Aboriginal Day, Moving Wood, Gens Du Pays, Tweeting and Some Random Thoughts

For those of you who didn’t realize yesterday was National Aboriginal Day (I hear some folks would rather it was National Indigenous Peoples Day), hope all who celebrate that day had a good time (and will enjoy this weekend ahead, there are events here in Ottawa to celebrate as well).

Pour mes amis en Québec, vous avez la Fête Nationale cette fin de semaine aussi.

I found a very interesting brochure from the Canadian Food Agency about how you should not move firewood. I had not thought that moving your wood around would be a big issue, but you know men, they love to leave their wood hanging around, and then they take it to places they should not. Be very careful where you leave your wood! And when I talk about wood, I think you know what I mean about making sure you keep your wood clean and you don’t leave it hanging around.

I have a Twitter contest going too, which folks can leave a good financial tweet and I will highlight them on my Twitter feed next week. For those who might have noticed, yes I have changed my twitter feed Icon to a much more interesting character.

Weekly Recap

A hot week in the Nation’s capital, and it doesn’t look like it is going to cool off much either:

• I would have been remiss had I not noted Happy Father’s Day and Sunday’s Best, last Sunday. I got quite the spread for my Father’s day (which will lead to another spread if I am not careful).
• Sometimes my techie background shows and with Anti-Virus Software: Needed but Expensive, I point out that there are alternatives that are less expensive than going with the big Anti-Virus folks (and remember you folks with Macs, you have viruses too).
• My long discussion with my daughter who is living in a non-air conditioned apartment led to the post Hot, Hot, Hot.
• Sometimes you need to ask yourself Am I Solving the Right Problem, especially when it comes to your money issues.
• As I mentioned I do have a Contest: Financial Advice in 144 characters, go leave a tweet I will retweet it next week (be as rude as you like).

And thanks to those who added me on Twitter I am now over 1100 folks who follow me, merde!  If you join my “Twitter Posse“, you might notice I am also re-Tweeting some posts from the French Media as well (hell, if I am learning the language, shouldn’t we all?).

Check out my Facebook page as well (but no I didn’t buy Facebook stock). The page includes many different posts, not just my own (kind of like this Friday post, but all week-long), and I have changed it a little bit too (note the new background).

Links for the Week

We averted having an Election in Ontario (not that anyone really cared), we had the Omnibus Bill of Death pass for our Federal friends, :

• My Own Advisor wonders if History Repeats? Some ETFs look like old time Mutual Funds, you had to figure the lampreys that ran the Mutual Funds would simply rename and rebrand and figure out a way to make money in the ETF world (not to say they are like cockroaches, but they don’t seem to ever die, do they?).
• Larry MacDonald points out Greek ETF up Sharply but still to much risk, well not too much risk if you enjoy juggling chain saws.
• Lou from Lou’s Land wishes Happy Father’s Day to the Autism Dads out there, thanks big guy.
• Canada Mortgage News points out that the Fed Govt tightens Mortgage Rules again … 4th time in 4 years hopefully this time it will slow down all the shenanigans going on in the marketplace.
• Mr. Money Mustache proves his Bad-Assity (wish I could lay claim to that phrase, I am more of a Wise-Ass) with the story of I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech, good on ya Monsieur Mustache, way to show some balls (but stick with Badassity, BadBallsity just doesn’t roll off the tongue as nicely).
• Sustainable Personal Finance says that The Government May Pay You to Generate Energy, I have no energy, so I guess I am not making any money here.
• The Blunt Bean Counter explained to me how I was mistaken last week (my apologies) and this week gives us some good advice Should Your Corporation’s Shareholder be a Family Trust instead of a Holding Company? As usual good advice that doesn’t affect me much.
• Michael James pulls out his slide rule again and gives you 7 Most Important Equations for Your Retirement, trust me if he says they are important, you better at least figure out why you think it isn’t important.
• Canadian Capitalist discusses the Frequency of Black Swan Events (on the stock market I am assuming), funnily enough that is a topic discussed in Preet’s Podcast as well. Something that happens that often, is not a Black Swan, or maybe Black Swan’s happen that often? You could rename those events Leaf Winning the Cup Events (now that is RARE)!
• The Canadian Couch Potato wonders Can you have too much Diversification? I am not that diverse myself, I am pretty bland.
•  Echo of Boomer and Echo gives us The Best Savings Accounts for Children, do kids really need savings accounts? I had a folder that held dimes (and pennies) to start with.
• Gail Vaz-Oxlade talks about Hot Real-Estate, no not like in Ottawa where it is so darn hot all the houses are hot.
• Preet gives us Podcast #8, where he discusses with Howard Atkinson about Black Swan events and such. Preet was a little rushed, given he is now in Paris after he enjoyed LeMans, me, I am hanging out in a French Class in downtown Ottawa (not quite the same).

Other Bookkeeping

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Have a look at my micro-blog on Twitter, where you can see a whole plethora of good articles and pithy comments by me as well. Twitter feed where I re-tweet many great articles by some of my featured writers (and make the occasional odd or off colour commentary on life (in 140 characters or less)). I am also on Digg as Big Cajun Man, on reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest and other Social Media sites (look for the BigCajunMan userid) as well.

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Who is that Mysterious Cat Quote

Cats are an interesting thing, and can cause plenty of issues when you are using your laptop:

“These aren’t my thoughts, they’re my cat walking on the keyboard.”