Supafamous

Calling on Gospel to Call Off Debt - washingtonpost.com

Given a Shovel, Digging Deeper into Debt - NYTimes.com

When it comes to money (these are bedrock rules):

• A mortgage and a car (to a limited extent) should be the only long term debt you carry.
• All other debt should be debt you can pay off in 3-4 months.
• If it takes more than 3-4 months to pay off then you need to save for it
• Spend no more than what you take in
• Don’t carry a credit card balance
• If you consolidate your debt, don’t lower the payments, you’ll just end up paying way more interest.
• Rent if housing prices are crazy. Buy when they are not. Houses should not be treated as investments, they are your homes.
• Save money each month. Sock away something and have the bank automatically do it for you. Even if it’s $50/month.

Rules that are nice to follow:

• If you save any sizable amount put half in savings and half into your mortgage.
• Low risk is a GIC but find out if the interest rate is higher than the inflation rate. You’ll lose money otherwise.
• Buy used cars. Unless you love cars.
• Carry 1 credit card. No more. One bill each month lets you easily see what you’re spending.
• Avoid cash purchases - easier to see where your money is going if all transactions are tracked.
• Learn to cook and cook often.

Things to consider:

• Expensive wine does tastes better but save it for Saturday night. The $10 bottle is quite good during the week. Or drink water.
• Stop off at your parents and steal stuff. Then wash their dishes for them. They’ll appreciate you saying hi and are glad you are frugal enough to steal toilet paper from them.
• Shop at Costco and buy slabs of meat/fish and freeze serving sizes. You’ll save heaps.
• Shop at Walmart. Sure, they enslave Americans but they’re cheap.
• Beef is expensive. Eat chicken and pork. Or go vegetarian or eat lots of veggies. Industrial farming causes global warming.
• Your spending kills trees and polar bears. Stop it.
• Use microfibre cloths. You can throw out most of your cleaners once you do.
• It’s okay to splurge. Just track it and decide if that’s what you really want. I buy NICE flowers for my girlfriend (no Safeway flowers for her) and I like ordering dessert.

Seriously middle class people, live within your means. Middle class doesn’t mean buying 2 SUVs or owning a huge house. It means using common sense and buying a middle class vehicle and using less than premium brand name products (unless it’s toilet paper, my ass is treated like a king).

When I say I’m poor I mean that I’m not saving at least 5% of my salary and that I’m skipping the 3rd beer at the bar (or something like that). It doesn’t mean I carry a balance (I never have) and that I’m refinancing anything. If you’re living beyond your means either stop spending so much or find a job that pays better (unless you’re poor - you have it hard).

P.S. Americans are stupid with money.

Unless you were hiding in a dark room in Vancouver you are probably aware that Vancouver experienced a bit of a power outage in the downtown core about 3 days ago for which repairs have only recently been completed (so I believe).

The local media is participating in their usual array of poor reporting that panders to the stupid and ignorant (is there any good news coverage in BC?). The bulk of the coverage is about how people want compensation from BC Hydro for their losses and how BC Hydro isn’t doing their job while none of the coverage talks about whose fault it really was:

YOU. (especially if you voted NDP)

You didn’t want to pay the taxes and fees that would allow BC Hydro to do the job they wanted to do in maintaining their infrastructure so you get power outages. And when BC Hydro does have money to build something that will power our infrastructure you end up organizing protests against the construction of much needed power systems. You elected government officials who froze BC Hydro rates for 10 years such that it meant BC Hydro was essentially broke and left the province in a power deficit for the first time in several decades and which is now causing rate increases that are double the rate of inflation.

This situation is merely a reflection of what seems to be happening all the time now. Nobody seems to be in the business of telling the truth anymore. High fuel prices? It’s the oil companies fault, not your fault for buying a gas guzzler. You’re fat? It’s McDonald’s fault. You got lung cancer? Tobacco companies. Got in a car accident? Not your fault that you didn’t get proper driver training. Can’t hit the fairways? It’s the driver’s fault.

Doesn’t anyone take responsibility anymore? Are so many people so willfully ignorant of basic economics, politics and basic reasoning that they can’t understand concepts of supply and demand that drive the price of food or that the pollutants they use are the ones that are causing man boobs?

Bush: ‘Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over’ | The Onion - America’s Finest News Source

Remember this? The current nightmare is almost over and Paul Krugman rightly points out that it’s year 8 of the Onion era, the era where the Onion’s news is more accurate than what mainstream media is reporting. The same could be said about the Daily Show though.

Of course there’s this instant classic from the Onion.

McCain & The Internets - Yahoo! News

First it was President Bush telling us that he uses “The Google” which the Onion mocked but now Americans are looking at voting for a candidate who admits he is computer illiterate. WTF? I’m pretty sure computers were invented in the 20th century.

I don’t think a President needs to know what Facebook or Twitter is but I would hope that they are able to go to NYTimes.com and have a read.

Ernie and I walked out of a Swiss Chalet today. Walking out of a restaurant is something I’ve never had to do before but I didn’t have the patience for the BS that they called service today. My letter to Swiss Chalet:

Hi,

I’m writing to let you know what happened to myself and my brother when we tried to eat at the Burnaby location. We arrived around 1:15pm and were seated right away. What happened next was that none of the 5 waitresses working in the restaurant came by to say hi to take our order for a period exceeding 10 minutes, closing on 15 minutes.

The restaurant wasn’t busy and our table location was right next to the till and the kitchen area. During this whole time waitresses regularly walked by our table and on a couple occasions all 5 waitresses were congregated around the till no more than 8-10 feet away from our table. Not one of them wondered whose table it was during that time.

Both my brother and I view a “hi” as basic service that we shouldn’t have to ask for and tired of waiting we walked out. As we walked out one of the waitresses finally took note and as we walked past the host she asked the host whose table it was, he replied that he didn’t know and thought that it was hers. She responded by saying that she should have been told. We didn’t hear the rest of the conversation as we had left by then to go eat elsewhere.

Whether she knew it was our table or not isn’t really the issue, it is that on a quiet day that 5 waitresses would stand around within 10 feet of us and not notice that no one had said hi, brought us water or noticed that our menus were closed and that we were waiting to order. Could one of them not have said to another, “Whose table is that, have they been helped yet?” This probably would have been acceptable if the restaurant was busy but not when there are no more than 10 tables in use.

This isn’t a letter of complaint, if we wanted to file a complaint I would have asked for the manager at the time but I’ve never felt the need to walk out of a restaurant before. Instead, I’m letting you know that I had a substandard experience and I hope that the restaurant works on staff communication so that in the future the service experience is better for your other customers because I don’t think I’ll be one again for a long time.

cheers,

When Youre All Dressed Up, You Need Somewhere to Go

Another reason why there are West Coast/East Coast wars. Does Vancouver have any “jacket required” restaurants anymore? I figure there’s one or two but I imagine they’re not strict with it or they aren’t among our city’s best restaurants.

Reading the comments I’m fascinated by the elitist snobbery present by so many people. The ones who claim that by you dressing down that you have cheapened their experiences speaks of a level of selfishness that offends my sensibilities. How you dress at an event that I’m also at affects not a bit - you should wear what you think is appropriate and comfortable and I judge you not a bit. If it were my event, say my wedding, then I would be in my right to be offended if you dressed poorly but even then poor or casual dress does not equate with disrespect; you should wear what works for you. You showed respect by being gracious and polite with everyone, not by what you wear.

I’m not against a dress code at restaurants or other fancy events (eg. the opera, weddings, church) but it’s not for me to judge you based on what you want to wear when you go eat. You’re on holiday and it’s summer thus wearing shorts and you happen to be rich and want to eat well? By all means, drop in and grab a bite. I don’t see that as you disrespecting the jacket shod version of me, I dressed up for my own pleasure and I’m going to enjoy my meal as long as you don’t come over and pour a drink on me (or be otherwise openly offensive).

As only a few of the commenters mentioned, the spectrum of dressing does not go from from jacket/dress to flip flops and ratty jeans. There’s actually something in between and a nice pair of jeans and a nice sweater are plenty appropriate (at least on the West coast) and I see nothing wrong with women wearing PANTS to dinner. Ok, that offends me. What century are we in that a woman in a nice restaurant must wear a long dress? If they’re going to insist on a long dress I insist on a heaping of cleavage to go with it.

What say you? Do you believe that if you go to a nice restaurant where you dress up that others must also dress up? Are you pro-dress code? Do you tend to dress sloppy?

For someone who totally sucks at golf I get an unusual number of compliments on the quality of my swing. And not compliments from people suck an equal amount but people who are quality players who shoot in the 70s.

globeandmail.com: B.C. carbon tax kicks in Canada Day

Dear Trish O’Brien,

I know there are other people like you and that the Globe and Mail article only mentions you and Margaret Moon and only includes your respective comments but you’re an idiot (and so are the people that agree with you). Allow me to retort to your stupidity (and that of Ms. Moon) in a childish, offensive manner that retains a factual basis (except for the insults):

“The government should look at themselves first before they look at tackling little guys like me,” said Trish O’Brien as she filled up her fuel efficient Suzuki Aerio.

I hope when the government looks at itself it sees taxpayers and citizens cause that’s who put them in power and who pays the bills. That being the case I hope when they see a major social issue that needs addressing in order to help its citizens that it would implement policies that address those issues. Oh, you know, like GLOBAL WARMING. This applies even when it’s not in the interest of the government in power to do so as the opposition will likely put together a cheap campaign (I’m looking at you Carole James) that’s designed to pander to stupid people who can’t do math ($100 tax rebate is more than $50/yr in carbon tax).

BTW: If you were so environmentally conscious maybe you wouldn’t have bought a Suzuki Aerio, a car with some of the worst fuel economy figures in its class. Maybe you should have gotten a Honda Fit or a Yaris, cars that are similar in size and utility. (Note: I drive a car that has figures worse than her car but it was the most efficient of the choices on my list)

Ms. O’Brien said she wants to see consumer incentives to go green from the government before being hit with taxes.

The government *IS* offering consumer incentives to encourage people to go green, it’s taxing products that are environmentally unsound and thus encouraging to pursue other alternatives to your environmentally destructive ways. You know, like gasoline! The government also has policies in place that encourage people to trade in their polluting old cars for new cars, it’s called Scrap it. Oh snap, you’re a moron.

“I think it’s b.s.,” said Margaret Moon of Victoria. “If they wanted to fight climate change they should have done it a long time ago.”

Yes, since they didn’t start dealing with it 25 years ago when scientists first brought it to our attention they, therefore, shouldn’t do anything about it now despite the science becoming clearer and the effects of it becoming extremely obvious (no Arctic ice this summer? Awesome!). Are you an American that voted Republican?

She said she’s not convinced that fossil fuel use is entirely responsible for global warming, citing past ice ages, and she considers the $100 government cheque a form of hush money. “That’s kind of like giving a baby candy to keep us quite for a while,” said Ms. Moon.

Yes, it’s not entirely fossil fuels fault. It’s all the methane that comes out of your ass you stupid cow. All that methane coming out of your ass (and your fellow cattle) are a significant contributor to global warming and guess who decided to eat tonnes of beef? You! (Note: I’ve largely cut beef out of my diet). So while the match we’ve applied to fossil fuels is not entirely to blame for global warming, it is certainly the greatest cause for it.

As for your ice age suggestion, how does that apply to global warming? The ice age was caused by the *cooling* of the earth, global warming is about the *warming* of the earth. I sure hope you don’t eat cold chicken and drink hot beer.

P.S. Globe and Mail, what stupid writer did you allow to write this? Or what editor decided that an article with no factual standing should be published? Are you guys pro-global warming? Ok, you’re not as bad as Rogers but you’re not making friends with me.

Shopping in US for Canadians is like digging for gold in 1849 San Fran or drilling for oil in the 19th century: you’re going to find stuff you can’t believe.

5qt enamel cast iron dutch ovens for $30? Hellz yeah!
Energy bars for half the Canadian cost? Yep
Dress shirts for half? Of course
Shorts for less than half? Certainly
Wine for half? DAMN!