HAPPY CANADA DAY, and I'm glad June is over

Yah... it's July 1st, 2011

• Hopefully all my bad luck (car trouble, stock downfall, etc..) will all end with June
• BMW was sold as scrap for $500, it was a sad day to let it go (after calling around and getting $200~$500)
• All the remaining cars will soon need regular maintenance service also (read: more $$ on cars)
• Been working since 5 pm until 6 am today... tired ... z z z z Z Z Z Z
• Today's Canada's birthday, happy birthday! and the Royal Couple are in Ottawa with 0.5 million crowd to celebrate too
• Will be busy few weeks in July - wedding, events, school's assignments due here and there...
• Ella will be 5 months in a week, oh my god...

Canadian Custom - To love, or to hate

The Good
When we returned from US Monday night from our Cleveland trip, the custom officer asked only 3 questions - Where do we live, when did you leave Canada, what did you buy - and let us through without seeing our passports even. It took 1 minute

Except... we forgot to hand over Wendy's I-94 form. Oops

The Bad
Express parcel sent from Taiwan to Canada on March 22, 2010 trying to make it in time for our honeymoon.
The contents were sunglasses, travel adapter, electric heating spoon for instant noodles

It arrived August 3, 2010 - 4 months and 12 days later, no thanks to Canadian custom. Just simple WOW!

Canada Golden in 2010 Vancouver Olympics

2010 Vancouver Olympics

• He shoot, he scores! Team Canada beats USA in the overtime (final score 3-2), wish I could join the parade of celebration everywhere.
• Olympic hockey final draws big audience north and south of border (80% of Canadians watched part of the game, average 16.6 million viewers)
• I am so proud of our Canadian Olympics team in every way
• Final medal count for Canada is 26 medals (medal winners)
• 14 Gold
• 7  Silver
• 5 Bronze
• I am touched by all the Canadians connecting and cheering for our country, this is our Canada!!
• National Post had this article "Vancouver Olympics: Was it worth the cost?" To me, YES!

Weekend Activity

• Attended the Toronto Symphony Orchestra: La Pasion, thanks to the $8 ticket. Sitting in the 3rd row is way too front though
• Dinner at Ivory Thailand. It was a good Thai food, except the $2 small bowl of rice :(

Tzu Chi 慈濟

• Myself and Wendy attended the volunteer seminar on Sunday, and had fun :)
• Tzu Chi Newsletter 慈濟美國電子報

Rise of the US Dollar

If you are a Canadian, it is unlikely you missed this shocking news of our depreciating Canadian Dollar against the mighty greenback US Dollar. It's funny 2 other PF blogs cover the same topic today as well

Today CAD has dropped to 4-year low of 78 cents against $1 USD. The days of $1 CAD = $1.10 USD are in the history. Let the chart speak for it self, USD has appreciated 23% in the last month against CAD

There are many reasons, as many articles point out

• Crude oil prices have fallen sharply and causes the depreciation of CAD
• Everyone is buying USD for the safe haven and the treasury bills despite the low interest rate and yield
• Hedge funds and traders are covering their USD positions
• It is a irrational market. It's the economy, stpuid!
• Because USD should be down with the supply-and-demand economy model, as US governments inject billions of dollars into the circulation which dilute the value of the USD

How does this affect me personally?

• No more US shopping trips as things cost more than here now
• Watch my USD-denominated Canadian equities fall like crazy (Manulife, Research In Motion, BCE)
• Another lesson learned: Purchase equities in their native currency. Otherwise the currency can either hedge for you (hurts less), or go against you (hurts more)

Are you affected by the currency as well?