We live here now.

There was a great post on Treehugger recently that I’ve bookmarked for more serious contemplation.

Although they may be neither popular, nor well known, there are alternatives to the two major housing options of “buy” vs. “rent.”  It seems like every day I personally vacillate between wanting to live in a Parisian apartment overlooking local markets and wanting to live on a lakefront, almost cottage-y property.  In the first case, we’d walk everywhere we needed to go and in the second case we’d generate our own electricity and grow some of our own food.  I just can’t decide whether I want to live with people or get the heck away from them.

We’ll likely be where we are for some time to come, but Dauphin was always a calculated, strategic move.  So far it has pretty much worked according to plan.  We’re closing on houses #8 and #9 on August 1, and our rental income will provide more than we need to live comfortably there.  And for the total cost of all 9 houses we’ve purchased, we still would have been only able to buy the most entry-level of entry-level homes in Toronto. (And, that would be with us paying for the privilege of ownership, not being paid enough that we don’t have to work!)

As I said to Joe last night, although yes, we can consider ourselves “retired” from traditional careers, our “job” right now is to figure out where we really want to live next and how we will be able to afford it.  It’s not as easy as you might think, and you really do need to be semi-retired before you can tackle that task; you can’t know what you really want out of living when don’t yet have the freedom to just “live.”

If I were still tutoring, I would be too busy and preoccupied to really think about what I wanted out of a house, community or local environment.  How was I to know, for example, that I really don’t mind “cooking*” when my previous life was arranged in such a way that preparing food was nothing but a huge inconvenience?  When I had taken probably less than a dozen baths in my whole adult life (and had never seen Joe take a single one!), how was I to know that we would treasure our jacuzzi tub?  There is a lot you discover about yourself when you stop “working” and start doing what might be work for some, but is really just an activity for you.

That’s why I don’t think of it as a “failure” that Dauphin won’t be the place we live for the next 30 years.  Rather, moving somewhere that is decidedly not our retirement paradise was the smartest thing we ever did:

• We had no illusions or unrealistic expectations of the perfect life.  (It was a stop along the way - another phase of the plan.)
• We chose to move solely based on finances (including of course our required amenities and necessities) so there is less of an emotional attachment to where we live.  (Leaving Toronto was emotionally so much tougher than leaving Dauphin will ever be.)
• We put ourselves in the best position to figure out what we really wanted, and didn’t assume we already knew what that was. (How could “Rat Race Rainsbergers” even pretend to know what “Retired Rainsbergers” want or need out of life?)
• Although it wasn’t part of the original plan, travel is such a huge part of our lives that we can somewhat experience and compare locations.  Two weeks ago we were in Ireland and I’m writing this now from Malvern, PA. In August and September alone we’re projected to be in Dauphin, Winnipeg, Toronto, Oshawa, “the cottage,” Brampton, Niagara Falls (ON and NY), Chicago, Turkey, the Netherlands and Costa Rica. If we can’t find something we like, it sure isn’t from a lack of trying!

And, if home ownership in Dauphin means we get to travel like this, then maybe there’s even something to be said for not doing too much of your “living” where you live!

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* - I still hate “cooking” and will refuse to prepare anything that involves the actual cooking of meat. And, much fewer of our meals are actually “cooked” now since we’ve been eating a lot raw. So, I use the word cooking to mean “making meals.” But, what I have discovered is that I like the act of chopping vegetables, I don’t mind boiling things into a soup and as long as Joe’s not sick of honey-mustard, I’m quite happy to make our own salad dressing.

No, no… this does not fall in the tax/accounting category of post! “Double Dipping” is a reference to the alumni show on the second Barenaked Ladies “Ships and Dip” cruise.

I don’t listen to many live recordings of artists, but for the last 3 weeks or so I’ve been listening almost exclusively to the “Double Dippers” show from the first night of the cruise. It was far and away the best part of the cruise for me, and several cruisers agree that this particular show was the best performance of the entire cruise.

Leave it to me to relate everything back to education, but that amazing concert was the musical equivalent of a rockin’ tutoring session. Here’s why the show was the ultimate concert going experience, and why tutoring is the ultimate educational experience:

The audience planned the show

Before the concert started, slips of paper were distributed so people could request the songs they wanted to hear. During the show, band members took turns drawing random songs out of a bucket.

That’s often how I describe tutoring. Substitute “open a textbook to any page” for “drawing a song out of a bucket” and that’s how tutors work. Unlike traditional classroom teaching, a tutoring session is student-led: the hour is driven by the student’s specific needs and goals. The result is an extremely personalized experience where no question is off-limits.

The Double Dippers concert allowed devoted fans to choose some of the more obscure songs that aren’t guaranteed to be played at a standard concert. Although our row wasn’t given request slips, others in the audience had the good sense to request Blame it on Me, Jane, Break Your Heart and yes, even Another Postcard. (I swear, it wasn’t me but I can’t say I’m disappointed!) The result was a concert lineup that I don’t think anyone could have planned in their wildest dreams. Most importantly, it was highly relevant to the audience.

The performers relied on their experience and musicianship rather than a plan or agenda

When you don’t know which songs to expect and have to be prepared to “go with the flow,” the truly talented shine. It could be a song that hasn’t been played live in years, or a song written once to go straight to recording (*cough* Big Bang Theory *cough*) or a song that predates some of the band members . . . spontaneity reveals character, and as someone once wrote about … let’s say event planning, “It’s not what you’re sure of / It’s what you don’t know.”

This concert format revealed the band’s human side and brought a certain lightness to the event. No one cared whether we had to wait a few extra minutes for Ed to tune yet another guitar. It gave the audience a chance to revel in the afterglow of the song they’d just heard and also time to get sufficiently excited for the next song.

Similarly, tutoring is a highly human (and humane) form of interaction. I would often get comments from my staff about the raucous laughter that always seemed to be clearly audible, even through my closed door, while I was tutoring. There’s a certain intimacy and casualness to sitting down, one-on-one that can make you forget that you’re screwed for tomorrow’s calculus test and allow you to calmly focus on the task at hand.

Your students also tend to be pretty forgiving if you have to take a couple of stabs at a question before you find a clean, elegant way to work it out. If we haven’t seen something in a while and you spring it on us out of the blue, sometimes we just need to gather our thoughts for a few minutes. Not only are students forgiving, but many times they are quite relieved to learn that their tutor isn’t some calculating machine, or that it really is a hard question. They generally don’t mind if the productivity seems to slow for a bit. If they’re not the type to thoroughly enjoy working through a problem with you, then they’re probably the type who are more than happy to “zone out” for a few minutes and completely don’t mind the downtime!

The musicians knew they were respected and appreciated, even admired and loved

I can’t imagine a “safer” environment for BNL to play than to a roomful of people on their second cruise with them. If ever the band felt comfortable trying new things, or just being themselves, that would have been the time for it! Short of walking out there and being complete jerks, BNL could have done no wrong that night.

And, I have to admit that being a tutor is pretty darn cool when parents and students think the world of you. You can’t get cocky about it (at least you shouldn’t) but as much as confidence is important for students, it’s important for instructors, too. One thing that can completely suck the joy out of teaching is looking into the face of a student (or worse, sea of students) who just don’t care — about you, about the math, about anything at that moment. It can really put you off your game.

Having the respect of your students (even if it’s not adoration and worship!) allows you to focus on the task at hand and put all your energy into your teaching and communication skills. You know that your audience is receptive and willing and you don’t have anything to “prove” to your student first and you don’t have any barriers to break through before your message can be heard.

I used to say I had the sweetest job in the world. All I had to do was hang out with teens and do math! I did a little more than that, but essentially I had the pleasure and honour of being the person that kids went to for help. All I had to do was respond.

It may not sound like much when you distill it down to its core element, and really, all I did was give them my time to be used however they saw fit. That’s exactly what the Double Dippers show was: BNL simply gave us their time and allowed us to control the puppet strings for a few hours.

One could argue, “They didn’t even put the time or effort into planning something for you. They just showed up and thought that would be enough.” But, isn’t that what all of us really want: for people we respect and admire to simply make time for us?

We didn’t get a canned performance, I like to think, because they respected us more than that. They had confidence in their ability to provide something of quality just by being there because they’re just that good. They also had confidence in the fans to direct the course of the evening, and the result was a set list from heaven.

This is what happens when mutual respect is assumed and assured. I don’t think all my students were “adoring fans,” though very many of them were, I have to say. But, they all knew that I was passionate about creating time personalized exclusively for them, that they called the shots and that no matter what might happen, at least I was “serving up quality.”

I couldn’t think of any better way to treat my students, and it was such an overwhelmingly emotional experience to be on the receiving end for once, and treated like that by BNL. I think now I have a better idea of why the kids kept coming back, and I can’t wait for Ships and Dip V, the re-dippening!

(It’s not too late to join us, either! Hint, hint!)

…it’s not the reason you might think. Certainly, if I could avoid paying taxes, I would do so; however, this is not the primary reason I would rather live someplace tax-free. My primary reason has to do with the unnecessary and stunning complexity of the tax rules. Today I encountered a particularly delightful example.

Consider an ordinary-looking receipt. I have to process this for my corporate income taxes. I use QuickBooks Pro to do my books, although I imagine this problem exists in all major book-keeping software. I have to enter a tax code for this transaction in order to get the input tax credit (ITC) related to the GST I paid which, I should mention, comes to $2.49. Look at how hard I have to work for my $2.49.

First, I happily choose tax code “S” for standard tax rate (6% GST at the time, 8% GST in Ontario, where this meal was purchased), then happily enter the net amount of $46.30 into QuickBooks. I see that the total is not the $52.10 I expect, but rather $52.78. Whence the extra 68 cents? Not too bad yet, since this pretty common: some items are only taxed at GST, others not at all, and usually it’s clear what’s what. I fiddle for 10 minutes or so before recalling algebra and solving the following system of equations. (Yep!)

Let x be the amount of the bill attracting only GST, and let y be the amount attracting GST and PST.

x + y = 46.30; 0.06x + 0.14y = 5.80

I solve this, but get the ugly y = $37.775, and that can’t be. Perhaps part of the bill attracts no tax at all. Well, 5.80 / 0.14 = $41.43, roughly speaking. That means $4.87 is not subject to tax at all. But what the hell comes to $4.87 on the cheque?!

Oh wait, there’s a .29, another .29 and a third .29, which I know add to .87. Aha! I can’t believe it: the tomato, jalapeño and asparagus do not attract tax because they are fresh produce!

I’m sorry folks, but this is insane. There is no way Eggspectation is doing this correctly. If that were the case, Pizza receipts would require a mathematics degree to figure out, since they use fresh produce (one hopes) in their food, too. Could you imagine if a restaurant itemized your salad and charged you taxes only on the (processed) dressing?!

Whether Eggspectation is computing their taxes correctly or not, shame on Canada for having sales tax rules with the potential to create this situation at all. It’s ridiculous. It wastes time for vendors, book-keepers, tax collectors… sure, it fuels the bureaucracy and gives civil servants jobs, but that’s not why I pay taxes, and I certainly didn’t want to pay for an absurd system like this!

So that’s why I long to live in Andorra, where at least there is almost no income tax. I don’t know about their sales taxes, though… that bears another look. To the point, though, it’s the complexity of the tax system I want to avoid. If we paid a flat sales tax on everything and a flat income tax, then I would be much happier. Happy enough perhaps not to need to leave Canada.