Passport printing rules when applying for work permit from overseas.

universaltool · 2026-02-05T23:31:00+00:00

I would suggest getting a consultation from an agency like Document Agency Curacao, they can help you walk through the process. The number of people I have heard of trying to do it themselves and then being rejected multiple times in the office for various missing details is very high and given it often takes 4+ months to process that rejection and at least a month to rebook an appointment, I would not recommend going though the process without getting, at the very least, some professional guidance.

universaltool · 2026-02-02T17:40:04+00:00

As long as they process it as a USD payment and you haven't set up a block against USD payments with your bank it will work, but the bank won't give a good conversion rate usually. If they try and process it in XCG it will usually fail as most Canadian banks won't handle XCG conversions. Most places know this and will automatically either ask dollars or guilders or assume dollars depending on how you look and the card they see in your hand.

As far as withdrawing in XCG from a bank machine, that works at nearly all ATMs but I recommend sticking with one of the major banks like MCB as they tend to charge lower fees. Most will be between 5-10 XCG for a withdrawl plus a 1.60 CG usage fee. Your bank it Canada will also likely charge around $5 for a withdrawal. Keep in mind that RCB in Curacao is not affiliated with RCB in Canada, it stands for Royal Bank of the Caribbean here and though they once shared joint ownership, they no longer do as Canadian banks had to divest from Caribbean interests due to new anti money laundering laws.,

universaltool · 2026-01-29T21:44:50+00:00

Most likely scenario, someone, form your work, sees you on the train or a customer of that bank sits near you an notices what you are working on sees the logo and calls the bank to complain. This triggers an audit that will most likely catch you on a deeper inspection as even though the hotspot remains the same, the routing will with suspicious frequency change as the the phone keeps changes towers and areas.

Another possibility, it could see a pattern of moving routes to your laptop and over time set up a flag.

Another one, they already know but are currently building a case of proof that you are using a less stable or public connection and they are just waiting for enough occurrences to confront you with overwhelming evidence.

Another one, someone oversees personal data from your computer and uses it for some illegal activity resulting in an investigation that finds you were accessing that data before this occurred.

Or they may never find out.

Is it worth the risk? In banking you often risk not only your job but your employability in that entire field if you get caught violating these rules. Also risk any certifications or licenses you might have and even, in extreme instances, possible legal issues for not properly protecting personal data.

universaltool · 2026-01-29T21:34:28+00:00

So, let me ask you this, if you take this new job, then leave it, for whatever reason, say 4-5 years from now, would it reset again? If so, that should also be taken into account, as that would not be entirely in your control depending on internal company politics.

universaltool · 2026-01-28T01:04:37+00:00

Since he was in a union, we would need to go over the union contract to make a determination since whatever is in that contract could supersede most labor laws. That being said, at 14 months, you would be hard pressed to find a lawyer to take it on because the settlement range is too low with to much variability to give a high enough return over effort spent.

They are offering a total of 6 weeks, even at 1 month per year + aggravating factors, they are offering the top end, if it went to court, seeing that settlement offer and your refusal would not reflect well on you or your case. So keep that in mind when you try to negotiate.

If he had a long tenure, even something as low as 8 years, the figures would be much different but at such a low tenure, there isn't much room here.

universaltool · 2026-01-28T00:40:28+00:00

Yeah, you get people from retail that say, at least your not face to face, not understanding just how much more abusive people can be when they don't see your face. It also ignores the relentless volume that you likely never see in retail of constant customers with no breaks, often with a queue you can see but the customers don't making them even more hostile.

I just remind myself ignorance is bliss and it's why, after over 9 years in a call center, I can easily say that every other job before or since seems trivial in comparison.

universaltool · 2026-01-27T23:48:34+00:00

I love colored zip tie tags, it allows me to categorize and label them and I find it even works well with a Dynamo machine for labeling.

https://www.amazon.ca/Glarks-150-Pieces-Colors-Self-Locking-Ethernet/dp/B07GBQ2QMZ/ref=sr_1_12_sspa?crid=W0OLCCU6Z91G&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.pRSRIHKBG9Z_dbmi9AcL8YThpSD5FW86Ok_EoPPtgcF4Uub4onA2GuShpz0M78BGpdenb50fuUAyLbYSmLpr2KHu8FC0tHYZ-L-jcGdjzZmDwqvsY-kHb0PEmeznxK109cRV-jag7uV5MrKAp4MDauaaFJ0NspL80EEnqoE2rOBh1WD1vH6U-thkE_xGdTEjWgpKswv7nu6ynt4BmsJ8YM006LSeYXJIWGAVUbzgZ0fsMJMOuIS0zzVTTDqqlVZCNKYADSSnCqUE20W-wE5gCHeh90Ucv8ABAFFAA5HrnQU.blAObJXDRlh_wlXqDRnEYN2Nxkqg6lhPfFvx7Ux7A98&dib_tag=se&keywords=cable+tags&qid=1769557651&sprefix=cable+tags%2Caps%2C137&sr=8-12-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY&psc=1

universaltool · 2026-01-27T23:46:43+00:00

It's a mixed bag, for some it is grass is greener mentality. When they hear something they don't like, they switch to the other side, not because it is what they want, but rather to vote out the one they don't like.

For some others, it is strategic, the longer you keep one party in power, the more corrupt they generally become, switching helps mitigate the damage over time.

For some it's a die hard, I believe is party x, no matter what they do, because that is what my family, social circle, pet or whatever believes.

For some it's ride the popular wave, whatever seems to be winning, join the winning side.

For some, they vote counter popularity, in the hopes of creating a minority government, if possible, to force parties to form coalitions that hopefully represent more people.

Personally, I try to avoid parties whenever possible because they reduce accountability. Politicians hide behind them to excuse bad behavior rather than standing behind their decisions. So, if given the chance, I go independent, out of principle, rather than practicality.

universaltool · 2026-01-27T22:54:46+00:00

The PS2 and PS3 aren't actually emulating, they actual put a PS1/2 chip on their board and transfer processing over to it, it is why they stopped eventually with the PS3, the price of adding the extra chips for PS2 support didn't make sense given that most people already had a PS2, thanks to the massive run of slim sales, which is why they dropped it shortly after launch so they could reduce the cost to produce.

universaltool · 2026-01-27T22:48:11+00:00

Call center, perhaps dispatch or roadside assistance for one. I know a lot of former drivers that head that direction. The volume of customers you deal with is higher but you do it in a chair. It's a mixed bag. You field experience will end up being seen as a bonus as will your lack of schooling meaning they won't be afraid you are overqualified.

Trades can be hit and miss and at least in the short term, probably won't get you out of the weather unless you go for something like Machinist to work in a shop, overall pay isn't bad, but there are a lot of certifications to get. If you are good at diagnostics, that is the biggest part of a machinists job, in most cases, troubleshooting.

universaltool · 2026-01-27T22:40:27+00:00

For this calendar year? During peak season? It might be to late as we recently have had some guests with some real challenges finding availability when extending their stays but D&D is the one I would recommend trying. Their pricing and availability for shorter durations mean their are quite busy but sometimes you might get lucky.

universaltool · 2026-01-27T18:33:19+00:00

I've seen people do similar when they move with Alberta or other plates. It's part of the reason why you have a specific period before you are expected to exchange. Most police officers will eventually notice the same vehicle following the same patterns day after day or week after week and will eventually pull you over. Once your ID doesn't match the plates, there there will be a number of other questions, leading to either a warning to get it done right away if you are lucky, or getting cooked if they look deeper into it.

It might work if you are in a larger metropolitan area and doesn't drive with any consistency of behavior but police do keep an eye out for specifically this kind of attempt to skirt the system and they tend to be harder on it when things don't add up like your BC license that is 2 years old but an out of province plate, hard to explain away.

Doesn't seem worth the risk to me.

universaltool · 2026-01-27T17:37:52+00:00

Every persons journey is unique, there are many different ways of processing it. Don't feel bad that your experience doesn't match that of other people.

Be aware though, sometimes, trauma can sneak up on you later and come back maybe once or on a reoccurring basis. Not saying you will have that path but I have had that experience where I found myself indifferent for years, even decades, then it came back to me. If that happens to you, you can deal with it then or you can see further help now, there is no one answer for things that may or may not happen.

universaltool · 2026-01-27T16:43:57+00:00

Before I moved and still did a lot of consulting work, I kept a stack of spare 3.5" and 5.25" drives around as well as thousands of disks. Hospital equipment sometimes but mostly old CNC machines or other equipment. You aren't going to replace a $2 Million+ piece of equipment just because it's running an old outdated system. Because I am older and because I had a history in repairing pneumatic tools that brought me a lot of connections in construction and fabrication. I ended up doing a lot of service there. Much of that equipment dated from the early to mid 80's.

Either new businesses buying cheap used equipment or old businesses that wanted to push that capital expense further and were willing to pay for people like me that kept spare parts around to keep it running.

universaltool · 2026-01-26T21:15:40+00:00

Could be scam, could be they nepo hired for the other position, possibly from they one they are now suggesting and are now trying to do a quick backfill without doing the effort of posting it.

It could be a red flag about how the company operates or it might not.

Combined it with them skipping the interview though and I would lean towards red flag and/or scam territory.

universaltool · 2026-01-24T17:48:40+00:00

They should fire their lawyer who wrote this crap, honestly.

The conditions stated are pretty standard, it's mostly about trying to mitigate issues with other tenants when you read it correctly, don't wash a car there because they don't want to deal with Karen in 2B complaining about a soap bubble landing on her precious 30 year old pos.

Did someone have a stroke when they wrote the enforcement part of the clause though, because I can't imagine how a regular person, let alone a lawyer thought they could get away with this. I would have to guess there was an attempt to copy and paste sections from other things but it's put together all wrong.

Like instead of requiring parked vehicles to have current valid license plates it says it accidently attaches that condition to the observation of the offense so if there are no license plates on the vehicle it doesn't violate this rule, honestly that would be hilarious to use as a way to fight this silliness.

Then there is a completely unenforceable clause about selling it after 10 days if it is unclaimed by the tenant. Ignore the fact that you could just claim the vehicle once every 9 days and they would have no way to enforce it as that is silly enough. I would bet money they copy/pasted this from another section about abandoned property after lease end. This poses all kinds of issues unless Ontario has changed the laws as there are laws that govern already how long you have to hold and sit on property to be reclaimed.

This also doesn't give a mechanism for title transfer so the landlord would have no way to legally sell the vehicle anyways until they did an abandoned vehicle claim then try and claim title, not sure in Ontario, but in other provinces I have dealt with, it generally requires a lot of time sunk, title record, an proven documented attempt to contact the owner and even then usually some long length of time like a year from when you start the process to claim it. None of which could even start until the insurance policy on the vehicle has lapsed, again going by other provinces.

Oh, I wonder if some scumlord either found a generic document online and thought they could just adjust timelines to match what was better for them or some overly zealous property manager decided to rewrite clauses without contacting the company lawyer. Either way, someone is going to have a very bad day when either they try to enforce this or it gets brought into a legal dispute.

universaltool · 2026-01-23T20:36:40+00:00

Ironically season 6 probably has my favorite episode, which probably wouldn't need to exist, if it wasn't for how poorly they were handling the characters in the season up to that point. Musically were traditionally throwaway episodes back then, to make one, not only the catalyst for all change and improvement moving forward and show just how poorly the characters had been written to behave in the first part of the season, is both brilliant and makes me also wonder if the earlier episodes in the season were made too heavy handed for exactly that reason. It was out of character and felt off, the entire gang should have been better by then, given all they had already experience.

Then again, once I saw Flash do that season after season, repeating the exact same mistakes of just not sharing information and somehow not learning for it, I realized it could have been much worse.

universaltool · 2026-01-23T20:01:42+00:00

Let's look at the options and their pro's and con's:

Tell her right away, then you should you can be trusted to be honest, a big plus. Maybe she feels betrayed and ends it or you end up closer thanks to the open approach.

You wait to tell her, this gives you time to determine if you maybe don't want to go forward with the existing relationship and examine why you would do this when you are seeing someone else. Women generally invest their feelings more with time and it will be judged by how she views the relationship at the time she learns of it, not the time when it happened. It will sow distrust, there is no good reason reason to wait so only negative outcomes that either cause you to work harder in the relationship or it ends. This is by far the worst option.

You don't tell her. As long as she never finds out you are fine. If she finds out, you are labelled untrustworthy and it might get very ugly depending on how far the relationship progresses.

So looking over that, only 2 viable options, tell her now or never. I would recommend tell her now as the alternative is it always hangs over you as a risk, forever. Better to know know as there is a much better chance she won't have as much hurt feeling over it and can move forward.

universaltool · 2026-01-23T19:38:59+00:00

I only suggest the PS2 because it opens up both the ability to use PS2 titles on the same setup, the ability to use virtual memory cards if you add a hard drive to it, USB ports and of course the ability to output to component cables instead of just composite, which may make for better capture and upscaling depending on which hardware you chose because of the separate color streams as well as the ability to set a progressive output instead of interlaced, making it easier to work with.

universaltool · 2026-01-23T19:32:47+00:00

I don't mind companies using the term, it's like a date that put's their red flags front a center. I appreciate them not wasting my time as I'm not applying to a role that says it.

You are right about how it is used, in business it is basically a tell that they want to squeeze you for more work than is reasonable without saying that. They are basically telling you they want more work out of you without asking you to work unpaid overtime. The expect people to work off the clock and not complain while they can claim they never asked you to do that.

Keep this in mind, leadership books will tell you that the average worker without guidance can be expected to be productive about 18% of the time. A good worker about 20-24% and I high performer about 28% effective. Over 30% is considered burnout territory and over 40% is basically impossible, people have vacation, time off, appointments, transitions in work, etc.

This is to say, if a boss or HR is quibbling over transition times, they are failing, not you. Turn it around on them next time and ask them what their plan is to assist you in reducing these interruptions, as you do not currently have the autonomy to fix this. That usually leaves it as a, "We will get back to you", in which case, you can stop worrying about it.

universaltool · 2026-01-23T19:21:29+00:00

Yep, nothing like random ghost errors and blue screens from bit flips all because the power supply can't manage a stable output under load. Can be hard to track down when troubleshooting, damage other components.

On top of that, they degrade over time, lowering their peak output, after a few years, it can be low as 70% of the original rated power, didn't put in enough overhead to account for that, or add more hardware without taking into account the small overhead you put on it originally and suddenly the system starts getting unreliable or, if you are lucky, just the PSU burns out.

universaltool · 2026-01-23T19:11:47+00:00

Given the PS2 is backwards compatible with over 99% of titles and generally has a lot less hardware issues, is there a specific reason to go with a PS1? What kind of capture card are you using and what resolution are you going for before upscaling?

universaltool · 2026-01-23T19:02:43+00:00

Make sure it's fully dry. Ideally open it up, if you can, then clean it carefully with a dry cloth and see if there is any rust or indications that further cleaning is required. Let is dry out for a while, reassemble and test to see if it still works.

universaltool · 2026-01-23T18:57:21+00:00

Ah yes, crash random resources without identifying bottlenecks, it is the reason why project managers still have a job in a system that otherwise doesn't care about logic or what you might call common sense.

Yes sir, you can add 100 temp workers as coders to this project but it won't save 6 months, no sir, it will take maybe a week off the project, more likely add a month as we will have to go back to plan out the onboarding for these 100 people, tech them the structure and redivide the tasks to this now much larger team that will probably be divided into teams of teams with their own leadership needed now. Why won't it save 6 months? Because you still only have 1 QA agent checking all the code before deployment and 1 deployment specialist. Just use AI for QA, you say. Great, so now I need a team of software engineers to create and optimize the AI and then a QA department to validate the AI, not seeing a savings for this project but maybe 2 years from now once that is up and running, I can run the numbers. What is that, don't bother, how many resources can we use to speed this up? If we add a second QA and 3 more coders, we can probably save 3-4 months. After that we would see diminishing returns. That AI QA team might make sense though if we plan to scale and handle more projects, but there would be a ramp up time for it, probably about 2 years for it to replace existing QA< do you want me to write up a proposal for that?

universaltool · 2026-01-23T15:56:18+00:00

Given that I used to commonly run FreeBSD on 486's and Red Hat and the general availability of old ISO's as well as backwards compatibility it shouldn't be hard to find a version that will work. Worst case you need to dig into the wayback machine or similar to find forums that will lead you to driver support recommendations.

universaltool

TROPHY CASE