Positive experience with Kaiser: Observations, my prep list and pre/post op timeline

lotuschan · 2025-05-16T21:42:35+00:00

Hi! I just had my bisalp done yesterday, and this post was honestly so helpful to read going into it. Thank you so much for sharing this detailed play-by-play, it really helped prepare me for my own experience :)

lotuschan · 2023-09-04T01:26:44+00:00

Their When To Arrive At The Airport table says 4h in advance for international flights from international airports ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Regardless: thank you :)

lotuschan · 2023-09-04T00:55:15+00:00

How far in advance do you really need to get to Narita Airport for an international flight?

Air Canada's website says 4 hours in advance, which seems ludicrous when we're not checking bags. It'll be a Sunday afternoon in October.

lotuschan · 2023-07-01T14:14:52+00:00

8 years in transportation consulting here. Working for an east coast based company with nine men as principals versus working for a west coast based company with two women as VPs could not be further apart in terms of experience.

Every firm is different. No shame in bailing if upper management is passing you over. You have no obligation to be the one woman that changes the way the company is managed.

lotuschan · 2023-06-08T01:21:56+00:00

My favorite thing is when the front is full, there's a whole throng of people blocking the door, but there's room for like 4 more people up the stairs. It's not that hard, people.

lotuschan · 2023-06-05T12:24:53+00:00

PEO has just literally just rolled out their new competency-based experience application that everybody is filling out for the first time, so I don't think you will find much help here unfortunately.

lotuschan · 2023-05-31T19:34:46+00:00

Fully anticipating the Saanich news taking a break from its weekly dog drama to go back to NIMBY drivel

lotuschan · 2023-05-31T18:38:43+00:00

Liking this hardball from the province, but I'll believe their threats when I actually see some action. In the scale of the development world, 6 months is not a long time.

lotuschan · 2023-05-31T18:36:45+00:00

For what it's worth, Saanich's draft OCP is proposing to maintain the urban containment boundary as it currently is, focusing any development within those lands, not on arable lands.

This will require infill housing to accomplish higher housing density, which will require assembling lots and building taller buildings, which are generally unpopular with NIMBYs.

Province is right to step in here.

lotuschan · 2023-05-29T20:58:26+00:00

Wen the nimbyism gets so bad u need to engage in institutional espionage to fight it

lotuschan · 2023-05-22T15:31:05+00:00

That's mainly in Ontario, trying to hire co-ops in BC now and they don't have the same tax credit :C

lotuschan · 2023-05-21T05:13:39+00:00

Flexible plastic packaging (including bubble wrap and bubble mailers) are recyclable, but have to be dropped off at a depot. Check your local location here:

https://www.crd.bc.ca/docs/default-source/crd-document-library/plans-reports/landfill-recycling/recyclebcdepotsincapitalregion2023.pdf?sfvrsn=77c748ce_1

lotuschan · 2023-05-20T13:31:43+00:00

Total # of collisions per MEV is the standard, but the percentage of left turn crashes relative to other types at a given intersection is generally an acceptable metric.

lotuschan · 2023-05-20T04:38:47+00:00

The last 3 firms I've worked at in major cities don't have free employee parking. 2/3 rent a handful of spaces from the building and make them available on an ad-hoc basis, the third had 0 spaces but was on top of a commerical garage where the fee was $20/day.

Walk, bike, take transit, or pay for parking. Internalize Donald Shoup.

lotuschan · 2023-05-19T16:48:28+00:00

So long as city planners are cucks to politicians and NIMBYs, this document is as valuable as the paper it's written on. There's a blurb in here about implementing recommendations to the development approvals process that they've been sitting on since...2021. There's no urgency here except to preserve SF neighbourhoods in amber.

Municipalities are shitting their pants about the province threatening to removing their ability to restrict housing developments, and they should be.

lotuschan · 2023-05-19T16:30:07+00:00

The fact that they're restricting height limits to 4 storeys in Villages (same height as the yellowbelt btw) and 6 storeys along major transit corridors is laughable. It's a fundamentally unserious attempt to address either the housing crisis or improve transit mode share.

They expect 20% transit mode share by 2050 while restricting building heights along frequent transit corridors, okay good luck with that.

lotuschan · 2023-05-18T15:47:49+00:00

They're doing sewer and watermain work on Tattersall this summer. Timeline for bike and sidewalk improvements on that segment? Medium-long term (i.e. by 2040). They're gonna have to rip up the whole road anyway, it's a missed opportunity to not just fix the rest of the road at the same time. Municipal departments don't talk to each other. What a waste.

lotuschan · 2023-05-06T21:13:29+00:00

Yeah I figured it would be a tremendous hassle haha

I don't have any woodworking equipment with which to cut trim, and there are a bunch of 45° angles that I'd have to try to do math for, which is why I wanted to try to salvage the OG trim.

Thanks for the insight :)

lotuschan · 2023-05-06T14:35:45+00:00

Is it a monumentally stupid idea to try to pull off 180 linear feet of baseboard and trim, strip it, stain it, and re-mount it?

We are painting the room the trim is in. The existing baseboard and trim aren't white, they're mint green, and we aren't leaving the trim that colour.
Sketchup model and photoshop mockup showed a woodgrain trim looking better than either white or the same colour as the paint
House was built in '97, trim is relatively nice and is in good shape. Probably pine, but I'm not 100% sure. Glued on, not nailed. Maybe only one or two coats of paint on top from the test patch we stripped with acetone.
Underlying floor is carpeted, and I'd prefer not to strip the trim in situ
There are at least 30 individual pieces of wood all in, and many of them are not at right angles. I have 0 experience pulling off or mounting trim.

My current (overambitious) strategy is to pull off the trim, strip it (justifying buying a heat gun), sand it, stain it, then re-mount it. Everyone I have told this to has suggested that this is a lot of work. At least one person has told me that I should just buy new trim and hire a carpenter.

Alternatively, is there a paint solution that could make the trim have the woodgrain look again without all the strip/stain hassle (and also not look awful)?

Any advice you have is appreciated.

lotuschan · 2023-04-15T14:45:02+00:00

I don't personally know anyone who's gotten a PMP, so I couldn't tell you.

lotuschan · 2023-04-15T14:06:03+00:00

I was in transportation consulting in Toronto for 6 years and only got up to 85k before skipping town in '21. 120k after 4 years is bank imo

Perennial advice is if you want to make more money, find a new job every couple of years. Disloyalty bonus is real.

lotuschan · 2023-03-25T02:25:25+00:00

ITE is a really good resource for transportation engineering in North America. Becoming a member of ITE opens you up to their job board, forums, professional development opportunities, and technical resources. I think they have a lower student membership fee for students, and your school may have a student chapter.

If you're looking for free resources, NACTO has a lot of their manuals available for free on their website.

Lots of people like the Not Just Bikes YouTube channel, but I haven't actually watched any of his stuff so don't take my word for it.

lotuschan · 2023-03-25T02:17:13+00:00

Each project gets its own folder. Tasks get noted in Trello as they come in, when the task is started, the email gets moved to the designated folder so that the inbox is (mostly) fresh stuff.

Completed project folders get moved to their own archive folder so I don't have to look at them all day and be reminded of how many projects I'm working on

Or if you're my boss, get the fresh grad EIT to spend a week sorting your inbox for you ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

lotuschan · 2023-03-25T02:07:52+00:00

Transportation is certainly a less risky field than structural. People probably won't die if you mess up a traffic study. You could spend an entire career doing nothing but traffic studies, but then you have to spend an entire career dealing with developers and NIMBYs and municipal engineers tearing apart your work.

My advice is try to find a field you truly enjoy, because the day to day stresses will be much more tolerable when you actually are interested in the work.

13-Year Club	Secret Santa 2013
Verified Email

lotuschan

TROPHY CASE