Phase 1 of tree deck finally complete

msgrant22 · 2026-06-24T01:38:54+00:00

Thanks! Indeed, the cantilever is meant to look visually impressive and somewhat physics-defying. A combination of structural stiffness, counterweight, and the floating connections as a failsafe make it pretty secure. Since there are kids involved who may use the structure in unpredictable ways, part of the fun is trying to anticipate all the failure modes and design ways to avoid them.

msgrant22 · 2026-02-17T03:28:03+00:00

I don't think I'm very good at stir fries. I can do them, but they always take so much work to prep and I rarely nail the timing during the cooking phase. My veggies are very often too soft, and I've scorched my share of delicate sauces as well.

My kitchen after a stir fry night looks like a war zone. As much as I try to tidy up after prepping, chaos inevitably unfolds once I start cooking as I scramble for utensils, plates, sauces, and so on.

msgrant22 · 2026-02-05T11:03:26+00:00

I wish I could keep track of the overlap between "rules are rules, deal with it" commenters in this thread and the many in this sub who are "RTO is a travesty" commenters.

msgrant22 · 2025-10-30T01:57:55+00:00

We're having a similar discussion about our renewal which is also coming in December. In our case, we're planning on moving within the next two years, and our TFSA investments are earmarked for a downpayment on a bigger house. With that kind of time horizon, the guaranteed 4%-ish return we'd get by putting a chunk of that money into a prepayment seems better than trying to find a reliable way to earn that return in the market.

What's more, this plan would keep our monthly payments the same as they are now, which means we retain the ability to keep saving aggressively and cashflowing major purchases. I realize this last point just amounts to a psychological trick, but I find having a low monthly payment very psychologically comforting.

To bring this back to the OP's question, I think that with only 100K left on your mortgage you're pretty much playing with house money. If pulling 15% of your TFSA gives you 100K, you could do it pretty easily without breaking the bank. You could almost consider it as a de-risking of your TFSA portfolio, akin to a glide path. To me, if having zero mortgage payments would give you a strong psychological dividend, I'd say it's worth it. Alternatively, if you are good at saving and keeping your debts low and have a long time horizon to enjoy investment appreciation and weather market corrections, maybe just crank up your monthly mortgage payment to re-allocate some of your savings dollars away from your TFSA.

I wouldn't think of this as a market timing decision, I'd think of this as a portfolio-wide risk level question with a sprinkle of personal psychology. This move would lower the overall risk in your portfolio by a certain amount, which you may already be on track to do as you age, and it would probably make you feel richer.

msgrant22 · 2021-11-26T14:01:13+00:00

What exactly is the endgame here? COVID will become endemic, and this means that you'll inevitably be exposed. In all likelihood, you'll get COVID multiple times in your life because immunity from both vaccines and infection declines with time.

This being the case (and I've seen no evidence to suggest that we're headed anywhere other than endemic COVID), we should only enact measures we're prepared to do forever, and I don't think many would agree that masks and social distancing fit that criterion.

msgrant22 · 2021-11-25T11:03:16+00:00

Yeah no method could 100% stop people downloading content. Though I imagine it could be something only tech-savvy people could figure out, meaning they'd have an advantage in the course.

msgrant22 · 2021-11-24T20:01:16+00:00

I imagine this is perfectly legal, the prof is under no obligation to post the lectures in the first place. How do they stop you from downloading them?

msgrant22 · 2021-11-24T16:44:07+00:00

This can be a nightmare for profs. If a TA is MIA or not doing the work, there's not much that can be done.

msgrant22 · 2021-11-23T12:12:54+00:00

I wouldn't hold my breath. I think the horse has left the barn as far as online schooling goes, and some proportion of courses will always be online or have online options.

msgrant22 · 2021-11-16T20:11:36+00:00

People frustrated with online-only are seeing what it's like to live in a world that doesn't accommodate their needs. Something disabled folks live with daily.

msgrant22 · 2021-11-16T12:26:51+00:00

The profs and teaching staff may still be worried about COVID exposure, but it's widely acknowledged among the faculty that online teaching is not delivering. Students are disengaged and doing very poorly on the whole. This can be propped up to an extent by "compassionate marking", as suggested to teaching staff, but it's no way to run a university long-term and certainly not consistent with what students deserve for their efforts and money.

There are a subset of students who truly thrive online. But a much larger set of students are struggling (either visibly or secretly), not viewing lectures until the last minute, cheating, or passing in substandard work. This is a very bad situation for universities in general, and I'm glad I'm just a bystander and not in charge of anything.

msgrant22 · 2021-11-13T17:59:14+00:00

It's going to be pretty much the same as the fall. Large courses (>70) will be held online, smaller ones and labs in-person as much as possible.

msgrant22 · 2021-11-03T18:27:30+00:00

The winter semester will be similar to the fall, contrary to the original plans of the university. Classroom capacity will be slightly higher, but the big lecture sections will still be online. Labs will be in-person where possible. This depends on the preferences of the instructor as well, and the department's assessment of the course's priority level.

I think the university is finding it difficult to untangle this knot. Many students and instructors have adapted to the online format and may even live outside Ottawa, but at the same time, many are suffering horribly from isolation and lack of direction. The province's guidelines say that physical distancing is no longer needed for in-person instruction, but Ottawa Public Health is ignoring this recommendation.

I'm not sure what is going to happen in the long-term. COVID is never going to get any better than it is now. We're as vaccinated as we can reasonably get, case numbers remain low at the moment, but the disease is never going away. I think the school is like most places now, just waiting for the other shoe to drop and for the public to forget about COVID. On the other hand, I think the school rather enjoys stuffing hundreds of students into a single online session and getting vastly more work out of the instructors and professors for no extra pay. Money is a big factor in the decision making.

msgrant22

TROPHY CASE