CRA is going for eBayers!

I was to Lover Mainland again today for the second consecutive day to pick up some other stuff and while driving to Burnaby heard something interesting: Revenue Canada is looking for the address and phone number of the people who do lots of selling over eBay! Obviously they earn dollars and they have to pay taxes! I’m sure they soon find a way to control them and the eBay people retaliate! Ali. G. is one the guys who loves eBay but he mostly buys, doesn’t sell!

The Bully in Lingerie

I had a stupid trip to West Vancouver the night before. I was goin’ to get a MS Project book from Indigo but when I got there, found it closed! They close at 07:00 Mom. to Wed. So I just returned to the Highway and drove to home and what a horrible ride! I’m no night driver. I was in hurry and was stopped once. But why I was in rush? I wanted to watch CBC and see what they say about Ahmadi-Nejad’s speech in Columbia University in NYC. He was invited to the school for a Q&A session regardless of all the opposition by especially Jews and some other Americans.
I have never been a fan of him or anyone from Islamic Republic but what the dean of the school did was out of question. Bollinger, whom is entitled the Bully in Lingerie by me, called Ahmadi-Nejad a dictator, uneducated, ignorant and so on. Regardless of whatever he is, this is not how you treat your guest. Ahmadi-Nejad was invited to CU by the people of CU, either the staff or the students. You could ask whatever you wanted and challenge him but that`s not nice to swear at him look down on him and make fun of him. Surprisingly, he didn`t retreat! He stayed and answered all the questions although what he did was just lying as usual.
But what is important is he didn`t get angry and didn`t left the hall, sat there like a gentleman with a smile and acted like a civilized, decent human being, even if that`s not what he really is.
On the other hand, the Bully in Lingerie lost the game. Apparently he did that because he had been told to act like that by Jews, the big community of people in the US who run almost everything. He knew that he would be kicked out of the school or in trouble, if he didn`t! So the winner of that Q&A session was Ahmadi-Nejad and I. R., not Jews, nor Americans!
Not to mention that Americans have been the source of most of the terrors and wars in past 200 years. Just give you a few examples: Mass murder of the Native Americans, Vietnam War, Shooting down the Iranian Airbus over Persian Gulf, Selling chemical weapons and other supplies to Iraq`s Saddam which then used against Iranian troops, dropping nuclear bomb on two Japanese cities in WWII. The list will be countless so the Americans can`t criticize the Islamic Republic and other cruel regimes. And they never feel pity for Iranian people and don`t care what`s happening to them. They just care about their pockets!

Parity

I used to write almost every day for a long time but there’s nothing to write about these days. It’s just work, work and more work! And that’s how all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!
But something that just happened recently and has been all over the media made me write. Canadian dollar has jumped up significantly and is at the same level as its American counterpart. It has different reactions from different sides. Federal Finance Minister knows this increase a result of strong Canadian economy followed by the lowest unemployment rate in last; I don’t know how many years. Some say people should not get excited, nothing has literally changed. But people don’t listen and don’t care whether it’s temporary or long-term. Reports of Canadians rush to travel agencies and crossing the border for shopping is all over the news.
There was also a Q&A in CBC a few nights ago. One asshole Iranian from fucking North Vancouver, possibly one of the worst neighbourhoods in entire Canada, asked how the new rate affects his mortgage!! A stupid stinky piece of crap is the same fucking scum, no matter where he is! Obviously he received the answer that the new rate doesn’t fucking affect his fucking mortgage. It’s as clear as crystal that if you’re paying a specific fucking fixed amount of fucking money, you motherfucker asshole, you keep paying the same fucking amount regardless of any change in exchange market. This is the simplest fact that only a stupid animal piece of shit form fucking North Vancouver doesn’t understand and that pisses me off. That pisses me off that animals like this are coming to this part of the globe more and more and making it the same shit like the other parts.
Anyway the only thing that might change for me is it would be a little easier for me if I go to see Alfa this Dec. I talked to him last weekend and he again confirmed that I can go and see him in MA. It will be cheaper for me know but it all depends on the work. I really want to go because that would be a good escape after these months of turmoil (!) but we’ll see.
One more thing said is regardless of the equality, many goods are much cheaper south of the border and that’s understandable to me. First of all the transportation cost must be also considered although it’s the same fixed price all over North America which looks a wrong to me because of this high price of gasoline these days (more than $1.04) second of all the price adjustment takes time. Retailers, manufacturers and wholesalers are probably not sure of the stability of the new rate and they are waiting for a sign which says this is not temporary and a strong economy backs it. In the other hand many jobs in manufacturing are in jeopardy because manufactured goods are mostly exported to the US. Same thing might happen to agricultural exports to the US with the difference that they probably have no alternative and must resort to Canadians. Beef could be amongst them.

(Photo: This funny and interesting cartoon borrowed from The Globe and Mail shows the Canadian goose on the one dollar Canadian coin is laughing and may be soon poking George Washington on the American one dollar bill as it stands as high as its counterpart. You can see the concern in his eyes)

Theoretical or Practical?

I started studying for CQE exam of ASQ again. This time I'm determind to pass. The initial schedule is to read 17 pages of module 1 every day, undersatnd deeply and finish it in 10 days. I also have to think of applying the methods to daily work or life, although is not so easy. Last time I wrote the damn exam was ... let me see ... Nov. of ’05 and I, obviously failed. I got 460. I needed 550, minimum. It was 30 points lower than the previous time. I’m now studying for the coming June and seems I have lots of time. Yes. I do. But how much of this time could be used for studying?
There are so many things that I have to keep them in mind. I should understand the concepts, methodologies and terms. It’s not so hard. It’s just hard to say which belong to whom! In the meantime I think many of the methods and theories presented in BOK are just basically theories and are not applicable at least in most of the industries and enterprises or should I say their applicability are limited to giant companies. If that is so, what is the point for studying it? And what’s the chance of being hired by a big company like, I don’t know, let’s say Honda? (Would like to insist here that in no circumstances I buy a Honda! Don't like it at all!) And how many people with post-secondary education get employed by a big company? These all mean that the methodologies presented in BOK are mostly very limited application.
Let’s have a short review: Benchmarking, I believe, is a tremendous quality improvement tool, firstly applied by the Japanese, possibly after the Second World War, to make a breakthrough. A company, who’s seeking another company to improve his weak, chosen processes, should be able to present one of its own in exchange. It sounds a little awkward to me. In this case the small companies which always look at the big ones as role models and try to follow them, won’t be ever able to use Benchmarking. There is more talk in this matter but the most important thing is to study enough for the exam and pass the damn thing! What they want is at least knowing the BOK.

Risk

Mom had already told me that F. F. would call me. So I was not very surprised when she called me in the afternoon of last Sun. As I told you the story in an earlier post, I was working last Sun. and that’s what I told her when she called. It was almost 02:15 PM. Then she called at night and apologized. We talked a little and she asked if she could have called me again and I said she would.
But I have no feeling about her. The only thing I feel is me going deeper and deeper every day. I try to keep me positive and optimist but looks like I’m just keep kidding me. I don’t see that myself Tough Guy anymore. I’m getting weaker and weaker and my mind is being ruined slowly every day. Jeff once told me that he had started her life from the beginning 3 times so far and he’s passed his 50s. The good thing with him is he has his wife and little daughter by him and I have no one. Even if he doesn’t love his wife, there’s no doubt that he loves her daughter and that pushed him forward in life and boost his spirit.
I was watching The National tonight and horrible news about family was being introduced, presented by Statistic Canada. I only reveal one here: Less than 49% of people are married in Canada! Mostly people here like to live like street whores and studs, meaning sleeping with everyone they want whenever they want! The only difference is street whores are paid in cash. And do you know what that really means? It means people escape from responsibly, harmony, love and humanity.
So how I can have a woman in life in such a stupid society? Should I risk my life with F. F.? I don’t know and I’m too tired to think about that at the moment. May be she just wanted to tease me. She should be really sick, if that's that was why she called.

Three Days of Absolute Fun

I was too agitated yesterday for whatever fucking reason and didn’t post this but there were absolutely 3 big days full of pure fun last week. It started from Fri. noon when A. J. came over. The reason he came over is a Home Warranty Insurance inspector coming to the job-site in the morning and pointing at a few minor issues. He was about to leave and I thought I left for a snack or something not work-related and A. J. called! Soon after I found out that the inspector had noticed something wrong and that was really bad: All the windows should have been sealed against the rain, condensation and any other kind of moisture and the procedure or method is called Rain Screen. This is mandatory in British Columbia for the houses which are registered in ’07. The inspector asked me about the date of registration but I didn’t know and I told him that.
I started doing that shit with the help of A. J. and for a big house like that, it was a disaster. The more we did, the more, A. J. got mad and once he grabbed a sealing paper which was being stuck and threw it down from the second level and said he wanted to stab himself in the stomach!
I hardly could help laughing and when I remember that moment and other moments of turmoil for him, I burst into laughter! We worked all day long until almost 08:00 PM but there was not much progress.
Saturday started with him calling Mike, asking for a hand. The bastard said he would be there soon but when it was 01:00 there was still no sign of him, although A. J. had given him the second ring! Then the siding guys showed up and we were 4 and there was a little better progress but as A. J. always hinders progress, something happened which caused a major delay: We went to a rental place to return a drill which I had rented to make 2” ventilation holes bellow the windows. That was where A. J. saw a machine called Boom! It’s actually a lift with a box which is a perfect tool for the job. He ordered it to be delivered to the job-site. When it arrived, I went to get a little training but the guy told me that he wouldn’t drive it to the side of the house and backyard because it would sink. I told the issue to A. J. but he said that he would drive it himself and there wouldn’t be anything to be worried about! I told the rental guy that the boss claims that he was capable of navigating everything from space shuttle to F-14 Tomcat fighter jet! He laughed and left after we shook hands.
Then we used the machine for a few windows and A. J. did exactly what I warned him about: He tried to go to the backyard! The more he tried the deeper he sank! That was a real comedy. The whole block was watching us and everybody was passing by just to see the idiot who caused problem for himself. Finally the machine got towed away and that cost A. J. around $130! And that’s apparently extra to the rent! He was hoping mad, then especially because he couldn’t sleep more than a couple of hours every night. He told his wife on the phone when we were driving back home, that this was his corpse getting home at the moment!
I enjoyed every single moment of his pain and torture because that’s exactly what happens to a selfish poser jerk who doesn’t listen to anyone! I was talking to him once last Sep. And he told me he had just gotten back from a vacation. It was as clear as crystal to me that he wanted to show off. When I asked where he had been to, he instead asked me where the destination was which everyone would love to be there and I didn’t know! And then he proudly said that he and his family had been to Hawaii!
Hawaii!? What a jerk! Did you just forget that where you came from? You just made a few thousand bucks and soon forgot where you are!!! Now he understands what he is dealing with. He truly understands that in the world of capitalism it’s very hard to compete with big companies and it’s very hard to succeed with no plan, management and engineering.
Anyhow we finally finished all the windows by 08:30 PM Sun.! The last day got even funnier. He started getting more and more impatient. Once he was about to lose the control of a very long ladder he was carrying and shouted and another time we were trying to take one window out and it almost dropped 2 inches but I held it. Jeff, his former tenant and the guy who contracts the electrical job of the project came too and gave us a hand. I made fun of him so much as a result of previous hidden conflict we had. A. J. finally ran away without having his dinner what he always does before heading home. He said that he was tired emotionally while added he did most of the job of the previous project himself. It was me and only me once again! But hear what he told me all afterwards: He told me that his designer had told him that there was no need for Rain Screen as the house is registered in ’06!!! Can you believe this?!
After all, something else happened that was a little extraordinary to me. That’s the next post. That’s F. F. calling me again!

(Photo: A. J.'s proudly and passionately driving his luxury vehicle, the Boom, in the streets of Beverly Hills, CA.!)

Strange

Ekaterina is still in touch with me. I told her that I consider her a fake personality and told her that Canadian Embassy in Moscow had already told me that no visa had ever been issued for such a name. But she denied everything!
I received an e-mail from her indicating that she had finally got the money and she was flying to me! She mentioned that she would let me know the date and time of her arrival and asked for my phone number! Regardless of the fact that I still don’t believe this whole shit and sounds odd to me, I sent her my phone number because I don’t think she can do anything through that. I immediately e-mailed the Canadian Embassy in Moscow and asked for help.
What I’m guessing is she or he could be someone that I know and doesn’t have my phone number and wants to tease me or disturb me through that. At the same time it’s really awkward to do all this shit for a phone number because what would be the worst thing she or he is able to do? He or she would call me only once or maximum two times and does his or her harm and then I would report on her or him and that would be all over. After all I know no one who hates me that much and waste that much time to just get a phone number. Should be a real jerk!

Fishing Season

Although I haven’t been involved in any type of entertainment or hobby in last may be 2 months and schools will be opened tomorrow, but people still enjoy their time in any possible way. The activity that people are involved at the moment and actually started almost 1 week ago is fishing.
I am no kind of fisher and know nothing about it. Al, my buddy in Calgary once invited me to join him for a fishing trip but I didn’t go. Here, people wear long waterproof suits and stand in the stream and do fishing these days. Wayne told me that they catch Salmon. I always thought that Salmon is an ocean fish but may be it comes to rivers to lay eggs. I don’t know.
Anyhow the above photo shows how people enjoy fishing. I should search for my joy!

(Photo: Fishers in Mamquam River. It's about 08:45 AM in a little cold cloudy day of Sep.)