We're only about two month's away from the US hitting its debt ceiling of 14.3 trillion dollars. Congressionally the US isn't allowed to borrow any more than that amount (the entire wealth of the population of the planet is around 100 trillion dollars - so that means the US owes almost 15% of the entire wealth of the planet in debt). The estimated date of this occurring is sometime in late April of this year I believe. When it does, the US has two options: default on some of their debt obligations, or raise the limit. Raising the limit is financial suicide as the US has clearly demonstrated that ...

Hard to believe, but at this time about a month ago I was boarding a plane in Vancouver to start my big adventure. I was trying to remember my flight down here, and other than a few moments in the airport and on the plane, I don't really recall too much of it. Truthfully it seems like a very long time ago already. I've been in Buenos Aires now for 30 days, and have seen quite a bit of it. A month ago I didn't know how to do laundry, didn't have a phone here, wasn't able to order food in a restaurant, and had no idea where the best places were to get money. Thirty days later I have most of those ...

It's no secret that most of the organized governments in the world are essentially broke. The current debt to GDP ratio in the United States is almost 100%, a fairly incredible number that continues to rise. That number alone indicates that the US is in poor financial shape, and it's not even that accurate a number. For example, the US has a number of off budget items that are technically debt as well - all the Freddy May and Fannie Mac purchases, Social Security (the US has been taking the money every year and basically putting an IOU in its place) and Medicare. If you factor in all of those ...

I tried purchasing an application tonight in iTunes, and received the following error: For Google's benefit: "Please contact iTunes support to complete this transaction". I tried again and again with the same results. Afterwards I tried from my computer and got the same cryptic error message. I contacted Apple iTunes support tonight, and here was their response: Welcome to iTunes Store Customer support. I am Chandan. I understand that you are not able to make purchases from your Account. I will surely help you in resolving the issue. Apple is currently working toward a resolution for ...

As most people on Twitter now know, a dogsledding company in Whistler has recently admitted that it killed 100 of its dogs after demand was less than anticipated after the winter olympics. Instead of euthanizing these animals, allegedly some employee was given the task of killing these animals one by one and then burying them, some apparently while still alive. Obviously this act is causing a lot of people to be upset. I personally think it's an extreme form of cruelty, and that the company and people involved should be punished. These animals should have been offered up to others, or at the very ...

So, I've been in Buenos Aires a little over three weeks now. This last week was pretty uneventful, as I've been working quite a bit and also spending six hours a week in Spanish lessons. Truthfully, I'm probably going to scale the lessons back here shortly, as I'm finding it pretty hard to fit them in and still have time to get out and enjoy the city. So I may scale back to two nights a week, or possibly even one. I also hadn't explicitly budgeted for Spanish lessons, so I don't want to use up all my travel money with lessons, especially since I have quite a few books around here as well as events ...

So, I've been in Buenos Aires a little over three weeks now. This last week was pretty uneventful, as I've been working quite a bit and also spending six hours a week in Spanish lessons. Truthfully, I'm probably going to scale the lessons back here shortly, as I'm finding it pretty hard to fit them in and still have time to get out and enjoy the city. So I may scale back to two nights a week, or possibly even one. I also hadn't explicitly budgeted for Spanish lessons, so I don't want to use up all my travel money with lessons, especially since I have quite a few books around here as well as events ...

Here's a little video update from Buenos Aires using Photobooth. Not entirely sure why I was doing the Stevie Wonder while it was going on, but whatever. I also said my Spanish lessons are $90/month, when they are more like $90/week. But, enjoy! If people like these kind of updates I'll try and do more of them. Video Update: Day 16 in Buenos Aires from Duane Storey on Vimeo. ...

Here's a little video update from Buenos Aires using Photobooth. Not entirely sure why I was doing the Stevie Wonder while it was going on, but whatever. I also said my Spanish lessons are $90/month, when they are more like $90/week. But, enjoy! If people like these kind of updates I'll try and do more of them. Video Update: Day 16 in Buenos Aires from Duane Storey on Vimeo. ...

Well, it's been 9 days since I arrived in Buenos Aires, and I thought I would give an update. So far, I'm really enjoying myself here, although I haven't been too far from Palermo Soho yet other than to set up my cell phone. Today marked a pretty important milestone in my journey - laundry. In Buenos Aires they don't really have coin operated laundromats, they have what are called lavaderos. They are usually small shops where you drop off your laundry and pick it up later after it's been washed and folded. I managed to muddle my way through some dialog to drop my clothes off this morning. I walked ...

Well, it's been 9 days since I arrived in Buenos Aires, and I thought I would give an update. So far, I'm really enjoying myself here, although I haven't been too far from Palermo Soho yet other than to set up my cell phone. Today marked a pretty important milestone in my journey - laundry. In Buenos Aires they don't really have coin operated laundromats, they have what are called lavaderos. They are usually small shops where you drop off your laundry and pick it up later after it's been washed and folded. I managed to muddle my way through some dialog to drop my clothes off this morning. I walked ...

I've been walking around spending pesos like they were going out of style this week, so I thought a post about money would be an interesting subject. I picked up around 1200 pesos when I arrived (which is about $300 CAD), and that's lasted me until now. I'm starting to get a little bare (I think I have around 300 left or so), but I've stocked up the fridge, eaten out a few times, and gone on a few drinking adventures. First, the 100 peso bill. It seems to be the main one that banks and currency exchange places dish out. The only problem is many of the smaller establishments don't seem to want ...

I just got back from a little walk around Palermo Soho. It's about 32C right now, and it sure is a nice change to wear shorts and a t-shirt compared to the rain and cold gear I had on back home. Without further ado, here's a little video I shot today with my new HD Kodak Playsport: I spent yesterday trying to get a SIM for my cell phone down here. I basically walked all the way from Palermo Soho to Recoleta, which took me about 45 minutes each way. It was quite the adventure, and it's still not quite over. I'll post more about the cell phone situation once there's a bit of resolution to it. Truthfully ...

I landed in Buenos Aires yesterday (it seems like a lot longer based on how much I've done since then), but so far it is shaping up to be an amazing experience. The flight from Houston was fairly uneventful. I popped a few anti-anxiety pills and then did my best to sleep for as much of the flight as I could. We hit a fairly long bit of turbulence right as we were passing the equator (not sure if that's the reason), so that kept me from sleeping for a while. But after that was done, the rest of the flight was fairly smooth. Once we were on the ground, I slowly made my way to the customs area. ...

Tonight is my last night in Chilliwack. It's been nearly two full years since I packed up my apartment in Vancouver and moved my entire life back to the small town I grew up. At the time, I was in desperate need of a break from city life, and welcomed the thought of having some family around as well as a slower pace of life. Since then I've spent the last two years working from my apartment here in Chilliwack, visiting old friends, having dinner with family, and doing a little bit of soul searching. Not long after I arrived back in Chilliwack my family started commenting to me about how much ...

Gary Taubes shook up the world with his controversial 2002 New York Times article, "What if it's all been a big fat lie?", where he questioned the scientific basis for the claim that fat makes us fat. Nearly five years later he followed up that article with Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health (Vintage), one of the most thoroughly researched and well-written books I've ever read in my life regarding the history of food and nutrition, and the fact that most of what we now believe in the field isn't based on anything scientific. Last ...

Well, given that it's already Christmas in some parts of the world, I wanted to write a quick post and wish a very Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope the next day or two for everyone are spent in the company of family and friends, surrounding by love and laughter. Yesterday we had Christmas over at my dad's house, and today I'm heading over to have a mini-Christmas at my sister's house. Tomorrow I head over to my mom's house for dinner with that side of the family, and then Christmas is done for me. At that point I'll finish my packing and start getting ready to head to Argentina. A very Merry ...

We just launched a new version of BraveNewCode, and I'm officially on holidays now. So, starting tomorrow I'll be relaxing, Christmas shopping, and finishing getting my things in order prior to the move. Today marks the two week mark until I leave Chilliwack. On Sunday the 2nd, I'll finish saying my goodbyes around town and head into the city. I'll be staying at a hotel for a few days out there so that I can visit with a few friends and do a bit of last minute shopping prior to flying out. It hasn't completely hit me yet that I'll be leaving and most likely not coming back for a full year. I've ...

Yesterday the Canadian government alluded to a plan to completely remove the penny from circulation in the next 12 months. Their main motivation for this change is cost - the currently cost of a penny is around 1.5 cents, but the value of the coin is only 1.0 cent. So, the government would like to get rid of the penny. Now what does that mean for the average person? To be honest, not a whole lot in my opinion. First, retailers are supposed to round the final values to the nearest 5 cent value. If the item is less than 2.5 cents away from a lower price, retailers are supposed to round down. If ...

In less than three weeks, I'll be hanging out in a nice Vancouver hotel, doing a last little bit of shopping before boarding a plane and heading to Argentina for three months (and after that, New York City and then Europe). While I'm definitely looking forward to a new adventure, I am not looking forward to the nearly 24 hours of traveling I have to do in order to get to Buenos Aires. But c'est la vie. I keep getting asked a ton of questions, so I thought I'd answer a few of the most common ones here. What Made You Decide To Do This? Since I work from home and coffee shops during the day, I've ...