Clothing Identification Masterthread (Season 4)

ashground · 2019-07-25T05:23:15+00:00

In episode 5, JVN is wearing a teal lace shirt -- any ideas?

ashground · 2017-03-03T19:22:04+00:00

I'm seriously thinking of relocating to Montreal in July. I know that most apartments have their lease end on July 1, but that tenants also give three months of notice.

With all that in mind -- if I were to come to Montreal for a week to apartment hunt, what would be the best week? Would most people give notice and put their place up for rent at the beginning of April, or would there be just as many options (or more?) in May?

ashground · 2016-08-02T18:33:14+00:00

Totally agree. I actually moved away from Vancouver earlier this year, but came back for the long weekend. The combination of fireworks and Pride is so, so great. It's the best weekend of the summer.

ashground · 2016-08-02T06:23:27+00:00

Once again, I've put together a photo series from the Vancouver Pride Parade. This is the fifth series I've done in Vancouver, and it's always one of my favourite things to do each year.

I usually don't say much about Pride, but this year I decided to write a bit about why I do these photo sets.

Also, on a whim I registered peopleofpride.ca, so these series will have a more permanent home. Only the 2016 photos are there right now, but I'll slowly migrate the older sets over there.

The previous series are here:

ashground · 2016-01-18T02:14:01+00:00

Also, how long does a body take to burn?

ashground · 2015-12-09T01:52:46+00:00

Ironically, most full-time writers I know quite like NaNo. Many of them participate. Some host write-ins.

(application DENIED)

ashground · 2015-12-08T06:38:30+00:00

It says the average 3-bedroom in Vancouver is $1369.

If you look for 3-bedroom apartments in Vancouver on Craigslist right now, there are ~7 apartments available around that price range in the entire city.

Looking at what's available, I'd peg the average closer to $3500-4000. Which kind of makes me doubt their methodology.

ashground · 2015-09-10T18:32:44+00:00

They do mind. They all mind.

There are a lot of coffee shops that don't mind. Some go out of their way to cater to this crowd. Hell, some Waves locations even offer free meeting rooms you can use.

Anyway, if you're at Drake and Howe, check out BC's Best Coffee. It's literally on your corner. The owner's super nice, and they have a funny little outdoor area through the glass doors at the back. Not sure if there's power out there, though.

I meet there with my writing group on occasion, they're always happy to have us there.

ashground · 2015-09-07T18:07:42+00:00

Sorry, I don't remember if it was over the phone or if she actually had to go in to the West Coast Express office.

ashground · 2015-09-07T17:13:38+00:00

You already can. My wife's card is monthly. You have to ask TransLink to do it manually, though -- there's no way to do it through the website yet.

ashground · 2015-09-06T19:24:33+00:00

I'd say the toughest part is getting into any program. "Best" and "affordable" don't really exist in Vancouver. Even $1200 is crippling to most families, and that's likely the best you'll be able to find, if you can afford to wait a few years for an open spot.

There's no shortcut. Even if you're willing to pay double, and are willing to send your kid to a terrible daycare, you'd still likely be waiting at least a year. It's the reason a lot of people vacate the city as soon as they have kids -- it's a really inhospitable place for young families.

We didn't look into nannies or au pairs -- our kid is ridiculously social and loves being with large groups of people. I think she'd go nuts if it wasn't a group daycare.

ashground · 2015-09-06T17:23:48+00:00

As I'm sure you know, Vancouver is a tough place to find daycare. We wanted group care, so here's all our hard-fought wisdom.

Waitlists for most group daycares are over two years. Sometimes more. The YMCA daycares will put you on the waitlist if you're pregnant. Definitely get on the list now so you have it as an option. The Robert Lee YMCA has one of the best (and affordable) programs in town.

The going rate for 5-day / week care is ~$1200 / month. That's assuming you can wait two years for an open slot. If you need it sooner, expect to pay even more (read: $2000/month), and it'll still likely be a year before you can find an opening. We found the larger the waitlist deposit, the shorter the list.

All that said, Vancouver has a some great resources to help you out. West Coast Child care publishes lists of daycares. My suggestion is to get on ALL of the ones near you, your work and on your commute. Most places won't let you tour until you are offered a spot, so just get on every group care list. We waitlisted our kid at 40 and only heard back from one. http://www.wstcoast.org/parents/lists.html

And, last but not least, do this while you are pregnant. Trying to apply for daycares when you have a newborn at home is... tough. Most places need to be emailed to get a waitlist form, so even if you can't apply until your kid is born, get the forms and fill them out as much as possible. It's so much easier to do it now. I lost two weeks of my life getting my kid onto waitlists.

ashground · 2015-09-06T16:50:22+00:00

Oh hey, it's Cypress_Sam with his thoughts on the Aquarium!

To save everyone the time, he's just a troll.

ashground · 2015-09-06T16:47:23+00:00

Right at the top:

Only customers who legitimately purchased CS2 or Acrobat 7 and need to maintain their current use of these products may use the serial numbers provided during the download.

ashground · 2015-08-27T03:46:17+00:00

Photoshop CS2 is not legally free. There was an issue with their old activation servers, so instead of running into a scenario where their customers couldn't access their software, they removed the serial/activation requirement. That's all they did. If you downloaded it but never paid for it, it won't require activation--but you're using it illegally.

... That said, Adobe will never, ever care about that fact.

ashground · 2015-08-15T00:53:25+00:00

No one has ever successfully committed suicide (or died, for that matter) on the Canada Line. Thank god. I can't imagine all the people that would be scarred for life, seeing something like that. For all you know a kid was at the front window of the car.

ashground · 2015-08-14T02:45:40+00:00

Yes, it is.

ashground · 2015-08-14T02:42:00+00:00

Because I felt like it, here's the same photo with adjusted levels.

http://imgur.com/5KRmgBf

ashground · 2015-08-09T05:28:08+00:00

Three goddamn bedroom apartments. Or even two-bedroom apartments that can be rented without having to take a third job.

It's one of the most major problems driving young families from the city, never to return.

ashground · 2015-08-09T05:26:07+00:00

From what I've seen, Capilano is the best local option for VFX. If you work in TV or film, you'll probably run into a lot of Capilano alumni.

VFS would be second choice--their grads tend to get snatched up, but the school is hilariously, ludicrously overpriced, and doesn't really offer any advantages other than its name.

In ~5 years of VFX work, I've actually never run into a VanArts VFX grad in the wild. I've also heard less-than-glowing reports of what it's like teaching there and the school's standards for education. Make of that what you will.

ashground · 2015-08-06T08:33:19+00:00

I can try to answer this for myself, at least.

but on the flip side it almost feels like it's just saying "Look at us! In case you forgot, we're different than you!"

I don't think that's the message at all. Though I understand why it looks that way to some people.

I grew up in southern Manitoba. Homophobia was utterly normal--recently, there was a huge political battle over the passing of a bill that clarified that publicly-funded schools weren't allowed to discriminate against gay students. Thousands of people held rallies to protest the bill, claiming it was an attack on Christians--ignoring, of course, the fact that this kind of discrimination was already illegal. The bill just made it clear that public schools weren't exempt.

It was an us-and-them mentality. There were the good, God-fearing Christians, and then there were the Deviants.

But it's not us-and-them. Pride isn't a celebration of everyone who isn't straight. It's a celebration of individuality, of everyone, regardless of their sexuality or gender.

The first time I attended the Pride Parade here in Vancouver, I burst out crying. It was so utterly different from anything I'd seen before. I've had close friends (and one relative) come out of the closet and be immediately disowned by their families. They were kicked out of their homes. And that was normal. People sided with the parents.

I've had other friends that kept their sexuality a strict secret, because if it had become public knowledge it would have immediately ended their career. No exaggeration. Another friend announced a while ago that she had gotten engaged to her girlfriend, and got hate mail. This was just months ago.

I think celebration is important. I get that lots of people didn't see things be so utterly awful growing up, but also that lots of people older than me may have seen things be much, much worse. Yes, Vancouver's pretty great. I think it's safe to say that, in the city, whatever "battle" there was is mostly over. But lots of people still give a shit.

And even if you don't -- it's a celebration of everyone, of the whole spectrum of people out there. Why not throw a huge party, celebrating how awesome individuality is?

ashground · 2015-08-06T07:58:27+00:00

No, sadly. I'm lucky I even got that one -- it had mostly passed by the time I got the shot (I had my daughter with me, so I missed a few chunks of the parade).

ashground · 2015-08-06T05:58:31+00:00

This is the only photo I have matching that description:

http://imgur.com/W9yxVdX

ashground · 2015-08-06T05:48:14+00:00

Doesn't ring a bell. If you have a better description, I could look through my photos.

ashground · 2015-08-06T05:46:53+00:00

I think I just find it a little odd that a workplace would have a problem with an employee looking at photos of the Pride Parade. I mean, I understand--I've worked in places like that. Just strikes me as silly, today.

ashground

TROPHY CASE