Saturday, December 31, 2011

2012 is the year that I will...

  1. Beat 2011's time in the Spartan Race in 2012
  2. Own a motorcycle
  3. Backpacking around Europe
  4. Get a six pack
  5. Go ziplining
  6. Shoot a real gun
  7. Try out a professional massage
  8. Go rockclimbing
  9. Read and finish a book a month
  10. Become a better writer


Why am I saying all of this? Because I've come to realize that anyone can create a long list of things that they want to accomplish in their life time, but life it too precious and short to have to push things back all the time and say things like "I was too busy and never got around to it."

So a long list of to do's never work unless you tell yourself when you want those to do's accomplished. I've shortened up my bucket list to 10 things that I want completed by December 2012. Another realization I came to is that, I didn't accomplish enough in 2011... so Jackson... it's time to step it up!

Do you have your 2012 goals set out? If not, better get on it!

Want more inspiration? Check out Woody Gurthie's New Year's Resolutions 1942 :) it's old but it got me thinking that I should shorten of list of year over year leading up to the 5 year deadline.

Monday, December 5, 2011

NYC here I come!

It's been a while my friends. I've been super busy as of late, occupied by the wonders of work, work and more work... ha!

I'm preparing to take off on a trip to NYC tomorrow afternoon at 2PM. The purpose of this trip is for business; delivering an SEO workshop to a client. When my boss asked me if I wanted to go give an SEO workshop in NYC, I jump sporadically and said... "hell yeahhh!".

Detail of flight:
YOW to LGA (LaGuardia Airport), duration of flight is approx 1 hour and 18 minutes.

I'll be staying at the MayFair hotel on 242 West 49th. The hotel looks a little sketch... doesn't look like the most cozy but reviews say otherwise. As long as I live through this trip, then I'm ok.

I am 5-10 minutes from Time Square, not too shabby. The hotels in Time Square probably costs a fortune now...

During this business trip, my goal is to visit as many of these places as possible:
  • FAO Shwaz = famous toy store
  • Rockefeller Center, go up to the Rock Observation Deck
  • Time Square
  • Empire State Building
I had to do a bit of research on a few things...

Rockefeller Center (a bit of what is destination is about)

Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres between 48th and 51st streets in New York City. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987 (the year I was born! :).

Within the Rockefeller Center, there is a building called the GE Building. It is an Art Deco skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center, pretty cool! It is also the home of NBC. I wonder if I can go up that building to the very top...

Well... it looks like there is the Rock Observation Deck that I can check out. The cost if $25 per person, and you have to reserve a spot.

Well... this post was super unstructured and I didn't complete a lot of my sentences... but I need to get to sleep now, work a few hours in the morning before taking off :) Here is a map of the locations I should be hitting...

Will post my travel map from Google Maps at a later time.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Sundays are not 'lazy days'... as it turns out

I'd like call Sundays the 'lazy day' of the week, but it is soooo not true! If I'm not working, I always find I can preoccupy myself with something around the house. Today was a good day in that I managed to clean all the rooms around my unit, do laundry, buy groceries, cook and start on "Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson". Also, this was a good weekend because the weather permitted with warmth and lots of sun! :)

But of course, with all the good, there's also the bad. I've developed a bit of a pet peeve, and that is 'unresponsive texting'. Unresponsive texting happens when you're having a nice conversation over text message (at that very moment) with someone and all of a sudden, a single closed ended question leaves you in the dark waiting for a response. Sound familiar? It happened tonight after I asked (another) friend to come over for dinner. Not getting any answer as to whether or not she was going to come or not, made me waste consider amounts of time for whether I should cook then or later... It may be my fault that I didn't take it a step further to make the call, but it has happened one too many times that I can say it is a bit annoying. Still no response... Well... I'll just leave it at that.

I invited one of my close friends over for dinner and cooked him quite a 'big' meal. I went out to grab groceries today at Loblaws and bought everything I needed to make beef stew :) ... yes, one step close to making the boeuf bourguignon. Anyways... I tried a couple new things tonight and I'll share with you what I made here... maybe it will quench your taste buds and get you back into the pitching cooking something delicious for yourself :)

Dishes:
  • Pork loin in steak sauce
  • Garlic lemon tilapia fish
  • Boiled broccoli, carrots and mushrooms
  • Left over Romanian salad
  • White rice
I marinated the pork last night in preparation for tonight's meal. I find the taste in an meat that need to be marinated will taste A LOT better if you give it 12+ hours in a ziplock bag in sauce before it hits the pan. I like to fry the meet until it is golden coloured and burnt a bit on the outside. If your meat is thick, consider sliding it onto a tray and into the oven for 5-10 minutes to make sure the meat is cooked through well. The pork will have enough flavour from the steak sauce... so I would say, eat the pork without BBQ sauce.


The garlic lemon tilapia fish I took out from the freezer this morning to thaw out. This dish is quite simple, and I've already cooked this dish 3 times already, so I think I've gotten quite 'good' at this dish ;) Give each one of the fish a good run under the tap, then pat it down with a paper towel to get rid of the excess water. Afterwards, place the fish on the pan that will go into the oven (make sure you cover the pan with tin foil and spray oil over it to prevent it from sticking). Squeeze some lemon juice onto the fish, add some melted butter over the fish, minced garlic, and finally touch it up with some parsley flakes. Your tilapias are now ready to go into the 375 pre-heated oven for 30 minutes.


The boiled vegetables were simple to make. Get about 2 inches of water and get it to boil before adding your vegetables in. Add a bit of canola oil to the water prior to putt your vegetables in. Sprinkle some salt into the water to give it a bit of flavour :)

Rice is self explanatory :) Bon appetite!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Julie & Julia - what's for dinner?

I spoke to a friend over Skype last night and our conversation ventured down a path about food. She suggested I watch Julie & Julia starring Amy Adams and Meryl Streep. The movie was based on TWO true stories. There were three takeaways from that movie; (1) if you hate your job, look for something you love and quitting your job a goal (2) accomplishing something requires perseverance and commitment and (3) Jackson needs to learn how to cook better!

I watched the movie in my room, on my computer, with a bowl of Ramen with egg and lettuce. Afterwards I had a Romanian salad a potato I baked. It was sad I know...

The famous dish in the movie was Boeuf Bourguignon. It was cooked maybe 3-4 times in the movie and everytime it looked amazingly delicious! I'll be ordering Julia Child's cook book just for that recipe... now it's a matter of figuring out which volume that recipe is in :p

Back to the cooking I did tonight (not much cooking really...)...

The potato turned out very good!
  • One potato
  • 80 minutes
  • 350 degrees
The Romanian salad I kept simple:
  • Romanian lettuce
  • Dice tomatoes
  • Carrots
  • Balsamic dressing

Another friend suggested I try making Double baked potato, and that I only got part marks for making a regular potato... ok... next project! haha :)

Thursday, November 3, 2011

New lens adapters making beautiful pictures!

A couple months ago, I came across a few cool lens adapters that essentially transform the regular image seen through the viewfinder into close-up macro, wide angle and fish-eye style images. It was more of an impulse buy than anything else so I ordered them (I got them from the Photojojo Store). They weren't very expensive, but you can go to the store and check them out yourself :)

The lenses were... Opteka...
  • .45x AF Wide Angle (with Macro)
  • .35x AF Fisheye (with Macro)
They are pretty sweet adapters! One thing that you absolutely need is the adapter ring. The ring goes in between your lens and the lens adapter. Without it, it won't fit into place. So maybe you get the right size! I made the mistake of ordering the wrong size and it took 4+ weeks before I got it (because it came, then went back because the address was written wrong during the purchase process, D'OH!). Anyways, I learned my lesson :)

Here are a couple quick shots I took with it tonight... what do you think?

This is my work desk... really messy right now, didn't have time to clean it up for this shot:

This is the .45x AF Wide Angle lens taken with the Macro:

I`ll get more shots in with these once I get some time freed up!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Garlic Lemon Chicken Breast with no Garlic

More chicken... Decided to try something new tonight... I had two chicken breasts sitting in my fridge after thawing it 3 days ago and thought it would be a good time to cook it before it goes bad.

Ingredients:
  • 2 chicken breasts
  • salt, pepper, parsley, paprika
  • lemon squeezed juice
Directions:
  • 375 degrees Celsius
  • 40 minutes
I also heated up the leftover pork and rice I had the other nice. Mixed in some fried mushrooms and scrabbled eggs :)


Sunday, October 30, 2011

Chicken wings for halloween weekend

Decided to take Saturday lightly after club hopping on Friday night... Studio nightclub then to Tila. So we decided to bake chicken wings... were they ever good :p

It's not as complicated as it seems...

Ingredients:
  • Wholesale pack at Costco of chicken wings - what you see here is only 40 wings, there is more in my freezer :)
  • Diana Honey Garlic sauce
  • BBQ Hot Wing sauce
Directions:
  • 25 minutes @ 425 degrees Celsius
finally... SERVE!! :)


Got your own recipe? Share it with me in the comments below :)

Thursday, October 27, 2011

25 things about ME!

Friend told me today that she read my note on Facebook... and laughed at few of the points I wrote... I went back and re-read it... and I laughed too! Brings back so many memories... thought I'd share this note here :) Please write your own and share!!

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you.

1. In my elementary years, I went to school forgetting to change out of my pink pajama pants. I didn’t stop crying until my teacher called my parents to pick me up.

2. My brother and I both have Chinese names sounding like our English names. So if you are saying my English name, you are 'almost' calling me by my Chinese name. :) No one ever knows the second character of my Chinese name. Probably because it doesn't exist.

3. I clogged the drain in a California hotel because I had to craziest idea of shaving off all the hair on my legs.

4. I have a scar underneath my right eye from a few years back when a skate knocked me in the eye after body-checking him down on the rink. *ouch*

5. I used to breakdance and was part of a group called the Southside Rockers.

6. I'm a Canadian Born Chinese (CBC).

7. I've never left the North American continent.

8. I'm very easily tanned and my tan takes forever to fade. (if ever)

9. The first concert I went to was Jacky Cheung's on December 15, 2007 at the ACC, it was an awesome experience! I later went to Leo Ku and Jay Chou's.

10. I never finished my Aqua Quests.

11. I'm easily scared and my reaction is very LOUD.

12. I have nearly perfect vision but my hearing is horrible.

13. My all time favourite games are SC, COD4, GOW2.

14. I love driving! 155km/hr is the fastest I've hit, so far.

15. Some people think I'm weird because I use both hands for everything. I eat, write and text with my left-hand, but use my right hand for sports, more physical activities. All I see is balance. :)

16. I used to wear a cap all throughout elementary school.

17. I can never fall asleep on greyhound buses, more so now.

18. I've owned 5 cellular phones in my lifetime and 3 of which were in 2008.

19. When I was really young, I always thought there were little people in the Kleenex boxes pushing tissues up whenever I needed one. That's what I was told from my cousins. Then the truth came...

20. The reason why I didn't go to Canterbury HS is because I thought everyone there was gay.

21. I used to never eat spice, now I love it. :)

22. I've ran 10km once. It felt good crossing that finish line after an hour of running!

23. I lined up for 2 hours on the release day for The Dark Knight in freezing cold rain. I sat through the whole movie drenched in water. I did this twice.

24. I took a comic illustration class at the Ottawa School of Arts one summer. There was no air conditioning.

25. I haven't met half my family who are living somewhere in China/Hong Kong right now.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Me, the ant exterminator, just this one time!

There is something up with the air, or maybe it's the weather. I've been hearing from many people that they are getting headaches and migraines in the middle of the day... not me... I just can't sleep at night and I have trouble waking up in the morning!

A few days ago, I discovered an ant problem in my unit (yeah... 26 floors up and I've got this issue, wonder how long it took for them to get here). This was noticed a day after my tenant left an open can of Chunky's on the counter top in the kitchen. A clan of ants were crawling around on the counter, around the can, and along the wall, eeekkk! I didn't know what to do except to grab a paper towel, wet it, and tried to kill them all! They were baby ants, so you know what that means... the queen is around!

I know what I had to do, find the queen, kill her, and kill the entire colony! I couldn't find them...

After I disposed of the cans, I didn't see any more ants, until the next day... my tenant (again) left a Subway sandwich on the counter, and waited until the next morning to eat it. Well... to his surprise... the next morning he found hundreds of ants swarming the sub (image that... gross... I didn't see it). He threw his sub away and I offered him breakfast (a bagel :)).

The following day, my co worker was kind enough to lend me his Ants-B-Gon, a substance that serves as ant bait, whereby the ants would bring the bait back to the colony, and eventually killing all the ants. One day later, I didn't see a single ant on the counter :).

I hope it stays this way... but to be safe I should go out and buy an ant trap...

Hope this never happens to you... it's not a pretty site... but call me the ant exterminator... not a long term career... just for this one time :)

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Saddened that Lytro does not ship to Canada

For those who don't know, Lytro is the first of its kind that allows you to reprocess a photo after it's already been taken. For example, if you increased your depth of field (DOF) and only focused on the foreground, you can later go into the settings of your camera and refocus the background to be in focus, taking the foreground out of focus... how cool is that!? It uses the light field technology to capture all the light in the space you're capturing... (it gets a bit technical, but remember that light is what creates beautiful pictures:). The camera is also f2 throughout, so it's mega sharp, but the DOF is also really big.

Here's what it looks like...
I'm saddened that Lytro is not shipping their products to Canada... as I signed up for their early bird notice... see the email I got below:

Here's a video and link to an article that illustrates how Lytro works (if you click on the link, click on one of the photos once to refocus the image... it's quick cool!):


Again... bummed out... but maybe in the next month they will change that... hopefully!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Weekend photos

This past weekend I decided to venture around downtown Ottawa with my heavy duty cam. I started in the OU campus where I saw a bunch of students playing, what it seemed to be, Quidditch. It was quite amusing... they were running around with a ball with a pole in between their legs. Each player took their turns and tried to steal the ball out of the other's hands (quite aggressively). You would think the girls might feel violated when she goes up against the guy, but I guess not, the game carried on. At that moment, I wished I had the 70-200mm f2.8... because that scene would have been perfect... mmm... someday...

On to the the photo taking now... walked around and in the OU campus area, I did find a spot with a bunch of leaves that had fallen from the trees. Here are some of my favourites after rendering them through Lightroom (why didn't I learn this program earlier!?):



Normally I render my photos in iPhoto and Photoshop CS5, but this past weekend I installed Lightroom 3 onto my desktop (Windows) computer, and so I decided I take a journey down its road. After a couple hours playing with the settings, it's quite intuitive. I'm happy that Lightroom opens NEF files (Nikon's RAW file types). I did all my editing in Lightroom and the both photos are ones that I rendered with a preset filter + some additional adjustments. And yes, I've started taking photos in RAW now, probably best if I'm going to take photography seriously now... well... still learning :)

Let me know what your thoughts are on the above photos :) thanks!

Oh! And check out this cool Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera - now know what I want for Christmas :)

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

R.I.P Steve Jobs

Today marks a sad moment for all. Steve Jobs, once seen as a thought later and innovator, a idol to me, passes away at age 56.

On the Apple website:
I first heard this news when my friend texted me while I was out after my volleyball game. Didn't believe it at first, but when I searched it up on the news, it said 38 minutes... "Steve Jobs passes away at age 56".

Jobs was one remarkable leader, one that was transparent and always fighting. He inspired me greatly over the past few years and I'd just like to say thank you for that!

My favourite speech by Jobs (everyone should watch and listen if they haven't).


"People sometimes have goals in life. Steve Jobs exceeded every goal he ever set for himself", Wozniak said.

R.I.P. Steve Jobs, you will forever be remembered!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Want results? Stay committed!

Over the weekend, my friend asked me to sub in for his teammate for an OCVL (Ottawa Competitive Volleyball League) game in Orleans. I told him "sure", so I showed up to the game on Monday night to play. This was the first time stepping onto an indoor court since the beginning of summer (that's a lie, there was one tournament over the summer but let's just not count that :p).

It was apparent that I was still in summer mode, and my sets were completely off. It was frustrating for me, and probably for my team too. It's been two years since I played in the OCVL league, so I'm not used to the height of the net either, although I should be. It's unfortunate that we lost the match that night.

My poor performance may not have been just out the indoor mode, but probably my routine now that I've settled into a career, bought a home/living alone, and a workout regime that started at the gym with a friend. The lack of focus on the game really shows, and I need to turn that around quickly.

It's a little late now to be 'training for the season', but I think ongoing/consistent training and exercise will still help make improvements to your existing skills. Which leads me into the program at the gym... here's how it started...

I began going to Goodlife in November of 2010, and up until then, there hasn't really been a break (only the week that I was moving in and painting - gosh that was tiring!). I switched my membership at Goodlife from the Orleans location to the St. Laurent one. My friend David got me on a program after finding out I switched, which he is determined to get me to bench 205lbs in 6 weeks time... we'll see about that. While back at the old gym, I was benching max 135lbs flat (45lbs on each side), 135lbs already feels somewhat 'light' to me after 2 weeks of warm up. The program started this week and hopefully I can stick with it to the end.

Along with that, I've been trying to eat more and began tracking my eating habits. Like always, I turn to technology to help me out with anything 'tracking' wise :)... they are handy that way. One iPhone app I'd recommend is MyFitnessPal (it's free!). I haven't learned the complete ins and outs of this app yet, but it looks promising and I've tracked everything since Monday, so there's still much more to learn about this app and we'll see if it pushes me closer to my goal of gaining 5 lbs (150lbs total).



Here are some stats of where I started and where I'm at now:
  • Started: weighed 130lbs, now 145lbs (15lbs in 9 months)
  • Started: curling 20lbs dumbbells, now 35-40lbs
  • Started: benching flat 95lbs, now max 175lbs
I think the result of all this is commitment. What did I consistently do?
  • Gym 3-4 times a week (usually Monday-Friday, and have weekends off for fun)
  • Protein shake after every workout (usually two shakes per day for faster healing)
  • Tried to eat high protein meals (chicken, beef, pork, etc.)
  • Tried to get as much rest as I could every night for faster healing
Some asked me what type of shake I drink... my favourite is Precision BIG TIME.


I don't follow the labels as closely as I should, maybe it will give me faster results if I do but I think 4 scoops (250g) per serving is just too much for me. If you measure that, you will know what I mean, so I usually do 1/2 of that, and drink another shake later in the day. If you like chocolate, you will like this one too, it's quite tasty :) Oh, and this is weight gainer powder, very high on protein and mixed in with a bit of creatine also - it does the trick!

My friend made a comment on my wall on Facebook one day when I uploaded a photos I took of all the powder drinks I bought, and simply said "just eat more". I would advise also, take a shake when you absolutely need to, but usually you'd want one after a workout. They don't call it 'supplement' for nothing :) Supplement is your last resort to a deliciously cooked chicken ;)

Alright... 6 weeks, here I come!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Finding a tenant will help me save, hopefully!

After putting an ad up on Kijiji for 2 days, I received 4 potential 'leads' for my second room in my condo. I spoke to one and he visited the unit last night. He told me that the unit is better than any of the others he's seen, cool! He told me he would let me know today whether he'd be interested in renting and he came back with a positive reply. 

Now... off to the races to find a Rental Agreement. I found one quite quickly after searching "rent a room form" in Google. The rental agreement form has everything on there, with extra room for additional items, that I need to put rules in place. Given that he is willing to pay cash every month, there is no need for a super form agreement, rather one that outlines rules for staying in the condominium and my unit. So this should do. 

There were a few items I wasn't sure of on the agreement form which were the Last Month's Rent and Security Deposit. This article explains it pretty well what the differences are and whether you should fill it out or not. To be safe, it is probably best to collect a security deposit if you live in a condo given that if appliances and the space in the unit is shared, you never know when things would break. It is best, in my opinion, to collect the month's rent at the beginning of every month. 

That wasn't hard... this will help with a good chunk of my bills... now... let's hope he cooperates...

just kidding!! =D

Monday, September 19, 2011

Shag Rugs!

I never thought rugs were that expensive until I started looking. Guess that's the case with anything, and if anything looks cheap, you buy it and it will seem expensive so you keep looking for deals. Ahh!

This image inspired me a little bit... I think it's a really awesome layout and I want a similar rug and coffee table in my living room.



I've decided to look for one that is of darker shade to compliment to light coloured floor tiles and wall. Brown would be nice if I can find one.

So I did a few Google searches and this is what I able to gather for places in the local area...

Home Depot - $399 for 8x10
Canadian Tire - $89.99 for 5x7
Costco - $429.99 for 8x5
Sears - $249.99 for 5x7

It's amazing how far apart the prices are for just a few feet more (some probably say that's a lot). My space will probably take a 5x7 without laying it under the couch. If I wanted my couch to go over it, I will need a 8x10.

This is a to do item for this weekend... or later this week if I have the time. If you know of any other rug locations to check out let me know! :) Keep you posted!

Monday, September 12, 2011

Taking possession! A few bumps in the road...

Finally got some time to write a post… it’s been a busy week with visits to the lawyer office, painting, and moving. This will be a short post but hopefully with things setting in place over the next little while (i.e. internet) then I’ll have a bit more time to write more.

Thursday (September 1, 2011) was “THE day” that I got possession of the unit and picked up my keys! I decided to take a week off starting Thursday after work with hopes that it will make the transition in more smooth, and it did.

So I headed over to the lawyers office to sign the final papers and to pick up the key to my place. Everything went smooth and I didn't have to stay very long (10 minutes tops).

Afterwards I met with my parents at the new place. My unit is on the 26th floor, out of 29 floors in my building. When we go there, I put the key in, turned it, and it didn’t turn… bizarre… we tried both locks and nothing. So it was true… the owner had given my lawyer the wrong keys! I would have thought that the chances of that happening to someone was slim, and it probably is, I was just very unlucky.

I called the Lawyer right away after I figured I was locked out from my home and he immediately called the old owner's lawyer. He got through and said that he had turned in the wrong key, one that looks identical to the one for the condo. Argh!

So 1 hour later, the owner came and handed the keys over. I was upset, but after I took the real keys, I was more relieved than upset. The owner stuck around the explained a few things about the unit, which was very nice of him. If he hadn't come, I would have probably had to discover a bunch of the things he told me; reserving the elevator for moving, overnight guest parking, etc. on my own. It’s rare, and probably won’t happen (from what others told me) for the old owner to meet the new owner. Hmmm.. well it happened in my case.

My cousins popped by that evening and brought over a bunch of gifts (thank you cousins!). There was not much to show and tell, because the unit was completely empty with no furniture. But I was thrilled and really appreciated them helping me out. Things like dish detergent, Lysol, and toilet paper I didn't think of getting yet, but much needed when I begin to settle in. It will definitely save me a bunch of trips back and forth to the grocery store. I find with that too, I’ll just need to ‘refill’ things I run out. Mmm J

There you have it! I’m hoping no one else gets handed the wrong keys… it was quite… upsetting at first, but glad things worked out!

Friday, August 26, 2011

Crazy Time

The end of August and beginning of September is probably going to be one of the busiest, if not the busiest, time of my life. Here is why:

August 27, 2011 - Kristy's going away party
August 28, 2011 - Lucky & Mika's wedding
September 1, 2011 - Closing date for my home, get my keys
September 2, 2011 - Move into my new place and clean up
September 4, 2011 - Jennifer and Wai-Yan's wedding
September 8, 2011 - Herman's birthday
September 16, 2011 - Erin's house warming party
September 17, 2011 - Dad's birthday

In the midst of all that, the company I work for, PublicInsite will be officially merged with our two partners, making our new company name, Cardinal Path, official!

Not only am I going to be broke after this, but I'll need to learn to take care of myself with the absence of my family members :p This should be fun! I look forward to the next few weeks, first starting with Kristy's going away party, then Lucky and Mika's wedding! Woo!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Life is short.

I saw this poster somewhere on Facebook a couple days ago but now I can't remember who posted it. Facebook's new photo viewer is nice but annoying at times because I was trying for the longest time how I could right click + save the image. It doesn't work that way anymore because it's in a pop-up view, so you're only allowed to save the html file and not the jpeg.

Instead, I just took a screenshot and cropped it, not perfect but the message is intact. Next time, you can copy the URL and post it in a new tab. That way you are redirect to the actual photo page where you can right click + save :)

This poster goes to show how something as simple as text on a piece of paper can transmit such a strong message. The use of small and large fonts, the type of font, the order and use of words... it's just a nice read!

Enjoy!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Cancer affects many, R.I.P. Jack Layton


It's a sad day for Canada to have lost one of its famed leaders, Jack Layton. If you know me well, I don't follow politics. It just just not an enjoyable subject to me.

When I heard the news this morning about Layton (read it on my iPhone on the way to work), I was in deep shock. Of all the speeches I've witnessed, I've always found Jack Layton's to be the most enjoyable the watch and listen to.

The most depressing part of my day, after finding out about this, was just minute after when I overheard a passenger on the bus (a lady sitting behind me) got a call from a friend who found out that someone close to her was diagnosed with cancer. I did not hear what type of cancer he got, but I just felt a shiver up my spine. I wish the best of luck to her and her friend.

Layton's final words

Layton sends out a strong message after finding out about his condition... it ended like this...

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."

Let's keep Layton's words at the back of our mind! (and let's remember he spoke Chinese in one of his election commercials!)

LOVE, HOPE, OPTIMISM!

Maybe something a bit humorous to end it off, as I'm sure Jack Layton amused himself when he rewatched this speech. Dat a boy Jack!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Taking Control of the Driver Seat

I got a bit excited tonight so I'm writing a second post here...

You might already know what this post is about judging by the title of it. But hear me out...

I just finished reading a chapter in The Outliers and it read:

"Autonomy, complexity and a connection between effort and reward are the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying."

I cannot agree more to what Malcolm Gladwell says here (p. 149). I worked in the government for two years while I was studying at Carleton U. My program was business and I was going for my degree in Commerce, specializing in Information Systems. The 4.5 years was an enjoyable one; learned lots, met a lot of interesting people and hit a homerun in my last year with my good friend Nigel Kay at the Wes Nicol Competition.

But when I came out of U, I really did not enjoy what I did there, even with the pay being more than what I'm making at my current job.

I'm a strong believer that one should chase after their passion. There were a variety of reason why I left the government and decided not to pursue a career there (not to sound like I'm bashing jobs at the government, but even I have seen people come and go (layoff) in the government, even though they say "not in a millionnn years");

  • Pace was slow
  • Not much of a learning curve
  • Behind in my time of 'technology' (laggards)
  • ... but... not everything was seen as negative... because my co-workers were a cool bunch to work with!
If you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desire.

While I was working in the government, I was running KayLo Marketing, a small local search marketing firm that helped accountants, lawyers and local businesses improve their presence on the web. We were the aid for their marketing needs and we did a damn good job of it. But later when things took a bad turn, I decided to look for something else. But at the very moment, I was approached by a local marketing firm who offered me a position as a consultant in their company.

I accepted that offer and looked back with no regrets. I love my job. I love where I am right now. And I believe I'm shaping my own destiny. I foresee a bright future with many goals that I want to accomplish in this lifetime.

My thoughts...

  • You will find work enjoyable when you don't look at it as 9-5 work;
  • You will find work fulfilling when your community of followers are listening to you;
  • You will find work exciting when time flies by you in a blink of an eye without you noticing; and,
  • You will find work is not really work when you are doing what you love!
Think about this... "If I offered you a choice between being an architect for $75k a year and working in a tollbooth every day for the rest of your life for $100k; a year, which would you take?"

I hope you chose the former one :p

So take control of the driver seat, because you're in for a ride of your life! Make it count!

Volleyball Weekend!

What a weekend!

Friday

It started off with a run from my office all the way to Bubblicity to visit a friend, who then offered me a refreshing Mango Slush (my favourite). Mmmm! :) It took me about 13 minutes, running in Chucks. It was not the best feeling for my feet but whatever, I beat the bus!

Afterwards, we crossed the street to visit the Ottawa Night Market (during the day). It was tiny. I thought the night market was going to be all of Chinatown, but that was too good to be true. It didn't get any bigger at night from what my sources told me.

Saturday

The following day, I drove to Britannia Beach to play in the B2B Beach Volleyball Tournament for iSisters. The tournament started out nice, with some winds coming in from the waters. Later, we were hit with a rather crazy wind storm, from which it turned into a sandstorm. All the participants and volunteers needed to make cover so everyone scrambled into the nearby building. The rain started to come down shortly.

30 minutes passed and the storm was gone. It was as if it never happened. It was bright and sunny again, with no winds at all.

Some of the participants ran to their cars when the storm came, and some stuck around. The tournament continued after the storm cleared.

Our first game back on, I sprained my thumb after attempting to set with my thumb + index finger (shaped like a V). The ball landed directly on my thumb, pulling it back (ouch!). The pain was quite unbearable at first, but then it felt ok during our time off in between the next couple of games. Nonetheless, our team (BIG BANG - made up of Xiong, Mike, Steve and myself) did an awesome job of holding our grounds up to the finals. We played I'd Hit That for the finals where we took it to 3 games. The final game was a close one, 25-22. In the end, our defeat didn't get to us :)

Summary of our match with I'd Hit That:
  • 22-25
  • 25-18
  • 25-22
And.... here's a picture of my sprained thumb...



Asides from volleyball, I found out that my friend Adrienne was award first place in one of the categories at the Ottawa Lumiere Festival! Congrats Adrienne! :)

Sunday

I played in an invite only practice tournament organized by Xiong and Markus at Carleton U. The teams were put together at random and overall it was a lot of fun! I just wish I had brought an extra tee to change into at the end, because it got really uncomfortable on the drive back home!

Ever tried volleying a medicine ball?

I'm starting to see results in my sets ever since my friend Minh told me to strengthen my wrist by volleying a medicine ball at the gym. I did just that, 2 days a week (3 sets of 30 - 6 lbs), for the last 5 months. It's helped me immensely with my accuracy and strength to push the ball out on my power sets. It has also helped me develop quicker reflexes when setting quicks. If your position is Setter on the court, or if you find your sets to be weak, try this medicine ball trick, but try it out with a lighter ball first. You'll begin to realize how light a volleyball really is ;)

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Buying vs Renting a Condo

This should have been my first post here, but it turns out it is given its place at 8th. In my previous post, I shared a spreadsheet that helped me determine my affordability if I were to move out and buy this place. But I'm here today to talk about why it might be better to buy a place vs renting one. This is my take on it, so go nuts on scrutinizing it ;)

Before searching for a place, I knew I was going to buy and never rent. I was fortunate enough to get by living at home with my folks, but I knew the time was going to come sooner than later when I'd want independence. Until I made my decision to buy my condo, I didn't know much about the real estate market, and what state it was in. I used a supporting calculator from the NY Times' website to determine whether it was actually better to buy than to rent this condo I was going to buy.


It told me = Buying is better than renting after 2 years.

The process deemed interesting and it brought back some good/bad memories of Economic class... given where the market is right now, it doesn't look too shabby:
Although we'd be jumping for joy to see such a low interest rate, it is important to know that "What goes up must come down, and what is down will go back up." So yes, I am playing the game a bit, in that I went with a variable rate.

My condo priced as I got it, was the average price of a property back in 2004. I thought, the price of homes are always on a rise, and properties will become more expensive further down the road. But could we reach a point where the prices of homes are so expensive that they are unaffordable?

The cost of a 1 bedroom condo in downtown Ottawa today can go as much as $334,000 (yikes!) compared to 2 bedroom condo just 5 minutes away from the downtown core going for as much as $230,000 (this is not mentioning condo feeds/property taxes).

There were many factors that affected my buying decision:
  • Convenience;
  • Location;
  • One of the tallest buildings on Riverside, if not the tallest! (29 storeys, and I'm on the 26th!); and,
  • many many more!
But there was no doubt that I'd buy over rent. Although this might not be the case for everyone, it was for me. Was it for you? Share any thoughts you might have, be happy to listen :)

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Crunchin' numbers!

*this post has a downloadable template, please make use of it at your desire :)

Numbers, numbers, numbers...


Before purchasing my home, I did a lot of number crunching to make sure I would be able to support myself when I move out. After countless times of launching Microsoft Excel and speaking with my key contacts (real estate agent, mortgage specialist and lawyer), I think I've figured out what my payment schedules are, in the short term anyways.

I like to look at things from the 'worst case scenario' to ensure that I don't get screwed over, but also to know that I've got a cushion of comfort (nobody likes stress).

So like most people, I formated a spreadsheet of every step in the home buying process. To highlight a few things, the spreadsheet has the main items; income, expenses and fees. Feel free to modify it at your own desire. Here is a screenshot of what the spreadsheet looks like:



I can see myself adding/subtracting things from the list over time, but I think this is a good start. If you think I haven't included something crucial, please let me know! Or if you have suggestions on how to improve this spreadsheet, leave me a comment and I'd be happy to respond to it :) I will likely update this spreadsheet and upload a newer version at a later time.

I hope this little piece of resource will come in handy. Please share this with those that you think would benefit.

Happy number crunching! :)

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Gotta Claim 'Em All!

Most of us with smartphones do this.
If you are the social media industry, you must do this.
if you arrive at a venue, you might do this.

CHECK-IN!

I felt as though lately that Foursquare's been dying off a bit because of Facebook Places, Gowalla, and other check-in services who are competing to get users to use their tool. I mainly do my check-ins with Facebook and Foursquare, but more so Foursquare as of late... trying to get back into the 'check-in' game to see what I can make my mark around Ottawa, and other places I go. In an article I just read, checking in is like "invisible graffiti that only people in this little world can see". I thought that was a clever and creative quote.


So my goal... claim my remaining badges (even the one in the US... I will try):

Crunked - 4x or more in a single night (completed on August 17, 2011)
Player Please! - A venue that has 3 friends of the opposite sex currently checked in (completed on August 18, 2011)
School Night - After 3:00am Sunday-Thursday
Far Far Away - 3 checkins above 59th St (New York)
Brooklyn 4 Life - 25 different venues in Brooklyn (Brooklyn)
Socialite - 3x at venues tagged “socialite” (San Francisco - venue)
Gossip Girl - 3x at venues tagged “gossip girl” (New York - venue)
Douchebag - 25 venues tagged “douchebags” (venue)
Ziggy's Wagon - 3x @ venue with main category of “food truck”
Don't Stop Believin' - 3x @ venue with main category of “karaoke” in a month
Gym Rat - 10x @ venue with main category of “gym” within a 30 days (completed on August 16, 2011)
Overshare - 10 unique checkins 12 hour period
Trainspotter - Follow BART and 10x checkin at venues. (San Francisco - venue)
JetSetter - 5 different venues with main category of “airport”
16 Candles - 5 checkins that have “birthday” shouted with them
Zoetrope - 10x @ venues with main category of “theater”
Pizzaiolo - 20x @ different venues with main category of “pizza”
Warhol - 10x @ different venues with main category of “gallery”
Babysitter - 10x @ different venues with main category of “gallery”
Swarm - Check in to a venue with 2,500 people in it
Super Mayor - Hold 10 mayorhsips at one time
Swimmies - At a pool
Great Outdoors - 10 checkins at parks and outdoors venues: Hot Spring, Hiking Trail, Campground, Beach, Lake or Scenic Lookout (venue)
Ski Bum - Check in 3x (on different days) at venues categorized at “Ski Area” or “Ski Lodge”. Becoming the mayor of one of the venue types as well seems to unlock the badge.

If you want a complete list of badges, and how to claim them, go here: http://mattersofgrey.com/foursquare-badge-list/

So let's see how many I can clear in the next year, hopefully all of it! Ohhh and make sure you add me on Foursquare! - https://foursquare.com/jackson_lo

Happy checkin' in!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Where to find deals!? How do your organize them!?

One of the toughest challenges I foresee living alone is $. For a while now, I've been looking for ways to save and there are probably more opportunities to scope out those savings now than ever before. I'm strictly talking about deals that you could find online, and not those cut out coupons, although they can come a long way but the process of finding and cutting them out and extremely time consuming. Groupon, Teambuy, and Living Social are probably some of the ones you've heard of, but the jungle of deals is much bigger.

I came across new deal sites every day/week and signed up for them all (subscribe by email). I received daily deals by email and very quickly realized that it was flooding my inbox (yup, I know how you feel). The most annoying part is getting pinged with a new email (from these sites) on your phone throughout the day. It is to me because I sync up my personal + work email on my phone in case something important needs my attention, and often email is the best communication medium, or Twitter (follow me here: @jackson_lo). Another pet-peeve, is knowing that these deals that come in are probably similar or the same... spas, yoga, etc. Although they are good, repetitive deals get a bit too much for me. Tell me if it does to you too...

One day... a friend of mine referred me to Cake Deals and it appears to solve this problem of 'deals spam'. In fact, I had an idea a few months back to do exactly what Cake Deals does today, but never implemented or thought through the plan, oops! Anyways, Cake Deals is a deal site that aggregates deals from other deal sites Here is a list of some of the ones that it picked up for Ottawa:

Blissmo
DealCanada
Dealfind
Dealicious
DealTicker
EveryBodyBuys
Groupon
Kahoot
KijijiDeals
Koopon
LivingSocial
MadDeal
MeTwoPlease
neerg
RedFlagDeals
Royal Coupon
StealTheDeal
SwarmJam
TeamBuy
TownHog
Tuango
Wagjag
Zozi

Here's a link to the actual Cake Deals site for Ottawa: http://www.cakedeals.com/deals/show/Ottawa

Cake Deals sends you one email per day with a summary of all the deals from approx. 100 other deal sites.

Some cool things about Cake Deals:
  • City specific so you can subscribe to just your city, and/or other cities too.
  • They have an iPhone app!
  • Sorting; most recent, most savings, most bought, expiring soon.
  • Ability to subscribe via RSS instead of email (would not recommend, would go with email but your choice!).
So Cake Deals look like the 'shit'. Try it out and let me know if there are any other deal site aggregators out there and I'll be able to share it! :)

Some other sites that I subscribe that 'may' be of interest to you:
  • GAP Canada - they have some awesome deals from time to time, keep an eye out for them.
  • PRIVE - another clothing site; got some good deals with their Levi's jeans.
Tips for managing deals in your inbox:

One useful tip I can share with you for managing your deals is using the Filter option in Gmail (this only applies if you sign up for all your deals with the same email account, specifically a Gmail account). Filters will help you categorize emails as they come into your inbox, so you can easily focus in on the emails that are important rather than seeing ever email as the 'same'. After you set it up, you don't need to do anything, except delete the ones that may be clogging up your inbox.

Here is how you would set it up...

Click 'create a filter' at the top and set up your filters like this:


then...

You're done! When an email comes in from anyone at @cakedeals.com, it will automatically be labelled with "Deals". Now you can manage your filters and edit them anytime you like. Label as many emails as you want with 'Deals' but keep it relevant.


Emails will still show up in your inbox, unless you specify to skip it. When you click on the label on the left, you will see all your active emails. Here's what my Deals section looks like (yeah... I haven't cleaned it out for a good week and now it's flooding...):

That's how I've been able to keep my inbox clean, and I can assure you that it will help checking your emails easier! That's all I have for today. If you have any local deal sites that you think is worth signing up for, please let me know at the bottom of this post :)

Happy deals hunting!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Should you buy the mortgage 'life' insurance?

After getting my mortgage approved, I needed go in to the bank (I bank with RBC) to get some paperwork signed to say that 'yes I am accepting this liability'... doesn't sound as soon as it did when I first said to myself, 'I just got approved for a mortgage!" :p anyways!

Part way through signing the document I noticed that my monthly payment was higher than what he told me initially.

'Why is this I ask?'

He told me that they added on the $15 life and disability insurance option, and because I was going with the accelerated bi-weekly payments, that meant that I'd be paying $30 + mortgage monthly. I did some quick math in my head and said 'no I don't want this.' I was surprised that he didn't try to push the product further on me, or maybe he knew it wasn't a good deal and just surrendered to it. Hmm... for those who don't know, I used to be very passionate about this kind of thing. I used to be a crusader for Term Life Insurance back 2 years ago when I was working with Primerica Financial Services. I truly believed in their philosophy of Buy Term, Save the Difference! That topic can be for another post but it somewhat relates to why this 'life' insurance is not the best bang for your buck and here is why:

Let's say you go to the Mortgage Calculator on the RBC website and you input $250,000 as your mortgage amount, variable, 2.5%, 5 year term, 25 year amortization (let's say it is a perfect world and you get the 2.5% for entire duration of your mortgage)... then you get a report like this:

Looking good so far... A couple of things off the bat... I would recommend going with the accelerated bi-weekly plan if you can. It will shave a good 3-4 years off your amortization (life of the mortgage), allowing you to be debt-free (out of your mortgage) sooner... if you can contribute more, DO IT, it will expedite the process even more! :) Don't be paying JUST interest each month, make sure you bring down your amount by paying off the principal, and the only way of doing that is paying a bit more each month... good luck!

So back to this mortgage insurance thing... Here is where the trick is...

Underlying message: the mortgage insurance only covers you for the term of the mortgage. The coverage actually decreases over time while you are maintaining the same payment amount each month.
OUCH!

The above is assuming $30 a month for both Mortgage and Term insurance for the same 25 year period. 1$ per coverage amount goes down as your mortgage decreases, while term stays the same throughout the term.

Yeah... if you stick to your schedule, you should be able to pay off your mortgage in 19 years (goodie)... that's when you can stop paying for this stupid mortgage insurance thing. Then what happens after that? Nothing, you're screwed... you are not covered anymore :o! You're probably thinking... wow... this is such a scam! IT IS! Don't get it!

My suggestion: get in touch with a Primerica Rep (I can refer you to mine if you need one, he's really good) to run a quote for you, and he/she should be able to match or beat the price of the bank's mortgage insurance rate, with more coverage for a longer period of time so your family is protected longer. I should stress that Term Life Insurance is the only type of insurance anyone should get. Insurance agents will try to sell you what they call, Whole Life Insurance, where they bundle Term + Investment into one product... it's a demon product! I'll expand on this more in another post.

I hope this was helpful! Ask me any questions you might have :)

Until next time...

Monday, July 25, 2011

Line of credit versus credit cards

Today I went to the bank to sign some papers to finalize all the mortgage stuff. I ended deferring the life and disability insurance that they originally put on top of the mortgage amount. It was only $15 a month... so not much... but I've been very cautious about thinking with that mindset because every dollar will begin to count after I move out and start paying those big figure bills (YIKES!). I'm also contemplating on whether to switch out of my current auto insurance with Belair and go with RBC's auto+home insurance package. They say it's cheaper but until I call in and get a quote, I won't make the assumptions that it is. Have any of you switched to your banks plan for auto+home and received substantial savings? I'd like to hear it if you have!

The mortgage specialist was extremely helpful and professional explaining me all the details of the mortgage and even broke down and printed off my scheduled payment. I went with their accelerated bi-weekly plan as it will shave off close to 4 years on my overall mortgage term, saving me just over $9000 in interest costs over the life of the mortgage. Yay!

Later I was introduced to the rep that would be my long-term relationship rep. I thought the specialist would be it, but it appears as though he's was only responsible for getting me qualified and the papers done. This guy was also friendly and professional. I felt like speaking with him that he was a bit tense. Nonetheless he sounded like he knew his thing and he had told me that he's been working at RBC for 8 long years.

We spoke a lot to the other products that RBC offered for people who just qualified for a mortgage. Interesting enough, I learned a lot about what I don't know. You know... You don't know what you don't know... So you gotta learn to know ;)... I wasn't trying to confuse you there.. I swear ;).

So what kinda trouble did I get myself into? A bunch of things and there's a ton I could write here but I will be dividing this blog up into multiple parts, hoping that it stays with me until I blog again :) So to start... here is what I signed up for...
  • I opened up a TFSA.
  • I applied for a line of credit.
After have been a client of RBC's for many years (since I was a toddler)... I've only owned a student's chequings account and a VISA with a $1000 transaction limit (woo hoo!). So yes... I don't like debt so I try to keep things simple :). If you didn't know already... for a student account, you don't pay any fees but there is a limit on how many transactions you make a month. I've gone over countless times and got dinged each time for exceed that limit, argh! But the good news is; if you own three products or more with the bank, you qualify for what they call... a "MultiProduct Rebate". This means they will give you an instant rebate on the fee that would have needed to pay if you didn't have three products with them. So to sum up... no monthly fee and unlimited transactions!

So the 3 products I have with the bank now...
  1. Bank account
  2. Mortgage
  3. TFSA
(your credit card doesn't count as a product they say)

I save on $10.95 a month... Or $131.40 a year :D. That's good enough for a nice piece of furniture each year... hmmm... lol or maybe I will save that for some photography gear / travel.

The last thing I'm going to share here may shock you but I didn't know about this until I asked... actually, that's a lie, he brought it up and then I began questioning him.

You can get a credit line for FREE! Make sure you ask about it because they may just try to charge you. He didn't though. He told me straight up it was free.

So the line of credit option is actually a good product to have because the minimum payment is only the interest rate against the borrowed amount over 12 months. That's very little... Check this out...
  • Your credit limit = $5000
  • You borrow = $2000
  • Interest rate = 7%
  • Minimum payment = $2000 * 7% / 12 months = $11.67 a month.
Your minimum amount is only $11.67 a month! The amount is charged to you based on two factors here, the withstanding balance that you borrowed and the interested rate. Keep in mind that you probably wouldn't want to keep paying the minimum, or else you're going to be stuck there foreverrr. But then again... it's better than having that debt on your credit card... why?

Most shocking thing... credit cards is a scam! The interest you pay on your credit card balance is always against the highest amount you had previously not paid in full for. For example,
  • Your purchase was $5000
  • You pay back to the bank $1000
  • You owe the bank $4000 plus interest
  • So that must be $4000 x 19.99% (whatever the rate is, but look how high it is)
  • The truth is, this is NOT how it works!
The interest rate is actually against the $5000 until you've paid it all off in full!

I wish I could share a real example but I've never actually gone down that path :p If you've endured this can you confirm with me that that is how they scam you? It's frustrating because they never disclosed that to me. I guess the think about credit cards is that almost anyone can apply for one and it's very easy to get approved. But what they don't tell you can hurt you over the short/long term if you are not careful. Take that as a cautionary note, I really hope you do!

I'll leave the life and disability insurance thing for another post because I think it deserves a lot of writing about that topic with some fancy graphs and stuff :)

Until next time, subscribe to my blog!

I purchased my first home!

Some say that...
  • Buying a home is the biggest purchase you'll ever make in your lifetime.
  • A home is an asset, and some say it is a liability.
  • Home is where you hang your hat.
  • Home is where your heart is.
No matter what, "home" to me is a place of familiarity and comfort. Some people say, and I say it too, "There is no place like home".

Over the past couple of months, there's been a lot happening at work and it involved me moving in and out of the city/country. I tell my friends with a lot of excitement that I get to travel for work. I tell them, "I'm heading over to Vancouver for a week", or "I'm going to visit Boston next week" (which I all did). While I appreciate the travel, there's been countless times that I said to myself... "I miss home" or "I miss sleeping on my bed". The comfort is just not there... although my company pays some serious bills and gets us into the Hiltons :p But if you've felt the same way with business travels, like I have, now you know you're not alone. And if you are brave enough to admit it, leave a comment and say I agree with you Jackson. Thanks.

So enough said... over the past couple of months, I've been scouting around for a potential property to buy for myself. I've come to realize that I shouldn't need to rely on my parents to take care of me anymore, and that it's time to take a step into the independent life. Most of my life I've been fortunate enough to have had the love and care of my family and friends. It's really been a memorable 24 years of my life :). I'm hoping that by moving out, I will become a more mature and responsible human being. I look forward to the challenges ahead, and it has been one of the reason for my decision to look for a place at such a "young" age.

I finally found a place of my liking and it's taken over 100 e-mails from my real estate agent (Donna Sun of Royal LePage) and some in person open house to get the juice running in me and tell me what I'm about to get myself into. I've visited a few locations around the Billings Bridge area and saw that there's some great things around there that I want to be part of. So I eventually went for one of them, and the next thing you knew, I won the bid and purchased the property! :)

What are some home shopping tips I would give from this experience?
  • Do your research ahead of time. Purchasing a condo is very different than purchasing a single,townhouse, etc.
  • Ask your parents, family and friends about their experience when they bought their first home. Everyone will give a different perspective, but you don't need to go with everything they say. Take what you can get and make informed decision that you want. Afterall, this is your purchase, not theirs!
  • Get qualified to know how much you can afford. There is nothing worst than wasting your precious time looking at properties that you cannot afford. Although I did that at the start, there is no shame admitting it, it's fun shopping but just be cautious about it.
  • Start using Microsoft Excel to brainstorm and jot down month expenses and do all your calculations ahead of time so you know what to expect once you move out. This is the part that I think is probably the most important because people can tell you all sorts of things about "we pay this much for this" and it could be better or worst in your situation. Plan for the worst case scenario to ensure that you safety net for any unexpected events.
  • Another reason why you want to do your calculations upfront is so you can take those calculations to the bank/lawyer/friends/family and asked them if you are on par with how much each expense are. This shows that you know your stuff and you thoughts things through with out "jumping the gun" (I never got to use that phrase, glad I could use it here :).
  • Show no weaknesses when you are talking to your mortgage broker, real estate agent or lawyer. When you've done your research, you will have questions and if you ran them by your friends and family, then go to the specialist and ask them, but it's always good to ask them even if you've asked your friends and family just to confirm as housing markets have probably changed since they went through the process.
  • Be confident and read through all documentations before signing any papers. Ultimately, a signed contract is a proof of some transaction. If you solely rely on your broker or agent to tell you want to do, then you could be pushed around if you don't know what it is you are being sold on.
  • Don't believe in anything private sellers tell you. Ask lots of questions and take what you've learned from the first encounter to the next. Often the seller will try to use some persuasive words or talk all about benefits but not disclose some things about the unit unless you ask. That is when the lawyer comes in and takes a close look at the terms, but you should probably read it too.
Those are the only tips I can think of right now. I hope they will help you when you're shopping for your place :). But by now, you probably want to know what I bought :p My building is...
  • Built in 1975
  • Has 2 bedrooms
  • Has 1 bathroom
  • Has 1 living room, dining room and kitchen
  • Has 1 underground parking spot
  • Has 1 balcony looking out into the Ottawa River and Landsdown Park (clear view)
  • Unit is on the 26th floor (29 floors altogether)
  • Literally 10 steps from the lobby to the OC Transpo transit
  • Has an exercise room
  • Has an indoor swimming pool and sauna
  • Has 1 storage locker
  • Share laundry with only the same floor people (no more than 8 units per floor)
  • Comes with dishwasher, refrigerator and stove
  • Comes with window blinds
  • Freshly painted
  • Newly installed spot lights around the unit
  • New cabinets in the kitchen
  • Well kept, very clean minus the cat smell (I'm allergic to cats)
  • Condo fees include caretaker, heat, hydro, building insurance, management, recreation facilities, and water
Here are some photos of the place (taken by the real estate company)

*I will get post some more pictures once I move in and furnish the place up!

Overall, I think this was an awesome purchase with a sweet deal! At the time, I was looking at another unit in the same building but the guy was asking for 25,000 more... and yes, I got it 25k less for this one I bought :p I'm glad I waited as long as I did. There were 10 others involved in the whole bidding process (this place was apparently in real high demand... :p). In the end, we won but had to dish out an extra $1,000. No loss in my sense, as I was extremely happy to have secured the property with knowledge of everything about the building being sound and "not much to worry about".

I think that is it for now... I will absolutely be available for any questions if you have any for me. If possible, ask it here as I think there will be some good knowledge sharing between everyone who comes here to read this :). But if needed, you can email me jackson.lo87@gmail.com your questions and I'll try my best to answer with what I know. I will be adding more tips as I move through the process.

But current state... The condo is BOUGHT! Now it's all paperwork...

Wish me luck :p ... oh and the closing date (when I get my keys) is on September 1, 2011! Until next time thanks for stopping by! :)