An Intriguing Tale Of Being An Owner

Yes.. this morning.. as soon as we opened store.. there were already a few calls.. from ppl wanting to sell stuff to the store. Usually a few days before welfare day.. or what they call baby cheque day.. we get alot of these kinda calls.. from ppl trying to sell just about anything.. for very little money.

As much as we like to help.. there is just no way we can buy everything and some people just huff and puff because of it.  I certainly cannot understand how some can be left with no money for milk and food for their kids..? In our kinda business, we get to see and hear alot of excuses for ppl trying to sell stuff to us.  By giving out those welfare cheques without educating them on how to properly use their money, is not the solution for the Canadian government.  Thousands of dollars are spent each money giving out money to those who refuses to work.. and wants easy money.

Yes.. we most certainly do, and we do buy stuff .. but not gold. And I still don’t understand why people would come and try and sell us their gold chain, gold bracelet and gold earrings. Don’t get me wrong, we know the value of gold, but the gold that we get here in Canada are like only 10K, not worth investing in at all.

For real investment and securing your investment, one only invest in gold bullion and you all know that Monex has them in 3 convenient forms for you to choose from. My grandfather who was a very old-fashioned and careful investor insist that gold bars are tangible assets and never decreases in its value and during political instability during the WWII, having invested in gold saved the whole family from starvation. Of course, in this peaceful time, investing in gold need not be as dramatic but it is still a very unique and private way to preserve one’s wealth.

Starrs Road is touted as the most happening in this town. Where we are.. is downtown and before moving to the new store.. we had an option as to whether we would like to stay downtown.. or go to Starrs Road. But I guess our decision was right to stay downtown because just the other day.. another business at Starrs Road.. had come in to chat with PB .. and apparently .. they are not doing as good as before. So being at Starrs Road.. doesn’t guarantee better business, but i know for sure..that our present landlord is bullying us. But that’s for another day.

You all know that we owned both a movie store and a computer store. Recently our competition was shut down by Microsoft because of software piracy, it came as a surprised to us of course because we lived in a very small town and for Microsoft to be able to hunt them down, it is quite amazing to me.

I became more aware after this software piracy incident and today i learned that Hollywood is suing some Chinese website for piracy and despite so many warnings, they permitted users of its file sharing service. So donch play, play .. when you are downloading movies from the net because just one day, someone might come knocking at your door.

I thought I heard that the previous organizers were backing out this year.. and concentrating on other things than the Seafest..?? but today i read on local news .. about it being bigger and better..?? now that is really strange eh..?

Well.. it is “gonna” be bigger because they are combining 2 other events..?? They are thinking of bringing together Seafest, the Yarmouth and Acadian Shores Lobster Fest and the Yarmouth Waterfront Fest and Parade of Lights.

I can’t really say i am very excited about it.. because previous years were planned so poorly. Not everyone downtown benefited from it. No special food store.. or no special any stores… or items for sale.. just some overpriced bbq hotdog stand .. and some free food by the waterfront… from what i remembered of previous years.

Not everyone is involved.. like you donch see the pride in this festival, not like the ones we have back home.. like the Farmer’s Market in Sydney.. or the Water Festival or Songkra in Thailand. There were ppl during the Seafest here.. but no togetherness.. if you know what i mean.. it to each his own kinda feeling. *shrug* .. or maybe.. i’m just the cheerleader kinda person eh.

A customer was in today .. to buy a PC game, and while she was paying for it asked PB if there were any warranty for it. I wanna bang my head on the table top.. muahahha!!! i donch understand why customer/s like to ask this kinda question..?? it’s almost like .. they were gonna open the game. .install it.. and then return the game to us.. saying it doesn’t work.. for their money back.

We have had cases like that before.. and they just donch understand that once the PC games are opened.. we cannot resell it no more. Some are even worst.. they return the disk .. all scratched up.. and insist that it was this way. .when they opened it. Or some wait for a few months. .and return the opened game.. and claimed it didn’t work for them. *slap forehead*.

You and I know that original PC games are expensive.. something that we sell for $50 .. a mark up of 20% is very little. So if someone returns the game.. because they intended to cheat us. .that means.. we lose like $40 or more. So i donch understand what kinda warranty they are talking about. Not easy .. doing business in this wonderful town.

Winds were like 70km/hr yesterday.. and it felt like -18 here.. the gusting was bad.. and as expected.. it affected our business. Sure there were some ppl who came into the store and all.. but overall, it was a quiet day. Yes.. PB braved the weather..and went to open the store.. while the brat and I stayed in the comforts of our warm home. But i’m sure PB loved it.. not having us at the store.. so he can get some peace and quiet.. and no need to tend to the princess for a good 6 hrs.

I was thinking of making more money by joining the Reverse Funnel Scheme but the man thinks that the Reverse Funnel is a scam. If you remember the pyramid scheme, you will understand why he is going on about it. He thinks it is the new hype and a new bullshit money making scam that is going around, a glorified pyramid scam ..he calls it.

I remembered many years ago, my neighbour.. who was also my god-daughter’s father.. asking me to join in something like the Reverse Funnel. He had said to me.. that he had nothing to lose.. except for the $200 for his initial investment… and if he doesn’t get anything outta it.. it’s alright.. afterall $200 is very little to pay for an investment. So if everyone thinks like my neighbor.. the person who invented the scheme would definitely benefit no..?

This Reverse Funnel scam is all automated now.. using websites instead of making calls to ppl and having meetings to con people outta their hard earned money. Sure the ppl on the top will be making all the money immediately, as soon as you join their scheme but what about those at the bottom..?? Is there really a way where every single person doing this can make money outta it..??

“The person who creates the scam is at the very top. The first person he cons into buying in pays him money and then goes out to convince other people to buy in and so on. A reverse funnel is an upside down funnel. What does an upside down funnel represent? That’s right, a pyramid, and last I heard, pyramid schemes are still illegal. Don’t waste your money people, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck… you get the picture. Until someone can prove to me otherwise, the Reverse Funnel System is something that should be avoided at all costs. I do find it worth mentioning however that a search on scambusters.org doesn’t find any results, could it be too new that people haven’t caught on yet?”

Anyone had real experienced with the Reverse Funnel..?? The website is really convincing.. and I wished i knew if it was genuine.

Winters are really long .. and i’m sure all of you would know by now. The father-in-law is building a new greenhouse for his organic vegetables and fruits and I’m sure it would be great to be using gas heaters for the new greenhouse.

Just like garage heaters, they are ideal, quiet and clean for the cold winter months. We have fresh and organic vegetables and fruits throughout winter because of the greenhouse. Not only are they affordable, they are also very safe to use.

We never get outta the store in time.. even if it is once a week.. when Katelynn works at the store after 4pm. Kate usually comes in a few hours early .. just so she can babysit for abit.. and hopefully … we get to leave by 5pm.

But ever so often, we never get to leave on time.. because there would be customers waiting to buy stuff.. or sell stuff to the store. It messes up my plans big time.. when things like that happens.. and by the time we do leave the store.. it would be almost 7pm.. and groceries not done.. and the brat needs to eat .. like right soon, and by that time.. i would be really hungry too.

I’m sure you’ve heard about .. a hungry woman is an angry woman.. and yes.. i am such. I get really upset.. because once a week.. for the business.. we can’t even shop for groceries properly .. and come Sunday. .we have to visit the in-laws.. so no time to shop either. If you think that owning your own business is fun.. think again. You really have no personal time.. nor can you relax after your day is up.. because you are constantly thinking of the next day.  If i could turn the clock back.. we would never have owned our own business.. it’s so much easier to work for someone.

So it’s 4am and one of your servers goes down and of course since you’re the administrator you’re the one having to drag your tired butt down to the office to fix it up before the complaints start rolling in. The network security tools from Uplogix can simplify your life, allowing you to login to your servers from anywhere, even when the network is down. With the Uplogix Out Of Band Management solutions you can solve your problems and go back to bed.

A PS3 just came into the store on Saturday. Customer is someone we know very well.. so we know we are quite safe with this machine. We got it for a good price.. with some games. I am contemplating if PB should keep the machine for himself instead of re-selling it.. but he already have lots of toys.. so maybe not. We’ll see.. if it doesn’t sell quick.. then maybe. Being owners have its perks eh. .

The new justice center at south end has projected a $9.5million price to put the new building. This week on local news, it is said that the justice building is gonna be like $15 or 16 million. They were very evasive of why the cost of the estimated and the current deficit is so huge and after reading the report.. i still don’t understand how they can just sum it up as “didn’t have choice for tender or skilled worker shortage” ..??

From the very beginning.. i knew that this was gonna happen but i held my tongue.. and i didn’t say anything. Then they announced that the new municipality building was gonna be only $4.5million..?? but i know for sure.. by the time they are done.. it would be at least $10million. It makes no sense.. and i just cannot justify .. how can you spend so much to house 8 workers..! it’s crazy..! Nope i’m not happy.. nor the many ppl that i’ve spoken to lately.

I’m sure by now everyone knows that we just moved to our new store. Everything is moved except for a few glass cabinets that we were thinking of reselling it since there is just no place for it. And it’s time again to put up Vinyl Lettering on the display window like we did for the other store.

There are a few places in town that does window letterings but they charge an arm and a leg. The last time we had our windows done in the old store a few year ago, they had charge like $35/per hour for labor itself excluding the materials. Plus we are at their mercy because they only come and fix the window when they were “available”.

After seeing all the DIY Vinyl Lettering Testimonials, I cannot help but feel disappointed that they do not shipped to Canada. Otherwise, you can be sure that I’ll be the first to order them, for not only my display window but for other parts of the store too. Boasting of being affordable and easy to use online software, all you need to do is to simply enter the message text that you desire. Continue to design your own lettering by using Font Settings, Borders & Shadow and some special effect menu to suit your individual taste. It’s absolutely awesome to be able to do the lettering on your own and simply affordable this way.

Being sinister and wary is my job in this business. Sure I donch own the business.. and i’m just the professional chair sitter but it is in my best interest to poke my nose into his business every now and then.

I’m sure you all know that with buying and selling previously used stuff.. we’ve been burnt before .. by “dishonest” ppl who comes and sells us “stolen” goods. And no matter what we do .. and try to be careful, we still kenna burnt.. !

So when someone came in to sell something for $20 today, i had my antennae right up high.. and really wary .. but you can’t blame me.. whatsoever can you ..?? when the cop would say things like.. “we are not even charging you for possession of stolen goods.” Ya .. RIGHT..!!

The government of Canada planned to increase minimum wage in Nova Scotia to $9.65 an hour by 2010. For those who are not aware, employees are paid by the hourly. For normal full time employees, you get about 30 – 40hrs a week. As for us, we normally try to pay a little more than minimum wage for our confirmed employees, in order to entice them to stay on.

Unfortunately, with minimum wage, the employees here has got this mentality that would only do minimum work. Yes… even if it is raised to $9.65, there still will be folks who would claimed it is not enough. So is it a good thing or bad..?? I think the ppl here would die if they can only get their pay once a month.. like we do back in Asia. You get the drift right..?

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This Valentine’s Day.. why not consider getting this for the man..??  afterall, if he is a gamer, he is gonna love you .. for it..!  Awesome gift.. and sure to get lots of massages and brownie points outta it.

If we had a dollar for every weird question asked by the customers.. i think we prolly could retire real soon. PB said..last nite.. this kid.. that we all know.. came in and asked PB .. if he did volunteer work.. so that he could make some pocket change.

Yup.. you heard me right..?? it was like if you are volunteering to work.. how come we have to pay you..?? doesn’t make sense at all. And he made it sound like it was PB whom he was interest in about the volunteering work..?? now whats up with that.. part..?? completely makes no sense.

It’s Chinese New Year back home.. and as usual.. it’s gonna be .. work as usual.. and nothing exciting. No one celebrates here in this small town.. and i doubt anyone knows about it.. although my MIL did come online and wished me happy chinese new year. PB had forgotten all about it.. and Mr Choo the chinese restaurant owner.. made some “tong yun” .. must be china style.. because it was in a soup. A real kinda chinese soup with chicken.. mushrooms.. and cabbage. Yup.. !! i even made PB go back to the store.. and get me the soup.. because i had thought it was the same kinda “tong yun” we had back home. Bummer..

Oh well.. it’s the thought that counts eh..? I do miss having Mrs Chan from the now defunct chinese restaurant. She moved to Toronto to be with her kids… they retired. When she was around.. she used to make some cakes and stuff for me. But now that she is so far away.. oh well. I’ll remember to call and wish her “Gong Hei Fatt Choy” tomorrow.

“Broadband competition heats up in Quebec but languishes in rest of country.”

Downloading a full CD of songs in 10 seconds and a movie in 5 .. is what all internet users long for look forward to. Videotron Ltée based in Quebec has the fastest internet access in all of North America.

We are paying just as much for ordinary speed.. and if the monthly cost of a 30 mpbs plan is about the same, I would love to choose this company too. At 64.95, definitely affordable.