Gold

One can never time the market – investors either buy/sell too soon or too late.

Barring a catastrophe along the lines of North Korea bombing its southern neighbour, indications are that the public is confident the recovery has taken hold. I am not yet sold on this, but the data point to improving economic performance all around.

Separately, it’s been proven over and again that as soon as the mainstream media start dedicating their front pages to a specific asset class it is time to sell that asset class.

Today’s National Post and a recent Globe and Mail feature on gold tell me that maybe that asset class is near its peak.

China and Operation Rainbow Canada

I recently returned from ten days touring Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai and Hong Kong with my wife.  While the trip was a fascinating one, what I’m most excited about is the reason for my wife being in China.

She travelled there as one of the volunteer surgeons with Operation Rainbow Canada.  ORC (www.operationrainbowcanada.com) has been operating for twelve years and each year sends volunteer doctors and nurses to developing countries in order to fix cleft lip and palates in young children.  This November ORC travelled to Linyi City in China and spent a week improving the lives of many young kids.

Check out this Global TV story that appeared Monday evening: http://tinyurl.com/34ep69q.  Fast forward to 2 minutes to see the story.

Twelve Days of Christmas

I think I first watched this performance on YouTube three years ago.  I was instantly hooked.

Here’s their newest “Christmas Can Can”.  Enjoy!

200 years of world history in four minutes

The UBC Community

Those local to Vancouver probably know that UBC has been undergoing a transformation over the past fifteen years.  It’s gone from an “ivory tower” on the point with huge volumes of car traffic, congestion and largely commuter students to a bucolic community with most (and eventually all) the amenities one needs.

It’s a terrific story of formation and growth of what I think will become one of Vancouver’s most desirable neighbourhoods.  It has a side benefit of contributing significantly to UBC’s endowment which supports new professors, new students research and myriad other programs.

Click on the link below to see a video outlining more of my thoughts on this development:

http://www.planning.ubc.ca/vancouver_home/utown_ubc/your_videos/videos322.php