Don Tai (Canada) Blog

Sometimes you meet a person that you feel is so out of touch with the world, you wonder how they live. This is what I feel about Tommy, whom I met yesterday. Tommy advertised a guitar and an amp on Kijiji in Toronto, Canada, so I went to take a look. When I got to his door, he wanted to hand me the guitar and amp and take my money, transaction completed. His Dad seemed to not want to let me into his house to test the guitar and amp. The guitar was severely damaged in multiple ways, not disclosed in the ad. The amp he handed me was not remotely close to the brand name amp shown in his Kijiji ad photo. On top of that he cussed off his Mom when I was there, and his Dad was swearing like a drunken sailor in a nearby room. Misrepresentation of the ad shows you are a real douchbag, Tommy.

So Canada is much better off than all other OECD countries? We have economic growth of supposedly 2%. How can this be? Statistics magic saves the day. Lose well paying full-time jobs, gain low wage part-time jobs, and call it even. Unfortunately your average citizen here in Canada knows first hand that job and economic statistics do not put food on the table. Long-term joblessness, as I know first hand, is a common and growing problem. We need to overstate that this personally decimates the job seeker but society overall. The negative implications long-term joblessness or unemployment are widespread and damaging to society in general. The newly jobless scale back discretionary purchases. The long-term jobless change their philosophy of life and spending, resulting in radical systemic changes to our retail and marketing environments. Health deteriorates, resulting in higher long-term health costs. No matter if you are currently employed, long-term joblessness will affect you directly or indirectly.

It is with great dismay that I have been reading news reports that the recession in Canada has been over for many months, yet I still cannot find work. I consider myself to be an intelligent fellow, very well educated with work experience to match, but somehow I’ve lost my golden touch. Really, that is putting it mildly. Logically speaking if I had not been fortuitous enough to live a frugal and stable life in the past, today I should be in bankruptcy, living off food banks and be a beggar in the street. Smart strategies and a whole lot of luck in the past have saved me this fate. Or was it typical Chinese values. One will never know.

Newby I am, when it comes to diabolo, and so is my Little Weed. This is in no way an insult. In fact being called a newby should be taken as a badge of honour, because you are trying something completely different and are in the process of learning. Learning means personal growth, which is always a good thing. In this case our quest is to learn tricks with a diabolo. I have had a 5″ diabolo for many years but really did not do much with it because I could not figure out how to spin the thing fast enough to do tricks. The Little Weed seemed to take to diabolos. In a fit of deceit I ordered two 4″ diabolos, one for the Little Weed and one for myself. The 4″ diabolos are lighter and spin up faster. More importantly, there was so much information on the Internet, including videos and graphics that helped me learn how to spin up quickly. It still takes practice and lots of it.

Intriguing, this. If there ever was an oxymoron, haute cuisine french fries is it. Still, I remain open minded. Our family loves home cut french fries, which gives us a warm and friendly feeling in our house. There’s nothing “haute” cuisine about them; maybe “moyennes” but not “haute”. Still, when Jamie Kennedy, whom I now know is a chef, serves his french fries at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, I wanted to learn more. I think the ACC is where they have sporting events such as baseball, and hockey. The skinny: organically grown yellow potatoes from Ontario fried in sunflower oil, with two types of sea salt and a dash of thyme. Cider or chili mayonnaise sauce on the side. $6.50CAD a serving.

Something happened at my local Tandy Leather, Scarborough, Canada and the manager Ryan Wright was removed, the store taken over by head office. I’d like to get into contact with him and ask him what happened. Ryan is a very nice guy and I wish him well.

Ryan Wright, Mount Albert (just north of Newmarket), Ontario. Leather worker, blacksmith, archery, metal work and primitive arts and crafts, larper (live action role play) with Epoch Toronto.

“eirikthered” from PaleoPlanet.

eirikthered@hotmail.com