How you doing?

I can sympathize with you. Up until 2014, my office site was the World HQ for my company. Then we got bought by a company from the UK. In 2016ish (I say that as five years later we are still in a transition) we were bought by another company from the UK. We went from having everything/everyone (approx. 3000 employees) on-site to ~150. I am in NJ, my payroll is based out of Canada and my HR is based out of Atlanta or Houston depending on what I need. There are two IT people left on-site but they have been instructed not to help should we contact them directly. We are supposed to call the call center in the Phillipines or reach out via MS Teams. If they can't help (95% of the the time, they can't) then they reach out to the two left to come in person and fix it. But somewhere on paper, it looks good.
 
I can sympathize with you. Up until 2014, my office site was the World HQ for my company. Then we got bought by a company from the UK. In 2016ish (I say that as five years later we are still in a transition) we were bought by another company from the UK. We went from having everything/everyone (approx. 3000 employees) on-site to ~150. I am in NJ, my payroll is based out of Canada and my HR is based out of Atlanta or Houston depending on what I need. There are two IT people left on-site but they have been instructed not to help should we contact them directly. We are supposed to call the call center in the Phillipines or reach out via MS Teams. If they can't help (95% of the the time, they can't) then they reach out to the two left to come in person and fix it. But somewhere on paper, it looks good.

This reminds me of something been discussing with wife recently. Not directly related, but it's interesting being in the Toronto "bubble" how often we have immediate access to white collar middle management and up job prospects. Companies for the most part have HQ here.

Im generalizing obviously, but the big Cdn banks, telcoms, insurance, media, etc all have HQ in Toronto. Which is bit diff than in the US. You might have AMEX in NYC, Cap one is in Virginia, P and G is in Ohio, Coke is in Atl I think? Anyway you get the idea But when the big american corps set up here, more often than not its in the toronto area. All the ones I mentioned. Plus Walmart, Home dep, McDs, J and J, all the so called FAANG tech companies, almost all of the international auto, all in or within an hour of Toronto. An incredible concentration of jobs.

While it may seem off topic, it relates to the pandemic when it comes to WFH. As all these corps consider their workforce going forward, it seems many will at least adopt a hybrid model of WFH. Which has caused a ridiculous housing price book in regions outside the normal commuting distance areas. Places more than an hour away are seeing demand go up, as people anticipate having to drive into these corporate HQ locations less and less.

It's an interesting dynamic. Those not owners yet are being shut out. Were not San Fran yet, but our avg prices even in suburbs is well over a million, in many cases detached homes have prices well over 1.5 on avg. In US bucks, that is probably somewhere over 1.1 m.

So How we doing? If a home owning corporate manager, the end of the pandemic is looking pretty good. WFH and seeing our house appreciate.

Sorry for the stream of consciousness, just some thoughts that were sparked.
 
Yea, I remember reading 2 years ago that Toronto's AVERAGE home price was... a MILLION dollars. Even Canadian. that's insanity. I love Toronto, world class city, but man that might have me thinking of leaving. And it's even higher now apparently?
I don't even want to show you what a MILLION buy in Cleveland.
Ok, maybe just one :D : $750,000 probably just under a million CDN https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/10000-Lake-Ave-Cleveland-OH-44102/33325831_zpid/?mmlb=g,3
I love Canada. We're allowed in now, yea? :D
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We are fully back to work and have been since last may. That's 2020. My job is over the top insane with being anti WFH. It's sad, really. We were full WFH for 6 straight weeks and it went very well. But the owners hated it and opened up as soon as the Gov said offices could. As the IT guy that saw how smooth it went, it was disappointing that the powers that be saw no value in it.
 
Average home price in Denver is over $700k now last I heard. Median is like $580k I believe. $300k might get you a condo. By the time I am ready to buy, don't think I could afford buying here frankly. Also people are regularly having to put up $40k - $100k more than asking to secure them.

September is the earliest they are talking about opening the office which is not conducive of separation. No cubes. Rows of desks basically. Boss said we can choose to WFH fully, work in office fully, or something in between, he doesn't really care. I may look outside the city or maybe Wyoming or something whenever I am ready to buy a house.
 
Ya the kids here are just gonna need to accept life in a townhouse or condo.

Forget the better areas in Toronto proper, here's an example of what one gets if they are willing to commute over and hour each way downtown.

And this wouldn't even be considered a prime area of this suburb.

At todays rate it's almost 1.9m USD.

Scary.

 
Insanity, both of you. My good friend bought a house in CO 2 years ago. He got really lucky.
Looking at some of the cheaper properties on your Zillow search there, GTA. $600K for a 1 bath, 2 bed condo. OMG. I don't see how this is sustainable.
Average home price in Cleveland proper: $109K.
Note that goes up a lot in the suburbs. $300K in my suburb.
Many many cheap crappy homes in CLE to bring the average WAY down.
 
Insanity, both of you. My good friend bought a house in CO 2 years ago. He got really lucky.
Looking at some of the cheaper properties on your Zillow search there, GTA. $600K for a 1 bath, 2 bed condo. OMG. I don't see how this is sustainable.
Average home price in Cleveland proper: $109K.
Note that goes up a lot in the suburbs. $300K in my suburb.
Many many cheap crappy homes in CLE to bring the average WAY down.

A lot of people are asking is it sustainable. But the gov and the banks don't dare step in (perhaps shouldn't, I'm no expert on interest rates or property taxes etc.).

But ya, if I were to go to a bbq (I will again please tell me) and someone said they have a 7-800k mortgage, not many would bat an eye. At a million some eyebrows would be raised, but depends on the person's job. Owners are laughing and can move around or up as they have equity gained to go toward a 2m purchase price. For those younger? Many call it a crises.

Were sort of the opposite to many USA cities. Our most expensive avg prices would be in the city, and small places at that. Semi detaches or townhomes with no parking can see 2m in the right area. Generally, more desirable/pricey areas are within 20 min drive of the core. As you move out, the set of suburbs bordering Toronto would be next expensive (couple exceptions) and then so on.

Don't get me wrong, places can be found under a million. They generally aren't detached homes and/or are in less prime areas.

For a family doing well, two professionals or say a dr/lawyer in the mix, in the city they're looking at avg at 2m+ for detached in nice areas. Into burbs, more 1.5-1.7m.

Keep driving, avg will start to lower to 1m.

Some call it "Drive until you qualify".
 
Lol thought it was all fixed but company found new ways to screw my paycheck (and still trying to recover past money owed). This is getting old.

Insanity, both of you. My good friend bought a house in CO 2 years ago. He got really lucky.
Looking at some of the cheaper properties on your Zillow search there, GTA. $600K for a 1 bath, 2 bed condo. OMG. I don't see how this is sustainable.
Average home price in Cleveland proper: $109K.
Note that goes up a lot in the suburbs. $300K in my suburb.
Many many cheap crappy homes in CLE to bring the average WAY down.
It's probably the area. Crappy homes here sell plenty high vs their worth here too.
 
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Well, time for an update on stuff over the last year...


-I got out of the stock market. I put in roughly $2800 initially, and got out $9200 and change, minus taxes. I bought a high spec PVS14, helmet, mount, and paid the taxes, with my proceeds. Now I can shoot stuff at night in the dark. I should have gotten out on June 8, but got greedy, and it took a while to get back to that...
-I quite my job and went into management.
-My 3 year relationship with my now ex, dissolved.
-I refinanced my house, killing PMI, getting $7800 cash back, and lowering my payments by $75/mo. I also tacked 3 years of payments back on. Pretty close to a financial wash, honestly, but whatever. Killing PMI felt good.
-I am (still) in the process of buying a Rav 4 Prime XSE. They say it should be in toward the end of the month. I've put money down, so she is mine.
-I quite my job in management and went back to my old job, for the same pay base rate, but with double-pay for 8 weeks seasonal contract and potentially more, after that expires.
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Hope everyone's doing well! Or at least as well as can be expected. An update from myself..

The fish tank I started is still going strong. The 9 cichlids I added originally are all still alive, and they have actually grown and hatched some fry, but none of the fry have survived. I think it's because the tank is too small and they other fish end up eating them before they can get big enough to fend for themselves. I'll probably look into rehoming them in the next year or so.

As for the car (CX-9) I paid the loan off so it's now officially mine! Still has a year of the basic factory warranty on it as I purchased an extra year when we inked the deal.

Landed a promotion at work that resulted in a small pay increase and a new, fun challenge. I'm now developing and creating online training material instead of writing and editing product manuals.

And finally, we welcomed the fourth member of our family in March of this year :)

How's everyone else doing?
 
Like to see those cichlids?!? PHOTO! Never had much luck with them except for one Jack Dempsey I had... he killed everything in the tank and he was the last one left. He lived for 4 more years in solitude. Loved hated him. :D

Congrats on the promo!
You had a baby in March? Boy/girl?
 
I'll try and get a photo this weekend, just need to clean off the glass first! lol

Thanks! Yeah, we had a baby girl, she's 5 months old now. My 3yr old loves being a big sister!
 
The fish tank I started is still going strong. The 9 cichlids I added originally are all still alive, and they have actually grown and hatched some fry, but none of the fry have survived. I think it's because the tank is too small and they other fish end up eating them before they can get big enough to fend for themselves.

And finally, we welcomed the fourth member of our family in March of this year :)
Firstly, congrats on the growing family. You might still be having a few sleepless nights now, but when the kids are like 4 and 6, 7 and 5, you'll love it.
I have 2 boys that are 22 months apart, and that 5-10 age bracket was the most enjoyable.
They are all grown up now with kids of their own, and the grandparent thing is even better.

Secondly, I had fish tanks for many years and had different breeds of live bearers. The best way to assure that the babies survive is to put the pregnant mom in a small isolated breeder tank. It hangs from the edge of the breeder tank (you'll need a seperate tank dedicated as a breeder tank for this. A five gallon tank will do), has two compartments divided horizontally by a narrow slit divider. The mom is isolated in the upper compartment, and when the babies are born, they sink to the lower compartment and out through the slits. The mom can't get at them. You then just leave the babies in isolation until they get big enough to fend for themselves in the main tank.
Just google breeder tank for livebearer freshwater pet fish, and you'll see what I mean. Cheap too.
 
Firstly, congrats on the growing family. You might still be having a few sleepless nights now, but when the kids are like 4 and 6, 7 and 5, you'll love it.
I have 2 boys that are 22 months apart, and that 5-10 age bracket was the most enjoyable.
They are all grown up now with kids of their own, and the grandparent thing is even better.

Secondly, I had fish tanks for many years and had different breeds of live bearers. The best way to assure that the babies survive is to put the pregnant mom in a small isolated breeder tank. It hangs from the edge of the breeder tank (you'll need a seperate tank dedicated as a breeder tank for this. A five gallon tank will do), has two compartments divided horizontally by a narrow slit divider. The mom is isolated in the upper compartment, and when the babies are born, they sink to the lower compartment and out through the slits. The mom can't get at them. You then just leave the babies in isolation until they get big enough to fend for themselves in the main tank.
Just google breeder tank for livebearer freshwater pet fish, and you'll see what I mean. Cheap too.

Thanks @Buzzman12, I appreciate the kind words. As excited as I am for them to get older, I'm really trying to enjoy every moment as it comes, since we don't plan to have any more kids. The sleepless nights (and days - I gave up afternoon naps lol), are totally worth it!

Also, thanks for the fish advice. I think I have one of those breeder chamber/containers from a tank setup I purchased used quite a while ago. It came with a lot of extras, and that was one of them. Unfortunately, the cichlids that I have are quite large, ranging in size from 5-7 inches in length. They are also "mouthbrooders" meaning that the female lays eggs, and after the male fertilizes them, the female scoops them up in her mouth and keeps them safe in there until they hatch. The babies are about 1/8th of an inch in length when they hatch, but because they are free swimming at that point, the best way to separate momma and the other fish from the babies is to get her to "spit" the fry into a separate tank. I have never been able to get the timing right (after the babies hatch, but before momma spits them out of her mouth and they're exposed to the other fish). These fish are also really hard to catch - one time, while trying to catch the momma, she spit the babies out because she was too stressed. If I continue trying to breed these fish, I think I might need to ambush momma in the middle of the night to have a good chance at catching her off guard.
 
Your fish are bigger than anything I had. But yea, if you can somehow isolate momma before she "gives birth", then the babies will have a chance. If they end up in the main tank population, they are pretty much just food to the others.

Good luck, and enjoy every minute with the kids while you can.
At this point in time for you, the days might seem long, but take it from grandpa: It all goes way too fast.
 
Been better. Was on a good path, but then started having extreme lethargy/exhaustion and started having some nerve issues that manifested in some tingling feelings in fingers and toes and a horrendous metallic taste in my mouth.

Was stumped. Turns out all the meds I was on (primarily the esomeprazole and famotidine) was impacting my vitamin B12 absorption enough that I am now pretty deficient. So working to fix that and hopefully get feeling better.

Just a lot of fatigue and brain fog this week.
 
Been better. Was on a good path, but then started having extreme lethargy/exhaustion and started having some nerve issues that manifested in some tingling feelings in fingers and toes and a horrendous metallic taste in my mouth.

Was stumped. Turns out all the meds I was on (primarily the esomeprazole and famotidine) was impacting my vitamin B12 absorption enough that I am now pretty deficient. So working to fix that and hopefully get feeling better.

Just a lot of fatigue and brain fog this week.
Glad you caught that! I wonder if the stoopid amount of liquid legal meth I drink counteracts that with all the taurine and B12 and all that stuff in it?
 
Glad you caught that! I wonder if the stoopid amount of liquid legal meth I drink counteracts that with all the taurine and B12 and all that stuff in it?
Maybe. Been on these meds for a year and a half and apparently the proton pump inhibitors over time affect the body's ability to absorb B12 due to less acid.
 
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