Category Archives: General Thoughts

RZ350

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I came across this picture the other day and it invokes two distinct thoughts:

  1. What a wicked bike.
  2. I am very lucky I did not die.

I bought this at the end of my first year of university and dropped it 4 days after taking ownership. I then proceeded to run through 2 engines (blowing the first engine at 220kmph) and was almost ran over by a dump truck when I lost it in a torrential downpour. I hope my boys never get a bike ……

But it was still pretty cool. Matching red, white and blue leather jacket and red helmet with tinted visor and while it red lined at 220 kmph, it was wickedly fast off the start leaving those big, ugly Harleys in the distance …..

RZ350

“Ancora Imparo”

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This morning my family gave me a wonderful plaque that Narda picked up on a trip to Oxford. It is inscribed with:

‘I am still learning’  michelangelo

The back has the following inscription:

Even in his 87th year, the great Italian renaissance artist Michelangelo, creator of such masterpieces as the Sistine Chapel and the sculpture of David, is quoted as saying ‘Ancora Imparo’ (I am still learning). Given the scope of his achievement, this humility is striking and strongly reminiscent of the Greek philosopher Socrates – "The wise man knows that he knows nothing"

 

I am still learning.

DEBT, MORGAGES AND WALKING AWAY

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The Economist has an interesting article this week on the UK market and the negative equity threat – where the cost of your mortgage is higher than the declining value of the home (homes in the UK declined 2.5% in March). This has sparked memories of the 1989 collapse where it took a decade for home prices to recover.

In the US, the same thing is happening. As this article points out, websites, blogs and services are popping up to help people decide when to simply walk away from your home. Something that the industry calls the jingling mail, when people simply mail in their keys. Consider the following service offering:

While some sites trumpet offers to buy homes from stressed-out owners, another one sells a foreclosure kit. California-based YouWalkAway.com says its kit will enable you to stay in your home "for up to eight months or more without having to pay anything to your lender!" It also says: "With our money-back guarantee, you get it all for only $995.

One could argue that this is long over due. How many people do you know who are spending their way into oblivion? It is so easy to go out and buy that $500K or $1M house because the interest rates are so low. If you could get a 4% mortgage, a $500K house becomes very affordable to many as it is $20K a year in payments – if you adjust for taxes – that is around $2200 per month in interest.

But when interest rates start to go up, the pressure starts. The graph to the right shows the change in debt ratios of the average UK citizen (One could suggest that similar ratios exist in NA, although house prices are dramatically higher in the UK, but so is base salary). In the 80s the ratio of home price to earnings was an average of 1.7 and for new home buyers around 2.8. This meant that the model that I had in my mind as a first time buyer held true (Buy 2X your earnings to be safe).

There was a trough in the mid 90s but a huge spike in the last decade. Look at the current ratios – new home buyers are at 5.2X and the average is 3.8X. That means if you are a new home buyer earning 100K you are buying a house worth 520K and in many cases carrying $500K of that as mortgage debt.

INSANE.

And we wonder why the financial crisis is hitting? People are in debt up to their eyeballs and it is starting to hit the market. What happens to that new home buyer when the $2200 per month interest payment goes to $3000 or $3500? The dike begins to crack.

I think the water is flowing …. Confirms what our realtor friend said, it is a buyers market.

THE IRON CURTAIN

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A few months ago I was having dinner with quite a broad group: Polish, Czech, UK and German. I asked what it was like growing up behind the iron curtain and the response was very interesting:

‘It was very grey’

Confused, I asked for an explanation. The Polish speaker went on to describe life: lack of product choices, clothing looked all the same (lack of choice), the buildings that were going up were grey concrete jungles (Just look outside of the Prague airport – you will understand). Everything was grey …. and then he smiled …. except the women.

He marveled at the women and how they would take the simple life, the world of grey and splash it with color to stand out in the crowd. Very grey … except for the women.

TOP 10

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The end of the year brought many Top 10 of 2007 lists. I ignored them all until now. The following are a few that caught my eye:

  1. Top 10 viral videos of 2007. Poor Dan Rather – collar up or down?
  2. Top 10 TV commercials via Time. Way to go Dave!
  3. Top 10 games of 2007. Rock Band? Come on, Wired you disappoint.
  4. Top 10 science discoveries of 2007. The dinosaur finding is amazing.
  5. My favorite, the top 10 gadgets of 2007. I don’t agree with all of these, but I do agree that insulation that does not itch is absolutely top 10 material (no pun intended).
  6. And last, not really a ‘Top 10’. Instead 10 very remote homes in a photoblog. Beautiful. I will take the one in Greece.

Chapel on an islet off the coast of Kos

MADISON WHO’S WHO

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MadisonWhos

Dear Michael Weening , 

You were recently appointed as a biographical candidate to represent your industry in the Madison Who’s Who Among Executives and Professionals, and for inclusion into the upcoming 2007-2008 "Honors Edition" of the registry.
     We are pleased to inform you that on August 27th, your candidacy was approved. Your confirmation for inclusion will be effective within five business days, pending our receipt of the enclosed application.
     The Office of the Managing Director appoints individuals based on a candidate’s current position, and usually with information obtained from researched executive and professional listings. The director thinks you may make an interesting biographical subject, as individual achievement is what Madison Who’s Who is all about. Upon final confirmation you will be listed among thousands of accomplished individuals in the Madison Who’s Who Registry. There is no cost to be included.
     We do require additional information to complete the selection process and kindly ask that you access this form on our website:
Click here to register
Or you can manually enter this address into your web browser:
http://www.madisonwhoswho.com/basiclisting
To ensure your biographical data is received in time, please complete the online form above as soon as possible. Our editorial deadline is quickly approaching.

Sincerely,
Matthew Johnson
Managing Editor  

Madison Who’s Who is not associated or affiliated with Marquis Who’s Who or any other Who’s Who.

Madison Who’s Who, Inc. 30-01 Northern Blvd. Long Island City , NY 11101 USA

 

…. Social networking with a twist …. impressive marketing. They almost had me.

AMERICAN EXPRESS

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A personal observation on this company. It is our corporate credit card, I have been a member since 2003ish and I really like their service. A good company.

However, there is one thing I do not like. If you ever use them with a small vendor or most small retailers (i.e. taxi), they look at you like you are robbing them of their hard earned money. I have had this happen to me more times than I can count (I actually feel guilty). It is clear that Amex charges retailers more than other credit card companies and it ticks them off. This leads to many retailers only carrying Mastercard or Visa. It has been such a pain in the past that my wife refuses to carry her card or try to use it.

AMEX, wake up. Lower your rates and go broad to the market.

The second observation is not necessarily AMEX only, but financial institutions and their systems. It still amazes me the lack of connectivity from system to system. Consider this story:

I now carry 4 AMEX cards (2 corporate, Canadian and UK) and 2 personal (Canadian, UK). The UK personal AMEX is new and was provided to me quickly. While moving over we purchased a few items of furniture that added up quickly to the £3K range. Not a crazy amount. I went to use my AMEX and it was refused.

Confused, the merchant called in and was told by the service agent that it was over my limit. Now, if you know AMEX, ‘no limit’ is a key marketing phrase (it is false advertising). Confused I got on the phone and asked what she meant.

Because I have no history on this card I have to start out with a low limit and it is slowly raised. Calmly I explained my broad history with AMEX, but she would not budge. So, I asked for a supervisor. Now it is getting a bit tense, children are getting a bit sick of sitting in a furniture store on a Saturday.

Supervisor comes on and will not budge until I have the idea of giving her my old card numbers so she can look them up on a different system. Seconds later, the apologies were flowing, approval processed, sorry for the inconvenience.

Wasted time? 35 minutes.

It annoys me to no end. Web services, Web 2.0 and architects that just love to talk about it but they are still challenged to get one internal system to talk to another.

THE IRONY OF FRENCH TV

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It is pretty well know that the French don’t like the US despite their history of working together to kick the British out of the US or their current president’s pro-US stance.

So it is very ironic that while I was sitting in the Paris Hilton I noticed that many of the channels carried bad US television dubbed into french. Don Johnson in Nash Bridges, Party of Five and The Flintstones movie.

Of course, Jerry Lewis is a comic icon in France. So maybe it is not that ironic …..

BABEL

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I have been travelling to Europe frequently over the last month and I have been fascinated by the disparity in standards. One cannot help if this is an extension of the Bible story of ‘Babel’ where humans were scattered to the wind due to a simple language change.

For instance, consider these two offshoots:

·         Power standards: What a nightmare. Different plugs. Different voltages. Different standards. Don’t plug your 110 V appliance into a 220V appliance or ‘BOOM’. Just think of the additional costs that this adds for manufacturers. They cannot churn out millions of an item, they need to forecast each region and modify accordingly. How many billions does that add to our cost? Check out this map on different standards.

·         Driving: Part of the world drives on the right. Part of the world drives on the left. I was recently corrected that the UK style of driving (right side driver) is now not that unusual thanks to .. China and India. It was pointed out that there are now more people driving on the left side than the right. Again, imagine the impact on manufacturing. Every single car out there has 2 designs – a left model and a right model. Again .. billions.

And so, we remain apart, slowing our advancement as a race and our reaching the heavens. Mission accomplished big guy.

SEATBELTS

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I realized the other day that I often do not wear a seatbelt during cab rides. When I reflect, I am not sure why that is. I wear one in the car at all times at home. Why not?

Well, my view changed a few weeks ago when speaking to a driver on the way to the hotel. When I asked him how his morning was going, he said well but that he was still shaken up from his last ride. He went on to explain that on his last drive to the airport the guy beside him was on his phone not paying attention to the road ahead of him and all of a sudden the traffic stopped ahead of him. He slammed on the brakes and, recognizing that he was not going to stop in time, swung into the lane beside him to avoid the car in front (missing by no more than an inch but putting the next lane in peril).

The driver ‘stood’ on his breaks and was able to stop a hair from the guy’s bumper and avoiding an accident (luckily, no one was close behind him).

An accident can happen anywhere. I have started wearing my seat belt in cabs.

THE BMW GIVES UP THE GHOST

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I am not a big car guy. I am not the guy who reads about cars or who looks at a car and says ‘wow’, except possibly the Aston Martin DB9. To me a car is two things:

1.       A depreciating asset. It is not something that goes up in value; it is constantly dropping in value. So, it should be treated as such.

2.       A tool. I drive it to and from work. Nothing more. Nothing less.

So, I want something that is reliable and comfortable.

Over the last year our 1998 BMW 328i has been on a death watch. We have been waiting for that next bill to come along were we look at the price and say ‘not worth fixing, buy a new car’.

That time almost came in the summer/fall a few times:

  • We put a huge scratch in the passenger side while pulling it into the garage while attempting to miss the $13 garbage can. That is $750 (We just left it, instead of fixing it. After all .. why fix aesthetics if it on a death watch?)
  • Two new snow tires and some maintenance work: $750. Nope, keep driving as that is less than the monthly payment of a new car.

But about 2 weeks ago, the time came. I was driving into Toronto and a light came on. I laughed and thought ‘That is a new light. Never seen that one before’.  When I got to the office, I looked in the manual and it was the brake lights. The manual said something like this:

You are toast. You have not bothered to have the brakes checked in a really long time. They are about to fail and you could go crashing over a bridge in a ball of flames if you don’t get them fixed right now. Do not pass go. Go straight to a mechanic.

Well, I had a Christmas lunch to go to so I went to that first, figuring I would drop it straight off after the lunch. Bad idea.

I started driving and a funny thing happened … the brakes started to make an awful grinding noise. Now, I am no mechanic but I know that is bad because I have been around machinery all my life. After all, I have the scars to prove it in the form of a long burn on my shoulder from where a piece of hot metal fell while I was welding the muffler back onto my Hyundai Pony with my new girlfriend watching (She is now my wife, who wouldn’t marry a University guy who knows how to weld?)

Anyhow, it starts grinding really bad. Every stop is a terrible noise. People are looking at me funny. Parents are moving their kids away from the edge of the sidewalk as who knows when this thing will blow. I limp to the lunch and during the conversation, bring up my current car grinding situation. A brilliant compatriot suggest ‘use the parking brake’. BRILLIANT!  Well, good enough. It gets me to the mechanic.

I drop off the keys; they say they will call me with an estimate. I get a call 2 hours, later: $1300. Oh no. This is too close to call. It is December. Do I really want to buy a car when entering the winter or wait for the summer? We may move, how does that factor in? Is that large enough to do it? I decide to do the work. I will get through the winter (After all I just bought new winter tires) and buy in the spring.

The next day they call (Saturday). Sorry, could not get the parts. Will have it done end of day Monday. Shoot, that is inconvenient but ok.

They call Monday. Sorry, wrong estimate. It is actually $2000.

Three hours later, I had a new car.

But I did not trade in the BMW. I wanted to get some money for it. That story is for the next blog.

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

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We were out at a New Year’s party and a few people asked ‘What are your New Year resolutions?’ Without much thought I was able to answer ‘I don’t have any new years resolutions’

Nope.

Not one.

Why? I don’t know. Could I use the change of the year as a catalyst for some personal change? Possibly. But, I don’t want to be one of those people who needs a date as a catalyst (only to break it). I prefer a set of goals that remain core to my daily life, providing a consistent and guiding theme over time. Those themes are:

1.       My wife, boys, family and faith

2.       Continual improvement (both skills and career)

3.       Fitness and health

4.       Have fun

The most common New Year resolutions from the US government web site:

  • Lose Weight :  Personal philosophy, I wear the same pant size as 10 years ago. That is my litmus test, I will never change pant sizes. If I need to, time to lose some weight!
  • Pay Off Debt :  Interesting story: Was speaking with a woman who plays bridge and she was relating her experiences of playing with Bill Gates and others. At a bridge tournament she was by the pool with her little son and husband, sitting beside Warren Buffett. She stated that he and his wife are very down to earth, nice people who love kids and were paying attention to their son. Over time she worked up the courage to ask, with all of your wisdom and experience, what advice do you have for someone like me? He said many people will tell you to take out loans, keep a mortgage and invest. I say pay no interest to anyone. Get to debt free as fast as you can. 
  • Save Money :   Household saving has plummeted. Consumer debt is at an all time high. Interest rates are low, so why not spend? Here is a great no nonsense article on the implications of not saving .. and how to save. For me, I always look at our personal situation like this:  What if my income were to drop by 30% and interest rates went to 10%, what would happen? If I am secure in that situation, we are in good shape today. As for tomorrow, it is a simple calculation. How much money needs to go into savings and stock vehicles over what time with a conservative annual gain, to get us to retirement at 50?
  • Get a Better Job :   I am a personal services corporation.
  • Get Fit :  I made that life change a year + ago.
  • Eat Right:   I say the worst thing we were every taught was that you need to clean your plate. Ever been at a business dinner? Clean you plate every time, double your weight. I would suggest, eat in moderation.
  • Get a Better Education: Always be learning is a philosophy, not a one time event. Read, take courses, watch others is my motto.
  • Quit Smoking Now:   Never smoked, thank goodness.
  • Reduce Stress Overall:   Good luck.
  • Reduce Stress at Work:   Maybe I will come work for this government organization, spending tax money writing articles on New Year resolutions. Seems low stress.
  • Volunteer to Help Others:    This is something I don’t do enough of, and is a longer term goal. Little kids keeps us busy, and I think it is different at each stage in our life. But, it is something that will change over time.

Happy New Year, BACK TO WORK!

BUYER BEWARE: DIRECT ENERGY SET PRICING

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I will admit that I have always been leery of these people who knock at my door and offer ‘GREAT’ deals to save on gas and electricity. During early deregulation, I figured these companies made their money through a government sponsored deregulation (i.e. They are provided with a secured lower price to shift share from the utility monopoly).

Recently, Direct Energy sent over two different notes, encouraging me to sign up before my rates went through the roof. This has been tugging at the fringes of my mind for a while, so instead of throwing it into the garbage I dug in.

The form starts out with a statement ‘complete and mail in the enclosed application or call 1-866-290-6366. By doing so, you’ll secure a price of 9.35 cents per kWh through December 31,2009’. I read on … wondering, what do I pay today?

The last part of the form (section 6) is headlined with ‘What happens if I don’t sign up? My rate stays at the open market rate of 5.8 cents per kWh. Huh? I must be reading this wrong or missing something so I call the number.

Me: ‘I must be missing something; to me it looks like the price is 50% higher than what I am paying today’

Customer Service Agent: ‘Yes, that is right’

Me: ‘Then why would I sign up?’

Her: ‘To protect your price against the rapid rise in electricity costs. They are rising very fast’

Me: ‘But the price of oil is dropping. Generally, we have hit a peak and are seeing a decline. They are rising?’

Her: ‘Oh yes, we expect the price to go up 16% this year’

Me: ‘So, if it does that, I am still 35% lower?’

Her: ‘Yes, but it will keep doing that, going up each year’

Me: ‘So, do you have a break even between now and 2009 when I will start saving money versus paying a premium or how much you would project I will save doing it this way?’

Her: ‘Uh, no. We cannot forecast the future. But it is a great way to protect against the prices. Many people are signing up’

Me: ‘You do this for natural gas too, curious, is it the same thing?’

Her: (gets the figures, provides me the data which shows a 50% price premium)

Me: ‘Thanks’

Her: ‘Wait, lets talk about a maintenance contract on your furnace …’

CLICK

Buyer beware.

PEANUT BUTTER AND BURNED BRIDGES

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There has been a lot of write ups on the Peanut Butter Manifesto and how a Yahoo! SVP wrote an email about how the company needs to change that has leaked to the outside. An interesting approach.

While flipping around the net, I came across this blog entry from a person who left Microsoft in 1999 and did the same thing. The difference was that the Yahoo! mail is from someone with significant authority in the organization, acting as a lightning rod for change.

The Microsoft email comes off as a young man complaining. He talks about J Allard and how he wanted to work for him as he tried to change areas of Microsoft. One interesting quote:

The super rich irony about this memo is that even in pre-blog days it haunted me. J Allard did come back to the company, and I did interview to work on his team, then the Xbox team. I did not get asked to come back. I can admit that here. I was told it had something to do with my “perceived attitude.” Ouch! My memo wasn’t even in the Wall St. Journal, like this Peanut Butter one. It just goes to show…if you are going to light a bridge on fire, make sure you don’t ever intend to try and cross it again.

The burned bridge is never easy to cross again or is it that you can burn a bridge if you have the resources to build a new one? I wonder where the Yahoo! executive will end up.

WHAT IS THE POINT?

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I was helping my son out with his homework last night and he was busy doing short forms of words and I got to thinking, what is the point? For example:

  • Must not becomes mustn’t. Woo hoo, I saved a vowel.
  • There will becomes there’ll (pronounce that one, it just sounds odd).

Stick with the Queen’s English young man (smile).

WATCHING SPORTS

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I was at a course last week and it was interesting to observe the male greeting ritual which is often based on sports. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy playing sports .. but I don’t enjoy watching or talking about sports.

In almost every conversation where people do not know me (Or where I am a part of a bigger group), sports is brought up. It is like the weather, that superficial discussion point that can be leveraged until a stronger bridge is built or as a crutch when the bridge does not exist.

My history with sports is the typical one. I grew up in the average Canadian family where all the males congregated for hockey on Saturday night and we played hockey all the time. Ball hockey in the summer and in a league in the winter. During recess in the winter or after school? Hockey on the local pond. I played basketball, I even played on the high school football team in grade 12 (As a bench warmer). It was a great way to grow up and as a by-product of my upbringing, I can hold my own in any sports conversation.

But I can remember how boring I found watching sports, and I wonder why? I would sit through those Saturday night hockey games but as I got older, I would just leave my dad and brother to their bonding because I was bored to tears. I would rather read a book, draw, Lego, .. whatever. The same thing happened in university. My buddies loved to watch sports. Football, hockey, anything to keep us from doing homework. Thank goodness we had 2 TVs … one for sports and beside it, one for our Super NES.

It will be interesting to see what happens with my boys. An interesting case of home nurture, education nurture versus nature. Will their friends influence them to watch sports? (It is not on in our house .. although, if they wanted to watch it, no problem with me) or will some male DNA gene draw them to it?

We will see.

In the meantime, it still makes me yawn and no, my Canadian boys do not play hockey. We ski.

THE CRUELTY OF FISHING

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I have fond memories of fishing as a child. My little brother and I would spend hours at a pond that was about a mile from our house, stocked with bass, sunfish, frogs and an assortment of other animals. It was a Huckleberry type of upbringing, fishing, catching frogs, swimming in the pond. I still remember when my brother caught the biggest bass ever (In my mind it was 10 lbs.), and how it twisted and bent his rod over, to the point of snapping, but he fought it and brought that bass in.

I remember cleaning it (I had thousands of eggs in it) and our Dad cooking it. I remember catching sunfish by the thousands – truly the stupidest of fish, they would hit an empty hook.

I remember junior school, where I babysat for a couple down the street (Babysitting truly is the best of evening jobs, I did it up until I was 17 … sit on their couch, collect money, eat their pop and food, do homework, what is not to enjoy (except for the coolness factor)). He was a big fly fisherman, his kids were very young, and he taught me how to tie flies. My buddy Duane and I started fly fishing (Duane’s family were hunters, bit time) and I remember going to the rivers in Alberta and spending hours casting and catching trout and bass. Fly fishing is truly a serene and wonderful sport, an art of sorts and I was pretty good at both tying and casting.

Fond memories, shattered.

So we are out with the boys at a friends cottage, which happens to be a private island and they start fishing. I hang around to help, as the boys have not done this before. Low and behold, they start catching fish, quickly. Just as quickly, the event degrades into me with a pair of plyers ripping hooks out of the mouths of tiny little fish, the last one resulting in me leaving the hook in and cutting the line and I am starting to think ‘What the heck is this? This is the most cruel frickin thing in the world’

I eliminate all forms of bait so they can cast and have fun but with no bait so they don’t catch these poor little bass.

What a brutal sport. I understand that going for big fish is different, etc. But really, catch and release, what is the point? Yank the poor fish up to the boat, by the mouth, rip the hook out (maybe), then release him/her back to the wild. Do fish not feel pain?

Just brutal. Bye-bye fond memories, how cruel I must have been.

A GOAL FOR ME

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I am going to do a better job of not sweating the small stuff.
 
An example, I consolidated all of my back-ups onto a single 250GB drive over the holidays. Was going to clean it up. Then, I formatted that drive by accident. Luckily, the most important data was also on a USB drive (My pictures (There are 7000+ over 12 years), My Videos and My Music (60GB worth) (WHEW). I only lost about 60 pictures of importance.
 
On that drive? Lots of documents, school projects and corporate records. As I later stated ‘Can’t really remember what was on there, so I am alright’. The corporate docs are also in paper copy.
 
Now, how did I do this? Not sure .. well, I am. I was a) digitizing an 8MM video on one computer (I am almost done bringing all 8MM video to WMV format so we can watch them on our Medica Center)  b) fighting Rommell in the desert on another (XBOX 360 Call of Duty 2 .. amazing) c) it was late (1AM) and d) I randomly decided to reimage a machine with the factory default. I just fired the recover DVD in and did not think that it would mistake the primary drive for a secondary drive (It did) ….
 
When I realized what had happened the next day (It also did a bit level format) I freaked out a bit … And my amazing wife was gracious enough to be there for me and not point out that this stuff happens to me more often than naught (Review blog below .. the Christmas tree stories).
 
But, about 30 minutes later I realized .. who cares. Don’t sweat the small stuff. 

I DON’T BELIEVE IN LUCK: SHOULD I CHANGE? (archive)

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The day that I blogged on luck I received an email from the man who always told me that “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity”.

What was that mail? I paraphrase (It was a self extracting PowerPoint that I was supposed to forward to others):

Old Chinese Proverb:

  • With money you can buy a house, but not a home.
  • With money you can buy a clock, but not time. (Sure you can, do you think Bill Gates changes light bulbs or flies on a normal plane? Nope, he buys time by having staffers and a private plane)
  • With money you can buy a bed, but not sleep. (I guess the Chinese don’t know about sleeping pills)
  • With money you can buy a book, but not knowledge. (Again, not sure I agree … I can surround myself with wise people to advise me on actions)
  • With money you can buy a doctor, but not good health. (Someone better tell Larry Ellison about this, he is spending $50M a year to research how to extend his life)
  • With money you can buy a position, but not respect.
  • With money you can buy blood, but not life. (What, no hostage situations in Chinese history?)
  • With money you can buy sex, but not love. (I bought my dog and he loves unconditionally)

This Chinese proverb brings luck. This proverb has gone around the world 8 times, now it is your turn to have good luck. Forward this to 20 people in the next 96 hours and you will receive luck via mail or the internet in the next 4 days.

Constantine got his first letter in 1953. He had his secretary make 20 copies. 9 hours later he won $99M, the largest lottery ever in his country. (How fair is that? Shouldn’t his secretary who did all the bloody work get the big win?)

Carlos received this card while working, but did not send it. Two days later, he lost his job. (Poor Carlos, if he had been working instead of screwing around with chain letters, maybe he would have kept his job). (With his new found time …) Carlos took the time to make 20 copies and mail them out to friends and family. After sending them, he became successful and rich. (The big ah-ha for Carlos was that people are suckers, he realized that people will do anything if you put superstition or ‘get rich quick’ in the message. So, Carlos started the first ever Multi-Level-Marketing company, selling Natural Herbal products that he relabeled from the local Costco and marked up 600%).

Before 96 hours, you must send this letter! This is true! (Whew, I was not going to do it, but now that you say it is true, I WILL. But wait? Who are you? Why should I believe that this is true?)

This was sent to the world by a missionary from South Africa (Ah, well, there is the answer. If it is a missionary sending it out, it must be true. After all, he/she must be a heck of a missionary as South Africa can be tough).

Luck is finally at your door. (Well, if you are, you are not coming in without a winning Lotto ticket. Otherwise, bugger off)

 

I did not forward this email.

And as luck would have it, the hydraulics on the plane went .. I wasted 6 hours in the airport, missed my connection and am stuck in an airport hotel. I will lose the whole day tomorrow.

That being said, I did sleep in a comfy bed and am quite well rested (Better than the red-eye I was on), the attendant was nice enough to upgrade us to business class, I am having a great bacon and egg breakfast and Serenity was playing on the hotel pay-per-view. All is not lost.

But perhaps I should have forwarded it.

a new member! welcome to columbia house

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You have to give Columbia House 2 points for tenacity. They keep coming and coming, trying to get us to rejoin. Over the last 2 weeks they have been particularly tenacious – and they finally wore us down so I rejoined the DVD club, with what appears to be a pretty good deal (If you like buying DVDs).
 
I get 5 DVDs for $10, a 6th for $18 and then have to buy 2 in 2 years at regular price (Which is usually $25). So, for $80, I get 8 DVDs.
 
Seems like a reasonable deal, considering their selection is huge. We will see. My first selection?
 

A KEG OF BEER AND 3 ROUNDS FOR THE KIDS

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I had the opportunity to be involved in a great event last Friday. It was a golf-a-thon for the kids help phone and we broke ALL records. In a single day, we raised $295,000 for this great cause. I feel very fortunate that I could be involved in this great event – not only did we raise a ton of money for a great cause but it was also the experience of a lifetime. My partner and I played 54 holes of golf at Angus Glen GC  (One of Canada’s nicest courses – I had to leave early, or we would have played 9 more!). I had the longest drive of my life – 340 YARDS (Yes, you sarcastic BASSES, it was with the wind and downhill, but who cares! 340 yards!) and I won a key of beer. I was the closest to the keg on a 250 yard drive. I actually was closest 2 out of 3 drives.

Take a look at my partners clothes below (He is hiilarious! And yes, he did change his clothes half way through!)

Now, here is the thing – in my university days, this would have brought copious amounts of joy. Woo hoo! A keg of beer. I must be getting old because my reaction (After laughing) is .. what the heck am I going to do with a keg of beer? I think we will have a pool party and invite a bunch of friends over, that will deal with at LEAST 7% of the volume ……. maybe they will let me trade it in for a few good bottles of wine (smile)