Neil Yan Dot Com

We’ve been looking for a good pair of shoes for Ben so that he can walk more confidently. He’s been taking steps here and there for the past 2 months, but he’s only managed to take up to 8 steps before he realizes that crawling is still the better way (isn’t that the TTCs motto?). It also doesn’t help that he’s always surrounded by family that want to hold him…he’s soo cuddly.

So, we found a pair of shoes made by Stride Rite. The marketing is amazing. It’s suppose to give the child more feel, more support and more flexibility (in the shoe) so that he can walk better. Damn, the shoe almost walks the child if you let it. The biggest road block with these shoes? The $65 price tag!! I’ve come to learn that Ben doesn’t wear something more that 3 months, mainly because he outgrows them. So, we went online to see how much the shoes cost in the US. They’re 50% cheaper!! For that price, we can get 2 for what we’d pay here! And shipping’s FREE to any US address!! Lucky for us, Sheila’s brother lives in Maine! So the search goes online for the “rite” pair.

Well, wouldn’t you know it? We were shopping at the Sear’s warehouse and clearance sale and Sheila see’s the exact Rite Shoe we wanted for 50% off!! DEAL!! We don’t have to wait for it to be shipped from Maine!!

We proceeded to the cash with the full intention of paying $33 dollars!! Well, the deal at the cashier was if you sign up for a Sear’s card (or used an existing one) you got another 50% off!! What?!! Another 50% off?!! That’s $16 for the shoes!! WAIT!! Since Sheila closed her Sears card last year, she’d have to apply for a new one. And if you apply for a new card and buy something with it, YOU AUTOMATICALLY GET $10 OFF THE PURCHASE!! What?!! The shoes would cost $6?!! How’s that possible? Is Sears going to call the police on us? Are we stealing from them? The original cost was $65!! Now we’re going to pay $6?!! That’s stealing!!

Wait, I’m pretty sure Sears is still going to make money on the $6 shoe. “We’ll take it!!” With that, we closed the deal of the century. Ben loves the shoes!!

Here’s the link to the Stride Rite site.

My mother was cleaning her place yesterday and came across a box of old tax returns and papers. She wanted me to go through it so that it can be shredded. It was kind of cool to see some of my parents tax returns from 1985 – 1995. My old returns were buried in there as well. Wow, tuition was pretty cheap back then…and we thought it was expensive at the time. It’s risen 3 folds since I graduated; it sucks to be a student today.

Then, near the bottom of the box was a Biway bag. Yuppers!! Biway! I think they went bankrupt over a decade ago…maybe more. The closes thing that still exists today is Honest Eds in Toronto! All they wares where piled in bins, just like at Honest Eds. Come to think about it, Honest Eds is just a Mega Biway! They both smell the same when you walk in. I’m pretty sure I can still buy Sparks runners at Honest Eds.

Inside the Biway bag, our old reports cards. SCORE!!  I might not have made the Dean’s list or received any scholarships, but I did alright. I always knew that if I sucks up enough to the teachers in grade school, they’d be more lenient on me. Based on my grade 6 marks, I either sucked up really well, or I was a pretty bright kid. I brought home mostly A’s, except for Social Sciences…I could have put “more effort” into my assignments. What was Social Sciences anyways? High school was no different, except my gym mark “needed improvement”. I guess not being a strong swimmer (actually I can’t swim) hurt my chances of scoring high. Oddly my Math grade was only a B in grade 12 (I studied math in uni).

We’re keeping the report cards for later review with Ben. Hopefully he’ll know I was no slacker (except for my “Engrish” grade)

It’s official! We’re good parents. Ben managed to survive his first full year of life without incident. Whew! It helped that we never let him leave our condo/house. We didn’t let him come in contact with any other diseased kids, and we took out the crib bumper just like our expert baby care knowledge person advised (SIDS…you know).  He got his shots when he needed and we fed him when he was hungry. Let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. My boobs don’t make milk, but Ben tried going after them on several occasions. He still managed to get to almost 22lbs in one year. Wow!!

His first birthday was a great success! 20+ adults and 14 kids can make any party a little crazy. Luckily, my little friend Wii made a cameo appearance in my new basement and that took care of 3/4 of the kids. I might have bought too much booze….who would have guessed that no one wanted to drink at a kids party. I guess little Johnny doesn’t really want to see his dad/mom drunk at a “family-style” outing. With way too much food (all ordered) and one minor incident involving an exploding helium balloon and a shattered chandelier glass, I’d say the party went off as planned!

One down! And many more to go!