Random Questions Mega Thread v1.1

[sa226]

I want to see if my 6 year old would be into skiing. I see that Nakiska has a bunny hill only pass, as does Winsport.

How busy are these places on the weekend, or a no school Friday? Is it a complete gong show? I don't want to spend the money on everything just to get 2 runs in and have him hate it because 4 kids ran him over.

I exaggerating my concerns, just looking for recommendations, or other ideas I may not have thought of.

[Sr. Mints]

My neighbours forgot to cancel their Hello Fresh orders before heading south last week, so they told me to use the package that was delivered.

I could totally get used to having all the ingredients I need for a recipe delivered to my door!

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by sa226

I want to see if my 6 year old would be into skiing. I see that Nakiska has a bunny hill only pass, as does Winsport.

How busy are these places on the weekend, or a no school Friday? Is it a complete gong show? I don't want to spend the money on everything just to get 2 runs in and have him hate it because 4 kids ran him over.

I exaggerating my concerns, just looking for recommendations, or other ideas I may not have thought of.

It's been a while since I've dealt with bunny hill stuff but I would lean towards Winsport over Nakiska. The area at Nakiska seems pretty tight and busy especially on weekends. The carpet/hill length also seems shorter at Nakiska. The added benefit of Winsport is that it is much closer, you can go for a couple of hours on a weeknight evenings and you don't have to worry about wasted effort if the excursion at Winsport turns out to be a bust.

[Knut]

Originally Posted by Sr. Mints

My neighbours forgot to cancel their Hello Fresh orders before heading south last week, so they told me to use the package that was delivered.

I could totally get used to having all the ingredients I need for a recipe delivered to my door!

We will get 8-10 boxes a year delivered. Mostly when we are busiest. It is a nice alternative to Door Dashing something. Also nice that someone like me (a terrible cook) can put together something edible.

That said. Use your own spices (the ones included are not great) and buy your own buns (the ones included are pretty stale).

Also, Costco has $100 Hello Fresh gift cards for $80.

[Titan2]

Originally Posted by Sr. Mints

My neighbours forgot to cancel their Hello Fresh orders before heading south last week, so they told me to use the package that was delivered.

I could totally get used to having all the ingredients I need for a recipe delivered to my door!

Is very nice. The items tend to get a bit old though.

[Titan2]

Originally Posted by Knut

We will get 8-10 boxes a year delivered. Mostly when we are busiest. It is a nice alternative to Door Dashing something. Also nice that someone like me (a terrible cook) can put together something edible.

That said. Use your own spices (the ones included are not great) and buy your own buns (the ones included are pretty stale).

Also, Costco has $100 Hello Fresh gift cards for $80.

I agree. I would also add to skip anything with steak. It is not as good as what you are used to. Ground beef is fine. Salmon is pretty good. Chicken is chicken.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I think it's fairly likely the rep is wrong about that, although if it's a one-time deal it might be better to pay the $2500 vs potential interest.

I use my Amex (credit card not charge card) for business purposes and generate lots of purchases and refunds every month. They definitely count the refunds toward the amount due every month.

It’s an odd situation for sure. If I had paid the amount owing by paying in the conventional way at any time between the statement becoming available and the due date, I’d expect no problem and any other purchases on the card would become part of the next months statement. Somehow they consider getting a refund is different. But, in the end you’re right, it isn’t worth the risk of interest payments to find out how it would go if I only paid the difference to the amount owing after the refunds.

[Locke]

Pfft...if someone is delivering food to my house I'm not going to have to assemble it like some peasant.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by sa226

I want to see if my 6 year old would be into skiing. I see that Nakiska has a bunny hill only pass, as does Winsport.

How busy are these places on the weekend, or a no school Friday? Is it a complete gong show? I don't want to spend the money on everything just to get 2 runs in and have him hate it because 4 kids ran him over.

I exaggerating my concerns, just looking for recommendations, or other ideas I may not have thought of.

Why not get some ski skates for <$100 and take them to a small tobogganing hill? Easy to leave in a small duffel bag with a helmet and stuff in a trunk and then rush to a hill on a whim vs sleds that take up way more space. The bindings on the one I got are weird, so the adult size might be closer to the size you need than the "kids" size.

Something like this:
http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/ol..._BwE#store=496

or

https://www.amazon.ca/UPBUD-Mini-Ska..._source=1&th=1

Basically you can start by holding their hands and letting them slide slowly down the hill. Downside is mostly that it'll be mostly pizza/french fries and ski jump type balance and practice vs groomed hill turns due to how lumpy the snow on the hill gets/the tracks that end up being created by other toboggans. Think... going down a hill in roller skates. You aren't doing any form of avoidance of more than maybe a few feet.

Personally, I think they're hella fun, but scary if you hop on a hill that's a bit too high/steep and haven't skied or skated in a while. I'm probably going to screw up my hip or knee sometime, but probably not too much worse of a risk of doing that than if I were on a ski hill. A 10-30ft high hill is probably perfect to try out. I went to places that had hills that must have been more like 50-80ft which was a bit aggressive for my first time on them. Wiped out a bunch of times, but often bouncing back up with a case of giggles. Make sure to have zipper pockets so you don't sling phones and keys and stuff out of the pockets when you wipe out.

[Cappy]

We use Goodfood; and we like it. We get 4 dinners delivered on Monday and generally are done by Thursday; night out friday and usually a doordash saturday or we make a nicer meal at home. Sunday is a crapshoot.

Its about $125 for 4 dinners. So about $30 a meal. Can i get the ingredients cheaper/better at the store? yes. Would i? no.

When we don't have it, we don't plan our meals. My wife and i get home around 7-8pm, and are generally too tired/fried to go to the store or plan out something good. So we typically doordash or go out. Thats easily $50+ a meal.

But yes, as mentioned. Best to prioritize certain ingredients earlier in the week. We generally try to eat fish first, salads take priority as well.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Why not get some ski skates for <$100 and take them to a small tobogganing hill? Easy to leave in a small duffel bag with a helmet and stuff in a trunk and then rush to a hill on a whim vs sleds that take up way more space. The bindings on the one I got are weird, so the adult size might be closer to the size you need than the "kids" size.

Something like this:
http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/ol..._BwE#store=496

or

https://www.amazon.ca/UPBUD-Mini-Ska..._source=1&th=1

Basically you can start by holding their hands and letting them slide slowly down the hill. Downside is mostly that it'll be mostly pizza/french fries and ski jump type balance and practice vs groomed hill turns due to how lumpy the snow on the hill gets/the tracks that end up being created by other toboggans. Think... going down a hill in roller skates. You aren't doing any form of avoidance of more than maybe a few feet.

Personally, I think they're hella fun, but scary if you hop on a hill that's a bit too high/steep and haven't skied or skated in a while. I'm probably going to screw up my hip or knee sometime, but probably not too much worse of a risk of doing that than if I were on a ski hill. A 10-30ft high hill is probably perfect to try out. I went to places that had hills that must have been more like 50-80ft which was a bit aggressive for my first time on them. Wiped out a bunch of times, but often bouncing back up with a case of giggles. Make sure to have zipper pockets so you don't sling phones and keys and stuff out of the pockets when you wipe out.

No, skiing on a toboggan hill is the absolute worst. You need a base of packed snow and then nicer groomed/fresh snow on top, which a ski hill provides. On a toboggan hill you just dig through, hit the grass and bail. Plus trudging up the hill over and over will make his kid hate it more than anything.

Winsport rules. Such an amazing facility. That's the place to learn. My kids basically spent a decade there before levelling up to Lake Louise clubs then they went back to Winsport as instructors. Can't go wrong there. I used to get a season pass and ride while they were in lessons.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Sliver

No, skiing on a toboggan hill is the absolute worst. You need a base of packed snow and then nicer groomed/fresh snow on top, which a ski hill provides. On a toboggan hill you just dig through, hit the grass and bail. Plus trudging up the hill over and over will make his kid hate it more than anything.

Winsport rules. Such an amazing facility. That's the place to learn. My kids basically spent a decade there before levelling up to Lake Louise clubs then they went back to Winsport as instructors. Can't go wrong there. I used to get a season pass and ride while they were in lessons.

Agreed, but it's different. Ski skates are totally different than normal skis or snow blades on a groomed hill, agreed. Skis and snow blades on a tobogganing hill is a crappy experience, agreed.

My suggestion is more of a different idea that if OP didn't want to worry about paying for two admissions plus rental for themselves and a kid just to do the bunny hill, this might be a compromise that will work to ease them in and establish their interest as they can just go to a nearby area after a little bit of a snow fall.

For a 6 year old, you can kinda pull them along in a controlled manner so they don't freak out while still being a little closer to skiing than skating or cross country skiing. You can also keep driving until you find a more acceptable hill vs being uncertain on how crowded a bunny hill might be and at first you might also be able to use hills or minor inclines that no one else is using for sledding. Going down a hill, you can hold their arms and slowly let them slide down the hill in a controlled manner vs "PIZZA! PIZZA! OMG! PIZZA!".

One way I was using the ski skates was to hold onto the back/shoulders of someone in a sled. No crowding of a smaller sled and can actually give a solution when the kids want mom AND dad to go down with them at the same time. It reminds me of standing on the back skis on a GT racer as a kid because you couldn't sit two kids. I dunno how to put my finger on it, but it reminded me of certain vibes and excitement that were closer to what it was like for me as a kid vs how it is right now as an adult sledding with the kids. Lots of cheers, ooos, and laughter for successful and failed runs.

At the bottom, you take off the bindings and walk up the hill, but I felt like it wasn't much more annoying than tugging something back up the hill, or having one of those discs that easily slips out of your hand from a gust of wind and then you have to chase the damn thing back down the hill. I also wasn't using them exclusively. I'd go back and forth between those and the sleds. I treat them like a "variety is the spice of life" kinda thing.

[surferguy]

The drone footage from the Olympics has been nothing short of awesome. I love the perspective as I feel it really portrays just how fast these athletes are moving.

My question as I know nothing about it, would these be programmed flights or would somebody be flying live in time?

I’m just watching the luge runs and it seems like a big challenge to do that in real time.

Is there an Olympics of drone flying?

[woob]

I believe they're live pilots. There's a guy I came across on Instagram but can't remember his handle. I'll let you know if I come across it again.

I don't love the sound, though. Especially noticable on the slopestyle/big air comps.

[Fuzz]

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/w...ones-9.7081613

I'd assume for most events they are live flown with first person view goggles. There may be some pre-programmed stuff, I wouldn't be surprised if the drones operate on exclusion zones so they can't fly into ski lifts or hit wires.

I agree with the article that the noise is annoying. For stuff like skiing they should have microphones down the course, and use that audio, not drone mics.

They also mention it being a distraction to the athletes, and I can absolutely understand that, particularly for sports that don't have much TV coverage and never had to compete with these things all over.

It will be interesting what the reaction is when one of these inevitably ruins an athlete's dream.

[surferguy]

You’d think they could eliminate the noise from a broadcast with AI maybe??

Cool gig if you were that good to fly these things consistently like this.

[woob]

Yeah I was saying that to my wife - you'd think they'd be able to elimiate the drone sound with smart tech or something.

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by surferguy

The drone footage from the Olympics has been nothing short of awesome. I love the perspective as I feel it really portrays just how fast these athletes are moving.

My question as I know nothing about it, would these be programmed flights or would somebody be flying live in time?

I’m just watching the luge runs and it seems like a big challenge to do that in real time.

Is there an Olympics of drone flying?

There are totally drone racing events. I've tried to use my kids crappy ones they get for a birthday. Like toy ones. Five minutes later I break it by crashing it. Well that was a waste. Are the real ones much easier, because I was terrible at the Toys R Us ones?

Also unrelated, are their airpods that fit small ear holes? Those always hurt.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by surferguy

The drone footage from the Olympics has been nothing short of awesome. I love the perspective as I feel it really portrays just how fast these athletes are moving.

My question as I know nothing about it, would these be programmed flights or would somebody be flying live in time?

I’m just watching the luge runs and it seems like a big challenge to do that in real time.

Is there an Olympics of drone flying?

There's certainly drone competitions. The fastest drones are ridiculously insane.

Originally Posted by surferguy

You’d think they could eliminate the noise from a broadcast with AI maybe??

Cool gig if you were that good to fly these things consistently like this.

I've seen videos of a guy who records at an animal shelter and their AI camera/software is good for filtering out the sounds of the other animals so that the audio is only of him and the animal he is with. I assume that should be possible for the Olympics, but no idea why it isn't be done.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by surferguy

I’m just watching the luge runs and it seems like a big challenge to do that in real time.

The sliding sports are some of my favorite and the ones that I frequently will take the time to watch all the events and all the runs. The drones actually seem somewhat pointless for the sliding events because they can only fly the drones so far down the track (appears to be limited to some segment at the top.) They entire track is covered and I think it was a big missed opportunity to mount a tracked camera to the roof structure adjacent to the lights. The tracked cameras would be able to follow the entire length of the run and would provide a cool video game like perspective.