We are just cruising queens street west near deans place. Still crazy weather. Just poured for 10 minutes and now it’s sunny. Crazy!

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I don’t know if you will be able to tell from th picture but we are in the middle of our third downpour in Toronto. Tom and inare on the way to the hockey hall of fame but raining so hard we ducked into a best buy to wait it out. I thought it was hot here! A wrong assumption!

Edit: we have now finally made it. It was a long wet walk from the hotel but worth it. This place looks awesome and I may be here for a while!

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okay you have to check out the new arcade fire video. basically you enter in your address and the website uses google maps and street view to incorporate your address into the video. and its not the traditional music video. it has pop up and an interactive part as well. its quite entertaining, please try it your self.

the wilderness downtown

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dose.ca has a free mix that they are giving away. go and grab it…i am about to. it has some pretty sweet songs on there. here is what they have to say for them selves

Dose.ca and the National Post have teamed up to help our visitors and readers discover great new music, essential to hear as they head back to school. We’re rounded up songs from artists including Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, Stars, Crystal Castles, and more. Download your FREE playlist on iTunes now!

click here for the download

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maybe i will be able to buy that house i was dreaming of!!!

courtesy of ctvbc

a new doomsday report warns Vancouver’s housing market could be hit by a burst bubble — and a drop in prices by as much as 30 per cent.

The threat of a giant, synchronized real estate bubble looms over all six of Canada’s major cities, says the report released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

But Vancouver homeowners are poised for the biggest hit to their investments.

“Vancouver would be worst hit, in dollar value, losing almost $200,000,” says a news release issued by the CCPA, which examined house price trends in six major markets over the last 30 years in a report called “Canada’s Housing Bubble: An Accident Waiting To Happen.”

It isn’t the first time Vancouver has been the target of bubble talk.

Garth Turner, former MP turned finance author and speaker, has been predicting calamity for Vancouver’s real estate market for the last two years.

“A 15 per cent to 40 per cent crash in prices, depending on the market — with Vancouver and the Lower Mainland most at risk – is now a certainty,” Turner told ctvbc.ca. “The real question is how long prices grind lower after that phase, and how many years it will last.

“Those who thought real estate would always rise in value were blinded by the industry and by the cheapest mortgage rates ever. All booms end badly, and all bubbles burst.”

Local industry experts, however, aren’t buying into the doom and gloom.

University of B.C. business professor Tsur Somerville, who specializes in real estate, says the CCPA report’s prediction might have made sense more than two years ago, when prices were at a peak.

“I would have thought maybe two and a half years ago this was more of the story,” says Somerville. “The places most ‘bubble-ish’ in Canada are down in their peaks, and that’s the Alberta market.

“We’re still high,” he adds. “But I found the use of the word ‘bubble’ a little odd right now. Bubbles aren’t just prices — they are turnover, volume and transaction. I don’t think anyone is out there lined up around the corner, sleeping three nights in a row to buy the first condo in Winnipeg. If you go back to 2008, that was the environment — that is ‘bubble-ish.’ That was Vancouver and Toronto as well.”

It also follows that if interest rates are at a historic low, house prices would be higher than the standard, says Somerville.

“They are looking at prices and not looking at the other part of what is going on in the market.”

Major markets Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal and Ottawa have all experienced a precarious hike in average house price compared to historical numbers, according to the report. Prices have held steady at around $150,000 to $200,000 on average in those cities – but in more recent years, current prices average more than $300,000.

House prices are between 4.7 to 11.3 times the median income, and if mortgage rates climb, affordability is threatened, the report cautions. It draws comparisons with the collapse of the U.S. housing market. Calgary has experienced similar increases to some of the hardest-hit U.S. cities, for example.

Cameron Muir, chief economist for the B.C. Real Estate Association, questions the methodology of the report.

“There is no debate. The only one debating anything is the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives,” says Muir. “All other economists don’t foresee the kind of meltdown that is being proposed in this report.

“Inflation today is well within range of the Bank of Canada. Nobody thinks rates will climb dramatically. When you see very large declines in prices is when households are in over their heads when it comes to their ability to repay debt.

“The question I would ask is, in order to see this so-called 30 per cent price correction, what kind of shock is going to occur to induce that?”

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Dinner

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i am here trying to figure out how to create a more fun and way easier website for me to use. its a lot of work and i dont know how much i like it. but its worth a try. this post is more a post to see if i can get things to work out for me!

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our friends have started a new blog called pink salt. its full of tasty food treats that make me hungry everytime i look at it!!! damn hunger firing up when i look at that tasty blog!

check it out here…Pink Salt

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we got married…how about that…it was pretty fun…

this was the song we walked down the isle as man and wife

the arcade fire – wake up

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hi. i just wanted to say that pics from the san fran trip were from my iphone. hence the poor quality.

anyways…now that we are back, i have started to really get into some songs. i thought that i would post the songs that i have in my summer playlist. all of these songs can be found using the hype machine. best music website ever!

Better Days-Eddie Vedder
Rich Girl-The Bird And The Bee
Dear God 2.0 (Feat. Jim James, Monsters Of Folk)-The Roots
Step Off the Map & Float-Library Voices
D.A.N.C.E. (Justice Cover)-Hawa
Tightrope (featuring Big Boi)-Janelle Monáe
Generator ^ Second Floor-Freelance Whales
Power-Kanye West
You Are Not A Robot (feat. Marina & The Diamonds)-Hoodie Allen
Coochie (feat. Ludacris & Ol’ Dirty Bastard)-Blakroc
Andalucia-Doves
Nuthin’ But A Journal Thang (Dr. Dre vs Class Actress)-The Hood Internet
Dead Prez vs Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks Of Hip Hop-The Hood Internet
Kiss With A Fist -Florence and The Machine
I Should Be Born-Jets Overhead
Jay-Z feat. The Dap Kings-99 Problems (Ballard Remix)
The Co-Dependent-Sia
The High Road-Broken Bells
The Suburbs-The Arcade Fire
Tighten Up-The Black Keys

what are you songs of the summer?

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