Random Rant – Gender Inequality

Let me tell you a little story…

A mother and her child are in a cafe, there is a kids corner in the cafe, and her child is playing with another kid in the play area. The other child’s parent is taking pictures of the kids playing. “Awe, aren’t they cute?!” The parents don’t know each other, but happen to leave the cafe at the same time. The picture taking parent asks the other, “Which way are you going? Maybe we can walk with you.” The other parent has errands to run, so declines the offer, but later that day they see the parent and their child in the park and they wave them over to see if the kids want to play together again.

This sounds like a friendly sort of neighbourhood, doesn’t it? I picture nice yards with white picket fences and the like. Now, let me ask you… when reading that story, did you assume both parents were mothers? Did you at any point find that story creepy or weird? Would you if I said the picture taking parent was a father, not a mother?

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Mondays Suck!

I woke up this morning all gung-ho for a new week.  I made my meal plan for the week last night, I had a shopping list ready to go to pick up on my way home tonight, my laundry was under control… things were looking good.

I didn’t go for a run this morning because my running partner was taking a friend to the airport, which meant that I was ahead of schedule getting ready for work.  I thought I would get even further ahead by emptying the dishwasher that I had filled and put on before bed last night.  I mean, I was so on it, right?  And then I dropped a dish, tried to catch it before it hit another, failed and caught a broken piece of it instead… cutting my finger in the process… I spent the next 15 minutes attempting to stop the bleeding while trying to decide if I needed to find a medical clinic that was open… As I was doing this, my cat decided that he wasn’t feeling well and threw up on my front hall carpet… Gross!

So, I didn’t finish emptying the dishwasher, and I ended up getting to work late (well, late compared to my planned productivity schedule)… And now my finger is throbbing (there is a pretty big chunk missing, but at least it has stopped bleeding now) and I have this other cut on my palm that is irritating like a paper cut that hits my keyboard when I type (I work at a computer all day).  So much for my good Monday…

Anyone else having a rough start to the week?

Random Rant: Bank Fees

I hate paying bank fees. I understand that banks need to make money, and I have benefited through investments when certain banks to make money, but do they really have to charge me for storing my money in their institution? I don’t see why I should pay $12/month for a chequing account that never goes in to the negative, if I happen to not keep the required $2500 balance every day of the month…

If I can take that $2500 and make over 6.25% on it, that would make the bank fees come out in the wash (someone may want to check my math on that one…), but if I keep $2500 in the chequing account, that money is doing nothing for me. Sure, my net worth is $2500 higher than if that was $0, but that $2500 of net worth is not working for me. And I want my money to work for me… not just make money for a bank…