Forgot It Was Valentines Day??

CRAP!  It's Valentines Day.  It happens, people forget...well, men forget.  Women don't forget.  So, you could be in some deep #@$t if you don't pull something together FAST.   Here are a few things you can do last minute to save your a$$:

1. Dinner
Chances are, most places are booked up for tonight (all those damn guys who didn't forget actually made reservations).  Check out opentable.com, they have access to the reservations of hundreds of restaurants, so you'll save yourself the hassle of having to look each one up, just go down the list until you find one with availability.  If all else fails, get some candles and have dinner at home.  She would love it if you cooked - it shows that you made an effort.  Check out allrecipes.com, they have pretty much everything, show you how long it takes, and if it's easy or not.  If you really can't cook, or really don't have time to do that, pick something up.  This is where Longos can be your best friend.  I know it sounds cheesy, but odds are against you being able to pick up something fairly gourmet tonight.  Longos has impressive carry out dishes - I've seen braised ribs, glazed salmon, stuff like that.  They also have a plethora of sides.  Whatever it is that you decide to pick up, make sure that when they pack up your food - this is very important - they separate each dish (meat in one container, vegetables in another, etc...).  When you get home, plate it nicely.  This will matter to her.

2.  Flowers
Boutique flower shops will probably not take your order at this point.  You're going to have to be creative with where you go, and what you get.  Again, I direct you to Longos.  They have a great flower section.  If they are out of roses and only have those cheesy looking arrangements, get a potted plant.  Whatever you do, DO NOT GET CARNATIONS.  Orchids are great, lilies are also good - simple, elegant.

3.  Jewelry
If you want to get jewelry and just don't have time, tell her that you got her something, but it still needs to be engraved, or fitted.  Be coy about it, hint that you got her jewelry, but don't tell her what.  Tell her you really wanted to give it to her today, but they just couldn't get it done on time.  Then, rush your butt to the store and get it as fast as you can.   Don't forget your excuse - if you said you were waiting for the engraving, make sure it's engraved.  If you said they were fitting it, measure her ring or bracelet size.

4. Chocolate
You can go ahead and grab some Godiva chocolate if you want, or you can grab a nice small cake from Longos (yup, Longos again!).  Get them to write something on it, 'I love you', 'Happy Valentines Day', something like that.  Or, if you really want to over compensate, grab some strawberries and chocolate chips.  This takes about 10 minutes, tops.  Melt the chocolate in the microwave with 30 second intervals and mix in between.  Then dip, and refrigerate.  If you want to be really fancy, go to Bulk Barn, get some white chocolate, and some red chocolate (melting chocolate looks like quarters and they have all different colors).  Do some red, then mix the two and do some pink.  She will be SO impressed.  **very important tip - if you do this, make sure the strawberries are completely dry before you dip them, or else the chocolate will curdle.

5. Finale
Here's the icing on the cake.  Burn her this mixtape and tell her you made it for her, and that all of these songs make you think of her.  She will melt.  Tell her she's beautiful.  Tell her she makes you a better man.  Act like you were a little unsure of yourself - "Did you like dinner?  I know it wasn't amazing, but I wanted to make you something", "Do the strawberries look dumb?  I guess I should have just bought them...", "Are you upset that your gift is late?  I really think you'll like what I picked, and I didn't want to get one you wouldn't love."


What every woman wants is to see that you made the effort.  It will seem like it took you weeks to pull this off, but you can do it in a few hours.  Good luck!

Great V-Day Gifts For Guys

As much as we love to spoil our women on Valentines Day, it's nice to get your man a great gift too.  Whether you want to spend $10 on a bouquet of bacon roses, or a few thousand on an interchangeable laptop, I'd love any of them...

How Safe Are Our Toronto Cabs??

The Toronto Star recently did an investigation on Toronto Taxi drivers (full article here).  It's something you never really think about, though it really is such a simple thought - would you get into a car with a stranger??

Taxi drivers automatically get exempt from that thought, because you figure that they've made it through some extensive screening process.  That's where we're wrong.  The article outlines some very disturbing facts about the city's guidelines, as well as what different companies require.  The city only requires a criminal record check once every four years, and they operate on an "honour system", which "requires" drivers to report any criminal or traffic charges.

The article outlines a few specific instances involving drunk driving, assault, and even a very disturbing sexual assault on a 13 year old girl with a severe mental illness.  The worst part is that very few taxi drivers lose their license.  According to the article, 340 of the drivers who were refused renewal within the past five years appealed this decision, and only 53 of which were denied their appeal.  So all you have to do is appeal a revoked license, the odds are in your favour.

Some taxi companies maintain their own integrity by implementing an internal screening process.  Royal Taxi runs regular criminal checks on their drivers, and require for their employees to be bondable.  Beck and Diamond do not have their own screening process, they just rely on the city's.

So what do we do about this?  Taxis are vital to our city, and serve as a great alternative for drunk driving.  I don't think the onus for a more vigorous screening process should be on the city, our tax money should not go towards the due diligence of Taxi companies.  I do think that regulations should be put in place, such as the screening process for companies, or taxi cabs should have locks that are only locked from the outside but can always open from the inside so that passengers are never locked in.

From now on, I would recommend that we only use Royal Taxi.

Toronto Tool Library

I was reading the paper today, and saw a really amazing article.  Toronto is opening it's first Tool Library.  People can visit this library in Parkdale for an inexpensive way to borrow tools.

"Other people who need the tools are having to spend their hard-earned money on buying new tools or renting them at an expensive price, when they (could be) available from a neighbour they haven’t met yet.”  Amazing concept.  If you make more than $40k/year, your membership fee is only a measly $50 - which, let's face it, you can't even buy a screwdriver set with.  If your income is less, your fee is less - another amazing concept.

I'm so damn proud to be Torontonian sometimes - this is so cutting edge, yet the foundation of it all is still so friendly.  

Check out torontotoollibrary.com for more info

My Two Cents on the Canadian Penny

Today, the Canadian government has stopped the production of the penny, and started their initiative to phase out the penny.

"The decision to phase out the penny was due to its excessive and rising cost of production relative to face value, the increased accumulation of pennies by Canadians in their households, environmental considerations, and the significant handling costs the penny imposes on retailers, financial institutions and the economy in general.

The estimated savings for taxpayers from phasing out the penny is $11 million a year."

I did a bit of research, to see how exactly they plan to do this, and these are the facts:

- production of the penny will seize

- retailers are urged to round up or down to the nearest nickel when completing cash transactions

- cheque, debit, and credit transactions will continue to charge to the penny, not having to round up

- businesses can choose to, or not to accept pennies

- the penny will retain it's value indefinitely

So, is it just me, or are there things that just don't quite fit?  The process seems a little ambiguous to me.  If you pay debit, you still pay to the penny, but if you pay cash, you have to round up or down.  In my opinion, this will skew business ledgers, inventory balancing, and general budgeting all around.  The "rounding guide" that the Canadian government put out is somewhat reminiscent of the grade school lessons we all learned years ago.  It's basic to say the least, and the biggest gap you can pay more or less for is $0.02.  It's not much, and for the average person, you'll at most lose $10 if you are rounded up for 500 cash transactions.  But, if you are a business that completes a couple of thousand transactions per day (gas station, grocery store, Tim Horton's, etc...) that could affect your financial statements by tens of thousands of dollars.

Have you heard about that lawsuit agains Subway in the US? Well, they have allegedly been producing 11" subs instead of 12".  First, you think "What's the big deal, it's one inch".  But, consider that this means that every twelfth sub is technically made at 100% profit, because it's paid for by the inch shortage of it's predecessors.  There are approximately 35,000 Subway locations worldwide, and on average I think it's safe to say they sell roughly 5-600 subs per day.  So, that's about 6,387,500,000 subs per year, if you divide that by 12, that gives us 532,291,667 subs made at 100% profit every year, having been paid for by the inch shaved off of previous subs.  Obviously, this is based on a lot of assumptions.  

But what does this have to do with the penny in Canada?  My analogy is simple - it may not seem like a lot, but when you look at it in a grand scale, the two cents can add up, but where do they go?

my baby...

The Truth About 20% Down

Most homebuyers strive to save 20% down when looking to purchase.  Why? Because they can avoid the mandatory insurance premium when you put down less than 20%.  However, we are seeing more and more why this may not be the best choice for everyone.  How is that possible?  If I can get away with not paying insurance, why wouldn't that be the best bet for me?  Well, here are a couple of reasons why:

Rate:  Better rates are offered to 'high ratio' (purchases that have less than 20% down) clients.  At first glance, this is seemingly unfair - if I've saved enough money to put 20%, and need to borrow less, why are you penalizing me?  Well, look at it this way - your two friend Jim and Bob approach you and ask to borrow $1000; Jim is employed, and Bob is looking for work - whom would you feel more comfortable lending the money to?  Obviously, Jim, because you know he can pay you back.  When a high ratio client borrows from a lender, the mortgage must be insured, therefore there is no risk to the lender - whatever happens, they will get their money.  The client who has put 20% down is a greater risk to the lender than the one who puts less, so, in turn, they offer higher rates to mitigate that risk.

Property: When a mortgage is insured, the insurer (CMHC, Genworth or CG) not only assesses the applicant, but the property as well.  They are by far more stringent than the lender.  So, if you and your property are okay with the insurer, chances are, you are okay with the lender.  But, in the instance where you are putting 20% down, and are not insured, this property assessment is not done.  This doesn't mean that the lender doesn't do this, it just means that the bill for this gets turned over to you.  Appraisals are practically mandatory when buying with 20% down, and this usually comes up to about $300-$400.  Not a huge amount, but extra nonetheless.

Debt:  People often save 20% down, but still have balances on their credit cards or lines of credit.  I had a client the other day, who had saved $80,000 to buy a $400,000 home.  She had a loan that amounted to $15,000 and was paying $450/month for it.  When we did the math, it turned out that she was better off putting 15% down ($60,000), paying off her loan, and simply paying the small insurance premium.  We calculated the interest she was paying on her loan, and that amounted to more than the insurance premium.  Plus, it made more sense for her monthly budget as well.

This doesn't mean that you should never put 20% down - every situation is different.  However, look into your options thoroughly before you decide.  It's kind of the lesser of two evils and the greater of two goods.