Let it be

So I was perusing the pet ads on Kijiji in my spare time this morning, again.  (It's become a bad habit - and no, I'm not going to get a dog right now.)  I came across this ad:

FOUND: Black & Tan hound dog.
Under it is a picture of a poor dog, tied up with a rope, and looking scared out of his mind.  The ad says that he's 'sad' and wants to get home.

AUGH!!!  That makes me so ANGRY! 

Imagine for a second the life of the dog:  Dog has a great home, lots of big open space, and a great family that feeds him and pets him and lets him sleep in the house once in awhile.  Dog loves life.  The best part of Dog's life is that he's trusted with freedom; he's frequently goes for little runs through the woods doing what he loves best - chasing bunnies.  He's not a particularly smart dog (no hound is) but he's streetwise; doesn't growl at people, doesn't chase cars, and always goes home after a long day running in the woods.  Dog's owners enjoy having him around are happy that he's faithful and trustworthy.

And then one day, Dog's life goes to crap.  Dog gets kidnapped!  Right off the side of the road!  After a particularly long run through the woods (it's spring, the snow is almost gone, and the bunny chasing is awesome), Dog tiredly limps out to the side of the road for a bit of a rest before he heads home. His feet are sore from all that running; he's thirsty and tired, but in a good way.  That's when a vehicle pulls up beside him, and before he realizes what's happening, a couple strangers hop out, grab his collar and drag him away!  Now he's headed to God-knows-where with strange people and he's scared out of his mind!  (I personally hope that he peed on their car seat.) Over time, he slowly adjusts to these new people who feed him table scraps and let him sleep on the couch, but he also gets fat because they don't walk him and they don't let him chase bunnies.

Dog's owners currently aren't worried about him because they know that he'll be back before long.  After all, it's not unusual for him to go off on his own for hours at a time.  Later tonight, or maybe tomorrow, when his owners do start to worry, the first place they'll call is the local animal shelter to see if someone turned him in - but Dog isn't there.  They'll check the lost ads in the paper, but don't own a computer, and have never heard of 'Kijiji'.  Then they'll really start to worry.  They'll go searching the roads for him, hoping that he hasn't been hit by a car.  Three or four days from now, when they still haven't found him, they'll assume that Dog was on the losing side in a fight with a bigger animal - probably a wolf.  They'll give up hope, mourn for his loss, and continue on with life.  They expect that they'll never see Dog again.

The kidnappers on the other hand, think they are doing a great service by picking up this poor, tired, hungry, lost dog, taking him home, feeding him, and then advertising that they've found him.  They're city people who have moved to the country to 'get away from it all' and don't quite have a firm grasp on country living.  They tend to humanize animals and view Dog more as a lost child rather than a competent adult dog who can find his own way home.  Three weeks from now, when no one has answered their Kijiji ad, they'll assume they've saved the life of a neglected stray and have done the right thing by taking Dog into their home and giving him a better life.  Six months from now, they'll be cursing Dog for chewing up yet another boot because they don't allow Dog to chase bunnies anymore and he's bored.  Dog will end up at the pound where he'll be sent to a foster family before he is finally adopted out to his 'forever' home - where, one day, he'll be tied up in the back yard, slip his collar, and head for the nearest forest to chase bunnies.  And the kidnapping cycle will start all over again.

I've been the country kid who's dog has gone missing.  We've had to call the pound to bail out a hunting dog after someone picked him up and turned him in.  I've had to stop someone from picking up my dog after he simply followed me to the mailbox to get the mail. I know how frustrating it is to have a stranger meddle with your dog.

The moral of the story is: It's normal for country dogs to be running loose; leave them alone!  If you feel you must interact with the stray dog, (for the betterment of society, or maybe just for your own personal gratification), using your angriest meanest voice, yell at the dog and tell it to go home.  But for the love of all things good and holy, do not pick up a stray dog!

Buying? Renting? You decide

So now that this marriage thing is happening, everyone's next big question is:  Are you going to buy a house?

The easy answer is: the money that we could use as a down payment is currently being funneled into paying for a gigantic party! So no, no we are not going to be running out to buy a house the day after we get married.  Someday maybe, but not right now.

Truthfully, I'm not convinced that home ownership is all that it's cracked up to be.  It seems that home ownership is one of those 'rites of passage' into adulthood - it's the thing to do because everyone else does it.  You're supposed to get married, buy a house, settle down and raise a family.  It's what good people do.  And renting, ugh!  Only POOR people rent.  Right?  There is a bit of a stigma attached to renting, isn't there.

I've been told since I was little kid that renting is 'throwing money away', and buying a home is 'investing in equity.'  Maybe so.... but at what cost?

In a world where it takes two incomes to make ends meet, is living in debt for the next 20-30 years really worth it?  Maybe I just fell into a puddle of luck when I stumbled upon the current rental situation I'm in, but I just can't see the advantage of home ownership at the moment.  Let's take a moment to remember our grade 4  french here: mort = dead, gage = pledge or guarantee.  'Cause you tend to end up paying your mortgage until you're dead!

Here's what I know:

For starters, homes in my appropriate price range are far smaller (sq footage) than what I'm currently renting.  How is that appealing to anyone?

And then, there's this thing called 'utilities'.  Apparently, when you own a home, you are responsible for paying ALL the utilities!  You do know that the price of hydro is supposed to increase by a mere 46% over the next 5 years, right?  46%!!  That fact alone makes me want to throw up a little.

Home owners also pay property tax.  And higher insurance rates.  And.... maintenance.  Yes, maintenance.  Roofs don't last forever!  Either do windows, paint, septic tanks, furnaces, eaves troughs, floor joists, siding.... The list is pretty much endless.  Houses breakdown, degrade, fall apart. So while you're calling 15 repair guys for quotes, I'm making a quick call to my landlord, the job gets done, and I never see a bill.

Don't even get me started on interest!  Nobody actually has $200,000 to buy a $200,000 home.  We take out a mortgage and over 25 years we end up paying $330,000 in mortgage payments. So, you've gotta ask yourself, is that $200k house going to be worth $330k in 25 years?  (We'll ignore inflation and all the costs of renos/repairs & new bathrooms & kitchen fixtures you've put into it to 'increase its value'.)  It's true, the consensus seems to be that over time the value of your home will indeed increase.  But will it really?  Tell that to all the people in the United States who got burned when the housing bubble popped.  Or to a greater extreme, all those people in Japan who just watched their housed wash away in the tide.  Home ownership seems like a bit of a gamble to me.

Oh, you also realize that in order to get the equity back out of the house, you're going to have to sell it.  IF you can find a buyer who is willing to pay you what you want.  It's not exactly a liquid asset.   Sure, banks will let you borrow all the money you want if you're willing to put your house on the line; but that's actually just more debt that you eventually have to pay back.

Now, I know that I'm coming off as being very anti-home-ownership.  Everyone's situation is indeed different, and home ownership definitely comes with a certain freedom (for example, you can take a sledgehammer to your ceiling anytime you want, whereas, I have to ask permission first).  But currently for me, those freedoms do not outweigh the more fiscally responsible path of renting.  Don't get me wrong, I still feel the pull of home ownership - no one checks www.mls.ca more often that I do!  But its just not in the cards right now; it doesn't make sense (or cents).

I've done the math, and I'm pretty certain that I would be financially further ahead to save my money for the next 25 years rather than purchase a house.  And, I have finally found a really great interactive calculator that supports my conclusions.  The New York Times published this calculator back in April of last year.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/buy-rent-calculator.html
It seems to be very thought out, takes a great deal of information into consideration, and has told me in no uncertain terms that I would be an idiot to give up my current rental accommodations!  (There is one caveat to this whole 'renting being the better choice' thing.  You need, NEED, to actively save your money, which might be difficult for some but, currently, pretty easy for me.)

So there's your answer.  My husband-to-be and I are not currently in the market for a house of our own.  And if you're in the market for new living accommodations, please do some math, check out the calculator, crunch some numbers, and make an informed decision.

I apologize to all those people I know in the real estate business, or who have just purchased a home - I mean no disrespect, I'm really quite happy for you.  This is my situation and, as I said, everyone's situation is different.  Besides, someone has to own the houses, otherwise there wouldn't be anything for me to rent!

Supermoon

I'm sure you've all heard about (and if you step outside right now, you could see for yourself) tonight's 'supermoon'.  A phenomenon that happens but once every couple of decades or something like that... The moon's orbit brings it the closest to earth as possible (hasn't been this close since 1992), and just happens to also be a beautifully full moon (these two things haven't lined up since 1983, and won't happen again until 2029 - or so my google research tells me).

I missed the actual moon rise - it's a well known fact that the moon looks way bigger when it's on the horizon (it's an illlluuuuusionnnn); I was actually sitting in a movie theatre at the time watching 'Paul'.  Surprisingly, it was way better than I thought it would be.  Completely full of cursing and fart jokes, but funny and action packed too - just don't take kids with you (I would feel bad about that). 

ANYWAY...  I did manage to catch the moon later in the evening with a nice view from my deck over the water.  My camera is a little old and gimpy these days, but it did an alright job capturing the moment:

  

And, here's a closeup (12x optical zoom, with 40x digital zoom), it needed some minor photoshopping to bring out the detail:

The moon is neat! 
But I don't think I'd ever want to live there  :P

Don't kiss me, I'm Irish

Unsolicited kisses will probably earn you a punch in the nose!

So I just realized that today is my very last St Patrick's Day with my Irish surname.  I'll have a boring ol' Scottish surname by this time next year! 

ROBERT!!#&$*$(@*#!!

So I just finished week one of Running with Robert.  It was...  sweaty.  :)

For those of you keeping track (I know I am),

Week one was a 5 minute warm up walk, followed by 8 sets of running for a minute, then walking for 90 seconds, and ending with a 5 minute cool down walk for a full half hour of fun.  Do this three times throughout the week, and you're done!  Easy enough, right?  yeah... mostly it was.  The idea of running with Robert is that he provides audio cues for when you're supposed to change speeds.  Plus, he plays funky music and says encouraging things like 'this one's probably gonna hurt, but you can do it!'.

Day one I went 1.7 miles (2.7km)
Day two I went 1.74 miles (2.8km)
Day three I went 1.84 miles (2.96km)

So there ya go.  It did definitely get easier as the week went along.  Moving on to week two still sounds a little intimidating, buuuut, we'll see.

Now.  If I could only stop equating a treadmill run with a rewarding bowl of ice cream...

So it's Lent again

I know this because everyone at the office had ash on their faces yesterday. 
(I also know how to read a calendar.)

I may have made a somewhat regrettable comment on Facebook on Shrove Tuesday that pancakes are not supper food.  It was a 'devil's advocate' move on my part - I thought it would stir up a heated debate between the lovers and the haters, but really, I just got an earful from the lovers!  I could care less about pancakes.  To me, I'll eat them, but they're not a satisfying food.  And I don't find the ensuing sugar crash from the syrup all that pleasant.  But it did keep my facebook wall busy for a few hours!

It seems to me that Shrove Tuesday has become an excuse to eat an unhealthy dinner.  I really doubt that anyone actually follows through with the whole fasting and the not using lard/fat/butter/etc for the next 40 days, so there's really no other reason to indulge in a dinner full of empty calories.  Personally, if I had a choice about which unhealthy food to eat as my 'last' meal before lent, it would probably be chocolate bars on ice cream with a good dose of chocolate syrup and maraschino cherries.  The calories and sugar content would be about equal to a cup of maple syrup, and it'd be way tastier!  But for some reason, pancakes seem to be socially acceptable for dinner, while ice cream and chocolate bars are not.  Go figure.  It doesn't really matter anyway because just the thought of eating that much simple sugar/carbs as an entire meal pretty much makes me want to vomit.

End of 'pancakes are bad supper food' rant.


So, you might be wondering what I'm going to attempt (and ultimately fail at) for Lent this year.  Well, I've been inspired by a number of friends who used to be couch potatoes, who can now run 5km+.  I've also been watching that CBC show 'Village on a Diet', which mostly makes me feel incredibly lazy (in a warm fuzzy feel good way).  Plus, I've got a $700 coat rack in my front room that I should be making use of!  Guess where this is heading...

Last night, I went for a run with 'Robert'.  And I plan to continue running with Robert until I, too, can run that 5km.  It might take a little longer than the 40 days of lent, but if if the 'guilt' of lent keeps me motivated, then so be it!

Day one of running with Robert took about half an hour, and my treadmill told me I went 1.7miles (2.7km).