Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Free Taxes.
Must be my lucky day (times three)!
- Was tested and won.
- The Government is giving me back all the money that I’ve already paid them (this year).
- I was reporting my earnings, expenses and charitable donations to Mr. Martin’s posse using UFile.ca. Since I’m certainly not poor enough to claim "poor boy status", UFile was going to charge me for doing my taxes online… …seconds before I dished out the cash I found a link: "Students File for Free". Woo hoo!
So after paying something like $10/term (for several years), I have saved $14.95+tax. Not quite even-Steven, though still a victory for the good guys.
Yes, so you want to file free taxes too, eh? Well, palm that mouse, giddy-up, and ride the left clicker right on through to
HERE. [yea-haw cowperson]. :|
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Thursday, April 21, 2005
Television v.s. Sleep, round 28
Last night was long, er, longer than expected. Just before heading to sleep Paula gifted me an awesome present: Trailer Park Boys DVD. Deciding to watch all of the special features, extended cuts and director interviews kept me up long enough to be caught in the middle of a late-night movie as I was turning off the television before heading upstairs. Thinking I had recognized the scenery, I turned the TV back on only to find out that the movie was
The James Mink Story -- a movie that was filmed at
Upper Canada Village while I was working there back in 1996.
During the filming I remember talking to a character who played a Quaker minister, his conversations packed a whole lot of wit and there was lots of time to visit between takes that were set up around the Lutheran pastor's home. Only after seeing the film again last night did I realize that it was Wayne Robson. I thought I recognized him on a few things (Red Green & other shows) but didn’t realize we had met.
So I watched the rest of the movie, then I turned to the TV listings channel to check the time and it was disheartening how much time I had spent in front of the television. I was surprised that TVO was still airing shows in the wee hours of the morning, so I clicked "0 2" and DISASTER! It was a documentary. I was hooked in less than five seconds. Damn you TVO. What’s worse - it was a good documentary. What’s worse – it was a rarely aired documentary. I could not turn it off. I should have taped it. Damn you TVO for not airing breaks so I could properly arm my VCR.
Oh well, not the end of the world I suppose, just an hour of my time. Luckily, it was well worth viewing.
SURPLUS has to be the best Swedish documentary I’ve seen to date. Erik and Johan’s style of editing reminded me a lot of
Concrete TV. For some strange reason (
operant conditioning perhaps?) my generation just eats that stuff up.
mmm, delish.
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Saturday, April 16, 2005
Store Bought
I exercised the purchasing power of a $25 gift certificate (Christmas Gift – Thanks Aunt Sue!). Wanting to use my power for good, I skipped over the celebrity gossip/breasts section, walked passed the fiction (my apologies to any Toronto harley marketers – that’s just not my bag, baby) and found myself amongst some hard-covered non-fiction.
First stop was the “Marketing” section, and to no surprise it was all about sell/buy/consume/repeat. I looked through Paco Underhill’s new book and several others. What surprised me the most is how many times I saw “
Adbusters Magazine” mentioned in some of these marketing magazines! Adbuster’s circulation is under 100,000, but it really seems to be influencing the Yankee authors of these marketing books… That’s pretty cool & as Mark Coté would say: “Heh heh heh…”
Next shelf over were a bunch of Economic books. As one of the FEW people who have attended some of the econ lectures, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to browse through a few of the titles. I’m glad I did too, since I ended up buying the first book I saw: “The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability” by Paul Hawken.
As far as economists are concerned, the world’s problems boil down to one thing: The top quintile (20%) of the world’s population – currently around 1.3 billion people – metabolize 82.7% of the world’s resources, leaving the balance of 17.3% of resources for the remaining 5.4 billion people.
The book discusses how we’re not necessarily screwed, so long as we understand the problem and work towards sustainability. In short, big business can remain capitalist pigs while doing what’s right for the environment and its resources.
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Thursday, April 14, 2005
Posh Chicken Coop
So are you a yuppie that yearns for the country land than your sub-urban neighborhood was built on? Here's a great way to begin raising some food for the family, and it is just stylish enough to match your iMac and Ikea furniture.
The
EGLU is a unique little house for two laying hens. Your family will profit close to a dozen eggs per week and be one-up on the Jones' (who are still bragging about their
solar garden lanterns).
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Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Bike’s out
It was the first beautiful no-coat day of spring here in Ottawa. Already the
Tulip Festival ads have sprung and it’s only a matter of time before I invest $25 in an all-concert pass (Hawksley, Boy, Joel Plaskett, The Sadies, Glengarry Bhoys and many more [even Lowest of the Low]).
I can’t wait that long to get out of the house though, so today I decided to switch vehicles & I took the bike off it’s blocks and enjoyed some fresh air… ..fresh wet air on the way home.
Not sure which season I enjoy most -- perhaps it’s just the
change of seasons that I enjoy. Either way, I’m glad that the patios are re-opening downtown since they provide one of the best places for sitting with friends to people watch and get into some good conversations to solve the world’s problems.
I forced myself to stay in tonight to have a break from work and catch up on some rented dvds… I’m glad I did too! Quote from The Unbelievable Truth:
“So come on, what d’ya say? I know what you need.”, “Excuse me?”,“you need a woman”, “Oh?”, “That girl’s crazy”, “I know, but I like her”, “but she’s leaving town.”, “So I’ve heard.”, “So come on, what d’ya say? I know what you need.”, “Excuse me?”…
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Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Eunoia
A quick study break to discover that a whole book has been written using only ONE vowel per chapter.
Christian Bök had more time on his hands than I do now... ...at least I can enjoy the consequence of his conviction. [NOTES: Chapter "O" is my favorite so far, Chapter "I" makes me feel claustrophobic, Chapter "U" is alien]
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Monday, April 04, 2005
Busy day today:
- Went to a hi-tech trade show at the Corel Center last week & today I won a director’s chair from one of the show’s sponsors.
- Saw a great line on some junkmail… Blacks Photography [club] Flier: “Love Photography? Join the club!”
- Read Jessica’s well-written blog and realized that in my current state of mind (focused on finishing a marketing report) I am in no position to say anything intelligent about the subject. Instead I will use today’s blog to contrast her thought-inspiring, well-written post with a link to a lighter subject –
the solar death ray.
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Friday, April 01, 2005
Media Fun.
Procrastination came to an abrupt halt thanks to my current endeavors. In the past two days I’ve had less than 4 hours of sleep with so much to do. Time is ticking down on our marketing team’s deadline to present a good-sized plan for a whitewater rafting company just outside of Ottawa. It is not as if our team of six have not been doing any work, in fact, it’s quite the opposite. We have been doing a LOT of work and a LOT of research, leaving us with a LOT to sort, organize, edit and format before handing in our report. Below is just a taste of some of the hard work coming together for our final proposal, due in just a few weeks…
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bloggery gone awry
, 11:49 a.m.
J.Garlough, 12:38 a.m.
