Micro Loans

Found this website www.Kiva.org it allows you to participate in helping people start their businesses or finance their business with micro finance loans. These are very small loans, couple hundred dollars to a couple grand. Kiva at this time is allowing only a 25 dollar loan from each participant. 25 dollars I spend more than this just getting dressed everyday. I think everyone can help just a little.

Google Ads

Ah crap there is an ad in the side bar for Alberta Liberals. I don't support no Liberals. How do I get that ad gone, HELP.

FYI

Just thought some of you might want to know what was up with President Joseph B Wirthlin at conference on Saturday. Well he's alright, suffered some fatigue and a locked knee. Link here.
His family says he is fine.

Utah shape up

Came across this article this morning and had to share.
Shame on Utah. That's not right Utah should be leading the nation in reducing greenhouse gases not the other way around. As members of Jesus' church should they not care for the earth more?
And its not the 15th yet so I 'm early with this article, I'll have to think of something else.

ALBERTA OIL ROYALTIES

I was reading this article over at the FOOL.com and now I'm p@#$*% off. who does this guy think he is. And now they're name calling "Canazuela", "Albertastan". Hey, these are our resources and we'll do as we dictate. And I'm in the majority, 88% of Albertans agree with me. We don't bow down to no Yank's and their whims and whines over the fact they have no more oil. After all according to our Dollar we are more powerful than you.

I think its about time royalties get more in line with the rest of the world. So Alberta can secure its future. As one day resources will be striped and the environment will be screwed, because our government has let these company's RAPE the land. Don't try to tell me that Alberta's government is environmentally friendly they conduct studies and will rehabilitate the land... Alberta is not that environmental conscience, they are for and of the corporation. So finally they are looking long term and securing our future.

Now for the economy, give me a brake. $400 million dollars less spent in this province will barely make a dent in the economy. Even if EnCana were to slash a billion dollars from their construction projects it wouldn't make a big enough dent. The term inflation maybe missed con-screwed with greed and construction delay costs. We are drowning in our economy. You can't even get a room if you begged. Homelessness is out of control in an environment that is not friendly to living on the streets. The Alberta economy could use with a good breather, but that wouldn't happen because the governments would use the opportunity to build or repair much needed Infrastructure.

Do the rest of us a favour and keep your FOOLish comments and name calling to yourself.

Oh, by the way if after getting your ass fired from the FOOL you need a job; Alberta is willing to hire anyone that can fog a mirror.

Are you enviromentaly conscience?

Google has backed a movement this October 15 for everyone to particiate in more enviromental awareness. Here is the web site that is backing the movement. Join in.

http://blogactionday.org/

Opps theres the 'R' word again

UCLA is saying it this time, many others have come close to saying it, and it may just come soon, but I'm not calling it yet. I think Wall Street is on edge but realistic. Some say they are waiting for the Fed to lower long term interest rates. But this is not the problem, those that want a loans are getting their loans. Those that shouldn't get loans are the problem. So how do you fix it. Beats me. Reces... opps just about said it.

Bush you are sooooo kind

In a little unknown press release president Bush announced a bail out for those home owners stuck in the sub prime lending fiasco, see it here.

Where do I start with how wrong this is. Bush and his policies created this mess, OK so there cleaning it up. But is it right that some hot shot went out bought more house than he could afford and now gets a government subsistence for his McMansion, give me a break (that's for John Stossel). What about all those sensible people that bought what they could afford. I'm sure they would rather be living in their Government subsidised McMansion, I know I would. And if he was really trying to help why keep the press release so small on this. After all isn't the sub prime lending story one of the hottest stories of 2007, or have we moved on to Brittney and no one told me?

Statistic Prove it

The decline of the family in Canada seems to be at crisis proportion read up on it here. With the acceptance of Gay marriage, Unwed mothers, Divorce., it's no wonder society is struggling. If only to remain married to increase your income and stay out of poverty. What lasting effect will there be on the children. The cause to these problems... Selfishness, think about it. The Cure... Selflessness.

Alberta is Hot

Here it is what we alreadt knew, those of us in Alberta.

The largest economy in North America belongs to Alberta.

Take it from me its not that great an accolade, its very trying. The shortage of labour has made all our jobs that much more difficult. Starting and running a business has been all that much more difficult. I have read stories of business shutting their doors due to the labour shortage. I have been personally effected on most levels due to the economic heat.

My Birthday Horoscope 2007

Happy Birthday to ME!

Happy Birthday: The fact that you will share and work well with others will lead you to exactly what you want to master and the gains you want to obtain. This can be an important year where progress is concerned as long as you don't overdo it or become careless along the way. Your numbers are 12, 21, 25, 31, 38, 46

Crash Averted... This Time

Jim Crammer speaks to CNBC this morning after the Fed. cut its discount rate. Here it is.
Holy Crap what a sudden move even after yesterdays comments that they would not budge. I really didn't see the Fed cutting its rates they blind sided me. Never the less I still think they have only prolonged the inevitable. With the Hurricane season upon us and September and October historically bad months, it may only be a matter of time till we see the Perfect Storm in the financial markets. The Government must be held accountable for their actions.
Happy by product of the US financial crisis is my canadian dollar just keeps getting better.

Grow or Die

This message seems to be continually drilled into my head. Here are some of my thoughts.

Mitt Romney for president - a successful businessman that can lead the largest corporation in America, the Government.
Even Cramer's on the Mitt bandwagon.

And here is a blog that states better than I can the necessity for less government.


And of course the circumstances in my life over the last couple of months attest to the fact that business need to grow or they will die, maybe there is a bigger life lesson in this, like how to live a longer more fulfilled life? You decide.

Cramer Melt Down

More G-Stuff

Checkout this site gBox.
I think they might actually be on to something here.

The 9 C's of Leadership

Lee Iacocca is a very passionate man and somewhat inspiring read the article here.
Brief over view:
1) Curiosity
2) Creative
3) Communicate
4) Character
5) Courage
6) Conviction
7) Charisma
8) Competent
9) Common Sense
and one more for good luck Crisis

He slams Bush and his policies, he criticises congress, he's infuriated by the corporate gangsters, and calls to action the American people. His language is blunt and to the point, and a few curses here and there to enliven the dialogue help drive the point home.

I think even if your not a leader you should want to exemplify the above qualities in your own life. You know what they say, "if you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything".


I hope you give it a read, and if you really like it you can try the full book out for size.

Banking Experiences

I was reading this article by this real estate guru that I've been following for the last few years (Greg Habstritt) and the article really struck home with me. I recently spent the weekend with a banker and I believe I had the opposite experience. I found the experience very educational and shocking at moments, having learnt new and interesting ways to free up capital. I went in to ask about a line of credit, how it works etc. I found out that they can help me even though I haven't lived in my residence long. I learnt that they can give me 75% of the equity that I have in a line of credit and can do it at PRIME. Its also a floating prime that goes up and down with the lending rate. They can tie it to a credit card (which would be way cheaper than what I'm presently paying). I only have to pay the Interest rate as a minimum monthly payment. They can increase the line of credit as equity builds relatively easy, thus freeing more capital.
I can also see how for the individual that can't control their spending can get into a heaping load of trouble using their line of credit for consumer expendable good that have no real asset value.
I must admit I'm not a first class financial guru but I see that you've got to do your own research, because no one cares about your finances more than you.

Toyota & Honda still #1

Consumer Reports has just come out with their latest vehicle issue. In it they have asked participants to rate their vehicles 1.3 million participants. The findings... Toyota and Honda are still ranked among the most reliable. I find this fascinating as I have seen many news related reports professing that the American automakers are really stepping it up and trying to regain favour with the consumer. If this is true why are they still not ranked closer to their competitors?

American automakers, shape up or ship out!

Give praise freely

I pull this out of Harvey Mackay's weekly column and thought that this is so true if more leaders would live by this motto the world would be a better place. I know I would be happier.

Some social science researchers once videotaped two teams of bowlers during a match. After the match, for Team One, they showed them a videotape in which all the team's mistakes had been removed. During the review, the researchers focused only on the strengths of the players and everything they had done right. They did not show mistakes.

Team Two, however, was shown an edited video that contained only the mistakes that had been made during the match. During the review with Team Two, the researchers offered helpful suggestions on how to improve its performance.

How did it all turn out?

After receiving the feedback, there was a rematch during which both teams showed signs of improvement. However, the group that received the positive criticism improved 100 percent more than did Team Two, which had only a review of its mistakes.

There is a helpful lesson here. The next time you are giving feedback to someone—whether as a manager, parent or friend—remember that building on the positive aspects of people's actions or behavior achieves far better results than focusing on negatives.

Quote

The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues.
- Elizabeth Taylor

Motivational poster, hehe

I think this is the poster that makes me crackup the most.

Childhood bad dreams

The other night at dinner my daughter was telling me about her bad dreams. I tried to console her by telling her I had bad dreams when I was her age. She asked me what it was about, but to save her from my ideas I declined letting her know. Anyways here it is. My reoccurring bad dream was watching my dad from my bedroom, when I was supposed to be sleeping, hold an Elders quorum meeting at the kitchen table. Doing what he should be doing. When all of a sudden the devil appears in a cloud of smoke and snatches him away, and I never see him again.
What was your reoccurring bad dream when you were young?

I'm a Google fool

You have to check out the latest gossip at Engadget. There is someone spreading rumors that Google is going to produce their own cell phone/ PDA that could threaten Apple's iphone. I must admit I'm not one to jump on the A-train, when the G-train is looking just as good, if not better. And well, I used to be a devoted Palm user I'm thinking the P-train is dead in its tracks look like everyone's leaving that party (just look at its stock). Lets not forget the berry, Oh yeah someone left it on the tree to long and they're over ripe.
Looks like the cell phone wars are no really heating up and were the beneficiaries. Yeh me.
Any more Google gossip you want to share with me is welcomed.

Quote

"Happiness is not in our circumstance but in our ourselves. It is not something we see, like a rainbow or feel, like the heat of a fire. Happiness is something we are."
John B Sheerin


I have to disagree with some of this quote. I don't think happinees is something we are as much I believe happiness is something we choose to be. Just as the opposite is true you can choose to be miserable.

Conservative or Capitalist?

I prefer to be know as a Capatalist. Though I support most Conservitive views I do agree that there is a place in the world or society for liberals .
Capitalism allows me to change my mind about my political views as I did in support for the Democats in both the House and Senate. I think at this point it gives the Americans a more balanced government. But I still get to pursue the dream of wealth beyond measure and balance it with a social conscience for the poor and needing.

We should have a Coup

Need a passport? Well your going to wait in very long lines, and weeks to get one. Luckily I don't need one, but if I did I would be the unlucky sod that has to wait in these long lineups. And I HATE waiting in lineups.

Again, I was reading an article online and had this thought here is the article.

Why do we subject ourselves to these ridiculous rules. Why don't we just stand up and say NO! Think if we all said no to this passport BS then we could force the government to change the rules, a Coup. No one would travel outside the country, no international business would happen, our GDP would drop to embarrassing levels. The government would be forced to change. How much would you save not buying a passport what would you do with the spare time you would save not standing in that embarrassingly long lineup.

OK I've had my rant. I know your going to say 9/11, terrorism, we are blessed to live in a free country, our soldiers are risking their lives for our freedom. Least I can do is buy a passport to insure the safety of my next flight. I just know that I don't plan on being one of these poor sods that have to spend all day waiting in a line to get a passport, praying they don't add insult to injury by getting a parking ticket. Seeing as I'm not going anywhere any time soon.