January 2007

I have been watching the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car auction on Speed TV and saw my dream car a 1971 Hemi Cuda all original and in my chosen colour get auctioned off for $300,000. This got me to thinking what would I do if I had a million dollars lying around, would I buy my dream car or what would I do with the money.

Since I am a conservative person by nature I thought “well I should consider my future” so I would invest a portion to ensure my later years were more comfortable. So say $250,000 to investments and RSP’s and those sort of things. Next I would have to share with my brother and his wife so $250,000 seems fair to me to help them out. That leaves me with $500,000 and since I am not gainfully employed I have bills to pay so I would have to take care of them and ensure I have money to live day by day. Put aside $100,000 to cover this and have some money to keep me in the lifestyle I am accustomed to living. You know a giant TV and all the up-to-date toys are required, that just goes without saying. Now we come to traveling which of course I would want a travel fund to allow me to travel over the next few years so another $100,000 is slotted for travel. This leaves me with $300,000 and a huge dilemma, do I blow it all on a single purchase of my dream vehicle or do I do something more practical. My gut feeling when I saw the car on TV was I would buy it but as I have had to time to think and as I have been writing this I think I would pass on the car and get something less expensive and use the extra money to invest again for my future.

Instead of my Cuda maybe…..

BMW K1200LT

and

Porsche 911

and for everyday driving

Honda Pilot…..oh wait I already have this one, Even better one less thing to worry about.

So there is my million dollars.

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For some strange reason I felt that this was something I should put out there and see what kind of feedback I get…if any. Just to put things into perspective I will explain a bit, my home phone is really only in existence for emergencies and potential job interviews. Neither of which happen very often and my home phone may go for more than a month without receiving a single call. Any calls that come in on my land line are either someone trying to sell me something or someone wanting a favour from me. Because of this I do not pay attention to my land line unless I am expecting a call so I tend to either miss the calls or I will call screen using my Call Display.

Over the past week a single number keeps calling and I will admit the first 8-10 times I genuinely missed the calls as I was either out or otherwise indisposed and not able to answer the phone. I have noticed in the past that these particular calls hang up after a certain number of rings and never leave a message. (Mostly these are dialed automatically so they are programmed to hang up before the answering machine kicks in) Also in every case the calls stop after a certain number of unsuccessful attempts. After the first number of calls last Friday, the calls started again on Monday with 5 on Monday, 4 on Tuesday, more on Wednesday and Thursday until I caught a call on Thursday night at 7:30pm. The call was from my friendly telephone company Telus and according to them I was a very special customer. So special that they had to try and call me more than 20 times within 5 days.

The call was about adding to my service so like I said someone trying to sell me something. I guess I wish I was not so special.

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For so many years Toronto has considered itself the “Centre of the Universe”, well I am sad to announce that it is now official.

The Official Annoucement

Thanks to the The Toque for the announcement and oh I cannot forget Leafs Suck!

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I had a dream last night which when I think about was more than a dream, it was a reminder of days past.

I lived in Manitoba from ages 9 through 14 and my most vivid memories comes from those cold crisp days of winter. Most days we looked forward to getting home from school and loved a new snowfall, all the better to play hockey. As soon as we were home from school we would get the nets out and the shovels so we could clean the snow off the road to play our game. It was not very long before we were picking teams and there was never a lack of players. We would be out on the street no matter what the weather, no matter how cold it got we would play every night until we were dragged in for dinner. Of course after dinner we were back out for more games playing till we were called in for the night. I think if we had a choice we would have stayed out and played hockey all day and night.

Most days we could be found out on the street with the only breaks for meals and an occasional nature break. The conversation was interspersed with calls of “He Shoots He Scores” to the inevitable call of “Car” as we waited for the cars to clear our play area. Many future NHLer’s plied their trade on those streets, well at least in our minds we were future NHL players. With my Boston Bruins shirt I was Bobby Orr rushing up the side to score another spectacular goal.

One day was different from the rest, on Saturdays we would be out early to the rink for a day of games and skating then home. But this day would be different as 6pm rolled around we would hear Canada’s second National Anthem which signaled that our favourite show was about to start. Hockey Night in Canada was and is an institution which brought the family together for many Saturday nights. Some of my fondest memories comes from those cold crisp days playing road hockey and rushing in on a Saturday to be in front of the TV in time to watch my heroes play the great game.

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For the seventh time Canada’s National broadcaster the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) will be presenting a full day in celebration of Canada’s national sport on Saturday Jan 13th. Not only will there be three hockey games with the six Canadian teams facing each other, their will be stories and events right across Canada showing our love of the game and why it is the greatest game. I guess this means I will be enjoying 13 hours of hockey. I am not sure if some would consider that as hockey overload but I can assure you it will not be a problem for me. A true hockey fan could never overload on hockey.

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I just received a CD which I was supposed to get about 2 months ago so I kinda forgot about it but it was worth the wait. I have a very broad range of taste when it comes to music, what I mean is I will listen to pretty much anything depending on my mood. Lately I have been listening to Ska but when I received this CD I could not wait to listen to it. It is called Tuscany: A Romantic Journey and it contains some of the great classical selections. While I was listening to the music I could imagine myself driving through the countryside enjoying the tranquility and beauty of Italy and the music. I guess reading the book A Year in Provence right now has not helped me either. Makes me want to go traveling.

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Throughout all of my ups and downs my constant companion and dedicated and loving friend is my dog Tara. Over the past year her vision has been decreasing and about 6 months ago she lost vision in her left eye. Yesterday when I woke up she was sitting up on the bed shaking. Not sure what was the matter I talked to her and figured out she could not see. Tara was obviously scared and not sure what was happening. I talked to her and reassured her that she was ok but she has not really moved or tried to walk around. This is obviously because she cannot see and is frightened of the unknown. Even though I am scared I will lose my best friend I stay upbeat around her and heap the praise on her. So it will be an adjustment for both of us and I am hoping I can help her not be so frightened.

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Well it has been a while and not because I have been particularly busy, just a little depressed. I was a little down for my birthday and Christmas and just did not feel like writing anything. Spent the holidays alone and caught up on some reading and watched some movies.

Now that I have said that things have not changed very much I am still not gainfully employed and am still looking very diligently for something to challenge me, which at this point would include anything under the category of employment. I have applied for quite a few entry level position but have run into a rather interesting but irritating issue. One of the positions to which I applied contacted me and the person stated I have more management experience than him so he would never hire me and the other response I have received concerned why I was applying for an entry level position when I have so much middle and senior management experience on my Resume. The person was wondering what I was hiding or what I had done wrong to be applying for a entry level position. When I explained that I have been applying for middle and senior management positions with no luck so I wanted to apply for something in the meantime until a management position comes along. The explanation makes total sense to me but obviously not to some people.

I have explored the options of starting my own business with some consulting work but so far this has been unsatisfying and the pay kinda sucks with customers expecting the world and paying fast food rates. I had a consulting business before and the stress and hours did not agree with me. I am not sure I like dealing with my own business and so I really want to find a job any job at this point, well pretty much anything.

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