Cutting the Corners

I was driving home today when I heard that the pay stubs will be smaller and the deductions bigger in 2011! Good news to start the new year! I'm already trouble, drowning in debt with this pay stub and what I did just a few days ago was canceling my caller ID! I know it sounds stupid but helps $7 a month! I mean the only reasons I didn't cancel the mobile phone itself are two:

1-I don't want to be listed in phone books.

2- I'm stilling waiting for telephone calls from the employers.

Rather than those ones there's nothing else to stop me from cancelling my mobile phone. It's so stupid to have something in the palm 24 hours a day. Just look at the idiots and losers who text or talk while driving and cause fatal accidents or the morons who live in a fake, imaginary world called Facebook! Why the hell should I pay to a company to put a photo of me posing somewhere just because I want the others know what I'm up to!? I know people who barely eat good food but never take that phone off them! Stupid!

Misled by Trailer

I wanted to see this new movie which there were a lot of talk about: True Grit. The trailers were very tempting, persuasive and attractive. We watched it last night: Not as good as it looks.

First of all the movie is in Southern accent which is hard to understand most of the time. Second of all the story was not long enough to be filmed and there were not so many conflict scenes that you expect to see in a Western. I mean this is a movie from Coen brothers with No Country for Old Men in their profile. What was the point of using these big stars with their all nominations and achievements? Josh Brolin has a role not for more than 15 min.! Anybody else could be used!

Nevertheless I will either buy(!) or rent the DVD just to get the more of the movie. It'll a little practice for me to have my ears more familiar with the accent too.

(Photo: The end of the movie where the girl grown up and is looking for the Marshal is pictured here in this behind the scene photo)

Noto: The movie doesn't even have a website. Isn't that stupid for a movie with bunch of stars!?

The Bunkers

I was in this online chess playing website early this morning or better to say after the midnight, not to mention how many times I lost ridiculously and I met a guy from Denmark who actually had a little chat with me for about 15 min. before we start a game.

He told me that his sister lived in Ottawa and how he was there to pay her a visit. I told him about my travel to Denmark as well and also told him about the German bunkers that I made aware of last year. I told him that I wanted to see them.

Long story short is that last year a number of German bunkers were discovered in north western cost of Denmark. Those ones had been built by Germans after they occupied Denmark in order to push Allies Forces back. I don't know if they were ever been used or what the story about them is and I forgot to ask the guy who's his screen name is Snooser (I have no idea what that means) but he gave me his e-mail address. I also can ask my cousin. I checked the map and Ringkobing Fjord (in Danish of course) is the opposite side of Copenhagen and Greve, where my cousin lives. So if I'm flying to Copenhagen, I will rent a car and the drive is about three hours and a half unless he has another idea.

I don't know when I'm goin' but I will and I combine that with Malmo trip that we have planned as well.

(Photo: This blur map doesn't show the territories under Danish Kingdom but shows how far Greve, beside the capital, Copenhagen in east is from Ringkobing Fjord in west)

Columbia House

I was going through the news last week and one thing caught my eyes: Columbia House went bankrupt. I felt bad for the company and it's guys of course but didn't get anything else from the news.

Then this morning when I woke up and was still in the bed for no reason it came to my mind again and remembered something: I bought a few movies from this Columbia House. It goes back to either 2002 or 2003. I used to receive their flyer amongst the other ones. CDs and DVDs as low as I don't know how much but very cheap. I still might have a few of those movies left in my archive of more than 250. They are gone and that so disturbing because it's a bad sign for the economy in general. That's it. I just wanted to bring this up.

The Penny

It has been lately decided by the Canadian financial authorities possibly in Bank of Canada not to make any Penny anymore. It is said that the authorities have studied a Penny-free monitory system in other English-speaking countries (Australia, perhaps) and found it possible to perform. Every Penny costs 2.5 cents to make these days and since nobody bothers picking up a Penny from the floor it's not useful any more.

What surprises me in this whole process of omitting the Penny from the system is the reaction of Canadians to the Queen on the Penny. Many Canadians respect her and the Royal Family but no one even cares about the Queen on the floor. It has not even been discussed once! They have never said even once that well you don't need that Penny, it's worthless but how about the Queen? The Queen that you admire. The Queen that you line up to see her. The Queen that you waves your little flags for her! Isn't that disrespectful?
(Photo: A Canadian Penny from year 2000)

A 42:18 Phone Interview

I had a telephone interview this morning with that company and spent more than 40 min. with them. It seemed alright at the end and there's hope. The company is involved in Oil Sands projects in Northern Alberta and I would be acting as a QA Coordinator if I was hired. I'm supposed to go there and talk to someone, this time a face to face interview. My answers were mostly sounded convincing to them and I think I have a good chance unless someone who's more qualified shows up. The project is defined for a period of 2 to 3 years. I'll be waiting for another call to go to Calgary.

(Photo: An aerial photo of an Oil Sands project field. I will post about what really oil sand mean after I study and understand it myself!)

Drowing in Debt

This recent global recession, lack of steady jobs, poor economic situation, under-employment or whatever you want to call it had driven many people in Canada to bad financial situations. It was said by the CBC last night that the debt to income ratio for Canadians rose to 148.1 per cent ending last Sep. alone which will go up for sure by the end of the fiscal year because of the Christmas and New Year. No doubt about that. It mean for every one hundred dollar that a Canadian earn, 148.1 dollar will be spent by him or her!

I myself was almost debt free until mid 2008 and not doing too bad in 2009 but while we're ending 201o in almost 2 weeks I owe almost $4800 only on my credit cards! And if I add the finances and penalties then the number will go up so high that the reader probably gets a hurt attack. And I'm not a type a guy who goes to restaurants every other day, smokes, drink or gamble or take cruise vacations!

nevertheless my near future plan is pay all the debts as fast as I can while looking for the ways to make more and pay less. I'll report in 6 months!

Good Performance

There's this job that I started a little more than 2 months ago. A period of 6 months has been set as probation by the management. So many people have been fired so far for different reasons. I've been one of the lucky ones so far. I've been trying hard to keep up a good performance and prevent from being terminated. I don't think I've been doing very badly. I use tricks and tips just to stay on track. That is why I was amongst the 7 top performers of the week two times so far in the last two weeks. I was the 2nd one in the first time the performance was measured and last week, the second time, I dropped to the 7th place!

So it means I have to focus more just to pass days until I get a better job or simply pass the probation.

Hit 10,000

I was driving home yesterday from work and I realized I hit 10,000 KM on my vehicle's odometer. It happened exactly after 1 year and 2 months and 28 days(!), almost 1 1/4 year. And that's because I drive back and forth to work every day which I hate a lot but have no choice as public transport is a disaster here. It's almost 20 KM every day, I believe. I hope I can get another job soon which I don't have to do driving every day especially because this Highway No. 1 that I have to take everyday is horrible. Big eighteen wheelers are driving really fast and no one seems to care about 80 KM speed limit in construction zone. I've seen to speed controllers in the last 2 months. The westbound is always congested in the morning. I never wish that I was on the opposite lane!

(Photo: The odometer when I was stopped at the lights yesterday just minutes away from home)

McDonald's Fair Deal

I don't eat fast food. I mean I stopped long time ago. I just try to stay away from fat, Cholesterol and all the chemicals and preservatives. If I want to get a burger I rather to go to Burger King, not to mention that I haven't been there for a long time. That's the only fast food I eat.

But McDonald's coffee is something else. It's just out of question not having that! You get a large cup of freshly brewed coffee and a Fruit & Fibre muffin for only $1.78! Isn't that amazing? You can get a free refill in the restaurant too.

Compare it now with the stupid Tim Horton's: It's coffee is smaller. They have all sugary, oil-dipped donuts. There's no refill and the most annoying one: They don't accept Visa!!

One more good thing about McDonald's: Check out the website for all the nutrition information. It's scary though!

An Opportunity after 2.5 Years

I received a call from a very well known company based in Calgary for a QA Coordinator position today and like many times before I have to make it there this Fri. because apparently one of the gentlemen who are goin' to interview me will go for his vacation next week! It's always like that. Every time you say something about the interview date they say that the interviewer will be on vacation. I remember once one of them said that he was on vacation and the position was filled when he was away!

Anyways I checked the flights and realized that there won't be anyway that I can leave early Fri. morning and come back the same day afternoon. At least that's what Westjet's site says. Nevertheless I have to check with this stupid current job of mine and make up a story.

When I think of all the opportunities that I've lost in the past few years and then think of all the misery of flying to Calgary and back, where to stay, how to pass the damn interview, is that a stable and secure job and everything else I really panic! I have to make a call tomorrow and ask if I can change the interview date or at least the job's duration and the other natures of it.

Keiv wrote me in his last e-mail that he would go to his stand-by mode again in a week or so just like last year and it's the worst time of the year 'cause Christmas is comin'! He was unemployed for almost 10 months in 2009 and showed his furry in his e-mail again about having the same situation. I wonder how I got this telephone call while Keiv's company, SNC Lavalin which is a huge one is very slow! I also checked the company's website and it looked very amateur with a UNDER CONSTRUCTION message in the main page! We'll see.

Gasoline Price

This damn gas price is goin' up again like a rocket. It's now 120.1 C for a liter here in this part of Brit"SHIT" Columbia which is more expensive than Alberta of course. The last time I bought some, I believe it was about 116 C something. I don't know how it's in the US but what I'm goin' to do is to make a table and compare the gasoline price and crude oil just for my knowledge and see how bastard these giant oil companies are! I heard that a few consumer companies have banned Oil Sand gasoline products but I don't think it might have any effect on this.

(Photo: Gasoline price has been always a concern for Americans as they mostly like to show off big ass SUVs and do lots of road trips. Thank God that I have never been that stupid to buy something like that!)