I borrow the title from a phrase used by our friend Preet, during a discussion panel on the National a few weeks ago. Preet was pointing out that the “alleged housing bubble” and high housing prices can be a major friction point in relationships, and can end up destroying those relationships, however, given the price of houses some couples are staying together because they can’t afford to move, thus creating a “Loveless and Sexless Marriage“.

For those of you who might have missed it on Monday night, Gail Vaz-Oxlade did her impersonation of St. George and took on the Financial Dragons (i.e. Banks and the C.D. Howe institute), in a very entertaining battle, entitled “Deconstructing Personal Debt” on TVO’s show “Agenda”.

The show seemed to pit Gail and Moshe Milevski against Phillip Cross of the C.D. Howe Institute and Derrick Burleton a VP at TD (apologies on the spellings) (from this point on, they will be known as “the suits”).

I have found two new guilty pleasure shows on TV, one is16 and Pregnant on MTV (that one I can’t even talk about right now, I’ll save that for a separate rant) the other is “I Didn’t Know I was Pregnant” where women explain how they can go 9 months carry a child and then claim they never knew they were pregnant. The stories are quite “far fetched” in my books, but I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt that some of them may actually be true.

So our friends at Ted, have a short video clip for us that will completely rock your world (well maybe not), but it did for me.

There are many things in life that I feel that I am at least competent at, if not some kind of expert, and shoe tieing is certainly a subject where I thought there was nothing new to be learned, but this short presentation proves that I have been doing it incorrectly (or at least less securely) for most of my life.

Over the years I have learned a great deal about the importance of knowing the rules in life (not all the rules, and I am by no definition an expert). What kind of rules? Mostly rules in systems that directly affect me, like my health insurance(s), dental insurance, rules for banking, etc., etc.,.

The first time, was figuring out that my Health Insurance with my employer (at the time) would actually pay for private testing for my children (to determine whether they were gifted and/or if they had learning disabilities). What looked to be a very expensive bill (well over $1500 at the time), ended up only costing me around $100 or so. I must admit that I did not actually figure this out, the Psychologist we were dealing with already knew “how the game was played” and simply let my wife and I in on the rules.

Canada continues to add jobs, but also seems to be adding more folks looking for jobs as well in April according to Stats Canada. Another month where Canada has added more jobs (Full-time jobs, which is great), however, thanks to more folks out there looking unemployment is up as well.

Mothers Day is a day to say thank you to the person who did all those good things for you when you were young and helped you become whatever you are today. Call your Mother and say thank you. Can you guess which Mother this picture is? I’ll post it tomorrow.

To all my Matriarchal Readers and Mothers everywhere, Happy Mother’s Day! Hope you are enjoying your day, and if you are a Father, remember the argument “You are not my Mother”, is a dangerous game to play (speaking as someone who foolishly made that statement one Mother’s Day).

I seemed fixated on credit cards and modes of payments this week, but with the RCMP shutting down a large (worldwide) credit card and debit card fraud ring, I guess I was spot on target for topics (I’ll have to thank Mrs. C8j for having her debit card cloned again).

In Quebec, students continue to complain that they have the lowest tuition fees in Canada, and in fact are now asking that Post Secondary Education be free and available to all who wish to attend. Why does that sentence seem like something out of Alice in Wonderland? I wish Les Etudiant et Membres de CLASSE bonne chance, because they are going to need it (and let’s hope it is not them who are disrupting the Metro in Montreal, enraging already uptight Montreal commuters is not the way to build public support).