Merry Christmas!!

It was a quick and busy Christmas, I didn't even notice it happened. But when I look at my credit card activity online, I know Christmas came. I was originally planning to limit the presents we're wrapping, but come the 24th we have more than 50 gifts underneath the tree, and the couch has to be moved farther away from the corner to allow space for them (hint: we have a small living room). And then there was boxing day. It's crazy how much the price of flat screens have dropped. I was fantasizing a 42", but my hope shattered when I got to the store and saw a long line up of people outside, braving the chilly -10 morning. The store was clever enough to limit the people inside and hype up the sale event. Nope, I'm not that desperate, so I just went home. Besides me bringing home a TV will not be welcomed very well by wifey. I just bought a new PC and a Wii for the kids (and myself), and she noticed that I have a shiny new Crumpler 6 million dollar bag, so I don't really have that much leverage. She doesn't get mad, but I can't stand grieving her =)

Back to the TV, you see we only have a four year old 27" flat toshiba (and another old 20" on the kids' bedroom where the antique XBOX 1 is hooked up. So now that we have a Wii, I want the kids to enjoy their games more. Actually, the main reason is because I'm still hoping that I could hold on to that unopened PS3 under the xmas tree (that I initially purchased when I thought we won't be able to get our hands on a Wii in time). I'm anxious to watch some BlueRay movies, but that would really require buying a better TV. With all the sale TVs gone (Canadians spent around $2 billion on yesterday boxing day event, 45% on electronics) before I could even set sight on them, the desire to buy is also almost gone... until I found myself browsing for TV's on our local online marketplace (kijiji). Then it hit me, all those people who were so crazy over the now cheap LCD's and plasmas are trying to get rid of their 1 t0 5-year old projection. Now, $600 for a one year old toshiba 52" widescreen HD is not bad! I hope they are gone when I check them again this weekend or this would be very difficult to pass up and might cause some grief.

I think I'll be eating mac n' cheese come january =)

cheers!

the honest Canadians

If there is one thing that I would regard Canadians (or those living in Canada, specifically in Edmonton) is their great honesty. I'm trying to write this post in less than 3 minutes, and off my mind I could think of the following experiences that I personally have:

• Wife lost her watch but not sure for how long. We are sitting at a table in starbucks downtown. Minutes later, one of the crew inquired if she's missing her watch. Someone found it in the washroom.
  
• I lost my Rio (my mp3 player of choice two years ago) in YMCA downtown. Two days later I inquired and realized that a mid-grader boy found it in the locker room and surrendered it to the reception.
• Wife lost her cellphone. The Convergys lady who found it phone us and agreed to meet to return the phone.
  
• My wife lost her wallet last week when she went to a nearby commercial area. She left a note to the security about it. Everything is in there. Her SIN card, license, credit cards, debit cards, health insurance cards, 70 dollars, etc. We have since reported the lost and requested all debit/credit cards to be replaced. One of my cards has to be replaced too as we share the same number. This afternoon, she got the wallet back with everything in tact.