In 1975, Keith Jarrett, a world-renowned jazz pianist, was scheduled to play a concert at the Koln Concert Hall in Germany. Unfortunately, the piano he was supposed to play was all wrong. It was too small, sounded tinny, out of tune and the pedals tended to stick. At first, Jarrett refused to play. Who wants to be asked to create something beautiful with a broken
There’s a clear line when people talk about debt – there’s the good kind and the bad kind. When you borrow $800,000 to buy a million-dollar home in Vancouver, people congratulate you and throw you a housewarming party. On the other hand, wrack up $8000 in credit card debt and people are standing in line to boo and hiss. God knows I’ve fallen victim to
Have you ever wondered whether all that money you’re paying to insurance policies will ever actually pay off? If you’re like me, you might spend the majority of your time being vaguely annoyed that your handing over hundreds of dollars every month to pay for that all-mighty “what if” that people keep telling you about. You know the “what ifs” I’m talking about… What if
It’s halfway through the hottest season of the year and everyone is sick of sweating. You go downstairs and it’s hot. You go upstairs and it’s even hotter. It’s day and it’s hot. It’s night and it’s hot. No matter where you are, it’s stifling and you’re uncomfortable. Here are six quick and easy ways to cool down: Take a hot shower: This may seem
This is not a post about how to recession proof your investments. That’s a different blog post. So. Retirement planning. Yeah. I really need to get on that. Don’t get me wrong, I have a defined benefit pension plan that will happily pay out a percentage of my yearly working wage until the day I die. The only thing I have to do is work
I don’t think I’m a terribly spiritual person. I would describe my relationship with organized religion as more of a nodding acquaintanceship than anything else. I don’t go to church and you’ll never find me on a mountain top, bugging the shit out of a Tibetan monk for guidance on my First World Problems. I have this feeling it would go something like this: Yeah,
That’s right folks! It’s National Spring Cleaning Week (NSCW) this week. I had no idea it was NSCW until the radio told me on Monday morning. Regardless, most of you are probably familiar with the concept of spring cleaning: you see the sun shining and are overtaken with the urge to organize, arrange and rid your home of all the crap that’s collected in your
