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Thursday, September 30, 2010

Getting the Dutch Treat

A couple of weeks ago we got invited for a dinner party, at least that is what we thought. The person in question wanted to celebrate with a dinner on Friday and a party on Saturday. We asked if that was a good idea as it can be expensive, a dinner party for 10. Not a problem was the response. Okay. A day or two before the dinner party I asked again if the person was certain to proceed along this path as it can be an expensive exercise. Again, sure we like to have supper with friends. Okay. So we went and had a nice steak and a beer. So far so good. Then the bill arrives. "We are not going to pay that, please split the bill". Christ almighty, we had asked twice. "No problem" and now all of a sudden the bill has to be split. Don't get me wrong; I do not mind paying but after asking twice, anticipating the $$, even I get pissed off. If you invite someone you pay the bill. Period, nothing old-fashioned about that. Do not put me in an embarrassing situation where money is counted as a couple 16 year olds to pay the bill. On top of that everybody is flashing their bank and credit-cards and making a lot of noise on how fancy they are. Goddamn it, use it and take care of your problem after you leave the restaurant. Via-via I heard: "We only asked to join us for a dinner party". Yeah, sure. Joining and inviting is the same in my book. If you want me to pay for my own food, fine. Just say so UPFRONT.

A new woodstove

Also we had a new woodstove installed today, as we want to go green ( ;-) ) and it is easier on the wallet. We have so much firewood standing on our property, it would be stupid not to use that for almost free heat. Another reason for this stove is the fact power outages often occur in rural Rollyview. It is almost a necessity to be independent; you do not want to be out of power at minus 40, right. Secondly the gas bill will drop significantly, so much the stove will pay for itself in about two years. The last couple of weeks we have downed 4 large pine/fir trees and numerous (30-40) poplar trees, providing a nice stack of firewood. Estimated we now have 3 cord (1 cord=4'x4'x8'=3.62 m3) in stock; enough for 2 winters (?). We'll find out.
Unfortunately we could not use our Rais Fokus stove; it is not CSA approved, so getting the building permit (yes you need one for a stove) and the insurance would be a problem.
At first we had set our eyes on a HearthStone stove, model Heritage, beautiful but quite expensive. The one we bought, Drolet Adirondack, at the Co-op Leduc is kind of temporary. Maybe until ATNP.PK soares.

2.7 Million Shares

Today I bought 2.700.000 shares for only $540, ATNP.PK. Imagine this stock soars! But with my luck it will probably disappear altogether. On the other hand if it rock&rolls to lets say $0.50 I'm home free. Share wise I am a millionaire, cool eh! There are 1.82 billion shares issued and today 1.1 billion shares got traded, reason being a SEC's complaint. So I took a gamble and bought it at $0.0002, only time will tell if it pays off. If not then I'm fooked, as they say in Alberta. If it rocks I make a nice buck or two and make a dash to the F350 Powerstroke V8 store.