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How not to pay the $5 YVR AddFare on the SkyTrain with the new Compass Tickets

Since the lovely transit authority here has decided to roll out RFID smart cards, which they call the Compass Cards, they’ve decided that now everybody leaving Sea Island with just only Stored Value on their cards are now subject to the $5 YVR AddFare.

This surcharge has been widely known for years and the most common way to get around it was to just simply purchase a book of 10 1-Zone FareSavers and use them instead. However, since TransLink will discontinue the old paper based fare media and close the fare gates on all SkyTrain stations, trying to purchase or use FareSavers will be impossible.

Keep in mind this work around only works for people commuting to YVR for work or to the newly built outlet stores by Templeton Station; this won’t work if you are not returning from YVR the same day you go there. The way you get around this pesky $5 YVR AddFare is you purchase your return ticket at any Compass Vending machine outside of Sea Island. When you leave YVR, use that Compass Ticket you purchased from the Vending Machine instead of your Compass Card. The reason why this workaround works is tickets sold from the newer vending machines expire on 0400 hours the day you purchase it. The 90 minute transfer window begins when you initially tap in with the Compass Ticket.

Of course, you won’t be enjoying the discount that their Stored Value offers over the full cash fare prices, however saving between $0.60 to $1.30 still beats the $5 YVR AddFare surcharge that TransLink levies on all tickets purchased in Sea Island. However look at the bright side, travel within Sea Island will remain free. As a matter of fact, you can go to any of the newer Ticket Vending Machines that sell the Compass Cards/Tickets and get a free Sea Island only Compass Ticket.

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Been Quite Some Time

Yes… It’s been quite some time…

Really? When was my last blog post… Hm…

The Common Core program’s almost come to it’s end… Just 6 more weeks and I’m out for the summer in the first year of my Telecom training. Some of you out there might think, why the heck am I doing telecom, it’s quite a long story and I won’t go there for any of you.

Just another year to strike down… And some of you may wonder what I’m doing on my weekends. Let’s say it’s mainly related to VoIP or trying to watch the latest episode of X series that just aired in Japan. Some flight simulation and real world driving time here and there… Just waiting for July to do my Class 7N road test…

And no, I don’t drive like your regular Johnny Six Pack… as a matter of fact, thanks to Microsoft Flight Simulator X, I drive quite safely… And learned how to observe procedures out there in the real world road conditions…

Okay, enough talking… Time to inject a VoIP app on my blog so any of you random people can voice spam me if you choose. For the impatient people, just terminate your SIP calls to sip:17788035949@vanpbx1.voip.curriegrad2004.ca. Sure I don’t care if you have my PSTN number that’s in the SIP URI… Call it, I don’t care. You might just be wasting your precious cell minutes or long distance minutes if you’re calling it from the good old PSTN network. Voice spam me from time to time, as I might just get bored… And oh, make sure your router actually knows how to transverse SIP sessions over NAT. Last time I checked, SIP does not play well with NATted networks…

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Dealing With a Laptop That Continiously ‘Rage Shut Down’

Have you ever wondered why the laptop you’re using right now sometimes shutdowns without warning? You know the type of shutdown that happens… You happen to be working on an important document and the laptop suddenly decides to shut down on it’s own. You push the power button on again and an hour or two later, the same thing happens again.

Here’s a hint on what really happened: There’s dust inside your laptop and you’ll need to clean it out.

I can’t provide a real “how-to” on ridding dust out of your laptop, but I can certainly tell you to Google on how to disassemble your laptop and get access to the cooling fan.

Now some of you might ask, why am I blogging about this subject today? The reason is, yes my laptop was doing the exact same thing. It took me 3 days to figure out on what really happened inside and I took the time today to fix that problem. If I took it to a repair shop and had them to repair the issue, I could have lost $200-300 on the spot. Fortunately I do have the skills to remove such dust inside the laptop without too much trouble. If I couldn’t fix this issue, I’d be wondering why I am going to BCIT this September for a course that’s related to what I did today…

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For F!@#’s Sake!: People Asking Your Phone Number On a Public Facebook Page/Event/Group

Here’s the first post on the series on For F!@#’s Sake!. For now, I’m going to say that For F!@#’s Sake! is just a series of articles/posts on things that either just aggravate me or it’s so stupid to the point, I just can’t even stand it. More on that later.

Sometimes most of us finds Facebook an useful utility when it comes to communication. Even getting phone numbers from anyone you add as a “Friend” on facebook just got easier. Just send him a message or put it on your profile with privacy settings set only that your friends can view it, right?

But some people are just either ignorant or just plain idiots; This is what shocks me. People on Facebook are just that blatantly ignorant enough to ask their acquaintance’s phone number’s on Facebook on a event page that can be easily be viewed by anyone who either joins the group or event. A screenshot might prove how people are stupid. Yes, I blurred out the names and phone numbers to protect the people who have already posted theirs without knowing that their information can be viewed by anybody in this planet with Internet connectivity.

This example deserves a post on my series ‘For F!@#’s Sake!’. It just shows how much this person knows about the Internet or he is just plain stupid. Alvin, if you’re reading this, you just earned my medal on the ‘For F!@#’s Sake! – Idiot of the Day Award’. Now move on and have a nice day.