5 posts tagged “news”

Morning routine before work:
Drink tea and/or eat something, check sites to make sure they’re all up and running, then read my feeds (my current addiction, which had led to further deterioration of my eyesight). This morning I tried the Kashi Honey Puffed cereal with milk and sliced banana. Not bad. the cereal reminds me of the Filipino food I used to love, love, love as a child: “pop rice“.

While going through my 100+ list, this article on CTV News caught my eye:

Workers being short-changed on the job: study [link]

Canada’s workers are not reaping the rewards of economic expansion and the hard work they are putting in to increase productivity, says a new study by a left-wing think tank.

The report released Thursday by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says that Canadian workers’ productivity has increased by 51 per cent in the past 30 years, but they have little to show for it.

Had their real wages reflected productivity and economic growth during that period, the average worker’s pay cheque would be $10,000 more a year than it is now.

[…]

But that’s not the case of Canadian corporations, which the group says has been gobbling up the lion’s share of the benefits of higher productivity.

I’ve always thought this was the case when I was working as an office drone two years ago. It felt as though the company was getting more revenues, but you wouldn’t notice that from my paycheck and the utter lack of benefits that have been promised for a year. I guess here is the proof now. In fact, then, it seemed as if it cost me to work!

I love Canada, I love Vancouver, and I know we’re not even in the top 10 most expensive cities to live in, but the hype of a great life here doesn’t measure up to the financial scenario. It is expensive to survive here when you stack it up against the wages. Sure, the executives are earning more and getting more value for their shares. Good for them! For the common middle class worker, it’s just more and more work and the same, or lower pay. And this is exactly why I opted out of the corporate scene. Instead of sticking with The Man, I stuck it to The Man. I ventured out on my own. Why earn less and pay more taxes, I say.

Of course this news doesn’t affect me that much (all the management I can bitch to about my salary is myself), but I still empathize with the rest of the working populace because that could’ve been me! I could be working again for a company other than my own and slave away for less than what I’m supposed to be getting.

I keep tabs on the industry wages for web designers, developers, graphic designers, and the likes, and it baffles and infuriates me to see that companies in the US pay $5,000USD more at the very least compared to Canadian ones. Why is this so?!

Why are Canadian workers being stiffed? Are we too kind and reticent to demand more? I hope not, because I find us to be good, honest, highly talented and skilled workers who need to get what we deserve.

Top players from around the globe will gather in Toronto this weekend to compete for a C$10,000 ($8,840) prize and the title of world champion.

More than 500 contestants, including national champions from Australia, Norway and New Zealand, are expected to attend.

[source: Yahoo News!/Reuters]

Makes you go hrrrmmmm…

Crashing at stranger’s places while you travel is hip?

NEW YORK - Jim Stone, a 29-year-old from west Texas, has been traveling nonstop since March of 2004.

Sometimes in a pickup truck and other times on a motorcycle, he’s trekked through much of the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. But he’s slept in a hotel just one night over that stretch of nearly 1,000.

That’s because Stone is part of a growing network of people online who’ve gone a step beyond hotels, hostels and even apartment swapping in their travel planning: They sleep on each others’ couches.

A number of Web sites have sprung up to help pair travelers searching for a place to crash and hosts with a spare couch. Sites like hospitalityclub.org, couchsurfing.com, globalfreeloaders.com and place2stay.net are often free, serving only as middlemen and offering tips on how to find successful matches.

[source: Yahoo! news]

Oh, teh wanderlust! Without getting into paranoid mode, I love love love its social aspect, the premise of social and cultural connection, and the plain random-act-of-kindness about it. My interest is definitely piqued and would be bold enough to say that I would consider trying it. However, I am 100% sure that neither my family, friends, nor boyfriend would approve and they would all agree I am insane to even think of it!

I love traveling, I love meeting new people (as shy as I am, I do!) and learning things from locals that I wouldn’t otherwise know from a travel book. Is it weird that I find this piece of news so exciting?!

What about you? Would you consider couchsurfing? Or offer your couch/home to people (on the Internet)?

Two of the world’s richest men are offering to buy Four Seasons Hotels Inc. for $3.7 billion.

Kingdom Hotels International, a company owned by Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, and Cascade Investment LLC, owned by Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates, are offering to take Four Seasons (NYSE: FS) private for $82 a share.

[source: Austin Business Journal]

"Canadian-born architect Frank Gehry has been tapped by the Guggenheim Foundation to design a new contemporary art museum in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

The foundation announced Saturday that the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will be open by 2011 with 323,000 square feet of space."

[I didn't know Gehry was born here.  Hehe.  Thank god for news and the Internet.]

Some of my high school buds now live in Abu Dhabi and I see their photos on Friendster.  Each time I see photos of the place, I always think it looks SO RICH.  Because it is.  It's no surprise that they'll be building a Guggenheim there.  I'm interested to see the design Gehry would come up with for them.