The word of the week is... parsimony. So there!
Oct 5 - More on Renting
Further on the subject of Renting vs. Owning one's home: there's an excellent article here on the topic, albeit from a US-based viewpoint. The links included at the bottom of the article are also worthwhile checking out, as they include a graphical Rent vs Buy Calculator, courtesy of the NY Times, who are well known for their financial reporting prowess. Or stop by the GetRichSlowly.org site, which has a ton of good advice - for free, similar to CanadianBusiness.com but with less ads. Be sure to stop by DealHunting.ca, where you can browse through various coupons... much like RedFlagDeals.com, which lists all sorts of deals for many Canadian retailers, including a lot of online-only sales and deals, which can save you a fair bit depending on what you're in the market for. Canada's Economic Action Plan doesn't mention anything on the topic, but that doesn't surprise me.
Alternatives to home ownership? There are quite a few ways to go about it, including subsidized programs, ( I like that one). A good place to check out about alternatives to owning a home is at Ezine Articles, which might be a good place to send people from Ireland - apparently they have a home-ownership obsession. Weird, huh?
Like we're obsessed with cell phones in Canada. Three weeks from now, the ban on using cell phones while driving takes effect in Ontario - not including hands-free units or calls made to 911, that is. Having seen so many drivers pulling bonehead moves with only one hand on the wheel and half their mind( or more )taken with yakking on the phone, I'm all for it. Heck, I miss photo radar too, for that matter... though that was rather more unpopular - and it's started up again in Quebec this summer. I imagine there will be a rush on speakerphone accessories in stores in the next few weeks.
Oct 6 - Smoking Gold
It's about time: Quebec announced that it is joining several other provinces in suing tobacco companies to recover health-related costs pegged in the billions. Similar to other suits filed in the USA, it is surprising to me that it has taken this long for Canada to get is act together about taking action against the companies responsible for such a deadly product, which the WHO estimates has killed 100 million people in the 20th century. I hope that Ontario is successful in its suit, which seeks 50 Billion Dollars in damages, atop other suits from BC, NB and now Quebec. There's more about the health effects of tobacco here, but I would hope that most people reading this would already know that it kills you - slowly, or as it is better put "not quickly enough to scare people away."
Nice to see this: trading today made gold hit an all-time high, which is a bright spot in the current floppy-mushy market. Now that we are buying gold at MMart, it should help to drive even more business our way. Cash for gold is proving very popular of late, with people looking for ways to make ends meet - selling old jewelery for a decent price in an easy manner should help more than a few of them.
Privacy these days is a hot topic, given the proliferation of social networking sites right alongside reports of Identity Theft. Now there's a new twist for those of you who use Twitter, Facebook and MySpace: don't use any apps that generate your 'Porn Name.' Seems that ID thieves are using the data to better enable them to crack into people's personal accounts, as pet names and street names( as used by the apps )are prime candidates as passwords for bank accounts and the like.
Oct 7 - Pedal Power
Today is World Bike-To-Work Day... though I was feeling so tired, I got dropped off instead of walking my bike to work. Ironic, eh? Normally I enjoy the commute, but this morning the thought of tacking the hill in the middle was just too much for me. If I lived in Victoria, I could just take a bus( though it'd most likely get stuck in the Colwood Crawl )which is a cheap way of commuting. To solve the traffic woes here on the Island, the last few years have seen various transit proposals made and scrapped, with the current round asking for public input. Me, I'm for the giant-catapult-and-net idea... I never thought I'd come to appreciate the uninterrupted ribbon of asphalt that comprises the QEW and its sundry highways, which never has regular twice-daily traffic jams for its entire length.
If you plan on taking the personal pedal-powered route to work, here's 6 tips for you to follow to make your commute easier. Another great read is this blog article, about the joys that biking to work each day brings... as well as the dangers. A recent bike blitz by police here in Victoria resulted in a score of tickets, mostly for things that I've seen over and over for years: no helmet, no lights, and riding on the sidewalk( something that I've been guilty of on occasion, when traffic's nasty ). It still amazes me that so many cyclists survive with stupid things they pull, in addition to total idiocy like riding at night in dark clothes... yet there's no entry on DarwinAwards.com for anything cycle-related.
On the other hand, if you feel safer with a layer of steel and glass between you and the open road, then you should check out the Top Ten Vehicles for Urban Warfare. As one commenter mentioned, it was disappointing that the Marine APC from Aliens didn't make the list, but I thought it was a great selection of vehicles all the same. Perhaps with the exception of the Mazda GTX... and that they actually put a bicycle on there. No contest when it comes to a fight between 2 wheels and four. Though you may still have trouble parking your wheels of carnage... unless you reserve a parking spot online beforehand. Whoda thought?
In a related bit of news, the big blue Johnson Street Lift Bridge here in Victoria is nearing the end of its useful lifetime, and needs to be replaced. When recent government funding fell through, proponents of the bridge were still hopeful that the bridge can be saved. Having grown up near the giant lift bridges of the Welland Canal, I can say that Big Blue is in their class... plus, it's blue. I'd hate to see it scrapped, though all 3 of the now-unfunded design proposals looked pretty cool.
Oct 8 - Windows 7 and Ewe
Have a sweet tooth that you can't easily satisfy? Good news! The world's largest candy store is going to be opening in the Dubai Mall, so apart from the plane ticket, all you'll need to do is find a way to get all those sweets back home... the carry-on and checked luggage limit probably won't do for more than a few month's supply, at best. I myself have a penchant for chocolate chip cookies, which isn't so bad really... my teeth will last that much longer. With moderation, of course... though the thought of Bacon Cookies does set my mouth to watering!
Like candy from babies: Laptop theft happens all the time around the world( the stats are alarming! )ruining people's days as well as their insurance premiums. As a laptop owner, I'm very aware of how easily my machine and I might part ways, apart from the usual dangers such as spilled liquids and deadly drops onto hard surfaces. If a laptop is stolen, there is still hope these days thanks to software like the freebie Adeonia that allows a missing laptop to report its whereabouts to its owners - bad news for thieves, good news for owners.
Perhaps not so sweet, but still drool-inducing to g33ks is the imminent release of Windows 7 two weeks from today. My copy is already on order, so I hope it arrives by the end of October. I've been busy backing up data, just in case... always a good idea when installing a new OS. Considering all the 'fun' I've had over the years with installing various versions of Windows, perhaps I'd better make TWO backups of everything. Sheepish.
Oct 9 - Niagara, O Roar Again!
Whew, today was one long day... I started in the early morning after 8am, and didn't get home again until after 7, well into the dusk. I was getting things finished from the week so that I wouldn't have to come in on the weekend - with four days off in a row, it was worth spending most of a day ensuring I could enjoy all of them. Mighty tired by the end of it all, having been through my second wind... but it was a good feeling that I'd accomplished everything I needed to by the time I was done.
Today was kind of like a palindrome, in a way... it started off almost like it ended: with me at work. Palindromes are fun to refer to, as they can be hidden almost anywhere at all - even in this sentence. One of my first internet handles was a palindrome, and they've grown on me since - you can find a huge archive of them here, plus a smaller surplus here. I like them because you never know if you're reading one or not...
Today was not a good day for travelers heading out for the long weekend: as I mentioned earlier, we live on an island... and that means ferries. So when one of them catches fire( slightly )and is thus out of service, it has a domino effect on the entire Island traffic scene. Ouch. Glad I don't have to travel this weekend... not that I've been to the mainland yet, but one day soon. Maybe.
Oct 10 - Why bother bidding?
Up way, way too early today at 5am, to try to get some bids in for a nice Belkin network USB-sharing device on Swoopo. Unfortunately, too many other people were of the same mind, and I gave up once bidding went past $35.00 ... at that point, people were out to win, not to save money. In the end, the unit went for close to $50.00 ... ( half of its retail cost )and meaning that all the bidders involved spent over $500.00 in their 'bidding war' ... which is how Swoopo makes their money from the unwise with deep pockets.
Here's a bit of trivia for you: in the first X-men film, several actresses auditioned for the role of Rogue, one of my favourite X-men characters. Perhaps you didn't know it, but one of them was Laura Bertram, who later starred in the 5-year run of the TV series Andromeda where she played Trance Gemini - who was also one of my favourites on TV, developing from a purple-skinned airhead into a very interesting and layered character. Good writing there, a pleasure to watch her character develop from a bit of fluff into someone intriguing, and wonderful that she was given the time and care to develop her as such.
Today was gaming day for me. I downloaded some new Xbox360 demos, and had some good sessions of COD4, CivRev and even played some Hexic. I didn't get too far with Defense Grid though, as I got hooked by Sid Meier's Pirates - the game looks gorgeous on my laptop, and is incredible fun to play. Who wouldn't want to be a pirate in this version of digital reality? Pretty good for a game that originally came out in 1987 and was re-released with updated code in 2005... it's still damn good fun!
Oct 11 - World Zombie Day
Mmmm.... brains. Today is World Zombie Day, where the undead can parade around in public and not get shot in the head for it. Most places in the world, anyway. Things zombie have been becoming more popular and mainstream in the last few years, as WZD shows - the upcoming World War Z movie looks to be particularly interesting, as does this Zombie Warning Sign gallery. Heck, even the University of Florida recently posted a plan to deal with zombie outbreaks - how's that for getting your educational money's worth?
I felt like a zombie today, getting up at 6am to try again for an auction on Swoopo... but again too much action put the kybosh on that idea. I've collected a few month's worth of data on various auctions( for free, on my own )which supported this time of day being the best chance... but a few flies in the ointment and all the best plans go for naught. Since I'm not willing to waste bids doing a throwdown against more than a couple of people, that was it for me - back to bed, then up in the hopes of COD4... but everyone was playing NHL10, so there went that idea.
Instead, I spent the day recording shows off the DVR( and onto DVD )to clear space, while perusing a few more auctions and working on my NWN project. Which is going somewhat slowly now that some members of the Dev Team are back to school( some learning, some teaching )and others are equally busy. We're all in it for the long haul though, so I'm hopeful that we'll see a turnaround early in the new year. As the saying goes: we've come too far to stop now. Though after watching Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer tonight, I wish they hadn't finished it at all...
On that note - good night! Mmm.... braaiiiins...
Oct 5 - More on Renting
Further on the subject of Renting vs. Owning one's home: there's an excellent article here on the topic, albeit from a US-based viewpoint. The links included at the bottom of the article are also worthwhile checking out, as they include a graphical Rent vs Buy Calculator, courtesy of the NY Times, who are well known for their financial reporting prowess. Or stop by the GetRichSlowly.org site, which has a ton of good advice - for free, similar to CanadianBusiness.com but with less ads. Be sure to stop by DealHunting.ca, where you can browse through various coupons... much like RedFlagDeals.com, which lists all sorts of deals for many Canadian retailers, including a lot of online-only sales and deals, which can save you a fair bit depending on what you're in the market for. Canada's Economic Action Plan doesn't mention anything on the topic, but that doesn't surprise me.
Alternatives to home ownership? There are quite a few ways to go about it, including subsidized programs, ( I like that one). A good place to check out about alternatives to owning a home is at Ezine Articles, which might be a good place to send people from Ireland - apparently they have a home-ownership obsession. Weird, huh?
Like we're obsessed with cell phones in Canada. Three weeks from now, the ban on using cell phones while driving takes effect in Ontario - not including hands-free units or calls made to 911, that is. Having seen so many drivers pulling bonehead moves with only one hand on the wheel and half their mind( or more )taken with yakking on the phone, I'm all for it. Heck, I miss photo radar too, for that matter... though that was rather more unpopular - and it's started up again in Quebec this summer. I imagine there will be a rush on speakerphone accessories in stores in the next few weeks.
Oct 6 - Smoking Gold
It's about time: Quebec announced that it is joining several other provinces in suing tobacco companies to recover health-related costs pegged in the billions. Similar to other suits filed in the USA, it is surprising to me that it has taken this long for Canada to get is act together about taking action against the companies responsible for such a deadly product, which the WHO estimates has killed 100 million people in the 20th century. I hope that Ontario is successful in its suit, which seeks 50 Billion Dollars in damages, atop other suits from BC, NB and now Quebec. There's more about the health effects of tobacco here, but I would hope that most people reading this would already know that it kills you - slowly, or as it is better put "not quickly enough to scare people away."
Nice to see this: trading today made gold hit an all-time high, which is a bright spot in the current floppy-mushy market. Now that we are buying gold at MMart, it should help to drive even more business our way. Cash for gold is proving very popular of late, with people looking for ways to make ends meet - selling old jewelery for a decent price in an easy manner should help more than a few of them.
Privacy these days is a hot topic, given the proliferation of social networking sites right alongside reports of Identity Theft. Now there's a new twist for those of you who use Twitter, Facebook and MySpace: don't use any apps that generate your 'Porn Name.' Seems that ID thieves are using the data to better enable them to crack into people's personal accounts, as pet names and street names( as used by the apps )are prime candidates as passwords for bank accounts and the like.
Oct 7 - Pedal Power
Today is World Bike-To-Work Day... though I was feeling so tired, I got dropped off instead of walking my bike to work. Ironic, eh? Normally I enjoy the commute, but this morning the thought of tacking the hill in the middle was just too much for me. If I lived in Victoria, I could just take a bus( though it'd most likely get stuck in the Colwood Crawl )which is a cheap way of commuting. To solve the traffic woes here on the Island, the last few years have seen various transit proposals made and scrapped, with the current round asking for public input. Me, I'm for the giant-catapult-and-net idea... I never thought I'd come to appreciate the uninterrupted ribbon of asphalt that comprises the QEW and its sundry highways, which never has regular twice-daily traffic jams for its entire length.
If you plan on taking the personal pedal-powered route to work, here's 6 tips for you to follow to make your commute easier. Another great read is this blog article, about the joys that biking to work each day brings... as well as the dangers. A recent bike blitz by police here in Victoria resulted in a score of tickets, mostly for things that I've seen over and over for years: no helmet, no lights, and riding on the sidewalk( something that I've been guilty of on occasion, when traffic's nasty ). It still amazes me that so many cyclists survive with stupid things they pull, in addition to total idiocy like riding at night in dark clothes... yet there's no entry on DarwinAwards.com for anything cycle-related.
On the other hand, if you feel safer with a layer of steel and glass between you and the open road, then you should check out the Top Ten Vehicles for Urban Warfare. As one commenter mentioned, it was disappointing that the Marine APC from Aliens didn't make the list, but I thought it was a great selection of vehicles all the same. Perhaps with the exception of the Mazda GTX... and that they actually put a bicycle on there. No contest when it comes to a fight between 2 wheels and four. Though you may still have trouble parking your wheels of carnage... unless you reserve a parking spot online beforehand. Whoda thought?
In a related bit of news, the big blue Johnson Street Lift Bridge here in Victoria is nearing the end of its useful lifetime, and needs to be replaced. When recent government funding fell through, proponents of the bridge were still hopeful that the bridge can be saved. Having grown up near the giant lift bridges of the Welland Canal, I can say that Big Blue is in their class... plus, it's blue. I'd hate to see it scrapped, though all 3 of the now-unfunded design proposals looked pretty cool.
Oct 8 - Windows 7 and Ewe
Have a sweet tooth that you can't easily satisfy? Good news! The world's largest candy store is going to be opening in the Dubai Mall, so apart from the plane ticket, all you'll need to do is find a way to get all those sweets back home... the carry-on and checked luggage limit probably won't do for more than a few month's supply, at best. I myself have a penchant for chocolate chip cookies, which isn't so bad really... my teeth will last that much longer. With moderation, of course... though the thought of Bacon Cookies does set my mouth to watering!
Like candy from babies: Laptop theft happens all the time around the world( the stats are alarming! )ruining people's days as well as their insurance premiums. As a laptop owner, I'm very aware of how easily my machine and I might part ways, apart from the usual dangers such as spilled liquids and deadly drops onto hard surfaces. If a laptop is stolen, there is still hope these days thanks to software like the freebie Adeonia that allows a missing laptop to report its whereabouts to its owners - bad news for thieves, good news for owners.
Perhaps not so sweet, but still drool-inducing to g33ks is the imminent release of Windows 7 two weeks from today. My copy is already on order, so I hope it arrives by the end of October. I've been busy backing up data, just in case... always a good idea when installing a new OS. Considering all the 'fun' I've had over the years with installing various versions of Windows, perhaps I'd better make TWO backups of everything. Sheepish.
Oct 9 - Niagara, O Roar Again!
Whew, today was one long day... I started in the early morning after 8am, and didn't get home again until after 7, well into the dusk. I was getting things finished from the week so that I wouldn't have to come in on the weekend - with four days off in a row, it was worth spending most of a day ensuring I could enjoy all of them. Mighty tired by the end of it all, having been through my second wind... but it was a good feeling that I'd accomplished everything I needed to by the time I was done.
Today was kind of like a palindrome, in a way... it started off almost like it ended: with me at work. Palindromes are fun to refer to, as they can be hidden almost anywhere at all - even in this sentence. One of my first internet handles was a palindrome, and they've grown on me since - you can find a huge archive of them here, plus a smaller surplus here. I like them because you never know if you're reading one or not...
Today was not a good day for travelers heading out for the long weekend: as I mentioned earlier, we live on an island... and that means ferries. So when one of them catches fire( slightly )and is thus out of service, it has a domino effect on the entire Island traffic scene. Ouch. Glad I don't have to travel this weekend... not that I've been to the mainland yet, but one day soon. Maybe.
Oct 10 - Why bother bidding?
Up way, way too early today at 5am, to try to get some bids in for a nice Belkin network USB-sharing device on Swoopo. Unfortunately, too many other people were of the same mind, and I gave up once bidding went past $35.00 ... at that point, people were out to win, not to save money. In the end, the unit went for close to $50.00 ... ( half of its retail cost )and meaning that all the bidders involved spent over $500.00 in their 'bidding war' ... which is how Swoopo makes their money from the unwise with deep pockets.
Here's a bit of trivia for you: in the first X-men film, several actresses auditioned for the role of Rogue, one of my favourite X-men characters. Perhaps you didn't know it, but one of them was Laura Bertram, who later starred in the 5-year run of the TV series Andromeda where she played Trance Gemini - who was also one of my favourites on TV, developing from a purple-skinned airhead into a very interesting and layered character. Good writing there, a pleasure to watch her character develop from a bit of fluff into someone intriguing, and wonderful that she was given the time and care to develop her as such.
Today was gaming day for me. I downloaded some new Xbox360 demos, and had some good sessions of COD4, CivRev and even played some Hexic. I didn't get too far with Defense Grid though, as I got hooked by Sid Meier's Pirates - the game looks gorgeous on my laptop, and is incredible fun to play. Who wouldn't want to be a pirate in this version of digital reality? Pretty good for a game that originally came out in 1987 and was re-released with updated code in 2005... it's still damn good fun!
Oct 11 - World Zombie Day
Mmmm.... brains. Today is World Zombie Day, where the undead can parade around in public and not get shot in the head for it. Most places in the world, anyway. Things zombie have been becoming more popular and mainstream in the last few years, as WZD shows - the upcoming World War Z movie looks to be particularly interesting, as does this Zombie Warning Sign gallery. Heck, even the University of Florida recently posted a plan to deal with zombie outbreaks - how's that for getting your educational money's worth?
I felt like a zombie today, getting up at 6am to try again for an auction on Swoopo... but again too much action put the kybosh on that idea. I've collected a few month's worth of data on various auctions( for free, on my own )which supported this time of day being the best chance... but a few flies in the ointment and all the best plans go for naught. Since I'm not willing to waste bids doing a throwdown against more than a couple of people, that was it for me - back to bed, then up in the hopes of COD4... but everyone was playing NHL10, so there went that idea.
Instead, I spent the day recording shows off the DVR( and onto DVD )to clear space, while perusing a few more auctions and working on my NWN project. Which is going somewhat slowly now that some members of the Dev Team are back to school( some learning, some teaching )and others are equally busy. We're all in it for the long haul though, so I'm hopeful that we'll see a turnaround early in the new year. As the saying goes: we've come too far to stop now. Though after watching Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer tonight, I wish they hadn't finished it at all...
On that note - good night! Mmm.... braaiiiins...
