1. Cancer and loneliness
At the end of 2007 my wife Tanja has been diagnosed with breast cancer. During 2008 she had two surgeries, the chemo therapy and the radio therapy. Thanks God, the latest results are now negative and she is doing well. To say that the past year was difficult — would be an understatement. Despite all of that, she was coping very well, just missing her friends and their support: they all are thousands of kilometers away (mainly in Ontario), and many times we were experiencing a bitter loneliness here in the middle of the Prairies. Nevertheless, her courage and determination to win was really admirable!
[I was reluctant to write about this, maybe because of coming from a different culture where, traditionally, you don't talk too much about personal difficulties or, maybe, because I just wasn't able to find the right words for it -- but then I discovered, almost by accident, that for example, my compatriot, the famous copywriter Michel Fortin has been through the same hardship together with his wife. Knowing that others are in a similar situation doesn't realy make it easier... but seeing how proudly one can praise a wife that battles with the cancer I felt that I have to do it.]

2. Year end in Cuba
To celebrate the finally good news about Tanja being free of cancer — we spent the New Year’s Eve (and a week around it) in Cuba, in Varadero. We booked a luxurious apartment in Paradisus Princesa del Mar and decided to get pampered a little bit… because we deserved it after all we went through during the year.
Cuba, especially our visit to Havana, was an exciting experience. I am still planning to write about it. It was one of my obsessions: to see Cuba before Castro dies. I am afraid after that it will be just a US colony… with all the hotel and fast food chains that are not there now.

3. Farewell from the WP forum
I am no more a moderator in the WordPress forums and I do not visit that site anymore to post anything. No more comment on that.

4. Internet Marketing (IM) adventures
On different new web sites I have started to experiment with some Internet Marketing stuff. Despite what all those guru websites say about “just click here and start earning money” — this is not an easy way to maintain a steady income from online sales (or affiliate sales). Still working on it, and if you want to find out more about my first big adventure, just download my Pension Report using the form at the top right.

5. Trip to Transylvania
At the end of October I visited my birth place, the legendary land of Transylvania. Years ago, in a chat room, somebody thought I was “joking” saying that I was born in Transylvania. It took me a while to explain that all the Dracula stuff is a big BS but the land itself — the land ‘beyond the forest’ (Latin: trans-sylvania; sylva=forest) does exist.
For those that missed the history lessons: Transylvania today is located in NW Romania, Eastern Europe.

6. Mom’s 80th birthday
The timing of my visit to my home town was around my mother’s 80th birthday on November 5. Considering her age and what you can statistically expect in those parts of the world, she is doing really well, although she had a small accident since I returned from there. Now a cousin of mine, one of her goddaughters is taking care of her.

7. My son visiting us
Even before my travel to Transylvania, my son Ivan visited us here in Winnipeg. He lives and works in North Carolina, and this was his first visit to the Prairies. Unfortunately, it happened to be a very rainy and windy weekend… but even if we couldn’t enjoy the outdoors in Winnipeg, we had a lot of time to sit together and talk. It was good. If you didn’t know, he is a programmer, and he introduced me to the world of the internet!

8. Tai Chi
Since the beginning of July we started to attend Tai Chi (more exactly, the Taoist Tai Chi). First it was just an “appetizer” summer course and it did the job: we really liked the taste of it, so after that we signed up for the structured beginner classes, and in January this year we both ‘graduated’ the course that teaches the 108 moves.
I have no words to describe my admiration for Tanja who was still in the midst of her chemotherapy when we started the courses… and she didn’t miss a class during her radiotherapy either! (And yes, except the short breaks for the surgeries, she has been working all the time!)

9. Buying a Mac
My good friend Joel went to teach English (ESL) in Japan and before leaving I bought his Mac computer. I upgraded it a little bit: added more memory and bigger HD. Still learning how to work with the Mac, but I like it. Next thing to change: get a wheel mouse for the Mac because I got so used to it on my PC that I can’t scroll anymore without a wheel…
An interesting event from January this year: on the same week I managed to crash both my PC and the Mac. Some would say it was a sign to reconsider working on/with computers…

10. Bought a video camcorder
In November I bought a cute little video recorder for my wife’s birthday, a JVC Everio. One day I might post even some videos on this blog, who knows.

11. Nikon D60 — the birthday gift
Before that, she bought me a Nikon D60 digital camera for my birthday. (Actually, I wrote about this in my Hungarian blog where I post sporadically…)
I should install a gallery script/plugin and show some of the really good pictures I have taken with this new camera.

12. The grass is not growing
Despite my own efforts duplicated by two different landscaping/gardening companies (or is that already “tripled”?) — the grass on the front yard and in the back yard didn’t want to grow as I expected. I was quite unhappy with the sloppy job these guys did but I didn’t want to write about it right away because I was too angry. I was afraid I would get myself in legal troubles for name-calling and similar sins, so… forget it.

13. Nabokov republished
I have translated Vladimir Nabokov’s The Defense from Russian into Hungarian — many years ago and it has been published in 1990. To my greatest surprise I discovered last summer that the book has been re-published for the “Week of the Books” in Budapest, with a new cover and some minor changes. Later I learned that the Europa Publishing House tried to find me to do the revision but nobody knew I was in Canada. Even bigger surprise: when I contacted them just to let them know I am alive… they immediately offered to pay the royalties. (Since it is a reprint, it wasn’t a big sum, so I told them to send it over to Transylvania.) [there is also a post about this in my Hungarian blog]

Why 13? — Maybe because I was born on the thirteenth.
Well, some of the items above might even explain why so few postings during the last year. Besides my innate laziness…

It’s not a promise but I will try to post more often in the future.

These Giveaway events are becoming more and more popular in the internet marketing circles. I predict we will see them even more often, especially, after the release of the Giveaway Riches (aff) by Jason James.

I also benefited several times of the useful informational products or scripts made available through giveaway events, so I thought it was time to “give back” something, as the usual phrase says. Nothing fancy, just packed my best tutorials in a neat little e-book and set up a page for it. For future events I might do some newer stuff, too…

Anyway, check it out and spread the word about it: there are a hundred or so gifts at this moment that you can access and download from the site if you click the logo below.

(Don’t forget to share this post, if you liked it!)

The admin panel is still a bit unfamiliar (although I have seen it in its process of development always checking the latest version via SVN) but I think I am going to like it… I will write later an inventory of the new features, for now I am really enjoying the (not-so-new) automatic plugin upgrade. When I was done with upgrading WordPress, I just went to the Plugins page and clicked on the “upgrade now” links. A few minutes later all my active plugins have been updated to the latest. Many times I am against the automatic gizmos offered by different hosts (like automatic install and upgrade) but this one really, really works! And it saves a lot of time. I just love it.

Now it is time to update some links in the sidebar, add new affiliate links and activate the OIO Publisher plugin to be able to sell directly links and ad space on this site.

You may ask why did I start this unusual project. Here is my answer:

I have been working on three continents, in several countries, where I worked a few years and moved on. Never thought about pension or retirement. Had enough money and spent it (almost) all. Later some countries just disappeared (or got divided like the cells)… Wars. Lost records. New system. Even if there are records in their economic situation a pension would be worth, maybe, an average dinner in North America, where I live now.

Then I started to work in Canada where we have a state pension (CPP). After a few years one day I got a letter from these guys that take away about half of my income (they call it tax) that if I continue to contribute to the pension plan with the pace I did till then - my pension will be $73.50/month. I was shocked and humiliated. That was the first moment I started to think about my retirement.

You see, I am coming from a place where the small shop and store of my grandfather has been nationalized by the Communists. Nationalization means it was stolen from us officially. And he died a few years later. Then came my father’s turn. In the world of the free enterprise he would have been a millionaire: he was a born entrepreneur. Over there he went to jail because he didn’t play by the communist rule. I ran away from that country, started businesses, did humanitarian aid work in war zones, had an interesting life.

Then I arrived to what is the dreamland for many people around the world: North America. Freedom, free trade, free enterprise. Paradise… until the day you receive that letter saying your pension will be $73.50.

In that moment I knew I had to do something about it. I have to take it in my own hands.
Well, I did. And now I am decided to share it with all my fellow baby boomers to help them to figure out how to survive when retired.

I am at least for one week behind with blogging. Sometimes the lack of internet connection, other times the tiredness after an eventful day or just the need for a few days distance to let the impressions to settle - prevented me from writing. I will try today to catch up with the last week’s journey through New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and NB again.

On August 21 we left Quebec behind and looking back at the pictures, here comes the one million dollars question — where did I take these pictures:

This little falls and the “sculpture” next to it is in the centre of a small(er?) city. I remember the French signs on the road leading to it (Le Parc des Chutes), so it must be in Quebec. They didn’t buy into the bilingualism as the rest of Canada did — for their sake, of course. Anyway, our guess is Rivière-du-Loup…
[Update: yes, it was Rivière-du-Loup]

Then, finally, came the historic moment for both of us: on August the 21st at 3:00 pm (EST) or, more exactly, at 4:00pm (Atlantic Time) we entered the Maritime provinces first time in our life.

Our arrival to the beautiful Atlantic provinces was way more peaceful than what happened exactly 40 years ago in Prague (Czechoslovakia, at that time): the invasion by the Soviet troops. I have very vivid memories of those events, perhaps one day I should write about them… I was 17 years old and hitchhiking to the Black Sea in Romania (the only Warsaw Pact country that did not take part in the invasion). But now back to the Maritimes!

New Brunswick: River Valley Scenic Drive

Since we are both coming from hilly, mountainous regions, we started to feel an immediate familiarity with the landscape in New Brunswick: the road goes along the river valley, through villages, the back roads (where the scenic route goes) are not-so-well-maintained… just like at home. Although it wouldn’t be fair not mentioning that the main highway, the Transcanada Hwy in NB is in excellent shape and it is a delight to drive on it, but we chose to drive on what is called the River Valley Scenic Drive - and we didn’t regret it at all. After a few days of travelling I realized what was so different in the Atlantic region. For us, coming from much smaller countries, the immense space from Quebec onward to West, the huge wilderness beyond imagination… is almost irrealistic. In the much smaller Maritime provinces the “scale”, if you wish, is somehow closer to what we got used to in our former life, hence the familiar feeling. Actually, most of the time we had that much “at-home” feeling that we even forgot to take pictures. It seems the “tourist brain” works in the way that you stop the car and jump out of it to take a picture when you see something unusual, unexpected, different. On the other hand, whenever we travel even when seeing the most beautiful places I never have a desire to return or to revisit those places. But in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI to the greatest surprise of my wife I started to say things like “one day we could come back and spend some more time here…”.

OK, I did take some pictures, like in Grand Falls/Grand-Sault with the falls in the middle of the town and in Hartland that has the world’s longest covered bridge.

We spent the night at Fredericton Delta in a very nice room and had a good sea food dinner.
Unfortunately, in the next morning we had a very unpleasant surprise: the windshield of our car cracked without any visible reason. No signs of stone chips or anything. Just an approx. 30 cm long crack starting from the very margin of it in the lower left side. We immediately went to the closest Subaru dealer to have it checked and they told us they have never seen anything like that - it must be a defect from the factory. The bad news: nobody has in stock that kind of parts, it would take at least a week to order and get a new one - so, they advised us to continue our trip because it is not a safety risk. Just unpleasant to have it right in the front of your eyes while driving. The service manager also predicted that the crack will slowly go further and further… and it happened just like that: every day it is a few millimeters longer. We will have to deal with it when we get home. I hope it is included in the manufacturer warranty; the car is quite new, will not have yet 20,000 km when we get home!

Next post will be about the Bay of Fundy, Hopewell Rocks and arriving to Halifax, NS.

The whole city is full of attractions and shows that celebrate the 400 years. One of the most unusual shows is a projection show in the harbour. The Old Mill is used as the background for it and the multimedia show is projected on the mill building and the silos. (see some more reports about it.)
Technically, it was something mindblowing. However, the content, at least for me, it was a bit too politicized and obviously biased. Nevertheless, the show was fantastic. I wasn’t really prepared for it, so my pictures are not of the best quality.

The Show:

This wasn’t the only “light show”. On the way from the parking place we have also seen the Visionaries Garden on roof of the MusĂ©e de la civilisation. Although, you can turn in any directions in the evening, and you will see a city dressed in light… No doubt, one of the most spectacular displays was the Visionaries Garden by Franco Dragone.

Somebody asked me, so it seems I need to clarify: this series of posts is written on the way to Maritimes, the final point of our long trip toward East.

Yesterday afternoon we arrived to Québec City. This is not the first time we are here, since we have relatives in the city that just celebrates its 400 years.

As we crossed the (Ontario-Quebec) “border” into the French land you can say good-bye to the politically correct (PC): No more bilingualism anywhere, only French signs and directions, no Canadian flag only the lilies… and at the first Tim Hortons where we stopped for a coffee the PC is definitely screwed up — if you are shorter than I am then you cannot pee because the urinal is so high placed on the wall that only people 5′10″ and higher can use it. And yes, it is the only one! And no, I don’t have a picture of it…

Despite my innate aversion toward everything that has to do with French politics (and in this regard the Quebec French are just French…) this time I decided to be more patient, more tolerant: 400 years is a venerable age in this continent’s history, so let’s enjoy their fĂȘte, I said. Our hosts took us to the beautiful newly built “promenade Samuel-De Champlain“. (see some pictures below) It is really a pleasant, nice place. There is a lookout tower and regardless to my high anxiety I went up to take a few pictures and to enjoy the view of the magnificent St. Lawrence river. Inside there are lots of old photos and explanations about the history of the place, the building of the first bridge etc. Only if I could read and understand it. I was really, honestly interested in the historical details (I always am!). I really wanted to know more about the place. Unfortunately, the chauvinistic policy of this province decided that anglophone Canadians are not welcome, even if tourists. If it wasn’t for the relatives of my wife, I would never return to this damned city.

Make no mistake! I am coming from an ethnic minority background and my community has been also fighting for preserving their language and cultural heritage against assimilating political pressure. The ironic twist is that we made it against the “best disciples” of the French in Eastern Europe, the Roumanians, a distant linguistic cousin of the quebecois… So, I am all for minority rights. But against language madness.

Excellent “junior suite” (or something like that) in the Downtown Novotel on our 4th day of travel.

Went for a walk early afternoon to the By Ward Market, unfortunately, this time the weatherman was right: a huge thunderstorm and lots of rain happened exactly as it was predicted… and got stuck in the market.
During a short break had a quick walk toward the Parliement Hill and ended up having a dinner at the Irish Pub. Good beers and acceptable food. Too bad, at the neighbouring table some drunk young people made the stay unbearable. I kept myself busy watching two black females at another table: you know, the types that get government jobs because of their gender and colour, and proudly advertize their “importance” even in a pub, pulling out legal size printed documents, making important decision while waiting for their Perrier water (what else?)… No, I am not racist or misogynist (I swear I love women!) — it’s just a fact that they don’t let you to disregard. Lets’ forget them and enjoy the trip. See some Ottawa pictures: