Leftovers, Casinos, E.Coli and Friday #Shoutouts

A short week after Thanksgiving, we end up with a Hodge-podge of Leftovers (at least for dinner). I think my wife and I have finished off the remainder of the turkey, and everyone who descended on us has left, but not without a great deal of family frivolity and such. The other leftovers were on my Twitter feed, but you can check that out on Sunday when I run down the posts from my archive I brought back from the dead (Zombie Posts for Halloween) and tweeted.

In Ottawa, we need a Casino downtown. I think it’s a good idea. After all, we have enough check cashing and pay-day loan storefronts to support a Casino, and I am sure the Gamblers Anonymous would love to expand their offices with new clients as well. I have a self-righteous dislike of these Casinos, and it’s not really about the gambling per se (I think gambling is for suckers). Still, I guess my big problem is that the Government is running this and preying on those addictive personalities out there who will squander all their money in the hope of that one big score! Sorry, I get preachy on this subject, but I think people who support Government-run Casinos should be behind legalizing Marijuana and have the Government regulate that as well (maybe sell it at the
Casinos?).

More E.Coli stories were coming out of the West of Canada. It makes you want to become a vegetarian. However, that isn’t very likely in my case. No finger-pointing as of yet other than at the firm that produced the tainted meat. However, I await the barrage of arguments about how the food chain in Canada is not safe anymore.

The colours of Autumn are in their full glory these days. This won’t last long. It will be winter soon enough, so get out and enjoy the season (oh and remember your financial year-end is less than three months away, too, so maybe it might be time to put some money in your kids’ RESP?).

Weekly Recap

No sign of turkey bombings in Ottawa, however, Trudeaumania is starting up, and Oktoberfest is well underway as well:

• Happy Thanksgiving and some #Tweets was the regular Sunday post on Monday, due to a lovely long weekend for me.
• Insultingly rudimentary advice was a comment one of my posts got last week in the Carnival of Wealth, luckily it was a guest post.
• Employment boost in September was some welcome good news for Canadians job hunting. There are unfortunately more unemployed as well.
• Free Month Subscription points out that there is no such thing as free, and you better be careful if you give anyone your credit card.

And thanks to those who added me on Twitter, I am now over 1210 folks who follow me, holy liftin! 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 and find us on Google+ (but no, I didn’t buy Facebook stock). The page includes many different posts, not just my own (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

Lots of folks wondering what to do with their leftover turkey after Thanksgiving as well, but not that much in anyone’s feed:

• Mortgage Life Insurance: What’s this All About by CanadaMortgagenews.ca is an interesting view on this dubious insurance product. I wouldn’t get it at all, just buy a term policy, unless the bank gives you a great deal (i.e. that isn’t going to ever happen).
• Michael James takes a page out of my writing style (i.e highly sarcastic, but humorous) with 5 Ways to Save Money on [Item]s, I am very proud of this post, should be nominated for a [Various] award.
• The Blunt Bean Counter goes after another topic I love ranting about myself with Debt: An Ugly Four Letter Word, which I have written about before as well. Is the world suddenly “getting me”? I hope not, I’d hate to think I have become “main stream”.
• Jim Yih at the Retire Happy Blog points out some ways of Maximizing Your Income in Retirement, which is important for those of us close to retirement.
• Mike at Money.Sense stays on the Cell Phone jag with Avoiding Cell Phone Data Roaming Charges while Traveling in the U.S. – Success, good to know these things, because this is where you can get screwed royally by all the cell phone network suppliers.
• The Physics of Finance wonders is there Stability Through Simplicity, an interesting (but long) essay discussing the complex web of regulations in the financial world and how we should deal with all of this.
• For those aspiring writers out there the Popular Science web site gives us 5 Tips for Scientists on How to NOT Write like Scientists, which might be useful for a few bloggers too!
• Gail Vaz-Oxlade goes for another bash over the head for those who don’t know they don’t know about money with Are You Horrible with Money? Trust me, the answer is YES, I stink at money.
• The Canadian Capitalist goes deep financial technical with Double Dipping on Currency Conversions in US Dollar RRSP DRiPs, interesting stuff.
• Mark at My Own Advisor gave us a DIY Investor Profile – Susan Brunner , a good read.

Other Bookkeeping

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