2007: Year of the Empty Bank Account

Before I get into too many details, I'd like to wish my readers a belated Merry Humbug and a Happy Hangover Day. I hope your last week has been filled with joy, fellowship, and lots of 'walking through the winter, drink in hand'.

The pillaging of the tree this year wasn't quite the cache as it has been in years past, though all I really asked for was clothes. I did however, brave the lineup at Visions on Boxing Day, and walked out with a 40" Samsung LCD high-definition television. I'll be feeling the pinch of that purchase when my January credit card bill arrives.

It has somewhat been a bit of a yearly tradition here at mcfro.blogspot.com that I take a few minutes on the first day of the new year to reflect what I accomplished this year, and what I would expect in the next 52 weeks to come.

Sifting through this year's posts, I have come to the early conclusion that I really didn't accomplish anything, given the astounding few number of posts there have been. I mean, there were at least three months were I didn't blog at all. Like I have said on here ad nauseum, I have been busy -- I've been lazy too, lethargic, exhausted, and unmotivated. It's all derived from worker burnout, and is a big reason why my New Year's resolution is to find a healthier work/life balance. Money can buy lots of things; but it can't buy sleep.

2007 got off to a very expensive start, as I quickly dropped four digits into a newer, faster, and larger iMac, which has, more or less, become a machine I use for audio production. Since the successful resurrection of my derelict iBook, I spend most of my web-surfing time on it instead of the desktop machine. Sure it's not the fastest, but it's good enough for most mundane tasks, and even runs a number of video games quite nicely. The laptop also keeps me out of the windowless basement, which ensures that I see more sunlight -- indispensable for someone like me who goes through mood wings and bouts of depression.

2007 continued with a string of large purchases, as in April I added a third drumset to my arsenal. Price is relative: though I got a great deal on the kit, I still paid a pretty penny for it. I have subsequently spent small sums over the course of the year for replacement parts and upgrades. The Canwoods have also seen a number of gigs already, so they are paying for themselves -- if they haven't already.

An expensive set of concert tickets allowed me to see the Police in concert in Edmonton. After paying for fuel, meals, accommodations, and toys, the trip escalated well into four digits, but it was worth every penny to see Stewart, Sting, And Summers together for the first time in nearly 25 years.

June also saw the most successful blog post on this site, ever. Skeet from medhatblog.com kindly linked to me from the website. Though it didn't elicit comments as I had hoped, it did generate scores of traffic -- over tenfold what I was accustomed to. It even increased my readership -- albeit temporarily. Had I continued blogging regularly, I may have managed to keep those readers, but they have since gone.

I guess this was where I really got lazy. Now that I was generating a great deal more traffic than I had been, I also felt increasing pressure to be delivering work of exceptional quality in order to maintain that readership. That was, to say the least a little daunting. In one hand, the site was beginning to become what I had wanted it to become (popular!). On the other hand, I didn't have the energy to invest the time and effort required to make this site what it was becoming. So I sat on my haunches and meditated on what I wanted to do with this site. The next thing I knew, nearly four months had passed, with nary a post on this site, and all my readers found other weblogs to be entertained by. Thus, the answer became clear -- I'll just write about my insignificant little life whenever I am inspired, and if readership increases, great. If they do not, that's still great too.

The first entry since my 'hiatus', was a review of Matthew Good's performance at Medicine Hat College this November. The posting also generated a fair amount of interest from readers across Canada, including a few views from Mr. Good himself. He didn't drop a note, but he left a trail of bread crumbs that said he had been here.

Musically, 2007 has been a year of transition and flux. The Savoys took an extra long vacation this year, and by the time the band got back together to prepare for this year, it became clear that the band would be falling apart. We have best intentions to continue in 2008, and we are currently auditioning a replacement for BG, which we should know in a week if he is the right guy -- or not.

Tung 'N' Groove also got out of our heads and onto the stage. It took a great deal of rehearsing, and a large number of hefty equipment purchases, but we are now gigging regularly, and continue to build a dedicated following. We have secured a number of dates for 2008, which will be posted on the band's website when I have both time and motivation.

I hope everyone's 2008 is a prosperous one. See you (hopefully) soon.

All it Means is That I'm Earning Less and Less

Our illustrious Premier Ed Stalmach tossed us all a bone yesterday, raising the minimum wage in Alberta to 8 dollars per hour, up from the current rate of 7 dollars per hour. The change will come into effect in September. Furthermore, wages are to be re-evaluated annually in the future, and the minimum wage adjusted accordingly.

Now I would think raising the minimum wage should be a good thing, and I should be cheering on the Conservative government. Then, how can it be that I am about as tempered as a rabid dog right now, bent on biting the messenger?

Perhaps I can relate with a bit of history and personal experience. I am a [relatively] young punk. I am sure there are many of you who remember minimum wage being something like $1 per hour. Conversely, I began working when minimum wage was less than $5 per hour. When the minimum wage was raised to $5 per hour almost 15 years ago, was my salary adjusted accordingly? No.

Why? Because I was already making more than minimum wage. Not by much mind you, but enough for me to feel that sting from the realization that my salary was worth less, comparatively.

Obviously, I invested a great deal of my time and energy into earning a University degree, so I could get a "decent" job that would pay a "decent" salary, so that I could drive a "decent" car, and live in a "decent" house, raise a "decent" family, and if I was lucky, I could afford a "decent" pine box to put my ashes into at the end of it all.

In the five years since earning my Degree, I have yet to see any benefits from this "Economic Boom" that Alberta and (to a slightly lesser degree) the rest of the nation has endured. When I graduated I did get a job that showed potential. Sure, I took a salary hit due to my lack of experience, and settled on a training salary equivalent to twice that of the minimum wage offered at that time. It wasn't much, but it would allow me to gain some critical work experience, learn some skills, and as agreed with my employer, my salary would be adjusted as I gained experience.

What I have earned in wage adjustments over the years has hardly had any beneficiary effect on my standard of living. In fact, given the cost of living in this province, the rate of inflation, the prohibitive cost of housing, and the cost of fuel, I am actually earning considerably less than I did five years ago!

Minimum wage is completely arbitrary in Alberta, and has been for a couple years now. The employers that are offering minimum wage as a starting salary are obvious; just go to the job bank and see how many of these jobs are listed and relisted. Why? Because of two scenarios:

1. Nobody is applying for jobs that pay minimum wage, and
   
2. Whomever is earning minimum wage for unskilled labor are leaving their jobs for ones that are paying between $10 and $15 for similar duties.

What really gets my blood boiling is that there are high-school dropouts who are earning more than I, and all they have to do is ask "Would you like a donut with that large double-double?"

For $14 dollars an hour, I will ask unruly customers if they "want fries with that". It's a far easier job than what I currently put up with on a daily basis.

It blows my mind how the media thinks that there are all these "Big Money" jobs in Alberta. Unless you opt to risk your life and health in the Tar Sands or on a drilling rig, I haven't seen any good jobs being offered with equitable pay. With the average price of a home in Alberta approaching $400,000, I'd say that's an awful large amount of french fries to serve in order to pay off that mortgage.

So who are the true winners of this "Economic Boon" (misspelling intentional)? It's the wealthy. It's the business owners. It's those who hold property and the more they own, the more they are laughing their way to the bank. Liquid assets aren't paying off. Thanks to the high Canadian dollar, fueled by unprecedented economic growth, and the unstable price of oil, my Mutual Funds are in the tank. I'd get more out of my investment if I dropped it all into one of those Government-sponsored slot machines (thanks, Ralph!). At least it would pay out once in a thousand pulls.

So hats off to Ed Stalmach, for raising minimum wage in our province to $8.00 per hour. He'd better open up his eyes soon, as the least any of us are making over here is $10.00 per hour. But that could change tomorrow. It's not like it's going to affect my life any. My salary will not be adjusted accordingly, and when September rolls around, I can wake up knowing that the salary I earn is one step closer to what is better known as "unskilled labor".

While he's at it, maybe Ed can raise the minimum wage for working musicians in this province. We haven't seen a raise in over 25 years.

The Stone Awaketh?

I hate writing posts like this.

I seem to be revisiting a number of symptoms that I had experienced some three years ago, when I had my first bout with a kidney stone. I am too lazy to dig through the archives and link posts, but longtime readers will recall that it took me something like six weeks to um, recover from my ailment.

Late last night, reflected in the residual image of the water in the porcelain reservoir, was an omen of what I should expect in the coming weeks.

Thankfully, I am experiencing no discomfort whatsoever, but I know I will be experiencing a great deal of pain in the near future -- which means I may be missing a great deal of work in the coming weeks.

This is one hell of a way to earn a summer vacation.

2007 Musings

So much for my holidays. Tomorrow, it's back to the rat-race, and I don't feel the least bit rejuvenated. The last ten days has been chock-full of family functions, feeding and watering houseguests, and doing much-needed work around the house.

Overall, Christmas was pretty good to me, although I didn't get the super-thin 12" MacBook Pro I asked Steve Jobs... er... Santa Claus for, I did get a video game that paid homage to two of my childhood passions: Lego and Star Wars. In addition to some much-needed clothing, I also got the Complete Calvin and Hobbes Box Set, which I have only managed to read one of the three volumes.

I thought for a while that I would take this post to reflect on the 2006 that was, and what I could expect to see in the next year. That project seemed like far too much work, so I'm not going to do that this year. I can sum up 2006 six in one word: Madness. I really bit off more than I could chew, and by the looks of things 2007 isn't going to be any better -- in fact, it looks like it's going to be even busier -- at the very least, until September.

The MacBook has been in the shop for two weeks. It still is suffering hardware issues, though the "random shut-down" problem had been fixed, there are issues with the battery. The computer kept telling me that there was no battery attached to the computer, even if there was. Thus, the battery never took a charge. A laptop that can't operate on battery charge is no more than a really small desktop computer. I started to miss the MacBook so much, that I decided to pull out the derelict iBook to see if it worked -- and if I could diagnose the problem. It started fine and ran flawlessly for about five minutes. Then out of nowhere, the screen went garbled, then turned black. So that means the video card is gone, and that's soldered onto the Logic board. It's almost not worth fixing, unless I can find another logic board for about 25 dollars -- which translates to not very likely.

I haven't gigged in a few weeks, which is, in a sense welcome. The same goes with teaching. By next week, my schedule is going to fall back into the chaos it usually is.

DH has also taken some time off recording his album for the Holiday season. However, that project will be put back into high gear in a couple days. As far as progress goes, we are in the middle of tracking the seventh song, and drum tracks for three songs have been cut. So, by any estimations, I guess we are about 2/3 finished the album. That could be translated into another three months until I can breathe a sigh of relief. I never thought that it would take us this long to record the album.

Don't ask me what resolutions I made for the New Year. I don't make resolutions.