Thieves of Government of Brit"SHIT" Columbia

There used to be this extremely stupid motto or slogan on every Government of Brit"SHIT" Columbia's website, letter or sign reading The Best (which actually is the worst) Place on Earth! With fucking stupid thing like that they attract people from around the world to that raining shit-hole and empty their pockets. The slogan was disappeared after that fucking drunk pig, Gordon Campbell stepped down as the premier. One of the many ways that those bastards emptied people's bank account was called HST or Harmonized Sales Tax which rose taxes on almost every item you bought or most of the services you received.

Many opposed to that and eventually a poll was called and people of the province voted against it. The Provincial Government is now supposed to return all those money to the people and they have said that it will happen in the next 5 years!

Can you believe that? The fucking thieves robbed you and now they have to return the money and not with the interest and they say it would be paid gradually in the next five years! If you are paying for their stupid Health Card which has no use and you are a little behind, they telephone you every day and send you letters on weekly basis but if they get unfair money from you, you have to wait years to get it back!

(Photo: Former Premier Zalm who started HST campaign and succeeded)

State of Bullshit

I was surfing the channels the other day and while I was jumping from this to that I realized that several different channel were broadcasting this annual State of Bullshit of Obama! And it truly was state of bullshit as soon as he started. I wanted to see what he was saying but when after a few sentences he came to ... Today United Stated is stronger and more respected around the word ... I said No! Where did this horseshit come from!!?

You could not be more stupid to say some silly thing like that! I was just a few months ago that they were all scared shitless about what was going on with the economy! And the US has more debt probably more than ever it had! 1 out of 10 Americans is unemployed or just a little late and they cheat their government for money. I read that in the news just a few weeks ago that many Americans still collect unemployment cheques from the government after they get a job! It means they do not have a good control system.

The presidential election, I guess, will be this coming November. One candidate, that I don't remember his name, said a few days ago that because Obama had turned his back to Canadians in that pipeline deal, now the Canadians are going to enter to an agreements with Chinese. Such President is not good for the US!

Regardless of these, he really started a few changes in the country. He established a new Health Care System to cover more Americans. I don't know if he has been successful to deploy this system or not but I do know that many people opposed to him for doing that. He also recalled all the Americans from Iraq. Something that might have made American top soldier mad. You should have seen their faces on TV when Obama said no more American would be in Iraq. The thing is the US is already struggling with unemployment and no more people, the army people are goin' to add to that population, no matter how small this population is. He might have been tougher than his predecessor on Iran and the other countries like that. Libya is an example and economic sanction on Iran is another one. But I don't know he wouldn't get too far from the general American's policy toward the hostile countries.

(Photo: Obama's cartoon at the time he call America a stronger and more respected country around the world! What a load of crap!)

Risky Drive

I have to admit that it was a quite a risky drive today, much dangerous than any time although I only drove 4 blocks to get The Lady from the train. I sat at the wheel and pushed the clutch to start the engine. I turned the key and the it started but when I released the clutch, it did not response as quick as usual. It return to the default position very slowly and unwillingly! I guess it had something to do with the oil used in its system. Could be frozen! Then I could smell gasoline. Felt like someone had spilled gasoline all over the vehicle. The thermometer should -26 C but it could be colder because it usually shows warmer temperature with +3 difference.

I waited a few minutes and tried to come out of the park but it died. I tried again and started immediately. I drove after a few minutes and seemed alright but you could hear all sorts of noise from the vehicle. It was quite surprising that the car could run with no block heater. I am not sure if it damages the engine or the electrical system of the vehicle. But I should admire Toyota again for providing such a car. I will check with a mechanic about the block heater and will post.

(Photo: The vehicle's thermometer shows -26 C but could be colder)

My Finance Tracker

I used to kind of manage my expenses for years in the old country before coming to Canada. I used to save everything is an Excel Sheet and apply charts and other different statistical methods and compare them. My spending budget was very limited because I was saving for immigration. Barely took a cab and mostly walked or took a bus.

Then here I started doing the same last summer just to see how we were doing and have a little control but it was almost impossible because now there are two of us and it's hard to keep all the receipts. Eventually after a few month I gave up. But then a few month after that I was checking something in my online banking and I realized the system automatically provides the same service in this section called My Finance Tracker. This is RBC and I am not sure if the other banks have the same service but this very helpful. May be not very much for me who does most of his purchases with the credit card or someone else who mostly uses cash but still helpful with cheques and automatic deductions. Check this great service out at the bottom side of your RBC Online Service.

Short Practice in Wicked Cold

We decided to check the rink by the river out, the one in Eau Clair Market, last night but I think it was a crazy idea! It was almost -19 C and there was barely anybody on the streets especially because it was Sun. night as well. Everybody was getting ready for tomorrow's work. So we were there and we saw this sign saying Rink Closed with a handwritten note says Dangerous Conditions! I did not understand what they were trying to say so put my skates on and did a little practice for 10 minutes. F. F. was really cold and I guess it was her boots and jeans! So I decided to end it quickly. There were a couple on the bike with Ski goggle and helmets and then there was a jogging guy and a few passersby and a man with his dog.It was almost impossible to see while driving because the window would fogged up just after a few minutes sitting inside. Not a good practice!

(Photo: This rink is prepared by the municipality in Eau Clair and is a good place for skating when it's net evil cold!)

Expensive Sport

We spent almost 2 hours in Sportcheck, Canadian Tire and SportMart for a pair of skates and a helmet. I spent close to $110 on these two. Almost $70 for the skates and around $40 for the damn helmet. It was not easy to select the skates because it's not easy to try them on! A good pair of skate can not be purchased less than $100 I assume but for a beginner like me I guess that is more than enough. I guess I tried at least 5 different ones. I understand why they say Hockey is an expensive sport because to play Hockey you have to add the cost of stick, visor, body armour, shorts and pads and everything else as well.

(Photo: I got a pair of Bauer skates and a CCM certified(!) helmet which is valid until 2017. I did not know that the helmets should be re-certified! Rather than that I paid a damn $5 for sharpening the blades. I have no idea if they are sharp enough, have been sharpened properly and how long they last until they needs sharpening again!)

Earls

We checked out Earls for a dinner a few nights ago. The restaurant looked nice but like many others there was no table cloth and the surface had numerous scratches. Something that I hate the most. Not tidy and nice. We did not have to wait for a long time to be seated although the restaurant was quite crowded. You could see the outer layer(!) of the kitchen from the booth that we were sited. F. F. mentioned that they had too many chefs and helpers. They barely could move! They also had more than enough waiters and waitresses. You could see that they were standing together in groups of 2 or 3 and talking. We went through the menu from A to Z to find something worth eating with a reasonable price. There was barely anything. The food was basically what you can get in most of Western style restaurants here: Stake, Hamburger, Pasta and few other types of sandwiches and of course appetizers, soups and salad. The food here usually starts with wine or any other similar drink and then a appetizer and then entree comes which soup and salad could be part of it or a helper. And of course at the end you will have your dessert. So we tried to summarize all in one good meal. We ordered a type of Stake and insisted that we wanted it fully cooked and not red or pink inside and a kind of Pizza which had shrimp and waited. The food came not too late and we were both surprised at the first. The Stake was probably not even as big as the size of my palm and I gotta insist that I do not have big hands. A small pile of mushroom which was covered with a type of sauce was on the top of the meat. They claim that sauce is made of Bourbon. I don't know if that is true because I have never or better to say had never tried Bourbon. But it tasted fine. There was a small pile of mashed potato and a few small pieces of squash or pumpkin, may be and that was it. The Pizza was the size of Pizza that you would get as personal in regular Pizza franchises but again tasted OK but it was not whole wheat crust. F. F. was quite disappointed and I could see that she was not happy with the quantity. So overall we paid approximately $27 for the Stake and $15 for the Pizza and adding tip and tax brought our bill to $45 and left the restaurant half full! F. F. said not to go with even 10% tip because she really was not satisfied with the quantity and the quality was only OK to her. I explained that people would usually make their stomach full with drinks and appetizers and then when a meal like this comes, they do not stay hungry! But will end up with a bill probably 2 times bigger than ours!

Tin Tin

We finally saw Tin Tin in 3D this week. I had planned for this for months! It was a little late because we had a few failed attempts. I had forgotten the story completely. I just knew it was about a ship called Unicorn. I had read the story probably more than 50 times but that was more than 25 years ago. I had a good collection of Tin Tin books but then I lost them one by one through years when I grew up. But I still have to in English! One that we bought in London when I was a little kid and is called The Red Sea Sharks and the other one I bought here from Indigo a few years ago for some $14 and called The Blue Lotus. It was a good movie and a good 3D and we enjoyed but at the same time a little tiring. I guess we sat in the theatre for almost 2 hours. That included the commercials and preview of course.

(Photo: Tin Tin, Captain Haddock and the little Snowy in the movie The Secret of Unicorn by Spielberg)

Ice Skating

I finally started learning a kind of sport that I had never tried or never had the opportunity to try before I came to Canada. I started learning Ice Skating today. I wanted to buy a pair of skates but decided to rent for the first session just to see how I feel. The first class, for me as someone who has never been on the ice was good. I learned the basics and managed not to fall until the last minutes of the practice which happened two times! I didn't get hurt, of course. This sports needs lots of practice, like any others and I will buy a pair of skates and will practice as soon as practicable. The cost of the program, I can not say now, if it is reasonable or not. I believe I have paid $100 plus GST for 10 sessions and every session is 45 minutes. So it is obvious that everything is left to the students to learn. You have to add the cost of the damn parking or transit, if you are not driving, to that. I guess we were lucky that we did not have to drive a lot around and found empty spot in the parking!

(Photo: This picture shows the U of C Olympic Oval where we started our practice and of course the beginners were not skating on the main tracks! Those were for speed skaters and the really skilled one. I had forgotten to take my camera so I used my phone camera)

Colombian Submarines

There was this interesting documentary on History the other night about the small Colombian submarines that the drug dealers use to smuggle Cocaine to the US. I don't know what part of their claim was based on fact but it was said that although these small submarines worth up to $1,000,000 but the profit they make is too much that they get disposed of after delivering their load. At the same time the US Coast Guard was saying that they had found Zinc, I guess, in the boats and since the metal prevents corrosion and oxidization, it could also be concluded that not all the submarines are made for the one-way trip.

One thing that I am certain about is that the US and no other country will ever completely shut down the drug market because if they do, then how the ones who are benefiting from that, will be kept happy?

The documentary conveys that Russian or even possibly American scientist are behind the design and manufacturing of these submarines.

(Photo: This picture that I took from our old Sony Trinitron's screen and you can see the History channel on the bottom right of it, shows one of the Colombian submarines that have been captured by authorities. By looking at the person standing on the boat, you can compare the size of this submarine to the regular ones used by navy forces around the world. The size and simplicity of the design makes it very impossible to be detected by Radar and other devices used by coast guards and anti-drug authorities)