The true origin of Labour Day

Wikipedia describes the meaning of Labour Day as:

Labour Day is an annual holiday to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers.

It goes on to describe the differences between our countries and so on... what a load of crap.

I'm here to tell you the true origin of Labour Day.

It was a French holiday celebrating beer. That's right... La Beer Day.

It was a heavily celebrated holiday with much love shown for this amazing beverage. As a result, speech slurred and eventually transformed it into what we know today as "Labour Day".

I shit you not. Don't let anyone tell you different. Why else would there be line-ups at beer stores on the Friday before the weekend?

Have an awesome La Beer Day weekend, have fun, and play safe. :)

Saving a few bucks on Xbox Live Points

If you...

• own an Xbox 360
• occasionally buy Xbox Live Points to purchase game DLC or Xbox Live Arcade titles
• are Canadian

... keep reading if you want to save a few bucks.

Microsoft sells Xbox Live points direct from the Xbox Live Marketplace for the following prices:

• 500 Microsoft Points - $7.25
• 1000 Microsoft Points - $14.50
• 2000 Microsoft Points - $29.00
• 5000 Microsoft Points - $72.00
• 6000 Microsoft Points - $87.00

Not taking tax into consideration, that works out to 1.45 cents per point, unless you buy 5000 points which works out to 1.44 cents per point. (oooh big savings there)

You can save a few more cents more by buying a 1400 or 2800 point card at Best Buy or Future Shop. At regular price, they sell them for:

• 1400 Microsoft Points - $19.99
• 2800 Microsoft Points - $39.99

That works out to ~1.43 cents per point. In comparison to Microsoft's pricing, 1000 points would cost you $14.28. Still not much of a savings. You'd probably spend more on gas driving to the store.

I think that's pretty much the standard pricing for those cards everywhere, unless they go on sale, and that's pretty rare.

There is another option that I don't think many people are aware of: Dell.ca.

Dell.ca sells Xbox Live point cards, as well as gaming consoles, games and accessories. Buying your Xbox Live point cards from Dell.ca will save you even more. On top of that, they have FREE SHIPPING and they also accept PayPal.

This is Dell's pricing scheme for points cards:

• 1400 Microsoft Points - $17.99
• 2800 Microsoft Points - $38.99

You can quickly see that the best bang for the buck is the 1400 point card. 1400 points is ~1.29 cents per point and 2800 points is ~1.39 cents per point. In comparison to Microsoft's pricing, 1000 points would cost you $12.85 — a savings of $1.65 before tax.

Granted, the convenience of having points instantly-when-you-need-them isn't there, but if you plan ahead you can save a few bucks and maybe buy that cool hat or outfit for your avatar. :) In my experience with Dell.ca, their shipping times are really good. Almost everything I've ever ordered from them has arrived within 2-3 days.

The Google Flower Project

I got this in some junkmail from Google yesterday. Apparently there are wild flower seeds embedded in the paper it is printed on.

I tore off a piece and planted it in a mug of soil at work and we'll see if and what it grows. :)

Bucket time

Time to update my bucket list. While I didn't really set this as a goal, I did achieve what I said in the comment for it.

I had mentioned that I expected to break 2000 kms before the end of summer. I did that on Tuesday. I'll update it to say that I'm aiming for 3000 kms before the snow falls.

• Weigh 200lbs or less — Less than 20 lbs to go.
• Quit smoking — Completed 2½ years ago.
• Visit the UK — Still to do.
• Visit my Dad's grave site in Louisiana — Still to do.
• Own a Ford Mustang — Probably a long way away from getting this one done. :)
• Visit every province in Canada — Still to do.
• Cycle 1000 kms in one year — Done mid summer 2011.
• Cycle 2000 kms before the end of the summer 2011 - Done
• Cycle 3000 kms before the first snow fall
• Ride in a hot air balloon — Just added!
• Ride in a bi-plane — I see one taking off and landing at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum all the time, but I think it's a bit pricey.

 

 

Cutting cable... or the bill at least

Our rented Rogers PVR died a few days ago. None of the hours of recorded shows we had were showing up. I rebooted it and they appeared, but then disappeared soon after. I suspected that the hard drive was dead or dying. It had been acting up for a while in the last couple of months, rebooting on its own for no reason, and splitting recordings in two parts.

Sandra took it to one of their stores to exchange it for a new(er) one. At the same time, she tried to cancel stuff that we don't use because our bill keeps growing. We were disappointed, but not too surprised, to find out that you can't cancel anything at their stores. You have to CALL them to do that. Stupid.

We got the new one hooked up and so far so good.

The next day, Sandra called to cancel the movie package. I turns out that it wouldn't make much of a difference to our bill. Maybe $15 less per month. Sandra told the rep that we need to do something to get the bill down because it's too much.

Get this. The rep offered to keep everything the same but reduce our bill by ~20% in exchange for signing a contract with them for a year.

She also threw in two "on demand" movies, free of charge, for the loss of all our recorded shows.

We accepted the offer.

I had often heard that they'll cut you deals if you call and threaten to leave for another company. We didn't even do that. We just told them that we didn't want to pay as much as we do.

Apparently our monthly bill will now be around $185 instead of $217. It's still too much, imho, but I'm not ready to battle my family for all the channels they like to watch.

Bucket List — updated

I was looking through old postings on my blog and came across one titled "Bucket List".

It was basically a list of things I wanted to do in life. I realized that I have completed at least two of them, and I'm on my way to completing a third. This was the list:

1. Weigh 200lbs or less (target = summer)
2. Quit smoking (already in progress -- if I can go 2 months, I'll consider it done)
3. Visit the UK (where I was born, and where my cousins, aunts, and uncles live)
4. Visit my Dad's grave site in Louisiana.
5. Own a Ford Mustang. :D
6. Visit every province in Canada (6 to go... not including the territories)
7. Cycle 1000kms in one year (this may not seem like much to some people, but considering I tend to cycle once per weekend, in spring & summer only, that's about 80kms per weekend -- double what I usually ride...)

I thought I had updated it at one time but can't find the posting right now. Anyway, it's time for an update! :)

1. Weigh 200lbs or less — As this was posted in 2009, I didn't make the summer target. It's unlikely I'll make the target this summer either, but I'm well on my way as you can see in other postings. :)
2. Quit smoking — Done. Done years ago. I made it past the 2 month mark and kept going.
3. Visit the UK — Still to do.
4. Visit my Dad's grave site in Louisiana — Still to do.
5. Own a Ford Mustang — Probably a long way away from getting this one done. :)
6. Visit every province in Canada — Yeh, still to do.
7. Cycle 1000kms in one year — I had completely forgotten about this one, but as a matter of fact, I'm almost at 1400kms for this summer and I expect to break 2000kms before the end of the summer, easily. :)

I think I need a few more items added to the bucket list.

Mr. Baggy Pants

Last night Sandra and I went through our closet — or rather Sandra went through the closet — and picked out stuff that I haven't worn in ages because it was either worn out or too big, or both. There were old jeans, hoodies, and track pants.

A couple of the pairs of jeans were really old. Size 42" waist old. I haven't been that size in 6 or 7 years. I kept them because I would wear track pants underneath them to go snow shoeing.

I decided to try them on for fun and I got Kyle to take a couple of photos.

It's hard to believe that I was once this size. Of course, having my arms in the waist make them appear much larger than they are.

When I started my recent weight loss, my jeans were a size 38" waist. They still are, but my new jeans fit me differently than the old 38s. Having said that, I may be able to wear a 36" soon.