I just got back from the dentist. Truthfully, it's been nearly two years since my last visit. Previously I've always had really great health and dental, but since leaving my last job I haven't had anything other than basic MSP. I debated getting a plan at one point, but they were all around $100/mo for anything useful, and most of them had a graduated three-year scale before you received full (i.e. 80%) coverage. So it really didn't make sense financially. But as a result, I've been putting off going, since dropping a few hundred dollars on a cleaning hasn't really excited me. That said, I finally ...

With all the talk of plane tickets on here, I couldn't resist booking a ticket today. I studied spanish for 90 minutes tonight, and then started hunting around for ticket deals. This morning when I looked they were all around $1,400 or so, but I eventually stumbled onto a cheap Continental leg and it became the basis for my trip. I actually had it down to about $1,000 at one point, but the cheap leg sold out before I got a chance to book it. Anyways, I did manage to get a pretty cheap leg, so we're go for launch. My official plan is to leave on January 4th from Vancouver and end up in Buenos Aires. ...

I spent a few minutes checking out flight options this morning, and came up with a bit of an idea. Here's part of the problem. Option 1: Book Second Leg Later Get a return ticket from Vancouver to Buenos Aires, possibly throwing the return ticket away in Buenos Aries and going somewhere else. The cost of that is about $1,500 right now, and then I still have to buy an expensive ticket to somewhere else when the time comes, which will probably be another $1,500. But at least I have a Vancouver ticket already booked in the event I want to come back. Option 2: Use Houston as a Hub Continental flies ...

I got on the scale this morning, and I'm down about 11 pounds since the beginning of summer. I've actually been in a steady decline since the start of the year, mainly because I've been pretty careful about what I'm eating. I've also forced myself to go to the gym a few times a week as well, tossing in the odd yoga class whenever I have some evening time available. My goal is to be down 30 pounds before I leave in January, which would basically put me at the weight I was back when I used to play sports and what not. Still got a ways to go, but with the rain and lack of patio beer-drinking engagements, ...

I'm getting close to the point where I'm thinking about buying my plane ticket. Unfortunately, I'm stuck trying to figure out what type of ticket to buy. It looks like most round trip tickets are only marginally more expensive than a one-way ticket, so it seems stupid to get a one-way ticket, even if I end up tossing the return ticket away. That said, it also seems strange booking a flight for a leg than I really have no idea if I'm going to use or even if I'll want to come back at that point. I also haven't completely decided if I want to come back to BC briefly after the first trip, or simply ...

I was just reading an article about a restaurant in Carolina Beach that no longer tolerates screaming kids inside the restaurant. Obviously it's a bit controversial, at least because they are making their policy public. But I wanted to see what everyone else though. As far as I'm concerned, I have no problem with it at all. I understand that kids will be kids, but if your kid is having a really bad day, then I don't see why everyone else in the restaurant has to have a crappy meal because of it. It's one thing to when a newborn is fussy, because they don't know any better. But I think it's completely ...

I was out with some friends the other day in Stanley Park in Vancouver, and I was briefly considering changing my Twitter profile photo to a shot my friend John took. Rebecca then pointed out that it probably would be good to finally get rid of the PlentyOfFish photo I have had on Twitter for a while. Since I had no idea what she was talking about, I started prying for some more information. Apparently the photo I had put up on Twitter was a watermarked version that I had put on PlentyOfFish a few years ago. I'm not sure how the watermarked copy ended up on my computer, but somehow I managed ...

I just wrote four post-dated rent cheques, one for each month until the new year. After that, I should be officially homeless, at least for a while. I have to give notice on my apartment on October 30th, which would put me out of my place on December 31st. Right now the plan is to take off on the 2nd of January or so, which means I can hang out around here for Christmas and New Years, and then hit the open skies. I haven't had much time to study spanish yet, but I'm going to start blocking the time out in my calendar each week so I'm done all my lessons before I take off. I did one lesson a few ...

You know, I remember being in a pub in Yaletown with my friend Dave the night Obama was elected. The place was absolutely packed, and other than the people who were seated there early, it was standing room only for everyone else. There were TVs all over the place showing what was going on in the states, and everyone was glued to the TV, waiting to see the results. I'm not at all joking when I say this next part -- people cried in the Yaletown Brew Pub when Obama was elected. In Vancouver, Canada, in the heart of one of the most pretentious areas in North America, people cried when the new president ...

The following graph formed the basis for Glenn Beck's video talking about hyperinflation, but I thought I would repost it here. Inflation, by definition, is the expansion of the monetary base in a country. While conventionally most people associate rising prices (as measured by the consumer price index - CPI) as inflation, that's just the symptom of inflation -- the root cause in the expansion of the monetary supply. Most people concede that price increases tend to lag inflation by a year or two. So any inflation of the money supply today probably won't be felt in terms of prices for another year ...

It should be obvious by reading my blog entries over the last few months that I've become interesting in aspects of economics. In an effort to understand the current financial crisis, I've been trying to read as many different viewpoints on the meltdown as well as general economic theories. To that end, I wanted to point out some of the books I've read recently. I'll also give a rating based on what I thought of it. Too Big To Fail - 4/5 This book discusses the meltdown from the viewpoint of the big financial institutions such as AIG and Lehman Brothers. Aftershock - Protect Yourself and Profit ...

It's no secret that over the last few decades the economies of North America have changed from ones that favour saving to ones that favour spending. When interest rates were 10%, you could simply leave your money in the bank and watch it grow. Now with inflation rates of around 3% per year (which is typically caused by the government printing more fiat money), your purchasing power will decrease if you leave your money in the bank. That means that most of us are forced to put our savings into the Stock Market Casino and hope that black comes up more often than red. With interest rates hovering ...

If you do the math, that's January 2nd, 2010 2011. If all goes according to plan, that's the day I'll head out (with only a single backpack in tow) on a little adventure. While I still have a lot to plan for and get ready before then, I've set a date to hopefully give me the motivation to finally follow through on it. I don't really know why, but I'm always a bit hesitant to travel. Maybe it's all the time I've spent living out of suitcases in hotel rooms, or all the trips I went on that were work related (that usually involved 60 hour weeks, and then nights by myself in a hotel). Other than a ...

I've been trying to find out ways to get myself out of the apartment in the evenings and get a bit more exercise. I've actually being going to the gym quite a bit over the last three months. That's fine and all, but hitting the elliptical trainer and lifting weights gets a little boring after a while, especially if you don't have a gym buddy. So, based on some recommendations from some friends, I thought that I'd try out a few yoga classes. Vinyasa Yoga I decided to start with a Vinyasa Yoga drop in class at my gym last Tuesday. The class was pretty small - it had about four girls and two guys ...

I've started making small plans for a possible working vacation for a few months. I originally was going to go sometime this fall, but I was starting to feel more and more like it was a bit too rushed. I also wasn't entirely sure how to deal with Christmas: spending $1,500 on a plane ticket to get somewhere doesn't make a lot of sense if you're just going to get on a plane and head back home again a month or so later for Christmas. With that in mind, I'm now targeting January as the month when I'd leave. Over the next few months I'm going to be slowly selling off the things I don't really need ...

I've been thinking lately about starting to go to Yoga. I really know nothing about it, other than people go and bend in various directions for an hour or so at a time. I had a few friends in Vancouver who went religiously, guys too, and they always seemed pretty pumped about going. I've been trying to come up with more things to do when I'm not working, and things that involve exercise or being healthy are at the top of the list these days. The gym is great and all, but treadmills and dumbbells get a bit boring after a while. I'm also hoping I can meet a few more people in the class and get to ...

Despite having a relatively positive outlook about the economy previously, the Fed today just downgraded all its forecasts and even mentioned the taboo "D" word, deflation. I thought it would be fun to post a few of the more educated comments from CNN here. Keynesian versus Austrian economic theory. Keynes 0, Austrians 1. Now pull up a lawn chair, pop a cold one, and kick back to the soothing hissing sound of every asset class deflating... ~ Jim Koutras I got my beer chilling in the fridge. You do realize that the only reason we're in this mess is because the Fed flooded the economy ...

Well, it's been nearly two weeks since the HST kicked in, and I thought I'd summarize some of the benefits: camping fees went up from $24 to $30 at Cultus Lake Gas went up about 5 cents per litre in Chilliwack Carbon tax on fuel went up 1.12 cents/litre the local Pharmacy started charging for all bags on July 1st a can of soda went from $1.05 to $1.15 at my favourite coffee shop BC Hydro's Rate Rider was silently raised from one to four percent Clearly this tax is on its way to causing prices to drop on consumer goods in BC. ...

Today I was up at the lake with my iPad, reading a book in the sun and listening to the sound of the little lake surf. Truthfully, it felt a lot like being in the Caribbean, sipping a beer by a pool in Punta Cana, and it made me miss traveling. While I was enjoying myself reading, my iPad decided to cut my experience short by shutting itself off due to overheating. So, I decided to head back to town and do a bit of thinking. At this point in time, I'm about 50/50 with the possibility of doing some traveling this fall. I can think of a lot of reasons why I should go, but really not many reasons ...

Tim Ferris would most likely classify me as one of The New Rich, those of us who have somehow managed free ourselves from the shackles of the cubicle, and from the typical 9-5 workday. Strangely enough, I don't much remember what it's like to work in an office anymore. It's been nearly one and a half years since I left a 9-5 office job (which had really been a 9-9 job for most of my adult life), and I've spend most of that time working from home and from coffee shops. I even managed to spend a few days last summer working shirtless from the comfort of a picnic table up at the lake. I had lunch ...