Now I am talking about the micro-economics view of the upcoming pandemic.

I have already noticed some very interesting things that is occuring in the name of the Pandemic of ‘09:

• The Upper Canada School board has closed their school’s gyms off hours (for non school events) to slow the Flu’s progress. This is an interesting one, are they then going to lock students up next? This means community groups’ meetings and events are being cancelled or postponed.
• More folks are taking sick leave than before. Are that many folks sick right now, or is it that folks who normally would have come into work are feeling the pressure to stay home because of the Pandemic? Not sure what the answer to that question is but I view this as a positive thing, less sick people at work or at school is a very good thing.
• People are coughing into their elbows, which is very interesting to watch, but I am not sure it is very safe when you are driving. What about those folks who are doing elbow bumps instead of handshakes? Are they inadvertently passing the Virus on?
• No one is talking about how bad the economy is, because they like to argue about whether or not to get vaccinated, which is good as well. Less people talking about the economy is a good thing (right now), hopefully it won’t cause anybody to buy Canada Savings bonds (yikes).
• People are missing work and school to get vaccinated, even though they are not in a High Risk group. I have a problem with that, if there are folks who SHOULD be getting the vaccine and they aren’t that is wrong (my opinion).

Will this somehow stall the recovery? Not sure, but there may be some ramifications at the micro level with more and more folks taking sick leave.

So I finally broke down this weekend and rented an HD terminal box from Rogers, just to see what it all looked like, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the picture is quite good and I did enjoy seeing Hockey and Football games in High Definition format.

I did not buy the terminal box, I will rent it for a month or two, and hopefully the PVR or terminal itself will go on sale (again) and I may purchase it at that time, because having an HD television which doesn’t receive the signals does seem a little silly (albeit frugal).

The interesting tricks in getting this new service is:

• My bill goes up $12.95 a month (plus taxes) so that is the know kick in the teeth.
• I then received a note about my account and I also get hit with a $2.99 Digital Services fee.

The second fee is what has me scratching my head, because, I already have two digital terminals in my house (both for regular TV, but they are digital none the less). Does this mean I pay this fee on each of them? This is not a “rental” fee, because I own those boxes, so I am paying over $10 for the right to have a digital terminal?

What Next With Digital TV?

Here is another interesting question to answer, when Canada finally follows the US and stops broadcasting on the Analog frequencies for TV, what happens to the Cable signals? If I connect an “aerial” I can receive digital (and HD) signals right now in the Ottawa area (very limited channels, but it is still possible), but what happens when digital takes over?

• Will we need “Digital Terminal” set top boxes? You’d think the answer would be “no”, but I am pretty sure the real answer is “Yes”, at least for now.  These boxes allow your Cable provider to monitor your usage and control your access very easily.
• Will HD signals be “free”, or will I be paying a fee to receive those as well (i.e. either buy a Set top box, rent one or what)?

My Cable bill is now about $90 a month again, I am not happy with that, and am thinking, this may have to change very soon.

Any ideas or opinions on this topic Home Entertainment/Home Expense subject?

How Many Mortgages Do I have to Buy?

Interesting things you can buy at Costco are aplenty, however, my wife informs me that on Saturday she and a friend saw that you can get a Mortgage from Costco (kind of).

My wife and Michael James‘ wife actually went to Costco to see what the Portable Massage Tables (another interesting thing that Costco sells) looked like (they don’t keep them in stock evidently, not a high number of sales of that product, but you can order it on line). Given that part of their shopping expedition was fruitless they looked around and after picking up Pizza on the way out (another interesting thing sold at the commisary at Costco), they saw a young man advertising Mortgages.

I have checked on the Costco web site, and you can’t seem to order your Mortgage on line, you must go to Costco to get it (the kiosk may not really be associated with Costco, since Primus sells their wares the same way (and they are selling Internet, Cell and home phone something else to check I guess)), but my wife was unable to get any more information on it, as the young man at the Kiosk was busy with another potential customer.

Does anybody know about this “Mortgage”? Do I get points with it? Do I have to get 10 Mortgages since it is Costco? Do I get free food samples? Do I have to buy a trailer home? Anybody has any info on this “mortgage” or on the Primus Internet stuff, please comment.

It’s been a busy very Long weekend for me, so I will put up a Best of posting about the very High Price of raising ‘healthy” kids, which I wrote about two years ago, I wrote two follow up stories that  you can also read:

• High Price of Healthy Kids Part II
• High Price of Healthy Kids Part III

The High Cost of Healthy Kids? (part i)

I have seen many articles posted lately in the “real” media complaining about obese kids and the implication that it is their parents fault that they are fat. I agree in some ways given that you as a parent should worry if your kid is morbidly obese, or way over weight (also knowing that some kids fill out and then shoot up in height, and there are sometimes extenuating health issues). Parents should most definitely be worried that their kids are not healthy, no argument there.

What I will write about here, is how the “real” media implies that it is a simple case of parents just not trying to get their kids healthy, and the simplest resolution to the problem is:

• Make sure the kids are active at school in sports
• Sign them up for sports at home in their spare time
• Limit their TV and Video Game access
• Limit their intake of snack foods and foods high in sugar and fat

Simple enough, and in an esoteric way, I agree, however, let’s look at this from a financial model.

The question to be answered is: is it cheaper to have healthy kids, or is it more expensive? I’ll give my opinions in the next couple of days: (see the links for those posts)

• High Price of Healthy Kids Part II
• High Price of Healthy Kids Part III

New Month Coming

September is on the event horizon folks, that means we are in the final third of the year, maybe it is time to revisit your financial plans, and also start thinking about big ticket end of year items that could broadside you if you don’t think of it. What do I mean?

• Christmas, better figure out what you are doing there, or you may as well get a pile of money and burn it.
• When do your insurance policies renew?
• What other yearly payments might come due on January 1? Do you have enough money to pay them?
• How about your RRSP input goals? Reached them yet?
• RESP Goals?
• Savings in General?

A good financial plan is a living, breathing entity, that you must attend to monthly.

House Keeping

I will be out of town for a few days this week so I may miss a day or two this week, my apologies, if I could figure out how to do THIS full time and make a living, I’d gladly do it.

Rogers Relents

After sending an e-mail to Rogers cable asking why their web site claimed there is a cap on the “surcharge” for Internet over-usage (I mentioned this initially in Rogers Cable and Overruns), and why I didn’t get that cap, I received a satisfactory reply (for now).

Evidently Rogers will be crediting my account by $5 for the $30 fee I paid last month, and this month’s $50 surcharge will be capped at $25.00 which is satisfactory. I still am not very happy with this whole surcharge for “overuse” and am investigating a few different high speed Internet companies (who were suggested by my intelligent readers), but I am happier that Rogers at least isn’t throwing salt in my wounds after gouging me.

Remember the importance of complaining if you do not like what is going on.

Back To School Ink

After returning from Staples and having paid $180 for ink jet replacement cartridges, I was fit to be tied. The three printers combined didn’t cost that much to purchase in the first place. Yes, I did buy XL cartridges for two of the printers (which allege to be able to print 3 times as many pages for only 2 times the cost (unless the cartridge dries out, from lack of use, like one of my printers)), however this cost for “Back to School” just drives me spare. Maybe it is cheaper to buy laser printers, does anyone know of a web site that does the price comparison?

Another important back to school cost to remember in your budgeting exercises next year.

Broken Contracts and Cell Phones

The CWTA (Canadian Wireless Telecom Association) came out with a Code of Conduct which says it is the Consumers right to be able to break contracts if their service provider changes the service being given to the consumer or raises the price of these services.  Read that sentence again, and then ask yourself, “I wasn’t allowed to get out of my contract if the service provider broke their word in the contract?”, I guess the CWTA is just reinforcing this point?

Unsubstantiated rumor has  it that it was a common practice to penalize folks who tried to get out of their contracts even if their service provider changed the contract or started to charge more, but now you have Consumer Rights!!! Whoo Hooo!!! (sarcasm for those who cannot tell).