Category: Uncategorized

About two Sundays ago I was just sitting on my ass doing a whole lot of nothing when I decided I should probably salvage the day and do something productive. I hadn’t done my taxes yet but all my documents and receipts were available to me so there wasn’t really any reason to delay it. Since I also was expecting a refund, waiting just meant I was just delaying getting that money to me. It took about an hour but it was pretty straightforward as I was using TurboTax. Whoa, this is scary but I think this is the seventeenth straight year that I’ve used software to help me do my taxes. I’ve never done a tax return by hand ever.

Anyways, my refund was deposited into my bank account yesterday. It was almost a thousand dollars more than my average refund amount. This was mostly because I accidentally bought an extra RRSP contribution near the end of the tax year. In any case, I now am wondering what to do with this money. I’m leaning heavily towards putting towards my mortgage. Other plans could include buying more RRSPs for this tax year. Perhaps this could be used for a vacation? There’s always the stereotypical hookers and cocaine but that is so out of style these days.

This is a good problem to have. I shall keep thinking of ideas.

So I take the Skytrain to work every morning. The nature of the automated transit system and its frequency means that it’s basically impossible for any one train to arrive at the exact time every day. If even one person hold the door open for an extra second could mean a slightly altered schedule.

Where I catch the train going westbound, the trains come from two routes. Along the Expo line, the trains will come from the lovely community of Surrey, which is separated from the rest of Vancouver by water. In a way, Surrey is a lot like Manhattan in Escape From New York where New York has been turned into a maximum security prison island filled with degenerate criminals. Along with the fine citizens from Surrey, trains from there will also be considerably more crowded than from the other route.

The other trains come from Burnaby along the Millennium Line. These trains are way less crowded since people going westbound would have taken this route going the other way, instead of looping around to my station. These are the trains I look to take every morning because there are hardly any people on them.

Now I leave my apartment every morning at approximately the same time, with a variance of perhaps plus or minus five minutes. The trains at that time of day come with the frequency of anything between twenty seconds to perhaps three minutes. No matter what time I leave, it seems like nine times out of ten, the train I see pulling away from the station as I walk towards the platform is the empty one from Burnaby. My luck doesn’t run out there as invariably, the next train to arrive will be a super crowded one from Surrey.

I can’t seem to figure out why this seems to happen so frequently. Given the variability in the time I leave my apartment and the variability in the train arrival times, there should be more randomness in which type of train I see first.

Sometimes I try to slap luck in the face and let the first train go by without getting on. Almost invariably, the second train will be an almost empty one. Why? Why does this happen?

I started feeling a bit under the weather this afternoon. It began with a general malaise which turned into a bit of an aching of muscles all over. Then the headache started which hasn’t let up since. I took an Advil about an hour ago so we’ll see if that helps. I’ve felt worse but this doesn’t feel like a cold or a flu, well maybe the flu.

I wonder how I’ll feel in the morning. I hope a good night of sleep will chase this away.

So my apartment has a fairly large balcony and over the fall and winter, it has progressively gotten dirtier and dirtier. It’s amazing how dirty it can be just from the dust that the wind deposits on it. Cleaning it should be a simple mop and bucket procedure, much like a tiled floor, but alas, it is not. The problem is that while my balcony has a drain, the drain doesn’t go to a very smart place. You’d think the drain goes to a pipe and that pipe runs along side the building to the ground or something. It does not. The drainage pipe isn’t even that long and extends just over the edge of the balcony. So if I were to dump a bucket of water on my balcony, all the water would go over the edge and possibly down to the balcony below and mostly to the sidewalk.

It’s because of this that my strata has forbidden people to use a mop and a bucket of water to wash their balconies. The amount of water a person would normally use would soak people below. We’ve been instructed to use a damp mop and not pour water from the bucket. This is stupid. It’s like requiring us to use a moist toilette to clean the balcony. That just won’t cut it especially where the dirt has turned my balcony surface black in some areas.

Over the winter though, I thought of an idea. I could use a heavy rainstorm to mask the water falling from my balcony. That way, people won’t know where the water is coming from exactly. Ok, so it’s not a perfect plan because the amount of water coming from my balcony is a tad larger than say raindrops but it’s better than nothing. This week it got warm enough to be comfortably outside and it also started raining heavily today. The rain is supposed to continue all weekend so I think this is my chance.

Apartment living I tell ya!

As a testament to the enduring class and absolute professionalism that Conan O’Brien possesses, the late night host took time from his own show to congratulate Jimmy Fallon on getting The Tonight Show in 2014. I apologize for putting up two Conan videos in two days but this was a truly kind gesture on his part and I wanted to show that here.

I have a lot more to say about how all this went down but I need considerable more time to write a proper post. This won’t surprise my long-time readers but guess what? I still think Jay Leno is a dick and he continues to be a dick.

In the above clip, former Vancouver resident and comedian Seth Rogen tells Conan O’Brien about a flight that involved a hangover, an herbal brownie, and an Angry Whopper. I wonder if he was departing from YVR because there’s a Burger King right by the international departure gates.

As I wrote previously, I took a day off today to extend my three-day long weekend into four full days. I’d never really done that before but I’m now wondering why I didn’t do it more often.

The extra day was really noticeable I was able to get a lot done over the four full days. I cleaned my apartment up, did my taxes, and saw my parents. This last day wasn’t too productive but I got out in the sun for a bit and was just generally lazy.

I’m looking forward to next long weekend where I can extend it again by another day.

On the weekend I went to Daiso, a Japanese store known for its high-quality and cheap household items. Nearly all the items in the store are $2. You might think these products are of dollar store quality, meaning crappy, but that’s not the case. You’d be surprised at what $2 can get you.

Because of the price, I bought a whole bunch of items I didn’t really need. I bought a USB cable for my phone just in case the five I already have weren’t enough. I also got a flashlight that you can power by hand, which seems like a good idea for emergencies. The most interesting item I purchased is what you see above. For some reason, they sell these tiny, mini-vises. That’s a poker chip in the photo for size reference. I have no current use for a small vise but I decided I wanted one. Perhaps I’ll find a use some day.

So I received in the mail today a letter from my bank, CIBC. The letter informed me that they were going to lower the interest rate for my VISA card from 20% for purchases and 22% for cash advances to 8% for both, effective April, 2013.

I was immediately skeptical of this decision. The primary function of a bank is to make money and to do so in a manner that is most efficient for the bank. I don’t begrudge them for that. Banks don’t exist to help people out or make their lives easier. That may happen as a side effect of making money but that’s not why they exist. Keeping that in mind, it seems odd they would be doing this to me. Lowering the rate, theoretically makes them less money from me.

It didn’t take long for me to realize this was CIBC’s strategy to “shake the tree” a bit. So let’s look at my VISA account. I don’t carry a monthly balance. Outside of my mortgage, I don’t have any debit. I pay off my VISA bill every month so CIBC makes no money off my balance. It’s been like that for well over five years. I guess CIBC analyzed my account and realized for the foreseeable future I wouldn’t be generating them any money through my VISA card. It didn’t matter if my interest rate was 5% or 50%. They decided to lower the rate in the hopes that I’d see the allure of cheaper credit and the lower cost of borrowing. CIBC is trying to make it seem more attractive to spend money that I don’t have. Maybe I was holding back on buying a new TV because I didn’t want to pay 20% interest but now at 8%, that’s a little more reasonable. The letter even states that with a lower rate, I can use my card “more often”. Perhaps if I use my card more, I’ll start carrying a balance month to month now.

From my point of view, I won’t turn them down. I’m glad the interest rate is much lower now. If for some reason I need to start carrying a balance, that’s money saved right there. It’s a bit of a larger safety net. I won’t, however, look at this as a green light to start making more purchases. Who wants a new TV?!!?!?!

The date slipped by me on Sunday but this domain is now thirteen years-old. According to Wolfram Alpha, this domain has now been in existence for exactly thirteen years and three days. The Internet was a way different place in the year 2000 and I expect it to be even more different thirteen years from now. I’m sure holograms will be the next big thing.