I just graduated last month and am now looking for a job. The idea of working is very appealing after being locked away in school for so many years but I am a little depressed about the state of my student loans. The interest is high and I have to make multiple payments each mont. My grandfather is a bit of a financial wiz and he recommended I search for a student loan company that specializes in student loan consolidation planning.

It was absolutely the best move I ever made. I have all my payments wrapped into one and my interest rate is much lower and the ease of payments have relieved a ton of stress.

My daughters birthday is just around the corner and I want to surprise her with something a little different this year. She loves jewlery so I have decided to get her a set consisting of one or two pearl necklaces and a pearl bracelets.

I never realized there were so many different types of pearls but they have a very wide selection and I was able to find a whole bunch of beautiful ones. It looks like I will let the wife make the final selection thoug, I don’t want to mess up this special day.

When Bert Cooper surveyed the backyard of his Manitoulin Island property a few months ago, he was stumped: Someone had stripped the bark off his birch trees.

At first, it looked as though the culprit hit only a handful of trunks. But as the 78-year-old walked along his property, on the island that borders Georgian Bay and Lake Huron, he saw that the bark bandit was efficient and methodical — about 120 birch trees had the same two-to-three-foot section uniformly cut out.

“It was so disgusting,” he told the CBC.   Cooper isn’t the only victim of this curious caper. His neighbours have since had their trees stripped, too.   Bud Hebner of Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources says these thefts are becoming more commonplace. He believes the burglars are using the birch bark for crafts, as the unique texture of the bark is increasingly in demand.

This type of crime sure is a lot different from the news casts I watched during my trip to NYC last year.

NATO has been under intense pressure to beef up its military presence.  But for those member nations bearing the brunt of the fighting, there is also intense debate about whether or not to extend the mission for their own troops.  How is Canada dealing with the issue?  I think Canadians in general are doing a good job of looking at this mission with an honest open attitude.  We really want to help and make a difference and have proven we are willing to risk our lives helping.  But considering some of the recent developments with the government of Afghanistan offering the Taliban reconciliation without first having them denounce violence is a little bit of a slap in the face for all those that are risking their life to help Afghanistan.
 
We are also now having a healthy debate about renaming the 401 highway that cuts through Toronto and is the major transportation corridor between Toronto and Montreal, Canada’s busiest thoroughfare. It’s about as far from Afghanistan and the fighting there, that can be imagined. But recently the 401 was designated the Highway of Heroes to honour Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan now numbering more than 70.

The fallen soldiers are flown from Kandahar to Canadian Forces Base Trenton, on the north shore of Lake Ontario. From there a funeral procession leaves the base and heads to Toronto where the bodies are taken to Centre for Forensic Sciences and along this Heroes Highway many people come to stand on the overpasses and show their support by waving Canadian flags and signs.

I would like to see a little more support from NATO and also some hard decisions by the Afghanistan government in further condemning the Taliban unless they stop the violence and seek peaceful negotiations.