Forever Tainted

Such a busy non-summer it’s been! Most of it has been just brilliant.

I graduated my Web Design course – finishing with a final grade of 100% - after of course the Administrator corrected his typing error that initially gave me 97%. He blamed the mistake on others. I personally think he did it on purpose out of spite (I didn’t exactly make his life easy) – he probably didn’t count on me asking for specifics on how or why I was marked so low in the Flash section of the course. So when I did confront him, he blamed the instructor. When I copied the instructor on the communications and demanded an explanation for the mark and asked what part of the lessons I failed to get, my instructor assured me he’d marked me 100% across the board. The Administrator responded shortly after blaming another faculty member of the same first name as my instructor for the mistake. I don't buy it, but don't really care (I don't have to work with him), so long as my mark is corrected. My transcripts were corrected – not without fight of course.

Can’t really get much higher than 100%, though I’m not sure it’s fully deserved seeing how two sections of the course were taught by incompetent people and I honestly can’t say what I learned during those sections from the school. It really isn’t much of a school, but more a cash cow for the business owner. There’s no other reputable technology specific learning centre on the island – which means Q College can afford to financially rape students with half-assed courses taught by non-teachers. Out of an 11 week course that cost $7056.00 (inc. taxes), my entire class is asking for some sort of compensation for at least 3 weeks that were wasted by the school with crappy instructors with crappy instruction – it says a lot really when you’re taking about $641.45 a week. I did however learn a hell of a lot on my own taking online tutorials to cover the sections we were supposed to be learning in class. I’m still waiting on Q College’s promised reimbursement (either in cash or in lesson re-takes with qualified instructors). I highly doubt we’ll ever see it. To my knowledge, none of the other students have heard anything either.

Life goes on, and this almost-summer has had way more ups than downs...

I finally got to meet my sister Renee, and my nephews Brandon and Aiden. It’s almost scary how similarly Renee and I seem to be built:



We’re both the same height, same shoe size...

She is fantastic. My nephews are fantastic. And my biological father had enough respect for what I feel for him to keep his distance – I didn’t even have to look him in the eye. They came and left so quickly, it breaks my hear t to know I have such good family so far away… But at least I have them now.

Lars has left to Snowlake to take care of a Tree Falling contract for his father. He’ll be returning with his dad, and hopefully an excavator just as soon as the job’s done – however long that takes a few weeks or so. Crappy time of year for him to be in Manitoba. I hear there’s bugs. It’s weird to not have him in the house – not right. That’s something to think about next time I tell him I want him to leave out of anger. It’s not nice not having him here. We’ve had our ups and downs recently, but most of all, we’ll pulled through and we’re happy – still madly in love. He’ll be back soon, and next week I’m up and leaving to Squamish again for work…

Ahh, time for bed. My. Big. New. Empty. Bed. I miss Lars.

I forgot to set the timer on the TV last night, so I woke up this morning to the sound of a really annoying pro-HST commercial. Here:


Stickman: HST and PST+GST Rally from HSTinBC on Vimeo.

What annoys me most about this is how stupid our government thinks we are, and how so many of us are bound to prove them right with this upcoming election. We’ll do this by voting to keep the HST either because we sincerely believe that the 10% HST promised to us in 3 years time (like the government never breaks its promises) really is cheaper on us, or we’re greedy business owners who will now get a higher tax credit at the cost of our very own customers, or simply because the confusing way in which this election is being worded.

Vote YES to get rid of the HST and go back to the GST & PST.

Vote NO to keep the HST at 12% with a promise of lowering it to 10% in 3 years time, which still applies to more products and services than the GST & PST ever did.

What this commercial fails to tell you is that HST applies to up to 60% more services and products than GST or PST alone and is also applied to purchases that had no tax at all in the past.






The big financial benefits for HST in BC go to big and moderate sized companies who get to write off their HST and get a bigger tax back credit at their year-ends. How many average sized families in BC, do you figure get to write off their expenses in order to get tax back each year? There are slight benefits of HST that go to Accountants and Bookkeepers as having one tax over two simplifies their job and gives them the satisfaction of telling their clients about the large tax refund they should expect each year.

“It’s the one issue that most observers can agree on. The HST is good for most businesses, especially for big and medium businesses. The independent review concluded that consumers this year were paying $1.33-billion more in sales taxes, after rebates and tax breaks, and business is paying $730-million less.
The HST reduces the cost of production and simplifies bookkeeping. With the provincial sales tax, business paid tax on goods and services used in each stage of production, a tax upon the tax. But under the HST, the tax is applied only when the goods are sold, or the services provided, to the consumer.
The HST has been endorsed by several businesses and business organizations, from the Business Council of B.C., which represents companies accounting for 25 per cent of all jobs in the province, to the B.C. Guide Outfitters Association.
Not all businesses benefit. Smaller enterprises and service-based companies that were not previously subject to sales tax take a hit. But many smaller businesses are agile and adjust quickly to changing circumstances. After a year of HST, small businesses may be reluctant to go back to the time-consuming bookkeeping required by the PST. “

The rationalization that the HST promises to help our economy by making it more profitable for business is not factual, but it’s hopeful predictions.

“It may take years to find out whether HST provided a boost to the economy.”

”After 2014, the HST may bring in less than the PST. Without an increase in economic growth, the HST would be cutting a big hole in government budgets, roughly $3-billion over the following five years. In other words, the reduction in the HST rate to 10 per cent could make a significant dent in provincial budgets for years. The government would be financially better off by bringing back the provincial sales tax.”

Quotes taken from the 4 page Globe and Mail article here.

We all predicted the Canucks were going to win the Stanley Cup this year too…

Personally, I come from a family on entrepreneurs and small business owners. I’m hoping to venture into my own business at this very moment. I’m still voting YES to scrap the HST this year, because I don’t want to personally benefit at the cost of my society or my clients. Under the old GST & PST system, you’d only have to pay 5% GST tax on most* of my web designing services. With HST, you get to pay 12% on everything now and maybe in 3 years that will be lowered to 10% (still double what voting YES, will cost you)! My write-offs and my end of year tax back cheques may be smaller, but it’s a small price to pay to help lessen our societies tendency to help the rich get richer while the poor are pushed deeper into poverty. It’s a small price for me to pay to discourage more big business from inhabiting our society and hopefully encouraging and empowering individuals to become entrepreneurs on their own –the decent, old-fashioned way, with social-conscience.

The pro-HST commercials make me nauseous. It doesn’t take a genius to know the reality of the decision our society has to make here – and our government clearly thinks far less of our intelligence levels than that. Help us prove them wrong!





*The only web designing services that must charge both GST and PST are those that include executable compute program within the site.

So I’ve spent a few days fiddling with my blog and the widgets, trying to reward my fellow bloggers who choose to share their thoughts by adding CommentLuv to the posts, and if I’ve learned one thing between this and the awkward (to downright-out dysfunctional) management of uploads/downloads, Google Chrome is an inferior browser (even to IE – eek!) in every way excepting speed and interface – and that of course is a matter of opinion. Over the past few months I’ve grown rather fond of Chrome’s interface, but I’m afraid I’ll have to revert back to my trusty old Mozilla, because Chrome has managed to piss me off just that much. Dual monitors make it a bit easier for me to manage two different browsers, switching between the two as needed, and I was finally able to install CommentLuv properly, but I am not spending my time online fucking with that shit indefinitely! I do believe I am officially done with Chrome!

Now… Because I’ve been fucking with my blog settings, and depending on your browser or the time that you’re browsing/commenting, you may or may not have seen the changes, perhaps even thought your comments were deleted or unnoticed by me… I’ll point out that as always, I do in fact get emailed copies of every comment on my blog and have had the chance to read those I choose to, and reply to those I deem worthy of comment… If I haven’t commented by now, you don’t need to keep checking. I probably don’t intend to say anything back to you. I tend not to get into pissing battles with people talking (or thinking even, as some of my commenter’s are very delusional in a narcissistic way) out of their ass, as I’d rather not play in their shit.

http://unrestrictedsurf.com/surfing.php <-- Doesn't work for shit. You might want to test these things out on your own blog before trying them on the ones you really don't want people to know you're looking at.