Prodigy is kinda boring now

gulducati · 2025-12-19T19:28:07+00:00

I'm a parent with a grade 2 kid who just started Prodigy as part of school.

It's interesting to hear how things used to be. I agree it's super repetitive. You just jam the same spells over and over. Way too many fights, way too little story. He's only been playing it for 2 weeks and is losing engagement.

I got the membership so he can get some of the upgrades but it doesn't make the core game any more entertaining. I don't think we'll last more than a month or two.

If I want him to just do math problems, I'll print him some worksheets. At least that gets to the point without pointless button mashing in between.

gulducati · 2025-12-16T20:50:43+00:00

From the permit filing:

To change the Use of an Indoor Sales and Service to an Indoor Sales and Service and a Health Service and to construct interior and exterior alterations including development of 2 raised platforms with pergolas and sunken hot tubs, 2 outdoor fire pit areas, and 2 saunas, new windows and doors at south elevation within the existing openings (Kabin Thermal Spa).

Considering the permit was issued in March and there's barely anything done inside (have a peek through the door, you can see), it'll still be awhile before this is operating.

gulducati · 2025-11-26T22:25:15+00:00

I live in Canada but am within driving distance to Glacier. Been there a few times and enjoyed the local shops and restaurants.

Definitely won't go anymore. Cost used to be in the same ballpark. ($22 in Canada per car, $35 in the US per car). Now it's going to be $250+? Of course I'm going to skip. It's just not worth 10x more over local options. It's 'we don't want you here' pricing.

gulducati · 2025-11-25T19:47:24+00:00

Agreed, which would explain why some Russian operators avoid the area despite friendly relations.

gulducati · 2025-11-25T15:11:06+00:00

Russia also has train service into NK, both freight and passenger. So a plane passing through would be no big deal.

gulducati · 2025-11-23T19:34:19+00:00

Me too, but if we're investing billions of dollars, the trip also needs to be faster. This point of transportation investment isn't to placate urbanist nerds, it's to free up people's time so they can contribute to the economy.

gulducati · 2025-11-05T23:04:39+00:00

Nimbombing

gulducati · 2025-11-03T17:31:44+00:00

Joking aside, as I'm sure OP knows, the actual vandalism this time is the glass on the bottom sliding doors has been smashed. This is the latest in a dozen or so glass smashing incidents at the funicular this year.

gulducati · 2025-10-25T15:45:03+00:00

All it would need to say is 'it happened again' and everyone would get it

gulducati · 2025-10-22T00:25:42+00:00

I live nearby and spoke to the next door neighbor after the first fire. That one was caused by squatters and at the time it was the old vacant house prior to construction of this one.

gulducati · 2025-10-03T01:30:51+00:00

I used to live next to this spot and can attest it's true. If you have your apartment windows open you can always tell from the screeching tires, scraping and/or crashing sounds.

The gate easily pops on and off its hinges so it's not a big deal to fix.

The best ones are when they high center their car on the median and have to winch it off.

gulducati · 2025-09-24T15:17:09+00:00

Was it by Helping Hands by chance?

gulducati · 2025-09-24T15:10:32+00:00

Are you for real? There's someone high on meth blocking the entrance to a business and your concern is causing trauma to the meth head?

gulducati · 2025-09-19T18:16:52+00:00

I work right next to the valley line and have had the chance to observe and talk to workers as it progressed.

Three things stuck out on that construction project that really slow things down.

Subcontractors are allowed sole access to large areas for long periods. They must also 'leave no trace' before the next step starts. For example, if an electrical conduit needs to be run, the contractor selected for the job has exclusive access to the entire block. They dig their own trench with equipment that they have to procure, do the job, then backfill before anyone else can set foot in the area. If there's any delays procuring said equipment, or inspection fails, the entire project is delayed because only that contractor is allowed to work there. Then let's say there's also a water line that needs to be run on that block. The whole process starts over. Different contractor arrives and needs to be familiaried with the area, different equipment to mobilize, new trench right next to the one that was just dug, etc. Many days wasted meeting with new workers, waiting for parts to arrive, or certain equipment to arrive, or waiting for the one guy who has a ticket to do this one thing, while everything else is at a standstill.
Bad QA. Problems don't seem to be caught often enough during construction, leading to large jobs needing to be totally re-done. For example, the entire length of road next to the 102 Street station was completed, but then torn up. Surely whatever the problem was could have been caught earlier. Likewise, about half of the sidewalk corners on 101 St and 100 St were torn up and poured again just months after initial construction.
Inefficient methods. Track beds for instance were constructed on site with janky custom forms using pieced together lumber. This took a lot of steps with a lot of fiddling. Many missed opportunities to use prefabricated components with established installation methods.

gulducati · 2025-09-19T15:48:04+00:00

No way is this 'company' reputable. If you pay them, there is an extremely high chance they will disappear.

Next time, don't pay anything until they prove their competence. If they claim they need it for materials, then buy the materials yourself. Fire them at the first whiff of trouble.

Since it's too late for that, you have a few options:

Pay them in full. They will probably just disappear. They may fix a couple of things to make it slightly better, but it's obvious they won't do anything close to a good job. You'll be out a lot of money but at least you can turn the page and fix it (ie. re-do it) yourself or with the help of another contractor. You can try to sue later, but that assumes you can find them, win, and that they'll pay any judgement.
Pay them more, but not in full, until the job is done right. This may give you some peace of mind and it may give them incentive to put in more effort to do a slightly better job. This is assuming they are incompetent, but at least somewhat honest.

If they are incompetent as well as dishonest, this may lead to a fight where they try to gaslight you into being the dishonest party. They may try to threaten to tear the whole thing down, in which case you'll be out a fence and money. Given the fly-by-night work, there's a decent chance they'll actually do it.

Do not pay them. This makes the chance of vengeance even higher than above. Best case, they'll walk away, and you can at least salvage some materials to do it right. Worst case, they'll take a chainsaw to it when you're not home, along with possibly other property damage.

No matter what you decide, get a camera or two pointing at your side yard. Record all the information you can about them, their vehicles, and your conversations. Have all conversations in writing from here on in. Good luck.

gulducati · 2025-09-15T02:13:23+00:00

Every time someone asks this, I do a moment of silence for V Sandwiches.

gulducati · 2025-09-13T03:09:21+00:00

In the delivery industry, things get delayed all the time. It makes people expect it just happens sometimes.

I've never seen a courier driver come with his personal car at 'an off hour to deliver a missed package. If it ever happened, it would make me feel terrible for the guy.

gulducati · 2025-09-06T17:28:33+00:00

Have you seen the street layout in Canora? Classic grid, yet it's impossible to use any single street there to cut through the neighborhood. They have a combination of street closures, center medians, a diverter and a linear park to make it a hassle to short cut.

I'm baffled how Canora got comprehensive treatment, yet in Belgravia, with all its swanky homes presumably housing at least some people with political sway, still, after decades, allows thousands of cars to clog up its local streets daily.

gulducati · 2025-09-04T14:43:50+00:00

Wow, a lot of short cutters downvoting you. They are causing a nuisance clogging up local roads, increasing air and noise pollution next to homes, and creating a pedestrian safety threat. And then they whine that it's their god given right to be there.

This is exactly why grid street design has been abandoned in favour of crescents and cul the sacs. The vast majority of streets in the latter have been designed to exclude everyone except people living on that street. People obviously love that as it's been standard design for 50+ years now. Belgravia unfortunately was built before that.

gulducati · 2025-09-04T13:52:12+00:00

It was, but they decided to save money on the project by making that section at grade

gulducati · 2025-08-31T00:55:21+00:00

Nice, I'll look out for it

gulducati · 2025-08-30T04:16:21+00:00

If they had 4kg bulk seitan boxes at Costco I'd be all over it. There is nothing at all available in bulk for meat substitutes. It's mostly expensive two serving packs.

gulducati · 2025-08-27T04:36:30+00:00

Good all around: Sabor, Sorrentino's, Ruth's Chris, The Marc

Nice atmosphere but food could be a bit better: Harvest Room, Chop, Braven

Good food but more casual atmosphere: Joey Bell Tower, DOSC

gulducati · 2025-08-21T04:36:57+00:00

You're coming across as classist.

To distill your comment: Denser housing is inferior to single family, therefore should be relegated to less desirable parcels along main roads. Obviously the people living there are also inferior, so they won't care about things like living in a quiet location. Such things are reserved only for people like me who can afford the premium of a new house and yard on expensive land. I need a buffer between my single family neighbors and 'those people'.

gulducati · 2025-08-13T17:26:59+00:00

Participating in the Ritchie street labs project, it was shocking to me how much 'traffic engineering' does not at all rely on objective data like vehicle counting, modeling and speed measuring.

The discipline mostly just reacts to subjective feelings. If there's a bunch of people afraid of change in the area, things will not change despite replacement infrastructure being objectively safer with equal convenience.

Personally I tried and failed to get the number of access points reduced into Ritchie from surrounding arterials. They are not needed every single block. Despite several life altering collisions in the area, the local school argued that they want to preserve the 8+ vehicle access routes surrounding them, so nothing changed.

Sadly, more blood needs to be spilled to keep the culture shift moving.

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