The very many questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread XXIII

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jeez, tough decision.
Appartment, 40m², ~650€ in total. Nice house, nice surrounding, 10 minutes by bike from university. Would have to organize electricity and internet myself (already included in the calculation).

Alternatively, another appartment, in a student's complex, 5 minutes closer, 20m² bigger (~60m²), 760€ all inclusive, nothing to worry about fo myself. Doesn't really look worse, but located more central.

Distance to supermarkets, public transportation, etc. not a problem for both.

So...100€/month more....1200€ per year more, for not organizing my own stuff and 5 minutes less biking? But I don't really need that space, 40m² is more than sufficient for me.
So it comes down to how much that 1200 a year is to you. What percentage of your income does it represent? (Don't tell me, I don't want to know.) If it was mine, I think <5% wouldn't matter much, but >15% might.

So, I'd be asking myself how much capital I want to be putting aside at this stage of my life. Or what other things I might prefer to spend the money on. Like travel, for example.

It's one of those decisions which really aren't too difficult - because there's not a lot riding on it - but can be quite hard since there's not much to choose between them. Perhaps?

So, I'd draw up a list of pros and cons (weighting them as appropriate), and if nothing pops out as obviously better, then toss a coin. Or simply stay with the status quo.
-----------------------

Oh, and can anyone recommend any introduction to Web Design books, please? I've just finished Web Design by Sean McManus, which is pretty good for a start but now I need something with a little more depth.

I suppose I could just get separate tomes on HTML, CSS, and Javascript - but I don't know whether that's the way to go, or what?

And then when I've come to grips with those three, I guess the next step is Dreamweaver?
 
Using a non-reproducible format (Excel? really?) is inexcusable.

So I take it that Microsoft Excel won't cut it for more math-intensive fields such as economics and physics. It's fine for molecular biology though, assuming the simple calculation of sample statistics and P-values for lab experiments.

What statistics programs do various fields primarily use?
 
Also, @Hobbs: It's not going well. It really fell apart on me with things that I could not have any say or influence over, and my last ditch effort to stay in college and in Niagara Falls fell on its face when the apartment I was moving into suddenly became undesirable. And by undesirable, I mean that the owners live in the basement and are religiously insane with ridiculous rules that while I could live there without a problem, it would be entirely pointless for my development as an individual and I would be going backwards instead of forwards.
Contact the Landlord & Tenants' Board (or the equivalent where you are) and find out what landlords can and cannot legally require. You do have rights.

At this point I'm just trying to see if I can get distance education via OSAP, but my academic advisor is being useless and not answering any of my questions no matter how many times I ask and I can't seem to find information from anywhere else so my time is running out.
Go over his/her head to the next step up on the food chain. Again, you have the right to have your questions answered in a timely, appropriate manner.

So I guess I have a question: Does anyone here have experience with distance education in Ontario, Canada? Will I remain eligible for the Ontario Student Assistance Program? How expensive is a distance program? Are there any programs (through a college as I am barred from going to a university due to educational discrimination) that are similar to that of a General Studies associates from the United States? I'm honestly becoming desperate so I'll take any help I can get. Resources, personal experiences, contact information. Anything.
Sorry, don't know about Ontario, just Alberta. But if you contact the provincial Minister of Advanced Education, they should be able to point you to some resources and agencies.
 
It depends on what you want to do with the apartment, really. Do you have any projects you want to complete? Do you have a specific room layout in mind that requires a certain amount of room? Does it have enough pantry space for your food needs? Can you fit your bed in the bedroom? Things like this can help make the decision for you.

Furthermore, do you "feel" better in either apartment, or are you neutral in either location? If so, which apartment has the nicer surroundings? For example, would you be more inclined to have a drink outside if you went to Apartment A, but would be more inclined to simply sit in the corner of your kitchen if you went to Apartment B?

Also think about your finances. What are your goals for 2013? What are your goals for 2014? If you spend an extra 1200 euros a year, will this put a dent in any of your plans, or does it not matter?

I'd say that if both places are honestly equal to you, to take the cheaper one and save that 1200 euros for a rainy day, or put it into savings, or do something nice for yourself. An extra five minutes of biking is good for the legs and negligible when looking at the time difference in the bigger picture.

So it comes down to how much that 1200 a year is to you. What percentage of your income does it represent? (Don't tell me, I don't want to know.) If it was mine, I think <5% wouldn't matter much, but >15% might.

So, I'd be asking myself how much capital I want to be putting aside at this stage of my life. Or what other things I might prefer to spend the money on. Like travel, for example.

It's one of those decisions which really aren't too difficult - because there's not a lot riding on it - but can be quite hard since there's not much to choose between them. Perhaps?

So, I'd draw up a list of pros and cons (weighting them as appropriate), and if nothing pops out as obviously better, then toss a coin. Or simply stay with the status quo.

Good considerations, let them go through my head.
Also just had a long talk with my parents, and I'll try to get the bigger one (...waiting list) and will cancel the smaller one.
Reasons: I'll stay here for 3+ years, don't want to move in that time, and it's more comfortable to not have the bed in the living room.
I don't have to work from home, so it's not a problem that a small room would freak me out, but I tend to get a social life, and I'd like to put the crap like my underwear away from the living room.
Space wise the smaller one would else be enough, but that part...yeah, want to have that.

Money wise...the difference makes up ~8,5% of my income.
Which is still quite something. With that money you can buy a used car after 2 years.
But well...it's living comfort.
I can also easily afford it. I currently spend not even half of my salary, so don't have money problem. But still...you could afford something else with it.

Turns out that current flat is located nearly at walking distance to where 2 of my current floormates move. So that would be quite great.
 
Can I claim Canadian citizenship based on great-great-great-great-great-grandpa in Quebec?
 
Can I claim Canadian citizenship based on great-great-great-great-great-grandpa in Quebec?
Only if I could claim Swedish citizenship based on my grandfather having had it, or Norwegian based on his having been born in Namsos in 1901.

It's got to have been your mother or father, and then I'd double-check since Jason Kenney (the Minister of Immmigration) keeps changing the rules every time he gets what he thinks is a good idea.
 
The word Bibliography comes from the Greek &#946;&#953;&#946;&#955;&#953;&#959;&#947;&#961;&#945;&#966;&#943;&#945; (transliterated bibliographia), literally meaning "book writing."

&#946;&#953;&#946;&#955;&#943;&#959;&#957; (biblion) means book or papyrus. It may came from &#946;&#943;&#946;&#955;&#959;&#962; (Biblos), the proper name of the port from which to Greeks first imported papyrus from Egypt.


The word bible comes from the Latin Biblia Sacra, which is a translation of Greek &#964;&#8048; &#946;&#953;&#946;&#955;&#943;&#945; &#964;&#8048; &#7941;&#947;&#953;&#945; (ta biblia ta hagia) meaning "the holy books."
 
Contact the Landlord & Tenants' Board (or the equivalent where you are) and find out what landlords can and cannot legally require. You do have rights.

It's a custom lease in a student house. The place is rather nice if you get past all the crazy, but I don't feel comfortable living in a residence where a floor down live two individuals who have similar beliefs to the Westboro Baptist Church and expect their tenants to follow the same rules as them ("Harry Potter and Pokemon are the surest ways to allow the Devil into your soul!", "Witchcraft is strictly prohibited!" "What do you define as witchcraft?" "Anything not about the Bible.").

Go over his/her head to the next step up on the food chain. Again, you have the right to have your questions answered in a timely, appropriate manner.

Who is above an Academic Advisor? Is there a supervisor to the counselling office?

Sorry, don't know about Ontario, just Alberta. But if you contact the provincial Minister of Advanced Education, they should be able to point you to some resources and agencies.

Thanks, I'll check it out.
 
It's a custom lease in a student house. The place is rather nice if you get past all the crazy, but I don't feel comfortable living in a residence where a floor down live two individuals who have similar beliefs to the Westboro Baptist Church and expect their tenants to follow the same rules as them ("Harry Potter and Pokemon are the surest ways to allow the Devil into your soul!", "Witchcraft is strictly prohibited!" "What do you define as witchcraft?" "Anything not about the Bible.").
Yikes. I'm pretty sure that's illegal, but it doesn't sound worth the fight. I sure wouldn't want to live with people like that.

Who is above an Academic Advisor? Is there a supervisor to the counselling office?
I don't know, but there must be somebody higher up. These advisors get hired by someone else, so there's got to be someone you can go to for help. This place has an information office/department for students to go to for help, right? Does it have a Students' Association? Those are places you can try, if you can't find anyone in the main offices (I know these bureaucracies are horrendous... you would not believe the crap I had to go through at times at Red Deer College back in the days before they went computerized in the Registrar's Office).
 
Yikes. I'm pretty sure that's illegal, but it doesn't sound worth the fight. I sure wouldn't want to live with people like that.

Huh. I always found those sorts of people generally easy to get along with so long as you don't want to ever have company over. Concessions are required, though, true enough.
 
is canada a land berefet of laws>?

Not... exactly. However, even through an apartment that is heavily regulated via leasing and tenant/landlord law, it's incredibly easy to work the system that you spend 5-10 months living with no rent as the landlord attempts to get you out through the courts. It's a mess, and if you have no moral fiber you can definitely cheat the system for a while and screw everyone over.
 
Well have at it. Live with your nutjob rent-free for most of the year.

Not that I'm advocating that. I'm just saying it.
 
He caused a stir here in Ireland last year when he suggested emmigration from here to Canada would be good in the long run for Ireland. http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/1006/340595-canadian-govt-says-emigration-beneficial-to-state/
Sorry, I'm not up on Irish politics or the economic situation there. Was it a good stir or bad stir? :confused:

Jason Kenney is widely regarded here as a bigoted idiot who very occasionally has a half-right idea (that Muslim women not be permitted to wear niqabs at citizenship ceremonies, for example - that's a really controversial thing that I happen to agree with).

Huh. I always found those sorts of people generally easy to get along with so long as you don't want to ever have company over. Concessions are required, though, true enough.
Why would anybody want to live with bigots like that? My mother is a bigot and I can't stand being around her, especially in public - I never knew when she'd come out with something like pulling up to a gas pump to fill up the car and interrogating the kid working there, to find out if "white people" owned the gas station. :mad:

is canada a land berefet of laws>?
Not... exactly. However, even through an apartment that is heavily regulated via leasing and tenant/landlord law, it's incredibly easy to work the system that you spend 5-10 months living with no rent as the landlord attempts to get you out through the courts. It's a mess, and if you have no moral fiber you can definitely cheat the system for a while and screw everyone over.
Canada has laws. Some of them are just insane. BTW, it's just as easy for landlords to screw over the tenants, since landlords are more likely to have the money to pay a lawyer to get them out of fulfilling their obligations to the tenant.
 
Why would anybody want to live with bigots like that? My mother is a bigot and I can't stand being around her, especially in public - I never knew when she'd come out with something like pulling up to a gas pump to fill up the car and interrogating the kid working there, to find out if "white people" owned the gas station. :mad:

I agree with you. There is a definite pros and cons system to be considered when deciding whether or not to move into a place like that, and for me, I would much rather not go to college and be screwed than move into that place. While yes, I could go get an education and start working at Marineland (ughhhhhhhhhh) as planned, it would also mean that the moment I step foot into that door, my individualism immediately ceases to exist. My only choice of entertainment would be things that they themselves have personally okay'd. Conveniently enough, the only thing they okay happens to be Biblical things such as Bible Study and prayer (since when is prayer entertaining?).

If I had no concern for moving forward as an individual, it'd be great. Unfortunately, one of the necessities of moving forward in life is that I must have the ability to develop myself as a human being, and that could never be achieved under the thumb of crazy people.

Canada has laws. Some of them are just insane. BTW, it's just as easy for landlords to screw over the tenants, since landlords are more likely to have the money to pay a lawyer to get them out of fulfilling their obligations to the tenant.

Very true! Sometimes I wonder if renting a place from someone is more just a game of "Who is going to screw each other first?" rather than "This seems reasonable, let's sign a lease and be cordial towards each other." If the tenant gets an idea first, then the landlord has a boatload of troubles. If the landlord gets an idea first, then the tenant has a boatload of troubles. It would be nice if there was a more prompt checks and balances system in place.

One thing I've noticed to work here in Ontario is that if a landlord is attempting to kick you out and you know for a fact that your lease doesn't allow that but (s)he is pushing through anyways, you can hire an enforcement agency that will prevent them from removing you from the property until it properly goes through the courts. This, of course, costs money but it's better than the alternative of being homeless, I reckon.
 
I have a bruise on my arm. It has been there for a long time now and i keep on assuming it will be gone in a few days but its always looking at me whenever i'm getting dressed.

Worrying? Doctor-go-to-worrying?
Or
Ignore and die of mysterious disease?
Or is there a third door?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom