This Week's Favourite Things! July 14th - July 20th, 2014

1.  This post by Mr Money Mustache:  "Mr Money Mustache's Big Mistake".  Mr Money Mustache is a great blog about financial independence and I stumbled across this post when I was reading up on his thoughts on leverage.  This story cheered me up to no end because, unfortunately, I can totally relate to it, having made a very similar Big Mistake which I've only recently begun getting over.  This story helped me see my own mistake in a more positive light and as a learning experience.  So, now it is time to move forward!

2.  This clip of Jim Carey on Oprah from 1997:



3.  This clip of Robert Kiyosaki on Oprah:




4.  My Little Lobster "Ivany Sunshine".   Look, look, I've started making art again.  

After last week and the Earl Nightingale challenge, I decided to google how to be a billionaire.  Because, really, being a billionaire could be fun.  In fact a few days ago I realized if I 'knew then what I knew now' back in 1990 at McGill when I started my biology career, if I really wanted to conserve wildlife, I might have been better off to do a business degree rather than biology degrees and make a pile of $ to buy up forests with.

 A few different articles on becoming a billionaire suggested that step one was NOT to be someone's employee, but rather to start a business.  Very well, that makes sense.  I also realized this week that, without jobs, it's really hard to get credit from A list lenders even with rental income.  So that got me to thinking about what could I do to quit expanding our nation's money supply through taking on more debt, which really contributes to inflation since whenever a banker conjures up credit, the corresponding interest is also conjured up and needs to be repaid.  So having decided that perhaps we've expanded the country's money supply enough,  I wondered how I could instead become a producer of goods.  

And thus I became CEO of my new company: "My Little Lobster".  I'm very excited about this!  My Little Lobsters are made entirely from masking tape, baling wire, cornstarch, Chronicle Heralds and acrylic paints, often while I listen to documentaries on topics such as mindfulness.

I decided to name the first My Little Lobster after The Ivany Report, named after Ray Ivany who headed up the commission who wrote it.   This report has been referenced numerous times in the Halifax Chronicle Herald since it came out earlier this year. I haven't read the report but apparently it says the Nova Scotia economy is screwed unless some changes are to be made quickly.

So, enter My Little Lobster, "Ivany Sunshine".  He even has a jingle:

My Little Lobster, Ivany Sunshine
He wants to raise Nova Scotia's GDP
My Little Lobster, Ivany Sunshine
Made from Chronicle Heralds, sustainably!

 He still needs to be primed, painted and varnished.  And then there will be a commercial made and a special "My Little Lobster" page added to this blog.  I have a lot of ideas for a lot of lobsters.  The plan is for each My Little Lobster to be one of a kind, signed and numbered.  When he's done there will be a post announcing the launch of My Little Lobster

Meanwhile a couple pics of the project in progress:

My Little Lobster "Ivany Sunshine" before papier mache, reading some Michael Lewis...

My Little Lobster, "Ivany Sunshine" drying on the deck and getting ready to be primed, painted and varnished

5.  Eckhart Tolle - Enjoying Every Moment.  One of the movies I watched while working on Ivany Sunshine. 



6.  Juice.  So grateful to the friend who passed along an unused Jack Lalanne Power Juicer, and to the friends who said "you should be juicing" so I finally started using it, taking greens out of the garden, juicing them and drinking them right away.  It is awesome, like drinking sunshine! Highly recommend, gardening (or buying vegetables at market) + juicing...