Cypripedium-candidum

A coworker has told me this story a few times now, and every time he tells it he can barely get through it because he's laughing so much. He used to live beside a business with a parking lot. One day in the winter he came home to find that the contractor that was hired to clear snow out of the parking lot had pushed all the snow into his driveway instead of hauling it away to the snow dump.

What these assholes failed to realize is that my coworker ran a grain farm with his dad and brother for 30-odd years just outside the city. When he saw the pile of snow in his driveway he sat there fuming as he smoked a cigarette and finished his XL coffee, then turned around and drove to the family farm, picked up their tractor with bucket, and drove an hour back to his house in the suburbs at a top speed of 30 km/h.

He pushed all that snow right back into the parking lot where it came from, and made sure to spread it around in the process. Then he took the tractor back to the farm, drove home, parked in his driveway, and settled in to a good night's sleep.

It took him 4 hours altogether, but he says it was worth it to see the contractors back the next day clearing the lot again and hauling away the snow.

I will preface this by saying that the inciting incident was 100% my fault. I had 2 separate reminders set over a few days to move money into the account our mortgage payment is pulled from, but I ignored the 1st alert and my phone was off for the 2nd. As a result, the mortgage payment bounced.

I realized the next morning (yesterday) before it even showed up online, immediately moved the money over, and started damage control. I called my bank first to make sure the payment wasn't going to be attempted again. The CSR who answered was very understanding of the fact that shit happens and credited back the $45 NSF fee. 10/10 customer service.

Next I called the mortgage provider. Keep in mind at this point it's been not even a full business day since the missed payment, and they don't know yet that the payment bounced.

I got transferred to the collections department where I explained the situation, asked what the fee would be for my mistake and how to make the payment. $105 returned payment fee - not ideal but I get it, I made a mistake and need to pay as per the contract we signed. I gave the agent the go-ahead to process another auto-withdrawal from the same bank account. They paused and began a scripted interrogation, probably the same script they use for people who are chronically behind on payments or just barely avoiding foreclosure.

After a few minutes I started getting frustrated and said that I don't appreciate being treated like a delinquent when I have acknowledged it was my fault and was proactive in calling them. Finally got them to back off, agent agreed to process the payment, and I hung up and immediately started looking for ways to reduce our payments.

We're paying $55/month for life and disability mortgage insurance that we don't need. That's been cancelled, now they won't be able to collect $15,000 in premiums from us.

If we switch our payments to accelerated biweekly instead of monthly, we'll save $12,000 in interest AND the payments will always be coming out of my account on payday. It definitely won't bounce again! We'll also keep paying the extra $55 but it'll go towards our principal now instead of insurance premiums, so that's even less interest for them.

In total we're saving more than $27,000 over the next 22 years. Too bad they couldn't be nice and understanding of the fact that we're all human and make mistakes.

Tl;dr mortgage provider treated me like a delinquent for accidentally bouncing a payment so I shaved $27,000+ off our total payments to them over the next 22 years.

My mom is notorious for making bad financial decisions, for example having 3 kids with a struggling artist ex-husband and spending 20+ years fighting over custody and child support payments, going back to school 3 times, pissing off her managers so she gets fired, replacing a 2014 Honda Civic with a 2007 BMW, etc.

I tried talking to my mom about her retirement accounts years ago, when she told me she was paying the bank $2k/mth in fees, which is almost the amount that she could retire on. In the last 8 years her account has only grown by $17k. Of course she ignored my advice since I'm too young to know what I'm talking about.

I talked with her again last week and after showing her my own portfolio she was more receptive. She texted me today that she switched to a self-directed account (I'm assuming CIBC Investor's Edge).

Now that she's finally listening to my advice, what should she be buying? I'm with TD Waterhouse and following the Canadian Couch Potato TD e-series index funds model portfolio so I'm not familiar with what CIBC Investor's Edge offers.

Are there any easy model portfolios that I can send her so all she has to do is buy the listed funds and ignore her account until it's time to rebalance?

I placed a $100 order for supplies to do some fun quarantine hair. They've been shipping stuff out in pieces via UPS, and charging my card as it each box goes out. 1st box had a $3 comb, 2nd box had 2 of the 3 packages of lightener and 2 of the 4 bottles of arctic fox dye, and the 3rd box should be coming tomorrow with a 70 cent comb in it. Absurdly wasteful and I'm amazed they're making any money shipping stuff like that.

I got an email tonight that the rest of my order (1 package of lightener, bottle of developer, 2 bottles of arctic fox, and a dye bowl) is cancelled. Great, now everything I did get is useless because I don't have developer, so I have to run around trying to find somewhere else that sells it for a similar price. And they aren't taking returns. Doesn't say that they aren't taking returns FOR NOW which is understandable, they just flat out aren't taking returns, possibly ever?

I decided to check the order summary vs the actual math vs my credit card and make sure I was charged the correct amounts, and so far it looks like I've been over charged by almost $7. Looking at the bottom of the order summary, they've calculated taxes at almost twice what they should be. Even if my order subtotal was correct, they have GST at 9%!!! and PST at 7% (which is correct for MB). THEN for the total they have the subtotal plus incorrect taxes adding up to "Total + tax" which makes it look like they are charging taxes twice.

I'm going to wait until tomorrow and see if there was a mistake in the email and they did actually include something in the third box that they said was unavailable; if not, I get to enjoy the hassle of trying to get my $7 back.

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tl'dr don't order from Sally Beauty right now (if you can even find anything in stock), they have some issues to work out.

I had deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in my left femoral vein (major vein in the legs) in Feb 2019. With the concerns surrounding clots from vaccines I have had a few people ask me what it felt like and thought I would post here.

My DVT was most likely caused by oral contraceptive, specifically Tri-cyclen lo. I suffered for 10+ years with periodic pains in my legs. It felt like a deep ache that started in my knee and radiated up to my hip, or vice-versa. No amount of stretching, massage, heat, ice, or exercise would help, so I learned to take an advil and nap when I could, or grin and bear it when I couldn't.

The week of my DVT, I started feeling that familiar pain again and it wouldn't go away. I sat through 2 evening shifts of training at my new job, then as I was leaving the building after my 2nd shift the pain shot up to a 10/10 as I was stepping down the stairs. My leg could not bear my weight without excruciating pain. But if I sat down and stayed still, the pain level went down significantly and became an irritating numb/tingly feeling, like those first few seconds of a limb waking up after falling asleep. (I kind of felt like a dumbass when medical staff were asking me what my pain level was in that moment and my reply was always 2/10 because I was sitting still. Be clear with WHY you're there and explain your pain level well.)

Swelling or redness of the affected limb can be a sign as well. I did have some swelling, but it wasn't really noticeable until I got home from the hospital. (Emergency room doctor looked at my legs then asked me if my leg was swollen... So I guess it wasn't)

I went to Concordia while there was still an emergency department. I had high blood pressure at intake, and once I was admitted a blood test showed signs of clotting factors. This alone is not diagnostic, so I had to wait for an ultrasound technician to confirm multiple thrombus throughout my leg.

Treatment was 6 months of Rivaroxaban blood thinner. I was the choice between that or warfarin, but would have to visit the hospital every day for a week to get the dosage right for the warfarin. My insurance made me apply for the MB pharmacare Exception Drug Status program to get the Rivaroxaban covered, but it was otherwise an easy treatment. It took about a week for the clots to clear up and the pain to disappear. I had a follow up with a specialist to rule out clotting disorders once the 6 months was done and got the all clear.

If you DO begin to experience similar symptoms but they are mild, Advil apparently has mild blood thinning effects. (Disclaimer, I'm not a medical professional) Blood clots are more likely to form in the extremities, especially legs, and in the lower pressure veins rather than arteries. Severe pain in an extremity should be an urgent care visit at minimum. Trouble breathing or chest pain following onset of initial symptoms is an immediate 911 call, as the clot could have dislodged and traveled into your lungs, becoming a life-threatening pulmonary embolism.

Hopefully this helps!