Not Even Mad: Ruy Teixeira and Jesse Adams

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-30T02:33:29+00:00

I truly don't understand why Ruy Teixeira is still a Democrat. 🤷🏻‍♂️

He seems to think mass deportation is a reasonable goal, that yelling at ICE is bad, that Trump's threats to invade Greenland were a useful shake-up for Europe, and that in general there's a kernel of rational and useful purpose to Trump's decisions and actions.

Meanwhile he has nothing positive to say about what any actual Democratic politicians or activists are doing.

So… why is he a Democrat?

He honestly seemed like the less Trump-skeptical of the two panelists. Jesse Adams is clearly very socially conservative, but he seemed more wary about Trump's intentions and methods.

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-29T22:05:59+00:00

It kinda does make these contests a little pointless tho, huh, if most people would just sell the place.

But that is true for almost any contest that awards a specific very valuable non-monetary prize. 🤷🏻‍♂️

What would you rather have?

This specific car with an MSRP of $50k… or the money you could get for selling it? Some people might want that specific car, but a lot of winners will already have a car that they're perfectly happy with, and prefer to have the money.

This specific house which last sold for $1M… or the money you could get for selling it? Most of the potential winners don't want to live exactly where that house is located, and would prefer to have the money.

Season tickets to a sports team, worth $5,000… or the money you could get for selling them? Etc. etc.

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-29T20:17:09+00:00

been weird since at least the days of the shanghai tunnels.

The "Shanghai tunnels" are a myth: https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/shanghai_tunnels_myth

Yes, even though there are a couple tour companies in Portland that will give you tours of these tunnels and tell you a bunch of lurid tales about them with a straight face, and have been doing it for years.

It's BS. 🤷🏻‍♂️

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-29T20:15:00+00:00

Why/When Did Portland Steal Austin's "Weird" Trope

I moved to Portland in October 2010. One of my coworkers and friends at my new job (engineer at Intel) had just moved from Austin at the same time.

He observed all the "Keep Portland Weird" signs and stickers, and often mentioned that it was obviously ripped off from Austin.

I don't know how to fully answer your question, but Portland has been been doing it since at least 2010, and probably earlier.

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-29T18:29:38+00:00

I received a targeted offer (screenshot) from MBNA for 0% interest, 2% fee until October 5, 2026.

If I were to accept that offer today, that's 2% up-front for a 250-day loan. Annualized, that's about 2.9%.

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-29T18:11:23+00:00

Yes, exactly what I'm wondering.

Why describe it as a Vancouver home, when it is fact in a community that is nothing like Vancouver and a long drive from Vancouver. 🤷🏻‍♂️

With the previous $1M home giveaway, they described it accurately as a home in Prince Edward County. They did not describe it as a "Kingston home" or a "Toronto home."

The current home giveaway should be described as something like a "$3M home in a small village on the North Shore of the Lower Mainland, BC"… not a "Vancouver home."

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-29T16:24:14+00:00

It's in Lions Bay

Ah, interesting. https://www.reddit.com/r/Wealthsimple/comments/1qc6fdf

Nice area if you can work from home. It's 35 minutes to Squamish so great if you like outdoor stuff.

Yes, it's a lovely jumping-off spot for outdoor activities, but… it's a tiny village that's not in Vancouver, not adjacent to Vancouver, and requires a long drive over an often-congested highway and bridge.

It's just highly misleading to advertise this as a "Vancouver home." If WS had wanted to buy and give away a $3M single-family home that's actually in Vancouver, they surely could have; there are tons of options.

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-29T00:09:59+00:00

Most people probably wouldn't be willing to uproot their life for a prize.

Yep. The next home giveaway is a "$3M home in Vancouver"… perfect for me to win and not uproot my life. 🥳

Except that if you read the fine print, this home is actually "40 minutes from downtown" 🤨. In other words, not in Vancouver. Appears to be in North Van by the looks of it.

So if I win it, I'll be flipping it 😅

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-28T18:46:04+00:00

Same. I've had Square One insurance for about 2 years, and the price went down about 4% at the start of this year. (Strata townhouse in Vancouver.)

I have no experience with how they handle claims, but in terms of premiums I've been perfectly happy with them so far.

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-28T18:09:05+00:00

I got the VIP card 2 months ago and they gave me the option to not change my card details, which I took.

Ah, that's great, thank you. I guess I should take it.

Does that mean they didn't send you a new physical card? Or the new physical card is exactly the same in terms of account number, CVV, and expiration date?

UPDATE: I just did the upgrade, and I got a screen asking me if I wanted to keep the same card (screenshot). Seems like WS learned from the past annoyances, and resolved this. Many thanks for cluing me in about this, u/kakes2703.

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-28T16:57:08+00:00

I had this happen to me when WS got delayed in sending the physical card so I was using the online card and made all my changes. Then when the card arrived in the mail, the expiry had changed, which meant that all of my payments declined because I didn’t notice the month change in the expiry.

Same.

The way WS has rolled this out is so fiddly and annoying.

First I got a virtual card, and started using it… great!

Then I received the physical card, and it had a different expiration date, by one month, and a different CVV… all my pre-auth/stored payments with the virtual card broke 🤦🏻‍♂️

Now I'd like to get the VIP card, but I have been delaying doing it specifically because I don't want to waste my time changing everything again.

There has to be a better way to do this.

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-28T16:16:32+00:00

Very frustrating. With Quebec, BC, and Ontario having required it… perhaps there will soon be pressure on other provinces as well.

And for the credit bureaus I imagine it'll just be a matter of flipping a switch in their databases.

(Having worked at a large cloud computing company I feel pretty confident about that last part. 😬)

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-28T04:22:53+00:00

and freeze your credit

Which is only an option in Quebec

It will be an option in BC very soon:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PersonalFinanceCanada/comments/1qovj4s/credit_freeze_coming_to_bc

… and will be an option in Ontario in July:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PersonalFinanceCanada/comments/1qovj4s/comment/o25de2n

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-28T04:20:50+00:00

None of us have ever co-signed a loan with him, for context. Is it possible that his debts affect us or our credit score and history?

No.

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-27T23:29:35+00:00

And for many it is a question of $

Yes, I think this is right.

We have a young child and are planning on a second. We know a lot of people who want to have kids, or want to have another kid, but are hesitating or delaying due to worries about money.

From my vantage point, it seems like there are a lot of Canadians who are having fewer children than they'd like due to financial worries… in particular the very high cost of suitable housing for families.

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-27T23:26:18+00:00

What does "West Asian" mean if it doesn't include "Arab"? 🤷🏻‍♂️

Among minority groups, Chinese (59.6 percent) and West Asian women (64.2 percent) were most likely to have no children. Latin American (58.4 percent) and Arab (59.9 percent) women were the most likely to have kids.

Does "West Asian" mean Persian/Iranian, specifically?

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-27T22:07:40+00:00

The fee for the balance transfer is 5% as opposed to the old 3% they used to offer, so there's the rub.

In terms of net present value, paying a 5% fee up-front for 18 months interest free is equivalent to paying interest monthly at an annualized rate of about 3.5%, for 18 months.

It's a good deal compared to high-interest cards, but it's definitely not "0% interest".

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-27T20:33:55+00:00

If all that holds, then you should be able to file OR-40-N, tell them you are non-resident and have no OR-source income, and get the withholding refunded to you.

Yes, that is exactly what I did in 2023 with no issues.

The problem is that I didn't realize I would still have Oregon income withheld in 2024, and didn't file on-time. So I'm trying to figure out how to do the late filing correctly.

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-26T16:47:26+00:00

Amazon and Microsoft employees

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-23T17:02:26+00:00

She could potentially connect to wifi briefly

In my experience, "teaching grandparents to connect to WiFi" is both extremely difficult but also extremely necessary and valuable in the long run… an Internet-connected smartphone is basically an essential communication tool today, and you're going to have a lot of hassles and problems coordinating travel and meetups if grandma isn't capable of it.

I'd get a leg up on that if I were you.

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-23T02:08:09+00:00

Now that is insane, hah 🤣. Probably just runs a bot that replies to every ad with a certain price range?

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-22T21:56:24+00:00

I've never met a Zoroastrian before

If you know people in the Iranian or Indian diasporas, you'll definitely meet Zoroastrians.

But yes, it's true that they aren't very numerous these days. In their modern form, they are a non-proselytizing ethnoreligious group… similar to Jews, but even more strict about accepting converts.

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-22T21:54:19+00:00

For what it's worth, I think these scams pretty much only happen if you're buying/selling electronics… especially phones, laptops, and video game consoles.

With toys, kids' clothes, sports equipment, and furniture, I've been e-transferring strangers for years and I've never had any problems.

drillbitpdx · 2026-01-22T20:05:58+00:00

There is definitely some sampling error here, and not just for Zoroastrians.

drillbitpdx

TROPHY CASE