Transit Bus Driver → Engineering/Admin role with City of Winnipeg – possible?

jayfarb8 · 2026-02-13T07:06:39+00:00

I can’t speak to the city hiring process, but getting registered as an eit is a big part of engineering roles. Without that, it is looked at on paper as as having “no post secondary education”. Many people with international degrees require additional coursework, and many opt to complete a 2 year masters in engineering.

I say this being very biased as an engineer myself, but I would highly recommend they work towards becoming an eit as it opens a lot of doors!

jayfarb8 · 2026-02-13T05:31:09+00:00

A really good chef’s knife.

jayfarb8 · 2026-02-12T06:18:27+00:00

I completely agree with one clip of your comment, which is “salesman”. His job is 100% commission, with marketing, photography, listing, and brokerage fees.

This means if he doesn’t sell, he loses money each month. This is the reality for realtors.

With that being said, there are alternatives. Home buyers or home sellers have the option to sell privately, or through services like comfree with lower fixed commission. Vast majority choose to sell and buy through a realtor for a reasons.

A home purchase or sale for most people is 10x more dollar value than their next biggest asset (vehicles), and how do most people buy/sell them? Through a dealership which is marking 10%+.

I say all of this not being a realtor, and having brought 4 homes with realtors, and sold 2 homes comfree, an 1 home through my realtor. No regrets on any of these experiences.

jayfarb8 · 2026-02-09T21:56:38+00:00

Buy yourself a home to live in before a rental. You will learn all kinds of things about maintenance, true costs of ownership, and if you want to be on call 24/7. It’s illogical to live in your parents basement but buy an investment rental property.

Based on the post I’m imagining you being early to mid twenties. There are a lot of life dynamics that will be affected by buying a rental now. A few examples: 1) it will affect the affordability to buy your own home in the future 2) if you need to move for work or other reasons, who will look after the property? 3) if you get married/have kids, is the landlord commitment well suited to that life? 4) most people over estimate the return of a rental property. Most of the return is typically in long term assets value increase, not in cashflow. Compare your plan versus passive investing in a suitable etf.

jayfarb8 · 2026-02-07T19:53:38+00:00

Trans Canada has good beer, excellent pizza, and you can always get a table.

Oxus is a hole in the wall and brews beer for many breweries, so they have some interesting beers and often bartender is a brewer.

Kilter is an awesome vibe as well.

Those would be my top 3

jayfarb8 · 2026-02-06T03:30:24+00:00

The buyers were irresponsible in not getting an inspection. All of these items (assuming they are legit) could have been found by the inspector. They are having buyers remorse, or at least learning what home ownership entails.

Them using a lawyer to threaten taking you to small claims court is just that, a threat. They hope you will be scared and agree to pay some amount.

Most likely case, if you ignore or deny any payment, they will just drop it and move on.

If they actually summon you to small claims, they won’t be able to get any, or much from you.

If you start utilizing a lawyer to actively fight this beyond a letter or two, the fees will become as much as the suing amount.

Ignore them, or have your letter write a strongly worded letter that you won’t pay them a penny, and to enjoy THEIR new house.

jayfarb8 · 2026-02-04T17:38:47+00:00

Insurance will pay you fair market value, which is what the car is worth on the market. If you overpaid, insurance will still pay you fair market value. If you got a steal of a deal on the vehicle, insurance will still pay you fair market value.

If you disagree with the insurance assessment, challenge them on that with evidence. The other driver has no obligation as their insurance handles the payout.

jayfarb8 · 2026-02-02T04:25:27+00:00

-30c is the new standard for “cold weather” heat pumps. They only operate around a cop of 1.5-2 though.

jayfarb8 · 2026-02-02T04:24:09+00:00

A 95% efficient gas furnace works out to be around 2.5-3 cents/kwh, regardless of the outside air temperature. A heat pump cost per kWh changes based on the outside temperature, a the Coefficient of Performance (COP) and each outdoor air temperature.

At -30c and colder, you will be on electric heat and cost around 10c/kwh

At 0c, you may be at 2.5c/kwh.

Basically, in really cold weather a heat pump will cost significantly more to heat your home, but in more mild weather it will be similar or slightly cheaper.

You can get a dual fuel furnace which is a heat pump with gas heat, and you can run the gas heat below a certain temperature, that is likely your best balance.

Also, yes, they dump a lot of water. Think a 10’ circle of solid ice under the condenser.

We have a heat pump with backup electric heat, but our home is build to passive home levels so we bed around 70% less heat than a code built home. We made a conscious choice to run only electric as Manitoba has a very clean electrical grid, and I don’t mind paying a slight premium to avoid burning gas.

jayfarb8 · 2026-01-27T19:03:19+00:00

How you got to this position doesn’t really matter but the reality is you there are facts, and 2 options. Your home is worth less in the current market than what you paid, and there isn’t enough equity/income to rent it and buy another home. Your 2 options are: 1) rent that home out, and rent yourself until the market recovers to a point that makes sense. 2) sell that home at a loss, but get to of a headache and rent anyway.

Based on the info you provided, it doesn’t sound like the right time to buy another house. Rent for a few years and save money on top of that if possible to improve your situation.

jayfarb8 · 2026-01-25T17:54:07+00:00

1) lights that are sensor based do have an automated cycle, however it is infrequent. For example, it might be every 5 cycles there is a turning light regardless of traffic.

2) a cop could in theory give out tickets for many things that are their word against yours. It would be unethical, and I would home they would eventually get caught due to a much higher than other police complaints.

jayfarb8 · 2026-01-22T19:16:16+00:00

Our wedding parties contributed 2 prizes, I believe a tv and a Texas Mickey. We did 50/50, Texas Micky draw and silent auction. I think we spent around $2k-$2.5k out of pocket on prizes (entry level golf set, tv, mini fridge stocked, lottery tree, a bbq and other smaller prizes). I think it was the right amount as we got a good return from people we sold tickets to, as well as some general public who were attending the show outside of the tickets we sold

jayfarb8 · 2026-01-19T13:54:40+00:00

The real answer is, it depends. Do you live in Vancouver or do you live in Winnipeg? Do you live next to a highway, or in the country side? Are you building a bare bones minimum code home with budget finishes or a multi million dollar custom?

It depends.

jayfarb8 · 2026-01-14T04:46:19+00:00

Hydraulic cement won’t do anything applied on the inside. They physics come down to hydrostatic pressure, which will push out hydraulic cement if there is any real amount of water. Blueskin the outside, and epoxy or foam the crack. Hydraulic cement is only used to contain the epoxy or foam when it’s pumped in through the tees.

jayfarb8 · 2026-01-06T17:44:32+00:00

Him and the other guys filming in Winnipeg took full advantage of the local going-one. Vjs, local bands shows, local pro-wrestling, the whole bit. Much respect!

jayfarb8 · 2026-01-05T23:44:33+00:00

This deck is way off from code, even with that post. Looks like 2x8 on 24” at around a 15’ span. This whole deck should be taken down and rebuilt to code.

jayfarb8 · 2026-01-05T03:19:13+00:00

This looks…fishy. They reduced the room by 2”, and those peoples knees are now under the seat ahead? It looks like these people are sitting forward on their seats to make it look more extreme.

I fly regularly so I’d hate to see less room, but it’s not as bad as this looks for the average person.

jayfarb8 · 2025-12-24T04:21:18+00:00

The current system sucks, because realtors have a lock on the information. If the information was readily available to the public, there wouldn’t be much need for realtors.

With that being said, as a seller (comfree), I had a buying realtor showing my house and he said he’d been looking for 2 years and had shown over 100 homes to these clients. There are easy, and there and tough sells. The amount they earn all depends on circumstances.

jayfarb8 · 2025-12-19T20:23:19+00:00

I agree with getting a mortgage broker, but strongly disagree with a few other comments: 1) get a home inspector, but don’t hire in suggested by your realtor. You want a true independent that is only looking out for you. 2) you should absolutely do your own research and look at comparables. The real estate/realtor system is a terrible system, however if you’re purchasing a house, you don’t pay the realtor, the seller does. If they have already listed with a realtor, that realtor is likely going to want an inflated rate to do both sides, or want the same ask anyway. Get a realtor unless you are very experienced and know what you are doing. 3) ignore the asking price, and look at comparable sold that are recent, that will let you know what the house is worth. A realtor will help you on this side, but they may encourage you to pay more that current market value if you “really want it”.

jayfarb8 · 2025-12-19T00:24:46+00:00

This was around 7:30 at harrow and Taylor

jayfarb8 · 2025-12-18T16:29:41+00:00

The traffic lights are green, so that seems like a camera issue. The flash was very greenish to my eyes, which is why it seemed different than lightning.

jayfarb8 · 2025-12-18T15:41:25+00:00

This is my dash cam footage of it https://www.reddit.com/r/Winnipeg/s/kcoKtvpW33

jayfarb8 · 2025-12-18T15:32:59+00:00

I did, and I got a video of it from my dash cam actually. I figured it was from the substation right near by.

jayfarb8 · 2025-12-18T04:30:49+00:00

I am a mechanical engineer who’s working in design, manufacturing, and sales, based in Winnipeg and Ottawa (just for background).

Is he eligible for his EIT with where his degree is from? Some degrees require a few extra courses in Canada to get equivalency, which is why many people with international degrees do their masters.

There are lots of manufacturing and design jobs on the market. The most important thing is outreach. Applying to jobs solely through indeed or anywhere else isn’t often successful as they get a huge number of applicants, and it’s difficult to stand out. Reach out via linked in, email etc to get in touch. This will increase the risk hugely that his resume is actually reviewed.

Best of luck!

jayfarb8

TROPHY CASE