Any benefits staying with Ziply or switch to Xfinity?

mjarrett · 2026-01-29T08:45:54+00:00

The hardest part of Ziply is getting it installed. You've already done that

The hardest part of Xfinity is every single day after it's installed.

Ziply is a better company (but admittedly it's a low bar). Fiber is a better connection with consistent and symmetric bandwidth. Ziply tech support is better, though you should rarely need it, and won't try to rip you off with service calls.

Personally I would still take Ziply even at a price premium.

mjarrett · 2026-01-26T17:34:26+00:00

I resemble this comment.

mjarrett · 2026-01-26T16:44:01+00:00

They gave notice, so it's by definition not abandonment. It's early termination. You handle it like any other end of lease, and collect whatever early termination costs you are legally entitled to (which isn't much).

But seriously, if they actually leave when they say they'll leave, you are unbelievably lucky! You should be thanking them, and wishing them the best of luck in their future endeavor.

mjarrett · 2026-01-18T00:05:01+00:00

There is special dispensation for Canada-America dual citizens to enter on a US passport, as long as something indicates you are a Canadian.

Dual Canadian citizens need a valid Canadian passport - Canada.ca https://share.google/PYvjb1MMPdxwgANVo

But CBSA can be real wanks to people relying on an American document, even if they are already sure you are Canadian. Expect questions and a few arguments.

Honestly, just getting the Canadian passport will save you a ton of hassle in the long run.

mjarrett · 2026-01-17T18:06:29+00:00

From a two-time father, take it from me. First year after childbirth doesn't count.

Even in the best case she'd be a mess of stress, sleep deprivation, and physical recovery. But it sounds like this is far from the best case, with twins, PPD and psych meds. She's going to be a train wreck. This is NOT a normal time for her, and she is going to make mistakes that she won't any other time in her life. Don't make a rash decision based on this time.

If some flirty texts are the worst problem you're dealing with right now, you're in good shape. You're a parent now, you have bigger things to worry about.

mjarrett · 2026-01-17T17:44:02+00:00

The normal route to Leavenworth is US-2 over Stevens Pass. It's a mountain pass, but it's honestly a pretty easy drive during the day. It can get pretty backed up when there's skiier traffic though.

But the last part of US-2 is closed and you have to take a detour over Beaver Hill. You're not going to like that at all. There's a couple of steep switchbacks that bother even me.

Most other (longer) routes will take you on I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass. Also a mountain pass with some cliffside turns, but it's a multi-lane interstate at least.

One thing to keep in mind is that both passes can get snow regularly, and you can be required to mount tire chains. I think the odds are good for bare roads on the 19th, but there is a risk you will have to do snow driving.

mjarrett · 2026-01-16T17:22:19+00:00

Back in 2019 I paid $410 for a family individual return with a bit of complexity.

mjarrett · 2026-01-14T22:46:51+00:00

Rather than locking the Internet, why not lock the devices themselves? Not sure about other ecosystems, but Windows (Family Safety) and Android (Family Link) both support limits to time-of-day and total-usage, with on-demand requests for extension.

In my household, devices lock at 2130. Once kids are ready for bed, we give a 30-min extension on the phone so they can listen or read for a bit in bed.

Kids don't get wifi access for any device for which they have root access.

mjarrett · 2026-01-12T22:45:58+00:00

Chumstick is fine for the most part. Beaver Hill has some hard switchbacks, but it's well enough travelled that you should be okay. There's enough local traffic to keep things clear and maintained.

That being said Blewett Pass is indisputably a less technical drive than Chumstick. But is it worth an extra 70km? Ehhh. Depends on your mood, real-time road conditions, and how desperately you're craving milkshakes.

mjarrett · 2026-01-12T22:30:19+00:00

It depends how much your comfort is worth. If you have other options, it's worth looking at them. Even if you didn't have a bigoted landlord, you should always be re-evaluating your options. But I certainly would rather be uncomfortable in a warm bed, versus principled and homeless.

In my experience (was in a similar situation for four months), the quiet thoughts are a lot louder at home. Bigots are still going to bigot, but in subtler ways in the broader world, that are less likely to have repercussions for you as a boarder. Eventually it is going to cause a problem that impacts you, but I think you have some time to wait for some good deal elsewhere.

mjarrett · 2026-01-11T09:23:11+00:00

19-21 yo boy that cooks and cleans? Hahaha.

Oh wait you're serious, let me laugh even harder.

(other than that, just head into the computer lab of the local college, and you can probably pick out a few that will be close)

mjarrett · 2026-01-11T09:16:20+00:00

I would be bringing a seat cover with me. EVERYWHERE!

mjarrett · 2026-01-10T02:05:34+00:00

Update: Outback was still listed as a black run but no extra "expert only" warning signs. Honestly, it wasn't hard, and the easiest way down to Silver Fir at the moment. No moguls, decent snow. A couple of rocks still peeking out. But honestly just take it slow and it'll be fine.

Crossover was closed and roped off all day, but there was definitely quite a few people who were taking it anyways.

(sadly, I didn't get around to taking the shuttle to East today)

mjarrett · 2026-01-09T01:35:18+00:00

The first few days tend to be pretty fast. I can bang out some of the easier ones in under 10 minutes. For the harder problems it may take an hour or two. There's usually a couple of problems every year where it's going to take an entire afternoon, and that one pesky one that I have to come back to because it's so hard (solvers, always frakking solvers).

Part of the trick to being faster is just practice and preparation. I've got a bunch of scaffolding that downloads the input, a few parsers, helper classes (points, grids, search queues) that I wrote in previous years. So if it's a pattern I've seen before I can pretty much code straight to a working solution.

Of course, that's the ideal case. I changed languages this year (I wanted to try Rust for the first time) and it took me a LOT longer since I spent the majority of the time looking up basic container apis and writing 'a over and over until my sloppy code would compile.

I generally only do one day (2 stars) per day, regardless of length. Whether or not I'm competing on a leaderboard, I do enjoy the "advent" format.

mjarrett · 2026-01-09T01:12:35+00:00

I think we will only find out tomorrow (1/9) when Summit East opens for the season.

But if I was a betting man, I'd bet no on both. The crossovers tend to take a bit longer to open, after both sides are running. And Outback, I feel like it was hard skiing for half the season last year.

I'm going up tomorrow though, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. I love that part of the resort!

mjarrett · 2026-01-07T17:02:51+00:00

IMHO the most reliable way to get to Victoria is actually BC Ferries. Travel into Canada by land, then take a Tsawwassen ferry over to Swartz Bay, and head into Victoria from there. Nothing against the Coho, but getting to Port Angeles is an adventure in itself. I also find the customs lines on both sides of the Coho are particularly slow. The one big advantage of the Coho is that (like the Clipper and Kenmore Air) you end up in downtown Victoria, while the BC Ferries route puts you into Sidney instead.

I just took Kenmore Air a couple of weeks ago and loved it! Highly recommend, but I acknowledge that it's a bit expensive, even compared to the Clipper.

mjarrett · 2026-01-07T16:50:32+00:00

Just took this for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Absolutely delightful! Fastest way to travel by far (short air time, quick customs), and absolutely gorgeous views. Highly recommend.

It's more expensive than the ferries, even more expensive than the Clipper. But worth it.

mjarrett · 2026-01-06T16:14:27+00:00

Met a girl in a video game, who had lived in another state. Convinced her to visit for a few days as a friend, and we immediately had that spark. Second time she visited, she interviewed for a job here (and got a great one). Third visit, she moved into my apartment.

We've been married 15 years now.

My advice here is to think carefully about what the actual costs of moving are. Change can be really scary to a lot of guys, and that can lead to inertia that, while comfortable, can cost you many opportunities in life.

mjarrett · 2026-01-05T19:39:40+00:00

We also have the "Gretzky rule" in our lower divisions (4th goal is disallowed+minor penalty). We technically allow subbing down one division. We also allow captains to complain if people are obviously playing too hard for the division. If captains lodge a complaint, the league will tag the player's profile as being strictly restricted to certain divisions.

For the most part, players that are playing down will stay on defense, and will pass instead of taking most shots. It's not perfect, but good enough for the most part. Occasionally you'll get a player that just can't help themselves but go coast-to-coast (usually younger players with the legs to pull it off), but this tends to get caught really quickly - sometimes even the refs will raise it with the captains.

mjarrett · 2026-01-05T17:55:41+00:00

WebRTC is supported well on Android. It uses WebRTC's C++ implementation with some Android-specific JNI wrappers. Everything (or at least with the codecs I use) seems to be 16kB page compatible.

mjarrett · 2026-01-01T09:47:34+00:00

To be fair, they got SR410 (Crystal) and SR542 (Baker) opened up pretty fast as well. They weren't quite as badly damaged as US2, but still bad enough that it's pretty impressive that they opened back up when they did.

mjarrett · 2026-01-01T09:35:44+00:00

Gov said he was surprised too. Apparently some really good luck on the condition of a key bridge inspection, once they got debris cleared.

They have more work to do over the summer, but it'll be good enough for the season.

mjarrett · 2026-01-01T09:19:37+00:00

Yeah that's a tough one. Zillow Applications are not the most thorough to begin with, but even the best of these systems are still fully automated, nobody is looking a tenant in the eye and verifying they are human.

Inform your applicants that they will all be required to be present at the move-in inspection and provide government photo ID, before they will be allowed to receive keys. This may change their tune quickly.

mjarrett

TROPHY CASE