We live here now.

Most people know that I’m very proud to be an INTJ, so much so that perhaps sometimes it’s tempting to live up to the stereotype than to just be myself. But, what’s not to love about this personality type when you can find cool stuff like this written about you?

They are the supreme pragmatists, who see reality as something which is quite arbitrary and made up. Thus, it can be used as a tool — or ignored. Reality is quite malleable and can be changed, conquered, or brought to heel. An INTJ sees reality as the pawn of ideas: no idea is too far-fetched to be entertained. INTJs are natural brain-stormers, always open to new concepts and, in fact, aggressively seeking them.

That’s probably why I was drawn to a particular blog title today called Are You Willing to be Free? It was one of those “you create your own reality” posts, but what I liked was that rather than being peppy and overly motivational, it expressed an idea that I believe is true but most people don’t want to face. Richard Cockrum writes:

Your life is an expression of who you are. It is a stage you have set with those around you.

I love this description. He writes that when we think of defining our life, we do so through what we see (or tell ourselves) in the mirror, or through the dreams and goals we write in our journals. But really, each one of us has created a certain life and it’s evidenced by looking around you every bit as much as looking inside you. So, personal change doesn’t come from changing your internal dialogue alone; you must change what’s around you. I’m not saying this is easy, but it’s not as hard as you think.

I first encountered this idea at a Fast Track to Cash Flow seminar. Many of you know that Joe and I read a lot of personal finance books, especially those that advocate concepts such as “time is the currency of life” and “passive income.” I think we’ve gotten pretty much all we can out of the FTCF organization, but when we did attend a two-day seminar a couple of years ago, one of the speakers conducted an exercise to make you more aware of the external forces at play in your (financial) life. So, try this simple activity: make a list of the 10 people you spend the most time with. This can be face-to-face time, phone time . . . the point is really to figure out who most of your time is spent with. The second part of the exercise can actually be amended for a variety of purposes. Because we were in a financial seminar, we were looking at the financial aspect of our influences. So, for each of those people, estimate their annual salaries and write them down beside their names. Ballpark figures are fine. Bottom line is, the numbers that you see there give you the very likely range to which you’re restricting yourself.

Is there anything wrong with people who don’t make much money? Maybe they’ve chosen a simpler lifestyle or are really good at doing more with less. Maybe they have other priorities that do align nicely with your own values, and that’s why they’re in your life. But, it’s undeniable that these are the people who influence you on a daily basis. If you have a question, you’re going to ask someone in your circle for their advice. If you have a discussion, you’re going to hear their opinions. You’re going to see them live out their particular lifestyle, which is to a large extent a byproduct of their choices. If you’re looking to change your own financial situation, you have to change the larger influences in your life in order to reap the benefits of role models and seeing how the other half lives.

I’ve also seen this exercise used to measure plain old happiness in life. So, beside each person on your list, give them a score (out of 5 or 10 or 18 if you like; doesn’t matter) as to how “happy” you perceive them to be. Whether or not you’re actually correct doesn’t matter so much, because remember, it’s about the influence they are on you. So, if you perceive them to be happy, as far as you’re concerned, you’re seeing a model of happiness. Look at your list of scores. If you’re surrounding yourself with a bunch of 2’s and 3’s, how could you not be depressed yourself!

It seems cruel to think of people as liabilities. We have no problem saying, “If you want to lose weight, don’t keep crappy food in the house.” But, at some point, we also have to loose the human baggage that weighs us down, too. This can be the friend who lives well beyond his means (subtly sending you the message that you can do it too, or at least causing you to spend way too much when you go out with him) or the person who turns every little thing into a drama and sucks you into a vortex of stress and anxiety.

Now, before all our friends and family start to think that this move was just to get away from them and their toxic influences, let me point out that changing the stage on which your life is played out is also about changing the scenery. For example, we wanted to become more environmentally-conscious and active, but it was damn hard to do that living like mole people in a basement without windows! Yesterday it rained here. . . about 4 times, often for no more than 5 minutes at a time. In Toronto, we had very little concept of weather. Weather was reduced to a number or two (the high and the low, when we were really in tune with nature) and it was something that someone else told us. (And, since the basement was always cold, the temperature outside was often meaningless anyway.) We’ve been pretty freaked out by how quickly and frequently the weather can change here! We’re so much more aware of our environment here, whereas in Toronto we could easily miss entire thunderstorms if we were in the basement.

We also changed the inside environment of our home. Instead of cold tile throughout (that’s supposed to be bad for you in bare feet, but I can’t remember why) we have the lovely cork floor. There’s still a lot of construction dust and debris so I only feel comfortable walking bare foot on certain parts of the floor, but I have to say, this floor just feels so good on your feet. Joe dropped a dish and instead of a harsh, shrill clang, there was a gentle thud against the cork — wonderful for my high strung nerves! We even painted the bedroom, the first time we have ever painted a place we’ve lived in, and the escape from greyish-white feels amazing.

Sure we could have painted in Toronto. If we’d really cared, we could have changed the floor. But, we didn’t own the place. We could have bought a place in Toronto or a little outside the GTA instead of Dauphin, but then we’d be slaves to a mortgage and I wouldn’t be sitting in my pyjamas at noon writing about my floors; I’d have to be working to pay for them. Not the reality I wanted for myself.

The bottom line is, we do create our own reality. So, if you’re unhappy with your life, you can change it. But, for serious results, you need to think about all the things around you that you have the power to change and the things that you might need to change in order to see a real difference. As Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” We may not have created the perfect reality for us yet, but no one can say we’re not trying!

Yesterday I came across the game “Mansion Impossible” (http://3form.net/mansion_impossible/) which hass a very simple premise: buy houses you can afford, sell them at a higher price, use that profit to buy and sell increasingly expensive houses for increasingly bigger profits until you can afford to buy the mansion. So what’s so great about this game?

1. In the beginning, your options are very limited, just like in real life. You’re not buying $100,000 properties right off the bat, although most of what you’ll see for sale is in the hundreds of thousands, or millions of dollars. When you start this game, Trump you ain’t. But, through patience and persistence, you work up to those million dollar homes.
2. You don’t have to go for every deal in your price range. In fact, you usually can’t. There are way more houses on the market than you could possibly buy (although, not so many that the game is confusing) so you quickly accept that you’re going to buy some houses, and do your best with those.
3. Owning more than one investment at a time means settling for a good, though not optimal return. If you only own one house, then it’s easy to watch its property value go steadily up, taper off, sit at a peak, then start to go down. Keeping an eye on the going price of two different houses at the same time means that you will notice when the price starts to go down, but you probably won’t cash out at the peak. And, that’s OK! You can try out both strategies (single or multiple ownership) and see which one works better for you.
4. When you can afford the bigger properties, don’t waste time on the smaller ones. Or in other words, invest according to your means. If you have big bucks to play with, you should be taking advantage of bigger deals. Sometimes, it only takes one or two big houses to propel your status into the next level. But, if there’s a slow market and there are no big properties for sale . . .
5. Your money does you no good just sitting in the bank. Instead of sitting there, killing time, buy a small property or two. Every little bit helps, and it’s only by actively doing that you increase your bankroll, and therefore get closer to your goal.
6. Your goal is tangible and your score is measured in time. Money isn’t the goal of this game; it’s the means to the goal. And, you’re evaluated based on how quickly you reach that goal. This teaches us what should be lesson number one of personal finance — it’s not about money, it’s about time.
7. You will win, it’s just a matter of time. In fact, if you just keep playing long enough, even with the most conservative strategy, you’ll eventually win. But, will you be alive to enjoy it? (You don’t actually die in this game. I mean that your “score” could be 100 years.) What I like about this lesson is that it shows how from meager beginnings, everyone can work his or her way up.

It’s true, you do start with $100K in the bank that is entirely available for purchasing real estate. Perhaps this isn’t reality for most. And, your properties never require maintenance. They don’t burn down. Tenants don’t trash the place and pipes don’t burst. But, it’s a simple introduction to acquiring wealth that introduces some basic principles of investing. And if you wanted to, it’s fun enough that you could just play it like a video game.

If you’re in Dauphin, Manitoba, and you ordered an HDTV set-top box from Westman Cable TV, you might have received an Atlas M1055 remote and a Motorola DCT3416-I set top box. If you did, and if your remote isn’t working entirely as expected, try entering the remote code 1376 for remote button CBL. Here are the complete instructions, so you don’t have to trundle through the manual.

1. Press CBL, then release.
2. Hold SETUP until CBL flashes twice (about 3 seconds).
3. Enter 1 3 7 6 and see CBL flash twice. (If it doesn’t, try resetting your remote with the instructions below.)
4. Press PWR and see the set-top box turn off. (If it doesn’t, reset the remote.)
5. Power on your set-top box and check that the LIST, LIVE and “BACK UP” buttons work. (They didn’t at first, which is why we went through all this.)

Sarah and I spent about 3 hours trying to figure this out. As of the date of this posting, the Motorola DCT3416-I was relatively new, so none of the printed booklets had the right code. The codes 0276, 0476 and 0810 worked to varying degrees, but not as well as 1376 does.

Resetting your remote

To reset your reset, enter 9 8 2 at step 3 above. If CBL flashes 4 times, you’ve reset correctly. Stop after step 3. Now try the above instructions from step 1.

I hope this helps someone out there. I wish someone had written this on a weblog before today.

We are in the house. It’s still unfinished, but the work is coming along, and we’re trying to live here for one night. We can’t shower and we can’t cook, but we can sleep, watch TV and be online. In fact, this is the first communication from the new house, and at pretty high speeds, thanks to Westman Cable Internet.

After this, the next step is to be able to cook or shower, I don’t really care which. Our friend John will be working non-stop for about the next 3 days, and he’ll make great progress in that time. Our saga with Wasauna’s shipping department continues, but that’s for another entry.

For the first time in 65 nights, we’re sleeping in our home. That’s important.

One of the primary factors behind our move was the environment — both the environment that we all share, and the environment within our living quarters. When we began the plans for our home renovation we wanted to incorporate

• sustainable, renewable materials so as not to burden the environment
• non-toxic/allergenic substances for air quality and overall health benefits
• alternative energy sources, particularly solar power (since we are in the second sunniest city in Canada!)

Additionally, we decided to go the “small spaces living” route. (And, this was 3 years ago when this topic wasn’t yet being covered on Oprah.) I freely admit that my initial motivation was somewhat out of laziness — I really wasn’t looking forward to the cleaning and maintenance that a house required. Especially when we know from experience that we don’t actually live in that much space. Every place we’ve lived has had at least some area that became junk storage or a room for the cats. Furthermore, every move has involved a non-trivial amount of purging of “stuff.” We knew that we didn’t need that much room nor that much stuff.

So, how have we done on the renovations? Have we been able to stick to our initial plans? Let’s see. . .

THE BONES:

Our house sits on a corner lot 50 ft. by 132 ft. It’s about 625 square feet on one floor, plus a full, open, unfinished basement which gives us another 625 square feet of room.

The good: small space requiring us to keep our possessions to a minimum; lots of green outside; room for an addition if necessary; walking distance to almost all amenities in town
The less good: No real cons/sacrifices regarding our location

THE FLOOR PLAN:

Initially, the house consisted of a kitchen/dining room area separated by a wall on one side of the “hallway” and 2 bedrooms/1 bathroom on the other side. (Bedrooms were 9′ by 12′ and 9′ by 9′ respectively, with a 9′ by 5′ washroom.)

To create a feeling of openness, we took down the wall between the kitchen and living room, as we lls as the one between the bedroom and the living room. We also moved the wall between the washroom and Joe’s office so that the bathroom is now 9′ by 8′ and Joe’s office is 9′ by 6′ (due to the placement of the office window, Joe’s office is a few inches smaller and the bathroom a tad larger). When we looked at where we’d be spending the most time, and since Joe’s larger office became a bit of a clutter magnet in the old place, it made sense to minimize his office space to a minimal workstation and storage area with a door to close out the cats.

The good: open space concept gives flexibility for a small living area,
The less good: We have yet to see how workable Joe’s office is; removing the bedroom wall also removed the bedroom closet, so we need to reintroduce clothing storage; bedroom is now open to living room, so we either need to keep it neat or invest in temporary room division (curtain where the wall used to be? paper room divider?)

THE WALLS:

Although not part of the original plan, all the walls were stripped down to studs, reinsulated and re-drywalled. In the process of having all new energy efficient windows installed, we came across mould in some of the outside walls, so we did a total strip down and rebuild. Not only is it nice to know that we won’t be breathing in toxic mould, but also we can rest easy knowing that proper drywall has been installed throughout the house (e.g. waterproof for the bathroom), which wasn’t orginally the case.

This could have been an opportunity to use a cool, new “green” material for insulation (options ranging from hemp to recycled paper to mushroom spores to used denim) but since it wasn’t part of the original plan, we didn’t really have the time to explore these possibilities and, more importantly, get them to Dauphin quickly and economically! So, while I would have been even happier with a natural substance inside our walls, that will have to wait ’till next time.

The good: Everything brand new! no mould, drywall that satisfies fire code as well as usage needs in damp areas of the house
The less good: Would have preferred green insulation material

THE FLOOR

The floor is one aspect of the house I’m pretty happy with. Our entire main floor (so, basically not the basement) is being covered with cork flooring. When exploring sustainable wood options (carpet was not an option because of my allergies) it basically came down to bamboo or cork. We chose cork because of it’s natural cushioning and anti-bacterial properties. Also, cork seems to be a more common product, at least in our neck of the woods, so it was easier to find people who had actually done it and get their feedback. I also preferred the look of cork, and expect its naturally varying design to be more forgiving to spills, nicks etc. than bamboo, which has more the look of hardwood. At the time I’m writing this, our subfloor is laid, but not the cork yet, so this is probably the thing I’m most excited about returning home to see!

The good: sustainable resource; resilient material that will stand up to wear and tear; naturally cushioning to provide ease on joints when standing/walking; natural variations in colour/appearance diminishes the appearance of wear; no carpets to collect dust/allergens
The less good: we have yet to see how it will hold up to cat puke, but otherwise, we’re VERY happy with our choice based on what we know so far!

THE ROOF

The roofers are weeks behind schedule because of all the rain Manitoba has uncharacteristically been getting this summer, but we have an entire re-shingling, re-routing of drain pipes, and sun tunnel installation planned for the near future. Admittedly, I don’t know what shingles are supposed to do, but new ones must be good for the house! But, the real treat is going to be the the solar tubes/sun tunnels which take light hitting the roof and bounce it into the house through tubes of angled metal. The solar panels will have to wait since the renovation has taken longer than planned and consequently we’re in a rush to make the house inhabitable so we can stop living in a hotel! Despite the delay in diving into solar energy to partially power the house, we’ve got good reason to be very excited about the sun tunnels: lighting is actually the most efficient use of solar energy because there’s no loss of energy during the transfer from one form to another (e.g. light energy to electrical energy). So, at least we’re starting with something that will make the best use of the solar energy while at the same time reduce our electricity usage for lighting. As with the floors, this is a project I feel VERY good about.

The good: A new roof can’t be bad; drains reconfigured for better drainage away from the house; sun tunnels to incorporate natural light; purchased locally
The less good: I don’t know enough about roofs to know what we could have done differently. If anyone wants to let me know, feel free! In my current state of ignorance, I feel pretty good about the roof!

THE KITCHEN COUNTERTOP

Joe’s one wish for the house was a kitchen countertop made entirely of butcher block so that every space could be food prep space. After the cramped quarters he was forced to cook in at 591 Sheppard, how could I possibly refuse him? We researched the material pretty well to make sure it was as sanitary as we believed, and a local cabinet maker undertook the task of creating the 3-inch-thick countertop for us. With everything there is to worry about, I do wonder how seriously we have to worry about toxic emissions from something like a kitchen counter, but it is nice knowing that we were able to replace one typically artifical material from the home and replace it with something natural. I know the trend is to go for stone, but if you’re going to spend that much money, you want something that will look good for a long time. Natural stones like marble just didn’t seem like they were going to cut it. And, if it needs to be repaired? With our butcher block, the worst that happens is we undertake a pretty intense sanding. And, like the cork floor, natural variations are expected so we won’t spend our simplified lives worrying about how well expensive renovations stand the test of time.

The good: natural material requiring only natural cleaning solutions; efficient use of space; generally anti-bacterial if maintained properly; longevity/durability; relatively local product; supported local craftsman
The less good: requires easy but careful, regular maintenance, natural but not sustainable material

THE TOILET

Another absolute must for us was the dual-flush toilet. (As she gets up to pee. . . ) This move was a no-brainer because it’s now possible to walk into almost any hardware centre and pick up a water-conserving toilet. We chose the EcoQuantum Conservation Toilet (4L small flush, 6L big flush) based in part on this review and its MaP (Maximum Performance) rating. . . measured in grams. There were 2 other models available in our local stores, but it was difficult to find information about the brands, and one had a much lower MaP rating. (There was no question in our minds we were going with a water-conserving dual flush toilet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still be a little nervous about the undertaking!) A 6L/3L model exists, but that would have required shipping from the US, so we settled on the best local option we could find and find information about. Fortunately or not, depending on how you look at it, Joe and I are also now comfortable enough after 9 years to employ a modest variation on Grandma and Grandpa’s conservation strategy. (I still can’t see outright asking Joe whether he, “wants to go before I flush” though!)

The good: dual-flush (water efficient); purchased locally
The less good: small flush is still a pretty hefty 4L (other models as low as 3L)

QUESTIONABLE GREENING

No one’s perfect, and while being environmentally-conscious of our choices is extremely important to us, it ain’t always easy being green! There are two areas in which we are trying to make the best of bad situations:

#1. THE SHOWER

If you look up “ridiculous” in the dictionary, you will find the Wasauna A010. This is an absolutely ridiculous item, and I’m not even exactly sure how we ended up with it. But, if you consider “quality of life” as part of our renovation rationale, then this should count for something! In the cold Manitoba winters, a 2-person, enclosed shower actually makes a lot of sense, I think. And, we did make obvious sacrifices living in a basement for 27 months, not the least of which was the “powder room” sized bathroom in which we showered, shaved, and brushed — often at the same time. I suppose I didn’t think of the tiny kitchen as much of a sacrifice since I was never in it, but the morning choreography in (and around, since we couldn’t always both fit in at the same time) the bathroom was not the best start to the day.

Enter the A010, a space-age steam shower/whirlpool tub combination that boasts such features as a foot massager, multiple shower heads (including the rain ceiling), two seats, water reheater for the tub (so you don’t have to refill with more hot water), mp3 player/CD input, speaker telephone, aromatherapy, mood lighting and 360-degree spraying (front and back). Have I used the word ridiculous yet? If the stress of getting it shipped here from the US doesn’t kill us, then I’m soon it will quickly wash away after a few uses of this baby. . .

The good: most energy and water efficient model of its kind available
The less good: uses electricity 24/7; required shipping from US and factory production (carbon emissions); we suspect it will be so nice we will shower/soak more often than we do now!

–THE PLASMA TV

I say plasma only because I think the model we settled on is in fact a plasma. We didn’t set out wanting a plasma per se; our goal was simply something flat. At this point, I don’t think the differences between LCD and plasma are significant enough to matter to us. Our biggest concern is getting a superior product in our price range, so high customer ratings and shining reviews are going to be the deciding factor when we are ready to plunk down the credit card. There aren’t going to be any service technicians in Dauphin, and returning a defective unit will mean at least a 2 hour trip to the nearest city centre, so I want something that will work and last.

Plasmas tend to use more energy than LCDs, and both of these use more energy than an old school CRT, so it will be upon us to unplug the set when not in use. Our PVR set up, however, will unavoidably be a 24/7 operation. We are not likely to kick our television habit, especially with the closest movie theatre and bookstore being 2 hours away. Chalk this up to the quality of life category, too, given that our PVR allows us to be blissfully ignorant of television scheduling (thereby not missing out on life’s other opportunities) and simply watch what we want, when we want, with no commercials. It’s not quite the same as TiVo, but our home-made, computer-based PVR is about as close to that as you’re going to get in Canada.

Update: Apparently there’s a new technology that Toshiba intended (as of March 2006) to start producing last month for availability in Q4 2007. It appears to be a flat-screen improvement upon CRT technology. If it’s close to being a reality, and a significantly better option, we may just watch tv on our laptops for a while.  Now you know what I’ll be doing for the next few days!

The good: we designed the house to only require 1 television that can be viewed from almost anywhere in the house (kitchen, eating area, living room, bedroom) via a swing-arm wall mount; energy efficient model and we will ensure it is unplugged when not in use
The less good: We just can’t beat our TV habit! A luxury item, not a necessity; Home built computer-based PVR including storage drives will need to be powered 24/7; carbon emissions in production and shipping

So, my conclusion is that while we haven’t been the greenest renovators, I think we can be pleased with what we’ve managed to do with our limited knowledge and local resources. There’s definitely more to come once we can live there, see how the space functions and what our concerns are. We certainly haven’t even touched the surface of the more radical options available to us; most of what we did was easily commercially available. We look forward to exploring our alternative energy options including solar panels and geothermal heating/cooling. (Thanks to stg’s comment with a tip on earth warming tubes for free AC, ventilation and dehumidifying!) Updates on those larger projects to come at a later date!

I’m so used to giving people the 10-second-elevator-talk answer to this question, I’ll see whether I can actually remember the details accurately!

It was winter, somewhere between 2003 - 2004. Mostly Math was off to a strong start, we were living in Bavyiew Mews (still one of my favourite places we’ve lived — probably the closest thing to a “home” we ever had) and Joe was caught in a mixture of out-of-town (often out-of-country) travel and telecommuting.

We had been reading some pretty interesting personal finance books (Free Parking, Your Money or Your Life) and we began to take some of their alternative definitions of “wealthy” to heart. Joe especially liked the concept of “infinite wealth.” (Well, who wouldn’t?) The beauty of this concept is that anyone can be financially wealthy; it simply requires a balancing of income and expenses.  For most people, it is easier to spend less than to earn more.  So, we decided to begin our quest for infinite wealth by reducing our expenses.

The one expense we had the least control over was rent.  Since we had needed home office space for Joe and tutoring space for me, we found ourselves in a two-story, three bedroom rental unit with a full basement, which set us back just over $1700/month.  Certainly, we knew we could cut back in this area.  But even still, saving a few hundred bucks a month wasn’t going to make us infinitely wealthy, and we were pretty firmly entrenched in an affluent ‘hood in Toronto; rent wasn’t going to be substantially less in our neck of the woods.  What if we didn’t have to pay rent at all?  What if we found a house so cheap we could buy it in cash and save $20,000 annually?

OK, but where to look?  Surely somewhere in this great country, there had to be cheap real estate.  How do we narrow down the search?  We needed some criteria (or as Joe would now call them, “acceptance tests”) to evaluate our options.  So I asked Joe, “If you were semi-retired, what would you want to do?” Remember, the goal is to not have to work, so if not working, then what are we doing?  Joe replied that he might like to be able to bowl.  We both agreed that our high speed internet connection and digital cable were also necessities.  And so, the search was on:

1.  5-pin bowling alley
2. high speed internet
3. digital cable
4. inexpensive real estate

With the help of Google (for a list of every 5 pin bowling alley in Canada) and MLS, I cross-listed locations that had both 5 pin alleys with those that had houses under $40,000 for sale.  When I had a short list of cities, I checked for the availability of both high speed internet and digital cable.  But, it didn’t stop there!

Once I had cities/towns that passed these acceptance tests, then they had to pass the “livability” test: could we live there without a car?  This is where I needed maps of towns, locations of grocery stores, transit info etc.  At this point, I was pretty sure we were destined for prairie living or something near the east coast.  When it came time to investigate Dauphin, we liked what we saw.  The presence of a Wal*Mart, while hardly inspiring, at least told us we could buy stuff.  Pizza Hut meant we could still order in.  And, a local airport?  Well, the flights were expensive, but if Joe’s clients were paying for travel. . .

It was good enough to warrant taking our first ever vacation in the summer of 2004. (Photos)  If nothing else, we’d be getting a 2 person jacuzzi tub suite at the Super 8 for $108/night and we’d explore a part of Canada we’d never seen.  At worst, it would simply be a few days of quality time.

It turned out to be better than that.  Good enough that we could see ourselves living there.  Good enough that we bought our house before we left!  On the way home, we “planned our escape” and came up with a reasonable moving date of June 2007, just under three years in the future.  And six weeks ago, it became a reality! (Well, the moving OUT part.  The moving IN part we’re still dealing with, but that’s another post.)

It’s been more than a little validating that twice in two days I’ve read Treehugger stories that have made me say, “Yes, that’s why we moved to Dauphin!” One of which was the announcement of a tool to calculate the Walk Score of an address. The second of which was a review of the book “The Perfect $100,000 House.” ($100,000 is supposed to imply a ridiculously low-cost house. In Toronto, yes. In Dauphin, for three of them.) These are all part of the “Why” of moving to Dauphin, yet the comments written in response to the book review suggest that several people can’t wrap their minds around the “How.”

I know that not everyone wants to pick up and move to the middle of nowhere, and that’s cool. But, the dismissing comment, “You could never find a $40K house in MyTown, USA!” is a statement that shows that some people just don’t quite get. As I wrote on Treehugger:

You can’t necessarily limit yourself to looking in your own backyard. This is a fairly extreme idea, and requires extreme measures.

If everyone could find a $40,000 house in their local area (or at least ones that weren’t in unsafe areas, as one poster pointed out) then we wouldn’t be having this conversation. That book would never have been written. Our blog would never have been created. But, for those who are willing and able to make how they live more of a priority than where they live, then you too can be living la vida Rainsberger!

We all know Why Dauphin, and in my next post I’ll share my secrets on How Dauphin came to be.

For about 20 years I played Pursue the Pennant, then Dynasty League Baseball, because of their realism. While I liked some of the arcade-style baseball games, I was always more interested in games that chose realism over flashing lights. Now, in the age of YouTube, I’ve found the greatest mix of realism and arcade in baseball history. Enjoy.

I have recently read Robert Sawyer’s latest release, Rollback. Overall I enjoyed the book, but after I finished it, I realized how much different it was from most of his other work. Books like The Terminal Experiment or Factoring Humanity are true mysteries: high-tension, usually involving crime with a scientific background. I didn’t feel the same tension in Rollback as I did reading most of his other work. I want to be clear: I enjoyed Rollback, but simply differently than I’ve enjoyed Mindscan or even the Quintaglio Ascension series. While the effect Rollback had on me was different, two key elements of Sawyer’s work were familiar, and I enjoyed them.

First, the philosophical question raised by his scientific theme: rejuvenation in the strictest sense of the term. In Rollback, the ultra-wealthy (wealthier than “mere celebrities”) have access to gene therapy techniques that return the cells to a younger state. Over a period of a few months, these younger cells return the body to a younger state, that of the time soon after the body has matured. This allows those near death to extend their lifetime by 60 years or more, but also to regain their youthful quality of life. Rather than have his characters gaze at their own navels over this question, Sawyer invites the reader to consider the possibilities, while allowing his characters to make decisions and get on with the business of living. I prefer this to the typical morality play in which two characters represent each side of the argument and spell out what the author believes through their dialogue and actions. I don’t have much need for a preacher these days, so I’m quite happy that Sawyer chose not to preach.

More personally, much of this novel takes place in Toronto, with a little in Winnipeg. I freely admit that one thing that attracts me to Sawyer’s work is that so many of his stories take place in Toronto. For me, the story comes more alive when I can actually visualize the setting, rather than having to imagine it. This is the first time reading such a story since the move to Dauphin, so thinking about places like Senlac Av. and Park Home Av. brought on even a feeling of nostalgia. This certainly intensified my feelings and helped me enjoy the book even more. Now that we live in Dauphin, the mention of Winnipeg towards the end felt almost like a nod in my direction, as strange as that sounds. I wonder how long it will be until those Toronto streets and landmarks become unfamiliar to me. It’s already been a month since we’ve ordered from a Pizza Pizza.

I enjoyed Rollback, even though it wasn’t quite was I have grown accustomed to reading from Robert Sawyer. I recommend it, unless you would be dissatisfied with the absence of a murder mystery.

We have lived in Dauphin for 30 days now, and I have to say that the experience has been positive, on the whole. Aside from a few minor annoyances, some of which have to do with our temporary living situation, rather than our new town, I’m happy with the result. Here is a quick rundown of the good and bad of living in Dauphin, Manitoba.

What I’ve liked

I’m walking more, so I at least have the illusion of getting in better shape. I have no idea whether I’ve lost weight, and if so, how much, but I average 45-75 minutes walking 3-4 times per week. I don’t feel rejuvenated or anything startling such as that, but I’m sure it’s had some positive impact on my health.

Most of what I need is within less than 10 minutes’ walk. This includes Wal∗Mart, groceries, clothing, a hardware store and my new hair stylist. I have got into the habit of shopping for groceries almost every day, so very little goes to waste in the refrigerator.

For some reason I can’t put my finger on, we haven’t purchased much pop (soda for those of you who prefer that term), instead drinking mostly water and coffee. Mostly cutting pop out of my diet, I’m sure, has been a good thing.

The people we’ve met here have been quite friendly and very helpful. When we bought supplies for our cats uptown, we mentioned we couldn’t buy the 20 kg bag of cat litter because we were walking back downtown. The salesman offered to deliver our items to us later that day. Granted, some businesses deliver as a matter of course, but it seems delivery is easier to arrange here than it was back in Toronto. At a minimum, people here offer to deliver, whereas in Toronto I imagine you’d have to ask. (I never did, so I can’t be sure.)

What I haven’t liked so much

The house isn’t done yet, in spite of everyone’s best efforts. That has put a damper on the move, and made it feel a little more like a vacation and a little less like a move. Still, it is progressing, and we believe we’ll be able to move into it in about 3 weeks, so that gives us something to look forward to.

We’ve missed some TV we’d otherwise like to see, and I’ve been watching far more late-night mind-numbing TV than I’d like to admit. This has more to do with living in the hotel without our digital cable box and digital video recorder than anything else. That, and the late-night TV is more the fault of my poor sleeping patterns. I can’t blame that on Dauphin, since I’ve been battling that for the better part of two decades now.

It’s been hot here. Hotter than Toronto was. I didn’t expect this. I have been telling people the winter is dry here, and it is, but summer is humid as all hell. The humidex has been between 40 and 45 degrees (that’s 104-110 for you Fahrenheit junkies) most of the past two weeks, and when I asked a friend about it, she told me that this is pretty normal for the summer in Dauphin. It certainly makes the walk uptown to the bank a challenge. The most positive spin I can put on this is that the best motivation not to stop exercising is to be 15 minutes’ walk from the hotel and realize that if I don’t keep going, I don’t get out of the punishing heat.

In all, I have no regrets. Check back in the winter to be sure.