The 1000 Day Holiday

01. Feel the rhythm and watch medieval sword fights at the Tam Tams every Sunday afternoon at Mont-Royal
02. Have a picnic and give free hugs with electronic beats and funky DJ`s at Piknik Electronic, Sundays at Jean-Drapeau
03. Bike along the 14.5Km of Lachine Canal and catch the wonder of the old Port
04. Grab yourself a Beaver Tail, 127 de la Commune E
05. Join Cat’s Corner’s LARGEST PUBLIC SHIM SHAM for a free swing dance and free Charleston classes. Look for the big crowd of Lindy hoppers dancing in the streets of Blvd St Laurent!
06. Salsa it up with Salsafolie at the Old Port on Saturday afternoons
07. Have fun being green by renting a bike free in the summer at Mont-Royal metro (Desjardins info booth right outside the exit) or Bixi-ing around town
08. Jazz it up at JazzFest in the summer!
09. Walk Plateau-Mont-Royal and Village and discover shops, cafes, culture.
10. Head over to Schwartz`s on St-Catherine for a deli and smoked beef sandwich experience like no other (the cherry cola goes down real well too!)

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Canadian Moose were introduced to NZ in 1910. Thave haven’t been seen in more than 50 years, assumed to be extinct.

Now theres scientific proof they are still alive. Check out the article below.

Note: click the fullscreen link, then at the bottom you can zoom in…

Theres a foot of snow outside

The back deck

The marina is completely frozen over, with islands of snow forming on top. (before we came through in the ship)

Frozen Marina

Fountains don’t go no more…

And everyone in Vancouver rants about how nobody in Vancouver knows how to drive in the snow.

When the money runs out, you sign up for medical experiments.

Such as psychosis studys where they give you MRI’s and ask you

“if drinking a glass of pure water will let someone else gain control of your thoughts?”

and
“Do the voices tell you what to do?”

Post 1000 Day Holiday MRI from Craig on Vimeo.

Canada doesn’t pay very well. $8 – $12 per hour being the going rate for most jobs.
So unless youre getting tips or perks, that pretty much blows. ( I wish I still wanted to be a geek!)

The strip club job didn’t eventuate. So it was time to come up with a new venture.

SCAM #1
I’m now a Mystery Shopper.
I eat and drink in nice restaurants, fill out a form (its actually rather long.. but such is life). And effectively get my meal/drinks free with maybe a few extra dollars left over.

Now if you work it out how long I would have to work for the Dinner in a normal job. ($9/h pre tax)
For the $33 Lunch I had yesterday I would have had to work 4 hours to pay for it.
4 hours! That’s half of a days work!

Just to extrapolate the living costs here on that kind of money.
Income: $330/Week or $1431/Month
Rent & Utilities: 550 – 650/Month. (and that’s a cheap place!)
That gives a rent to income range% of 38-45%. Any financial planner will say that’s waaay crazy!

Spare a thought for those living in Whistler: Where rent runs ~$1000/month
That makes the rent as a % of income: 84%@$8/hr to 59% @$12/hr OUCH

Which brings me onto the Scam 2

SCAM #2

Live in a large house w 10 people. Kind of like dossing in London, but with a lot more space. We have a basketball court in the back yard!

Ive got the room which was the Garage at a whopping $45/week or $180/month. (14% if income @ $9/hr).

SCAM #3

Work at the skifield to score a seasons pass. Not so much a scam. But when youre earning $9/hour.. the things we will do for snow time

I start at Mt Seymour on Sunday.

I start bar work on Saturday. Bring on the tips!

I’ve been in Canada for 5 days. Its been 5 days without much direction in what I’m doing.
I had decided to check out whistler, even though I didn’t think I would live here.

My mind has been racing along on a million different possibilities.

Live in Whistler?
Live in Vancouver?
Live in the rockies?
What sort of job should I get?…
Or should I just jump on a plane to Asia or Eastern europe for $500 being the most interesting ideas.

Then I found this TED video.  Dan Gilbert sums it up perfectly.

Too many options, and trying to pick which one is going to be the best really does fry your mind.
Who cares, its going to be awesome no matter what option you go with!