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It’s a heat wave up here in Canada right now! Temperatures over the weekend hit 32°C+, before counting in any humidity. It was a great weekend to do a bit of swimming. Something that is common up here in Canada is for many people to cover their pools with semi-transparent plastic covers that can be easily rolled & unrolled; otherwise, the water stays ice-cold as most nights up here are cold, even during the summer. Some people do prefer swimming in ice-cold water…
This weekend I spent some time visiting family that I hadn’t seen in a while, and it was a good visit although they were very busy. One cousin is expecting soon but is busy working on the new house with their husband, as they have a time limit to finish up everything if they want to be able to move in on time. I don’t know how she is able to work so hard carrying a baby, but just hope she doesn’t overdo it. The good thing is that everyone else is helping them out to finish the house, so things move more quickly.
The other cousin’s wife is also expecting soon, so that means my uncle and aunt will soon have two more grandchildren. One cousin has a daughter, the other has a son, and each one will be getting another daughter and son which will be interesting! I think I’d prefer to have one of each, but if the second son is anything like the first my cousin’s going to be very busy! 🙂
My girlfriend arrived in Ethiopia safely, and is already working today! The capital, Addis Ababa, is thousands of feet above sea level so the air is thinner over there. She really exhausted herself from the last destination, although she gained a lot of experience as well. The travel lifestyle has a lot of benefits, but it can sure be exhausting, too. We don’t yet have kids so for both of us this is the time to take advantage of the opportunity to see other places.
Posts of the week
Can Credit Cards Grow Your Wealth? – This is a guest post which asks if credit cards can grow your wealth.
Savings = Freedom – In this post, I take a look at two families and how each decided to go down a different financial path. One family found freedom.
There was a lot of good commentary on both of these articles; thanks for the good discussions, guys!
Weekend reading
Mich discusses his weekly stock pick.
First Gen American is celebrating her first year of blogging! I’m happy to see Invest It Wisely as a top referrer! 😉
Fellow blogger Budgeting in the Fun Stuff has been inspiring a legion of bloggers with her amazing success and drive. I mentioned her at the end of Savings = Freedom as an example of the idea of investing in oneself. Very soon, she is going to be free from cubicle boredom, and based on her latest income reports maybe that’s not such a bad idea. Congrats, Crystal!
Blogging
- Ignore the A-list Bloggers (ProBlogger)
Government
- Are the United States Going All Greek ? (101 Centavos)
- Debt Deficit Deadline (Frugal Zeitgeist)
Investing
- If I had a million dollars (MoneyMamba)
- Investing in a TFSA as a Student: Your Options (Young & Thrifty)
- Simple Does It: Bond Bubble (MomVesting)
- What Led Me To Buy A Rental Property (Money is the Root)
- Why I left the mutual fund industry (My Own Advisor)
Miscellaneous
- 2011 Mid-Year Review: Developing A Better Lifestyle (Financial Samurai)
- Business school lessons: Why a B+ can far outweigh the benefits of an A. (Super Frugalette)
- Creating a Resume that Works (Stupid Cents)
- Diabetes, Money, and YOU! (Dr. Dean)
- Fashionable Pregnancy Clothes on a Budget (Sustainable PF)
- Green Collar Jobs Outperform (Financially Consumed)
- June Net Worth Update +2%! (The Financial Blogger)
- Teacher Pay vs. Athlete Pay (Thousandaire)
Personal Finance
- 5 Money Saving Tips for Thrifty Canadians (Canadian Finance Blog)
- How to save money – 1000+ ideas from the Yakezie Network (Broke Professionals)
- Property and the Pursuit of Happiness (Afford Anything)
- The Danger In Keeping A Minimal Balance In Your Checking Account (Everyday Tips and Thoughts)
- When Can We STOP Saving Money? (Retire by 40)
Carnivals
- Best of Money Carnival – Gambling Edition (Budgeting in the Fun Stuff)
- Carnival of Wealth #46 – July 10 2011 Edition (Personal Dividends)
- Canadian Finance Carnival #44 (Canadian Finance Blog)
- Independence Day Totally Money Blog Carnival! (Funny About Money)
- Happy 235th, baby – Carnival of Wealth edition (Control Your Cash)
Isn’t it great when you get to visit relatives you haven’t seen in awhile? Whenever I do, I think “I need to see them more often”. Then life gets in the way…
Thanks for the link. Glad your girlfriend arrived safely. Hopefully she will adjust to the thin air soon. That is one thing I hate about visiting my brother at his ‘cabin’ in the mountains. It is 7000 feet above sea level, and my lungs just burn sometimes.
Definitely, we should go and visit them more often. There were a few problems back when my grandmother had her stroke, but I think we’re all past that now and things are good again.
Addis Ababa is 8000ft above sea level so imagine! It’s actually the time of the year that is the rainiest and with the lowest highs (but the highest lows, strangely enough). Temperatures are a max. of 20 C right now.
It is SO foreign to me what heat waves are here in freezing (60-70 degree) summer SF weather!
I tell ya, it is cold here if you come visit in July most of the time. Brr.
But do you get -20 degree weather? Nope, didn’t think so. 😛
Nope! I’d die.
Thanks Kevin. We’re melting in Virginia Beach too. Hopefully it will rain tomorrow and cool down for a few days.
My wife lived in Djibouti, Africa (next to Ethiopa) for 6 months. I love to travel and see how other people live. It makes me appreciate what I have at home all the more.
She must have had quite the adventure over there! What brought her there for half a year?
We just had a huge thunderstorm here so helped to blow off some of the heat!
She’s a Navy meteorologist, which seems appropriate considering the heat we are all experiencing. Unfortunately it is a very busy part of the world around the horn of Africa and the Red Sea. I would prefer that she could stay with me and the kids with no more deployments like that.
I hear that Ethiopian food is awesome, I hope your girlfriend has a wonderful time over there.
That is where all of the Somalian pirates like to hang out too, IIRC?
From what I heard until now prices are quite low, with meals in single digits and drinks at less than a dollar. Even then these are probably still quite inflated tourist prices. The poverty is also striking and sad to see. That’s personally going to be tough for me; Aggressive merchants is one thing but seeing downtrodden people trying to stand proud and do what business they can is something else. Doing business with them is probably the best way to help but you still have to pick and choose…
P.S. Thanks for the good wishes! 101 Centavos alerted me to some good sites to see at Gondar, but given we only have one weekend over there not sure if we will be able to do it (I have to stay in the city during the week unless I want to abandon my girlfriend and go by myself). I heard there is plenty to see within the city itself, and I have no idea how long the itineraries actually are but on the map it does look like a long trip. It will definitely be interesting and I’ll share some stories once I’m back.
Heatwave indeed. Our forcast this week is for temps 35-37 degrees Celcius. I like it but I know some people who can’t handle it. Glad to hear your girlfriend arrived safe.
Woah, that is even hotter than here if that is before humidity. How is the vegetation coping?
Thanks for including me TWICE in your roundup — once through the post on my own blog, and again through my guest post on Buying a Rental Property at the blog Money Is the Root.
Wow, I had no idea Canada had such heat waves!! I hope you’re staying cool.
I understand feeling exhausted from altitude. I used to live in Colorado, at 6,000 feet above sea level, and some of my friends (20 minutes “down the road”) lived at 8,000 feet. When we’d snowboard, we were playing at 12,000 feet, and when we’d hike, we’d climb to 14,000. Once you get above a certain level of altitude, every breath is that much harder to take!
Yeah, we do… maybe once or twice a year, for a few days. 😉 It contrasts with the chill waves we get of -20C and below, though I don’t think we had many days like that in the winter that just passed.
I heard that every day you adjust by about 3,000 feet or so? So in two or three days she should be adjusted, but in the meantime definitely gotta take it easy, especially being jet-lagged and all. I’ll have to watch out when I heard over there, too! Snowboarding at 12,000 feet must have been pretty fun!
Thanks for the mention! It’s pretty good out here in the pacific NW. We had 70s degree weather over the weekend.
Pretty comfortable. 🙂 You guys have it more mild throughout, I think. Personally I think I’m happiest with 80s F and lots of sun… something that’s rare up here. 😉
So jealous of your heat wave, it’s been very very cold and rainy (almost feels like July) here in Vancouver. Today was nice though. I think it’s probably the second nice day we’ve had in July so far.
Ethiopia sounds even hotter!
Thans for the link again Kevin, hope the heatwave didn’t knock you out too much and I had no idea your gf was in Africa, that is awesome!
Hi Kevin, thanks for the link, and best wishes to your gf in Ethiopia and your own travels there soon. It’ll be a gas. The Ethiopian people sure know good food and hospitality. And beer.
And please…. a few days at 32C a heat wave don’t make. 🙂
We’re up to 16 days of 40C and above.
@Y&T
You’d be surprised, as it’s 8000ft up in the air!
@Forest
Yep! We will spend the next two weeks together. She is very busy working so I will be in the city for the most part, but it will be interesting!
@101 Centavos
Thanks for the good wishes! 32C – 35C is plenty hot enough, most of my “garden” shriveled up and died even with regular water. 🙁 My herbs seem to love it though, and are still going strong!