Wal-Mart, Firearms, and Obesity

I was at Wal-Mart again today. The anniversary event is still on, and I took the opportunity to stock up on a year's supply of laundry detergent and several crates of pudding. Did you know they have power scooters that you can just take and use while you are in the store? You don't even have to walk!

I only noticed the scooters today, as it seems they are normally in use by the true pinnacles of human evolution (i.e. http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/?p=17652).  Michelle wouldn't let me use one, even though I offered to let her ride shotgun...

Another unfortunate feature of our present society can be witnessed at Wal-Mart over the next couple of days, and that is the paycheck cycle.

An excerpt from a Reuter's article last year sheds some light:

Q: How are consumers holding up? What are you seeing in terms of the paycheck cycle — when Walmart sees its sales decline as shoppers run out of money in between paychecks?

“We still see that … pronounced paycheck cycle. So it tells me that our customer remains under a significant amount of pressure. … The trend that we’ve seen away from credit … that trend continues. You see less in the way of credit, more in the way of cash and debit.

… Many of our customers receive food stamps, welfare, other forms of government assistance. On the first of the month their EBT card would be charged, and we can see literally real-time once the clock strikes midnight and EBT cards are charged, you can see our results start to tick up.”

http://blogs.reuters.com/shop-talk/2009/08/13/30-minutes-with-wal-marts-cfo/

Two weeks ago there was an interesting survey that found 59% of Canadians polled would be in financial difficulty if their pay was delayed one week. Incredible. I tend to maintain 6 months of living expenses in a highly liquid account (which we could easily stretch to more if we adjusted our lifestyle), but I guess that's just me.

In other news, as my past weekend involved educating Albertan migratory waterfowl on the different levels of the food chain, I stopped in at both locations of Wholesale Sports in Edmonton looking for a longer barrel for my Remington 870, or, in the event a barrel was unavailable, a new gun.

There seems to be this illusion that Canadians are not gun-toting nuts like those folk south of the border, but at both locations, I waited upwards of 45 minutes in line, on a Thursday evening, within 2 hours of closing, to talk to one of the six sales people at the gun counter (I prefer the north Edmonton branch, because they have a “take a number” machine).

I didn't even have to wait 45 minutes to ride X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain last month.

I ended up buying a second Remington 870 at the north location (all the 870s were sold out on the south side). The price difference between a new barrel, which I would have had to continually swap with the shorter barrel, and a new gun, was only about $100. I love Remington; for less than this Netbook, I picked up a brand new 12 gauge.

I then elected to pay my hunting taxes – I mean, buy my licences – online; I thought I had thwarted the need to physically go down to any kind of venue for such paperwork. Turns out, after my WIN card renewal, my Wildlife Certificate, and my Game Bird licence, I still needed a Federal Migratory Waterfowl Permit. This piece of wonderful bureaucracy can only be picked up at select venues, and not online. It was sold out at the first 3 places I went, and I was finally able to get one of 6 left at a Shopper's Drug Mart Post Office outlet.

My last point of rage for the day involves fat people on airplanes.  I really think companies need to step up and take the baggage approach to ticket pricing.  Passengers should be charged BY THE POUND.  The volume of fuel used to transport a cesspool of lard is quite different than that used to transport a small bag of electrons.  What do you think?

Process

Today's regular update will be pushed to tomorrow, as I just got home from Edmonton.

I am also in the process of combining this blog with another, and that should be complete by tomorrow also.

Unnecessary

This weekend NHL.com has reported that Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Nick Boynton will be suspended for 1 regular season game.  The suspension comes after Boynton made a throat slashing motion towards Tampa Bay Lightning centre Blair Jones during a pre-season game on Sept 22.

Is this seriously what the NHL has come to?

Frankly I think that 1 game wasn't enough.  Trust me, Boynton won't notice missing one game and a couple thousand dollars.  The league needs to send a message that juvenile behaviour like this won't be tolerated.

An Inauspicious Beginning (Again)

Unlike Terry, I don't plan on talking much about finance, WalMart, or lunch meat.

I'm going to use this space to share the random tidbits of the internet and the rest of the world that I somehow manage to find.  To be honest, I don't really have a target audience for all of this information.  I just think that I manage to locate a reasonable amount of interesting/irreverent/irrelevant stuff and I figure the rest of the world need to see it...for some reason.

You can expect to see posts on everything from tech to music, hockey to world travel.  I'm good at diversifying.

Posts from my old blog have been imported and can be seen in the archives.

Anyway, on to something interesting...

Test Post

A few minutes ago, I mentioned to Jason that we should use this new site for both of our blogs, as both of us have started to write regularly again, and, like a workout partner at the gym, the whole thing will probably work better if we capitalize on the motivation provided by the other person's posts.

Plus, it makes it easier to argue like massive idiots!

Moving on, speaking of deli-related items, I had an EPIC donair for lunch today at a place called My Donair on the east side of Macleod Trail, just south of 42 Ave S (Calgary, AB).  Parking is sort of tricky; I ended up doing a big loop that put me northbound on Macleod (I was originally going south, down from 36 Ave where I work), where I was able to turn right into the stripmall-ish setup.

They had a deal we lucked out on as well; on Tuesday, if you buy two, you get the second one half off.  We were immediately disappointed to find out this didn't apply to the Jumbo size -- 300g of meat vs 160 or so for the next size down, called Deluxe -- but I ended up so full from the Deluxe that I fear what would've happened had we gone with the Jumbo...that's what she said.

Sorry.

Good restaurants near work seem to be hard to find in Calgary, but I'm up to 4 of them now.  Unfortunately, unlike Vancouver, I can't walk to any of them.

Well, that's probably a good enough start.

Back to being lazy...

Trip From Hell

I don't normally talk about my personal life much in this blog but I feel for once I have to stand up on my soapbox and rant a little. I figure if I had to deal with this crap for the last few days, the interwebs can deal with me writing about it.

As most people know, I travel a lot for work. I'm usually out of the country at least once every couple of months. Because of that, I tend to feel rather lost/naked when I don't have my passport on me. In preparation for an upcoming trip to Nigeria, I had to send my passport off to the Nigerian High Commission in Ottawa to get an entry visa. This is a pretty normal practice. Unfortunately the application process is a little...convoluted. For example, they require a signed copy of the online application form. However, there is no way to print out the application after you have finished it. In addition, the online application consists of 4 separate pages of information. So I ended up having to re-fill in the entire form, print out each page, sign them, and send them off. Thankfully we use an immigration/visa consultant who is familiar with these sorts of things and can act as a liason between ignorant people like me and foreign consulates.

Unfortunately, I was also scheduled to go to Houston this week for training. After not hearing back from the Nigerian High Commission by Wednesday of last week, I talked to my immigration consultant and asked her to get the Nigerian High Commission to send back my passport, with or without the visa. Thursday I was notified that my passport was on its way back and would have my visa. Again unfortunately the Nigerian High Commission will (for whatever reason) only ship using Canada Post. They had shipped my passport using Canada Post's Next Day A.M. Priority Courier.

However, Friday morning came and went. No passport. Apparently they had missed the cutoff for Next Day A.M. service by about 45 minutes and my passport had been received in the collection for Friday Next Day service. But this is Canada Post. They don't work weekends. Next Day A.M. meant Monday morning.

So the only option available to me was to head down to Canada Post's main sorting depot on Saturday morning. I arrived to find a mostly empty building. Not counting security, there were approximately 4 people working. One of them managed to tell me that they were shutdown until Sunday afternoon and had approximately 1.4 MILLION pieces of unsorted mail.  I was told that the odds of finding my passport in that pile was almost nonexistent.

This meant it was time to try rebooking. After 2 hours on the phone with the company travel agent, the hotel I was booked in, and the limo companies transporting me to/from the airports in Edmonton and Houston, everything was rebooked for Monday night. I would go to work and hope that my passport arrived in time.

So Monday morning arrives. After spending Sunday night packing and preparing to travel, I was hopeful that I'd actually get to go. Slowly the morning passed away and no passport arrived. I all but gave up on my chances of going. Just after lunch, Canada Post's tracking website was finally updated and showed that my passport had been put on a truck in Edmonton at 10:50 am. But where in the city was it?

My ride to the airport was booked for 2:30. Finally, at 2:00, I found someone able to provide some real help. Our receptionist mentioned that Canada Post sometimes just drops courier packages in our mailbox. I stood at the window with baited breath as she walked across the street and returnee with an armful of mail. And in that armful my passport was waiting for me. I couldn't believe it. One would think that for something as important as a passport, a signature would be required. But I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. I finally had my passport with 30 minutes to spare.

Naturally, my ride to the airport was 5 minutes late. Thankfully I allotted some extra time. At 3:00 I finally arrived at the airport. I finally started to think that I'd actually make it. I went to check in. The desk agent couldn't find my booking. I pulled out my itinerary. Somehow my travel agent had rebooked me for Sunday night and not Monday night. Perfect.

So I call up the travel agent as fast as I could. Fortunately there were still seats available and it was relatively easy to make the change. Or so she said as she put me on hold. 20 minutes later it's getting to be questionable as to whether I could make the flight. So I head to the ticket desk. The ticket agent tells me that she can see my travel agent is in the process of changing the ticket but isn't finished. So she issued me what was essentially a conditional ticket, put my luggage on standby, and told me to run for the gate. I was still on hold. So I put my on-hold phone through the x-ray machine and hoped I wouldn't miss anything. I got through security, picked up my phone, and within seconds heard "Mr Constam you're good to go."

I run up to the gate just as boarding was starting. Of course this means the gate agent is too busy and can't verify my ticket. After another agonizing 10 minutes, she finally gets to me and checks me in. I'm set. Except that my departing flight to Calgary was leaving out of a gate where they dock small planes at lettered gates. I was told to go to door H. Door H is near the end of the right side of this long hallway. I get there and there's no plane. I run back to the start of the hall, head down the left side and just run as hard as I can. Th plane was at door E, at the end of the right side. I'm the last one on board. I look at the flight attendant and ask "Will this plane actually take me to Calgary?" She replies "Why wouldn't it?" I quip "You have no idea the day I'm having..."

I'm finally in my seat. I'm set. I only now have to manage to collect my luggage, pass through US customs, and get through security in my hour and five minute layover in Calgary. Then the pilot comes on and says that we'll be delayed a few minutes because Calgary's airspace is busy. Great.

I arrive in Calgary 13 minutes late. I start running again. Seriously, if running through airports was an Olympic sport, you could give me the gold medal right now. I get to the American departures area and stop to wait for my luggage. I had no idea if it even made it on the plane due to my temporary stand-by status. Ten agonizing minutes later, my suitcase appears. I manage to fly through US customs and manage to get through security with only a quick full body scan and minor bag search. (Seriously, for me, that's a good deal.)

With 15 minutes to spare, I jogged up to my departure gate for Houston. Suddenly, it occurs to me that since my ticket was a last minute purchase, I might be in a good enough class to get an upgrade using a normally useless blue system-wide upgrade certificate. I was right.

So after what was a rather insane day, I was rewarded with a big comfy seat, a row to myself, an ice cold beer, and a wonderful dinner of chicken curry and rice.

As much as I am still angry with Canada Post, I do have to thank some amazing people and companies: my travel agency BCD Travel for acting so fast, Air Canada's ground crew in Edmonton and Calgary for being immensely accommodating, and my wonderful flight attendant Barry on AC8106 (YYC->IAH) for making my day end on a good note.

I never want to apply for a visa again. I think I'd rather stay home...

The Best Day of My Life

Today was the best day of my entire life.

Wal-Mart was having something called an “Anniversary Event”.

From what I can gather, this means that they take a select group of products -- products that, by the virtue of Wal-Mart's 3% net profit margin, are already cheaper than everywhere else -- and put them ON SALE. They then apply limits per customer in some cases, but one can thwart those by simply making multiple trips to the store. A list of the items of awesomeness that can be purchased for a mere pittance can be found in the pesky flier sitting on your front steps. It's absolutely incredible, and ends on Thursday.

Yesterday afternoon, I spent a small portion of the many thousands of dollars my wife and I save each month, by not worshipping real estate, on a new netbook. After a small amount of research, I decided I wanted an Asus product, and I subsequently picked up the Eee PC 1015PED in black. My vintage 2007 MacBook has been failing me for over a year, and after I realized how out to lunch Apple's prices are (look at what you can buy from Dell for less than the cheapest, smallest MacBook), and how very little I actually do with the device (I built a new world-crushing desktop machine back in January that serves all my gaming and multimedia needs), I figured I could improve my portability significantly and save 66% versus buying the new version of the MacBook I have now.

In other news, I wanted to talk a little bit about another company I like: WestJet (TSX:WJA).

I like WestJet, because they continue to have the sense to realize that if you can provide a product that people want at a price higher than your cost, you can make something called profit. In an industry that has summed to a net loss since its inception, this is a pretty important concept. Someone should tell Air Canada.

WestJet also had the sense to realize that if you look after your workers' interests, they are likely not to form an enormous, immobile, margin-destroying labour union. They have 7,700 employees.

When you add to the fact that WestJet only operates one type of aircraft, the versatile Boeing 737, it isn't hard to see why their operating costs are 30% lower than Air Canada's.

Now, I will say that I sold my WJA shares a few months back, which means I do have a few concerns; one of which, is the new CEO. Once I get a feel for the management going forward, I plan to re-evaluate.

Disclaimer: All content on this site is provided as general information only and should not be read as investment advice.  All site content, including advertisements, shall not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security or financial instrument, or to participate in any particular trading or investment strategy.  The ideas expressed on this site are solely the opinions of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the opinions of sponsors or firms affiliated with the author(s).  The author may or may not have a position in any company or advertiser referenced above.  Any action you take as a result of information, analysis, or advertisement viewed on this site is your responsibility.  Consult an investment adviser before making any investment decisions.

Current thoughts

Well here goes nothing.  Let's talk about the market.

A couple of weeks ago, I sold out of my met coal position, realizing an 11% profit that took an agonizing 4 months to achieve.  Earlier in the year I sold the remainder of another producer's shares at a 650% profit -- thank you, 2009 -- and divested a portion of the proceeds into a competitor of similar size, because I viewed it as a better structured business, financially.  Mr. Market has shared this view, as the second company has enjoyed a strong premium over the first since March of 2009 when both of them hit almost the same low. 

My more recently acquired shares in Canada's largest "diversified" miner have jumped back into the black this month, and I'll be watching them very closely.  I rode them down to -15% during the summer and I would prefer to realize my current 12% profit and buy back in later than hang on for the ride down again.

I have become slightly bullish on the energy sector recently, and have taken a small position in one of Canada's integrated producers.  Having read that the more realistic rate of inflation right now is closer to 7% (the government changed the calculation of the CPI in the year 2000, and taking the old formula yields this result), I believe it's only a matter of time before oil starts a bit of an upward move.  That, and some exposure to the possibility of a price shock due to, ahem, potential geopolitical issues in Iran is appealing.

I've been watching silver very closely as well, but haven't made much a move at this point.  It's been rather boring since April, when everything peaked, and I didn't make a single trade between then and a couple of weeks ago.  I've been wanting to catch Goldcorp at under $40, but the teeter-totter fear trade between gold and materials has been thwarting my efforts thus far.  I fear that the next leg down on the index (there's no way we will stay above 12,000) is going to make a bigger dent in materials than the April drop, and I may be priced out of gold for a long time (I refuse to jump in on the hype, I want my price).

That's all for now.  We'll see how the week closes. 

Disclaimer: All content on this site is provided as general information only and should not be read as investment advice.  All site content, including advertisements, shall not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security or financial instrument, or to participate in any particular trading or investment strategy.  The ideas expressed on this site are solely the opinions of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the opinions of sponsors or firms affiliated with the author(s).  The author may or may not have a position in any company or advertiser referenced above.  Any action you take as a result of information, analysis, or advertisement viewed on this site is your responsibility.  Consult an investment adviser before making any investment decisions.

Can't think of a title

I had posted a detailed, negative cash flow, real estate investing example for a half hour or so yesterday, but I became unhappy with it and took it back down. 


It will suffice to say that I am extremely bearish on the Canadian housing market, and have been for the last several years (ask anyone who talks to me on a regular basis...).  I expect a decline in nationwide average prices to pre-2005 levels.  There are a variety of reasons to expect such a downturn, and a great amount of information on the matter can be had at various other sources (see the blog roll on the right of my site for some of the best ones).  I am also increasingly beginning to think that the tide has already turned, given both the shift in the mainstream media's treatment of the issue over the last couple of weeks, and the high number of acquaintances I have that have bought houses in the last 6 months (the majority of which I would never lend money to), but we shall see.

This is a good time to bring up Bob Farrell's 10 Rules of Investing (I get a kick out of the fact that the article I link to below is from the summer of 2008).

As I learned on my Hawaiian vacation last week, all it takes is an hour or two in the airport to witness every flaw in human behavior and learn how one can profit from the ignorance of the herd.

Additionally, I strongly believe that there are only two ways to make money.

Hard work and good fortune.

Only one of these methods is sustainable and it is extremely important not to confuse the two.

What do you think is a better way to grow wealth?

Borrowing a massive quantity of money to acquire a historically and fundamentally overvalued, incredibly illiquid asset, with the hope that your sheer ability to stare boldly at your stainless steel appliances and granite counter-tops will result in a repeat of the price increase of 2006/2007 (which only occurred due to an unprecedented change in lending standards)?

Or, consistently living below your means and investing your savings in a liquid, diversified portfolio of financial assets yielding a rate of return commensurate with the risk taken?

I thought so; though it's amazing how many people shy away from equities but do not even think twice about financing 95% of a real estate purchase over 35 years.

My wife and I happily rent a 1700 square foot, 4 year old townhouse, with an attached double garage, in a great neighborhood, with a crew that clears the snow/mows the lawn several times a week.  Our monthly housing cost is less than 17% of our net monthly income, and we have the ability to move at any time for any reason with just 30 days notice.  We tend to move often to spread the money around different landlords, and to add a degree of excitement to their lives.

While I often get the impression that some people view us as second-class citizens for renting, all it takes is a look at our bank account balance (and maybe a trip to Hawaii a couple of times a year with some of our investment income) to get the warm and fuzzies back. 

I highly suggest reading the following.

Vatican Fashion Police?

The Vatican City has been generating more interest than usual lately with last week's public discussions of how the Sistine Chapel's high volume of human traffic is damaging the building's famous frescoes.  However, the Vatican has already easily topped themselves.  This week, Jaunted picked up a story that the Italian wire service ANSA reported on the dress code inside the Vatican City this summer.

For anyone who has never visited a major church in Europe, there are usually some loose rules on what clothing is and isn't allowed.  In general, midriffs, shoulders, and knees must be covered.  Shorts are generally allowed but must be at least knee length.  Similar rules apply for skirts/dresses.  For (mostly) women with bare shoulders (it's hot in Europe in the summer!), a shawl wrapped around them is almost always acceptable.  In fact, some churches provide free paper ones for this reason.  In other places, small vendors can often be found within a short distance from the entrance of the church that will be very glad to sell a cheap shawl for a few Euros.  This is all very normal in Europe.  You'll see it at the Basilicas of Notre Dame in Paris, St. Mark's in Venice, and St. Peter's in the Vatican.

I have never had a problem with these type of rules.  You are entering (usually) an ancient and (always) sacred site.  A certain modicum of decorum and respect is fair to be expected.  However, the Swiss Guard have been reportedly stopping "unsuitably dressed" people from even entering St. Peter's Square or any other part of the Vatican City.  ANSA reports of the Swiss Guard hassling a 70-year-old Roman woman attempting to enter the Vatican who was stopped because of her sleeveless dress.  After eventually being let in, she quipped "Given all the scandals the Church has been involved in, what possible right can it have to be preaching about the morality of sleeveless dresses?"

Although there aren't exactly strict requirements on crossing the border between Italy and the Holy See, it is definitely its own independent nation.  Other than St Peter's Basilica, the Papal residences, and other church buildings, the Vatican City also contains a post office, pharmacy, and a small store.  The pharmacy offers a wider range of medication often at lower prices than the pharmacies in Rome.  As a result, many Romans frequent the Vatican just to fill their prescriptions.

Although St. Peter's Square often serves as an amphitheatre for Papal addresses and other official ceremonies in the Vatican, it is not itself a holy site.  I'm not sure I understand the need to prevent people who are "unsuitably dressed" from entering the country and just enjoying the magnificent architecture.  If they choose to enter St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican museum, the Sistine Chapel, or any of the other holy buildings contained inside the Vatican, then that is a completely different story.  I foresee a booming business in small vendors selling their cheap shawls in the area around the Vatican if these rules continue to be strictly enforced.

Flying Machines

I haven't posted in a while, but I think it's time for my first real nerdgasm in this blog.

For the last few months I've been watching the progress of the AR.Drone by France's Parrot wireless engineering company.  The AR.Drone is a revolution in remote controlled helicopters.  Usually RC helicopters are nefariously difficult to control and take a lot of time and dedication to actually be able to use them effectively.  Parrot has tried (and apparently succeeded) to fix this with their quadricopter design.

Image from Wikipedia

Using a combination of four evenly spaced blades, 6 MEMS DOF sensors, an ultrasound telemeter, and a moderate amount of processing power, the AR.Drone is capable of hovering by itself.

But that isn't the really cool part.  The AR.Drone is not controlled by a standard RC controller.  It is controlled via WiFi using an app running on an iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad.  This is further enhanced by an on-board  camera which is streamed to the Apple device.  Parrot has used this to create what they call "augmented reality games".  Using the camera, the display on the Apple device, and a few real-world reflectors, the AR.Drone software creates targets and virtual opponents which you can fly your real AR.Drone against.  This is probably better explained in a video.

After a very lengthy development cycle, the AR.Drone is finally being released around the world this week.  However, there are two downsides.  First, the $300 price tag really does take the AR.Drone out of the "just a toy" category and more into the land of "only rich people with money to burn" category.  Secondly, the fact that you only get 12 minutes of use out of a single charge really bursts the bubble for me.  It looks like a really cool device to play with, but only getting 12 minutes of play-time and then having to wait 90 minutes to 2 hours to charge is just not worth the price tag.

Still, it's nifty...

Delay 'til next Sunday

The only form of computer I elected to bring on this trip is an iPod Touch. Therefore, my next post will be next Sunday the 12th. I'll make sure it's a good one.