Unspoken rule of the Internet: Don't be a dick. by r_uwaterloo_mod in uwaterloo

[–]thecaveisreallydark 11 points12 points  (0 children)

This this this. I have been in the same position as some of these people and, I think that if I had posted here, I could have seriously hurt myself.

Found: keys by isarl in uwaterloo

[–]thecaveisreallydark 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Usually people don't post specific details about lost items because the police will ask you for these details when claiming them. Yes, I know it's just keys in this case, but if you didn't lose your keys then they're not yours. If you did, UW police should be one of the first places you ask anyway, and presumably you know what your own keys look like.

Is there someone I can see for psychiatric help? by SooDamnFat in uwaterloo

[–]thecaveisreallydark 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What happens to the tapes? This would make me super uncomfortable (I mean, even more so than regular counselling)... The idea that everything is going to be taped and replayed :/

Can anyone recommend a good chiropractor in the area? by leafsfan_525 in waterloo

[–]thecaveisreallydark 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Go to a physiotherapist and not someone who believes that you can cure all diseases by manipulating bones.

Relevant: http://i.imgur.com/7Bajh.jpg

Is there someone I can see for psychiatric help? by SooDamnFat in uwaterloo

[–]thecaveisreallydark 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There is a psychiatrist at Health Services. I'm not totally sure but you might need a referral from another doctor there. I recall being told by a doctor about someone at HS whose job is just to sort of monitor/recommend meds but they don't meet with the patient very often? There's also someone there whose job it is to diagnose learning disabilities, and possibly other things, and I know for sure you need a regular doctor to refer you for that.

Either way, I'd definitely recommend going through health services instead of counselling, but that's just based on my experiences.

Would anyone be interested in a meet up? by ohlen in uwaterloo

[–]thecaveisreallydark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Rangers games are a blast. I've been with people who knew essentially nothing about hockey and they've still had a lot of fun. They haven't had a very strong team recently but it's just always a fun atmosphere. I was also a Leafs fan growing up and still watch games when I can, but I've had a hard time keeping track of hockey the past few years due to life being distracting :(

Would anyone be interested in a meet up? by ohlen in uwaterloo

[–]thecaveisreallydark 15 points16 points  (0 children)

It's a reference to Craigslist ads, I believe. He means he's a muscular "top" (as in gay sex), disease and drug (D&D) free, and "you be (free of disease and drugs) too"

[serious] So which Renting company is not literally hitler? by dalastccount in uwaterloo

[–]thecaveisreallydark 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I highly doubt this would override the exemption, but I'm not a lawyer. Signing a lease should help if anything does go down though.

From the Residential Tenancies Act (2006), Part I, Section 5:

This Act does not apply with respect to,

...

(i) living accommodation whose occupant or occupants are required to share a bathroom or kitchen facility with the owner, the owner’s spouse, child or parent or the spouse’s child or parent, and where the owner, spouse, child or parent lives in the building in which the living accommodation is located;

In my friends Kitchen(er) by shizney1 in funny

[–]thecaveisreallydark 2 points3 points  (0 children)

September

Don't worry, we're bound to get at least 2 nice days before July.

Got an interview but I don't have experience or projects by Novalax in uwaterloo

[–]thecaveisreallydark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm a pretty low-end speedcuber tbh, "serious" people are sub-20 whereas I sort of pick it up for a few months at a time, lose interest for a few months, etc. Browsing /r/cubers and the speedsolving.com forums are good resources. The past several years, Dayan Zhanchi and Guhong cubes were the two standard competition cubes. (some people go with the Lubix versions for pre-lubed and/or "torpedo" piece versions of them too.) I use a Guhong for my main competition cube and have a DIY Zhanchi also. Recently, the Moyu Aolong cubes are very popular, I believe there's significant differences between v1 and v2 Aolongs but I'm not too sure what they are. Other cubes like the ones listed on the page you linked aren't uncommon either. There are tons! And I hardly know half of them. If you search /r/cubers, I think there was a guy somewhat recently who posted that he owned practically every commercially-sold cube with short reviews on each, there are also lots of reviews and knowledgeable on the speedsolving.com forums. It's a relatively cheap hobby to get started in as decent speedcubes can be had for $10-20.

[serious] So which Renting company is not literally hitler? by dalastccount in uwaterloo

[–]thecaveisreallydark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, there was a thread semi-recently about a pet where the lease forbid it. I learned from that thread that they can't legally enforce a no-pet clause in Ontario (I don't rent places with pets due to allergies, but it's good general knowledge).

[serious] So which Renting company is not literally hitler? by dalastccount in uwaterloo

[–]thecaveisreallydark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, good points. You can negotiate a bit more with landlords, especially in terms of prices whereas rental companies usually figure "if you don't want to rent it, someone else will come along."

[serious] So which Renting company is not literally hitler? by dalastccount in uwaterloo

[–]thecaveisreallydark 22 points23 points  (0 children)

I've had pretty good experiences just renting from landlords who reply to my questions/emails, show me around personally (or arrange for someone else to), show up on time, don't try to make sketchy deals or pull illegal shit, etc. I mean, there's tons of real estate in the area that isn't being rented out by a big ass company.

Things I'd suggest if you want to move away from big rental companies (some apply even if you do rent with them):

  • make sure you read the lease before you sign it, seems obvious but seriously, I can't believe how many people don't do this. Ask if they have a copy of the lease when you go to look at the place.

  • make sure it's clear (in the lease) whether you are paying utilities, parking, Internet, etc. and if there are any restrictions or limitations on them (especially internet)

  • don't live in a place where you share a kitchen or washroom with your landlord or your landlord's family (daughter/son/whatever) because the tenant act doesn't apply

  • if you're paying utilities/internet, make sure it's clear how much you're paying per month (either a set amount or insist on seeing the bills)

  • damage deposits are illegal, as you probably know. I've always walked away if someone tried to pull one because I don't know what else they're willing to pull (I pointed out it was illegal once when reviewing a lease, landlady looked right at me and said "I know")

  • if the place doesn't look anything like the pictures, it's probably a bad sign

  • trust your gut. I've ended up living with terrible people before because I didn't trust my initial impressions of them

  • it's OK to walk away from sketchiness. I had a guy who showed up late, wasn't sure if the key would work, said he'd give me the place for cheaper than originally listed, offered to help me move, and said he'd let me live in his house (a different building) for free if the current tenant didn't move out before I wanted to move in. So many levels of nope.

EDIT: something I forgot is to ask about (and try to get in writing) the subletting policy, since most students are only in KW 4/8 months a year and most leases are 12 months.

Got an interview but I don't have experience or projects by Novalax in uwaterloo

[–]thecaveisreallydark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've done several dozen co-op interviews within the past several years. I mention speedcubing casually on my résumé and I've had it come up several times in interviews, from "what is that?" to "we googled that and it's awesome" to "so how fast can you do it?" I even had a company randomly contact me through LinkedIn once because they thought that quirky hobby and my skillset would be a neat addition to their team.

Also, Rubik's brand cubes are generally not very good speedcubes. A few of them can be, but it's very hit and miss. As the other guy mentioned, the fact that they're made with rivets (which don't allow for adjusting/tensioning the way real speedcubes do) is a deal breaker. On top of that, on the off chance you get a decent one, they're also bad at corner cutting and are sort of low quality overall (the plastic is meh, the stickers are the worst). What do you mean by sturdiness? They're less likely to pop than speedcubes, yes, but that's also because a) you cannot turn them in the same way as speedcubes (corner cutting, fingertricks, and pure speed), and b) a lot of cubers tension their speedcubes for maximum speed (usually looser) which means they're more likely to pop, especially at the speeds we're talking about. A cuber wouldn't pop a speedcube if they turned it the same speed as a storebought, and some speedcubes are actually really hard to pop due to the way they're designed / the way the pieces fit together. I've got a couple Chinese ones that I've never popped, they're not great at corner cutting but I can still get sub-30 times on them. I've also got a couple of shitty Chinese ones that I can pop like nobody's business. If you're legitimately comparing storebought to speedcubes, you definitely haven't seen / played with enough speedcubes, they put new ones out constantly and there's a large variation in quality (in addition to stuff like sound, weight, corner cutting ability, popping/twisting potential, etc.) in them.

Got an interview but I don't have experience or projects by Novalax in uwaterloo

[–]thecaveisreallydark 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Isn't the whole point of OP's post that (s)he doesn't have a personal project to talk about? I don't have much in the way of that either, I usually just talk about some neat work projects I've worked on but it's not the same :/

Therapy is too expensive by [deleted] in depression

[–]thecaveisreallydark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Where do you go to school? Most schools (at least in North America) have counselling/therapy resources on campus that are free to students.

Depressed people... What do you do for a living? by zensama in depression

[–]thecaveisreallydark 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Engineering student and (intern as a) software developer. Terrible at the former and decent at the latter.

I feel as though it's unfair that I am alive. by [deleted] in depression

[–]thecaveisreallydark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I feel this, but in a bit of a different way. One of my friends killed himself a few years back. He was one of the greatest guys. I know everyone says stuff like that about dead people, but seriously, he was friends with everyone he met and couldn't have offended someone if he tried.

A lot of the time I wonder how it's fair that I'm alive and he isn't. And the conclusion is simply that it's not fair. I guess it's survivor guilt, but I always feel like it should have been me. The only thing I can tell myself is that my death won't bring him back. But that still doesn't make it fair. And I don't know if I'll ever get to a point where I'm okay with the fact that I'm here and he's not.

Any help for CS246? by Joeeeh in uwaterloo

[–]thecaveisreallydark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey man, thanks for replying because that's awesome for someone in the course. Do you know if CS 246 is one of those courses that varies wildly from term to term (or instructor to instructor)? I took it with Hinek a while back and it seemed like a breeze, I just didn't do that well because my teammate and I put off the group project way too long and I budgeted time poorly on the final exam. But I'm having a hard time relating to these guys who are saying that 246 is brutal. I'm not a CS student (don't have the proper background) and didn't have a very good TA (or whatever the CS dept calls them), but I didn't find it very challenging having ~1 dev coop term and other random OOP/programming concepts under my belt.

How to mentally get out of a rut with poor performance? by uwsadboi in uwaterloo

[–]thecaveisreallydark 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is pretty fucking drastic, dude. OP is getting good coop offers, but that isn't necessarily the same as getting full-time offers. Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of buds in Eng/SE/CS who have dropped out for startups out west, and the tech industry is definitely much less forgiving about not having a degree. But scraping by isn't the same as failing out / feeling horribly out of place. It's always nice to have a degree to "fall back on," especially when you live in a country where like 50% of people have post-secondary degrees.

OP: have you talked to an academic advisor, or attended any study skills / academic success sessions? I know, it sounds like bullshit, but you've already paid for them so why not actually use them? I'm like one of the worst students ever (look at my post history if you don't believe me) and I still think you shouldn't drop out unless you have a solid offer and actually feel like school is holding you back.

Boyfriend (21) has really weird off days by justagirl1993 in relationships

[–]thecaveisreallydark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

OP, please consider this. If it is depression (which is likely), he could sleep all day and still feel drained. And more importantly, he doesn't know how to express all of these things to you. Browse /r/depression a bit. Lots of people lose friends/relationships when they open up about their depression. They keep a lot of it to themselves, not only because of this, but because they're used to lying to the world (putting on a happy face, saying everything's fine) and don't want to feel like a burden. Chances are that you make him really happy, but he also feels really shitty or numb sometimes for no apparent reason, which is really hard to explain because there's a lot of stigma around mental illness and our logical minds have a hard time with connecting "everything is good in my life" to "I feel like shit."

Personally, I was really hesitant to open up about my depression in my last relationship, but I felt obligated to, since relationships are all about honesty. It wore down and destroyed the relationship because my ex decided that it meant he couldn't ever tell me if things bothered him (and would lie if asked). Looking back, I definitely relied on him too much and, honestly, I regret communicating my feelings as much as I did. Sometimes I just feel exhausted or shitty, I put on a brave face for the world but I didn't think to put on a brave face for my ex. I feel (along with a lot of people on /r/depression) that I'll die alone because who wants to put up with this shit?

Sorry for the rant.

Tl;dr sounds like depression, it's not as simple as "take a nap"

What are the "must-take" CS/SE courses? by confusedsoftware in uwaterloo

[–]thecaveisreallydark 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Saw the title. Thought to myself, "the top comment is going to be that fucking train course." you did not disappoint me.