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11.3.06

Hahaha … crap.

I bought my Football Pools ticket this morning. You pick the winners of all 14 games this weekend, and if you’re right, you split the pot with everyone else who was also right. Pot is usually around $500k.

Unfortunately, I used info on the website to make my picks, and not the paper flyer that comes out on Fridays. Further unfortunateness caused the website and the flyer to not line up when all the little boxes were colored in.

So, without further ado, my picks for week 9, which are as much of a surprise to me as they are to you: STL, BAl, NYG, JAK, WAS, BUF, NO … (so far so good) … DET (over ATL), MIA (over CHI), SF (over MIN), CLE (over SD), PIT (over DEN) … (are those pigs with wings out there?) … SEA.

The bad news: not at all what I wanted.

The good news: if it happens like that, I’m guaranteed to be the only winner.

Filed in: Sports
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November 3, 2006 - 4:59 pm

Gary - Haha. That will be a crazy payout if those games go down like that. Highly unlikely, me thinks.

November 6, 2006 - 10:32 am

mark - he wasn’t even that far off.

betting on football is impossible.

November 6, 2006 - 4:31 pm

Todd - Didn’t miss by much at all

BAl check
NYG check
JAK check
WAS check
BUF check
NO check
STL miss
DET (over ATL) check
MIA (over CHI) check
SF (over MIN) check
CLE (over SD) miss
PIT (over DEN) miss
SEA pending

November 7, 2006 - 3:20 pm

EAP - 12 out of 14 ain’t bad, especially given the freakish results this weekend – Fins over Da Bears??? Lions over Atlanta??? San Fran over the Vikes??? Go figure.

EAP

November 8, 2006 - 10:56 am

dan - I checked results at olg.ca … no one got 14/14 this week, and 33 people had 13/14, splitting $500k.

I’m a bit discouraged though … had I not messed up, I wouldn’t have been anywhere close to 12/14. So do I just color random boxes this weekend? Do I get Shannen to pick?

November 10, 2006 - 8:47 am

EAP - If I were you Dan, I’d rely on coin tosses. This is what “parity” is all about.

EAP

11.3.06

Last night

I had big plans for last night.  And by big plans, I mean that I had a heck of a lot of tv to watch.  Oh, and I also had to pack and get ready for our trip seeing as I get home from work at 4:00 pm and our flight leaves at 6:15 pm.  That doesn’t leave a lot of room for Friday afternoon preparations. But somehow, making sure I had time to watch my favoutire shows took priority.

To explain…Thursday at our house is tv night.  Well, for me anyway.  No other night of the week has such a hold on me.  In fact, I can’t name another night where I’d have more than one show on that would keep me in front of the tv for longer than an hour.  But Thursdays are different.  Long known as ‘Must-See-TV’ night from the early days of Friends and Seinfeld, the Thursday line-up has always been just that for me: must see.

Unfortunately, since every show battles for one of the preferred spots, the networks find a way to schedule too many shows on that night.  Last night, had I not decided to give up on Survivor (which is pretty lame anyway), and with the return of the O.C., I would have had 4 straight hours of tv.  Which would normally not be the end of the world, except I was also supposed to be packing and getting ready for our trip. 

seth.jpg

(Is it weird that I have a grown-up crush on Adam Brody?)

I time shifted everything to be able to watch Grey’s Anatomy at 8:00, The O.C. at 9:00 and E.R. at 10:00.  After Grey’s, and during the O.C., my intentions were to pack my bag, iron clothes and do as much prep as possible…

But instead I fell asleep.  At around 9:20.  With nothing packed.  Nor ironed.  Or even gathered in one spot for easy packing this morning.

Procrastination:1, Shannen:0.  Last-minute Friday preparations it is.

But back to tv.  Even though I am one of those weirdos in their 30s who loves the O.C., I have to admit I was not impressed last night.  The long awaited season premiere (or at least the first 20 minutes of it) was LAME.  And that’s even with Marisa Cooper’s violent demise (which would normally be cause for celebration – she was a much better dead girl in the Sixth Sense than a Newport socialite).

Let’s recap:

Ryan is now a cage fighter = Dumb

Summer is now an environmental activist = Dumb

Kaitlin being too cool for school = Dumb 

Kaitlin being there at all = Dumb

Summer’s new boyfriend is named Che = Dumb

Summer choosing Che over Seth = Super dumb

Seth = Still cute

Will I watch again? Probably.  But if the whole environmental activist/cage-fighting theme does not go away quickly, I will find myself with a whole extra hour to fill on Thursdays.  Hmmm…maybe that’s for the best. 

Filed in: Entertainment
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November 3, 2006 - 10:17 am

Kristin - I don’t think Summer is dating Che…is she?

I love Kaitlin though…she’s so much better than Marisa ever was.

Season 4 looks terrible though…I probably won’t be watching it.

November 3, 2006 - 1:58 pm

dread pirate lindsay - i totally agree with your recap. i hated the episode. i did homework through it. If i can do homeowrk through an episode of the o.c then it must be a really sucky one. i hated summer’s new outlook on life – and ryan is just an idiot. and kaitlin is just a jerk – never liked her…wish she was gone too. i was glad when marissa was off the show but how it changed the show is awful. and adam brody is a cutie. choosing homework over it is awful.

November 3, 2006 - 4:51 pm

mark - The O.C. is still on?

…and Ryan’s a CAGE FIGHTER now? bahahahahaha! that’s outstanding.

11.3.06

Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

It’s much too early in the season for this:

snowcar.jpgsnowlight.jpg

Oh wait.  We are leaving town for fun in the Las Vegas sun (and the neon glow of the casino lights), so it can dump a mountain of snow on Ottawa, and it wouldn’t bother me a lick.  Until Tuesday, that is.

Enjoy the white stuff, People.

Filed in: Holidays | Rants
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November 3, 2006 - 10:17 am

dan - Git yer roulette number requests in now! I promise (not) to (not) share (not) winnings (not) with (not) you (not) 50/50.

(not)

11.1.06

Gak! Income Trusts …

[Updated.  Barf.]

The conservatives announced changes to Canadian tax law last night that will affect how companies structured as income trusts will pay tax.

Before: companies structured as income trusts didn’t pay much tax. Rather, they paid their profits to people who owned their stock, and it was taxed in their hands.

Now: those companies will have to pay tax before paying their profits out to stockholders.

If you own a canadian mutual fund, odds are this affects you. If you own individual income trusts (like us), it definitely affects you.

As an eye opener to those who may not follow the markets, here are the ones we hold and their closing price on Oct. 31, 2006. I’ll update this post with their closing price on Nov. 1, 2006 tomorrow.

  • Aeroplan AER.UN – $16.01 close $14.60 change -8.8%
  • Brascan Rising Distribution BSD.UN – $11.26 close $9.10 change -19.2%
  • Builders Energy Trust BET.UN – $14.77 close $11.85 change -19.8%
  • Calpine Power CF.UN – $10.96 close $9.78 change -10.8%
  • Northern Property Realty NPR.UN – $24.30 close $24.30 change 0%
  • Energy Savings SIF.UN – $16.82 close $13.78 change -18.1%
  • Telus (announced plans to convert) T – $64.93 close $56.15 change -13.5%

I will say that this change makes sense. This government (and the previous one) have legitimate concerns about companies changing to trusts to avoid tax. However, a) something like this should *never* be a surprise and b) agreeing with the policy change is cold comfort in the face of a 20% decline in your holdings. Investors don’t like uncertainty.

It’s gonna be an ugly day on the markets …

Filed in: Money
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November 1, 2006 - 9:11 am

Gary - As an investor in a couple income trusts I am not happy this morning. However, as a Canadian tax payer, I can live with this and it makes sense. If these rules were not changed, in the worst case scenario all corporations would change to income trusts and individual tax payers would take on ALL of the tax responsibility. This will create a bigger corporate tax base. The Tories are pissing off a lot of investers this morning and I have to think that they’re planning on announcing tax cuts for individuals in the future (probably right before an election call).

Off to the carnage…

November 1, 2006 - 11:26 am

Sonja - This is good news for the economy as a whole though as income trusts were a drag on productivity as they encourage cash payouts rather than invesments in R&D.

Something like this has to be a suprise otherwise it creates unfair advantages for those who are in the know. Goodale, Brison, and ultimately Martin, learned this lesson the hard way. (Although
I known it was coming I would have given you two the heads up, but really, if I was “in the know” it couldn’t have been much of a secret.

10.31.06

Hallowe’en’s Greatest Hits

We are hiding from Hallowe’en this year … it’s partly because of the understandable death of the Harrington Hallowe’en Party, partly because Shannen isn’t in a position to partake in festivities as much as she has been in the past, and partly because “the best costume idea EVER!” didn’t hit me in September.

One of the problems is that the bar for costumes continues to get raised. Michelle always decides on her fab costume in February or so, and has it done in late August or early September. Group costumes have been well done the past few years, with DC comics a few years ago, and the Top Gun crew last year. And I personally peaked 2 years ago with my rendition of Richie Tenenbaum. I should have just quit then.

Some Hallowe’en bullets:

  • Gary and Michelle started dating at a Hallowe’en pub in university. Man, Gary’s Spidey costume was sweet!
  • You shouldn’t use toothpaste to spike your hair. It’s gross. I did it in my early teenage years. I forget what the costume was.
  • I’d love to dress the cats up like dogs, and the dog like cats.
  • Shannen and Jen aren’t fond of cabdrivers on Hallowe’en. They can be downright inconsiderate.
  • Jon and I dressed up as Betty and Veronica one year. Pictures exist, but I’m glad I don’t have any of them.

Share your Hallowe’en highlights! Enjoy the pics below.

kill-bill.jpg

thats-super.jpg

bee-n-gnome.jpg

say-uncle.jpg

Filed in: Friends | Holidays | Nostalgia
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October 31, 2006 - 10:44 am

Gary - Dan, I notice that you spell Halloween with an apostraphe in between the 2 e’s. Is this considered proper grammer? If so, I need you to prove it to me somehow. If not, I must insist that you stop its usage.

October 31, 2006 - 10:49 am

dan - Future questions should be posed first to wikipedia, second to yahoo answers, and third in comments to the blog ; )

October 31, 2006 - 2:00 pm

Jen - just another halloween bullet to add to the list..

* its been 2 years to the day that I left for the big trek out West!

Somehow it seems longer than that. And I think its because of my job. I feel like I’ve been at this for at least 10 years.

October 31, 2006 - 2:53 pm

Jessie - Don’t worry, the Harrington Halloween Party isn’t dead – it’s just resting. We just needed a year off, and thought it’d be wise to take a breather before anyone died, was arrested, or seriously injured. And what do you know? The night we would have had our party: torrential downpour. Now THAT would’ve sucked.

There will be plenty of opportunity for masked mayhem in the future! Promise.

October 31, 2006 - 3:18 pm

mark - “There will be plenty of opportunity for masked mayhem in the future! Promise.”

dibs not cleaning the floor.

November 1, 2006 - 11:29 am

Sonja - Egg whites are the best way to spike hair.