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Taxes

I recently found an article on some tax software called StudioTax.  It appears that StudioTax is a more or less free version (for personal use only) that would be competing against Quicken’s tax software.  StudioTax will be netfile certified for the coming tax season.  I will likely give it a test, but not necessarily use it to file my taxes.  If it works well with the Smith Manoeuvre, then I may use it to file my taxes this year.

• StudioTax Homepage
• StudioTax Article (thanks to canadiancapitalist.com)

Global Economy

I found a really great article that describes (in great detail) all the people who were really responsible for the crumbling global economy.  Most of the culprits hail from the US (surprise), but some hail from other major financial countries.  Included in the list are also a few who saw this whole thing coming, bet against everyone else and made a pretty penny.  Some of their stories are actually a little amusing (Andrew Lahde being my favorite).  

Read up on the Wealthiest Idiots in the World.

Alberta Economy

I don’t have much to write about the Alberta economy (other than I suspect it will do the best out of the Canadian provinces).  Just that Chris Davies has been compiling a rather large list of historical economic data for Alberta.  Perhaps one day soon (when I am not at maximum stress levels) I will do something with that data.  I will also be posting my giant list of data in the coming days for people to gaze upon (there is a lot).

Edmonton Economy

I have come across a very positive look on the coming Edmonton economy (thanks to Alberta Real Estate Watch)  This is good news, but I still take it with a grain of salt.  I think that some of these views are a bit too optimistic, but I really do think that Edmonton will fair quite well through these tough economic times.   Since I have jumped into the real estate market here in Edmonton, I have high hopes for the coming years (stay tuned for a future post on my Edmonton real estate forecast).

The S&P Dividend Aristocrats Lists

I read about this wonderful list the other day when reading an article on the Dividend Growth Investor Blog.  S&P have a couple of dynamic lists that are filled with some of their best Dividend paying stocks.  If you are interested in executing a Smith Manoeuvre then I would suggest taking a look at some of these lists.

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I really don’t feel like giving a too indepth review today, so I will cut this one short.

The good:

• Best goat cheese salad I have ever had (appetizer)
• Great choice for value house wine (Chilean Sauv Blanc).  Wasn’t superb, but it was a good choice by the manager to bring taste with value.
• Desert was simple, but effective. Basically a large brownie, but it was good.  Not too much, not too little.

The bad:

• Way too loud, it was difficult to have a conversation with someone sitting 2 feet away from me.
• Privacy issues! somewhat related to the loudness, our table was about a foot away from our neighbors table. Which means that without even trying I get to listen to every conversation they are having!

Long story short? well, I wouldn’t return to this place, it just wasn’t all that great.  too bad I guess.

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This will be a little bit shorter and to the point than the previous two reviews, mostly because I just don’t have the time today to write up a large review like I did the last two.

We went to Blue Pear Restaurant on Wednesday of last week, this was said to be the most expensive of the four restaurants that I am trying for Fork Fest 2009.  The restaurant itself is tucked away just off of 107th ave on 123rd street, not exactly clearly visible, but easy enough to find.  Something that struck me as odd was that upon arriving at the entrance, the door was locked, and you must in fact ring the doorbell to get in (after someone comes to the door to unlock it).  Inside is a fairly small room, no more than 15 tables total.  This helps keep the dining experience a little more intimate and cozy (i suppose).  There are no walls or panels separating the tables, but when you are only dining with about 4 or 5 other tables the noise level is pretty low already.

Our waitress was extremely nice and very helpful (even going as far as fetching a wine book to feed my interest in a southern Italian location that I had not heard of).  The Fork Fest menu was predetermined, which means that you don’t have much choice on what you get for dinner.  There was a nice wine feature that we ordered, it was a paired wine with each course (appetizer, entree, and desert).  While I didn’t necessarily find the wines to pair immaculately, they were pretty good and I above all else appreciated the effort (and convenience of different wine with different food for one price).  The wine feature is for two people only (or multiples of two I suppose), which could be a little disappointing, but should be fine in most situations.  Our appetizers arrived shortly, a mushroom dish which unfortunately I could barely touch (though i did give it a taste just to be sure).  I absolutely despise mushrooms (as does my girlfriend) and this was just an unfortunate situation for the both of us.  The entree when arctic char, which considering I am not a big fish fan either, was pretty darn good.  I thought the food was exceptionally good, everything on the plate complimented one another and it was just an all around good effort.  For desert, we were given a home made lemon whipped cream dish with Saskatoon berries.  The cream was very lemony and tart, something that I enjoy a lot.

To sum things up, this restaurant surely deserves its reputation as one of the finer restaurants in Edmonton.  The food was on par for what I expected it to be, and the service was exceptional.  Definitely recommended to people as something to try if you are interested in a well prepared meal at the cost of a heavy price.  The prices are on the very upper echelon of the price scale, at $89 per person.  I would likely not eat here again, but that’s just because at my stage in life, the price simply outweighs the experience.  However, for someone who is more financially secure, this restaurant certainly has an advantage over many of the other restaurants in Edmonton.

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