You are here: Home / Rambling

Canada beats Finland

May 13, 2008 By Jeff 2 Comments

Canada Wins!…again

I am not sure if anyone else is paying attention to the IIHF in Halifax, but Canada won yesterday and it was a doozy. The thing that scared me the most was the fact that Finland had more shots…..at lest from what I remember. This is not promising if Canada is the “powerhouse” most Canadians, myself included, think it is.

It was also interesting to see PM Harper (at bottom of page) in the stands. He was in town to make a DND announcement, but I think that was just an excuse to come to Halifax and watch Canada play before they head to Quebec.

If you didn’t get to the game, or missed it on TV, the IIHF has a decent gallery and recap so you can read about everything that I missed.

Cheers,

Filed Under: Rambling Tagged With: Halifax, hockey, IIHF

Victoria was helped by You in April

May 12, 2008 By Jeff 1 Comment

I should remind you loyal visitors, this site wouldn’t make a red cent if you didn’t drop by. After the hosting is paid for there is usually a little funds left over and with $25 of that I help out a business through Kiva.org. In April I helped fund Victoria Margarita Rodriguez De Vega (WOW what a name), she is from El-Cortijo-La Libertad, Peru and is in the Service industry. She will be using this small loan to help build her stock.

Victoria

Victoria is 48 years of age, and she graduated from high school. She has three sons but only supports two of them. She lives in the district El Cortijo, in the province of Trujillo and in the department La Libertad. She sells fuels in the local market

Filed Under: Rambling Tagged With: kiva, loans, microcredit

Germany Vs USA – IIHF Qualifiers

May 8, 2008 By Jeff Leave a Comment

IMG_0373I got to go to the USA-Germany game tonight at the Metro Centre. It was a blast, we snuck down to get closer seats and stuck by the German fans. These guys are great, the energy in the cheering was infecting and the elaborate chants were something that I haven’t heard in a long time.

As for the game itself I don’t have much time for a recap but it was a lot better than I was expecting. The German goaltending left something to be desired, but Germany was able to get the game under control US was up 3-0 at one point but with about 10mins left in the third the game was 4-4, US won at the end 6-4 with a empty net and power play goal, not in that order.

IMG_0382

When the game was just about over the German fans did something that I couldn’t figure out, they held up their scarfs and waved them…..Not sure what that was about, but if someone can tell me that would be great.

IMG_0380

I was really amazed how many German fans there were, and the blatant lack of American Fans. I think that I saw 2 or 3 USA Jerseys but as you can see from the pictures there were a lot of Germans. I hope that the Germans get some better calls in the future games and Qualify for the next round…..but don’t beat Canada

Filed Under: Rambling Tagged With: Halifax, hockey, IIHF

Cool New Book – Hall of Best Knowledge

May 7, 2008 By Jeff Leave a Comment

For those of use that have been in Halifax for an extended period of time, and have read The Coast for years,Hall of Best Knowledge there is a book that you have to get….Hall of Best Knowledge, in case you don’t remember this is a strip that was printed in The Coast for years.

I haven’t got myself a copy yet, so if anyone wants to buy me one don’t hesitate :wink: :wink:

For those that haven’t read The Coast, or the comic it is even more important to check it our. You will love it. If you don’t believe me then check out what The National had to say.

“I don’t think it’s a kind of humour that’s laugh out loud, or anything like that. I don’t even know if any of it’s funny, to be honest,” the Halifax-based graphic artist says before breaking into laughter himself. “Humour is a big part of my life. I can’t have a conversation and not have humour be involved in some way. In tight situations, I always turn to humour … I just can’t help it.”

Filed Under: Rambling, Reviews Tagged With: book review, recommendatio, TheCoast

Beer going up – Not good News

May 6, 2008 By Jeff 2 Comments

Punta Cana 2008 116I have heard the worst news possible. Higher beer prices on tap as summer approaches. CBC is reporting that the key ingredients for beer are going up in price, Malt almost doubled, and then there was the Hops problems in the last couple of years that have increased prices, but it is about hit a crunch since they had been using surpluses from the last couple of years and they have now depleted.

Independent Canadian breweries are warning consumers that the cost of
pouring a pint may soon rise, due to soaring malt and hops costs, as
well as gasoline price hikes.

The brews that are going to be hit the worst are the micro brews, in other words the “good” beers, and especially the IPAs that have a lot of hops.

Maybe I should start thinking about drinking more water :) ……Naw, I will just have to cut out milk

It seems that

Filed Under: Rambling Tagged With: beer, CBC, hops, malt

Our Kiva Loan in March

April 30, 2008 By Jeff Leave a Comment

So I bet you are wondering who we helped out with a Kiva Loan in March? Well it was none other than oie_142837. Patrick is in the food business and needs some capital to help build his stock.

Patrick Oboh is married with 5 children, and he is 45 years old. He sells provisions and soap and has been in business since 2002. He is from Edo State, Nigeria. He needs the loan of $875 to buy more provisions for sale.

Patrick is our third loan, and was dispersed on April 3rd by Lift Above Poverty Organization in Nigeria

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Patrick Oboh by Lift Above Poverty Organization (LAPO) in Nigeria. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 8 months, Lift Above Poverty Organization (LAPO) will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

If you are interested and have been browsing the different business that Kiva is supporting, and think that there is a particular business that we should help out in May please let me know by posting a link in the comments.

Filed Under: Rambling Tagged With: kiva, loans, microcredit

The February Kiva

April 28, 2008 By Jeff Leave a Comment

So, back in February we made our second Kiva Investment. The person that we gave the site’s hard earned money to was Nasim Rozikov. Nasim is from Istaravshan, Tajikistan, and is going to use the loan for the Purchasing of seeds. Here is the photo from the loan page.

Nasim Rozikov

Rozikov Nasim is 39 years old. He is married with 5 children. Nasim has got 3 hectares of irrigated land. In order to support his large family he is producing onions and wheat. All the family is involved in this business. This is the only one source of income and all the hard-working family hopes that in future they shall be able to improve their living conditions by the profits they are able to generate. Nasim requests a loan of 2000 Somoni (about 600 US Dollars) to purchase seeds. This will be his first loan but he is determined that he shall pay the loan back in 12 months and thanks you for your support.

Remember that HoserNews is going to be funding loans from Kiva at least once a month, and you still have time to help us decide what business we should help give loan funding to

Filed Under: Rambling Tagged With: kiva, kiva loans, microcredit

Schools to close in Halifax and Dartmouth

April 25, 2008 By Jeff Leave a Comment

It was decided last night that 3 Halifax-area schools moved up for possible closure
I am no sure if this is a good thing, but I have to trust that the correct decision was made. I am not sure why the population is moving around so much when the HRM is growing in population. Where are the people going? If the downtown cores of Halifax and Dartmouth aren’t growing in population, why not? With all talk that we have to go greener, why aren’t more people moving to where they work rather than outside? The excuse that it is too expensive is bull when you figure in how much it costs in money and time to commute. But that is for another day.

“I wasted all my hours that I could have spent with my family going to this to have it ignored,” said Joyce Treen.

I am not sure if you were ignored, rather the decision was that Eastern Passage did not require a High School at this time. That said I am not sure if both a consultant and staff recommendation included a school in the area how the decision was made not to include it. This would be a very good question for Mr. Windsor.

In case you are wondering the three schools slated are Saint Mary’s Elementary, St. Patricks-Alexandra, and Alderney Elementary.

Filed Under: Rambling Tagged With: Dartmouth, Government, Halifax

I guess HoserNews is Vulgar?

April 24, 2008 By Jeff 2 Comments

I decided that it was my civic duty to make comments on CBC. So today I thought that I would sign up so that I could do so. Since this site, HoserNews, is my new baby I picked it as my sign in name. However CBC didn’t think that was such a good idea.

hosernews is vulgar

Hosernews somehow is against their submission Terms of Use. From the below picture, taken as a screen shot, they deactivated my account they since they believe so strongly that Hoser is a vulgar/derogatory term.

cbc emailI think that it is a homage to two of the funniest Canadians ever, Bob and Doug MacKenzie. I am all for not insulting people on purpose, but this is PC gone wild. How is it that HoserNews gets filtered, and how did it raise a red flag in the first place? Is Hoser in some “bad word” list? Or do all submissions get reviewed by a human? If so maybe that person only knows the dictionary meaning of Hoser. Is it even in the dictionary? Myself I don’t think being a Hoser is bad, it is just a philosophy and the love of beer.

So now here is the question. What should I try as my name next? I am thinking of trying something with Hoser again, or maybe Bluenoser……maybe even drunk-bluenoser :)

I wonder if that one would be flagged

Filed Under: Rambling Tagged With: CBC, hoser, hosernews

Food is NOT too Expensive to eat healthy

April 23, 2008 By Jeff Leave a Comment
Punta Cana 2008 408

Hmmm, Mexican

I was just reading this story on CBC about how healthy food has risen 13% since 2002 and that it would cost over $600 to feed a family of 4 nutritiously.

As many as 120,000 Nova Scotians do not have the money for healthy foods on a regular basis, according to a new study.

The 2007 food costing report, released Tuesday, puts the average monthly cost of a nutritious, no-frills diet for a family of four at $648.33, up 13 per cent since 2002.

I say bullshit. If you try you can eat well and for much less. Some tips can be found at this page or even this page. One of the best tips from these two pages is…

Dont waste food. This will drive up a budget like crazy. Label foods in the fridge with dates, learn when to toss things (hint: its not usually the sell by date). If fruits and veggies are getting mushy and no one wants to eat them but theyre still okay to eat, use them in salads and soups.

This wasn’t even from the blogger themself, but from a comment.

Another good resource is Recipes and Tips for Healthy, Thrifty Meals, a US government website.

The fact that certain food is expensive is a reality of life. I get all the vegetables that I can eat for $25 a week through the HGOF in Halifax, and on top of that most of it is local. I am sure that there are similar businesses elsewhere.

Then I have a slowcooker and freeze food. So you make more than you need, and buy when on sale. You can get cheap cuts of meat and put them in the slow cooker and you are set. Or you buy chicken when it is on sale and freeze it. The best thing that I have found is to cut down on the amount of meat that you eat and stock up on more alternative protein sources. These alternatives, like beans, are usually cheaper. And if you are worried then you can always buy Whey protein for the days that you don’t think that you have eaten enough. This is $40 and will last a month at a scoop a day, which is NOT what you will need.

The point is that $600 is VERY HIGH. Read around and you will find some great tips on how to reduce the amount that you spend on food and still be healthy.

Some other good links are:

Filed Under: Rambling Tagged With: CBC, Food, healthy, Money
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »