The plot thickens...

So, I work with some very cool employees at Starbucks, and have really connected with a couple of them... three or four people that I absolutely adore, and think are grand. Well, one of them was suppose to work last night, which was my last shift, and about 30 minutes before he was suppose to start, my manager called and said he couldn't work. He refused to give specifics... but was just quiet about it.

Anyways, then I was told by the same manager to read the front headline of the local paper this morning, which I read online. Now, I do not want to slander the individual, so I will not be mentioning names, or the name of the newspaper, although if you really care I am sure it wouldn't be too hard to find out..

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE (name changed):

"The Oak Bay Marine Group's former vice-president of finance has been charged with theft and fraud after more than half a million dollars was diverted from the company's bank accounts.

G-DAWG, 43, of Victoria, has been charged with theft over $5,000 and fraud over $5,000, said Det. Sgt. Don Symes of Oak Bay police.

DAWG, who worked for the Oak Bay Marine Group for eight years but who is no longer with the company, is likely to appear in court in early January.

DAWG is accused of transferring funds from the Oak Bay Marina account to the account of another company in the Bahamas owned by the Oak Bay Marine Group and then transferring the money into his personal account, Symes said. The transfers happened between 2005 and March 2007, police allege.

The financial discrepancies, which totalled $511,750, were discovered by chance by another employee, Symes said.

The investigation, which started in October, was handed to the Oak Bay Police Department by the RCMP commercial crime section, Symes said.

Bob Wright, Oak Bay Marine Group founder and CEO, is travelling in a boat off the coast of Africa and could not be contacted for comment yesterday."

The interesting story that isn't told in the papers, and was explained to me by my manager, is that the CEO of the Oak Bay Marine group is a rather vindictive man. My manager's partner is a bookeeper, and used to work for the Oak Bay Marine Group... and so he has some negative stories about this individual that runs the company. Anyways, the story is that my coworker had actually sold his house and already paid the funds back 5 months ago... but that charges are just now being levied against him, and he was under the impression that it was taken care of internally already when he was caught. Now, I do not dispute that he did a bad thing, and neither does he, but when faced with it, he sold his house, gave the money back, and moved on... it seems odd to not tell him at that time that you are going to press charges, and instead wait until 5 months later.

Anyways, I am not involved, and I do not know all that much besides what these individuals have told me. But I do know this, my coworker now works for an Indian Reserve Office during the day, and works two nights a week at Starbucks for extra money. He isn't rediculously loaded obviously, and he is a really nice guy, genuinely a hard worker from my experience, and a nice guy. Thats all I know, and it seems rather mean to go after him now... also interesting that this CEO happened to be 'away' on a sailing trip at this crutial time.

Suffice to say, there is more than meets the eye, I am sure... and more I suspect, than most people know... including myself.

Happy Holidays !

Song about me...

This song is SO my life, God, its awesome, and what I love, is that its a rap song about the everyday person's life... he really pokes fun of how silly most rap lyrics are with just talking about their bling and lifestyle...



Oh, and this is an edit to my response to TruthSpew's comment on my last post, I got the actual data on Canadian Income Tax Rates from the Canada Revenue's website:

HAHA !

Are you kidding, your complaining about a 28% income tax rate ?!
Here, in Canada, the federal income tax brackets are:
15% on the first $37,178 of taxable income
22%(on the portion of taxable income between $37,178 and $74,357)
26%(on the portion of taxable income between $74,357 and $120,887)
29% of taxable income over $120,887

And the Provincial (for my Province, BC, which has the second lowest):

5.7% on the first $34,397 of taxable income
8.65% on the next $34,397
11.1% on the next $10,190
13% on the next $16,925
14.7% on the amount over $95,909

And we effectively pay about 40% in total. Probably more now that Cody makes more...

28% sounds good to me !

P.S. This also does not include mandatory CPP contributions, EI, MSP insurance, etc.

Oh, the weather outside is Frightful..

... but I have to go to work in 3 hours and leave the fireplace !

Jerks, this whole working for money thing, I just don't get it.

So, nothing too much is new, well actually, thats a huge lie, lots is new, I am overwhelmed sometimes by the daily amount that my life changes, especially with this big move. I cannot WAIT to sit on a couch and read a good book for Christmas.

All I want for Christmas is good literature and alcohol. (take note !)

Umm... yea, its really windy and rainy today, and today is the day that I have to walk all around downtown to do errands, which I am not excited about, but oh well... Its better than the weather in Montreal. God, its been freaking -25 with the windchill there !! I don't know how on earth I am going to survive. It better warm up for me, or God help me.

So, yea. I am off to call some stupid government agencies, and other beaurocratic nonsense that I have to deal with. God, I hate the government, they basically take 40% of what we make, and bill us for tons of services I never use (seriously, I cannot even remember the last time I was in a hospital... or clinic), and they provide SUCH amazing support to the average citizen in return... NOT. Pah, makes me wanna move to the States, where they aren't one big gigantic welfare nation. I am even starting to reconsider the whole idea of universal healthcare... cause yea, we all have 'free' healthcare, but we are all paying for it through high income taxes, and actual MSP bills that we get in the mail (Cody and I pay $96 a month), and MSP doesn't even cover dental work or massage therapy, or chiropracteurs... basically they only cover if I end up breaking my leg, getting cancer, or developing smallpox ! And the best thing, we would probably pay more, if we had the option for a more expensive plan that covered more things, but we can't, because its a government system that covers 'everyone'.... oh, except the poor, homeless, and elderly, who are covered but don't have to pay for it !!

So, essentially, the people that use the system the most, don't even pay for it ! And the people that don't use it (cause we were dumb enough to take care of ourselves by paying for chiropracteurs, etc, with our own cash) pay the bulk of the bills !!

Dammit, I hate Canada sometimes. I would far rather pay more for a private insurance that covers more and has better service.

Can you guess what government program I am having issues with right now ? lol.

Oh, and last night was my Starbucks staff Christmas party, that was a damned hoot, so freaking awesome. Except most people left at like 9pm !!! The few of us that remained went to this hilariously awesome pub, and just drank some, and played darts, and it was great. The best thing, most of the people I work with just pay with cash for things, cause they are young and have no credit cards... so I just offered to pay for the whole bill, and then take their cash... so I got the points for a huge bar tab, but I have the cash from them to pay it off, God I am smart, even when I drink, hehe.

But now I have to walk in the rain, to the bank, to deposit said cash and pay the Visa... silly walking.

I really should stop complaining about my life in these blog posts. Man, this one really turned out to be long. woopsie.

Ciao, I will probably post something later.

Baking, Part II

Okay, so I baked about 200 cookies Sunday night, and tonight I was aiming to complete the tast.

It started well, I baked some amazing, although secret cookies (cause someone will just have to wait to know what sort of cookies I have baked ;)... and then cleaned up and prepared to make shortbread. This ended in me throwing out a bowlful of cookie dough.

I don't even want to talk about it.

But I think I can blog about it.

So, I made a number of mistakes along the way, mistakes that I should know better than to make. Firstly, and probably my biggest mistake, I decided I could be cheap and use the regular whole wheat flour we have instead of expensive specialty cake flour. WRONG. It simply doesn't have the right texture, and ended up making a grainy, chunky dough. Not good for shortbread.

Mistake two, I decided that I could try using (cheaper) margarine instead of butter. Lets just put it this way, butter is better. MUCH better.

Mistake number three, baking 2 dozen cookies before bothering to taste taste them. They tasted okay, but were extremely grainy... really, really, really grainy, and had a horrid texture. They were also flat, cause the margarine just didn't act right. And they just didn't have the rich taste that butter gives a good shortbread.

So, lesson for tonight, cheaping out with the ingredients for shortbread just results in REALLY aweful shortbread. Argh.

So, tomorrow, I am going to the market, and buying REAL unsalted good quality butter, proper cake flour, and then trying this all over again.

And yes, I thought of trying to use the dough, and invent a new cookie, but all the results were horrible, there was no alternative but to abort.

Sigh, such a waste. Meh, C'est la vie. I did learn a good lesson. With shortbread, if you want good stuff, you have to use good stuff.

Do you hear what I hear ?

I am listening to Christmas Carols non-stop today. Basically started about 2 hours ago, and now my Christmas baking time is in full-swing, and there are cookies everywhere, and nutmeg, flour and other baking essentials all over my counter... and the house smells like gingerbread, eggnog, ginger, nutmeg, chocolate and mint. With the fireplace roaring (as much as a gas one can, lol) and me blasting cheesy Christmas songs.

Sigh, I love Christmas baking, its so much damn fun. And when I bake for Christmas, its a two-, sometimes three-, day event. I am baking 4 different types of cookies this year. I am only on my first type, and I already have about 10 dozen cookies.

Its a lot better when there is more than one person in the house though.

Yea, thats why the music helps, makes me feel a little less lonely.

The Eggnog I steamed (with the espresso machine) with wonderful rum in my mug also helps ;)

10 days until Cody flies here, and we pack and leave for the cold East !

:D

Merry Christmas

Greatest Fear

This is my greatest fear in life.

Sex and the City and No Shower.

I woke up this morning, and used the bathroom. The toilet flushed, but no water-running sound as the tank filled up. Hrm, weird ?

So, then I go to wash my hands, no water comes out of the tap. That's odd. Now, I am starting to become concerned. So, I try to start the shower, about 50 ml of pathetic water come out and then zip, nada.

I actually was on the verge of tears. I LOVE having a morning shower, its the best part of my day (and sometimes the longest, lol, JK)... so I walk angrily up my hallway to the head of the Strata's suite, and there is a notice on the door, and it reads:

"Due to repair issues and damage, the WATER has been shut off temporarily for the building. Sorry for the inconvenience, it will be on as soon as possible"

ARE YOU KIDDING ME ?! Somebody's suite better have been completely flooded or something huge for this to happen. At least, thank God, I have electricity. However, you don't really know how much you love running water until you don't have it.

So, now I am unshaven, stinky, and have dirty teeth (I thought about going to the local Starbucks and brushing my teeth in the bathroom, but that seems weird...).

Its 12:30pm and I'm not impressed.

I went to go make coffee with the espresso machine, thank GOD I have bottled water, so I filled the kettle with bottled water, made two shots (the espresso machine has its own water tank, which I had filled already) and went to go rinse before making another two shots, and guess what ?! YOU CANNOT CLEAN THE COFFEE THING FOR ANOTHER SHOT WITHOUT RUNNING WATER ! Also, I cannot rinse my mug and make another, I cannot water my plants, I can't even wash my hands.

So, I am literally living in my own filth right now until the Godsend that is internal plumbing is brought back online.

I feel especially bad for those in my building who had to work today, imagine going to work at a bank (my neighbour does) without shaving, brushing your teeth, having a shower, or even washing your hands !?

Argh. I think I might actually walk to Starbucks, just to wash my hands, and brush my teeth.

So, the only thing that can make me feel good right now, is the fact that the Golden Compass comes to theatres today, WOOT !

And, the new Sex and the City movie trailer was announced today, its totally a teaser, but its something. Sigh, I am so Miranda. I am a total Miranda.

Wish me luck, God I hope the water comes back soon.

Oh, I love this video.



Now, to clarify, I would feel entirely comfortable with investing in something like Amazon.com, or even Google, because they have built themselves brand-names, they've been around for a long time, and in the case of Google, they are proving themselves to be a powerhouse of innovation, and diversification into other markets. I mean, look at how scared the big Cellular Networks are in Canada about a potential G-Phone and a move from Google into the Cell Phone market, they're practically shitting themselves. So, they, I believe, will be strong runners for years to come. but Facebook, valued at almost the same net worth as all of FORD, with its physical assets, hundreds of thousands of employees, and millions of products sold worldwide. And Facebook has ? Ad revenue from a bunch of teenagers and young adults wanting to easily connect with ex-girlfriends and best buds from College. C'mon, the day that Facebook announces an IPO, it'll have come, and the burst won't be far away.

And you can quote me, and hold me to that prediction ;)