Fill-up that A-hole

Sales is brisk this week given the holiday seasonal promotions. My colleague R and I were re-stocking the fast-moving electronic games shelves. The games are divided into sections and arranged alphabetically within each section.

Being more experienced, he was up on the ladder picking up the titles for re-fill. My role was to scan through the shelves and shout to him the sold-out titles -- a.k.a. "holes in the display wall" -- that need to be replaced by new titles. We were quickly running out of new titles.

When we were almost done, I shouted, "We still need something to put into the 'A' hole."

Colleague R, still up on the ladder, turned around and laughed, "You're funny!"

I looked somewhat puzzled.

R, still tickled, teased, "That's a naughty thing to say."

"Oops, I didn't mean it that way!" I replied. And I started laughing too.

Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

This is a place-mark entry for those interested in migrating to Canada.

Financial Consumer Agency of Canada is a good website to learn about managing one's finances in Canada. There are interactive tools for selecting loans, bank accounts, etc.
http://www.fcac-acfc.gc.ca/eng/consumers/ITools/default.asp

IMHO, the "Which bank accounts are right for you?" --> "Which chequing account is right for you?" tool is pretty cool.

2nd month's expenses

My total expense for the 2nd month (1st to 30st November) is around CAD1,140, broken down as follow.

Amount (CAD) : Category

Once-off expenses - Nil

Monthly expenses

• 500 : November room rental
•  31 : Mobile phone bill
• 110 : Transport - Monthly 2-Zone Farecard
•   0 : Transport - Others
• 149 : Food/groceries
•  68 : Clothings
•  26 : Household Items (including tioletries)
• 127 : Recreation/Entertainment/Restaurant
•  83 : Meals/Drinks
•  31 : Personal Grooming & Make-up
•   5 : Stationery/Postage
•  10 : Others (Lottery, Gifts, Books, Donations, etc)

Stayed at a friend's place for about 5 days, which jacked up my expenses due to eating-out and entertaining more. On the other hand, friends treated me to several meals which help to keep the expenses down.

Looking forward, December expenses may be higher due to Christmas entertaining and gifts. It will probably take me some more months to figure out a stable and realistic monthly budget.