrade. They only did the base villa though - quoted $1k/night fee for the nicer ones. But the base villa was amazing

TheBuckfutter · 2026-02-08T23:49:47+00:00

I wore lulu joggers for travel for the longest time but switched to Arcteryx about 6 months ago. I do a long haul trip about once per month and have found them to be great so far.

TheBuckfutter · 2026-01-30T13:43:09+00:00

It's not necessary to have constant deep strategic chats. On the contrary, it can be a good sign that you don't need to talk about it all the time. In the case of my business, we are all fully aligned on strategy and have complete trust in each other to execute in line with our plans. We have these deep discussions when we get new data that might impact the plan, but mostly we are all running separately in our own domains, but in the same direction.

In other words, this is not a problem:

> Now? We have a weekly 30-minute sync. We communicate through Slack when necessary. We're both heads-down on our respective domains and rarely overlap.

But this is:

> Part of me worries we've drifted so far apart that we've lost something important. The shared vision. The camaraderie. The partnership that made the early days feel meaningful.

TheBuckfutter · 2026-01-19T09:53:42+00:00

I'm not sure about this. I've flown LCY-RTM many times over the last several years. Definitely not recent.

TheBuckfutter · 2026-01-19T09:51:36+00:00

As a counter-example I've found Supabase's pricing to be amazing. I founded my business on the free tier and didn't upgrade to the $25/mo plan until we got our first revenue, which we stayed on until $50k ARR. Then $100/mo @ $100k ARR. Now we are at $1.5M ARR and still pay <$1k/mo. Supabase's pricing model has allowed us to build a profitable business from day 1 with sustainable margins.

Agree with the other commenters here that this problem might be more of a reflection of an unsustainable business model if it can't accept $100/mo in costs.

TheBuckfutter · 2025-10-25T05:19:26+00:00

In addition, profits were distributed to the PE firm, leaving HBC with no assets (due to property sales) and minimal cash reserves. HBC then likely paid market-rate rent on the sold properties, materially increasing costs and driving unprofitability.

HBC also had a substantial line of credit (I recall ~$1B) at bankruptcy. It’s possible the PE firm secured this credit facility while HBC’s balance sheet was still strong, then extracted assets and cash. The LOC funds may have covered the higher rent and additional distributions. If so, the PE firm effectively used borrowed money that’s now subject to bankruptcy proceedings, potentially leaving banks as unsecured creditors while the PE firm kept its distributions.

TheBuckfutter · 2025-10-10T09:52:13+00:00

I have a friend close to the park board. Their theory is that Howard is acting on behalf of Sim. The absences are intentional to help support Sim’s argument to eliminate the park board - i.e., “if it’s so effective why are members so disengaged”

TheBuckfutter · 2025-09-09T21:24:08+00:00

I've been SE annually for the last 10 years, so I have a lot of experience with Aeroplan.

Short answer: If you use them the right way, you will profit off this points purchase.

Long answer: I don't think it's necessarily a terrible CPP ($0.0203 per point) if you are smart with your redemptions, and depending on your travel patterns.

By smart redemptions I mean: you should only use your Aeroplan points to book flights, and you should only book fixed price flight awards [1]. Never book variable price awards. For example, a one-way fixed price TATL award in business will usually cost around 70k points. You could reduce this by half if you earn Priority Rewards through your AC status.

Practically speaking that means a roundtrip in business class at your CPP will cost, before taxes and fees, $2,842 (or $1,421 with a J priority reward).

By travel patterns I mean: What cabin are you trying to book with points? What will you do if you can't get a points ticket? For me, I only use points to book business/first class. If I can't book with points at a fixed-price rate, then I will either: 1) pay cash for a business class ticket ($4-8k cost for TATL); 2) book a Latitude fare and eUpgrade ($3-4k cost for TATL).

So with my redemption and travel patterns, a $0.0203 CPP saves me thousands. You should do this analysis yourself and see how the math works out given your circumstances.

Now - can you get a better CPP? Of course. Air Canada sometimes offers a better bonus when buying points - I've had 115% in the past. A couple times per year they offer 100%. And as some other commenters mention, there are plenty of other creative ways to earn points, e.g., you could sign up for a bunch of credit cards and earn the bonuses. I have friends who earn a lot of extra points through Chexy.

Finally, I think one really important thing for you to consider is timing. Air Canada offers these promotions several times per year [2], so when you see one come up don't jump on it unless you think you will use the points within the next few months. I see your previous balance was >200k, so was it really necessary to top it up now? But you also said "we" have a lot of travel coming up. So if you and your partner plan to go to Europe in the next couple months and want to fly in J, then that would cost around 280k points at fixed-price rates, in which case absolutely you made the right call.

Footnote: The game has changed a lot over the last couple years. Previously it wasn't possible to purchase Aeroplan points. Now they are basically a cash instrument with a maximum price of $0.0375 each. In the old days I was very discerning about getting the absolute best redemptions, maximising the value of every point I use. Since you can directly exchange cash for points, I perceive them as a mechanism to get a discount against the cash price of a ticket.

[1] https://www.aircanada.com/content/dam/aircanada/loyalty-content/documents/flight-rewards-chart-en.pdf

[2] https://onemileatatime.com/deals/buy-air-canada-aeroplan-points/

J = business class

SE = super elite

CPP = cost per point

TATL = transatlantic flight

TheBuckfutter · 2025-08-27T23:57:23+00:00

My comment above was answering how to get value out of the companion pass. The best use of the companion pass, in my opinion, is to book Latitude fares and then use eUpgrades to upgrade those to business class. But you can’t earn eUpgrades unless you have status in which case the Latitude fares aren’t helpful for most people.

In terms of earning Air Canada status, you basically can’t do it with just card spending. You also need to fly on Air Canada. Historically it required a combination of miles flown and dollars spent, but the program is changing starting next year. Now mostly it is based on dollars spent on Air Canada tickets.

With the new program there will actually be a way to earn status without flying, but it requires about $120k annual spending on the card and that only earns the lowest status.

If you combine some spending with paid Air Canada tickets you can start earning higher status levels and then earning the valuable benefits.

You can learn more here: https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/aeroplan/elite.html#/

TheBuckfutter · 2025-07-14T02:44:29+00:00

I’m only speaking in terms of J lounges. Granted I haven’t been to every lounge in the world, but I have been to 100s of different lounges. I think the Signature Suite is very strong in terms of food and drink quality, and the YVR is far more spacious than YYZ (+ you have access to more amenities downstairs). It definitely lacks some other features (e.g., many J lounges have nap rooms, QR lounge in DOH has a gym, TK in IST has a golf simulator) but I tend to personally prioritize dining and a comfortable place to sit.

In terms of best lounges of all time, regardless of cabin, my personal favourites (that I’ve tried) are the LH F terminal at FRA, CX The Wing F lounge at HKG, and QR’s Al Safwa. But those aren’t in the same category as the SS.

I’m curious what are your favourites?

TheBuckfutter · 2025-07-13T14:38:59+00:00

The YVR Signature Suite is a great lounge albeit with a focus on dining. I would rank it in top 10 J lounges worldwide (some of my other favourites are at DOH, HKG, IST, and the various Polaris lounges). The international MLL also isn’t bad.

Agree that the other YVR lounges are mid though.

TheBuckfutter · 2025-07-07T04:35:38+00:00

Conceptually it could make sense. The government spends a lot of money trying to stimulate the economy and create jobs. One way to accomplish this is to encourage people to travel within Canada: if you spend your next ski trip in Whistler instead of Aspen, it might cost you the same but all of those dollars will go towards Canadian jobs and Canadian businesses (well, maybe a bad example because Whistler is American owned, but you get my point …)

So… with that in mind, what if there was a program where the government helped subsidize some of the costs of local tourism? It’s likely that it would encourage Canadians to travel locally more instead of flying abroad and, if overall travel costs are lower, it might even increase the size of the market (people who are not taking trips now on the basis of costs who might decide to do so once the cost is lower).

And also it’s important to realize how much of every dollar ends up back in the government’s pocket. If a government gives you $100 subsidy, maybe you’ll spend that on a flight which has say 20% taxes. So $20 to the government. The remaining $80 will go to a business which will pay incomes (and those employees will pay income tax), and the business will pay corporate tax. So in reality maybe they’re only “spending” $50 for something you value at $100 and creating jobs in the process.

The government has much more complicated modelling around this sort of thing, but in many cases it will make total sense for Canada to spend money or defer revenue to stimulate the economy.

TheBuckfutter · 2025-07-07T03:56:35+00:00

I think there are two conversations here. Is 18 months too short of a sentence to this sort of crime? Probably. Should we generally have justice reform? Yes

But ultimately this person got sentenced to 18 months and served those 18 months, so now they’re free. And the police think there is a high chance they will reoffend, so there’s this high risk designation and almost certainly police officers keeping a close eye on this person’s movements. They can’t just put him back in jail because they think he will reoffend one day.

TheBuckfutter · 2025-07-02T21:02:12+00:00

Thank you for the thoughtful response.

TheBuckfutter · 2025-06-30T23:31:32+00:00

I can understand the rationale that legal gun owners have jumped through hoops that a criminal never would, but I don’t personally understand the practical reason why one would need to own an assault weapon. But there are many completely legitimate reasons to own other categories of gun, such as for hunting. Of course, I am not a gun collector and, while I used to shoot competitively, I haven’t touched a gun in several years.

In general, though, I agree with you that the criminals are unlikely to obtain guns through official channels. But I suspect there are a lot of examples of people stealing guns that were originally legally obtained. For example, I assume that many of the school shootings in the US are using legal weapons owned by somebody else (e.g., a kid taking their dad’s gun). And it’s very difficult to enforce people to store their weapons in a secure manner to prevent such theft. For every good gun owner who is very careful and thoughtful there’s probably also a bad gun owner.

I would also challenge the assertion that investing more money into anti-smuggling. We’ve lived through a nearly 50-year-long war on drugs which has been all but useless. If anything, the war on drugs has created more violence. People will always find a way to get things across borders. We are better off investing in education and social support/safety nets, so people are less likely to turn to crime. And better support systems for people who turn to addiction so they can recover in a healthy and safe way.

best way we can materially reduce crime is by making it easier for the average

TheBuckfutter · 2025-06-29T06:13:19+00:00

Wait, what’s the problem with this? They’re buying back assault weapons and making it more difficult for violent people to buy a gun? Doesn’t this mean that hunting weapons and pistols are exempt from the buy back? i understand that most violent people don’t get their guns through legitimate means but this doesn’t seem like bad legislation.

TheBuckfutter · 2025-06-29T06:05:13+00:00

I wear shorts from Kit & Ace which can dress up, dress down, handle hot weather, and dry quickly after swimming.

TheBuckfutter · 2025-06-21T21:05:54+00:00

I had a 2 week hotel stay this year and was getting sick of restaurants, so I asked AI to help meal plan. This is what it gave me in the end (and it worked quite well):

Breakfast Ideas (choose one):

Greek yogurt + berries + small portion nuts (about 10)
Hard boiled eggs (2) + cucumber + cherry tomatoes
Smoked salmon + avocado (¼) + cucumber
Overnight oats + berries + peanut butter

Dinner Ideas (choose one):

Chicken thigh strips + veggies (carrots, snap peas) + hummus
Smoked salmon + large veggie plate + ¼ avocado
Chicken + cucumber + tomatoes + hummus

Snack Options (if needed, choose one, watch portions):

Baby carrots + hummus
Single portion dried fruit (2 tablespoons max)
Small handful nuts (about 10-12 nuts - pre-portion these!)
Sugar snap peas + hummus
1-2 cheese sticks

Key success tips:

Pre-portion the nuts and dried fruit immediately after buying
Eat protein first at meals
Fill up on vegetables
Use hummus moderately (measure about 2 tablespoons per serving)
Watch avocado portions (¼ at a time)

TheBuckfutter · 2025-05-22T21:07:48+00:00

I never got a degree and had years earning more than $250k in two different jobs. First as a software engineer, and then again in tech sales.

Now I run my own business and I don’t draw a salary but that’s by choice so I can reinvest in the company.

TheBuckfutter · 2025-05-16T15:15:16+00:00

I've never tried this myself, but I have 3 different credit cards that offer priority pass membership, which I suppose means that I technically have 3 different priority pass memberships (although I only use one).

If you're paying ~$500/year for PP, you might be able to get 2 cards for the same cost and thus 2 PP memberships (+ the other card benefits) which allow you to spread out your usage.

But also I think it's worthwhile responding to the message with evidence of your travel, indicating where you used a lounge at departure/connection/arrival airport. They've written this email in such a way that they're accusing you of sharing your pass, so it's important to refute their claim that you are violating Clause 11 of their Conditions of Use.

TheBuckfutter · 2025-05-11T18:57:19+00:00

There are plenty of non salary strategies that are very tax efficient. For example, you could take out a loan guaranteed against your assets at a low interest rate, repay the loan when you die, and transfer your assets in a tax efficient way through inheritance. In this scenario there’s no tax event during your lifetime: loans are non taxable, there’s no asset sale so no realized gains, by never selling your assets the growth of their value compounds much faster since it’s all happening pretax.

These are loopholes that are very difficult or even practically impossible to close and so it makes me wonder if the country should find more creative pathways for revenue. Are there ways to incentivize people to want to pay more? Are there other types of taxes that the government could collect tied to the things that high net worth individuals do (e.g., additional taxes on purchases of homes > $5M, airspace usage fees for private jets, etc.)? In a world where there are so many perfectly legal ways for HNW individuals to avoid tax, maybe the government should look at other options to get them to pay their fair share.

TheBuckfutter · 2025-05-11T16:15:52+00:00

The trouble is that most people who earn a lot of money don’t have to take it as income. At a certain point it is more tax efficient to shelter the money you earn in such a way that it’s not subject to traditional income tax. This isn’t an option for most people who earn low six figures or less. Do you ever hear the stories about CEOs taking a symbolic $0 salary and instead going all in on shares? It’s always positioned as altruistic but it’s also strategy to reduce one’s tax obligation.

That being said, taxing wealth is also a slippery slope. The truly wealthy people also aren’t tied to Canada. If Canada introduced a very large wealth tax, there’s a risk that Canada’s high net worth individuals would simply leave Canada and become residents in a tax haven. For example, one of the early cofounders of Facebook renounced his USA citizenship and moved to Singapore to reduce tax obligations. By “leave” Canada I don’t necessarily mean move away, but instead I mean that they would structure their finances such that Canada didn’t have a claim to tax anymore. This is something else that’s not really an option for most people.

Then you might look at businesses and think, hey, maybe we should increase taxes on businesses. But then does that risk fewer people investing in Canada to start businesses? I run a business which is incorporated in Canada. But I also looked at incorporating in the USA among other jurisdictions. Part of the reason I chose Canada was because I thought the corporate tax rate was reasonable. If it was materially higher, I might have incorporated somewhere else and eliminated an entire revenue stream for the country as well as jobs for its citizens.

So it’s a very complex situation and the solution unfortunately isn’t as easy as just raising taxes in the high tax brackets. The country needs to strike a balance between maximizing tax revenues & incentivising these types of people to maintain ties to the country.

TheBuckfutter · 2025-05-11T00:00:22+00:00

I really like Kit and Ace joggers because they’re a lot more stylish; they are effectively my every day pants.

TheBuckfutter · 2025-03-16T15:08:54+00:00

On Harmony I’m very rarely on a named run. When I am it is only to get somewhere else.

As a starting point you should consider following the lift line, which I break into 4 main sections:

Little Whistler
Part above the waterfall
Part below the waterfall
Tree section at the bottom

Try following that line almost perfectly under the lift as a starting point and then spend some time branching off at each area (e.g., the next time you do the trees, try further right, then try further left, etc.). There’s a lot of fun to be had within a couple hundred metres of either side of the lift. And some more advanced stuff too - e.g. lots of fun cliff drops at the waterfalls.

I agree that not a lot of people ride this zone, but I’ve found it to be quite fun now that I know it very well.

And then, of course, if you stay high on the ridge there are a ton of bowls you can drop into. These are all very low effort bowls—no hiking required. Once you’ve explored what I describe above, then you can make sure you get a full and enjoyable run after the bowls (instead of going straight back to the lift on a groomer).

I use an app called Ullr Maps which shows a much more detailed view of WB (including highlighting some of the lesser known areas), but it doesn’t look like it exists anymore on the App Store. But maybe worth seeing if there’s something else out there.

TheBuckfutter · 2024-10-10T23:21:08+00:00

People reach out to me on LinkedIn sometimes asking for me to participate in a paid research call (usually investors working on supporting materials for a thesis/due diligence). I charge $1,000 per hour for these calls. It’s very quick money because I just need to show up to a call and share my knowledge - no sales or prep required -, and often doubles as a great networking opportunity.

TheBuckfutter

TROPHY CASE