A Life Lesson From Golf.

I'm a golf fanatic. Well not like I used to be but I love the game and I've been trying to get my golf game to the point of being able to compete in my local amateur championship. I've been playing golf seriously for about 4 years and I am about a 12 handicap. Last year I practiced hard. In a week I would go to the range before work about 3 times and play at least one round. I showed vast improvements in my score for the first little while, but then my score dropped and was getting worse. I finally stopped playing for about a month. I couldn't even watch it on the T.V. (ask anyone who knows me how much golf I used to watch). All that practice and no improvement. I was set to give up.
When I started playing again it was towards the end of the season and I was left to go to the indoor practice range and stew all winter on my bad playing. When spring finally rolled around my friend and I again started our weekly round of golf. I had only beat him once or twice in the last three years. Something happened this year though. I started beating him on a fairly regular basis without trying nearly as hard as I used to.
We are now pretty close to even, meaning I now beat him about as much as he beats me (we're very competitive so that's a good thing).
What did I learn? I learned that even though while I was practicing so hard last year and didn't seem to be getting better, I actually was. I've realized, this year that I am no longer intimidated by the "hard holes" at the golf courses I play. I don't think about my swing as much now either because I spent so much time working on it last year that it just comes natural and I actually hit the ball with a good amount of consistency. And to think that I almost gave up.

So the moral of the story...

The next time I put a lot of effort into something (anything it doesn't really matter what), and I don't feel like I'm making any progress, I will step back and really check to make sure. Sometimes, because progress usually happens in small doses, we don't always notice it. Sort of like gaining or losing weight. One day you just look in the mirror and you suddenly notice the change.

The next time you're ready to give up, have a look in the mirror...or....go have a game of golf and reflect on your progress for a while.

Sorry no post......

No post today but here's a quote about Canada that I found.

I once drove back through southern Manitoba at night. I was stunned by the beauty the prairies can offer. I remember the sleepy farming towns at rest - a reminder of the legacy of honest, hard working people who built a nation.

Duane W. Berke

Here's another one....

I want to thank all the Canadians who came out today to wave to me - with all five fingers!

President George W. Bush (during his first visit to Ottawa Nov. 30, 2004)

More Toys Get Recalled...

I was commenting on the China toy crisis earlier.
There has been another recall on toys due to the same problem.

One of particular interest to me is the Thomas and Friends toy train with wood track. This also happens to be one of my son's favorites. Guess who won't be happy.

Well I just wanted to pass this one to everybody.

You can read about the new toy recalls on the CBC website.

Old Friends and New. Let them know what you do!!!

Yesterday I was helping a friend who owns a wedding planning company. We were setting up at the venue and I heard someone call my name. It turned out to be an old friend of mine who I hadn't seen in about 3-4 years. I was very excited to see him. He is the food and beverage manager for the hotel we were working in. We got to talking, I told him that I am a bartender and I own my own clothing biz. After he left, I got talking to his assistant. Long story short, it looks like I'll have a sweet bartending "gig" once in a while for functions at the hotel.

When you meet old friends, always be sure to let them know what you've been up to and make sure you ask them. Not only did I get to talk to a good old friend, but I may have found some extra work in my spare time (which will help both of us), and new client for my business.

Promoting your self is a good idea not only for old friends but new ones as well. You never know who you might be able to help, or who might be able to help you (either in business or in life). As long as your not just trying to make a "sale". Nothing is worse than trying to talk to someone who seems like they're only trying to sell you something. It annoys me to no end.

Energy Efficient Lights: If you can't beat 'em, change 'em.

I just can't seem to get my family to turn out the lights when they leave a room (or the house half the time). I explain how it will save on our energy bill time after time and it still goes on. Well, I've finally decided to take some drastic measures. I'm taking all the light bulbs out of the house....and replacing them with compact florescent lights (CFL's). Actually I bought a pack of four today while we were at the grocery store and put them in the rooms where the lights are on the most. The pack cost me about ten bucks. At first I thought that was a little steep, but then I found out that they last 8-10 times longer than a regular incandescent. I bought the 13 watt CFL's which send out the same amount of light as a 60 watt incandescent. I plan to replace about 4 bulbs per week.
They have a fairly large variety from warm to cool light and you can get ones that match other regular bulb wattages as well. I'm hoping to see a noticeable difference in our energy bill next month. Well, probably the month after that since this month is almost over. Since CFL's use about 1/3 the power of an incandescent I should see my bill drop. A friend of mine has these all over his house and swears his electric bill is around $25 a month. That might be a little far fetched but not entirely impossible.

An average house uses 30 light bulbs and costs the home owner around $200 per year (using incandescent bulbs). This particular government (of Canada) website claims that CFL's is 1/4 the energy as an incandescent bulb.
So that would be a savings of $150 per year.
Even if a CFL used only 1/3 of the energy that would be a savings of $133 per year.

What about the fact that CFL's cost $10 for 4 bulbs. Well, these bulbs last 5-7 years.
28 bulbs would cost you about $70 bucks. You would still be saving money in the first year and then have 4-6 more years of savings from the same bulbs.
Over 5 years you would be saving:
1/3 power= $595
1/4 power=$680

That's a huge savings if you ask me.



Not to mention the environmental benefits:

Reduces Air and Water Pollution: Replacing a single incandescent bulb with a CFL will keep a half-ton of CO2 out of the atmosphere over the life of the bulb. If everyone in the U.S. used energy-efficient lighting, we could retire 90 average size power plants. Saving electricity reduces CO2 emissions, sulfur oxide and high-level nuclear waste.

Consumerism Commentary - Blog Log (NEW!)

I read a quite a few blogs on a regular basis and I'm always looking for more good ones. I'm sure some of you wouldn't mind finding some new ones too. So, I've decided that, ever so often, I will highlight one of the blogs I read (or one that I came across that seems interesting).
I'll call it.......dant,dant daaa........the "Blog Log" I'm not sure about the name but it will stand for now.

So the first blog to gain my stamp of approval is one that I read Called Consumerism Commentary written by Flexo.
It's a great PF blog that he started to help him track his personal finances over time. He has over 4000 readers and now has another author that posts on the site as well.

Check this one out! It has a ton of useful financial information (something for everyone) and he does giveaways when he can.

Oh and I'm not just saying all this because I recently won something in one of his contests.......lol
It really is a good blog!

Irregular Income? Two ways to budget!

I was reading a blog over at Get Rich Slowly about budgeting on an irregular income. He had a good Idea about putting commissions in an online bank account and scheduling automatic deposits into his real accounts for living expense (after he's figured out how much he needs to live on). The rest just stays in the online account collecting interest until it has a use.

I realized that I do something similar.
I work for wages and tips, so a portion of my income (the wage) is regular. Here's what I do to make the tip part regular: I average out my tips (on a daily basis). I add that up for one month. I then take a dollar amount that is a little lower that the average. Um....say 85% of the Monthly average (the other 15% is used as a buffer because everybody has a bad week or month). This monthly total is then added on to my regular wage for the month. This is the magic number. I use this amount for all of my living expenses (bills, food, savings etc). I usually come out with a little extra. It really does work great.
If I'm under the average then I have the 15% buffer that I left myself from my tips to cover. If I'm over average then it's all gravvvy! I can add extra to the savings or what ever I want.
The even better thing is that I don't count any of the income that my clothing business makes. Granted it's a small business that hasn't generated a great amount of money but I'm working on that. I have an order coming up that's way bigger than what I have done in the past so it will be bringing in some decent money here and there. The great thing is that it's all free to put on loans or savings.

So there you have it. It is entirely possible to budget on an irregular income. I just gave you two ideas..........

Quote of the day: Don't forget others

"He who wished to secure the good of others, has already secured his own."

--Confucius



It's always important to look after others that we meet in our journeys. You never know when they might have to look after you either in business or in life!

Strongest Canadian Tornado in Eli Manitoba (F5)

CBC news reported that a tornado on June 22 was officially classed as an F5 on the Fujita scale (that's 419 - 512km folks). That makes it the strongest recorded tornado ever in Canada. It was originally classified as an F4 I believe. According to the article, there have only be F4's. ---You know what's weird.......The story about it just came on my news channel-----
Anyway. I found a video that shows the life and death of it. It's shortened down quite a bit because the tornado lasted 30 min but the video is still 8 min so it might be a little long for some of you. Forward it to around 5 min and check some of it out if you don't have time to look at the whole thing. The guy in it seemed to want to stand right in front of it sometimes but over all it's pretty good.




Here is a link to it ripping a house apart(I think it was a house).
This is another one that shows more of how violent it was
Finally here are a bunch of pics of the tornado and the damage done. This was cool. It's called Eli's Coming

There are a ton of videos about the Eli tornado on Youtube if you wanna check them out.




This video is a rap song a couple of the guys from the Town made up the day of the tornado. It's kind of entertaining in a geeky sort of way and I probably shouldn't put it on here.



Amazingly (and thankfully) no one was killed in it.

We had six tornadoes that weekend and 11 for the year (I just heard that on my news channel....lol).

There you have it. Canadian history was made this year! The downside to this is that I live in Canada's tornado ally (connected to the U.S. one). They seem to be coming more frequently. Did I mention six in one weekend?

Do you have your fall to do list?

Another season is upon us and that brings with it a sometimes large list of thing to do before the winter cold sets in. Not that I'm trying to put a damper on the new season, because I do like fall. The colors are beautiful and after the leaves have fallen, there is something to be said for the stoic bareness of the trees and everything else. Grey..... For me it's an inspiring view that forces my thoughts to create their own colors. In other words, it's good thinking weather. Ok, on to the post.
Far to many times I've found that the snow was falling and I still had way too much stuff that needed to be done. Today I was steam cleaning our house and started thinking about all the stuff I still have to do. I thought I would write my to do list as a post. Sometimes a Reminder of what needs to be done is a good thing.
Here goes...

-Steam clean the carpets.
-Put plastic over the windows to keep some of that -30 degree Celsius weather from creeping in.
-Change the oil and put antifreeze in the vehicles. It's also good to get a tune/check up just to make sure you're vehicles are in top shape for the long season. It sucks not having a car for a few days in the winter, although it is good for the environment (-:
-If you don't have all season tires, put the winter tires on.
-Rake the yard. This year I'm going to cut the grass when the leaves are half fallen to mulch the leaves. Environmentally friendly fertilizer. Wink..Wink. Oh, when we used to have a garden I would also put a bed of leaves over it and mix them into the soil in the spring.
-Clean the apostrophe after all the leaves have hit the ground.
-Put all the outside stuff away. Garden tools, lawn mower, kids toys, bikes, patio stuff, etc...
-If you live in the county or beside a large field don't forget to put up a snow fence.
-Rid the basement and the rest of the house of things you don't need. Winter is long and we will spend a lot of time indoors. The more space the better.
-Locate your winter jackets, scarves, gloves, etc. It's nice to remember where you put them when you actually need them. Cleaning them is good too. Have you ever put on last year's scarf without washing it? How did that smell?
-Make sure the outside doors are sealed properly to save on your energy bill. I hate freezing my ass off in the dead of winter trying to put the weather stripping on.
-Take the air conditioner out of the window or cover up your central one.
-Locate the winter shovels and get your snow blower ready if you have one. I don't have one, but one of these years...
-If you have growing children, check to make sure last year's winter clothes still fit.
-Put the rubber mats by the doors(for snow from winter boots).
-Winter mats in the vehicles.

Well, that's my list for now. I'm sure I'll think of about 50 things I forgot once the snow comes.
Oh ya, one more thing to the list.
-Make sure to get as many rounds of golf in before the snow comes....

Housing Costs in Canada Go Down

Good news for people (like me) wanting to buy a house soon. According to an article on the CBC new's website, the average price of a house in Canada has decreased by $6600 in August. Before you get too excited though, you should know that the average price of buying a house in August was still 11% higher than last year at the same time. In the article they also show the average of the major markets in Canada .
We are wanting to buy our first house before April so we are keeping our fingers crossed that it will keep decreasing for a while. I won't get my hopes up though.



Picture fromthe Cox Crow blog

China or U.S. - Who's Responsible For The Toys

There's been alot of talk about the recalled toys from China. I'm sure it's affected China's expots as a whole (but that's just speculation. It's kind of funny though that western media is so fast to linch Chinese toymakers. You would think that there would be some type of regulations on testing toys that are being sold to our innocent children.
It turns out that all the blame cannot be lain on China alone. I know. How dare I suggest that it may be not be China's fault entirely. What can I say, I'm a bad person.
Big business is a cutthroat business and I found an article that shows how big U.S business may be the root cause for the lead in China's toys.
In the blog called Money, Matters, and More Musings, the author recently wrote this: Who Is Responsible For Lead In Toys.

At least someone is taking a look at the real story. Give it a Read and see what you think.

A 12 year old saving the planet.

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Severn Suzuki speaking at UN Earth Summit 1992.
I 'm presumming that this is David Susuki's daughter.
It's inspiring and still holds true today.
Apparently she's still at it too. Here's some tips for living more of a green lifestyle.

I'm just testing to see if I can blog from my cell phone. If you're reading this then it worked.

I love my phone!

Kevin
KrazyCanadianClothing

The Winds of Change (What! He actually posted something!)

I"M CHANGING....
...or at least this blog is. I haven't made a post since April 11th or something crazy like that. I was writing a lot about some financial stuff and I guess I got board of it. It takes a lot to hold my attention for a long time (must be my A.D.D.....lol).
I started reading some blogs again as of late and kind of got the itch again. I won't have any specific topics and I will post when ever, but I will try to write on some sort of regular basis.

For those of you who read my post Not Handing Over the Cash! The Unpaid Parking Ticket Experiment (Part One). I have still not received any more letters or any type of contact from the parking ticket people. Cool or what?

That's it
I'll leave most of the older posts up in case anyone wants to check those out.

Until next time then......