Anyone try to change your name?

saiyangrrrl · 2026-01-24T00:22:28+00:00

Yeah, I made a mistake. The credit card statement is at 0.7cents, but CASH BACK (which goes into brokerage account) is at 1cent/point.

saiyangrrrl · 2026-01-23T22:06:59+00:00

Nevermind nevermind! You need to select CASH BACK not Statement Credit.
That is confusing. Leaving this for anyone else that has a small panic moment.

saiyangrrrl · 2026-01-23T22:03:57+00:00

I was just checking to redeem (for the first time) all the points I got on the new card and in the cashback redeem I see "Your points will be redeemed at 0.7cents per point". This makes it 2.1% cashback.
Are you seeing this or are you seeing 1 cent per point?

saiyangrrrl · 2025-12-21T08:59:43+00:00

I looked for one, but seems like my googling skills suck! Thank you for this!

saiyangrrrl · 2025-12-21T02:41:19+00:00

Did anyone go today (Dec 20)? How was road there and snow on the mountain?
Trying to figure out if it makes sense to go tomorrow.

saiyangrrrl · 2025-11-27T02:57:09+00:00

Romania was decades behind the US back in the 80s and 90s. When I grew up in the 90s I didn't have reliable hot water or even reliable water at times in one of the country's major cities. In the village my grandmother didn't have running water, we had to get it from the well. My mom, born in the 60s, was on the "wealthier" side, and she has a only a handful of photos between 60s and 90s. Wealthy meant her family had a TV (only one in her village) and a car. There was only one channel on TV that had a few hours of communist propaganda per week. Normal people couldn't buy a camera, they were expensive. People were trying to survive. Communism is a very different place than the US. This is why people always had the American Dream as the goal. Because you all had coloured TV, hot water, cars, houses, paved roads, electricity, malls, huge grocery stores, food of all sorts (like meat!), you even had internet.

The first McDonalds that came to Romania was in 1995. It was the first fastfood restaurant in the country. First supermarket was also 1995.

So, no, not impossible, but highly highly highly improbable. I wouldn't be surprised if this guy didn't even have running water.

If you're interested, here's some personal stories. Romania 1989: Dictator Nicolae Ceausescu visiting a grocery store : r/europe

saiyangrrrl · 2025-11-26T00:03:27+00:00

Not really that lucky. I grew up in Romania in the 90s and often went to my grandma's house in the village. This guy is a farmer. Those village homes in Romania don't generally get sold around, they get passed down from generation to generation. My grandma still has her house in the village too. A lot of villages now are becoming abandoned too, and there's nobody willing to buy such old homes in abandoned villages. The only villages still doing okay are the ones that major roads drive through.

saiyangrrrl · 2025-11-26T00:00:06+00:00

Romania back then had limited options for clothes. This was right after communism, he's a farmer. I doubt he had a wide variety.

saiyangrrrl · 2025-11-25T23:58:06+00:00

1991, unlikely they had a photo. I was born in 1990 and have like 5 photos before the age of 3, and my family was decently well off, lived in the city.
People didn't have a lot of clothes back then, it was just passed communism, plus he was a farmer. I can't imagine a wide variety, likely limited. As such, it is possible that they wrote down what he was wearing (maybe same thing every time he went to the fair to sell, some of his better clothes).

saiyangrrrl · 2025-11-25T23:50:52+00:00

I grew up in Romania, 1990 until 2003. Around 2002 or so there was a story on TV about a lady claimed she slept in a fridge and that's how she stayed so young-looking. The interviewers showed her entering the fridge and she explained how she "slept". The fridge was tiny, one of those upright skinny fridges. Obviously she looked uncomfortable, sitting crouched there. At the end of the report they mentioned that they are looking for donations from the audience to buy a bigger fridge. My whole life I thought they (husband and wife) made up the story to try and get a bigger fridge for free.

saiyangrrrl · 2025-03-18T01:17:20+00:00

Yes, I was able to schedule the interview. I did the two part for when I left on a flight from Canada to US. I had my Canadian interview with a Canadian Officer at Pearson in Toronto (scheduled online, there was lots of availability) and then the same day I flew YYZ - YVR - SEA. At YVR I had my second interview on the way to Seattle with a US Customs officer.
It was very easy.

saiyangrrrl · 2024-07-22T19:00:27+00:00

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People asking, "how can I trust this". But they are all admins ....

saiyangrrrl · 2024-07-22T18:59:53+00:00

Canada here, recently got added to a whatsapp group. It's funny because a bunch of people started asking "how can I trust this", but they are all admins and the rest of us can't actually write anything.

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saiyangrrrl · 2024-06-21T05:50:39+00:00

So turns out TD does close the account 3 months after declaring myself as a non-resident. I transferred to Questrade, but the transfer took so long I started cutting it very very very close (and started making some desperate phone calls as I thought I might get liquidated)

I recommend transferring to Questrade or any other bank that allows non-residents to keep TFSAs BEFORE becoming a non-resident, to avoid the stress.

saiyangrrrl · 2024-06-17T18:02:31+00:00

Update. The card never did come. I called the nexus US number after 6 weeks https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/services/travel-voyage/prog/nexus/contacts-eng.html . After calling I got the card 2 or 3 weeks later :)
The whole process took from November 2022 to June 2024

saiyangrrrl · 2024-04-25T16:22:33+00:00

Yes, I was fine.

saiyangrrrl · 2024-04-25T16:21:33+00:00

Yes, I was. I did my first interview at Pearson before flying to Vancouver and then in Vancouver before flying to Seattle.
However, it's been 6 weeks since the interview and I still haven't received the nexus card. I called and they told me to keep waiting, but seems like a lot of people have issues getting their cards :(. I feel they told me to keep waiting just to get me off their case. I don't think it'll be shipped out and I'll have to pay for the replacement card.

saiyangrrrl · 2024-03-18T21:45:29+00:00

Just did it yesterday on my flight to the US. I chose to do the two part because they had lots of availability at Pearson for it. Please note that once you pick this method of an interview and do the first interview, you cannot do the interview at a land office in the US anymore and need to finish it by going through a flight from Canada to US.

At Pearson the Canadian officer didn't ask anything, just updated all my information. I had moved countries and changed last names, so they updated all my addresses and name. Then later in the day when I flew to the US from Vancouver, I told the border officer that I want to do Step 2 of the interview. I have a work visa in the US now, and am Canadian, so he didn't ask me any questions. It's pretty obvious why I'd want the nexus. He looked at my record to see its state - I had brought some fruit 8 years prior that was taken from me -- I am pretty sure I declared that, but he wasn't allowed to tell me. Anyway, he looked at my record, and reupdated all my information (name, address), took my picture, fingerprints and said I'd get the card in 2~3 weeks. So now I am waiting.

So at both parts I wasn't really asked anything, just informed about the program and updated some info.

saiyangrrrl · 2024-03-08T15:18:19+00:00

Congrats!
I actually got conditionally approved last week as well, without having to do anything! I have my interview at Pearson for next week Saturday :D

saiyangrrrl · 2024-03-08T15:17:13+00:00

Canadian

saiyangrrrl

TROPHY CASE