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Well I went to a LBS, they had a used bike that was absolutely perfect for me for $525. I went in saying my max for the bike was $400 and I would maybe consider going up to $500 if there was some kind of totally incredible deal on. This deal was over that $500, and it wasn't totally incredible so I walked away. And found this baby on kijiji!  A CCM Presto Road Bike!!! Mmm look at those ghetto ridiculous mountain bike shifters on those drop bars. And it has a kick stand! I am the coolest 7 year old on the block. Actually, it has new wheels and tires, came with a backup set of wheels, quick release on both front and back which is nice, and it fits nicely. $250. Most of the complaints are about the wheels and seat, I have my own seat and the wheels are new so I figure it's not bad. Pretty loving heavy, but whatever. Yesterday I also redid my rear pads and rotors, in the rain, in my driveway, for six hours. A $450 job at a mechanic cost instead a vacation day and $250 in parts. And I grabbed a nice socket set (this one) and torque wrench (this one) from the pawn shop. They would have been $370 new, the pawn shop wanted $135, I argued them down to $90. 
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May 12, 2013 00:31
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Leperflesh posted:I hope this didn't get missed because it sure looks like this is what happened to Tuyop's bike. Yeah I mean I wasn't exactly careful with it, but it was also like 30 years old, $125 and I biked the poo poo out of it. I had used it the day before to do 26km worth of errands and nothing had happened since.  Leperflesh posted:Also I addressed the thing about the parts costing more than the bike is worth: it doesn't matter what the bike is worth if you don't sell it. What matters is how much you are out of pocket to wind up with a functioning bike. I get your point as well, and the answer is that right now, with all of the uncertainty in our future, $200 is a potential month of groceries. I've wanted a good bike for a long time, but I guess now is not the time. As for shipping it, the plan is to just courier it by bus. It's not expensive, like $35 to go back to NB.
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May 12, 2013 00:37
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cstine posted:So was it a $450 job for $250, or a $450 job for $340? (Are the tools in the $250?) No, the 250 is just rotors, pads, and some specific tools. I'm not sure how to categorize the other tools. We didn't have the tools at all, but didn't have an express need for them until now. However, they could be amortized across many repairs and things. For instance, I just used them to adjust the bike, which I wouldn't have been able to do before. Does that mean I should add the cost of tools to the bike? We just put them in the "misc goods" category in the budget, rather than "car maintenance".
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May 12, 2013 00:40
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Fraser CDN posted:That socket sent is more then you will ever need, 1/2 inch drive, unless your working on a transport truck you really dont need something that big. You should have bought something smaller. But for $90 its a good deal. The torque wrench, you know its a pedal bike and not a Hyabusa right? Its not really needed, see if you can return it to the pawn shop. If you keep the torque wrench return it to CT and say it doesnt click any more and get a new one so you know it hasnt been dropped and uncalibrated. I also own a car, you know. And that's a good idea for the torque wrench. MrEnigma posted:Also, based on the description of that bike, and what it has on it, you may have just overpaid for a Walmart quality bike. Nah, it's got a set of these front and back: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003S0Z47S http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003RLFN3S?linkCode=xm2&tag=invihand-20 The strange thing about the socket set is that a much less nice one next to it, which was missing the Allen key that I needed, was only $9 less. I mean we're talking about $90 worth of tools that literally just paid for themselves, guys.
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May 12, 2013 01:19
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DoctorTristan posted:Are those your old wheels/ quick-release that you fitted, or are you saying it comes with those as standard? They're not standard, I have the standard lovely CCM wheels and cassette as a "bonus", he bought these wheels and the hardware new at a bike shop. He probably spent more than the bike is worth on just the wheels. I don't get it. I even asked why he would put wheels like that on a bike like this and he said that he just likes to upgrade stuff on bikes. Leperflesh posted:I'm always kind of shocked at what rotors can cost for some cars. I just priced out front rotors for my Mazda Protege5 and Rock Auto has some for as little as $12 each. "High performance/heavy duty" rotors start around $30. 2010 Mazda 3 Sport GS 2.5L. I shopped around a lot for these, bought the pads at the cheapest place and the rotors at another place. I saved $30 by not buying both at the same store. Online was not an option because of the crazy shipping costs.
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May 12, 2013 01:51
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The brakes were rear rotors and pads. Trust me, I found the cheapest option available to me. It's not like I have anything else to do all day at work but shop for brakes. I also bought mechanic gloves (4.99), brake cleaner (5.99), a rear piston compression tool (11.99), silicone lubricant (? like 4.50).HookShot posted:I have literally ordered thousands of dollars worth of stuff over the years from the States that I just get shipped to the States, then drive across the border to go pick up and walk it back across. All I have to pay is the HST because the border people are always nice and waive the $8 duty they're sorta supposed to charge. I did this when I lived in Fredericton. Saved hundreds of dollars on boots and things. There was a cool business in Houlton where they charged $4 per week to hold your packages for you and you just ordered to that address. I suppose if I was going to order a car or something, it would make sense to save 5 grand to drive the three hours to Boulder, NY. Related: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/glob...article8288524/ DoctorTristan posted:Wait, wait. This is the bike nerd in me talking, but 'cassette' usually refers to the rear cogs. Did you mean the QR skewers, or has he upgraded the cogs as well? (If he has, I would get someone competent to check the drivetrain, because this guy is obviously utterly clueless). I don't know what kind of cassette is on there now. The old CCM wheels still have a set of gears attached, they are not on the bike, and the new Alex wheels have a cassette as well, and they're on the bike. tuyop fucked around with this message at 13:42 on May 12, 2013 |
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May 12, 2013 12:28
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No Wave posted:Dude, I "get" that these were purchases you could justify, but you've just dropped a thousand dollars in, like, the past week. You might want to take a breather for a second. Yes, I love MMM, Raptitude, ERE, all the FI types. I've read Epictetus, Seneca, Thoreau, et al and don't feel very materialistic. Actually, are you joking? Check out the graphs that I post every month. We regularly live on 40-50% of our income. There are many things that stress me out in my life, not buying things is not one of them. Toeshoes and I regularly reflect on this stuff. We look at what we use and do, try to do an 80/20 analysis of our days and weeks and look at the things that we did that made us most happy. Our conclusion is always that the things that made us happiest had nothing to do with purchases. There's no desire to spend for spending's sake here, I actually literally have a need for a bicycle because I will be without a car in the next few weeks when Toeshoes takes it to Edmonton and the military sends me back to New Brunswick. The only other alternative is walking everywhere. Unless you think I should instead spend $1000+ on another car. I'm excited because I managed to improve a situation that kind of sucked: having to ride a bicycle that doesn't fit for hours a week. We got married which involved spending about $400 because 1: we may not see each other again until August unless we did it, and 2: there is a potential for about $1500/month in benefits because we are now married. Oh and love. If the car is going to go anywhere after May 14th, let alone Edmonton, it needed the brakes replaced because we have to have it inspected, registered, and insured by May 14th (which is when the insurance and registration expire). I don't think I passed this on, but that's why the repair had to happen. And with YNAB, I know that this all fits into the budget without using the latest windfall at all. If the 15k windfall in April had never happened, we would be no worse off now, would have still met debt and savings goals, and not had to sell anything or change our habits in any way. I think this is a huge victory and a pretty excellent field test for the budget after about five months. So, I'm characterizing these things as "needs" for those reasons. I'm no happier now than I was before spending any money and nothing that I bought makes me happier. Cars need to be maintained. The bike will make me less uncomfortable, but won't produce any more joy than any other bike. Even getting married was kind of a material thing, because it changes nothing about our feelings or experience of each other, but it has a good chance of paying great dividends financially and/or emotionally. Edit: and actually, in May, including toeshoes' flight from Edmonton to Halifax ($717) for the wedding in August, we've spent $1370 above our usual expenses of rent, utilities, internet, and food. tuyop fucked around with this message at 15:01 on May 12, 2013 |
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May 12, 2013 14:51
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TeamQuiggan posted:But he spent the same amount of money on a bad bike and overtooling Ok maybe there's a flaw in my thinking here, but this is how I see it. Situation: Bicycle broke, car needs repairs by the 14th, bicycle is needed because the car is leaving for Alberta on the 17th. Scenario 1: Pay a mechanic to repair the car ~$450 Buy a new bike (theoretically the same bike) $250 Since I have no tools in this scenario, this is the only option. Total expense: $700. Scenario 2: Buy the parts for $250 Buy the tools for the repair for $90 Buy a new bike (theoretically I could have repaired the old one now but I didn't) $250 I now have tools to repair other things if necessary! Total expense: $590 + now I have tools Difference: $110, tools and an improvement in skills.
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May 12, 2013 16:05
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cstine posted:Yeah - is ALL of Canada that expensive, or just where Tuyop is? Yeah, you hear a lot of whining about consumer goods. Wah wah books are 350% more expensive in Canada than they are 45km south of here! Kind of things. The biggest difference in obligatory costs is probably food and car costs. Staples for us are things like apples ($2/lb on sale), milk ($4.50/gal on sale, cheddar cheese is also $6/lb and greek yogurt is easily $1/100ml), and meat ($6/lb of bone-in skin-on chicken breast) but I wouldn't count the meat because we buy super Gucci local happy meat from animals that we go and pet first. It still only costs us 300-400/month and I eat an obscene 180g of protein per day. But then again, we don't pay for health care, my job pays for my gym membership, vision, dental, and work clothes so it's pretty much a wash. Our utilities are also pretty cheap and I think rent and utilities are reasonable at ~15% of our net income. And my take home pay is 36k, toeshoes' is 28.8k. I feel like we make an obscene amount of money and once the debt is gone we will be able to live a very lavish lifestyle according to our values.
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May 12, 2013 18:05
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FrozenVent posted:He's in not-big-city Ontario, so he's middle low. Yeah, someone posted this tumblr during that. Pretty great.  Click for site.
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May 12, 2013 22:21
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Dr. Video Games 0050 posted:Yeah try buying fruit up there I think the best option is probably to just go full Inuit and shoot all of your meals and subsist on seal fat, supplements (fibre?), and elk. A friend of mine is getting posted to Yellowknife and he's pretty pumped about all of the hunting opportunities and the prospect of somehow making a side business out of aquaponic greens. I mean like SPINACH.
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May 14, 2013 13:28
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Me in Reverse posted:tuyop I saw you posting in the bike thread; if you want actual advice on parts/etc that doesn't come from the '$1300 entry-level bike' perspective feel free to PM me. Thanks man, but I'm just killing time at work and trying to improve my bike knowledge. Another purchase isn't even on the horizon for me (like, maybe after my BEd in 2015) unless this bike breaks in half or something.
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May 14, 2013 13:41
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Ok, so my loving front derailleur or the shifter is the worst loving thing in the world. I decided to try to fix it and just kind of gave up. Now I'm trying to put my old friction front shifter and derailleur onto this bike so I at least have two gears on the front, instead of just one. Think of it like a frankenbike or something. Except... well, it's not alive anymore.    I particularly hate these photos because the Cannondale in the background, which was only 50 dollars more, is just loving perfect and doesn't have any of these issues. Guys, I really think I just made a $250 mistake. Maybe less because I can possibly sell the wheels for 70 bucks, but ugh. I have a feeling the end state of this little adventure is going to be a bike with seven speeds that goes really slow.
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May 17, 2013 16:27
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Me in Reverse posted:What was wrong with your FD in the first place? Every gear in the front was causing the chain to rub against the derailleur. Tightening the H and L screws didn't fix this problem, and I think I torqued too hard on the shifter and hosed up its indexing or something, and then it just kind of fell apart in my hands like one of those styrofoam airplanes.
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May 17, 2013 16:33
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Me in Reverse posted:Calm down, slow down, and take it from the beginning. Watch some "How to install an FD" videos on youtube, and get the FD remounted. Well, you see, this bike is a terrible piece of poo poo so its shifters are plastic chinese newspaper based mountain bike shifters, and the handlebars are like two hacked-together mountain bike handlebars. Once I broke the shifter, I decided to take the shifter off and try to either fix it, swap out my old one or give up on having a front gear at all. This meant I had to take the handlebars off and separate them to get the left shifter off.
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May 17, 2013 16:45
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Me in Reverse posted:I have a spare parts bike in my garage, pretty sure I have a 3-speed FD shifter if you want it for the cost of shipping. (If yours is broke.) (Ask the Bike thread, add some close-up photos of the parts) Yeah I'd be up for that. How would that work? Is it like a brifter or a friction shifter or what? My friction shifter from my old Fuji won't mount on the frame or handlebars anywhere and so I sort of gave up for now. Toeshoes is leaving for Edmonton forever tonight and we're both kind of upset about it.
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May 17, 2013 20:36
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DoctorTristan posted:Tuyop, before splurging $750 on a new bike, how about you at least take it in to your LBS and get a quote for the repair? Because that's a lot of money to spend to fix a simple problem with the front derailleur. Don't worry, I'll consult you guys before I buy anything. I mean, it's seriously not worth $750 to have another gear or two on my bike. I'm actually just trying to get a sense of bike values.
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May 18, 2013 03:26
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Oh hey guys, get this. So, in February I visited the person responsible for reintegrating people into the workforce after they release. She told me that I should take a college course and it would be totally reimbursed. Then I visited the education advisor, who told me I qualified for the reimbursement. Then, just to make sure, I visited the man on base in charge of part-time education and all the repayments. He assured me that I would in fact be promptly repaid 100% of my college course costs. I was assured of this. So, fast-forward to this week, when I sent in my claim for reimbursement. All my i's dotted and t's crossed. Turns out there are two problems: 1. I took two of my five courses in the Winter semester (ends 30 April) and only requested funding for the Summer semester. This can be fixed by starting the process over again. Ok.  2. The regulations were recently changed. Now they're not reimbursing Summer semester courses until further notice.  And I'm pretty close, like ten days away, from living in a tent in the woods, living the BFC dream!
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May 29, 2013 20:47
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Leperflesh posted:Wait so, you actually went to school in a winter semester so they should still reimburse that, once you re-do all your paperwork. Right? Yeah, 2/5 courses were winter, so that gets refunded once my amendment gets approved: $329/748 The 3/5 that I took in winter may get funded, so I'm out: $419 And these classes are the mandatory part of a certificate that qualifies me to teach college classes. But until I get the electives or find a job teaching college part time, it was a waste of 419 dollars. That's a whole bicycle! Or a month in single quarters, which I could really use soon. Edit: and before someone digs up the post where I said it was $877 for the classes, that was an error in fee listings and the college is sending me $129 now. Hence the $748.
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May 29, 2013 21:12
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Well it's not like I could have done anything about it even if the Queen herself had written me a notarized letter saying that I would be repaid for my college course. The regulation changed after I got approval and started taking courses. If it gets denied later, then I can consider filing a Redress of Grievance.
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May 29, 2013 22:42
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bombhand posted:If you'd made the request properly the first time, would it have been accepted and paid for despite the regulation change now? No, I was only able to apply for reimbursement when the course finished on 25 May. Doing the request incorrectly just delays things by like a week while the amendment gets the ok. I even remember asking to get this in writing, and then someone saying, "It is in writing, just check ADM (HR-MIL) Instruction 17-04". Generally you don't need to get stuff that's set down in policy in writing from a Lieutenant. But, as usual, computer says no. And this is the change here. quote:Q5. How will these departmental fiscal pressures affect my ILP? But I thought that this part protected me. And it did, but only 40%. quote:Q6. What if I am part-way through this semester and have past the deadline to withdraw? haplesscardsharp posted:I also find it hilarious that out of all the education you were given/paid for, the best return on investment was What do you mean? My BA cost me 18k and has paid 50k/year for the past three years. But I'm trying to stay positive. So, I got my message saying that the medical side is going to medically release me. I talked to a friend of a friend who works in that department to figure out why this had taken so long, turns out that my file had been sitting in a stack of other files, making its way between the incorrect signing authorities for several months. They just had to look at it and send it to the right guy so a message could be written. Awesome! This means that, with luck, I'll get a release message in the next 3-4 weeks. Edit: Oh, and my internet gets cut off tomorrow, so I may be a little bit delayed on May's update, which is fine because we're really not sure WTF is going on after the chaos of toeshoes' posting. tuyop fucked around with this message at 16:14 on May 30, 2013 |
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May 30, 2013 10:41
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mastershakeman posted:He also apparently filled in the wrong forms for reimbursement, entirely through his own fault, and glossed over that with nothing other than a 'lol woops.' The form has a box where you put the total amount for each semester. The funding request goes in the appropriate semester box. I thought all of my funding was in the Winter semester box. Turns out that three courses were supposed to go in the Summer semester box instead. Clearly I am a moron and this cannot be fixed by simply putting the right numbers in the right boxes and resubmitting the form.  I mean usually programs that start in April are "winter" programs, but since two of my courses were in April but three were in May, it spanned two semesters. None of my other education claims have worked this way. It's not a big deal. Never you mind posted:Wait. You took two classes in summer, which started after April 30 and just ended. The policy change happened before April 1, said that after April 1 money would be reduced, and said that classes still in progress from winter semester would be reimbursed. So why would you think this would "protect" your summer reimbursement? My poo poo was approved in February, my classes started mid-April, at the time I thought, "Oh, my courses are already approved and aren't Summer 2013 courses anyway." As for constantly trying to be the exception, no. Usually I observe the normal practice, ask people how they got what they want, look up the policy, make a request referencing the policy which is usually a carbon copy of what the original person wrote with my name and details instead of theirs, and then get supported or refused based entirely on the whim of my supervisor. Or in the latest case, months go by while my file literally gets passed back and forth in Ottawa, unnoticed, until I break the rules and reach out to someone new and they take five minutes to notice what's going on.
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May 30, 2013 18:12
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Delta-Wye posted:Has it been denied or not? If not... what? That's a good question. Major General Forgues, Canadian Defense Academy posted:Reimbursement for all following semesters and/or academic years will not be approved until the full extent of the departmental fiscal pressures is known. It's a big if or maybe. Probably not? Who knows! I can only count on money I have right now, so I'm out $877. The college has to send me $129 and the military says they will reimburse $329, but who loving knows if any of this will ever materialize. It was stupid to take the program in the first place. Trying to plan my life around all this amorphous bullshit is maddening. No policy or decision is ever loving safe from being withdrawn or reinterpreted or straight-up ignored/lost. I honestly think that the whole medical release is a loving fiction right now and I would have put in my voluntary release at this point except I actually can't because I don't belong to this base, and nobody will write me an order to make it so that I can either belong to this base or go back to the base that I belong to. They're waiting for <someone else>. And while <someone else> is the base surgeon this week, next week or tomorrow it will be someone completely different, and they'll have a whole new chance to lose my file, reinterpret the regulations, or just ignore me. It has been going on this way since April loving 10th. The only solution is to just try to opt out in my mind, and become totally divested of pretty much all of the time from 5AM when I get up to go to work and 5PM when I come home. The only goals I can trust are internally grounded and if they have something to do with the outside world, they have to take place in that little bit of time when my loving work doesn't keep me at a desk doing nothing for no reason. I guess this is all good financially though because I'm still getting paid and my expenses aren't going up because I refuse to pay rent in Edmonton (where my wife is) and here, so sorry for the E/N.
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May 31, 2013 01:16
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Delta-Wye posted:How does 'refus[ing] to pay rent' work? Did you move out of one of the locations? Are you literally just refusing to pay? Yeah I'm leaving my apartment in Ontario in two weeks, when all of our stuff gets shipped to Edmonton. I'll figure something out at that point but it won't cost money if I can help it.
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May 31, 2013 20:19
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Delta-Wye posted:What kind of options do you expect to find in two weeks that don't cost money? I still have a car (this time it's not full of stuff so I can actually use it for sleeping), I have a couple of friends if I need to stay somewhere, I have a very nice tent and all sorts of gucci outdoors gear that I bought years ago. Showering and abluting can happen in the gym before work. I'll figure out food but it can all be cooked on my camping stove just as well as a pot on my stove at home.
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Jun 1, 2013 11:34
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Nether Postlude posted:As much as Tuyop is determined to be homeless and live off the land, I think this is what will happen if push comes to shove: No, here in Ontario you just pay first and last month's rent. Since we had to break our lease, we get my wife's half of the rent back from the military. Toeshoes had to make a security deposit on the place in Edmonton (which is $925/month, I'll explain below). The new place is on a bus route, but it might make sense for us to buy a used scooter or something. I'm not really sure, that problem seems so far away in my mind. Right now she's staying in quarters on base until she comes back here on the tenth to pack our stuff and take it to the new place.  So, in Edmonton you get posted living differential (PLD) which is $684/month so that's good! I got this in Halifax while I was going to university as well, it's pretty sweet. I'm pretty sure she also gets Land Duty Allowance, which is $311/month. So our (her?) income has effectively increased $870/month (955 in allowances + 800 in old rent no longer paid - 925 in current rent). Monthly update is going to have to wait, something's going on with her bank account so mint is missing a bunch of data. Looks like we spent about $6000, though, which is including stuff that was advanced last month like hotel and rental car costs for toeshoes' posting. It's been a pretty crazy month.
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Jun 1, 2013 14:05
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cstine posted:Wait, you're moving to Edmonton, she's got a place in Edmonton, but you have to live in your Gucci tent? Ah, see, nobody knows when I'll be moving to Edmonton. Right now I'm staying here in Ontario, or maybe going back to Gagetown. Estimates range from two to eight weeks. Latest possibility is September, I suppose, because that's when my school starts. Edit: She left for Edmonton on the 17th.
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Jun 1, 2013 15:27
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Never you mind posted:You really have to do everything the hard way, don't you. Not by choice!
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Jun 1, 2013 23:48
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Fair warning, guys. I'm buying a laptop soon. And you guys aren't going to like it.
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Jun 6, 2013 19:12
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Weinertron posted:I have a Lenovo X120e that isn't much heavier than that Macbook, cost $400 new 2 years ago, and does everything I expect a non-desktop to do. Ok that laptop is just hideous.
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Jun 6, 2013 19:36
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MrEnigma posted:At least wait until monday, when WWDC will announce all the new laptops. If anything this current gen will drop in place. Yeah I would wait until the new models come out if I go that route. Even if I get like an HP, they're going to update their lines soon as well. Better processors and battery life all over the place. dreesemonkey posted:Are you just jumping on the next "must buy" thing because toeshoes is away and you're bored/lonely/depressed? No, it's just that my computer is a desktop and it's being taken to Edmonton. Our internet was also cut off on June 2nd because we're moving. So, since I can't move my desktop I have to go 10k to the library rather than 3k to the coffee shop if I want to do anything on the internet outside of work hours. Once the computer goes away, I'll have an ipod classic (2008), exercise, library and my kindle for free entertainment. While this is pleasantly minimalist to me, I can think of a few good reasons to have a laptop as well.
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Jun 6, 2013 19:53
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Nocheez posted:Anyone else laughing at the "minimalist" who wants to buy one of the most expensive lines of laptops available? Well, you can own many crappy items, or a few excellent items. I guess you can see minimalism in terms of number of items or the nature of those items, I don't know. As it stands right now, without the laptop, I think my lifestyle is becoming pretty minimal. I remember in 2006 having this same conversation with someone. I had gone through half a dozen $60-$120 MP3 players in a few years at that point, and I wanted to try the one that all the critics loved and people were really passionate about, so I bought the 80gb iPod. And for seven years that thing has been rock solid and absolutely perfect. I still use it every day. The same thing happened with my iPhone. I am a... vigorous user of personal electronics and have destroyed many mobile phones, but my iPhones never broke or had any issues and they were always absolutely excellent.
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Jun 6, 2013 20:11
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/\/\ Well, that too. I am going back to university in the fall, guys. This is an important consideration. Actually that's why I want ultraportable, I'd like it to be as bicycle-portable as possible. It sounds like a good deal, but it has to function fully with intermittent connectivity. I can take this over to the laptop thread, though. I'll also see about May's update after I do some budgeting tonight and maybe get some screens from the library. tuyop fucked around with this message at 20:49 on Jun 6, 2013 |
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Jun 6, 2013 20:46
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/\/\ Yes, but I've dialed back the debt repayment because my job is also on fire and I don't know how I'll be living in 4-12 weeks at any given time.HooKars posted:Ok, so you need a laptop. How much research have you done into the topic? It seems like you're stuck on the Mac and are just being stubborn when people have now opened your eyes to some problems with the Mac and some cheaper options that may serve your needs just as well. The whole point is really moot because I don't actually NEED a laptop. It's solidly a wanted item because I won't be using it to make money and all of its functions can be had in other ways if I just settle for less convenience. It'd be really great to have in September for schoolwork, but still not NEEDed. As for your questions: When: After June 15th, before September 15th. Price Range: $500-$1000? Price How: I just went over the budget last night and the cost we can afford is $0. Potentially the wedding savings could go to the laptop once we pay for the photographer and food because we both have plane tickets and the dress is done. But I may have tuition to pay and unemployment to think about. The budget has lots of discretionary room that can be carved, though. We can bring the car expense down to a possible 600 from 1000 (200 insurance, 375 payment, some gas), for instance. There's also the 875/month extra that toeshoes is making in Edmonton since we're only paying one rent, which I'm assuming is just going to get eaten up by nonspecific lifestyle inflation because we have to maintain two "households" now. It needs to be accounted for somehow once she gets settled, though. I guess I've concluded that a laptop is a bit of a messed up priority to have right now. Carry on, guys.
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Jun 7, 2013 14:28
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Mint doesn't seem to be pulling info from one of our accounts because the card number changed and we didn't fix it for a couple of weeks. Now it's just missing that couple of weeks of transactions instead of refreshing with all of them. What's the easiest way to fix this? Just enter them all manually? It's only like a dozen transactions.
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Jun 7, 2013 16:19
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Ugh you guys see the work I put in for these pretty graphs and charts?
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Jun 7, 2013 19:16
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Breetai posted:Tuyop, you need to pay particular attention to the following two points: What are you talking about? Please post an example of a large item that I've purchased in the past year that is not a used bicycle. Actually, two years. Is this referring to the Ikea stuff that we bought in the fall? Evaluating future purchases is why this thread is here, and your post has been repeated many times regarding things that I haven't actually bought. You know that I haven't actually purchased a Macbook Air, right? Never you mind posted:I am so lost on the convoluted ins and outs of your current and future budget. Are you moving to Edmonton? If yes, why are you not going to live with your wife? If not, why did you give up your apartment? What is the actual status of your discharge from the military, and what benefits are you going to be able to expect? What will you do if your discharge does not come through before classes start in the fall? Are you moving to Edmonton? Not yet. Nobody knows when, but it could be next week, or never. I could also hear next week, today, or tomorrow, or in two months, that I'm going to Gagetown or staying here. Why did you give up your apartment? We can't afford 1635/month in rent as a family while meeting our debt repayment and savings goals. Normally there are benefits for people in our situation, but there’s a technicality that says that we don’t qualify. Working on this but it's pretty cut and dry. What is the actual status of your discharge from the military? I'm waiting for a release message from the administrative side of the medical release process. This could take up to eight weeks. What benefits are you able to expect?
What will you do if your discharge doesn’t come through? If I don’t get my message by July 5th, I’m going to reevaluate and put in a voluntary release and apply for the same benefits as above from Veteran’s Affairs. We’re at a weird point of no return right now, though, where a voluntary release may actually take longer than waiting for the current message. Nobody knows for sure, though.
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Jun 10, 2013 14:04
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bam thwok posted:How is it that these incomprehensible, Kafkaesque mystery processes always seems to end up in you being the 14 month guy (and counting)? Just lucky, I guess. 
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Jun 10, 2013 14:46
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bam thwok posted:You're way too fatalistic, man. You're missing the part where I spend all day talking to these people and spent all last year administering them. There's nothing that the "lucky" ones do that I haven't done and I'm in a pretty much ideal position to administer my case. There are no mysteries here except for what happens in the opaque organizations like Director Medical Policy and Director Military Careers and Administration that can take such a huge range of time. Since at least February of last year I've written at least fifteen memos (I have them on my personal drive) and countless emails, with all the required references that specify that whatever request I'm making must be followed. Each time, the answer has been no for at least one of the following reasons: 1. My supervisor doesn't interpret that policy that way, and his boss sides with him. 2. I'm untrained so that policy doesn't apply to me because. 3. I'm on category so that policy doesn't apply to me because. 4. I'm not on the right category so that policy doesn't apply to me. 5. "Computer says no" - the clerk believes that a contradictory policy takes priority over the one I referenced in this case because of 1-4. Their supervisor sides with them. (going to Edmonton to live with my wife is a solid case of 1 at this point, the issue is very cut and dry but nobody wants to pay for it) In each of these cases it's possible to go outside of the chain of command to "redress the grievance". However, for most of my requests, which range from "let me take french training please" to "let me go live with my loving wife please", the issue wasn't worth burning up all of my good will to press. This current issue is actually going very well and people are amazed at how much I'm getting done because I'm willing to burn all of my bridges and contact all the members of parliament, newspapers, padres or whatever that I need. Beyond two things (make friends with people who have friends in the relevant office, and call the ombudsman), there's nothing you can do to get into the black box organization that has my file now and pull out anything but the most vague timelines. I've done everything that I can do and it's helped a lot to this point.
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Jun 11, 2013 20:21
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bam thwok posted:Canadian military law might be different. Also, obviously, don't blackmail anybody. Yeah we had a guy record a meeting with his company commander. It did not end well for him. They just threw all the crazy-catch all charges that they could at him. Conduct unbecoming, insubordination, disgraceful conduct, whatever. I don't think he went to military jail over it, but he was confined to barracks and had to pay some money. And it gave them grounds to start a 5(f) release (Unsuitable for Further Service).
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Jun 12, 2013 15:57
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