Calgary Early Birds

Early Birds Minutes, February 29th, 2024

Fri, 01 Mar 2024 05:19:44 GMT

Early Birds Minutes, February 29th, 2024

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Early Birds Minutes AND News January 18th, 2024

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 04:27:40 GMT

Early Birds Minutes and News, January 18th, 2024

Gentlemen,

2024 will be a transformative year for Early Birds.

2023 was another year in which attrition played a role in the number of active Birds.

In December, after an eminently qualified prospective female member was proposed and then denied a seat at the Birds table, the Birds had a candid discussion that revealed that the Club was split at the possible change to the Club that female members might bring.

To help facilitate change, a majority of Birds voted to amend the Club’s “constitution.” There were two changes: the word “men” was changed to “members,” and new members no longer required a unanimous vote to be let into the Club. The threshold is now 66%.

Unrelated to the female membership issue, Don Doolan was the first to announce that a more fulsome retirement was calling to him, and he opted to leave the Club after the Christmas meeting.

Other members who voted for varying reasons to sleep in on Thursday mornings included Dan Kennelly, JD MacDonald, and possibly Todd Dean. I’m almost positive I’m omitting someone else.

Our existing membership is a dynamic group, BUT there should be no mistake; we need to add to the roster, or the Club will eventually reach a tipping point from which it won’t return.

2024 should be a year of filling vacant positions sooner rather than later. Among the professions lost in 2023 were plumbing, homebuilder, and IT professional. Those are just some of the professional positions we could look to refill. A lawyer is one professional presence absent from the Birds since Randy Kott passed away.

So, keep new prospective members at the top of your agenda, and let’s see if we can fill a few seats around the table before the end of March. That’s purely my suggestion, but I figure if we don’t give this some sort of timeline, it will remain wishful thinking.

Now….in other news:

Bob Wiggins injured himself curling. There’s probably an “old stones” joke in there somewhere, but we wish Bob all the best with recovery.

Paul Boucher thanked Ian Campbell for his clinic’s fine audiologists and analysis during his annual hearing test. Of note in this visit was information shared by the audiologist on ongoing research into hearing loss and cognitive decline. In essence, what your brain no longer perceives results in that part of the brain “wasting away.” The research was corroborated indirectly by the information gained about people losing their sense of smell during the pandemic after having had COVID. Essentially, the part of the brain responsible for olfactory function shrank. Growth in the visual cortex was observed as the brain tried to compensate for the loss of smell.

With hearing, as you grow older and experience average high-frequency hearing loss, your brain “forgets” how to hear that sound. It’s not as if hearing loss triggers dementia or anything that dramatic. However, it’s another piece of the brain puzzle that contributes to cognitive decline as your brain forgets about those sounds, and then other consequences of that hearing loss, including social withdrawal, etc., kick in.

Besides that, be ready to hear Paul’s voice on Alberta’s current STARS Lottery radio, TV, and web campaign. Don’t think you’ll get away from him next door in Saskatchewan because he’ll be voicing that campaign as well, just as Alberta’s finished.

Also - if you enjoy Lavazza Italian coffee, Paul will record commercials for that brand right after Breakfast Club this week.

Sean Baylis - started by not really knowing where to start.

It’s been an emotional roller coaster for Sean and his family.

They came back from Mexico over the holidays when they were hit with a mild-ish case of *Montuzuma’s revenge.

Then, the next “surprise” also happened in a bathroom when his wife Dianna screamed from upstairs. She’d been violently ill and throwing up when she experienced a searing head pain, which prompted the scream. At the hospital, it appeared that they discovered a brain aneurysm.

The family was presented with three options for Dianna: open brain surgery, go in arthroscopically through an artery, or simply go and possibly discover something entirely unexpected.

After an angiogram, however, the medical staff discovered that Dianna was a one-in-10 case when it turned out not to be an aneurysm. It was still a brain bleed, however, and as of last Thursday, she’d been at Foothills for 10 days. Hopefully, home as you read this.

Sean’s reflection on the care they received was good. Speedy.

Many of us discovered one of Sean’s favourite ways to pass the time last week: poker. It turns out this Bird is headed for the World Series of Poker. Sean decided to join thousands of guys at Deerfoot Casino competing to get into the World Series games, which feature a $300k grand prize. He managed to play his way into the series and played through last weekend and into Monday. We’ll learn tomorrow what happened!

As for the markets, Sean noted their inverse relationship to good news. If interest rates stay steady or drop, the market will be good. If good news affects the market to the point the rates go up, the market will be less predictable.

But - you can hear more about the market TOMORROW - January 25th, at the RBC Market Outlook featuring Portfolio Strategist Jim Allworth and Portfolio Manager Sam Acton. Attendance is complimentary, but space is limited. Kindly RSVP to Roople Virmani at roople.virmani@rbc.com. The event will be from 5:30pm to 8 at West Island College, 7410 Blackfoot Trail SE.

*BTW, if you’ve ever wondered about the history behind Montezuma’s revenge, here you go:

“Moctezuma’s Revenge is a colloquial term for travelers’ diarrhea contracted in Mexico. The name refers to Moctezuma II (1466–1520), the Tlatoani (ruler) of the Aztec civilization who was overthrown by the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés in the early 16th century, thereby bringing large portions of what is now Mexico and Central America under the rule of the Spanish crown. The relevance being that Cortés and his soldiers carried the smallpox virus. The Mexicans had never been exposed to the virus. The resulting infection reduced the population of Tenochtitlan by 40 percent in the single year of 1520.”

Travelers’ diarrhea. (2023, November 29th). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelers%27_diarrhea

Andy Lockhart - picked up on the theme of prolonged hospital stays by a spouse. In his case, a long while ago, Susan came home to, ah, a “hunting mess.” It’s not a euphemism for anything -it was literally the cleanup left over from a hunt Andy had been on. There might have been blood smears.

Andy also had a terrific joke last week:

“A man returns home a day early from a business trip. It’s after

midnight.

While en route home, he asks the cabbie if he would be a witness.

The man suspects his wife is having an affair and he wants to catch her in

the act. For $100 tip, in addition to the cab fare from the Toronto

airport, the cabbie agrees.

Quietly arriving home, the husband and cabbie tiptoe into the bedroom. The

husband switches on the lights, yanks the blanket back and there is his

wife in bed with another man! The husband puts a gun to the naked man’s

head.

The wife shouts, ‘Don’t do it! I lied when I told you I inherited money.

HE paid for the Corvette I gave you.

HE paid for our new Mercedes Benz convertible.

HE paid for your Maple Leafs season tickets.

HE paid for your Argo season tickets.

HE paid for our cottage in the Muskoka’s.

HE paid for our speed boat.

HE paid for your country club membership and HE even pays for your monthly

dues!’

Shaking his head from side-to-side, the husband lowers the gun. He looks over at the cabbie and says, ‘What would you do?’

The cabbie replies, ‘I’d cover his ass with that blanket before he catches

a cold, and give him back the Leafs tickets.’”

Dave Hicks - was in Paris with his family over the holidays. Foind it beautiful, but crowded.

After Paris, France, he visited the Paris of the Prairies, Winnipeg, last week for an outdoor speed skating competition. He managed ONE video before his phone froze.

He’s busy with work again, including more work up in the mountains, possibly in Banff. He’s also likely to be involved in development work resulting from the plans for the land around Glenmore Landing.

Rob Beasant - opened by announcing that the folks in his office anticipate a very strong market in 2024. He also has a video prepared discussing the Calgary Real Estate Board’s (CREB) forecast for 2024.

You can see the video here: https://videolinks3.com/v/DPsUxB?from_email=1

The Calgary market stands out in Canada by being up 7.5%.

Strong prices are fuelled by in-migration into Alberta, both inter-provincial and international.

The real estate world expects interest rates to settle between 3 and 3.5. Supporting that reasoning is the belief that *someone* at the Bank of Canada will begin to realize that by keeping rates high, money currently going to higher mortgage payments is NOT circulating in the economy, creating a vicious negative economic circle.

At this point, Sean quickly hopped back in by noting that 2026 will be the most significant mortgage inflection point in Canadian history.

Rob and Sean mentioned that next month will be a great time for investment property.

Sean continued this “tandem” part of the meeting by sharing a quick rent story. He owns an investment property with terrific tenants, but they were forced to go to both tenants to let them know their rent would rise (I forget the exact figure - between 3 and 5%). The tenants were actually RELIEVED. Not at the rent increase (although they were grateful it was so little!), but at the fact that Sean and Dianna weren’t selling the property. Sean has made the same compromise that many ethical landlords have made: in exchange for good tenants, he’s kept rent hikes to a minimum.

On the landlord-tenant front, Rob recommends fixed lease terms rather than month-to-month. It’s much easier to deal with ending tenancies then.

Ross Mikkelsen - was in Fernie last couple of weeks. Some great family time on the hill before the deep freeze put the kibosh on playing outside.

Ross noted that the landowners are selling the former Totem on Edmonton Trail. He was wondering who owned that land. It’s not entirely surprise since Rona announced that they’re laying off staff and closing stores this week.

Ross thanked Dave for an emergency electrical fix.

He also thanked Brad for his great meticulous work on an all-over bits-and-pieces renovation of their home.

Finally, Ross also thanked Andy for the work being completed so far on an EPIC-sounding table. Like Viking Valhalla epic! Andy confirmed that it’s constructed using old Douglas Fir beams - and - more beams. It’s going to weigh a ton, but hopefully, it turns out beautifully at the end.

Don Davis - had more stories about visiting the former Minolta building whose construction he’d overseen. One thing Don remembered was how he wanted to mitigate office noise. Specifically, he wanted a soundproof office. He didn’t want anyone overhearing conversations, especially if they became, um, animated. That’s it. Animated. In any case, they put lead lining the walls, and the place was like a fortress.

In case we hadn’t mentioned it in Minutes past, Don went through the old building while getting rid of old electronics. It ended up being a 25-minute tour.

There’s an electronics recycling facility in the building now. He’s sure when he looked in, he saw, without exaggeration, 1000 hp laptops to be recycled. They do a great job.

Every year, Don and Pat give their kids money to invest. His son Mike invested in the uranium space successfully. Sean was nodding his head. Pick your plays carefully, but there are good investments in the space.

Tony Fisher - reported that he had lunch with Mel Gibson. Tony’s still relying on Mel for insurance. Mel’s spending more time in town, especially with this weather that’s just gone by.

Tony also mentioned seeing a very good documentary on former Maples Leafs star Börje Salming. It’s called Börje - The Journey Of A Legend. You can watch it on Crave. More info is available at https://www.crave.ca/fr/tv-shows/borje-the-journey-of-a-legend. Don Davis chimed in about having spent time with Borje in Toronto and noting what a sad end his life came to after being such a gentleman in all senses of the word.

Brad Pachal - thanked Ross for the Reno project and noted how he enjoys working on a referral basis. Among other things, it means that the majority of the team he’s working for good people.

Brad also had a chuckle at a Liberal prayer he shared via this image:

And I was remiss last week in not passing on a terrific story from Brad’s past life working at CIBC, being robbed by a legendary Canadian thief, Gerald Blanchard. There’s a documentary available on HULU. The trailer is on YouTube: https://youtu.be/k-YvdNPUESk?si=N6Y6pIfwtET9XB9T .

He shared three links for you to get more info the old-school way: by reading.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Blanchard

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2023-07-13/the-jewel-thief-hulu#:~:text=During%20the%20'90s%20and%20aughts,a%20secure%20case%20inside%20Vienna's

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/gerald-blanchard-canadas-craftiest-robber-is-back-in-thenews/article34788961/

Garry Friedrichsen - introduced a smart man’s conspiracy theory. ��

In his past life at Gillette, he was involved in category development. One of the important pieces of that work involved spotting trends before anyone else and capitalizing on them. He would take in huge volumes of information, analyze it, and then postulate a category.

So - he’s spotted this trend…..that has him convinced that everyone’s favorite dictator, Putin is actually Lex Luthor. He’s helping to steer the agenda of the countries that make up the BRIC block, sort of an “anti-group of seven” block trying to disrupt America’s hold on the world order. Right now, bit by bit, he’s helping to lead those countries away from USD. His goal is to weaken the American dollar to undermine US power abroad.

OLIGARCH PORN is what this is, ladies and gentlemen. Oh sorry. Gentlemen .

And that’s it for this week.

Early Birds, November 16th, 2023

Thu, 23 Nov 2023 05:20:39 GMT

Early Birds, November 16, 2023

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Early Birds November 9th

Thu, 16 Nov 2023 04:38:47 GMT

Early Birds November 9, 2023

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Early Birds, October 26, 2023

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 03:05:47 GMT

Early Birds, October 26, 2023

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Early Birds, October 19, 2023

Thu, 26 Oct 2023 04:37:40 GMT

Early Birds, October 19, 2023

Dan Kennelly - attended Mike Mikkelson’s son’s wedding. Football coach officiated.

Business at Trans Am Pipe is steady but not overly busy. Companies coming in to do audits, preparing for bigger clients coming up from the US next month.

Brett Bain - opened with thanks to Reid for conversation and advice.

OSI attended the Conference Alberta technology at a rink where all attendees and vendors stood on an inch of rubber over the ice sheet. It was F-F-F-FREEZING!

OSI had the pleasure of paying $2k for an 8 X10 booth.

Overall, Brett said it was a good event, but OSI left with a slightly sour impression of educators. They all seem “…eager to feed at the trough of the fastest fish.”

In the end, OSI is going to follow the money. They’re planning on doing more work with First Nations.

Rob Beasant - first Birds in a while, because he’s been helping his daughter get ready to go compete in Europe skiing at the international level. Working to get to the Italian Olympics. She’s been rehabbing from a discouraging injury earlier this year that’s healed well and her mindset is very positive.

As for the real estate market - Calgary is the exception to the rule of weakened markets. That being said, Rob’s group is starting to notice some weakness. For example, not as many multiple offers on places unless they’re properly priced.

Another important note: 20% of buyers are failing on qualifying. Rob is optimistic that interest rates are going to come down. Some “experts” are predicting 3% by the end of 2024.

$600k and less is still doing really well. Above that things are slowing down.

Condos are still on fire.

Don Davis - chimed in after that and said his daughter echoed Rob’s comment on condos.

Don’s brother’s been staying with Pat and Don for two weeks. He’ll “really miss him when they leave tomorrow.” (The “sarcastacid” didn’t hurt the table at Inglewood. Much.)

Don quickly tipped the hat to Bruce Roblin and his business, White’s Flowers. They’d received a stunning bouquet that was a work of art and lasted a long time.

Don ended with a question for Sean - but before that another Davis culinary pick: Guy’s bakery and cafe in Cochrane - recommended. Good food and prices.

Sean Baylis answered the question from Don regarding Gibson energy saying succinctly that they’re not RBC’s best pick. One of the issues there is activist meddling.

Jim Bladon - Ivor strong bridge construction coming around Deerfoot and Bow Bottom Trail. It’s going to be “fugly.” (My interpretation of Jim’s comments, not a quote)

On finance, interest rate hikes are definitely having an impact. One of the reasons 20% of people are failing to qualify for mortgages is that the stress test rate is now 8%!

Jim noted banks shedding 2-3% of staff. One of the contributing factors there is federal pressure to reduce fees. There’s a moratorium on the staffing questions with Servus and Connect First, but in 2024 after the vote, there will be redundancies that will need to be addressed.

Tony Fisher - provided a quick bulletin from the CFIB: they figured that as much as 60% of outstanding CEBA loans may not be repaid.

Insurance companies provide Business Interruption insurance are looking for very advanced forecasts including admin and other fees. It’s a lot more work, time-consuming work, to get one of those policies put in place.

Tony wrapped with a semi-sarcastic question to the group. SML struggles with sales with high-end homes. The owners will spend a not inconsiderable sum on every type of wood known to man throughout the house, but then….buy laminate pool tables. Really?!!

Reid Colbran - happy to be at Birds for the first time in a while. Life’s been busy and career is evolving again.

On the personal front, their family bought a second house. A 1970s house. It’s, um, a project. Yeah, that’s it, a “project.” Among other things to arrive with the house: the mortgage payment doubled but they didn’t get double the space.

At work, Reid’s back to a leading broker position. That comes with the attendant pressure but he’s looking forward to getting back out there after being in the associate position.

Reid offered a bit of an information bulletin as well: Alberta auto insurance rates are the highest in the country. Twenty percent of insurance fees go to lawyers. Legal industry is working on increasing claims which is driving costs up.

Garry Friedrichsen - opened with the fact that his brother-in-law runs a small IT firm in town. Had an accountability session as part of his involvement with the Calgary Executive Association. It’s part of a larger international body.

It’s a mentoring body for businesses. A lot of networking and connection opportunities. Membership, beyond a separate initiation fee is $1800 a year, and the expectations of members are clearly outlined on their web site: https://www.calgaryexecutives.ca .

Don Doolan - is getting over COVID again. Different than last time. Sinus swelling, persistent cough (dry), especially at night.

It’s out there - a pilot friend of Don’s says if you travel you’re likely going to get it. Europe and Asia in particular.

Don doesn’t share Rob’s optimism about interest rates. Feels there’s more blood to be spilled before things correct.

As a former developer the talk of affordable housing drives him crazy. It’s simply not viable to develop more without more investment and commitment from all levels of government.

15-20 years ago, $15-$20k of a house went to the city in permits. It’s more now, and with interest rates adding to the cost, “affordable” housing is not “affordable” or profitable to develop - not even in the long-term.

Joel Shapiro - picked up a contract that included accountability meetings. He’s enjoying the experience.

He took a week off to take in all the information he could on the Israeli-Hamas war.

He offered up some interesting insights, many of which were summed up nicely in this related article on the Hub, forwarded to me by Andy Lockhart: https://thehub.ca/2023-10-21/the-decision-about-where-to-stand-on-the-israel-hamas-war-is-an-obvious-one/ .

Joel’s addition to the article was: “Hamas does not represent all Palestinians. It’s a fanatical and authoritarian terror organization. Hamas does not want peace with Israel; it wants to conquer Israel. Hamas says “free Gaza” but their charter says, “kills Jews and destroy Israel.” Opposing Hamas is good for both the Jews and the Palestinians because it makes peace possible (difficult but at least possible). Listen to the Palestinians who are suffering—but not to Hamas. Hamas opposes peace and keeps starting wars that turn Gaza into a war zone.”

Ross Mikkelsen - is thinking of sending thank you letters to Quebec. Not.

His son is at McGill and although the tuition increase enacted by the Quebec government won’t affect him for various reasons, it’s still horrible. Ross summed it up this way: If his business was told to double their pricing BUT that the extra money won’t go to them, but to their competitors, he’d lose his marbles.

Brad Pachal - has water back. Basement cleaner locations, important to know.

Check insurance for an extension on seepage and underground.

Brad wrapped with a funny home hack for fireplace owners: dryer lint in old toilet paper tubes is great kindling. Who knew?!

Mike Boyles - was assisting a client that got on the wrong side of the CRA. They garnished their account. Mike’s company helped them file two years of taxes which led to some resolution around GST.

Mike also reported some well-known side effects of consuming too much wine. On his wife’s part in this case. He ended up going to a Doobie Brothers in concert after his wife was “helped along” by two bottles of wine and bought tickets. ��

Sean Baylis - reported that RBC is taking lots of calls about the impact of the Israeli -Hamas conflict.

RBC’s take is that there’s always initial shock, but depending on the event, typically, rationality comes back after 6 months.

More important from a market perspective is what Jerome Powell is going to say. Interest rates up? Or down? Or steady with caveats?

On interest rates, RBC hews closer to the optimistic outlook rather than the pessimistic.

Unemployment is quite low in Canada and the US. As a result, RBC sees more normalization in the market with growth and consolidation like what happened after 2008-2009.

As investors, think long-term. Always.

Sean is CALLING ALL GOLFERS - to the RBC event in South Carolina event after the masters. Reach out ASAP.

Sean left Birds and was off to Vegas - to see U 2 at Sphere. Then another golf event in Lost Wages.

Andy Lockhart - leans more to Don’s (and the other “experts”) more pessimistic perspective on interest rates. Lesson of history is that things will last longer and stay higher than conventional wisdom.

Remedies for coming problems might include 99 year amortizations like they have in other locales, like Japan.

Andy’s currently working with volunteers who build things that aid disabled people, the Ability Workshop Society. He finds it very rewarding to be able to help. As an example, he told of a recent project to build a platform to lift a recliner to the same height as the wheelchair.

Early Birds, October 12, 2023

Tue, 17 Oct 2023 23:20:55 GMT

Early Birds, October 12, 2023

Attendance was a little light last week, but that allowed for various business and personal tips to come forward and be discussed.

Among the highlights:

Ross Mikkelsen (seconded by Jim Bladon ): Tuxedo Cycle and Sports. Ross happened to go in looking for an inexpensive hockey bag to ship his daughter's equipment to her. After pointing Ross in one direction, the service person behind the counter pointed out used bags, and in the end, if I remember correctly, he wound up essentially GIVING Ross a bag and one other thing he'd been looking for. Well past above and beyond.

Then Paul Boucher mentioned Ross' shop Barbecues Galore for their continuing excellent work in annual visits to keep his studio fireplace in tip-top shape. They ordered and replaced a part for a 10-year-old fireplace to keep the place heated for the winter.

Paul also mentioned the trail Tire location across from Northill Mall. Their service resulted in a saving of over $200 on a recent visit.

At that point, Andy Lockhart mentioned Specialty Tires as a favourite tire spot in the city's south. They're at 421 53rd Ave SE.

This was followed by Dan Kennelly (I believe) mentioning Tire Pirates, who replaced Harper's Tires in one location. Excellent service and quick to get you in, which is not always the case during seasonal tire change season.

Staying with cars, National Glass was recommended as great for windshields.

Cal-Alta auto glass was also recommended. They already have reasonable, fair pricing and will give you $100 off for a donation to veterans.

In that flurry of recommendations came one “warning" about a solar energy installer/provider named Fluent Solar. Their BBB profile reflects the complaint record against the business. Paul Boucher mentioned he'd dig up the contact who had been the installer of record for Enmax when they were running a subsidized solar installation program. He'd been impressed. Here it is:

Adam Spouse

Partner

Water Valley Electrical Ltd

403-880-5140

aspouse@wvelectrical.ca

wvelectrical.ca

Garry Friedrichsen - had a terrific line about a business “…that should open a bakery – they have so many turnovers.”

Then another recommendation, this time for a travel tour company called Collette Tours. They're looking at Portugal and the Azores next year. Roughly $5k for next September after adding a few extra nights in Lisbon, Portugal. More details on the company and the specific tour can be found here: https://www.gocollette.com/en/tours/europe/portugal/the-azores?packagedateid=94620&packageid=14779 . Hey, if you time it right, you could visit Bird Michael McLennan!

Jim Bladon - spoke of a different area of interest in faraway places - specifically in the Israeli/Palestinian/Hamas conflict. It turns out that some of the barbers at Jim's barber of choice are of Palestinian descent. They definitely had an eye-opening version of events.

Kim is good after surgery. This operation has in the past needed to be handled in steps, as many as 5 different surgeries. This time, everything was done in one! Now Jim has to manage another impatient person in his house: Kim. (HE'S the other one! �� )

The potential Servus/Connect First credit union merger has a new end date after the earlier software snafu prevented the Connect First portion of the shareholder vote. November 9 is the date - and it will not be a digital/remote vote this time. It will be an in-person affair.

A few members of Jim and Tony's Rotary Club run a "glamping" facility, Glamping Alberta, at Castle Provincial Park. In case you're unfamiliar with Gamping, Andy Lockhart described it succinctly: "...when you pay a LOT of money to live like a homeless person." That being said, if your body's developed an aversion to camping "old-school" (i.e., sleeping on the ground), then these sorts of things might be a terrific getaway. They're planning an information session at Calgary's "big smoke," Grey Eagle Casino on November 23. You can see the accommodation here: https://glampingresorts.com/locations/castle-provincial-park-alberta/ . And as to what glamping can look like, there’s this photo:

Brad Pachal - was looking forward to their water supply issue being resolved this week. Weather delayed things a bit, but everything should have been set right by the time we meet again this Thursday.

Don Davis - was out in Bragg Creek and again enjoyed the Italian farmhouse. Not cheap, but the food was superb. He and Pat drove around a bit and admired some of the beautiful places on acreages.

Don also wished Sean Baylis had been at least week's meeting. He could have addressed the sudden uptick in Costco shares after Don introduced his brother to their liquor stores.

Don also mentioned their "Malbec in a Box," which is a good wine that works out to be roughly $8.95 a bottle.

Another note from the "It's good to be Don" restaurant file - although, to be fair, this wasn't a first-hand experience. Don noted that Big Rock has turned the brewery restaurant into a smokehouse and that it's supposed to be terrific.

Ross Mikkelsen - followed Don's Costco story with another recommendation: Kirkland-branded scotches.

In business, Ross tried the recently added Zoom software AI feature. The software provides a roughly annotated call transcript, including who said what. After looking at it, Ross figured it was accurate roughly 80% of the time. He was suitably impressed.

Ross also mentioned the current villain/hero/scapegoat in all news AI: ChatGPT. He found it a real timesaver when working to come up with descriptions for the Barbecues Galore catalog.

If you haven't tried it yet, he added his voice to the chorus of folks urging you to play a bit to understand what it can do.

Andy Lockhart - closed the curtain on the golf season at Priddis.

He managed more rounds than his back surgeon had recommended: zero. Andy chose to follow the physio's advice instead.

Now that golf season 2023 is in the books, he can turn his attention back to the PHD. That'd be Projects Half Done in Andy-speak.

Tony Fisher - fresh from a Rotary club meeting last week, noted the work of their "World Services committee." Tony was struck again that there was SO much need.

Steve Price - picked up on the AI theme - but from an energy perspective. The latest estimate on the electrical power required to keep AI going at its current rate will be in the terawatts!

He also noted that many companies/institutions are starting to use AI to detect AI. What could possibly go wrong?

In business, Steve reminded us of the complexity that Dwayne Vinck has described in the journey to get listed and approved on the TSX. Expander Energy heard back from the TSX. They have to alter the voting structure of the blocks of stock. They're working on it.

And that’s all until Thursday! See you at Inglewood.

Early Birds September 28, 2023

Tue, 03 Oct 2023 22:11:21 GMT

Early Birds Minutes, September 28, 2023

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Early Birds, September 21, 2023

Thu, 28 Sep 2023 03:23:29 GMT

Early Birds, September 21, 2023

Dan Kennelly - joked, "You should have seen the other guy!" after someone noticed the swelling on the side of his face. It's just part of regular dermatologist checks post-cancer. And just so you know, if you're interested in getting your own suspicious-looking "age marks," moles, or other spots of interest examined by a dermatologist, you DO require a referral from a GP.

On the work front, Trans Am Pipe employees who had the unfortunate task of visiting mills in Europe and other destinations on the continent will report on what they found. Some mills have shut down, and other locations have moved their millworks to other countries where supplies and labour are cheaper. More to come.

Mike Boyles - was in Kamloops and played some golf at Tobiano. After all the superlatives to describe the course came the one-word summary of the round: "humbling." You can see more information on Tobiano and other great Kamloops courses at this web page: https://blog.allsquaregolf.com/6-must-play-courses-kamloops-canada/

In work-related news, he's helped prepare two clients for bank meetings to convert high-interest financing into term loans. ATB and CIBC were the institutions. Among the benefits of the renegotiations for his clients is no personal guarantees required on the amounts. In one case a client secured a 250k operating line and 100k term line.

Tony Fisher - noted that the Bank of Montreal (BMO) is bailing out of the car loan business. It amounted to 3.7 % of their portfolio, but they've taken haircuts on many of those loans in the past few years.

Dwayne Vinck - spoke about recent CEBA announcements that create the illusion of a benevolent government providing an extended repayment deadline with forgiveness. It essentially amounts to smoke and mirrors, and the devil in the details is important.

The summary:

Repayment Deadline Extension:

Previously, CEBA loan holders had until December 31, 2023, to repay their loans in order to qualify for partial loan forgiveness of up to 33 percent.

The government noted that businesses will be busy on December 31, so they extended this deadline to January 18, 2024. The 2.5-week extension may make a difference for some businesses who are waiting to collect December invoices or business owners who are finishing Christmas vacations. For most business owners who intend to repay their full CEBA balance by December 31, it will make no difference at all.

As you'll recall the initial deadline for repayment was December 31, 2022, was extended by 1-year, and now a further 2.5 weeks.

Refinancing Extension:

For CEBA loan holders who initiate a refinancing application with the financial institution that provided their CEBA loan by January 18, 2024, the repayment deadline to qualify for partial loan forgiveness has been extended to March 28, 2024.

This extension provides more businesses and not-for-profits with additional time (nearly 3 extra months) to hear back from their financial institutions regarding their refinancing applications.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you intend to refinance your CEBA loan, make sure you initiate the refinancing application on or before January 18, 2024, at the financial institution you received the CEBA loan from to receive forgiveness (for refinancing loans secured before March 28).

If you intend to apply for a CEBA refinancing loan through a different financial institution than the one that you received the CEBA loan from (shopping for better interest rates?), you should ensure that this loan is in place and your CEBA loan is paid off on or before the January 18, 2024 deadline to ensure your business qualifies for the forgiveness.

Joel Shapiro - has had a hell of a summer and early fall. There was a lot of family visiting and family business this summer that kept him from Birds, but also illness (his and others), a broken finger, and the icing on the cake: kidney stones. What's the old adage? "What doesn't kill you….."

He's been involved in evolving and creating a bigger marketing push for his business Advanture Consulting.

One of the many gratifying things that keeps the lights on in his business is his work with CPAs across the country. Those workshops are continuing into the fall and early winter.

Joel again came armed with a handout - this time on leadership and Building Leaders. I scanned the handout - and you'll note in the that the document didn't *quite* make it out of breakfast "unscathed. Not sure what the small stain is near the bottom of the document. Probably best not to dwell on it. The document does include a few gems and is worth a look. The link to download it is at the bottom of the page.

Brad Pachal - working with Dave Hicks again this week. What was left to resolve about their work last week was to see who got the short straw and the work in the attic.

Brad gave us a "did you know?" Moment when talking about a project involving the restoration of a 1920's dining room chair (specifically, 1927).

He explained that the chair was assembled using something called hide glue.

Hide glue has been holding wood together for more than 5,000 years! It hasn't changed much; the formula still involves collagen from cattle hides. The beauty of hide glue is that when you need to take something delicate apart, only a little heat and moisture is required. From there, you simply pull the pieces apart, perform your repairs, and use hide glue to put it all back together. Sounds like a certain nursery rhyme with kings' horses and kings' men wouldn't have existed if they'd known about this stuff. Hide glue is still available at Lee Valley.

There's also a terrific web page that supplemented the knowledge that Brad gave us at Birds here: https://www.woodmagazine.com/wood-supplies/glues-adhesives/the-hot-dish-on-hide-glue. Don't get stuck in the rabbit hole. If you do, apply heat and moisture....

Jim Bladon - continued his How-does-one-man-do-this-many-things-and-not-use-a-clone show. Among other things, he attended an event at the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame with Chris Hadfield as a speaker featuring a vintage aviation fly-by.

When he wasn't there, or attending rotary events, or the World Petroleum Congress, or at Aspen Crossing exploring the Terror Train and the Polar Express, he was dealing with the merger between the Servus and Connect First credit unions. Servus successfully completed their vote with 85% voting in favour, BUT the tech cratered during the Connect First vote. Jim was dealing with text messages as the Birds proceeded and was headed out to calls about possible solutions after Birds.

Regarding Aspen crossing, Jim said it was a good family outing, with highlights being the Terror Train, and Polar Express. Book online here: https://www.aspencrossing.com .

Don Davis - found it interesting that Dollar General in the US has not done as well as Dollarama in Canada. Don made that comment in Sean's general direction, to which Sean confirmed that RBC likes Costco better than Dollar General as an investment in the US AND that RBC holds a lot of Dollarama.

Don then went on to talk about Dave Reid's son, who runs a boat storage business out in Invermere.

As part of the business, he also rents out party boats. A group rented one last week. At one point, a guy dove into the water to retrieve a hat that got blown off the boat. He passed away. Don didn't derive a tip of that, but the old lifeguard in me has one: look before you leap! Especially when you're jumping off a party boat in a lake in the dark.

Sean Baylis - picked up from there with news that markets are not liking what they heard from Jerome Powell. He described the current pause on US interest rate hikes as a "hawkish pause.". There may be more coming if the central banks aren't happy with where inflation is at. They're still nominally targeting 2% and may want to put one more nail in the coffin of inflation. An upshot of all this in Canada is that RBC anticipates a recession.

There's a lot of pressure to come on consumers.

A couple of other market notes: Oil producers (Saudis and Russia) are still tightening supply to keep prices high.

Then…. it's a good time to be defensive in portfolios while waiting for rate cuts. It'll be a good time to be an investor when rate cuts go ahead. Stocks with healthy dividends and bonds are a good place to park money while you wait.

Sean had surgery two Fridays ago to address an infection that had plagued him a good chunk of the summer. The surgery went well, but he's still moving slowly.

A final bit of news was also personal: Sean's son was made the Notre Dame hockey team captain in Wilcox, Saskatchewan. It's an outstanding way for him to finish his school hockey career.

Jim Bladon - resident superfan of all things hockey (except for maybe the IPCC hockey stick graph on climate change), noted that there are a lot of former captains in the Hall of Fame

Andy Lockhart - was not jumping up and down exactly, but he was enjoying his first week of this golf season with FOUR games.

He's been paired with some interesting folks when some of his regulars missed games this year. That included one particularly mournful character: a pony-tail-trailing-earbud-wearing BMW-driving-asshat who took four practice swings (with four accompanying divots each time) and who would also laser e-v-e-r-y long shot. We didn't hear if that walking, talking poster-child defining "first world problem" made it to the 18th.

Matt Dart - opened with an item to file under "That's interesting." Ai can now identify gender via iris scan "assumed at birth."

Then work - and NEW work. Matt is no longer at Johnson Controls but is instead with the Master Group. So far, Matt is impressed, and it sounds like with a capital "I." Master just flew all the new employees (and perhaps more) to Calgary for a meeting. They treated everyone really well. They delivered offers last week, and among the many terrific pieces of the offers is that since Master would like all the JC people to start October 2, which would void their severance payout from Johnson (and JC knew that!), Master offered to pay out what they would miss in severance for starting early. Master has been voted as one of Canada's best-managed companies. If you'd like a quick look under the hood at Matt's new place of work, visit this link: https://www.master.ca/professional/

Ian Campbell - took a well-deserved rest away from friggin' insurance company conversations related to the fire at their Sunterra West location.

He spent the last couple of weeks in Europe. The trip was actually planned three years ago, but you know…COVID. It's a bunch of university rugby buddies. Ian's wife Jo-Ann's brother had a condo in Mallorca. It was 5-star fantastic for five days.

The condo's on the NW part of the island, in Betlem (town name).

Here's a photo:

Ian's verdict was that this was a better destination than Maui!

It borders a national park and features, among other things, beautiful mountain bike trails.

Among the other highlights was a side trip to St Emillion in France - the heart and soul of the Bordeaux wine region, then Paris, London, and home.

Dave Hicks - was back from ice fields the night before Birds last week.

Dave somehow pulls off the feat of sounding somewhat cheerful and optimistic, even talking about stupidity, like his company signing a PO for a project up there that requires Hixie Electric to carry political liability insurance to the tune of 5 million dollars. The paperwork comes via the CCDC (Canadian Contract Document Commission), which sounds like a government make-work project that's gone awry. Then again, don't they all? Anyway, here's a rabbit hole you can venture down so you can experience a little of Dave's misery: https://www.ccdc.org/documents/

Andy Lockhart left the group with a reading recommendation - an article in the National Post by Jack Mintz with the headline: "An Alberta Pension Plan would be entitled to half of CPP assets. You can read it here: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/jack-mintz-an-alberta-pension-plan-would-be-entitled-to-half-of-cpp-assets-a-no-brainer .

Of course, it wasn't long after venturing through that light food for thought that I also found another interesting article by Alberta economist Trevor Tombe on the same subject. Specifically, he did a 28-page quantitative analysis that Andy will no doubt have read by tomorrow morning after he looks it up here. There is a summary on the front page: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4576950 .

It's not quite as sunny as the UCP/Lifework propaganda.

Early Birds Minutes, September 7th, 2023

Sat, 09 Sep 2023 22:44:40 GMT

Early Birds Minutes, September 7th, 2023

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Early Birds Minutes, June 29th, 2023

Thu, 06 Jul 2023 00:43:14 GMT

Early Birds Minutes, June 29th, 2023

Gentlemen - we've entered the brave new world of AI,

Summary of Meeting Minutes from June 29 ^th partially created with ChatGPT (about 30%). It shaved about an hour off the process.

- Joel Shapiro provided a positive health update, stating that after the initial scare, his wife is asymptomatic and has undergone various tests. Health staff will continue to monitor her for further issues due to the liquid around her heart.

He also discussed the benefits of checking in with your employees and the powerful benefits that can yield, including more motivated employees and trust, respect, and loyalty. He handed out a terrific summary document which you can download using the button below this paragraph.

- Brett Bain mentioned the dry conditions in Strathmore and the dire situation of farmers. He shared the tragic incident of a friend losing their 25-year-old son in an accident involving another son backing over him.

- Mike Boyle noted that work was going well with various clients, but what was on his mind was the budget for their condo. He pointed out that the board prepared them for increased costs. However, there was a significant and largely unexpected increase in electricity costs for the complex, from $70k to $150k annually. Naturally, the owners' bills will increase.

- There was also a significant increase in condo fees over two years, from $636 to $850 monthly.

- Don Davis talked about productivity and Canada's poor standing in world productivity rankings, mentioning a conversation with his 16-year-old grandson regarding a summer job that fully displayed the problem. When Don asked if he would get one, the son looked at him as if he had two heads.

Don reminisced about his bulb farm experience at 14-15, working manually with a spade for 35 cents an hour - and a LOT of hours.

After more news of residential school graves, he also wanted to make a point. He clarified that many children died of natural causes, particularly TB, emphasizing the importance of acknowledging all of the facts.

- Matt Dart shared insights from an employer check-in practice at Johnson Controls, highlighting that regular check-ins resulted in up to a 70% increase in productivity.

He then introduced us to the science of equipment pressure ratings. He explained that the letter of the law changed over the past few years to indicate that everything connected to a pressure vessel had to be rated the same as the vessel itself. Authorities had seldom been rigid with the law. The law is now being enforced according to the letter of the law, and it will mean substantial additional costs for compliance for many customers. Up to $50,000 in some instances.

- Dave Hicks discussed the economies people can realize with LED bulb conversions. Some clients can completely ignore complicated and expensive lighting schemes simply by converting to LED.

He also grinned while mentioning his daughter's new driver's license and her drive to Airdrie to get cookies. From South Calgary! Clearly, she isn't yet responsible for paying for gas.

- Don Doolan expressed concern about a strike on the West Coast ports and hoped that the federal government would intervene the way the US Government had when a similar situation occurred.

He also updated us on some of the particulars of the friends who'd needed an ambulance and medical tests while they were visiting the Doolans in Montana.

USD 1950 for the ambulance, $6200 for the hospital, more for the tests, likely around 17-$18k in the end.

Don's friend also forgot an essential piece before starting the process - calling the insurance company BEFORE everything got rolling at the hospital to get a case number. Everything is handled between the insurer and the US medical system when a case number is in place. Don's friend has to dig up all sorts of details, receipts, etc, for the insurance company.

So, the tip from that is to CALL the 800 number provided with your insurance policy when you need to use the insurance services you're paying for. That gets you the all-important case number.

- Tony Fisher reported on a large SML sale to a reserve in Northern Alberta involving schools, shuffleboard, hockey games, and popcorn machines. It turns out that all of those things are incentives to motivate attendance which is a significant problem on reserves. When a visiting indigenous community saw some of the toys and the benefits, they desired to acquire some of the same gear.

- Ross Mikkelsen shared that Barbecues Galore hires many immigrant workers to fill out their hard-working staff. And Hard work applies FAR MORE regularly to immigrant workers than the Canadian-born hirees. He sees that same story play out every day.

He raised the issue of catalytic converter thefts, with someone he knows having their converter stolen twice. Once when they went to the movies, and then a second time, with the theft occurring brazenly in the middle of the day on a Sunday

- Steve Price picked up the theme of employee check-ins OFF-SITE. He specifically mentioned having productive and positive conversations with his daughter as an employee away from work.

- Even in retirement, Steve continues to work with three companies. He discussed the mental health system challenges, which they'd hoped to address with one of the businesses partially. Uptake has been slow, possibly because that new business idea works against the system. That's because the system currently incentivizes repeated visits rather than resolving the issue efficiently and in a timely way. Successive appointments, unfortunately, exact a heavy toll on individuals.

- Rob Beasant reported a sales decrease of over 25% in the real estate market due to supply and demand issues. He criticized the Bank of Canada for not considering the impact of interest rates on inflation. Once they eliminate the effect of interest rates, the inflation rate is closer to the Bank's nominal target of 2%.

He again affirmed that new home builds take about a year before residents can move in. Builders are very cautious with the number of lots they release for builds because of supply chain issues. They fear releasing more would extend possession timelines due to labor and supply chain constraints.

Rob also pointed out that the various federal and provincial foreign ownership policies negatively affect less affluent, hard-working immigrant families who struggle to find housing. In contrast, wealthy immigrants can afford to buy homes, exacerbating the shortage.

Early Birds Minutes, June 15th and 22nd, 2023

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 04:28:07 GMT

Early Birds June 15, and 22, 2023

Dan Kennelly - a bit slower the week leading up to the 22nd. Some customers booked out for the year but they have their materials so won’t be providing Trans Am Pipe with more business..

Dan told the story of an incident at one customer’s headquarters. An employee, untrained on a forklift, flipped a 200-300k piece of equipment off the truck and ruined it. Normally this company is very safety conscious, but all it takes I s momentary slip. From the meeting on the 15th – an observation from Dan that takes us from San Francisco to Calgary with a direct economic impact. In San Francisco, downtown is being deserted by companies due to crime and cost. The average rent for an apartment is $4500.

Here in Calgary, although not as extreme, a similar thing is happening – and this is where Andy Lockhart hopped in to give a case in point: a cabinet maker who moved to Diamond Valley from Calgary saw his property taxes go from $27k to $3k.

Andy continued by circulating an article headlined Canadian Economic Productivity in Freefall from the National Post. Among other nuggets from the author of the report the article sprung from, Trevor Tombe, Ontario is equal to Alabama in productivity. Alberta, best in the country, still doesn’t crack the 10 of the richest US States. The article and the link to Trevor Tombe’s information on The Hub are here: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/canadian-economic-productivity-is-in-freefall .

Here’s another great article from Andy via one of his favourite sites, The Hub. Andy circulated this on the 15th after the Bank of Canada hiked its rate – unexpectedly for some. The carnage ain’t over: https://thehub.ca/2023-06-09/rudyard-griffiths-dont-expect-the-bank-of-canada-to-stop-hiking-rates-anytime-soon/ .

Brad Pachal – Thanked Dave Hicks and his company Hixie Electric for the second week running for work on a large project for a client. Client is delighted with the quality of the work. Brad went on to speak about one of his paint suppliers, Belair. They cannot keep enough stock. A local company that services and maintains large fuel storage tanks also shops Belair and they purchase $30k a week of product. To say nothing of the commercial builders/painters.

Some people he’s aware of have found creative ways to avoid production and delivery delays. For instance, a framer he knows has built a Quonset so he’s able to pre-fabricate walls away from weather to continue a stream of construction.

Jim Bladon – was out in Kananaskis camping week before last. Rainy and chilly at night. His tip: double-check your trailer and tent before you head out. A seal on a skylight leaked. A lot. He was able to get everything he needed, parts and a good price for everything at Princess Auto. Better price than any of the usual RV places.

Steve Price – continues to be in the running for the smartest person in the room by opening his comments with the Jevons Paradox in relation to the environmental lunacy currently afflicting our government among others.

From Wikipedia, this succinct explanation:

“In economics, the Jevons paradox (sometimes Jevons effect) occurs when technological progress or government policy increases the efficiency with which a resource is used (reducing the amount necessary for any one use), but the falling cost of use increases its demand, increasing, rather than reducing, resource use.The Jevons effect is perhaps the most widely known paradox in environmental economics. However, governments and environmentalists generally assume that efficiency gains will lower resource consumption, ignoring the possibility of the effect arising."

That Wikipedia entry is a very interesting rabbit hole and available here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox .

From the 15th meeting , Steve had spoken to the same theme and reported interesting stats on efficiency and renewable energy. For example, a pure Electric Vehicle has a higher carbon footprint than a hybrid.

Forty percent of public charging stations don’t work.

This quote also raised eyebrows: “The overall carbon reduction of 90 hybrid vehicles over their lifetimes is 37 times as much as a single battery electric vehicle.” You’ll find that among a quick analysis here: https://www.kbb.com/car-news/report-toyota-can-build-90-hybrids-or-1-ev/#:~:text=“The%20overall%20carbon%20reduction%20of,before%20igniting%20their%20gasoline%20engine .

After that little body of evidence, Andy Lockhart , summed things up thus: “…never underestimate the power of a politically correct bad idea.”

Matt Dart – is planning on traveling and has been reading up on eSims rather than obtaining a second physical SIM card for his smartphone – which he would have to physically swap out. An eSim allows you to install a second “virtual” SIM with an international number and plan that you can activate when you’re traveling.

Paul Boucher hopped in with confirmation that he’d used the Orange eSim plan on the strength of the advice from one of his favourite IT people. He’d used the Europe Orange plan. 20 gb – and everything included, calls, text AND data for 39.99 € for a 20 day period. It was seamless and easy and came with great instructions. Ross Mikkelsen chimed in with his experience with another provider uBiGI. Their plans were 30 days and great rates on what was needed, possibly even a better fit for Matt’s needs. Links to both for your own future reference: UBIGI: https://cellulardata.ubigi.com , and Orange: https://travel.orange.com/en/ .

Matt had also met a guy from Aussie investment firm MacQuarrie Group. He, in turn told Matt a story about MRU students who distinguished themselves as the best in the class in a class of international students. Proud Calgarian moment.

Don Doolan – harkened back to Brad’s note on the framer building some prefabricated homes/structures in his Quonset. He recalled when talisman tried prefab, they had their ass kicked because customers would get them on-site and want changes which cost a fortune to execute.

Don also picked upon Dan Kennelly’s forklift story by regaling us with the tale that he’d tipped over a forklift in his youth, and then did the same to a truck. He got PROMOTED both times!!

From the meeting on the 15th , Don gave us a heck of a cabin life story.

They had guests down and one of them became violently sick. They called the ambulance, and fearing the worst due to the symptoms on display had them evaluated for a stroke. Among the symptoms, the guest couldn’t stand straight. It didn’t appear to be as “simple” as vertigo. In any case she was taken into Whitefish. They had a complete work up in 2 1/2 hours.

Don was impressed at how efficient the health care system in the area is since a lot of it is volunteer-based.

The tip in all of that - and you’ve heard it from various Birds and other sources: make sure you’re well insured.

Sean Baylis - Earnings season is over so the market is essentially in a sort of watch and wait mode.

Energy has some interesting opportunities. Global demand will continue to go up, production is flat.

Dividend stocks like Enbridge, Pembina (over 6%).

GICs also have higher rates right now, over 5%.

Bonds are discounted and might be a good place to park things over the summer.

Individual companies of note that came up: Dollarama - big, sustained growth even if not a big dividend.

Sean notes from the 15th : Tips on investing in AI - ETF - basket of 20 companies. RBOT is the ticker. Holds 30% of its company holdings in Japan. 7% NVIDEA.

If there’s any pullback in the summer, it will be good buying opportunity.

On energy companies you might be considering, some of these energy companies could be debt free in the next few years. Good in a time of high interest rates.

Tony Fisher chimed in with his observations on Dollarama in the NE. They have MANY outlets.

Then he went on to mention Freestone Produce: retail out the front, wholesale out the back. It’s so busy that there’s no parking for neighbouring businesses.

From the Freestone Produce web site: “Freestone Produce is a family-owned produce distributor located in the heart of Northeast Calgary. Going on its 8th year serving the Calgary community, Freestone Produce is a staple in Calgary’s produce market and rapidly growing in recognition and rapport. Freestone Produce provides staple produce items to a wide variety of different food-based establishments, as well as local Calgarians, looking for an affordable price on quality produce.” The web site is https://freestoneproduce.com .

Value village is also big. Tony’s perspective on retail is of course, ridiculously well informed, and he noted that a lot of these so-called discount stores are now sought after anchors for shopping centers that have lost the likes of Nordstrom. These stores and thrift stores are huge with a younger demographic.

Dwayne Vinck – started with a shout out to Ross and the south Barbecues Galore store. Dwayne picked up a barbecue from sales rep Matthew Knowles. When he returned home from camping, everything was installed. It was a thing of beauty!

It’s a Napoleon product with a15 year warranty, almost unheard of these days.

Camped out in Bluerock campground in the Sheep River area in Kananaskis ( https://www.albertaparks.ca/parks/kananaskis/sheep-river-pp/information-facilities/camping/bluerock/ ). Nice time despite the weather. No cell service, which was great.

Mike Boyles - Business development going well with clients. And that’s all good, but he had more important things to pass on. He had an epiphany while playing in a charity golf tournament: he sucks in inclement weather.

Notes from the 15th : his son broke his leg week before last playing rec league soccer.

They operated quickly and now he’s partly bionic with a titanium rod.

One business note worth passing on. There’s a lot going on his business with a major oil and gas company that acquired a company in the US. They’re looking for economies of scale in supply chains and logistics.

Ross Mikkelsen – heads down busy season at all the stores. Despite that, he opened with thanks to Dwayne and Sean and Brad for looking after them. He’d also thanked Brett on the 15th for some help.

Ross and other stakeholders are watching political administrations across jurisdictions trying to ban gas. The industry is wary. The ripple effects from that sort of action could devastate the industry.

Don Davis – was at Fairmont Springs after not visiting since 1995. They couldn’t believe all the development that’s happened since then.

Still on travel – Don and Pat have decided they’re going to sell their Victoria condo. The condo board is frankly, insane. Despite mixed feelings on giving up the place, he figured they’ll save $30k a year in taxes and insurance.

Don brought up a story about Canada Bread paying a 50 million dollar fine for colluding on bread prices. Grupo/Bimbo is the parent company now, employing 45,000 people worldwide, and although it’s the maximum allowable fine, it’s pocket change for these people.

Don then mentioned that Pat wants new grips on her golf clubs. Andy Lockhart to the rescue! He said Priddis would do it the same day. Someone else mentioned Willow Park - same thing.

Dave Hicks – naturally was on the road to Jasper the day of the “untimely winter storm” that saw major snowfall all up and down the parkway. It was so bad that Dave went off the road near Jasper. Everything was fine, partly because he ended up between trees in a deep ditch. He was mighty impressed with AMA and their 3-word triangulation and locating system.

His tip: don’t rush. He was going just a bit fast for conditions.

Notes from the 15th : His daughter is dancing in national Highland Dancing Championships in July. There’ll be some pipin’!

One last thing from Dave re the tentative densification solution to the housing supply problem. The biggest issue from his perspective is upgrading the electrical. There’ll be a huge cost since most houses being upgraded were built with 100 amp. A house being expanded already required 116 amps before expansion.

JD MacDonald – noted that it was a bit quieter in business last week; people seem to have put the brakes on again. He and Phyllis enjoyed enjoying the forwarded glow of his son and daughter taking in Formula one in Montreal, mostly through the extra time spent with their grandkids. JD was driving his grandson around and was surprised that the little guy knew the punch buggy game. He was merciless.

One of the things JD discovered and appreciated was the security around kid drop off at schools.They do a good job of protecting the kids.

Garry Friedrichsen – opened with the first line of his standup act: “How do you spell China in Canadian English? Dollarama.” Ba dum ch! ”

Reflecting on the Canada Bread price fixing and collusion scandal, Garry noted that in the past the all purpose cover your ass statement was that “…pricing is at the sole discretion of the retailer.” That statement relieved Gillette or Johnson and Johnson of responsibility for possible collusion even if pricing was discussed. In this case, of course, Loblaws and Weston were the ones who brought this to light in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

Notes from the 15th : People and companies leveraging AI with Chat GPT and Google’s Bart.

Garry finds it interesting to see who’s using it. He also finds interesting how teachers are fighting illegitimate uses of the tech by students. There’s a sort of “arms race” between software companies writing software to detect papers written by AI and the AI trying to be closer to “human-level” composition, etc.

Google’s Bart is dialogue based which is interesting – rather than text prompts for Chat GPT. Bart’s not available for use in Canada yet though.

Garry’s advice was to try it. Experiment with it. Don’t be afraid of it without knowing what it is in your hands.

And IF you do use it, it’s still worth checking your sources. AI will make sources up - warning is there in the software, but it’s easy to be fooled after being impressed with how fast it generates output.

Ian Campbell - finally sold the RV after close to a year of having it up for sale. Prompted by Jim’s camping story, Ian remembers patching the roof in 34-degree weather. He is NOT gonna miss that.

In business, Calgary Hearing Aid and Audiology signed a new lease at Marlborough. It’s a nice deal, but management changes so fats that different requirements from different people can make your business head spin! For example, CHA&A wanted to install carpet and splash on a new coat of paint. They got a request from architectural controls for CAD drawings, etc. just to change carpet! Engineering drawings were probably next for the coat of paint.

Notes from the 15th : Ian’s looking at trends in marketing, including an old fave: print advertising.

So far his experience with a new digital ad campaign is underwhelming.

The reason for the new look at their marketing is that their existing campaign, which had been performing well has delivered steadily declining results since January of this year.

Ian finished a book called “Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity” by Peter Dattia. Good read for health and wellness, and available at Amazon among other places: https://www.amazon.ca/Outlive-Longevity-Peter-Attia-MD/dp/0593236599 .

Other entertainment tips: The new Marvel TV show, the secret invasion – essentially the story of Nick Fury is very good. Ian also mentioned Black Mirror – and a standalone episode released as a film called Bandersnatch named after the Lewis Carroll character. It gives the viewer decision points and every decision affects the actual outcome for the main character on screen. It’s on Netflix and easy to find.

From the 15th:

Rob Beasant - is crazy busy in real estate. There aren’t as many sales, but it’s taking about six times the amount of work to get anything done.

Sales in May were down 8%. Prices are 4% higher. Avg price for a home in Calgary is an eye-popping $674k.

Rob recounted how in 2014 condo construction started in earnest and the industry overbuilt. The market on them was stagnant until this year and now the condo market is on fire.

Supply is still the dominant issue in detached housing. If you buy a new home now, you can expect a move-in date of NEXT JULY!

Joel Shapiro - opened with the slightly frightening news that they’ve discovered that his wife has liquid around her heart. Apparently, it’s usually minor, so they’re hoping for that.

Joel’s daughter working with him through the summer. He’s enjoying that.

He’s busy hiring other friends to help with new client orientation.

Joel brought another great piece for us to read about conversations with employees and leaders. His Assessing Talent summary includes three things you can always be listening for.

The handout Assessing Talent is accessible via the button below.

Last word to Andy – a little nugget from the meeting on the 15th: “… watching Liberals try to govern is similar to watching Edward Scissorhands make balloon animals.”

Early Bords, June 8, 2023

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 04:33:17 GMT

Early Birds, June 8, 2023

Dan Kenelly - Business is steady, not too crazy. A few shops they deal with are very busy. For example, one shop is sending work out to Houston and vice versa.

US - continuing to grow exponentially compared to canada.

Another example of this is a new Gulf of Mexico off loading facility. For the super tankers that can't come all the way in to regular offloading ports.

Power grid issues - and I can't remember if this was local story or a nationwide story. Utilities are warning users not to plug their EV’s in at peak times to avoid the grid going down, and rotating blackouts. Enmax is doing a refit on one of their biggest units, which is a part of the issue.

Matt Dart - Johnson Controls is humming along and there's work on the horizon. Reed Deer Hospital has selected engineers so that large project is coming.

The LRT Green Line engineering in place, so that’s coming.

Matt's been attending workshops/seminars/meetings with decarbonization for buildings as a topic. Biofuels are a thing but apparently only make sense in certain jurisdictions, like Kitchener and Lethbridge.

As a result, wood pellets and wood byproducts are being considered. But they need huge reservoirs and huge bins for waste.

Johnson Controls was actually considering a biomass boiler line, until they realized they might sell.....one.

Steve Price - who's invented more ways to convert energy than you can shake a stick at was chomping at the bit as Matt was talking.

Steve's first point is that at this point, at scale, NOTHING is as efficient from a conversion to energy standpoint than fossil fuels. Period. The end. Hydrogen is terribly inefficient and one and on he could have gone on but summed up with these three points:

Biofuels - wood can be made into synthetic diesel fuel or methanol. Conversion of the biomass into those fields makes the energy or fuels easier to transport.
Jurisdictions in Europe are thinking of banning wood pellet burning because burning pellets releases terrible pollution in the form of particulates. The combustion is incomplete so not as efficient.
There is a Carseland plant that will turn wood products into synthetic diesel.

Steve went on to tel us about another deeeeeeeep web site that will be very interesting for al critical-thinkers among the Birds, i.e., all of us on a good day. It's called the Visual Capitalist and it is truly a rabbit hole for the ages. They convert reliable data into easy to digest visual forms. The one visual data piece that caught Steve's eye was the Generational Power Index. Which generation wields the most power? There are some surprises, and much good information here: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/gpi/ .

Tony Fisher - Quick, funny and dirty this week. Tony's drawing a line between politics and sports since the city seems to be adopting a best out of three format on voting for important issues. Canada fireworks, city administration's housing affordability report, the residential parking permits. One can only wonder what they can waffle on next!

Jim Bladon - On the power grid recounting how his son spent a few days in Vancouver. Vancouver has the most of the E-Semi trucks out. BUT - the grid was taken down on Sunday when FOUR of these things plugged in to charge. FOUR charging E-semis took the grid down. Go Greens!

The Canadian Central bank's rate hike was not a surprise. Another increase likely. Canadian banks may hike again in September.

Jim was out in Hannah playing golf. He (and the farmers out there he spoke with) have NEVER seen Eastern Alberta that dry. Rotating Water bans in place.

Crops will suffer. So that means prices will rise on food and cattle grain. Agriculture will suffer with other rising price inputs.

Brad Pachal - is booking work into June 2024 !!

Joel Shapiro - was having a great week. he's also got lots to look forward to: A half day workshop in June and another September for 45 people. What Joel especially loves about this is that each workshop is followed by individual coaching sessions to support, follow up and help build some new habits and solidify new perspectives acquired in the workshop.

He recounted also a McKinsey discussion about talent management. Pulled from a book called The War For Talent written in 1997 which helped to reshape how people sought, and fought for the best talent for their companies. Field by that

Don - wishes he was 20 years younger to take advantage of all this great information.

Middle grandson - what he wants to do. Movie director. Don says - I mean a JOB! Sister as an artist hasn’t had a job in two months living in Vancouver.

Son of the owner of Ben’s Deli - wanted to run a Théâtre. So did and wanted to cover the seats with velvet. First advice - cover the seats with assholes. Eventually forced to sell

Dwayne - grid issues, systems designed to work around peak times and fluctuating prices. Some collusion around scheduled shutdowns to maximize and take advantage and manipulate the price cycle.

Balancing pool is not much more than an administrator managing tax repayment to Alberta tax payers.

Should act as a commercial force in the market. The NDP neutered the pool.

No one understood or studied what the effects of changes to the pool.

Ross - inflation piece - understand labor and real estate still rising, but retail is dropping prices, sometimes aggressively.

It could take a few merchants down, including Webber. Chinese price pressure is downward trying to feed that manufacturing beast.

Kai - applies for a job in Portland. Gets it.

Thinking cool. Turns out it’s Portland, Maine.

JD - fairly steady. Reached a balance where things are breathing easier. Phone quieter the last week or so.

Their costs on hot water tanks are up up to 8%.

They’re running into consumers doing parts of Job rather than the whole thing required.

Andy - increase cycle at the us and Canadian central banks will go longer than anyone thinks. Forecast that the interest rate rises will continue.

People are victims of hapless governments that simply don’t get it.

Liked the delegation piece. Challenge is getting executives to delegate at ALL.

The challenge is to know when to grow.

Keep our small and keep it all is one approach.

Early Birds, June 1, 2023

Thu, 08 Jun 2023 04:55:17 GMT

Early Birds, June 1, 2023

Gentlemen,

Dwayne Vinck – Briefly discussed Early Birds Financial Statements. COVID and post COVID expenses put the club through a bit of a wringer, but the overall state of finances is good. The current fee structure should keep us even.

Once again, Dwayne made clear the club has room for more members.

Brett Bain – discussed the CDAP – Canada Digital Adoption Program. It’s a grant provided by the federal government to “Get a grant and access to expert advice to increase online sales, reduce costs, better manage inventory and more. “. OSI has been approved and will be going forward with some interesting plans after getting expert advice. Paul Boucher followed suit with his. Waiting on the application. Learn more and apply starting here: https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canada-digital-adoption-program/en .

Jim Bladon – sensed nervousness around rates announcement on the 7th. At the time of last week’s meeting, he felt there was a 35-40% chance of a bump. Make that 100.

Rotary – has terrific business after hours events. Last Wednesday night in agriculture. President Canadian Castle association, and another speaker, talked genetics and bleeding-edge tech in Ag.

Discussed topics: Ag challenges are the same as other businesses including labour costs. Foreign workers are the best option, but robotics is also an alternative in some operations. It’s a very expensive up front investment.

Paul Boucher – celebrated 26 years in business with his narration services company, Right Voice Communications in May.

Garry Friedrichsen – Went and enjoyed South Block thanks to Jim’s recommendation. Garry also enjoyed a local band called Double Suede at Vertigo Theatre. 50-90s country rock and rockabilly. There’s a great profile on them here: https://www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/lifestyles/calgarys-doublesuede-breathes-new-life-into-old-school-country-rock-and-rockabilly-100829483/# .

Garry also spoke about how amazed he was with some of the knowledge in a book recommended by Joel Shapiro: Let There Be Water Book. The book details how a small land locked country like Israel has become likely the world’s biggest innovator in water-related technologies, including desalination. The Israelis are consulting for governments around the world on irrigation including California.

Andy Lockhart - recovery continues from back surgery. His quote: “I haven’t done anything stupid yet.”

Andy also contributed to our colloquialisms library describing the issue with his and Sue’s central air conditioning unit: Again, I quote: “…plugged tighter than a bull’s ass at fly time.”

Local golf trivia – the head pro at Inglewood Sam Kirkness, and Priddis’s pro Eric Lock, both qualified to play in the qualifier for the Canadian Open.

Political prediction: Election with a thin majority buys Danielle 6 months before the knives come out.

One insider Andy spoke with said that Danielle MUST fire her chief of staff or she won’t make it to Stampede week.

Phone call with Arthur Pawlowski should have been cause for her entire staff to be fired.

Joel Shapiro – Fresh off working with Chartered Professional Accountants in New Brunswick and BC. Dealing with goals and metrics with the CPAs.

He’s been working with Paramount executives this week.

Joel also shared a one Delegation hand out that was a brilliant summation of WHY delegate – and how to convince recalcitrant executives to just DO it. You can download it by clicking t he link below the minutes.

Steve Price – noted that two large insurance companies were pulling out of California because the risks versus the value too high because of wildfires.

California is about to legislate that insurance companies can’t leave.

Steve also joined Andy in enriching our colloquialisms library with “…something here that gravels my ass…”. That something is the whole unscientific, virtue signaling madness that a zero-carbon world is chasing hydrogen boom.

Hydrogen conversion is horribly inefficient compared to firing natural gas into a turbine. There was a terrific article in the Financial Times where you can find some of the information Steve discussed: https://www.ft.com/content/6e22930b-a007-4729-951f-78d6685a7514 .

Tony Fisher – reflected back to living on a farm a long time. He noted how there are many family farm issues especially with succession and with passing down the farm from generation to generation.

Tony also talked about a foreign worker SML hired, a Jamaican man with an electrical background. He talked about the difficulty of getting simple information between countries, in this case a driver’s abstract to justify the category of license this driver should have for insurance purposes. Getting the information from Jamaica was one thing, but then SML’s insurance company insisted on classifying him as a class 7, rather than class 5 because they couldn’t get the information the way THEy wanted it. That information snafu is costing SML an extra $9,000 a year in insurance for one employee.

Ross Mikkelsen - busy at Barbecues Galore for another month to five weeks before things start to slow down. Ross told a great story about an employee in their Burlington store with Down syndrome wh may be the biggest Brett Hart fan in the universe. Brett happened to come into the store and Ross got a photo taken an autographed (if I’m remembering this correctly) to send to the employee.

Dave Hicks - working in Jasper and Banff. Finding it hard to get good labor for Hixie Electric.

Interestingly, the Calgary Construction Association is saying this isn’t a cyclical problem. It’s a systemic issue. There are simply not enough people replacing trades.

Arpi’s recently did a great job on two furnaces and air conditioning and heat pump for Dave. Two days in and out and super clean. He *was* however, surprised that as the customer, HE was responsible for inspections.

Dwayne Vinck chimed back in after that to say they had central air installed yesterday from Costco. A1 Chestney did the job because they were available more readily than Arpi’s.

Mike Boyles - interesting piece - client had a lease to buy option on the building they were operating. Developer had given him a nice incentive of 100k.

However that aggregate debt could end up then costing them interest and taxes. One lesson taught and learned was that keeping operations and assets separate helps protect assets.

It also helps to keep the business’s exit cleaner.

Mike had a couple of other quick tips: The series of Candlelight Concerts taking place around town. Many are truly spectacular. Se which shows might interest you here: https://feverup.com/en/calgary/candlelight?utm_source=landing&utm_medium=landing_candlelight_yyc&utm_campaign=candlelight_yyc&cp_landing_term=city_selector&cp_landing=city_selector .

Mike’s daughter also introduced Mike to the site Flight Radar where you can literally see every plane aloft in the world in real time. Including in Mike’s time on the site, a US Grumman military plane at 58,000 feet over Ukraine. See more here: https://www.flightradar24.com/51.06,-114.11/6 .

Second Round:

Jim Bladon recommended a movie called The Covenant directed by Guy Ritchie. Base don a true story. This looks tense and terrific: https://youtu.be/02PPMPArNEQ . It will be streaming eventually on Amazon Prime.

Another watching recommendation: Diplomats on Netflix.

Early Birds, May 25, 2023

Fri, 26 May 2023 04:48:53 GMT

Early Birds, May 25, 2023

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Early Birds, April 6th and 23rd, 2023

Sat, 15 Apr 2023 19:34:16 GMT

Early Birds, April 6th and 13th, 2023

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Early Birds, March 30, 2023

Fri, 31 Mar 2023 00:37:09 GMT

Early Birds, March 30th, 2023

Dan Kennelly – Trans Am Pipe is steady at work. They are working with Suncor on internal supply chain issues and helping their operational and maintenance sides. Positive so far. Mind-boggling the number of POs they write to internal vendors every month. Trans Am can help them declutter.

LNG news: Two more LNG plants with indigenous stakeholders might go ahead. In Canada!

Both are potentially well situated to avoid transport snarls by going around the north of Vancouver island.

Dan again mourned the regulatory climate in Canada in particular. A refinery can take 8-20 years from conception to production here. Sites in China constructed by Saudi Arabia will take three years. Don't mind the residents.

Jim Bladon - not a whole lot except a few observations on the federal budget. On the whole, it was pretty uneventful. Well, except for adding $50 billion more in debt and hoping for a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

The government changed the plans for the liquor tax. The original increase would have wiped out close to 50% of craft breweries by some estimates.

Carbon pricing is a concern for the farming community. Huge input cost.

Saturday, expect the price of gas to go up north of 1.40. Retailers expecting a run on fuel before the carbon tax takes effect on Saturday had artificially jacked prices to an average of $1.40 around Calgary.

Finally – Jim circulated a report commissioned by Rachel Notley, authored by Todd Hirsch. Here's a link to the document.

Matt Dart – has eyes on various prizes for Johnson Controls, including Ronald Macdonald house building an extension and having the job up for tender.

Dwayne Vinck – looked askance at the Liberals once again spending not only your grandchildren's money but your great-great-grandchildren's dollars.

However, he did acknowledge a bit of jam in the critical minerals space. Tax credits once you're in production, but getting to that point is the biggest hurdle all companies face unless they're already well capitalized by revenue from other projects.

Don Davis – told of a friend celebrating his 81st birthday gentlemen in Toronto and, among other things getting a call from a neighbour about the fact there was 7 feet of snow in their driveway.

That friend also told Don about a cabin in the Muskokas North of Toronto for $38,000 a month – NOT a typo. It's also not the most you could pay. There was a five-bedroom cabin listing to rent for $66,000 for a month.

Ross Mikkelsen – budget-related comment on the fact that the Feds are forcing credit card fee reductions from the credit card companies. No specifics, so….he waits to see how it will play out.

Garry Friedrichsen – gave another lesson in critical thinking that could only come after the market "education" he received while working with Gillette and Procter and Gamble.

BMO's new platform includes ESG ratings you can consider when planning investments. Garry wondered where BMO was getting their ESG data from and the parameters for the data. It turns out that they're using MSCI, a colossal firm out of NY. There were so many assumptions to generate a firm's rating that it rendered the rating meaningless.

For example, on diversity, two things:

If a company had at least a certain number of women on the board, statistics seemed to show that those firms were marginally less productive than firms with no women on the board. The implication? Don't buy companies with women on the board. Or fire the female board members. There was so much wrong with that research, and what they took into account that it was simply useless text on a white background.

HOWEVER, if a company DIDN'T have women on the board, they'd get docked on the ESG rating (remember that last G stands for Governance). Soooo, don't buy companies with women on the board, but on the other hand, DO buy companies with women on the board if you like a higher ESG score.

The lesson – at least for me- is to be a critical thinker, and if you don't have the knowledge to assess something, look for a qualified expert – and don't overlook the resources at your fingertips. Like a fellow Early Bird. ��

Tony Fisher – Federal budget-related note on travel costs. A hefty increase in security fees will affect the cost of every plane ticket coming soon. If I heard Tony right, the increase was 30%. If I didn't hear right, I guess I'll speak with our resident audiologist.

Rob Beasant – Calgary's real estate market is steady. Sales are not where they were last year, but not far. 40% of correctly priced listings are going over list price.

On a personal note, his daughter captured the Canadian National ski championship – and did it with a grade 3 tear in her ACL in her knee. So after a fall in the US championship round, dad persuaded her to stop and look after herself.

Afterward, they consulted with her sports physician on Monday. Wednesday, they spoke with a specialist. Surgery's been scheduled for the next two weeks, and a technique will be used to allow her to return to competition this fall. Rob's takeaway – the health care system is superb, but it comes down to "who you know!"

Joel Shapiro - old family business friend helping with onboarding new clients.

Joel is currently engaged with a leadership development project for Paramount.

Another of the family businesses Well Juicery, has become a juice supplier to Starbucks. You can order directly from Well Juicery here: https://www.drinkwell.ca/ .

He also offered a leadership tip on feedback, which is necessary to help develop team members/employees. He used the terrible team player example. He commented that simply attacking the person would be counter-productive and induce the fight-flight or freeze response. That will lead to no further contribution from that employee.

His tip is instead to have a direct, objective-language, business-based conversation. That helps to take it out of the realm of the persona. It will more often lead to a productive outcome for your business and the employee.

Don Doolan – found it interesting the deputy of the Bank of Canada lifted his skirt this week and addressed the length of this period of quantitative tightening. 2025 seems to be the soonest we might hope for relief from higher interest rates.

Andy Lockhart - added to Rob's comment. His grandson and his team won his division in hockey championships last weekend.

Then, to Joel's leadership point, Andy's grandson was benched for a couple of third periods, and he doesn't know why. The coach seems to be a showcase for mismanagement.

Ian Campbell – revealed a new sign of Spring, the "block heater can come off" to feel the air on his bald head.

Another successful offspring story: Ian's daughter won the artistic swimming championships in Markham – the new name for Synchronized Swimming.

Sean Baylis – opened with a very technical statement on the market. Unfortunately, the market's feeling a little like Gwyneth Paltrow- a lot of hot air up asses.

First – the new budget impacted the wealth management world. In particular, the feds increased RESP and RDSP limits, which will benefit many Canadians.

There are also new tax credits for tech, green industries, and low-income earners.

Aside from the budget, the Canadian banking sector is still stable compared to the US market. The market as a whole is also slowly stabilizing as the banking sector has settled.

The final note from Sean is that he passed the marker to the "back nine" when he turned 50 on Monday.

SECOND ROUND NUGGET

Dwayne Vinck – added one last note on cutting one of the two landlines he still had. He inadvertently cut the phone link to their security system – suddenly, it didn't have a way to call resources. So if you cut landlines, be aware of those unintended effects.

Early Birds, March 16, 2023

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 03:48:19 GMT

Early Birds, March 16, 2023

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Early Birds, February 9th and 16th, 2023

Sat, 18 Feb 2023 23:50:06 GMT

Early Birds, February 9th and 16th, 2023

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Early Birds, January 26, February 2, 2023

Sat, 04 Feb 2023 02:55:59 GMT

Early Birds Minutes, January 26, February 2, 2023

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Early Birds, January 12, 2023

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 21:52:41 GMT

Early Birds, January 12, 2023

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Early Birds, January 5, 2023

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 05:19:16 GMT

Early Birds, January 5, 2023

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Early Birds, October 20, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 03:48:54 GMT

Early Birds, October 20, 2022

Once Upon a Bird…..

Dan Kennelly – kicked off the meeting with good news from the oil sands re carbon capture. The planned spend is split into stages: first, $7,000,000,000 will go to retrofitting existing infrastructure to prepare it for Carbon capture. Then, stage two will include $16,000,000,000 toward needed new installations. Great news for Alberta’s workers and local economies where the infrastructure will be located.

Dan also updated news on fabricators that supply materials to TransAm Pipe. They are going flat out. They can’t make things any faster than right now, and part of that is that they can’t hire enough skilled workers/trades, welders being a prime example.

Dwayne Vinck – was back to Birds after a bit.

Today’s theme from Dwayne was email fraud. Although it could definitely be a general piece of good advice to be on the lookout for it, his warning was related to specific activities at the company his company is helping to prepare for sale.

It turns out that a contractor with one of their internal email address credentials was sloppy with security. The fraudster called or emailed their company saying that they needed to change the contractor’s bank account information for payment. This made sense on one level because another payment to this contractor had bounced back. However, $20,000 or so dollars later, one of the company’s people spoke with the contractor who responded with “…I haven’t changed the banking information for the company….”

Phishing emails are being crafted with increasing skill and can look convincing. The bottom line: be suspicious of every email from outside the company, but also be watchful for internal emails that stimulate a “whaaaaa?” reaction.

Needless to say, create secure passwords, etc., and change them on a routine basis.

Matt Dart – started by a doing a bit of heavy charitable lifting for his son Milon. First he thanked Birds who had already contributed to his son’s hockey team fundraiser.

For any Birds who didn’t have the skinny on the shinny funder, here you go:

“Looking for an easy was to get some Xmas baking done? Milon’s team is soliciting orders for: Cookie dough, Muffin batter, Cinnabuns, and Perogies

https://online.ultimatefundraising.ca/knightsu15bc2grey/cookiesandmore ”

Then Matt spoke a bit of about an anti-phishing initiative within Johnson Controls that is pretty clever. Johnson Controls internal IT deliberately sends out phishing emails to help train staff. You only make the mistake once after being put on the naughty list.

The offer Matt’s been anticipating for a new management position in the reorganized JC is still coming. Not much negotiating on anything but salary, but Matt’s reasonably optimistic about the possibilities. It should come across his desk next week.

One thing he’s noticed recently is that the margins JC is requesting they sell at might be unattainable in Western Canada and the NW US. Many companies are posting margin targets of 24%. On average, they’re attaining roughly 18%. Alberta in particular is MUCH more competitive than the US side of the business, where many decisions are made. Matt figures based on his experience in our market that the market will tolerate margins of 13-14%. JC might have to recalibrate expectations.

Don Davis - just back from a 14 day cruise. The Birds breakfast fruit plate magically morphed into caviar and smoked salmon for the duration. There was SO. MUCH. FOOD.

Also on the cruise were two North Dakota farm types - 6’5 240-250 lbs-ish – who didn’t think there was SO.MUCH.FOOD. They helped themselves to HUGE breakfasts and complained about, um, pretty much everything.

They were demanding as all get out. One of them happened to be down the hall from Don’s cabin and he heard one of the behemoths berating the relatively tiny Philippino staff about the fact that he was SUPPOSED TO HAVE BANANAS IN HIS ROOM EVERY MORNING AND GODDAMN IT, THERE WERE NO BANANAS IN HIS ROOM!!! Don kept his judgment confined to his smile as he turned away.

Don thought 14 days on the cruise ship was long, but he met people on the boat who were on a 144 day cruise headed to ports around the world.

After that trip, Don has made an executive decision: Europe is now off the table - no more 10 hour plane trips. Cruises might also be confined to Lake Bonavista.

In other news, Don’s neighbours’ back yard construction odyssey continues. The construction company fired a worthless landscaper last time Don talked to us about it, but now, like homebuilders across the city, this contractor can’t get his hands on concrete.

Dan Kennelly – quickly hopped back in at this point to chime in on the 144 day cruise. Viking Cruises Canada offers something called World Cruises and Grand Voyages. Longest one I could see was 121 days, but there was a 93 day journey and many others. The unique aspect to this experience is the passengers configure and create the agenda for the cruise. It looks like a wonderful way to see a big chunk of the world at a time. You can get more information and gander at the trips h ere: https://www.vikingcruisescanada.com/oceans/cruise-destinations/world-grand/index.html .

Brett Bain – raised a cuppa joe to toast the British sense of humour. Bookies in Britain had placed a bet: who/what would last longer? The new British Prime Minister Liz Truss, or a head of lettuce? If you had the head of lettuce on your bingo card, you won! Liz Truss resigned this morning.

In the continuing adventures of OSI in Alberta’s north serving a good First Nations client, OSI ran smack into the reality of limited accommodations while trying to place a tech up there to do the job required. Literally every room in the area (and “room” is, um, perhaps an optimistic euphemism for “modular accommodations.”), was rented out until next March at $265 a night. They were fortunate to be able to plop into a cancellation and they’ll start work up there soon.

Brad Pachal – is celebrating being a grandpa again! Their son in town had their fourth child, a daughter finally. All are good.

Picking up on a thread I didn’t complete in last week’s minutes, I left a cryptic line about Brad’s wife Sharon being an English as a second language teacher. Most of the rest of the story is that Sharon’s been working with many Ukrainian refugees, and made it clear that language is one of their biggest hurdles. Many are eminently qualified in various fields and are anxious to work and put bread on the table, but language is a barrier that takes time and patience to overcome.

If you happen to have non-front line positions, or know of anyone who might have positions where language is important, but not a dealbreaker as they apprentice and learn, please let Brad know and he’ll pass it on.

Alright, back to this week. Brad was picking up ceramic tile at Daltile. They had very little on hand and they explained that they get all their production sand from Ukraine. Their kilns are so large that they take a couple of weeks to shut down and start back up. If they actually run out, they’re looking at a month long shut down. They’re doing everything they can to avoid that.

Another supply snag that surprised Brad was the fact that he couldn’t get his hands on red oak for some custom work he’s doing for a client. There was none available in the city. He went through seven suppliers before finding what he needed. He’s *never* had trouble sourcing that particular wood before.

Last note from Brad this week was his endorsement of eBikes. Sharon enjoys riding, but not the distances and some of the more challenging routes that Brad enjoys. However, on an eBike she can enjoy longer rides that she would never have taken on otherwise. So, go ahead and get yourself one more thing to pile onto the grid to recharge. It’s a good investment.

Ross Mikkelsen – had a funny rejoinder on all the supply chain woes with one that defines irony: Staples ran out of….staples.

He also chimed in on the importance of password security, and protecting yourself and teaching employees to protect themselves from identity theft.

Garry Friedrichsen – has been a busy lad in retirement, attending lots of different activities and events. Flames game last Thursday, Jack Singer for another night out on Friday then seeing a comedian live on Saturday night.

On the Flames game – they no longer accept paper tickets, everything’s on your phone,but then, they insist on you securing your phone during the game in a magnetic bag that doesn’t open until you leave. It’s run by a company called Yondr ( https://www.overyondr.com ). Their pitch is interesting:

“Yondr creates phone-free spaces for artists, educators, organizations and individuals.

In our hyperconnected world, we provide a haven to engage with what you’re doing and who you’re doing it with. In physical space and real time.”

In any case, Garry thought the whole process was going to be a giant, slow motion train wreck, but in fact, it worked very efficiently on the way in AND out.

On another subject, Garry reflected on how the questions from his kids have changed. They’re at the point now where they’re asking a lot of money management and investment questions.

One thing he’s learned pretty quickly though is that they don’t want his prescriptive ADVICE. They want the benefit of his experience and perspective on those things and to learn from them and take away what lessons they gather on their own.

This led him to wish that these kids had been taught all of the ins and outs of our tax system so they knew how to maximize their gains. Garry then mentioned that the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada actually have a course that he feels should be mandatory for these kids called Overview of Canadian Tax and Law. It’s a $750 course to understand how to do the best you can within the system. It’s an interesting looking course to pass on and you can find the link to it here: https://www.cpacanada.ca/en/career-and-professional-development/courses/core-areas/taxation/personal-tax/overview-of-canadian-tax-and-law .

Dave Hicks - was recently down in Laguna Beach for completion of his wife’s certification. Beautiful time.

Business is a bit slow at the moment, but Hixie Electric will be back in the Ice Fields this winter and looking forward to it.

Picking up on a thread from last week mentioned by Brad Pachal about the electrical service in Calgary not being built to accommodate the expected surge of vehicle electrification and the specific hardware requirements.

About 7 years ago, Hixie Electric was approached by Tesla to install a proper charging circuit in residences. They didn’t take Tesla up on it, but Dave went on to talk about how the technology essentially evolved into an intelligent monitoring system of amperage consumed by the rest of the house. When the usage dropped, the waiting car would charge on a 40 Amp station. The problem that Dave sees is that if every house in the neighbourhood reaches that threshold at the same time, and all the EV’s were charging, it would be like every house in the neighbourhood cooking Thanksgiving dinner every night!

Having said that, in Dave’s opinion, Calgary and Alberta’s infrastructure is new enough that it’s difficult to envision a complete collapse of the gride. Strain, perhaps, but not collapse. Eastern Canada is another story.

Andy Lockhart – proselytized: every golfer needs a dermatologist. He had a red mark on his shoulder that his doctor didn’t like. She liked it less after taking a biopsy, but then Andy didn’t hear any more about it. He did mention that shoulder mark on his next visit and this time the doctor referred Andy to a doctor who excised the thing. Andy stopped counting the stitches at 15. He has a similar procedure happening on a hand in the near future.

Andy, sidestepping the memory of Gerry Parcells, had an IT-related note. Watch out for a fraudulent text from city hall regarding a parking ticket. A) it would come from the Calgary Parking Authority. B) Just no.

Andy and Sue recently switched to Elon Musk’s satellite Internet service. They’re getting city speeds on uploads and downloads and are very happy with it so far. Anyway, as part of the process they called Telus to get them to come pick up their old Telus hub since they didn’t need it anymore, and while they were at it, they decided to cancel their Telus land line. Telus then dropped their pants a bit to half the price Andy and Sue had been paying for decades to entice them to keep it. Then when Andy still said no, they dropped their pants all the way down to their ankles and offered the service for $7 a month. They still said no and couldn’t believe they wouldn’t get why A & S might be a bit “uppity” about being ripped off for decades when they could have been paying $7 a month. Anyway, buh-bye Telus.

Tony Fisher – started with a quick shout out to Ross and one of his employees who provided outstanding service.

Tony then picked up Jim Bladon’s story from last week about the success of the Rotary club’s recent fundraiser for Ukraine refugees. It successfully raised $160,000 in the end.

Tony did note that NOT all fundraisers are experiencing the same good fortune. Ducks Unlimited was in the reverse situation recently. They needed to cancel an event 7 days before it was to happen due to pretty much zero interest and commitment.

Rob Beasant – also chimed in on the IT threats by saying that in his world, text scams are as big as email scams.

He then moved on to discuss his wife’s parking, um, travails we’ll call them. She teaches suicide prevention classes at U of C. Naturally she has to park at the U.

She’s acquired a few tickets in her time, and now, her reputation precedes her plate, to the point where despite her paying THAT DAY’s parking costs, they’re continuing to issue tickets for past transgressions. To the tune of $310. Rob’s planning on getting a new plate for the car. That only costs $28.

As far as the Calgary housing market goes, right now Rob estimates that fully 75% of his clients are from out of town. A lot of immigrants, but the clients also include a slightly odd American migration story. The ex-pats initially moved to BC, but now have moved to Alberta because it’s more affordable.

Servicing out of town clients is a lot more involved than simply “selling or finding a home” for local buyers. He finds himself consulting on cars, plates, and insurance as much as services related to the purchase of a house or condo.

Part of the reason for the high in-migration is simple: Calgary is seen as more affordable than Toronto. As an example of clientele, next week Rob will work with clients from Halifax, Toronto, and BC.

Second round – resonated with this comment based on Ross Mikkelsen’s question about where all these EVs were supposed to be charging: in garages or on the street? He noted that most people’s garages were basically full storage spaces and most people parked – and plugged in their vehicles on the street. So, with every vehicle being electric in the future would there by a hundred cords to walk over in every residential neighbourhood?

That caused Dan Kennelly to remember a story about a fantastic neighbour who used to help people clear their walks with his snowblower. He’d do the whole neighbourhood. EXCEPT, on one occasion, he happened to sever every.single.extension.cord his neighbours had out on the sidewalks for their cars. How he didn’t become a Thinning The herd episode is a bit of a mystery, but while extension cords are one thing, those $175 charging cables will be another thing entirely!

S ee you next week!

Early Birds, October 13, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 00:50:45 GMT

Early Birds, October 13, 2022

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Early Birds, September 29, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 23:28:32 GMT

Early Birds, September 29th, 2022

Headlines :

What the heck is a backronym?
Scots Checking Sewers
Do you have a dividend-paying stock in your portfolio
The Best Way to See Croatia
Quick News on Henry Heuver (spoiler: it has a happy ending)

Dan Kennelly – has been attending various pipeline industry-related trade shows and symposiums and amazed all over again at some of the technology used in the industry including PIGS. The word PIG is a backronym which is “…an acronym deliberately formed from a phrase whose initial letters spell out a particular word or words, either to create a memorable name or as a fanciful explanation of a word's origin.” Now you know.

In any case, PIGS are one of the reasons why pipelines are so much safer than they used to be. There are several types, but this picture illustrates HOW MUCH technology is in a magnetic flux PIG (which sounds a little like the fictitious “flux capacitor” in the Back To The Future Delorean).

In any case, the point Dan was making was that these devices are part of Canada’s safety regimen around pipelines which is easily the strictest in the world.

As another example of the safety precautions taken around pipelines, Dan mentioned the red planes that fly very low through Calgary airspace. If you were following along from above the red plane, you’d see it tracks directly above the pipelines/pipes that lead from the large fuel storage depot in the NE part of the city. Every Tuesday and Thursday, these planes go from one end to the other and back again. Remarkable.

Reid Colbran – is enjoying the challenge of the almost-information-overload of his new job at BFL Canada. The form is global and specializes in risk management and insurance. As an example of the difference in the scale of things at the new job, Reid was working on policies for working directors and officers of corporations with a value of $400,000,000. In his former line of work, a large policy was $2,000,000.

BFL is also working with a large entity buying up oil wells near end-of-life and then shepherding them through to the “orphan” status. These assets are valuable and a risk, so a perfect fit for a company like BFL.

Reid also reported that the entire insurance industry is keeping an eye on the storms out east. The dollar values involved will ensure we’ll feel the ripple effects within a year or three.

Brett Bain - on pipelines, pipes, etc. Apparently in Scotland, they’ve taken to using drones to inspect inside sewer lines, which inevitably led Brett to say that the Scots full of shit.

In other business, Brett relayed the story of a First Nations client up north that OSI has always sold hardware too. Like most businesses that sell computer hardware, the sweet spot for OSI is the combination of services to support the hardware and the hardware sales. This particular client has been a hardware-only client until this year. THEN, their entire computer infrastructure was subjected to a ransomware attack, and rather than do anything about it right away, they simply shut everything off when they realized that all of their data had been encrypted and was unusable. Their backup wasn’t “off-site” so it was targeted and encrypted as well. So NOW, they want service.

They’d like OSI to come up and either fix their existing hardware, or if not possible replace the hardware. When Brett explained that he had to have some idea of budget to provision the staff and services (this won’t be a one-day job!), he was told essentially, “…don’t worry about it. We have lots of money.” SO, off to Northern Alberta OSI will go.

Tony Fisher – was present at a presentation on Tuesday night when Jeromy Farkas talked about his Big Brothers and Sisters fundraising adventure of the past seven months that saw him run and walk the Pacific Crest Trail. 168 days, 14 pairs of shoes and 4, 270 km later, he’d raised $200,000 for BBBS. One of the first questions Farkas addressed in the presentation was “why?” His explanation: “I asked, ‘what do you do when you know that you’re in the world to change it for the better, but the world says no?'” It was a remarkable evening and you can read more about the presentation here: https://livewirecalgary.com/2022/09/21/jeromy-farkas-run-for-big-brothers-big-sisters-raises-nearly-210000/ . To contribute and see more detail on Jeromy’s big run, you can visit his web site for the adventure at https://bbbscalgary.ca/news-events/jeromys-big-run/ .

Tony has been busy outside of business, also taking a Beatles tribute show at Jack Singer. His 2 ½/4 star review was summed up with “good show, just not the best one he’s seen.” That prompted him to plug the venue and some of the other shows coming there. Take in the arts here when you can. It’s a special place.

Matt Dart – work at Johnson Controls is evolving quickly with another reorg proposed. It’s resulting in a lot of long-time veterans inside the company to be “thanked for their service” and shown the door.

While that goes on, one of the benefits of the re-org already in progress which split the equipment side into its own business that it’s allowing Matt and his team to pursue third party suppliers to plug holes in JC’s product line. A lot of people come to Johnson Controls looking for package solutions. As an example he mentioned a theoretical 5-piece equipment package a client might ask about, for which JC only has 4 pieces. The third party suppliers Matt’s seeking could plug in that 5 ^th piece and then JC gets the sale.

The biggest obstacle to developing relationships with third-party suppliers is corporate head office. They have 90-day net payable terms, rather than 30, and a lot (read, most) suppliers want nothing to do with that.

That initial re-org also still has the possibility of a new position for Matt. He’s waiting on that.

Don Davis – happened to spot someone snooping around the back of a neighbouring house in Lake Bonavista and offered to help. The “snooper” turned out to be inspecting the property in preparation to move the entire structure (NOT a small house) to its new home in Fairview, 7 hours away and north of Edmonton. She apologized in advance for the coming disruption, to which Don replied that at this age, “…anything new is exciting.” She continued by telling Don that they can only move the house during the overnight hours and that it would take 3 days to complete the move.

Don then picked up a thread from a recent conversation about productivity by citing “productivity” as the principal reason he picked Calgary for his office rather than Vancouver or Toronto.

He’d had experience with Vancouver with staff coming in at 8:30, immediately grabbing a coffee until about 9:15 then taking off for early lunches at 11:30. He said Toronto was worse – but for a different reason: traffic. It didn’t matter how good his salespeople were if they spent 4 hours every day in traffic. When he came to Calgary, he realized that people actually came to WORK at 8:30, were out in the field by 9 and doing exactly what he’d want them to do: spend time in front of customers persuading them to part with their money.

Dave Hicks - seconded that and noted an interesting thing on a recent trip out to Vancouver. He heard ads promoting Calgary in Vancouver. They’re paid for by the AB government and talk about all the things we’d all talk about. How you can find superior work-life balance here, actually afford home ownership, even near downtown among other things.

He was out there to help a friend set up a portable mill on his hobby farm on Keith Island ( https://mapcarta.com/24326298 )

Dave also observed something interesting on the Trans Mountain Pipeline sites he passed. Each supplier segregates their supplies and equipment separately from one another along the section of the line they’re contracted to work on.

Dave also passed on what sounded like generic advice, that became quite specific: he advised to note when things aren’t right and to take care of yourself. He told the tale of an employee, young guy, who wasn’t feeling well and took a couple of days off. He went to the doctor and had a bunch of tests done. They couldn’t figure it out. Went back for another battery of tests after missing more work days and this time, the doc took an X-ray, and it turns out he’s full of shit. Literally. So take note when something is “off” and perhaps avoid being told anything “painfully” obvious like….maybe you haven’t had a bowel movement in 2 weeks.

Mike Boyles – is recently back from a fabulous European trip that started with a memory-filled and fantastic trip to Croatia courtesy of Sail Croatia: https://www.sail-croatia.com .

Mike and his wife were with 34 other people on a yacht he gave a 10/10 score too. Terrific experience all the way around. There were endless and endlessly interesting sights. Weather was great. If a picture is worth a thousand words, visit that site. They have several images that will make you want to book your ticket!

After Dubrovnik and other sites, they were off to Rome which they found busy and vibrant – but Tuscany was the jewel of the Italian portion of the trip.

After all that it’s back to the work of coaching groups at work on ESG which is still the frontier they’re working on. More clients would be good. ��

Sean Baylis – started by announcing it had been another “fun” week in the market. The US wasn’t leading the way in news this week, it was the UK’s turn with their moves back and forth between quantitative tightening and quantitative easing. The various policies of the new Truss-led government haven’t exactly inspired confidence in the UK’s direction.

It’s reinforced a trend of investors sitting on their cash waiting to see what’s happening next.

RBC’s experience with investors is that they tend to be primarily two different types. The valuation based investor (think tech companies, huge valuations and cash generators), and the growth investors, looking for profitable companies, but more in the Buffet buy and hold school.

RBC’s advice to both at the moment is that they should turn their focus to dividend stocks. Right now, those are the companies providing some decent returns.

Fortis here in Alberta is a good example, with a 5.6% increase in their dividend again this year. They have an annual target of 6% dividend growth per year.

Enbridge is another fine dividend paying stock that’s not going anywhere. They’ve just recently secured what they hope amounts to social permission by selling a stake in a pipeline to a First Nations group in BC. They’re also continuing to diversify with the recent purchase of Tri-Global Energy in the US, a Wind and Solar company in the US. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/enbridge-renewable-project-developer-1.6600392 .

On a personal note, Sean’s son who was recently playing in an NCAA hockey tournament was being scouted by Boyden school in Massachusetts. High quality school which would offer Sean’s son great academic and athletic possibilities.

Sean may be on and off at Birds through the fall since there’s lots of business travel coming up.

Andy Lockhart – picked up on the hockey theme with a quick note that number 4 grandson is enjoying some success with his U 16 Double AA hockey team.

Then Andy circulated a wonderful article that appeared in the National Post written by Bill Gates’s favourite author (as it happens), Vaclav Smil. The article was called titled “Canada’s long economic retreat shows no sign of abating”, and you can find it here: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/vaclav-smil-canadas-long-economic-retreat-shows-no-sign-of-abating .

One of the reasons that Smil is Gates’s favourite author is his literacy on so many things, including, and especially energy. Smil’s latest book among over two DOZEN is called How The World Really Works. Highly recommended in any format: https://www.amazon.ca/How-World-Really-Works-Science/dp/0593297067/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=how+the+world+really+works&qid=1664491540&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIxLjE5IiwicXNhIjoiMS4wMiIsInFzcCI6IjEuMjEifQ%3D%3D&sr=8-1 .

From Andy’s bedtime “Scotch on the deck” files comes this wee anecdote: It was about 9:30 the other night when they saw a LINE of bright lights up in the sky. They assumed they were satellites, but these weren’t just any satellites, thank you very much. They’re Elon Musk’s satellites, and part of his Space X Satellite internet network called Starlink. On further investigation Andy learned some interesting facts. Astronomy-minded folk were NOT happy with these low-orbit satellites since they obscured the night sky because of how bright they appeared in the foreground. There are over 2300 of these satellites currently in orbit with many more planned. So, Space X has been painting the more recent satellites black.

After Andy told Sue about how a friend of theirs has Starlink and how impressed he’d been so far with every aspect of the service, including the price – which was just over a third of what he HAD been paying. This prompted Sue to get on the phone, and come back into the room announcing that she may have just subscribed.

2 ^nd Round Quickies

Dan Kennelly – passed on to anyone who hadn’t been in the know that the Trans Canada through Golden is closed until December, so they’re detouring through Radium. Watch out for wolves among other wildlife, particularly between marble Canyon and Kootenay Crossing. Dan’s seen a female wolf there with pups many times.

Tony Fisher – seconded a recommendation made by Dave Hicks recently of a new restaurant, Borough, in University District. Tony recommended it highly. This place sounds like the current “it” spot in the NW. Turns out there’s a Dan Kennelly connection – a relative is the Marketing director for the University District and she’s been traveling all over the US getting ideas from similar areas there. U/D is a great example of a holistically well-planned and executed area. There’s more on Borough here: https://myuniversitydistrict.ca/uncategorized/boroughud/ .

Tony ended the meeting on a note that sounded bittersweet at first, but then turned positive. He’d spoken to Henry Heuver recently, but not before speaking to Joan who filled him on Henry breaking his leg recently. Falling from tractors and other high places jokes abounded from our sensitive Birds. ��

The good news is that when Tony spoke with Henry, he sounded good and was definitely on the mend and planning to be on his feet again (if not tractors) soon.

And that’s all folks!

See you next Thursday at Inglewood if you’re able.

Early Birds, September 22, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 23:03:38 GMT

Early Birds, September 22, 2022

Good day Gentlemen,

Here’s to resuming these weekly notes, and this coming week, in a timelier fashion. ��

A couple of notes off the top, the first of which is to welcome back Reid Colbran . Reid patiently and diplomatically resolved any possible conflict with his old employer. On the home front, after teaching their toddler how to sleep, Reid will be happily back at Birds as often as he can be.

Second note – Ian Campbell and family are “divesting”, “simplifying”, whatever euphemism you wish to choose. They’ve sold pretty much every stick from their summer camping spot, EXCEPT for the trailer itself.

Ian’s got about a dozen or so pictures which will live at the bottom of this page , along with any further notes beyond the actual ad he’s put out. If you know anyone who might be interested, please contact Ian via ian.campbell@calgaryhearingaid.com , or his cell +1 (403) 680-6093. Thank you.

2015 Hideout 31RBDS

Model 23RS

Cold Mountain Package

Priced for quick Fall Sale $23,000

Units like this are selling for ~$24,000-$28,000

Currently parked at Newgate Sandy Shores (Lake Koocanusa)

This is a great family trailer, with a spacious layout, plenty of storage and in excellent condition.

31' (Ext. length 34'4")

Rear Bunks

Double Slide

Sleeps 8-10 - Queen master with Endy mattress & reversible TV/Mirror, U-Dinette, Pullout sofa bed, and Bunkhouse has 2 single bunks plus a foam couch on the floor that folds out into a bed.

Washroom with bathtub & shower, lots of cabinet space, oven, stove, microwave, gas furnace, gas/electric water heater, built in vacuum and air conditioning (AC). TV & Stereo/CD Player with 2 zone indoor and outdoor speakers, built in power cord and satellite connection.

Electric awning (lighted), outdoor kitchen, outdoor shower, exterior storage.

Dwayne Vinck – Recently out in the Shuswap which was great and also very pretty. Tip from Dwayne: shoulder season is something to take advantage of

Business is good – a deal that’s been worked on for almost a year will actually trigger something that Dwayne has counseled many of his clients on but never had to use himself: the lifetime capital gains exemption

Brett Bain – one longtime OSI client is a French school who present….interesting…negotiation tactics. As an example, they’ve been on a contract for years. Now they want to go month to month, and pay the same price. Apparently, the French are forgetting their past negotiations with the Scots, which didn’t always end well.

Rob Beasant – was dealing with a real estate buyer from the Netherlands last week. He’s finding that international buyers in general, but certainly this person was motivated by the fact non-Canadians won’t be able to buy property after January 1st. At least not as simply.

Rob had found a property. It had been on the market for 140 days. His client made the highest offer – all in cash, and that’s when the wheels came off the purchase. They didn’t get it because the sellers had been burned in a prior all-cash deal. Rob had a plan B, but then that seller backed out of selling as well.

Another hurdle for international buyers is the difficulty in getting insurance as a non-Canadian.

As far as our local market is concerned, the market is moving and condos are up year over year. Detached is down year over year due to uncertainty.

Many of the leads Rob’s working won’t show any result for as long as 6 months out.

One a personal note, his wife and he decided now that they’re quasi-empty nesters, they would try pickle ball. After checking out various clubs and facilities, they ended up at Richmond Green. Super social and not quite as rule and protocol bound as some of the other places. I mean….it’s Pickle ball for Pete’s sake.

In any case, Richmond Green has 570 members, AND they’re looking for sponsors. At which point Rob turned to look right at Ian Campbell, and with absolutely no irony said, “Audiology is right in the demo.” They’re all pretty affluent. The group uses FB advertising to the tune of about $5k a year among other things. If you or your company, or another business you know would like to sponsor the club, please let Rob know. They’re outdoor only at the moment and actively looking for indoor venue for the winter.

Ian Campbell - missed last week covering employee absences. Two are currently out with COVID, AND he’s also noticing an uptick in patient cancellations as a result of COVID cases.

Don Davis – will be gone this week on his second cruise – this time headed south from LA down through Baja and the sea of Cortez. 12 days though is NOT something Don is looking forward to. Just a bit too long. Especially on the heels of the Alaska cruise.

You might remember that years ago Don invested in BC’s Therapy vineyard. At the time, one of the perks was staying at the vineyard very cheaply to enjoy the product. No more. Right now, Therapy’s charging $450 a night, minimum 2 nights.

Sticking with the wine industry for a moment, Don mentioned his grandson is working with a terroir association and that this year stands out because the Terroir Hospitality Symposium is being held in Calgary. It’s another notch in Calgary’s diversification front since the symposium plays host to a community of chefs, drink experts, service staff, suppliers, restaurateurs, writers, educators and business leaders. It certainly can’t hurt to show some of these people from elsewhere in the country around.

When he wasn’t contemplating that information or prepping for his next trip, Don was enjoying time in his backyard and struck up a chat with the folks doing some landscaping next door. He heard the same story we’re all hearing from every direction: they can’t actually hire anyone right now.

Reid Colbran – has transitioned to his new employer BFL Canada, an internationally known organization for Risk Management and Insurance. It seemed like a great career fit and learning opportunity. It’s more consultative in nature – and it’s sorta like death and taxes. Not going anywhere. You can learn more about BFL here https://www.bflcanada.ca .

It’s a large and sophisticated client base and large commercial customers. Needless to say, the “Canada” at the end of the name implies that it’s a global team and it is, including international clients.

Sean Baylis – first up – the US interest rate hike in the US: 75 basis points. The market expected that, but they were also watching for the chairman’s guidance and it was in a word, dismal. He actually used the word “pain” more than once. The consensus is that the US may send the rate up another 75 basis points in November, and perhaps 25 points in December.

The Fed in the US is willing to tolerate a recession to dampen inflation. Whether the electoral cycle is altered because of this, creating more uncertainty, has yet to be seen.

In any event, commodities like oil could be impacted negatively.

We’ll have more objective guidance soon with earnings reports coming in this last quarter and they will be important for forecasting into next year.

There are buying opportunities in spades, but again the midterm US elections add a “roll of the dice” factor on both sides of the border.

Parking places for money: floating rate loans. RBC Global asset management has ETFs they’re parking some money in on behalf of clients. One of them is here: https://www.rbcgam.com/en/ca/products/etfs/XFR/detail .

Last word from Sean: short-term interest rates are high, long term are low.

Matt Dart – the news about DeHavilland building a new plant just outside Calgary is prospective good news for John Controls.

Internally, JC is splitting up the Controls and Sales teams. Matt could be moving into a different role, which he voiced some excitement about.

No news on the Flames arena yet and his tone of voice relaying the news was shall we say, skeptical.

Brad Pachal – thought he had a cold last week. Then it turns out the entire family tested positive for COVID after a family event.

Tip for anyone who requires any concrete slab work – particularly mud jacking and/or lifting: CSL did a great job with a couple of slabs in Brad’s driveway. He thought the job was very well done and quickly. They were in and out in a few hours. More information here: https://www.concretespecialistsltd.ca .

Then Brad passed on a local success story – and forgive me if I omit or get a couple of the details wrong.

Brad’s son Troy is a cart racer and a few years ago he and a friend had the idea that they wanted to help support and develop local drivers. The goal is to nurture and move them onward and upward through the various racing circuits.

They started a company called Alloy Racing. https://alloyracing.com/

A year in they promoted a driver named Kevin Foster, who at the time was 18 years old.

Last year Kevin placed in the Canadian championships.

Out in Kelowna – the French Racing Association spotted Kevin. And he eventually placed 1st after trials for Formula 4.

This year he’ll be going to Portugal for the WORLD Championships.

400 to 500 drivers competing. He’ll be one of only TWO Canadian drivers.

There are other success stories, and you can read about a few of them here: https://alloyracing.com .

They also have great photos on their Instagram feed for Kevin at this link: https://www.instagram.com/kevinfosterracing/ .

Jim Bladon – was back after an Arizona trip with Kim. He decided: NO work phones. He had a few days of “connection withdrawal” and worry, but like Chris Wright who’d done that accidentally years ago before going to Hawaii, he had a great trip partially because work wasn’t there the whole time.

Jim noted that inflation in the US is VERY visible. Where things used to be noticeably cheaper even accounting for the currency, right now, prices are the same as in Canada, BUT in USD.

Inflation was evident on everything: groceries, restaurants, everything.

Housing is also taking a hit. Jim noted that the American Quick Sales method is back in play. People are looking to “get outta Dodge.”

Another similarity to home: Help Wanted signs everywhere. There is huge staff turnover everywhere and one of the visible signs of that is the “Be patient with our staff” signs. Many businesses seem to be operating with the equivalent of a “New Driver” sign in the window.

It’s also very noticeable that MANY businesses didn’t make it through COVID.

Speaking of Arizona businesses barely getting by, Jim noted the new Phoenix Coyotes facility. 3200 seats – it’s basically a community arena - and they’ll play there for three years until the facility in Tempe is built. Jim’s impression is that NHL players will pull up in a bus -and wonder WTF?!

Andy Lockhart - took us out last week with a bit of show and tell. Andy had mentioned last week or the week before about a friend who was working to make a table out of an old Spruce Tree root. It was remarkable, including some of the resin work on it, which left stones included in the design visible, etc. Here’s 1 photo of Andy’s Exhibit a:

Then, for Exhibit B, Andy showed us some beautiful carved wood bowls, a couple of them Walnut that he’s been working on the last little while. He’s been messing around with partial burning of the surface to alter the look of the finished product. Not bad for “experimenting” as you can see – and that’s despite being about halfway through the process:

And that’s almost all folks….below are further pictures of Ian Campbell’s trailer to peruse and pass on to anyone you think might be interested.

Early Bird Minutes – July 28th and August 4th

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Tue, 09 Aug 2022 03:52:48 GMT

Early Bird Minutes – July 28th and August 4th

S ettle in. Here are the minutes for July 28th and the August 4th meetings.

First, we acknowledge again the passing of Bill Hoogstraten , this time with a little help from George Roberts and other Birds:

“Sandy and I joined 150, or so, folks who got together to celebrate Bill Hoogstraten’s life, today. A good representative group of Birds were there to say goodbye to an amazing guy.

Son Rod and his two sisters and Esther and Bill’s BF, gave us a delightfully entertaining stroll through Bill’s colourful past and then, in closing, Rod and a friend sang a heartfelt song to and about ‘Billy’ that left no eye dry.

Too many people never get what they deserve. I’m pleased to report that Bill got the kind of recognition that a good life, lived well, deserves.”

And another celebration of a life well lived, that of Roger Jarvis is coming up on August 30th at Eden Brook Funeral Home from 2 to 5 p.m. There’s more information here: https://www.arbormemorial.ca/edenbrook/obituaries/charles-stanley-roger-jarvis/88567/Events .

Now, back to July 28th for a few choice moments:

Gratitude from Ian Campbell for the Enbridge Tour of Alberta For Cancer taking place in person this year. A lot of fun and empowering.

Andy Lockhart – asking Reid Colbran about a water monitoring system called PHYN which helps to detect leaks and automatically shut down the water in your home whether you’re there or not. It got a friend a 10% annual discount on home insurance. It was $500 installed. Although supply chain woes have hit this company as well, you can get more information here: https://www.phyn.com/plus-smart-water-assistant/ .

Andy also mentioned a potential game changer of a book for Canadian politics, Gardeners Vs. Designers by Brian Lee Crowley. More information available here: https://www.amazon.com/Gardeners-vs-Designers-Understanding-Canadian-ebook/dp/B08KWKXPZK/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1LT4M46S7D6NL&keywords=gardeners+vs+designers&qid=1660010398&s=digital-text&sprefix=gardeners+vs+designers%2Cdigital-text%2C116&sr=1-1

One more piece of reading was suggested by Andy – and it’s from the mostly-always-cogent Jordan Peterson, writing in the National Post. The title sorta lays it out for us: The Worst Is Yet To Come From the Trudeau Liberals. The article is available on the Post web site here: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/jordan-peterson-worst-is-yet-to-come-from-trudeau-liberals .

The Birds are bookworms! More reading material – this time via Bob Wiggins and a further recommendation for the Amor Towles novel initially recommended sometime during the pandemic by Dr. Tom: A Gentleman in Moscow. https://www.amazon.ca/Gentleman-Moscow-Novel-Amor-Towles/dp/0670026190 .

Ross Mikkelsen has been away for a few weeks – and it was mostly pleasure although he also attended the Patio Furniture Show in Chicago.

Ross also nodded his head and added his support to Matt Dart’s book recommendation – Freezing Order by Bill Browder, the same author who exposed the depths of Putin’s corruption in Red Notice. https://www.amazon.ca/Freezing-Order-Laundering-Surviving-Vladimir/dp/1982153288

Further note from Matt was on th e ArriveCan app. His father was in town for a week – and he would have missed his flight because of the app – had his next flight not been delayed.

Brad Pachal traveled to Regina in late July to continue to sort through the logistics of moving his dad into a smaller place, emptying his house, and preparing it for sale. They had 4 days to accomplish the move. They distributed goods to Ukrainian families and also a trade school, Value Village and the Salvation Army. His dad was pleased that people who would use his tools were getting them. The Ukrainian families that Brad observed need transportation/furniture movers to get some of the donated goods they were receiving to their new homes.

Quick tip on gas mileage that many Birds knew but had reaffirmed: pulling a closed trailer will cut your mileage by 50%.

Quick update on lumber prices from Brad – they’re down by 32%. He also reports that inventories are high at certain places as people switch from home renos and projects back to experiences like travel, etc.

Don Davis – noted ex-presidente of Minolta Canada and Tom Baker Cancer Centre volunteer driver mentioned that for the first time he’s noticed that Tom Baker is advertising for drivers.

Don ran into Mike Mikkelson . He reports that Mike is looking great, walking every day, and that he’s joined the Heritage Rotary Club. He’d resigned from a slew of positions he’d been active in up until 2022. Don figures Mike will be running Rotary by November.

As we endure another wave of heat this week, Don mentioned that he’d been reading about the cost of running non-stop fans (including furnace fans) vs. air conditioning from an expense standpoint. Apparently, they’re pretty close. Don and Pat are loving their AC which was installed by Arpi’s.

Sean Baylis – recovering from the splash of cold water that 2022 to this point has been one of the worst starts for the markets in history. The last time analysts remember a similar time was 1970. The GOOD news there is that in 1970 the market rose by 27% in the second half of the year.

Commodity prices are stabilizing or dropping which is good for inflation.

On to August 4th….

Dan Kennelly opened the meeting with a cautionary tale. His wife was out near Gleichen when she observed a truck towing a trailer with a beautiful ski boat on it. It didn’t stay there for long, sliding off the trailer, hitting the ditch, then sailing across the ditch into a field. It was completely destroyed.

Garry Friedrichsen was a wedding reporter and photographer the weekend before last as his nephew got married at the Marriott downtown. All went well. It’s a bit strange being empty nesters but still having kids dropping in and out,coming and going all the time.

Garry’s son (Jack) who works for the Axiom Exploration Group ( https://axiomex.com ) is off doing some very interesting research for rare earth minerals – first among the islands off the west coast, including Vancouver Island, and also Northern Quebec on the Canadian Shield for Glencore one of the world’s largest mining companies.

Dwayne Vinck – in for a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride in Brandan this week between his mother’s funeral and weddings too.

Dwayne is co-authoring the eulogy and having to dance on the tightrope of expressing love for his mom and the truth about her alcoholism and its effects on her life, and her family’s. He’s thankful for many of the AA people who will be there. Credit where credit is due, AA saved the relationship between her and Dwayne’s son after Dwayne had limited their contact for the first two years of his son’s life. Not to mention between her and Dwayne to some extent.

On the business front, Dwayne commented again on Braveheart Resources. He reiterated that they’re “pre-revenue” as a company and currently expending $60-70,000 a month to keep the doors open hoping for approval for all or part o their application to move forward with the mine. He's seeing some hopeful signs with Indigenous Nations appealing to the Feds to let the project go ahead. August 11th will be a key hearing date for them. More to come.

Rob Beasant – had forgotten what just being sick with a non-COVID flu could do you. After the recent family turmoil, the flu flattened him.

His daughter is much better, but everyone knows it’s a marathon not a sprint. Plans are coming together (hopefully for skiing competitively in Italy later this year) and counseling is having at least some of the desired effects. The family is very pleased with the medical resources, their attention to the detail including being vigilant about medications that could complicate her journey with Alpine Canada as she moves forward with plans to complete in the Special Olympics.

Rob’s boys are moving to opposite ends of the country – at the same time – and of course, both of them want Dad’s help settling in. Rob is working on Omnipotence.

On real estate in Calgary, Rob’s observations include that the market is still pretty steady and overall, more balanced. Properties under $550k are still hot, partly due to low supply. Above that – still hot – but more supply means more competitive.

One thing that’s taken many in his profession off-guard is what’s happening with price adjustments. Buyers are being forced to reapply for mortgages. As a result of reapplying for mortgages with fluctuating interest rates, etc., some buyers are finding that they’re no longer qualified.

Other notes: Row and semi-detached housing are balanced in the market and moving. Condo sales are up. There is still high demand in every category from out-of-province.

Ross Mikkelsen – mentioned an event happening in Greenview with cars, beer…not sure about dancers. Anyway, it’s called the Tango 2 Echo Fest. It’s all ages with a bit of something for everyone happening at Greenview Industrial at 4001 Edmonton Trail. More information is available here: https://www.todocanada.ca/city/calgary/event/tango-2-echo-fest/ .

Andy Lockhart – reporting from the bleeding-edge frontier of AI (artificial intelligence) reports that a giant robotic ball collector and groomer that looks like a giant turtle on steroids is currently being tested at the Priddis golf course.

He also mentioned his continuing involvement in attempting to dissuade the powers that be from allowing a safe injection site anywhere the Drop In Center. He’s meeting with a couple of MLA’s this month among other things.

Matt Dart – took Andy and other Birds up on sights to see while his dad was up here visiting. They went to the Nanton Bomber Command Museum and were duly impressed. They have a video walk through here: https://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca/hours-admission/, but it doesn’t do Andy Lockhart’s handiwork justice. Andy had a hand in designing replicas of two of the biggest if not THE biggest non-atomic bombs dropped by bombers in the war. Recommended.

On the work front, some of the Johnson Controls reps are twiddling their thumbs, although there are some good things on the horizon beyond the strip malls they’re currently addressing. The South Edmonton Hospital is apparently on the board again and going to tender in about a year. Canadian Gypsum and their plant near Carseland could also bring good news to J.C.

Brad Pachal – DAD’s 3rd Act (Cont’d). Brad and family helped to finalize the sale of his father’s house in Regina, where the market is NOT the same as Calgary’s. Brad’s father’s bungalow is a 1959 bungalow in terrific shape. Comparable properties in the area were on the market for $265K. They eventually closed the sale after an offer of $246K.

Jim Bladon – back at Birds after an insane July. Between being out with farmers with work and his work with Stampede charities, AND completing a basement reno with the city’s seal of approval.

Shout out to the folks who organize the Strathmore Stampede. They do an OUTSTANDING job, among other things running full chuckwagon races (4 wagons instead of 3 – and perhaps a rumoured TWO at the Calgary Stampede next year). They also still present a number of “heritage” events you won’t see anywhere else.

As for OUR Stampede, Jim had some interesting stats. The parade was attended by 300,000 people. The Stampede itself boasted the 4th best attendance in its 100-year history: 1.1 million people. The spectators and guests were 70% local and 30% from abroad, on par with pre-pandemic times. It was really important and economically significant for the city.

Lotteries and the charities did really well, finishing ahead of last year. They’ll distribute close to $300,000 throughout the community. The majority of prize winners were local. 50/50 also boasted a local winner. Chase the Ace – the newest of the games ended up having a 1.2 million dollar prize that wasn’t won until the LAST day of Stampede.

Don Davis – signaled Roger Jarvis’ celebration of life mentioned in the opening paragraphs of this short novel.

Then moved on to try to describe the contrast in examples among professional golfers between those you might want to hold up as examples for your kids, and…..John Daly. He sorta looked like a smoking-cessation and AA program Santa Claus refugee out on the golf course. But hey – he drew more people out to the Shaw Classic for a good cause than might have been there, so what can you do?

Don continued by pointing us in the direction of Costco for some salmon burgers – West Coast salmon.

It was either Don or Andy who sent us back to a bookstore for our final tip when one mentioned a book by Peter Schweizer – called “Throw Them All Out: How Politicians and Their Friends Get Rich Off Insider Stock Tips, Land Deals, and Cronyism That Would Send the Rest of Us to Prison”. https://www.amazon.com/Throw-Them-All-Out-Politicians-ebook/dp/B0062N35X8/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=Peter+sweitzer&qid=1660015332&s=digital-text&sr=1-7

And on that happy note, we’ll look forward to another Birds meeting at Inglewood this Thursday, August 11th.

Cheers!

Early Birds, July 7th, 14th and 21st

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 02:11:59 GMT

Early Birds, July 7th 14th and 21st

Clearly, your minutes taker and writer is on the Mañana summer schedule! It’s a long one kids, combining minutes from July 7 ^th , 14 ^th and 21 ^st . Grab a coffee, and read on.

Let’s start by honouring the memory of one of everyone’s favourite Birds: Roger Jarvis . Thanks to Tony Fisher for pointing us to this lov ely tribute to Roger: https://www.arbormemorial.ca/edenbrook/obituaries/charles-stanley-roger-jarvis/88567 . A celebration of Roger’s life is planned and the family is asking people to stay tuned to the Arbor Memorial site for more information.

Dan Kennelly – Business is steady- no huge spikes. Activity in Saskatchewan, Northern Alberta and the States.

Customers - asking for American specs since they’re actually building things.

A couple of interesting stats via Dan: First, 65% of oil in the world controlled by 7 companies. All private and sanctioned (in one form or another).

Exxon is responsible for 3% of the world’s production. OPEC+ alliance 50% of the world’s production. Exxon’s price set by market (as is Canadian O & G). Those OPEC+ folks set the price for their commodity. And the world pays.

Renewable energy, solar in particular, is not going to help any more socially responsible western companies. Solar panel production is largely controlled by China. China has been buying up mineral rights to most of the world’s precious metals for years now, and despite the panels being “sourced locally”, regionally or nationally in Canada, most of the panels are constructed in China. Ergo the sale and growth of solar feed the Chinese government more $$.

As an example, Tony Fisher pointed out that the huge Brooks solar installation sourced their panels from a company in Montreal – and touted that fact – when in fact, the panels were made in China.

Dan and folks in his neighbourhood recently helped to equip and re settle a Ukrainian family. Furniture, living space, etc. Very rewarding work.

Dan has talked about Jet fuel on the West Coast before and how much of it required daily to run the Vancouver International Airport. Instead of getting their commodity based on Alberta fuel, B.C. is having (I hope I heard this correctly) a thousand trucks a month supplemented by ships from the US and South Korea. Buy local? Not if it’s Alberta oil and gas.

Trans Am pipe is preparing for ISO audit in September. They’re prepping now and anticipating that it will go swimmingly.

Dan mentioned a site that has helped among others, Bird Ross Mikkelsen recover stolen bikes. It’s the Bike Index. Register yours in the hopes that it might get returned if it’s ever stolen: https://bikeindex.org .

Ian Campbell - helping his daughter move from a Vancouver apartment to a house with roommates on Spanish Banks beach. $5k a month split amongst a few roommates vs. $3k a month for a small apartment.

Ian’s done with commercial renovations! After his story, there’s gotta be a joke that starts with “How many engineers does it take to evaluate painting a non-bearing wall?”

Tony Fisher - Rotary finished post-stampede evaluations. Charities did really well. Huge credit card sales, hardly any cash, despite Rogers outage. The outage WAS a huge issue on the grounds and for most businesses that didn’t have a backup plan.

Logistics is also still an issue for SML. They are sweating a bit because they’re missing August product but hey; at least they’re getting November product. ��

Matt Dart – The mid-year update at Johnson Controls is summed up with they have half the work/$$ they were expecting. There’s not much construction other than retail strip mails and condos which they typically don’t get involved in.

In a little Dart family news, the family took their annual trip to Sandpoint and instead of staying at a hotel at five times pre-pandemic prices the family shared a house in standpoint $1500 a night split three ways. MUCH better idea.

Mike Boyles - taking golf lessons from a South African tour pro who, like Madonna, only uses one name: Alberta. Actually, it’s just that Mike and Albert are on a first-name basis. Mike got to play with Albert with him last week after lessons and it was a treat. They DID, however, figure out Albert’s Achilles heel. After he scored 6 under on the front 9, they started feeding him beverages. He was 5 over on the back nine as a result.

Finding a lot of clients with challenges. Transportation, supply and bureaucrats and regulation. More of a counselor than a business advisor.

One of the opportunities in Mike’s business is helping clients prepare ESG packages for small, medium and large enterprise. ESG is Environmental and Social Governance. In some places it’s also known as E%#$^$# Steven Guilbeault. In any case, it’s a growth industry and they’re learning a ton to help their clients navigate that landscape.

Brad Pachal – was headed back to Regina this past week to clean out his dad’s house. Thanks to Andy for help with the trailer.

Dad’s health almost ship shape after a bit of a scare a few weeks ago.

Picking up on the theme from Dan Kennelly earlier, Brad noted that Regina received 250 Ukrainian refugees, and they need everything. A donation center has opened in Regina you can tell your Regina folks about. More details here: https://www.cjme.com/2022/07/15/donation-centre-opens-in-regina-to-give-items-to-displaced-ukrainians/ .

Brad discovered a LEGO outlet called The Brick Bin at 2906 Centre St. NE. For LEGO fans (and their sons, daughters, nieces and nephews and grandkids) who need parts, this place is Mecca! The LEGO store actually sent them to the Brick Bin.

Brad has a Birch on his property that needed help. He found it from an outfit called Prune It Up, and the solution was $500.

This led to the line of the day from Andy – “Brad’s yard is now a safe injection site!”

Brett Bain – was the latest to recommend the Mint car wash on McLeod Trail. He subscribed to the $45 unlimited one month pass. Our resident Scotsman said: Great service, great value! Particularly in light of his new impulse buy, a brand new pickup!

Brett’s Scottish blood was at a high simmer over the fact that Alberta’s paying more for gas than Ontario this past while.

OSI business is great. If they could get product, it would be even better.

OSI acquired a new repeat client. Unintentionally perhaps. There’s nothing so dangerous to an organization as an IT person who knows just enough to be dangerous. That happened recently and OSI was called in. After clearing up the technical carnage left behind by this person, OSI recommended monthly maintenance as a preventative/proactive measure for the company’s systems. He declined….so OSI will be back.

One of OSI’s primary business lines is in schools. One of the issues is that “Buddy” in schools, sometimes known as the key contact, disappear for the summer. Of course, they get back in the last week of August and panic, not realizing that they’re going to have to wait until November or December for hardware that might be needed. That they COULD have ordered in time during early summer if they’d done their job right after the end of the school year, except that, they were away.

Andy Lockhart – Going back two weeks, Andy had just landed fresh from a workshop in Port Townsend, Washington where was temporarily the most politically conservative person in that part of the state. He loves the area despite that and discovered how to make his own Travisher to help carve out seats on chairs. Andy tells it better: “…took a ferry to the workshop to work with 8 gay woodworkers and learned how to use my tool properly.”

The tool is tricky to make, and he enjoyed the experience enough to give us a bit of a show and tell. The tool is the sharp, double-edged, finger-skin-shaving tool in the dark wood:

Mike’s story of the golf pro brought to mind another story involving a golf pro, this time out at the Priddis course. In 2016, Priddis hosted an LPGA and had pro golfer Cristie Kerr out.

Among other pleasant moments the members who paid for the privilege of her company had was when the gentlemen offered her a drink each time she birdied, per club tradition, she replied: “If I had a drink every time I had a birdie, I’d look like you guys.” Another moment came when she was arriving at a tricky green and one of the guys explained that the putt was likely to break in a very specific way. Her reply was not “thank you.” It was “I don’t take advice from amateurs.” So…NOT as pleasant as Albert was the long and short of it.

Andy also mentioned this nugget. Just after the latest mass shooting in Texas, it was announced that the Dallas Cowboys had signed a sponsorship deal with the Black Rifle Coffee company. They have delightful roasts like AK-47 Espresso, & Silencer Smooth. You can’t make this up: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/collections/coffee .

Final note from Andy – re: a legitimate bee in his bonnet from the Birds meeting on the 14 ^th . The Drop-in Centre is working on many initiatives with the provincial government to combat addiction. If you remember from our day volunteering to serve breakfast, the Centre was working *extremely* hard to keep anyone not sober out of the Centre for night-time stays or for breakfast. For 25 years that’s been part of their mission helping the homeless.

Now, in a complete about-face they’re contemplating a safe injection site. The reputational cost to the Centre could be huge.

Dwayne Vinck – returned to Birds on the 14 ^th after being away in Manitoba where he and the family watched over their mom’s passing. Shout out to Brad and Garry from Dwayne for all their help.

While in Manitoba, Dwayne collected a remarkable Coffee with Canadian roots called Resistance Coffee that wasn’t that far off of the Black Rifle Coffee Company.

Paul Boucher - mentioned a credit card scam that’s ongoing for businesses that accept credit cards online. He discovered one night that fraudsters were putting through test charges of $5 on his web site. He was able to successfully refund the charges and block and report each case, but for a business with higher volume, that would be a much bigger issue. Keep an eye on your merchant account. Jae & Reed Achievement - MRU, SAIT

Don Davis – on the topic of thinking you’re “buying local” when you’re actually supporting Russia, China, or some other country remembered this story.

In Don’s Minolta days, Minolta was a Japanese company. Minolta had 100,000 customers across the country, and to mollify perturbed clients, etc., Don’s business would buy refurbished cameras to send to them. People would literally buy them on a Thursday or a Friday, shoot a wedding on a weekend with them or something, then return them on Monday. So off they’d go to be “refurbished.”

In one instance, a client in India actually refused a FREE Minolta camera because it had been refurbished in a part of India that wasn’t on political speaking terms with his part of India. So…not that Japanese after all. Don found a different way to make that client happy.

Other quick notes from Don. He was feeling gratifyingly tired after a day of gardening, when his neighbour came over after swimming 5K in Lake Bonavista then cleaning the yard for the other part of the day. Don was telling Pat something along the lines of “…well, he IS younger…” when she interrupted and let Don know, that “…no, in actual fact, he’s the same age…”

Former Bird Dave Reid’s son Steve opened a venue for entertainment in Invermere after using it for boat and rental storage. He does still get some use for his boat, though. He rents out the boat at $1350 a day.

Then, the story of a FedEx driver who passed out on a porch in Texas. It was likely heatstroke; it gets to be 160 degrees in the back of those delivery trucks.

The only reason it got out was because the homeowner got an alert from his Ring doorbell camera. You can see a video of this poor guy here: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ring-video-shows-ups-driver-collapse-extreme-arizona-heat-rcna38663 .

Finally, Don shared a great Chinese restaurant downtown called U & Me. It’s at 201-233 Centre Street SE (second floor).

Ross Mikkelsen – recently stayed with the family up at the Mt. Assiniboine lodge where they had a full snowstorm! So many moving parts up there and he was super impressed that they manage everything from staff, to grizzlies, to B.C. Parks. Especially B.C. Parks. They had the option to hike 26 km from Sunshine Village, or chopper in. They choppered in. Although they learned that a friend of their daughter’s (who happens to run marathons) ran the entire 26k out and back in 6 hours. That’s a no “flat streets of Boston” marathon!

If you’re looking for a great place for a downtown business meeting, Ross recently experienced the Danish Canadian Club and learned a) you don’t have to be Danish, b) the food’s good, and c) there’s always parking.

Reid Colbran – had missed a few meetings since he was out in B.C. helping family in Shuswap and then a one-week vacation.

Insurance rates have stabilized so renewals are easier.

Reid actually used the word “crisis” when describing all of the catalytic converter thefts. Brokerlink is getting 2-5 claims a week from commercial fleets.

At which point Ross Mikkelsen chimed in and announced, they’d spent roughly $1000 per vehicle to install stainless steel skid plates on the bottom of the Barbecues Galore vehicles to prevent those thefts.

Back to Reid, they returned to water damage in their kitchen. The tip: shut the water off before you leave on vacation.

Bob Wiggins – from skid plates to prevent catalytic converter thefts to motors…really. There once was a dealership client of Bob’s who tells the story of a couple of young guys who took a vehicle out for a test drive. They literally swapped out the engine!

Bob circled back to tell the story of the free playoff trip to Denver for his grandson. He’d told us about this grandson winning the trip to a Stanley Cup Playoff game a while ago.

It was a fantastic experience. Hats off to Tim Horton’s for their great work. A rep from Tim’s met them in Denver. Took them on a tour of Denver in a minibus. Took them to a ball game with 50,000 of their closest friends. And that was day 1!

Day two, they were again picked up by a rep from Tim’s. That day included a tour of the arena, the media area and more. Their seats were about 8 rows up from the penalty box, with a great view. Security even took them into the room where the Stanley Cup was! It was in a word: fantastic. Tim’s even picked up the tab for hockey memorabilia including an autographed jersey. The game itself was terrific – it the one Colorado won in a blowout. Chris’s son may have been converted from a Flames fan to an Avalanche fan.

The day after the game – they visited the Denver zoo. They got lost heading back to their hotel, so Chris stopped to ask for directions. Turns out the “Denver Tourist Guides” were a couple of prostitutes, one a trans sex worker, BUT, they were genuinely helpful and guided them back to the hotel. Chris figures he’ll tell his son *all* of the details on that last part to his son when he’s a bit older. Hahaha.,

Michael McLennan – He and maria have been in the Azores 6 weeks. Came back and the two of them had COVID. That’s never good news, but in this case, it was especially poor timing. They’d come back for her final surgery but that was scrubbed. So, Maria will head back to Portugal until early September (or they’re not going to go back until early September after the surgery. Apologies for the sloppy notes, especially on an important topic).

On the good news side of things, Michael’s son got married in South Carolina. It was fantastic. Palmetto Bluff outside of Blufton, SC. https://www.townofbluffton.sc.gov if you’d like to take a look.

Tom Olson (yes DR TOM) - life proceeds apace. Still a couple of clients, which is just the way he wants it.

For the first time in 30 years, he and his wife own 1 house and 1 car.

Being in Calgary, he had to borrow a car. So, his daughter lent him their BENTLEY 4 X 4. Not making that up. I was riding my bike when I was passed by a Bentley on the way to the meeting, at which point I thought the Inglewood had had a serious client upgrade!

His daughter (she of the Bentley) was away with friends and they’d contemplated buying 12 business class seats. The way things are right now, that’s a good way to paying the price of a rental for a private jet. So they went private.

Tom told the story how after the “great purge”, he’d cleaned out a storage unit he’d been using for 9 months. Here’s the catch on the storage issue: Sentinel storage wouldn’t end the billing until he’d swept the unit.

Finally, from Tom, he relayed how he hadn’t had a thankless job in 40 years, so he joined the board of the condo complex.

Garry Friedrichsen – After Paul Boucher had relayed a conversation he’d had with the CBC’s Eye Opener producer and how he was essentially being considered as a less ( or not) viable candidate for David Gray’s job because he didn’t have a journalism degree, Garry moved on to a P & G story and comments that centered on the philosophy regarding hiring and operating. Would you rather hire book smart or street smart?

People with good situational awareness and street smarts typically tend to be more valuable, but he had a bit of literature and a simple, but comprehensive pie chart showing how P & G measured the success drivers of their ideal candidates.

Thanks also to Garry for pointing out that the federal Carbon Tax Rebates were set to drop into accounts nationwide after the meeting on the 14 ^th . If you’re set up for auto-deposits from CRA, check your accounts.

Final tip from Garry – a neighbourhood hack. They live on a crescent there is a street drain in front of their house. With rain halfway up the driveway, he called 3-1-1 and it was explained to him that the street had a slow drainage system and to call them back when they were flooding. Which, of course, Garry was trying to AVOID! So, in the end, it was all OK, but a city guy did come out following the episode and he was carrying an odd L-shaped shovel, which he used to lift a *grate in the drain* that can be lifted to make it a “fast-draining drain. So…note for future occasions, an L-shaped shovel can be YOUR DIY solution to a “slow drain”.

Our final note is a testament to the value of the Early Birds in trying times for its members. Rob Beasant confided in the meeting on July 14 ^th that his family had recently experienced something very difficult and potentially tragic. Rob requested discretion in the notes, so we’ll simply say this: true to the nature of the gents in this club, many stepped up with helpful, supportive comments and/or actionable counsel. He was made aware that he and his family were not alone, and that he could reach out any time it was necessary. Rob felt lighter, better and thankful after confiding to the group which was a help in and of itself.

Early Birds, June 23 and 30, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 01 Jul 2022 21:58:21 GMT

Early Birds, June 23 and 30, 2022

Dan Kennelly – staying busy at work. Material is coming in. Clients are complaining about prices since they can’t be held even for 24 hours. TransAm noting a LOT of change in the oil patch, most for the b etter .

Salient observation of the day re: our cockwomble-led government: Australia is crying for oil. They import 90% of their oil, but Canada can’t get it to them.

Brett Bain – “interesting” at work in the sense that there’s lots of business, but they just can’t source equipment in anything approaching a timely fashion. Schools hoping to be up and running with new tech by September are being told November instead. Most of their education business is in the Charter School sector.

Brett told the story of Vicky walking their dog through the coulee and running into a badger with 4 babies. The young dog went after them. The badgers stood their ground, and eventually went after the dog. No one was hurt. Too bad a dog’s memory is 7 seconds long.

Don Davis – circulated a photo of the last time the Stanley cup was in town in an old rotary picture from Spruce Meadows. 5 early birds including Roger Jarvis, Ed Kott, Joe Drysdale, Don, and I’m missing one.

Don had the day from hell last Tuesday. It all started with a passport application for his son.

The day his sone was coming in from Canmore to get the passport, he hit a deer, and totaled his car and had to find another way to get in town, and Don went out to get him so he could stand in line.

They were able to get to the passport office by 3, but naturally, they weren’t able to get a passport that day after everything.

They went back next day and got it at 11 a.m. which has handy since their flight left at 3.

But THEN…..

Don’s daughter-in-law who is a nurse with every shot imaginable was for some reason pulled out of line for security and COVID protocol!! In the end, it was a happy ending: the family made their flight

From the 23 ^rd , this story of Don & Pat buying a condo in Willow Park for daughter who’s getting unmarried. She and her oldest son will move in in August.

Jim Bladon – had news from the Ag world. Seeding is done, farmers are spraying now. Bit of a slow down as they enter this season for various reasons.

Jim’s Credit Union customers asking for interest rates to be held for 30-60 days, they can’t. Even a day and a half can result in a 35-basis points adjustment is the timing is bad.

Stampede - begins next Thursday for most people. Jim’s connections within Stampede and Rotary sense a pent-up demand. Folks are excited. As an example of changes this year, and perhaps expectations: the Cowboys tent is 40% bigger and taking up two parking lots that were left. Parking will DEFINITELY be an issue. If you’re headed down, don’t expect to park close to the grounds.

The Super pass is back: 2 days or more $49 is a good deal.

As for the Dream Home: Jim says it’s the most beautiful in years. Very contemporary after receiving feedback that the previous batch f homes had been too “western”. The home also includes a condo in university village.

As far as the lottery itself goes, tickets are down just 6% vs 25% for other lotteries across the province

Tony Fisher – shared his note that in California, right now it costs $10 a gallon for gas! There’s a critical water shortage no lawn watering, washing cars. They figure they 9 months of water left. (Ed. Note - But hey, keep growing the thirstiest non-native crop ever: almonds.)

Food costs are a growing problem there as well even though they grow a lot of their food.

Tony happened to be at a soccer game at Vista Heights, which sits under a runway. They noted a near-continuous stream of planes. This year, although not back to pre-pandemic levels, the airport is looking at 14 million people pushing through its doors rather than 6 million last year.

On Stampede, Tony fears that service will really suffer. They’re nowhere near full staff levels and the reduced staff will mean longer waits, among other things.

Other notes from Tony: Regarding Minimum wage, he’s hearing talk in some circles of a $20 minimum wage, which will further force businesses to cut back on staff, hurting service further.

Tony shared that in Ontario – there’s an active QR code pilot program that sends orders from restaurant patrons directly to the kitchen. That restaurant industry is also looking for ways to get rid of tipping.

That QR code program is one of a number of initiatives that form a real push to get away from cash. ATM companies, naturally, are pushing in the opposite direction.

Matt Dart - Morale at home is up, work down. His daughter’s got a job for the summer. Son succeeded in his quest to get one too.

At work, though, the problem Matt referred to previously – the number crunchers suddenly being in charge and bottom lining everything to the detriment of client relationships has resulted in people upset with the way Johnson Controls are treating customers. Another concern is the way the company seems to be availing itself of the use of third parties to sell directly rather than branch offices.

One consequence is that a lot of staff leaving – one of those perceiving ”the writing on the wall” sorts of things.

Matt’s company has its eyes on the huge potash projects in Saskatchewan, and also, infrastructure work in Whitehorse, which may or may not be bitcoin related. Think data centers and data mining. The naturally cool temperatures in places like Whitehorse result in MUCH lower cooling costs for data centers. It’s one of the reasons that Iceland, with no other supporting tech industry has attracted bitcoin data centers as well.

Matt brought up one important, likely unintended consequence of the Central Bank’s Interest rate hikes: Amazon has put their large warehousing project in Calgary on hold citing interest rate increases.

Sean Baylis – announced to no one’s surprise that it’s been a really, really tough first part of the year. One of the worst starts in history for the market.

In Canada interest rate rise may be 60 rather than 75 basis points July 13th.

Energy prices are a huge factor in Canada and elsewhere.

Some good news is that China is fully open again.

Stock ideas – Again Sean preached the mantra that if you have cash on hand, these sorts of markets *can* be excellent buying opportunities. Among companies receiving a thumbs up that may appear weak right now, he included Nike. There are lots of problems there because of China, but the world isn’t giving up exercising.

Disney’s stock is currently at pre-Pandemic levels down from Pandemic peak. RBC expects that to trend up.

Pfizer is another company getting a favourable rating from RBC, partly because they just bought Biohaven, a migraine drug owner. There’s a press release detailing the acquisition here: https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-acquire-biohaven-pharmaceuticals .

Last stock note: RBC likes CAE a company into flight simulation health training, defense training. Although they acquired a lot of companies and debt during COVID, they’re still an RBC pick.

Sean also mentioned a booked entitled A Richer Future – written by Noah Booth. It’s billed as Essential Financial concepts for youth, and Sean says it’s done wonders for his own kids. RBC is actually offering to send you a copy of the book at no cost via this web page: https://ca.rbcwealthmanagement.com/lakeshoreadvisorygroup/book-offer .

I can see this being a great gift for your kids’ kids, etc.

Mike Boyles – was late because of a deer incident…on Deerfoot. It held up Sean Baylis as well.

Mike’s company has been dealing with the Edmonton Construction Association with success.

One of Mike’s business partners is looking into a David and Goliath type acquisition a smaller company buying one many times its size. Mike’s seeing a very active M & A market.

An ex-client had done a lot of work for Whitecap resources so they’re looking into possibilities there as well.

Dave Hicks – continuing the story of the past few years is spending a lot of time on behalf of his company Hixie Electric time in the mountains in Banff and Jasper. One of his favourite spots is the Saskatchewan River Crossing. When he crosses there at dawn as he has one a few occasions, it’s definitely one of Dave’s happy places.

In a rare turn, Dave walked away from a sizeable gig involving about a kilometer and half stretch of cabling because they wanted the job completed by July 27th. It’s simply not possible to get the materials needed for the job. A Vancouver-based company apparently got the contract, but Dave is reasonably certain that they won’t complete on time either.

Dave extended a special shout out to Dwayne Vinck who was measuring his mom’s time in hours but still took the time to call Dave about taxes.

Dave also relayed the story about being on Swoop Airlines inaugural flight to Charlottetown and playing his pipes to help them celebrate. Dave played the pipes at Edmonton airport and then played again for passengers coming off the plane in Charlottetown.

Of his time in the mountains, one observation is the multiple labour shortages in Banff and Lake Louise. Tourists are back and staff is NOT.

Ross Mikkelsen – things proceeding as they should this time of year, slowing down as people settle into BBQ season. One item Ross brought to our attention on the 23 ^rd was the growing “de-gasification movement” gaining momentum in parts of the US, and (no surprise) California in particular. This is affecting the other half of the Barbecues galore business – gas fireplaces. Ross offered this insight: restaurants in particular would be hurt as this progresses – especially without a viable alternative. A commercial kitchen will NOT run anywhere as efficiently without gas ovens and cooking appliances.

Brad Pachal (from the 23 ^rd ) – He’d missed two weeks while working on a reno for his sister in Regina. The brother of the year nominations are now officially open.

He was grateful to have been in Regina because his father ended up in hospital after an episode of elevated blood pressure took him down briefly.

He and his sister moved his dad into an extended care facility. Dad’s in good spirits and doing well.

Ian Campbell (from the 23 ^rd ) - business has picked up in June.

Garry Friedrichsen (from the 23 ^rd ) – interesting, informed take on precious and rare metals. Russian and Chinese alliances weaponizing those commodities.

Garry shared another business intel nugget. A while ago one of the companies he’d spent a lot of time with was confronted with exclusivity deals at front checkouts. Competing firms would try and set up and monopolize that part of retail. It’s valuable space, so Gillette would “bid up” the cost of being there. If they were going to be shut out of the space, the competitor would pay an exorbitant price to be there.

He also once again pointed to the potent power of information gathering and asking focus questions to keep building strategic plans.

JD MacDonald - told of a pilot program that will add hydrogen to the natural gas in their system. The discussion was part of a code meeting with the City. It will result in a 7% drop in efficiency. It’ll also be interesting to see how many current appliances, etc. will be able to work with the new fuel mix.

Son-Rise Plumbing is also experiencing logistics delays in supply. November is their quoted delivery date on a LOT of the pieces they would order for clients.

Like a lot of sectors right now, JD is noticing some consolidation and M & A activity in the plumbing universe.

Andy Lockhart – (from the 23 ^rd ) was fresh off of the Greens Keepers cup at Priddis It essentially involves the most evil course design possible. Pins on top of the knob on the hill and more green grass and sand sadism. Fun day.

Andy’s spent most of winter down the rabbit hole of various chair styles. To carve out a chair seat there’s a particular tool called a Travsiher. Right now, if you try to order one there’s an 18 month waiting list.

Andy being Andy decided to go the DIY route saying he’s “… 73. I don’t even buy green bananas!”

He’s got some qualified help. He’s taking a course in Port Townshend, Washington from Claire Minihan. You can see some amazing examples on Claire’s site and one below: http://cminihanwoodworks.blogspot.com .

Early Birds, June 16, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Wed, 22 Jun 2022 23:03:23 GMT

Early Birds, June 16, 2022

JD MacDonald - back at Birds and happy to see us. Will be alternating between Birds and another business networking group on Thursdays.

His daughter graduated with her second degree, and after the ceremony they wound up eating at Joe’s and ran into Brianna. She’s acting as Tony’s agent referring business to SML. Haha.

Dan Kennelly - Mint car wash is open and spectacular. Used to be the Stetson Hotel. More information here: https://mintsmartwash.com/calgary-alberta-macleod-trail/ , including on the car wash subscription plans (?!)

Paul Boucher - travel tips which really come down to give yourself an extra hour even for domestic travel, and avoid Pearson if at all possible.

Sean Baylis - Inflation numbers came out Friday in the US, 8.6 for May, downside in the market. It’s now well over 7% in Canada.

Interest rates went up by 75 basis points this week in the US. Rates will continue to rise.

Very good question asked by ScotiaBank, particularly after our Feds opted to fight inflation…..by creating more inflation is “Why is the Bank of Canada Fighting Inflation Alone?” The article is here and downloadable in PDF format: https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/about/economics/economics-publications/post.other-publications.inflation-reports.inflation-management--june-19--2022.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NP%20Platformed%20newsletter%202022-06-21&utm_term=NP_Comments .

On the subject of inflation, *everything* is more expensive.

All this is setting up a volatile market for the summer with plenty of buying opportunities for undervalued companies.

Having said that, Sean said: “…if you’re waiting to deploy cash, it’s worth waiting a bit longer.”

Ukraine still impacting prices on the resources.

RBC likes Teck Coal, who despite the name will double copper production.

In the US, RBC likes Palo Alto systems, cyber security.

Don Davis - complaint this morning. Government intruding in the BHP and Nutrien sphere - loaning BHP - the *Australian* company BHP $100 million rather than support the Canadian company.

Ross Mikkelsen - he’s been telling Birds about inflation for almost 2 years now, and from his perspective with the way he has to run his business, it’s a lagging indicator, not a leading one. He figures we may actually start to see price DEcreases, freight on the ocean is cheaper. He sees over supply in some sectors cutting prices.

Matt Dart - The family typically heads off to Silverwood in Idaho during the summer, stays in a relatively cheap hotel, usually $200 a night. This year? $500 a night, so they’l be looking at renting a house.

Work - BC office of Johnson Controls is having trouble because of a new tax affecting natural gas-based products. Tough to compare pricing when that’s factored in.

An observation from Matt that with Johnson Controls allowing finance people to run the company rather than the people the ground, the company is bottom line driven at the expense of some important long- and short-term relationships.

Tony Fisher - seeing the same as Ross, but thinks the factories may not have as much room to go backwards from a price standpoint. “WE’RE SHOCKED!” said NO one around the table.

Dwayne Vinck beating the drum quietly for Braveheart Resources, who like Teck are involved in a copper play. However, Dwayne cautions and Braveheart and Teck are two different beasts to buy.

Keep an eye on Braveheart though. There’s still optimism based on the existing asset and the resource in play.

Rob Beasant - On the market - despite a heavily myopic Eastern bias, the Desjardins report on the housing market across the country makes for interesting reading. You can access it here: https://www.desjardins.com/ressources/pdf/pv220608-e.pdf?resVer=1654690735000 .

A couple of quick highlights: since 2018, Toronto up 60%, Calgary 23%.

Calgary 6% price correction predicted. But Rob thinks they didn’t take various factors into consideration. Prices MAY drop, but among other things, condo sales are up 40%.

Seventy percent of his buyers looking for condos.

He’s still seeing a lot of Ontario and BC investors.

Garry Friedrichsen - Lada - the “venerable” Russian carmaker is actually releasing incomplete cars. There are no parts. In some cases, little things like sterling wheels. No joke.

Sanctions aren’t helping. The war in Ukraine disabling steel and aluminum supply for a lot of that part of the world isn’t helping. Commodities are being played against currency so will affect logistics. In times like this, it’s time to be on the lookout for counterfeit consumer packaged goods.

Brett Bain - once again a nod to the many benefits to Birds and thank you to Mike, Ross.

Mike Boyle - family reunion at the officer’s pub. Great food and service.

Nephew is CEO - in Singapore - Collins Aerospace. The company looks after airport lounges and check-in processes at airports.

One thing they’ve noticed in Singapore is how MANY executives have moved there from Hong Kong.

In business Mike had 3 conversations this week on material price increases, one as high as 40%, another 15%, on top of an earlier 15%. Very short notice on price increases. Tough for businesses to manage.

Andy Lockhart - Observations on Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals, one of the best games he’s seen in years. Worth watching.

Andy reading the tea leaves believes the assessment that Liberal insiders are tiring of Justin. Can the night of the long knives be far behind?

Bob Wiggins - at the time of the meeting, his son and grandson heading to Denver to watch part of the Stanley cup final.

3 weeks ago realized he left his jacket here at Birds. He called, they found it and set It aside. When he came by to pick it up, it was gone.

Bob also had a pretty decent lawyer joke.

“A Lawyer And His Twelve Kids…

A lawyer, who had a wife and 12 children, needed to move because his rental agreement was terminated by the owner who wanted to reoccupy the home.

But he was having a lot of difficulty finding a new house. When he said he had 12 children, no one would rent a home to him because they felt that the children would destroy the place. He couldn’t say he had no children, because he couldn’t lie – we all know lawyers cannot and do not lie.

So he sent his wife for a walk to the cemetery with 11 of their kids. He took the remaining one with him to see rental homes with the real estate agent.

He loved one of the homes and the price was right – the agent asked: “How many children do you have?” He answered: “Twelve.”

The agent asked” “Where are the others?” The lawyer with his best courtroom sad look answered: “They’re in the cemetery with their mother.”

He got the house.

MORAL : It’s not necessary to lie, one only has to choose the right words, and don’t forget, most politicians are unfortunately lawyers.”

Dwayne Vinck - 2nd round contribution - you CAN get your cell phone repaired rather than simply replace it at a place called Mobile Clinic: https://mobileklinik.ca . They also buy back old cell phones for resale.

Don Davis final travel tip - Hamilton and Abbotsford better for rental cars than Toronto and Vancouver respectively.

Early Birds, May 19th, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 13:50:13 GMT

Early Birds, May 19, 2022

Gentlemen,

I’m trapped in Toronto at Pearson for the second time in 5 days, which provided me with the opportunity I needed to clean up and send these minutes out.

My tip to anyone traveling is configure your trip to avoid Toronto. It’s actually worth more money to go around. The staff her are doing their best with what they have, but they’re badly understaffed, delays are literally happening from every direction inbound and outbound, security is inconsistent and a nightmarish, Orwellian delay on your way to a gate.

I had one flight canceled on the way out which I learned about upon landing (COVID-related, so sorry, we won’t pay for your hotel…), and another delayed flight yesterday on the way home, causing me to miss my flight to Calgary last night by minutes, and on today’s flight, they’ll have no room for carry on if you’re boarding in Zone 5, so you’ll have to trust them with your luggage.

I know you’ve heard the advice before, but it’s never been more relevant, avoid using Pearson as a pivot in your travel plans if at all possible.

Early Birds Minutes May 19, 2022

Dan Kennelly - away June 2nd for a one-week customer visit in Victoria/Esquimalt. Inspecting a new shipment for new ice breakers for DND.

Then in June, more shipbuilding inspections, etc.

Working with CSpan to coordinate the logistics, including traceability, fabrication, storage, etc. Warehousing in Edmonton and then shipping back to the coast for building the ships.

Tony Fisher - reported that at the Winston golf course, a new hybrid F150 was stolen and caught on camera. They just climbed in and stole it, knew the codes and drove away.

Don Davis - talked about how companies come up with great ideas. He used to lead strategic retreats where the whole team, all levels of people within the company who were present contributed. There’s no such thing as a bad idea. One of Don’s main goals was to learn things he didn’t know.

He also recalled that among the inspirations he drew from, P&G had a “wall of failure” to honour ideas and attempts, since they all led forward.

Brad Pachal - when done his full-time job - this Reno project he’s been working on, he goes to his son’s place - Tyson- to help with a basement Reno. Father of the year reward program points for that one!

Then again, there’s no lack of incentive since his son’s family is living at his place, complete with 2-year-old twins and a 7-year-old.

Reflecting on supply chain issues again this week, Benjamin Moore paint, pure white. Not in stock. They’re having to mix pigments to come up with pure white.

Sean Baylis - markets zigging and zagging, yesterday (May 18th) a zag!

Walmart and target - both took a hit yesterday. Employees and logistics costs.

Not a good day for retail, retail index down 5% yesterday.

Consumer spending patterns changing. More experience-based than goods-based.

Lower income folks impacted first and hardest. Middle class still spending money, especially the savings accumulated during the pandemic. In Canada it’s mostly being spent on their houses.

Probably another 50-basis point coming from the central bank (that prediction came true!), but they may ease off after that.

Just back from San Francisco, which was hopping! The economy there still seems to be full blast.

Dwayne Vinck - congrats to Rachel Notley on winning the battle of Alberta!

It was almost unimaginable that the ruling party stripped down a sitting premier. Oh wait, Alison Redford. Oh Wait, Ed Stelmach…Oh wait….

Wayne mentioned a junior that was undervalued but seeing good things, BUT they lack an institutional following, so he was working on that to help elevate their profile to help them gain value and a reputation.

Also, since I’m posting the minutes a week later, we know how this turned out….

Bob Wiggins - remembering another investment opportunity that occurred within Birds when former member Jim Walker presented a commodities and options opportunity.

Bob invested $1,000 after other birds invested $10,000. Everything was finalized.

Then came the follow-up meeting where Jim announced all the money went poof!

Tip: if you don’t know anything about what you’re investing in, don’t.

I don’t think it took long for Jim to be a “former member.”

Bob wrapped up last week with this:

M ike Boyles - has been spending time in Kelowna, and the Kettle Valley area talking with potential clients. Amazed at the housing construction, hundreds of houses. Average lot price , $608k, what used to be $250 a foot to build is now well over $450 a foot to build.

Mike also reported that Trail Appliances is experiencing real challenges on the supply side, literally an 8-9 month wait for some products.

In that area, about 10-15% of population are active golfers. They’re expecting to add 30,000 people over the next decade, but no new golf courses or major infrastructure planned, SO, perhaps the wait times at golf courses will someday equal those at Pearson Airport in Toronto.

2nd Round Quickies:

Bob Wiggins with another supply chain woe: Their dishwasher packed it in, Loews and Costco told him that if it’s not in stock, they *may* have it by September.

Don Davis then chimed in with some good news on that front and a good tip. He and Pat just bought one at Atlas in the SE. Great service and installation.

Early Birds, May 12, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Sun, 15 May 2022 03:47:57 GMT

Early Birds, May 12, 2022

Don Davis - reminiscing on Bill Hoogstraten. Condo project in Cabo San Lucas. One thing he remembers clearly is that he never paid taxes on the building per the law in Mexico. The rule is if the building isn’t finished, it’s not taxable…so they left one corner unknit on the top floor unfinished. Never finished the building so never paid taxes.

Bill made friends anywhere he went ad Cabo was no exception. He was an avid fisherman, got to know a lot of people down there. Locals. And some out of towners, but *interesting* out of towners.

There was a full moon party at some point. Don remembers Pat talking to a lady who misplaced her sunglasses on the plane. Her plane.

Tony Fisher – laughing recounting another Bill Hoogstraten story.

Bill and Ted Hellard set up chuck wagon races in Vegas! It was a party! Huge success as an event despite them being fined every day for dust. Ribs and beer were had by all! Bill’s love of life and energy

Brad Pachal – Currently working a renovation project one room at a time. The owner can stay in one room, then has to move to another as Brad moves through the project.

4 time repeat customer. Hopefully leads to a few referrals

Lumber still @ crazy prices re: pre-pandemic. Price increases at the LOW end are 200%. Somme prices still greater than 400% higher.

Dan Kennelly – The continuing story of supply shortages and the effect on estimates. Trans-Am holding estimate prices 25-48 hours.

They’re getting some oddball project spec requests, including strange country of origin requests, for example requesting steel from Egypt….and they don’t make steel

d steel?

Missing steel production from Ukraine is having a huge impact.

Trans AM has 11 containers arriving next week. 15 and 20 million dollars of material will show up in the next two months. No way to know what it costs is until it lands.

Matt Dart - good news for Johnson Controls - lead times are getting longer for competitor companies. Rumour is that Lennox won’t take orders again until 2023.

Matt’s 15 yr old son , strong strapping lad looking for work. If you know of anyone who could use a bit of muscle and labour.

Don Doolan – recommended a plastic surgeon, Dr Fernandez. In Market Mall the good doctor removed a non malignant lump from Don’s neck. Don’s off to Montana next week – hoping to stay out there a month – maybe catch some selenium-laden fish.

Dwayne Vinck – spoke about Braveheart Resources and their copper mine property. While they wait through the interminable approval processes, they’re spending $60 ,000 to $70,000 a month just standing still keeping the doors open. They’re sitting on $30,000,000 of profit with what’s there now without further exploration and development.

Selenium could be an issue, but things are encouraging between their technology and mitigation methods and the ongoing conversations with stakeholders. All that being said, they’re still a year out.

Dave Hicks – welcomed his second Vinck on staff. Thanked Dwayne.

Hixie Electric is still doing work in Jasper and will be working on a Starbucks next. They did one for the Ice Fields last year.

Echoing Brad Pachal about raw materials, Dave mentioned that a roll of cable that was $450 pre-pandemic is now $1200.

Rob Beasant – Justin Havre & Associates still assessing the market as “more of the same”, although it seems to be more balanced. Still a sellers market, but not as crazy as before.

Interest is scaring people and it’s harder to qualify for young people since they have to qualify for 2% higher than the lowest fixed mortgage which right now is 4.04%.

House affordability in Calgary is still better than the rest of Canada. He’s cautiously optimistic.

The story of multiple offers has quieted, to around 4-5 per property rather than 40-50. Which was actually happening recently. People are pricing closer to assessed value right now as opposed to pricing 10% below value and then generating too many multiple bids.

Saying that, he’s still finding that the lower the asking the price the higher the final offer. Counter intuitive, but that’s the experience he’s had inn this market.

Early Birds, April 14, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 02:25:36 GMT

Early Birds, April 14, 2022

Congratulations to Reid Colbran and his wife Lissandre on the arrival of their new daughter Scarlett.

She arrived during the weekend before the Birds meeting. Reid plan s on sleeping again in May .

Dan Kennelly – Some containers finally came in this week and staff is flying through the processing..

Dan also reminded the group of the book Red Notice by Bill Browder which detailed Putin’s lawlessness and money laundering among several other “sins” of note. He’s back with a new book called Freezing Order, which at least on the service and from Dan’s recommendation might be every bit as good (and appalling) as the first. Locally you can pick it up at Pages in Kensington, or Shelf Life Books on 4 ^th Street SW, and, of course, the library if you don’t mind waiting. The link to order and pick up at Pages is https://pageskensington.com/item/rPCoGQ_-yAUaM9RPXY3uLA . They had 9 in stock with more on order as I was writing out the minutes.

Sean Baylis – had busy week working on a new partnership with another advisor in Canmore. Sean was learning about some of the clients and meeting them when possible.

Markets continue to fluctuate, but had a great day before the meeting. The market’s reacting to earnings and financials rather than news. This is typical of April in most years and it looks like a positive earnings season, and couple of months.

Quick note on interest rates: with the half-basis point rise in interest rates in Canada, they’re likely to continue to go up in the US. More big hikes are forecast for Canada.

Matt Dart – Matt told us a while ago he was taking advantage of a City of Calgary roofing replacement incentive program. Matt applied back in February and hasn’t heard back yet and is hearing the program may have run out of allotted cash. So, $3,000 he was hoping to put toward that roof may have just gone up in smoke.

Brad Pachal – continues to contend with long lead times causing delays and difficulties with accurate estimates and quotes. He’s become adept and conscious of the need to pre-order far ahead. He just pre-ordered plumbing that he needs for a job in September. Part of the problem right now is that with every job, every single part of a job is playing out unpredictably: price, supply, and time. He’s responded by becoming a better project manager. One of the difficulties for small independents like Brad is where you store materials when you pre-order and they actually arrive. The solution? The homeowner’s place as opposed to pricey warehouse space.

Jim Bladon – is not expecting interest rate rises to slow things down. At least not just this one. He anticipates more spikes may do the trick, but not sure how many or how much will have the dampening effect the Bank of Canada is looking for.

Jim was one of many who showed up at very well attended Pierre Poilievre rally at Spruce Meadows. Momentum is definitely in his camp.

Naturally, Jim had his eyes on the tarp auction as a gauge for the state of Calgary’s economy. The Stampede declared it successful with a variety of new factors in play having amassed $2.1M. It was actually beyond expectations, but still below the all-time best of $4.1M.

Then Jim floored the Birds with this news very diplomatically delivered: GMC is no longer the sponsor of the Rangeland Derby. The short version of the long story is that the pleather-wearing animal lovers in Ontario and Quebec applied concerted pressure and threatened to withdraw thousands of planned GMC truck purchases if they sponsored the event this year. GMC caved. The Alberta Dealer associations picked up the mantle until the Ontario puppet master told them that it was a national decision and they could NOT sponsor the Derby.

How does this end (other than Ford getting a WHOLE LOT of new Western Canadian customers?), well, now it’s the COWBOYS Rangeland Derby and their already massive tent on the grounds will double in size.

In any case, there were plenty of changes to the Derby and the tarp auction, most positive. Tickets to the Chucks are going like hot cakes via the Stampede’s web site.

Tony Fisher – continued the sorry saga of shipping and logistics that several Birds have authored this year by noting that it now costs upwards of $9,000 for a truckload of gear vs. the old price of $4500.

SML Entertainment competes with Amazon, and notes that although largely unnoticed, they no longer offer the same large savings their market power had allowed them to pass on to customers. They increased prices across the entire product line AND added a fuel surcharge to delivery prices.

Tony’s wife Lynne is a HUGE baseball fan, and so Tony spends a bit of time with the grand old game too. One of the interesting notes he passed on is the increased use of tech. The example Tony shared was catchers can now send electronic signals to pitchers.

According to the story here: https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2022/04/06/sign-of-times-mlb-gives-ok-to-electronic-pitch-calling/ , it goes like this:

“MLB is providing each team with three transmitters, 10 receivers and a charging case for the PitchCom Pitcher Catcher Communication Device. It is available in English and Spanish.

“A maximum of five receivers and one transmitter may be in any use at any given time,” MLB wrote in a five-page memorandum Tuesday to general managers, assistant GMs, managers and equipment managers, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.

A catcher has nine choices on his wristband device: “four seam high inside, curve hi middle, slider hi outside, change mid inside, sinker middle, cutter mid out, splitter low inside, knuckle lo middle, two seam low outside.”

A thin band tucked inside a cap allows the audio to be heard at an adjustable level, envisioned to be used by pitchers, second baseman, shortstops and center fielders.

“When changing pitchers, the manager shall provide a receiver to the replacement pitcher,” the memo said.

Receivers and transmitters can be used only on the field and may not be operated during games in clubhouses, dugouts or bullpens.

“Signals communicated via PitchCom may only be given by the catcher in the game. Signals may not be sent from the dugout, bullpen, a different player in the field, or anywhere else,” the memo said. “Clubs are responsible for their PitchCom devices. Any club that loses a transmitter or receiver will be charged a replacement fee of $5,000 per unit.”

BUT, the other night the device wasn’t working so the catcher resorted to signals, only the pitcher COULDN’T REMEMBER THEM!

Ian Campbell – the trend of independent audiology businesses being bought up continues. Within the last year, it’s resulted in only a handful of independents remaining. As a result, he’s finding that they’re slammed since patients are often referred to them or find them because they prefer to support local.

Although they’re busy at work inflation is affecting Calgary Hearing Aid and Audiology, as it’s affected other Birds businesses including SML, Barbecues Galore, Builder One (Brad’s business), Right Voice Communications (Paul’s company) and Hixie Electric among others.

Brett Bain – commented on the GMC story. His brother-in-law was the rodeo manager for RAM. RAM has also backed away from Rangeland Derby. After Fiat bought Chrysler, with a lot of Europeans who find rodeo abhorrent, the order was given.

Brent also relayed the story of a friend, an older farmer with back issues waiting for two years to see a specialist. He ended up going to Puerto Vallarta. Service and care was five-star! A tout of the hospital made it look like a five-star hotel. That includes the food. No jello and ice cream or rewarmed Swanson TV dinners for the cartels, thank you very much.

Tony Fisher – whose son used to live in Mexico chimed in with the story that while the fathers or grandfathers (transcription trouble) were waiting for the grandson’s birth – so they weren’t even patients – they were offered a steak dinner at the hospital while they waited for the baby to be born.

Then Brett continued with the story of his and Vicki’s long-postponed kitchen reno project. It is impossible at the moment to get trades. They can’t even get their hardwood floor taken care of before June. They can’t even get a quote for the island.

As part of the preparation for the project, Vicki went into a cupboard place. There was ONE customer in the showroom and a couple of service people. She stood and waited for 15 minutes, wasn’t even so she left. Not one to give up easily, she went back but experienced exactly the same thing. Not even acknowledgment.

Andy Lockhart – gave the Birds the epilogue to his grandson’s hockey Provincial Championship story. A bunch of parents agitating for rings and team photos at $400 and $200 respectively.

Andy’s following the inquiry into the shootings in Nova Scotia and noted that according to one source, the commission website lists at least 36 staff: quite the gravy train. The CBC estimates that the inquiry had cost $13M before the hearings had even started.

On Twitter as a political campaign and information platform: Andy noted that Erin O’Toole’s former campaign staff head detailed that only 15% of Canadians are on Twitter, so despite all the noise, no party should base anything on it. It’s become a lazy way to get incomplete public opinion from the loudest voices, and we know those are the voices of the tail wagging the dog. The dog in this is a two-headed beast with a remarkable family resemblance to the Singh and Trudeaus.

Funny note via the National Post: the self-important mask martyrs are as annoying as the anti-maskers.

Andy also passed on the news about Dhaliwal Homes getting into hot water. To be specific, they face 51 charges for building code violations including building without a permit. That issue specifically is bad news for homeowners who are on the hook for inspection and post-inspection costs if there are any violations since they’re not covered. The story in the Calgary Herald has more: https://calgaryherald.com/business/dhaliwal-homes-ltd-faces-51-charges-for-building-code-violations .

Early Birds, April 7, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 03:08:15 GMT

Early Birds, April 7, 2022

‘Twas a fine day for another meeting at Inglewood, which was borne out by the best turnout we’ve had in weeks.

Without further ado: the minutes:

Dan Kennelly – Busines continues to be dizzyingly busy. As people and companies come back out of the woodwork, TransAm is discovering that many companies still don’t understand the supply chain and logistics issues that could affect them. They’re genuinely stunned at how long some things will take to happen. It’s almost like they’re Liberals discovering the deficit ISN’T going to pay for itself.

Out on the coast, shipbuilders, are dealing with 10 years of backlogged.

TransAm is excited and sees opportunity in DeHavilland moving their headquarters to Calgary.

We had a guest! M el Gibson – who confessed that he, like many has been a victim of inventory shortages. In his case fireplace parts. He did, however, have nothing but things to say about the service guys from Barbecues Galore.

Mel went on to give us a quick valley real estate report summed up by this: cabins that should sell for $600k, are selling from $900k.

He has also been keeping up with two Bitcoin mines out there. Without having to know anything about crypto currency, the “server farms” where the mining takes place - mid to large size buildings with nothing but computers, air conditioners and IT geeks in their tighty whities – require a HUGE amount of power. Residents near the two facilities have been complaining of power brownouts and outages.

Dwayne Vinck chimed in that bitcoin mining can work because the power that real mining isn’t using is available. Somewhere, a Liberal rolled over in their grave.

I an Campbell – like so many people since OMICRON hit town contracted COVID. He started to feel a scratchy throat at work. Tested – negative, negative, then finally positive. The timing was b-r-u-t-a-l – a day or two before the family was supposed to head for Maui. So, in the ultimate make lemonade from lemons turnaround, Ian went to….Saskatoon. He visited his brother, who also got COVID. Ian only suffered for 2 days but the isolation was a PITA.

Business is busy again, which is great, but now clients are getting COVID and canceling appointments. Calgary Hearing Aid and Audiology was set to do presentations at 3 seniors’ residences (does that redefine “captive audience?), but with COVID so rampant, all of the homes were actually in full lockdown, so the presentations were postponed.

Michael McLennan – will be the Azores Islands next week in his and Maria’s new place. They should be all moved in in 2 weeks.

When you see these pictures, is it any wonder Maria wanted to go “home?”

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Early Birds, March 31, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 02:55:06 GMT

Early Birds, March 31, 2022

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Early Birds, March 17, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 16:27:27 GMT

Early Birds, March 17, 2022

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Early Birds, March 10, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Sat, 12 Mar 2022 03:28:08 GMT

Early Birds, March 10, 2022

Dan Kennelly - reported that steel mills (particularly in Europe) are actually canceling orders. Their inputs have become very unpredictable, they can’t guarantee delivery dates on products, so some have resorted to simply canceling orders. It doesn’t help that some of their inputs come from Russia and Ukraine two of the worlds biggest nickel miners and aluminum producers.

One outcome for TransAmPipe is that they have NO idea what costs for products will be until they arrive at their door. They can’t hold prices for any customers for more than 24 hours on many items.

Containers are also almost impossible to get their hands on overseas. There are many sitting in shipyards the world over, but they typically don’t go back empty to be refilled. They need to be filled to ship. Chicken and egg situation, but with steel containers.

Asked about Keystone, Dan’s comments was that TransCanada has the project in their rear-view mirror. Not only had most of the hard materials been sitting out for years, TC has now sold most of them off. Oh, and there’s that small matter of the multimillion-dollar lawsuit they’re engaged in with the US government over the pipeline’s cancellation.

Ian Campbell - Ian’s Calgary Hearing Aid and Audiology them continue to raise money as they prepare for the Tour of Alberta To Conquer Cancer. Every Thursday night, if you’d like to contribute $15, you can join most of Ian’s team at CycleBar just off Bow Trail. It’s an hour workout, and at the end of the night, the team raffles off the donations to a team member who gets to pad her/his totals.

In business, the clinics are busy. Ian’s been busy refining their marketing to be contiguous across every different channel. They understand that they have different clientele at different clinics, and the digital strategy and communication efforts have had a positive effect at all clinics, except for the normally very busy Marlborough clinic. The team has discovered that in that part of the city, the electronic communication strategy just isn’t landing, and part of that is due to the fact that it’s a very multicultural community that often won’t read English communications.

So, their teams looked back at what worked in the past and postcards were more effective than electronic communication, so they’re under consideration for that part of the city again.

Then it was on to the “ DONS .”

Don Doolan - one tip: if you’re considering booking a winter vacation for 2022-2023, don’t wait much longer. Prices are starting to go up dramatically. Part of it will be fuel, part of it will be resurgent demand and not all travel assets being back online. He was telling the group that trying to book into next February, some folks are finding it difficult to get a firm quote.

Don Davis - had more real estate news from Canmore this week. Forty lots in Canmore went in a half hour. In at least one case, just for the LAND, $4,000,000 was the price.

Don mentioned the medical he’s now obligated to get every two years to renew his driver’s license (once you’re over 80). He was told at the clinic that would $160. Cash. No credit cards. Which made him go “hmmmm”. Then he said if you happened to be a young’un under 70, the price for that same medical was $360.

Don had a rueful chuckle at a couple of missed investment opportunities including fertilizer maker Nutrien, and nickel producers when they were better buys.

Don finally convinced Pat to go for AC. Last year his son in Canmore got it installed for around $4,000. A friend for about $3,000. Granted they were smaller houses, but Don got three estimates, the lowest of which was $9,000 ��. The other two were $12,000 and $13,000. Don Doolan is convinced there are better deals out there and advised the other “Don” to shop those estimates around.

Tony Fisher - talked about an all but forgotten 12 foot or so space between his building and his business neighbour. Both ends of this “alley-esque” space had a chain-link fence.

It turns out that some homeless people set up a “house” built with wooden pallets and other “building materials” after using wire cutters to create “exits” at both ends of the space. Hey, at least someone was thinking!

Then it caught fire, the homeless people used their “exits” and disappeared and both businesses remembered the space in a hurry. They called the fire department who responded quickly. Flames licked up about 12 feet of the wall, but no real damage done. The businesses are on the hook for the clean up.

Tony also told of Brett Wilson putting in a Sprung tent rooftop patio at Ceilis downtown location. The plan is to keep it open 365 days a year. This was the photo that accompanied Brett’s tweet about the project.

In SML’s world, custom products are hard to price to quote because of all the uncertainty in the logistics chain. One thing SML has been dealing with is items literally having their shipping costs evaluated and priced separately on each.leg.of.their.journey. SML is hedging by building in larger profit margins up front.

They’re in good shape at the moment from an inventory standpoint, but all of it is sold, and they want to move it OUT.

Partly due to the custom nature SML has always secured deposits up front. Some customers will pay the whole shot, and that’s down to SML’s long history in business and their reputation.

Brett Bain - also has marketing top of mind. He’s been talking to two different marketing companies looking at possible directions for OSI.

One of the principal areas that’s grown organically, but has now taken on a new importance in the business mix is cybersecurity.

One of the possibilities is hiring a certified ethical hacker internally. OSI is looking to build a reputation in that area. I can imagine the pitch now: “Give us 7 minutes in your server room, then we’ll hand over the blank cheque for you to fill out so we can address the deficiencies we found….”.

In cybersecurity news Russian and Chinese hackers attacked 6 states in the US with varying degrees of damage and compromised information.

Off-site backups will not necessarily protect you in the event of a ransomware attack. Some of these attacks lie dormant and resident in your systems for a very long time and can be triggered remotely. They’re in the backups too.

Reid Colbran - continued on the cybersecurity theme saying that a lot of commercial insurers are doing pre-loss work with policies. I jotted notes to quickly here, but I believe the industry is considering, or is already offering companies cybersecurity downloads as part of their insurance policy.

In a company-wide Brokerlink seminar these 4 points were pointed out

1 - Compelling companies to download and apply updates and patches to all of their software - mobile devices especially, but obviously, brick and mortar bound hardware as well.

2 - Enable 2-factor authentication

3- Phishing scams are still around because THEY WORK. Take great care reading emails to avoid phishing issues. DON’T click on links in emails. Don’t react to emails you weren’t expecting that are “urgent,” etc., etc.

4- Ensure that a website is actually secure - look for the lock icon in the address bar on your browser. If it’s not there, do NOT enter or send any sort of confidential information.

Paul Boucher adds his years old advice on getting a password manager to come up with your passwords and store them securely. Adding a different number to the same set of words, or reusing passwords is a recipe for potential disaster. It really isn’t a matter of if, but when. Paul’s preferred choice is still 1Password, made by the Canadian software company Agile Bits. You can find more information here: Password Manager for Families, Businesses, Teams | 1Password .

Michael McLennan - sold his business a while ago, and that journey ended this week as the last of the financing came through from the buyer. The Azores are calling!

Speaking of the Azores, the house Michael and Maria are building, they installed AC, and it cost them 5 thousand EUROS. Cough, cough. That’s $7000 CAD according to currency conversion site Xe.com.

Brad Pachal - on inventory and supply woes. Near the end of a kitchen reno he found himself short a set of drawer slides. They’re normally $30 at Richelieu, his preferred supplier. They had none, so he eventually found some at Lee Valley for $70.

A good friend of Brad’s is an ER nurse, she’s currently in critical care at the Strathmore Hospital. 38 years old. Prolonged COVID has damaged her badly.

Andy Lockhart - Spencer, grandson number 4 and his hockey team won the Double AA championship and will compete in the provincials. If I noted this correctly, he indicated that after the tournament, the entire team or close to it came down with COVID. Better now than in a week was the verdict.

Andy has been concerned about an email purporting to be from Microsoft warning him that his email storage was almost full. As he said, the BAD news is: every day Microsoft says he won’t be able to send or receive emails. The GOOD news is: …that he can - 95% sure it’s a scam, and the scam has been verified. It’s well done, incorporating Microsoft logos, etc. and enough accurate information to make you really consider and react to it. If you receive a similar email, please discuss with Andy or Paul first.

Rob Beasant - reflected immediately on how life is pretty good here in Alberta. Then he went on to say that 50% of his business right now at the Justin Havre group is Ontario and Vancouver clientele.

Having said that, every segment of the property market is more active.

Everyone is much more optimistic.

Early Birds, February 24, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 22:59:42 GMT

Early Birds, February 24, 2022

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Early Birds, February 16, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 23:36:35 GMT

Early Birds, February 16, 2022

Dan Kennelly - Work and business are still crazy. Trucks are an issue. So many truckers are either out in support of the convoy or deployed elsewhere that delays are pil ing up. It is what it is. Other than that, Dan had a book recommendation. I believe his exact words were something along the line of “….one of the greatest books I’ve ever read….”

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Early Birds February 10, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Sat, 12 Feb 2022 00:02:40 GMT

Early Birds, February 10, 2022

Gentlemen,

I regret I wasn't at our Birds meeting on Feb 10th to take minutes. I also note that I didn't get a chance to notify my "#2" in the minutes taking department so he could be prepared to do that.

However, in lieu of minutes this, a fine "share" from Andy Lockhart called "Coward Of The Cottage".

Enjoy!

Early Birds, February 3, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 17:32:06 GMT

Early Birds, February 3, 2022

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Early Birds, January 27, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 22:18:59 GMT

Early Birds, January 27, 2022 (Great Turnout!)

Dan Kennelly - was full of news after a few weeks away. Trans Am Pipe's Business environment is the busiest it's been in 2 1/2 years. Companies they deal with as suppliers are stocking up for as much as a year’s worth of stock. Specs for Trans Am's customers are so exacting, there are only a few mills that reliably produce the materials they need for their customers. Naturally, the best mills are the busiest and some have told Dan that they're holding up orders until September, and longer.

Logistics are still an issue. That ship that lost containers just before Christmas, is unfortunately the same ship holding critical supplies for Trans Am. Naturally, they're heavy so at the bottom of the boat (at least they're safe), but the ship has been moved in and out of dock in Nanaimo with no significant off-boarding of on-ship cargo. At this point, that ship holds critical components for them and the industry.

Anything that's actually in stock disappears quickly and the industry is still only holding quotes/prices for 24 hours max due to pricing volatility.

Prices on materials out of the States have also shot up as well thanks to Biden locking some supplies up to allow for the "Made in America" qualifications/stipulations.

As an example of the lunacy that policy's created, pipes that were over quota with materials from South Korea (in one case, apparently two additional elbows) - forced the company to leave the pipes in the ditch before crossing the border, and then have to send a separate transport to pick up the product left behind.

Production in northern Alberta is up as well. It's a good, exciting time for Trans Am pipe.

One piece of news about Trans Mountain pipeline - a new indigenous band has come out of the woodwork, and apparently want a piece of the action, none of the risk, none of the accountability for running the pipeline properly, and oh, have we mentioned yet that they want it all for free?

Cue Andy Lockhart : "...the True north strong and Cree..."

Ross went on to say that a lot on a steep slope immediately behind Barbecues Galore had been sold, and nearby property owners were notified of a variety of easements sought by the new owners, things like height, and a few others.

Then, nearby property owners were notified that all property easements sought had been approved - for the new Aboriginal Friendship Centre that will be going up. Why two different sets of rules? The question went unanswered, but might be addressed with "True North strong and Cree".

Jim Bladon - has been away or a couple of reasons: COVID swept through the house over the holidays. Kim was recovering post-surgery, so especially vulnerable, but she's on the mend and things are good on that front.

The other reason he's been away is that he was "voluntold" to assist with the implementation of the Salesforce C.R.M. software (Customer Relationship Management) at Connect First Credit Union. He duly donned his tin foil hat and things are coming along on that front as well.

Financial services industry is HOPPING. There's a bump in merger and acquisition activity but also quite a bit in the real estate sector as people attempt to renegotiate mortgages ahead of predicted interest rate hikes in March and perhaps more than once throughout 2022.

On the agricultural side of things, feed is an issue and beef prices are going up. It's a combination of factors including poor crops and drought. Farmers are bringing in record imports of corn to finish off cattle. Without exaggeration 8-9 trainloads are arriving every day. The government is promising 10-12 trains a day. However that’s still only 5 days’ supply for the number of cattle in Alberta.

Matt Dart - It sounds like everyone in the house except his wife got a COVID case. Matt suffered through what felt like a miserable cold for a few days, but his boys were practically symptomless.

Matt's still hearing rumblings about the new arena. Engineers have been told to lay down the tools and stop work, but the project is apparently still not dead, dead.

Then he told us about a new model of chiller equipment, made in Texas. They were a great value and much lower price than competitors. HOWEVER, his company, Johnson Controls has net payable terms of 90 days. The vendor has terms of 30 days. So, the two companies came to an arrangement that made everyone happy. They used a third party called Prime Revenue to create a win-win.

In a nutshell, Prime Revenue created a platform that acts as "bridge financing" specifically for supply chain finance. It eases the risk for both the vendor and the supplier. They have an excellent 1-1/2-minute video on the product on this page

: https://primerevenue.com/resources/videos-graphics/the-primerevenue-promise .

Brett Bain - was as neutral as can be but wanted to sound out the Birds on their feelings on the truck convoy headed to Ottawa. The room buzzed for a few minutes with notes like Trudeau calling out the truckers for not being real Canadians, the group being portrayed as a vocal, fringe, extremist "minority", etc., etc.

Don Davis - It's a BIG birthday week for Don . Brother 85, daughter 52, wife 81 (and one more I didn't quite catch). Don and Pat are headed out to Victoria on the 7th of Feb. No promises but it sounded like he might check on Dan's shipping containers....

Dwayne Vinck - welcomed us all to the largest superspreader event in Alberta (��) Thursday morning poking the bear on a good turnout.

Tips - Dwayne's wife just resigned which prompted his accountant brain to fire in all directions. There are a lot of options to consider from an RRSP perspective among others. Things like spousal contributions, maximizing tax savings, reattributing income, etc. Dwayne also mentioned that carry forwards and that can be cause to chat with a financial manager or accountant.

Dwayne is also venturing bravely out into the crypto currency world! It's due to a new client request, so Dwayne will learn from the nearly vertical learning curve, and pass any relevant knowledge on to Birds.

Andy Lockhart - declared a LOGISTICS TRIUMPH! He ordered a specialized cutter tool from Lee Valley and it only took 6-7 months to get it.

Then on Tuesday night - another triumph, a Zoom Robbie Burns celebration. At which a seldom quoted Burns poem from 1791 was recited:

Johnie Lad, Cock Up Your Beaver

When first my brave Johnie lad came to this town,
He had a blue bonnet that wanted the crown;
But now he has gotten a hat and a feather,
Hey, brave Johnie lad, cock up your beaver!

Cock up your beaver, and cock it fu' sprush,
We'll over the border, and gie them a brush;
There's somebody there we'll teach better behaviour,
Hey, brave Johnie lad, cock up your beaver!

After accusing us all of being unconscionable perverts, Andy enlightened us and told us that it's basically a poem exhorting you to tip up your cap at a jaunty angle. Cheers!

Reid Colbran (Brokerlink) - sat in on a webinar recently, with multiple insurance industry CEOs discussing expectations for 2022.

First up: personal insurance. Rates are creeping up and it's mostly being attributed to climate change and its effects. Several pointed to the many individual catastrophic events of 2021, and they’re betting on that continuing.

Commercial insurance - stabilizing. Positive.

The industry continues to sharpen its focus on cyber security. There's been a 500% climb in incidents . The industry consensus is that cyber crime will soon surpass the global drug trade as a revenue maker.

The insurance industry's outlook for construction is positive. The industry hopes to see a return to more manufacturing in Canada, and supply chain issues would certainly encourage growing some of that capacity, but there's a definite hesitancy that it will happen.

As an interesting note, despite what the news would have us believe, the industry actually reported less property crime overall, BUT auto claims are up and high. Part of it is being attributed to people driving after a prolonged break and indulging in mindless, or careless driving. Auto body shops have also been forced to hold vehicles for 3-4 months due to supply chain issues with parts, so higher rental costs have factored into the price of the average claim.

Access to care is an issue so disability costs are higher.

Overall, for the insurance business, these CEO's pointed to "the usual": save a bunch in one area, but spend more (in some cases, much more) in others.

Brad Pachal - was witness to said mindless driving. There was a head on collision heading out of a gas station between a truck and SUV.

Brad also continues to suffer mild PTSD related to lumber sticker price shock. $8 for a 2x4 vs $2 pre-pandemic.

He looked to Sean Baylis checking to confirm if West Fraser Timber would be a good investment for the moment.

Brad , like a lot of people during the pandemic has discovered and continues to enjoy his virtual bike trainer. He's fitter than he was at this time last year and enjoying his rides.

Michael McLennan - who would know this fresh from his exit from the photocopier and business machines industry: toner is hard to get for printers and copiers. If you find it in stock, whether you need it or not, stock up. For small businesses and small quantities, Paul Boucher mentioned some success ordering from CDW Canada for his colour laser printer. https://www.cdw.ca .

Michael also made a point of mentioning Roma catering ( https://www.romacatering.c a ). It has been a TOUGH two years in the catering business. Roma managed to keep things afloat with a small restaurant called La Cantina on the lower level of the Calgary Italian Cultural Centre: https://www.romacatering.ca/la-cantin a.

Roma makes great frozen Italian food. Homemade pasta and and sauces. Matt Dart chimed in and mentioned a wedding expertly catered by Roma.

Sean Baylis - reported lots of volatility in the markets because of a lot of uncertainty. RBC has priced up to 5 interest rate hikes this year into their various businesses. The first of the hikes is likely coming in March.

In the US, no one is sure of the SIZE of the rate hike. Could be 50 basis points instead of 25 at a time, but RBC doesn’t think so beyond the first.

As always, opportunities abound, particularly in the tech sector, earnings. Many companies in the sector remain undervalued. RBC holds a position in the Edge ETF, the Evolve Innovation Index Fund (more information here: https://evolveetfs.com/product/edge . As the title implies, it's an ETF that gives you exposure to various disruptive tech sectors like cloud computing, 5G technology, cyber security, and automation as examples.

Bob Wiggins - reported a bobcat family in his 'hood near fish creek park. Definitely fewer rabbits.

Bob also recently had a high-efficiency furnace installed. It took them 11 hours. Good thing it wasn't during the cold snap! It's all good now. Interesting side note: it's now up to the homeowner to get a gas permit reviewed.

Home inspection is virtual and complete with crazy requirements like a guided flashlight tour for the remote inspector. Funny how our new mayor and her councilors can get $8K each for security, but this service to a taxpaying resident is largely on the homeowner’s shoulders.

Bob also mentioned a relatively novel approach to catalytic converter theft. Bob's son and daughter-in-law (hope I voted that down correctly) recently had theirs stolen from under their Honda Pilot which was parked out front in their neighbourhood. A good neighbourhood, Bob hastened to point out before relating the story.

The "kids" noticed on the doorbell cam that a vehicle initially drove by. Then, the vehicle did a U-turn and set themselves up right on the street side beside the Pilot. The camera sees the driver of the vehicle get out, grab something from the rear seat and hook something up to the Pilot's exhaust system. Then, there's a whirring sound (which they didn't hear since this all happened in the wee hours). Next thing, the other vehicle pulls away and with a loud crack, the entire exhaust system of the Pilot, complete with catalytic converter came away and was stolen.

Gary Friedrichsen - listening to the various conversations delivered a short monologue on the depth of the marketing function within businesses large and small. Although at its core, marketing is identifying the market opportunity, there's a LOT to that deceptively simple sentence..

How to prioritize, how to identify com petitors, market share. Analytical and Creative. Sales planning helped set the agenda for marketing. Paul suggested recording an interview where Gary could expound on specific issues in a relative deep dive. More to come on that.

Dan Kennelly - sounded our final note this week when he was mentioning they were watching the Australian Tennis open and who should pop on the TV screen? Their goddaughter, rooting on our Canadian players, who impressed again during this competition.

Early Birds, January 20th, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 21:29:53 GMT

Early Birds, January 20th, 2022

The newest Bird, Reid Colbran from Brokerlink took some minutes on my behalf and forwarded them today. Thanks Reid .

The meeting started with a thanks to Dave Hicks – helped out with a job at his home. “pulled some wire” . Also mentioned “keep your headlights clean on Deerfoot”

Tony Fisher : Still having logistics issues, mainly shipping costs. For a example, To ny had a shipment which normally costs around $4,500, is now costing his company $7,500. Tony is getting hot tubs from 3 suppliers now, as there isn’t a ton of loyalty from the manufacturers anymore.

Michael McLennan : Excited about Boris opening the UK, and them not having any further COVID restrictions. He asked for second round.

Don D. : Gene passed away recently, (former accountant?). Also mentioned getting a will in place, and keeping estate planning simple.

Brett Bain : Thanked Dwayne for the productive meeting they had about Brett’s business. Brett is also seeing inflation in his business with equipment costs rising, and issues with the supply chain.

Shaun Baylis : New Covid treatment seemed to work for him – antibodies injected through an IV. Energy Stocks are a solid buy right now. RBC feels the demand for oil is going to outgrow the current supply. With less crude oil coming out of South America, the US is going to turn to Canada for increased supply. Bank of Canada could be raising interest rates shortly. CP rail could be a good purchase, as they can connect into Mexico soon. Cargo Jet is another opportunity to buy. Big Amazon partner.

Dave Hicks : New electrical job out near the ice fields. Happy he went and checked it out, and it was only 750 ft (or metres?) and not the 1000. Bit of a savings for his company. 3 Bears Pizza has great pizza and beer.

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Early Birds, January 13th, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Sat, 15 Jan 2022 00:53:24 GMT

Early Birds, Thursday, January 13th, 2022

Gentlemen,

Apologies for the late minutes – I got my booster Thursday over the lunch hour and it flattened me today. Finally feeling closer to normal now, but I think it’ll be tomorrow before I’m “back”.

Thursday, January 13 ^th , seven bacon and egg breakfasts were dished out. No fruits were harmed in the making of this meeting.

In any case, since Inglewood has been gracious enough NOT to charge us so far for our “minimum” 15 breakfast charge, we resolved to continue meeting in person even through the typical January attendance doldrums, and to continue our membership drive as well.

Despite only 7 Birds being present, we still chewed through the scenery for a full hour, then went a bit over time with a 3 ^rd round question and answer.

Among the items discussed today:

Dwayne Vinck: “Skippy Bucks” (translation for Reid : Trudeau’s greenwashed petro-dollars to pay for everything). A number of companies Dw ayne deals with who have taken advantage of various federal pandemic money grows on trees schemes. Some have been asked to justify amounts paid, not paid, etc. For some companies it was simple, for others, not so much.

Paul Boucher noted that the CEBA small business loan deadline has been extended to the end of 2023 for businesses “in good standing”. No one’s quite sure what that means, but as Dwayne noted, the criteria for obtaining the loan was pretty detailed. If you satisfied that, then theoretically, you should be fine. Dwa yne hinted that some companies have chosen to wind down or wrap up business with that obligation still on the books. That likely won’t end well.

Another note from Dwayne : he once again recommended Braveheart Resources (which may be in for a name change to reflect its “green” copper creds as part of the EV boom). Currently at a median price of 7 cents a share, he sees considerable upside to the business ahead.

Paul also noted that for small businesses, the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with CDL Labs has made rapid tests available. It’s part of a program to yes “prevent the spread”, but also to facilitate businesses staying open through this wave of the pandemic. My company picked up 50 tests on Monday, with the screening recommendations being to test each employee twice weekly. Since we’re all “in the business” at our house, this worked out well. More information is available on the Chamber site: https://www.calgarychamber.com .

Michael McLennan gave us a bit more detail on his “semi-retired” state. He’s responsible for some business development for the 3D Printing company he’s championed throughout his time working that industry. However the bigger news was about his daughter who has just moved into a senior HR position with retailer Aritzia. If you’re not familiar with the chain, you don’t have a daughter who likes nice things. ��

They’re a Canadian chain founded by Vancouver retail family scion Brian Hill in 1984. From that single location (within the family’s existing store), they grew to 15 stores in 2005, and are up to 101 locations across Canada and increasingly, in the US per this pag e: https://www.statista.com/statistics/807022/aritzia-store-numbers-by-country/ .

There’s also a great article on the store’s President and COO Jennifer Wong in Forbes magazine here if you’d like to know more about the ship that Michael’s daughter has tied herself to: https://www.forbes.com/sites/karineldor/2021/05/05/how-jennifer-wong-aritzia-president-and-coo-proves-that-impact-and-innovation-lead-to-retail-success/?sh=1212a6b0208e .

Brett Bain recently entertained some company from Ontario. The guest’s eyes grew to saucer size upon listening to the “love fest” around anything “Skippy” related and eastern policies that completely disregard the western financial foundation that some of those things are built on. We all had a good laugh about that.

We had a bit less of a chuckle when Brett told us that his guest’s Land Rover/Jag dealership was *forced* to install electric vehicle charging stations at his dealership at a cost of over a million dollars! No mention of “Skippy” bucks for that little pet federal project. It was borne entirely by the dealership. At least both brands actually *make” EVs, or hybrids.

Andy Lockhart shared that he was getting prepared to have a “conversation” with ATCO over a $600 gas bill that was literally HALF carbon tax. If this is a taste of things to come…..

It was mentioned to Andy that Atco takes 60 to 75 days to actually send you your first bill after signing up with them, so perhaps it turns out to have been a couple of months service. Andy had wisely dispensed advice in October about locking in a fixed price Natural Gas contract (rather than floating). At the time not all companies offered the option, but Atco’s price was the best of the lot at that time. When Paul Boucher called to ask about his $328 first bill from Atco, it was then that the delay in first billing was explained. The customer service rep also noted that they haven’t seen anywhere NEAR the fixed price secured in October since. So, if you followed the advice back then, you’re sitting pretty.

Andy was also curious about what it might take to purchase a new truck in 2022. The fleet rep at the dealership he’s dealt with in the past told him that if the truck was still running on the happy side of the ditches that he should just keep his truck until 2023 at least when prices settle down.

Also, leave it to Andy to discover another fine craftsperson for us. A silversmith and Jewellry designer named Ellinor Stenroos originally from Finland is SO good at what she does that Tiffany’s wanted to essentially “buy” her creative quiet so they didn’t have to compete with her creations. You can see some of the work on her web site. It’s genuinely remarkable : https://evstenroos.com .

Bob Wiggins regaled us with some information on his neighbourhood, Parkland, and the potential electrification of vehicles. The grid in that area supports 1350 homes. If everyone, or even a significant faction of the community were to get electric vehicles, the grid would fail UNLESS it was upgraded with new wiring in and out of the community. He questioned whether any of our climate emergency fairy-tale spinners (my words, not his) have thought of those sorts of ramifications.

Bob also t old us that he’d had occasion to visit a funky antique store in Airdrie called “Where On Earth…Did You Get That? ” It’s housed in an old Canadian Tire location. Bob explained how it’s like no other antique store he’s ever been into and highly recommends it for two reasons.

If you’ve been hoarding something you think might be o genuine vale ( Don Doolan , Bo b’s thinking of your Calgary Brewery collection among other things), it might be worth getting it appraised. He actually saw papercups from Calgary Brewery’s past selling for $40. Each.
Also, if you’re looking to kill some time looking at beautiful old things, this ain’t your grandma’s garage-sale-as-antique store. It’s clean, bright and geared for exploring. The store works with 50 vendors, and Bob even discovered some Yorkton, Saskatchewan, bounty there from Pall Beverages.

The web site for the store is https://whereonearth.ca , and here’s a look at one section of the store.

Bob then went on to tell us the latest story of property prices/$$ run amuck. His son owns a 400 Square foot condo (if memory serves). He picked it up for $115,000. He was approached about selling it for over $300,000. HOWEVER, he’s currently renting out that postage-stamp-sized property for $1700 a month. He’s not sure what to do despite having someone who worked in finance in one way or another for well over half his life giving him advice. Kids!

Ian Campbell was telling us that there’s been some consolidation in his industry with a few independent shops being bought by bigger players. Ian has no intention of going that route soon, but he relayed that every time one of the independents gets bought out, Calgary Hearing Aid and Audiology picks up some new clients.

Ian also picked up on the 3D printing thread from earlier in the meeting. He’s been waiting to see if it’s feasible for his shop to get involved in things like custom molds (spoiler alert: not yet). He’s finding that after a few years with custom molds being relegated to the fringes of the business for various reasons, the molds have improved and the ingenuity around working around their limitations has increased. He’s been working with Signia (formerly Siemens) a lot, and their web site is a revelation for anyone thinking about hearing aids. You can get a look at some of the product Ian works with and recommends here: https://www.signia.net/en/ .

And that’s it for this week, gentlemen.

Have a great weekend! We’ll see you next week at Inglewood.

Early Birds, January 6, 2022

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 16:36:56 GMT

Early Birds, January 6, 2022

Gentlemen,

Due to COVID concerns, the cold, etc., the club opted to meet via Zoom for the first meeting of 2022.

HOWEVER, barring any external forces (like Inglewood not being able to staff the place, or government ordered shutdowns), Early Birds members present this morning voted to resume in-person meetings next week, Thursday, January 13th.

Also, this is an official welcome to Reid Colbran of Brokerlink , our newest official Early Birds member of 2022. Reid was invited by Mel Gibson to join up.

The meeting video is below. FYI, as a reminder - and a quick note for Reid, this video is posted on the Birds YouTube channel as "unlisted" which means no one can access the video unless they access it from this password protected page. We don't share these videos outside Early Birds.

There was much discussion on Birds members' and families' contact or close contact with COVID, and how to proceed amidst the ongoing fear-mongering and genuine health concerns surrounding the pandemic. Following that, there was some discussion on new member procedure before voting in Reid , and then a very short 'n sweet round table including among other things, "hot tub love" at -40 notes & tips from Tony, and a short market forecast for 2022 from Sean including the possibility of multiple interest rate hikes south of the border.

As of this morning George Roberts and Mel Gibson have opted for Birds Alumni status, so our search to bolster membership in the Birds continues. Please feel free to invite prospective members to our next meetings.

Stay tuned to your email inbox for any updates on the status of in-person meetings since the situation is subject to change on short notice.

**NOTE: Andy Lockhart sent a funny PDF doc with 34 cartoons/images (my favourite was the poor guy Waiting for Godot at the airport). There's a sample below the video - and you can download the PDF Andy sent by clicking on the button below the cartoon.

ALSO, after the meeting, Dr. Tom also sent this note via email:

"The natives are becoming restless—perhaps this article will stir them even more.—Please circulate to the boys.

Thanks--DrT

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2021/12/21/did_dismissals_of_safe_outpatient_drugs_cause_needless_covid_deaths_dissenting_doctors_say_yes_808045.htm l "

Early Birds December 9, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 18:25:57 GMT

Early Birds, December 9, 2021

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Early Birds, November 18, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 18 Nov 2021 18:30:31 GMT

Early Birds, November 18, 2021

Oh, say! Do we have a birder (Dwayne) who’s giving our resident birder (Michael McLennan ) a run for the feathers? To wit: our treasurer has flushed another potential bird from cover and is soon bringing him to check us out.

Meanwhile, one of the words of the day was “Cheese”. See link at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwOGMNrFBiM

But for what might be yesterday’s best idea, check out Andy’s advice below, on how to Reset your Brain.

Brett Bain Brett’s word of the day was, ‘Siksika’ (which I think is a Blackfoot word for Landgrab; though I could very well be wrong). Seems the local tribe is inline for a balloon payment from our federal government which could do all kinds of good. Like increase local half-ton sales for several weeks …

Sean Baylis Sean’s word is ‘dove’ as it relates to Chairman of the US fed reserve. Seems Powell may be replaced by Lael Brainard. If so, she could be a harbinger of slower interest rate growth and more dovish behaviour. • Oil prices might soon abate a bit while Sean smiles about banks, the energy sector and industrials.

Jim Bladon His word for today is not his favourite by a long shot. It’s the word ‘closed’ on too many storefront signs in small-town, Alberta. Covid has been hard on small business and it’s beginning to show on main street. • In spite of this, ConnectFirst enjoyed a record year (included launching an acclaimed TV commercial). • Jim got game: he and his hunting buddies brought down a deer and an elk, last week.

Paul Boucher. Paul’s word is ‘net30’. This is his firm mantra for the payable departments at all of his clients. But some seem deaf to the term. Ah well, maybe it’s just a build-up of earwax. Which segues into Ian’s tip …

Ian Campbell. Your ear canal has two parts: our place and your doctor’s place. Ian’s folks - and you and I - can cleanse the outer part of the canal with a drop or two of mineral oil or water. But for the deeper recesses, only medical personnel should go there. And nota bene: Q-Tips have no part to play.

Tony Fisher. Tony’s word was ‘soccer’ and though he pushed it towards Andy several times, I doubt Andy will ever agree that The Beautiful Game is even watchable; let alone playable. • There are strange things happening under the Alberta sun and some are being conducted by the WCB. Silly stories, that make no sense at all, are leading to costly premium creep.

Garry Friedrichsen. His crystal ball is becoming black from carbon taxes. It’s a matter of Time + Simple math + Accumulating inputs. • For a hedge, he’s looking at an interesting ETF.

David Hicks. Even in Hawaii, there’s more than one way to get a PCR test in time to make your flight and be accepted back into Canada. (Still and all, Dave’s word was, I think. ‘Phew’.)

Dan Kennelly. His word could be “if” as in … if he can get his suppliers to settle down and deliver the goods, Dan could procure major components to help Seaspan build ships and icebreakers, for years to come. • But on second thought, Dan’s word of the day was ‘gazebo’. We may hear more about this in the weeks to come.

Andy Lockhart. He wonders: “How far do you have to push a Q-Tip into your ear … to Reset your Brain?” • He suggests: “If we don’t want to make it too easy for new members to join the Birds, we could insist they be able to … fog a mirror to qualify.” • “If this rain continues, we will soon be able to buy ocean front property … in Canmore.” •

Michael McLennan. When Michael raves about fifty dollars a night hotel rooms and twenty-dollars for all-you-can-eat buffets … in the same breath that he mentions heading to New York City and Hilton Head … his word could be “contradiction”.

Brad Pascal. Which, naturally, leads us to the word “conundrum”: as it relates to the folks who complain bitterly about indoor air quality … while enjoying their cigarette smoke breaks.

Dwayne Vinck. He’s averse to touting stocks … but there is this magnesium mining company that he doesn’t particularly love … but he did buy it at 25 cents a share and it is now over a dollar … so he wonders, if he “shoulda’ told us about it earlier.

Bob Wiggins. “Pheasants”. Bob used to hunt them and ducks, too. And joke about how much a pound wild game would run you.

- George Roberts.

Early Birds, November 11, 2021

Fri, 12 Nov 2021 02:51:58 GMT

Early Birds, November 11, 2021

It was November 11th and appropriately, we had 11 Birds for breakfast. Ross mentioned how Henry Heuver always reminds us how the people of Holland honour the Canadians who freed them from the yoke of Nazi occupation. Meanwhile, someone named Gord Forsyth reminded us who he was and … insisted that he still is the Birds ATB banker. Then he wished out loud for French Toast for breakfast and, as luck would have it, …

Paul Boucher . As Chair, Paul warned us to watch out for deer. To keep away from them. He wasn’t kidding. It seems they are carriers of Covid. Indeed, some actually have the disease. And they could be virus spreaders. (A virus “reservoir”, is what the deer population is now called. Good luck to Michael McLennan then on his hunting!)

Don Davis . He and Pat (and friends) dined at the Modern Steak/Modern Ocean restaurant on Macleod Trail @ Southport. On ‘Date Night Wednesday’ they enjoyed two steaks, two sides and a featured bottle of wine for $80.00. (Yes, that was for the both of them.) On Wednesdays, you can do that, too. Or enjoy Wagyu beef for much more, on other days. •• Don is chuckling about the Rivian (electric trucks) IPO that seems to have no ceiling in sight. Yet. For some EV insights, check out this video from Dwayne :

Don Doolan . Going south is easy, now that the US has opened its border. But getting back to Canada can be costly. Covid tests can run $250 per person. But wait: there’s Amazon and they have a PCR test kit for $36.95. As long as UPS does its thing, this should work. Don will let us know. • And yes, there are stories of free tests - though the 72 hour period can, well, test these tests, I guess.

Gord Forsyth . He’s back with the bank and quite enjoying helping business clients recover their equilibrium. Covid and the economy have laid many good folks so low they’re unsure how to proceed. That’s Gord’s role: to help them find their way back • And then, he runs home to Heather? Well, sorta … but his real delight is their shared delight: their two and half year old granddaughter.

Garry Friedrichsen . If you thought the Cadbury secret of getting caramel into those tasty, tiny chocolate squares was cool, you ain’t been to the Gillette plant in Boston. Making razors is very high tech - with laser beams and fibre optics and more. • If seeing tech in action appeals to you, GF suggest you take some factory tours. (I’ve taken many, for clients over the years, and agree: they’re interesting.)

Andy Lockhart . You’d think he’d know better than to be the Executor of an estate … but when it’s family, you do what’s needed. So he is experiencing all the little things that try you. • Meanwhile, to forestall winter’s white coverall, he has attached his snowblower to his tractor.

Ross Mikkelsen . Ever the good corporate citizen, Ross is on the Greenview Business Improvement Board. They have a go-getter as an ED and she’s uncovering city grants, applying for them and gaining traction. In fact, on December 18th, local business are having a city-funded celebration event in the parking lot of Ross’ store and who knows what’s next? It’s okay, though: tax payers are bearing the load.

Brad Pascal . His sister is an RN in BC and has recently been assigned to the Covid ECU. It’s trying, complicated and stressful. For example, Covid patients are connected to multiple tubes and sensors. This necessitates five medical staff people to turn the patients over. Unfortunately, practical nurses can’t assist with this because … they are not permitted to wear the level of face mask required in the ECU.

Dwayne Vinck . If you have someone in your family with any sort of disability - yes, including medical related - you might want to check out the RDSP program.

Bob Wiggins . Bob accompanies Dorothy on grocery shops and he’s watching the price of food climb at an alarming rate.

George Roberts .

Early Birds, November 4, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 01:03:31 GMT

Early Birds, November 4, 2021

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Early Birds, October 28, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 23:45:27 GMT

Early Birds, October 28, 2021

On Thursday, October 28th, 16 Birds were in a flap at Inglewood. Well, maybe not exactly ‘a flap’, but certainly we were atwitter.

Brett Bain was singing Johnny Paycheck’s, “Take this Job and Shove it”. The song was aimed at a fellow who applied for a job with Brett’s firm. But that fellow’s attitude was so out-of-line, so wrong, he was fired ‘afore he could be hired.

Sean Baylis sang for his breakfast by telling us all … about the Rogers family squabble (nothing to really worry about) … about Suncor doubling its dividend (more attractive than ever) … speaking of pretty, banks continue to warm the cockles of Sean’s heart (Ooh la la) … and big tech is as fascinating as ever. Oh and BTW … interest rates are beginning to attract serious attention …

So Jim Bladon crooned: “Sixty points and what do you get; another day poorer and deeper in debt. Oh mama won’t you tell me that the farm reports are wrong; surely we aren’t going to finish our cattle on United States’ corn?” •• Jim then switched keys and mourned a dirge about the NHL and the Blackhawks and how ineptly they handled the sexual abuse of Kyle Beach.

Paul Boucher . Chairman. Promised two links. One was a link to how to download your Alberta vaccination QR code. That link is https://covidrecords.alberta.ca/home . Head there on your computer and follow the steps to obtain your record, then save it to your computer. Ideally you can then also place it on your phone.

The second link I promised was the method to create a 1-press shortcut on your iPhone to bring up your vaccination record using iOS 15 (the latest version of the operating system on iPhones). That link is https://mobilesyrup.com/2021/09/22/heres-how-to-add-your-vaccination-record-as-shortcut-ios-15/ .

I can help with this at a future Birds meeting. My phone now has my QR code vaccination record as my visual proof.

Ian Campbell . If Ian sang, he’d sing about the six ways he makes sure his customers can hear better. Supply issues haunt every business so, by repping six manufacturers, Ian has a much better chance of having the tools to do what needs to be done. He’s also increased his inventories because JIT deliveries are not very timely these days.

Don Davis . Don mentions that one-time Bird, Dave Read, is getting a new heart valve. • Don then suggests that if you’re travelling, keep your wits about you when booking your flights. Be real careful before you sing “Leaving on a Jet Plane”.

Don Doolan . His front yard is leaf strewn and with so many artists singing “Autumn Leaves Must Fall”, we’ll have to wait to see who’s T-shirt Don wears to breakfast. •• Meanwhile, Don has nothing good to say about Municipal politicians - though he did enjoy a recent Tweet that said … ”We want Nenshi back”.

Tony Fisher . There has to be a song about putting your money where your mouth is. And living up to your promises. Has to be! Tony reminds us how Farkas spoke against golden handshakes and wasteful spending at City Hall. He pointed out that Farkas returned the $370 K he could have taken for being a Councillor. •• BBB awarded Southern Music their 65 Year Certificate for being a member in good standing. Kudos, Tony!

Garry Friedrichsen . How back-scratching, innovative and beneficial alliances can cement relationships for long term, mutual benefit. P&G never ever just sold stuff. They saw value where others (aka competitors) saw nothing. And if you listened carefully,

you might hear them singing: “Will everyone here kindly step to the rear

And let a winner lead the way.”

David Hicks . Speaking of listening carefully, when Dave and his wife needed a reason to fly to Hawaii, they heard it in the office. It seeped out from their file cabinet of paystubs, employee records and CRA bulletins. When they closed their eyes and listened really close, they swore it could have been The Beatles: “‘Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman - And you're working for no one but me.”

Andy Lockhart . He wasn’t singing; he was snarling: … about the new Federal Cabinet Minister. (If you remember the NEP that PET came up with, this guy could be worse for Alberta.) … about BC’s Health Ministry which is firing 4000 healthcare workers (in the midst of a pandemic, yet) … about the Political Correctness Cops who’ve decreed that we cannot use the word ‘overdose’ anymore. **

That’s why Ross Mikkelsen is singing “People Are Crazy”. To Andy’s litany, he adds … if you’re watchin’ Succession on HBO, you gotta admit it’s kinda like The Rogers Family Squabble. And how about them folks at MEC who sold out to a smart bunch of leasebackers. Or worse, all those folks in India - the 50,000 who die from snakebites. Every year! This chorus may be true: “God is great, Beer is good and People are crazy.”

Mike Mikkelson . Mike and Renee are recently back from a tour of Italy. If you’re headed that way, the Trafalgar tour brand is far superior to others. •• Mike says business is pretty darn good.

Dwayne Vinck . If you’re participating in any of the government programs related to Covid, make sure sure you have a good paper trail. You will need it, some day.

Bob Wiggins . Sometimes you get lucky: Bob tells of a recent appliance fail that led to a call to a repairman. Fortunately, the motors for the unit are made in the states. So they’re available. Story would be different if they were asian made.

- George Roberts.

Early Birds, October 21, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 20:11:39 GMT

Early Birds, October 21, 2021

17 for breakfast was pretty darn good. (But then, French Toast was on the menu. And better yet, Ross was in attendance.)

It sounds like it might just be time to hunker down. Not because of Covid so much, but because of supply chain issues. Yes, we’ve moving from the terminology of a health pandemic to the jargon of Economics 101. You can pay through the nose for new things or, lower your sights and just coast for a while. Let the shippers and truckers and dispatchers sort out the world’s logistical mess. (Howzat for a sophisticated economic review, eh?)

Sean Baylis . There’s the little train (engine) that could … and the big train (CP) that might just make you a few shekels (as its stocks puff: “I think I can, I think I can”.). • And, while farmers sing the low yield blues, commodity prices are climbing like Jack on his beanstalk. And wherever Jack looks, he also sees energy prices chasing him even higher.

Jim Bladon . When Agriculture is your bailiwick, it hurts to hear that the harvest is the worst on record. But that’s what is being said about many parts of AB. And for additional aggravation, it seems fertilizer prices are doubling (if you can find any). And word is, RoundUp is leaping from $1200 to $5800 a unit. WTF!

Paul Boucher . I know Paul said something about Saint-Joseph-de-Sorel but, for the life of me, I cannot remember why. (Minutes delayed are details forgotten. Sorry.) Ah well, he’s been auditioning for ‘parts’ while being paid to voice - dare I say, purr - thoughtful things about Mindfulness.

Ian Campbell . Just back from the Maritimes, he’s still on Eastern Standard Time. He visited his son who’s in third year at Dalhousie … where, thanks to diminishing Covid, son actually gets to play his favourite sport: volleyball. And they’ve set a new CIS record for the most games … lost.

Matt Dart . The Controllers at Matt’s company are snarling about all the red ink being spilled by the ever-lengthening lead times needed for the heart of most of Matt’s projects: the humble electronic/mechanical controllers.

Don Davis . Compensation complications! What was, isn’t what it now is. Nope. Not no more. Good salesmen (yes, my dear wife, I know there are sales women, too) are usually paid their hard-earned commissions when the things they sell are delivered to the customer. But with deliveries a year or more out, incentives are not just cool; they’re eff’n frozen.

Don Doolan . He’s no fan of Chu but given how long ago the incident occurred and that it was resolved according to the rules of the day, Don sees a hatchet job in play.

Tony Fisher . Two nuggets: #one, the retail appeal of T’su Tina shopping centre is growing. As is (#2) the paranoia of out-of-province property owners as the BC government establishes ownership disclosure rules.

Garry Friedrichsen . Mused about the quality of training that was offered to him and his associates by companies like P&G.

David Hicks . It will be interesting to see what the prices are for copper cable and LED switches and such … when Dave and family return from Hawaii in a couple of weeks.

Dan Kennelly . Somewhat stunned by the first promise made by Prabjhote Kaur "Jyoti" Gondek (Calgary’s mayor beginning today - the 25th): her top priority is to get rid of oil and gas. But maybe there is hope … so far it seems, every day she has another ‘top priority’.

Andy Lockhart . Enjoying country life, he is. Best part is watching the antics of political and social upheaval in the crowded environs of Calgary. He finds it eminently rewarding.

Ross Mikkelsen . Imagine your factory is running at full tilt when the power goes off. And stays off. For half a day or so. And then, without warning, it might come back on again. But for how long? That’s how things are in parts of China, right now. • And BTW, it’s no better here in good ole Calgary. Ross knows of a food processor who ran out of sugar. His supplier just pooped out. How do you run a business in these conditions?

Brad Pachal . Such a sharing guy, he is. Like the other day, Brad shared his VISA numbers in customer emails. Fortunately, it was an honest customer. (As far as he knows.) As always, before hitting Send, Brad suggests you check your work.

Dwayne Vinck . If you’re innocent until proven guilty, then Councillor Chu is being mistreated. • And if you own a privately controlled corporation, get started on your lifetime capital gains exemption. And do it right. (Because as Andy says: it’s too easy to get it wrong. For every mile of road you go down, there’s two miles of ditch.) • And if you’re hearing that the Big 4 Accounting firms are firing 100’s of clients, It’s true.

Bob Wiggins . Resist the temptation of saving money via a Utility turkey at Superstore. It might have a leg. And a wing. Maybe even some skin. But will you find flavour? Hah, will be elusive.

George Roberts.

——————————

An add-on to this week’s minutes if the current vocation information via Bob Wiggins. As Bob said in his email to me, a few people may want to tweak what’s actually attributed to them.

Please take a look below to see what vocations the Birds already have included, and some possibilities that might spark ideas below that.

Early Birds, Thursday, October 14, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 15:49:50 GMT

Early Birds, Thursday, October 14, 2021

The song for today is Eighteen Candles: one for each Bird at breakfast! And now, we have a new Bird: Garry Friedrichsen. He once flew with Gillette and then, roosted on the retail side of Proctor & Gamble. Given his depth and experience and insight on the supply chain in North America, he is as Paul might say ‘au courant’. That’s ‘well informed’ for us unilingual Birds. Thanks, Dwayne, for inviting him to join our flock.

Brett Bain . There’s nothing quite like bringing home a new puppy. It’s a golden retriever and for now, it needs a walk outside at any hour. The other night it was 4:30 am and while puppy peed, Brett was treated to a spectacle featuring the Northern Lights. • Chip shortages are complicating the process of quoting projects.

Sean Baylis . Been enjoying Junior A hockey games in Saskatchewan - where his son plays. • Getting ready for the buying season (it is now mid October, eh). Financials looking good. And energy stocks. Mentions the 38% dividend (improvement?) at Whitecap Resources. He’s watching the Europeans as they switch to heating oil. Pent-up travellers have Billions to spend … so resorts and cruise lines and airlines et.al. have appeal. Coal has promise (though not for the Gretas). California has legislation mandating electric lawnmowers - and all power, yard work devices. (No more gas engines.) Opening yet another opportunity for your trembling investment dollar …

Paul Boucher . Wash his mouth out with lye soap! He shared a demo he voiced for a gig - in which they wanted him to be as calm and collected as George Clooney while swearing like a trooper. Client is SeedMaster and according to Paul, they are fucking awesome.• Paul spoke of CyberSecurity and his Sonic Wall firewall from Brett’s firm. They’re awesome, too. And necessary.

Matt Dart . Give the government something simple to do and they’ll complicate it … like they have for Covid testing. When Matt’s wife flew to Hawaii and back, you can double the cost, the bureaucratic nonsense and the inconvenience.

Don Davis . Our medical system works: friend and ex-bird, Dave Read, needs a new heart valve. Diagnosed at the Rockyview, he’s remaining in his room until his Foothills operation. They’ll send him over, let the Foothills’ cutters do the deed and then bring him back to the Rocky to recover. Otherwise he’d lose his place in the queue.

Todd Dean . Business is getting more interesting. He’s thinking of a bricks and mortar shop. As online and virtual as his business is, his employee base is expanding. They’d benefit from sharing space - and ideas and skills - in person. Besides, he needs someplace to go in his new Road Warrior chariot: an S5 fire-engine-red Audi! Zoom. Zoom. (Sorry Mazda; Audi just blew you … away.) Todd has a new client: Black Box. I might have this name wrong but did check them out a while back: good journalism still exists and can flourish with smart and discriminating subscribers.

Don Doolan . Some seasonal advice: remove your hoses from the outside taps and turn the water off. Change your furnace filter and also, the batteries in your various alarm devices. • Alice Cooper was today’s T-shirt; song was School’s Out (from 1972).

Tony Fisher . After a wellness report about some birds and their mates, he mentioned he might have a new member for the club.

*PROSPECTIVE NEW BIRD* Garry Friedrichsen . Gary is a Saskatchewan boy. Grew up in the oil town of Weyburn where his Dad was a home builder. Got a Commerce degree at U of S and worked in hi-tech until moving to Calgary with Gillette - yep, the best a man can get. (That included your choice of company-leased Volvos, Audi’s and such.) When P&G bought the razor/battery bunch, he eventually moved to the parent company. Just about everyone in Western Canada’s consumer goods biz knew him and, in the rest of Canada and Cincinnati, of him. Has two sons - 25 and 28 - and he said something very telling this morning: we can learn from these young guys’ points of view. The world is changing and though we don’t have to change, it’d be nice to understand sustainability et.al. from the POV of his sons. (I see some interesting breakfast guests in our future, guys.)

Meanwhile, his nickname for Dwayne is “Dial a CFO”. Welcome to Birds, Garry.

David Hicks . Dave reiterated: change the batteries in your alarms (and I recall his story about those push-button door locks - remember, they also have batteries!) • New electrical code changes mean we might want to call him before DIY-changing light switches to dimmers - especially for LED’s.

Dan Kennelly . A little Xmas shopping advice: do it now. Now, while there are still things on the shelf. Many containers from around the world are sitting off shore or in piles on shore. With no way of getting here in time for the 25th.

Andy Lockhart . “Become smart enough to realize how stupid you are.” You’ve heard the one about … when you’re dead you don’t know you’re dead … this also applies to stupid. • Bear this in mind if thinking of grouse hunting around Longview, where a Grizzly sow is currently fattening up her 5 cubs. • A good read is “The Perfect Police State”. How AI abuses human rights via predictive policing.

Ross Mikkelsen . It’s time for his annual ‘fireplace glass is not window glass’ lecture. Windex or vinegar and water will not work; you need a ceramic cleaner. Which you can buy at Ross’ place.• Ross also reflected on how some people are stuffing social media with fake/false videos about rights abuses by medical personnel. (Actually, his comments were more like a snarl: he’s not happy with dishonesty. At all.)

Brad Pachal . Cabinet hardware is suffering from supply chain hiccups.

Dwayne Vinck . He’s enjoying some ‘long, slow dances’ … the kind that characterize the M&A industry. All deals are different and each has its own pace. • Meanwhile, he introduced us to Garry.

Bob Wiggins . Email scammers need to use spellcheck. Or quit. Because Bob is not fooled. • He has the name of a good tree-cutter-downer-remover who removed his ailing spruce for $500 - all in.

- George Roberts.

Early Birds, October 7, (and Sep 30), 2021 Minutes

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Sat, 09 Oct 2021 01:31:40 GMT

Early Birds October 7th and September 30th

Ross and Brad and Tony are singing, “I’d like to get you … on a Slow Boat from China”. Appliances and parts are getting so hard to find and freight costs are climbing, so I expect we’ll all be singing a similar tune, soon.

And here’s another mantra: And no Bird Ate these breakfasts. Today, an even dozen Birds showed up at Inglewood. Which means we paid for 3 breakfasts which no Bird ate. Our agreement w Inglewood is that we’ll pay for (at least) 15 breakfasts to make it worth their while to serve us.

So, not to dun you, but if you can put in an appearance on Thursdays, please do. And maybe, help find some new members. We’re down 8, so beating the bushes is not only allowed; it’s encouraged. And if you tackle a lawyer who goes avian, you could win a prize. (I said ‘could’.)

Paul Boucher . He’s looking very chairman-ish … but then, that’s what he was doing this morning. Better watch out Dan; your seat at the head of the table is starting to fit Paul’s butt. • Paul mentioned burner emails and well, I think he’d be better explaining them to you than me. Paul says - read more here: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/how-to-disposable-email-phone-numbers-credit-cards/

Matt Dart . He’s keeping busy but like others, he is also singing that slow boat song. His appliances’ order may take 20 or even, 24 months. And that’s just a maybe. • Sleep apnea is haunting Matt’s dreams and I think he’s trying out a cPap device. • Local smokey air quality is not helping, either.

Don Davis . Once a salesman; always a salesman. Don is, a consummate enabler of commercial transactions. And one of the prime rules of selling is: don’t knock your competition. And for goodness sake, don’t mention their names! He restated this rule as he shared his views of the Mayors debate. Seems Farkas has never learned this pearl of wisdom. • Ah well, last week, Don got to share a good time with the always witty and positive, Roger Jarvis.

Don Doolan . One of these days, Doolan is going to lose his shirt. This morning he breakfasted in a collectable AC/DC T-shirt. • He mentioned some of the things we get to vote on - one being the Daylight Savings issue. Be careful, read the wording. Or just listen to Don: vote NO. (There are all kinds of reasons why this is the right choice.)

Tony Fisher . He shared a tale of woe about the cost of freight. A custom shuffle board arrived the other day and the shipping cost was $2300. Which is about 25% of the cost of the board. There’s various issues but the main one is the shortage of trucks and truckers.

David Hicks . Dave is living very dangerously and it’s not the voltage or the current. It’s the pub industry, where he is indulging in a number of Conversion Therapy activities: he’s managing projects to switch the signs and nameplates from The George to the Macleod Pub. (Okay, so I am exaggerating - but it does make for a better story, eh.)

Andy Lockhart . Anyone know what a FROE is? Had you been at breakfast yesterday, you’d know what we know: we know what a froe is! Are we better people because of it? We don’t know. But maybe. • Andy wonders how it is that Alberta only has 350 ICU beds while Alabama has 1500 of them. Hmm. Good question. We do have similar populations. • You may have trouble erasing the following image from your mind. So be it: Andy suggests Jyoti Gondek is just “Nenshi in a Skirt”.

Ross Mikkelsen . You want it when? (SFX Boisterous and sustained laughter.) No, Ross is not amused by the supply chain complications of our world. It is a daily challenge to source inventory and contract price commitments. Suppliers are holding prices for only a day. And if you haven’t ordered next spring’s product line by now, you’re probably too late. (Is the rumour true: is Ross dying his hair? Stay tuned.)

Brad Pachal . Have you heard the one about “managing client expectations”? It’s a dicy proposition, telling your customers their projects are proceeding nicely but for the lighting fixtures or appliances or special cabinet doors that will arrive … someday. Brad is not dying his hair, but then …

Dwayne Vinck . He likes his home but when he purchased it, the roof sported pine shakes which quickly rotted. So he went the asphalt route with a lifetime warranty. Unfortunately, it was a short life and so, he’s replacing roofing again while hoping for a class action settlement.

Bob Wiggins . Bob also had some roofing issues and found it was important to increase the ventilation in the attic. He did that when he replaced his shingles 10 years ago - and they are still looking just fine.”The roof looks good and I have recently been on it and there is no evidence of missing granules or curling. The shingles we purchased have a 30 year guarantee. Here’s a link to the manufacturer’s website GAF | Factory-Certified Residential Roofing Contractors

- George Roberts.

Minutes from September 30

Matt Dart - Johnson controls had a great fiscal. Exceeded goals by 50%. Next year is ***t the Bed year.

Matt is looking into a Flames game in a suite for Leafs in December, $8200 to $10k

Jim Bladon - At the flames game September 29th for the game against the Kraken.Great jerseys! COVID protocol was slick and smooth. Inside the Saddledome- a few renovations. Sidecar 6 with tables of 3-4, nice craft beer and decent liquor. Eau Claire distillery is represented there

Brad Pachal - helped Michael McLennan and his neighbour - and thanked him for the opportunity. Brad talked about Uniquities - a lot of unique items. Selling online has been very successful. So successful they’re redoing their web site: https://uniquities.ca . They regularly do “pop up” sales in the Manchester Industrial area.

Ross Mikkelsen - Out in BC with the family 2nd last week of September for the second time this year. The busiest the island has ever been. A lot of labour issues. Wage inflation among them. It’s happening all over the country, which was little consolation for it happening here. He enjoyed (well, maybe *enjoy* is a bit strong with golfing), but the fishing’s great.

Ross talked a bit about the impact of the rolling blackouts in China.Key sites open one day a week, shut down for 6. Supply constraints continue. One key supplier sold out until May. - which actually means sold out for next year. Still in Asia, Ross noted that after ducking COVID waves for the most part, Vietnam is being hit hard and and the garment industry in particular is sufering.

Don Davis - Introduced us to Brad Field via a story or two. He’s Dons choice for mayor.

Michael McLennan - Freshly back from Portugal and had good travel advice, starting with telling us about Tap Labs ( https://www.taplabs.ca ) - They’ll do a COVID test at your house if you’re travelling to Europe or anywhere.

There’s a terrific App in Europe upload to your vaccination record and COVID test making it easy to whisk through. The alternative if you’re not prepared….be ready to line up.

Everything was open but the economy has been hit hard and like everywhere it seems, there’s a labor shortage. Their house is a few months behind schedule.

On the way back the Canadian app was well organized, no issues at all. Pearson was actually BETTER than normal with the app. Breezed through.

Michael’s dad was having surgery the first week of October - rotating siblings will be helping him out, so that, combined with hunting season will Mike an infrequent visitor to Inglewood for a bit.

Dave Hicks - Quoting on jobs in the mountains for the fall of 2022. Then, a familiar refrain: lead times for materials arriving from China are a challenge.

Sean Baylis - things out there are between earnings reports. Lot of noise around commodities and China and supply chain. Nike a good example, high demand, but can’t get anything made. If you’re in sales and you can’t get product, what do you do? Investors are excited about CP Rail and the prospective North American Railway link if their purchase of Kansas City Railroad is successful.

Other market tidbits: tech companies that were high flyers during Covid are coming back down to earth, but cyclical winners are coming back

Cybersecurity is a potential winner, CrowdStrike ( https://www.crowdstrike.com ) and Palo Alto tech ( https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/technologies ). One way to invest in the sector is through the CYBR - ETF, https://evolveetfs.com/product/cybr/.

Tony Fisher - Noted the ring road was opening the last weekend of September….and that business is doing well out there. Lot of billiard tables out on reserve, and $300-$400 cue sticks.

One industry having a record couple of years in Calgary is paving. They’ve set industry records. One guy says business up 40%. Even smaller contractors are being hired by the big players. As an example, at the construction on Barlow in the south, many different companies involved-some smaller.

Don Doolan - had information on that Calgary COVID Passport app Portpass. Just. Don’t. Your information isn’t safe.

Costco in the US warning of shortages including toilet paper. Inflation is going to get worse.

Paul Boucher - With the Birds meeting happening on National Truth and Reconciliation Day (or just another day on vacation for Prime Minster Skippy ), there’ a free Indigenous history and culture course being offered online by the U of A. It looks terrific - and you can’t beat free: https://www.ualberta.ca/admissions-programs/online-courses/indigenous-canada/index.html

Dan Kenelly - explaining the logistics behind ship slow down. One side of the world works 24 hours, then they get to 8-5 North America, and between dockworkers getting paid by the hour and truckers who only get paid on pickup, that winds up being one of the major pinch points.

Dan also noted a shortage of migrant workers will affect all sorts of things including final prices after the holds and delays.

Other shortages: Get your Christmas shopping done early. The word is that Christmas things on those ships will show up at Easter.

In tragic foods news: Vietnamese restaurants can’t get noodles.

- Paul Boucher

Early Birds, September 23, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 14:57:24 GMT

Early Birds, September 23, 2021

Gentlemen,

Since we’re back to old-school, in-person meetings, we have old-school analog minutes. ��

Thank you George .

We are meeting in person at Inglewood until otherwise informed.

** Entry requires paper proof of vaccination and a negative result of a paid (not free AHS) COVID test within 72 hours of Thursday morning. Oh, and a mask until you sit down and start breathing on your breakfast pals.

Minutes:

First off: Inglewood was out of step, this morning: they served French Toast on a day that Ross wasn’t here. That’s a misdemeanour, at the very least. In sympathy, Don Davis and George R ordered fruit plates. (Even Don Doolan turned to the fruit side.) This morning’s flock count was 14.

Second: I’m exploiting my ‘minuter’ status by recommending quillette.com

It’s an academic, political, scientific and social website w a newsletter. Their motto is “Free Thought Lives”. The authors are brave, smart and interesting. No woke-ism, no virtue signalling or silly stupidity. Just thoughtful reactions to those who seem hell-bent on ruining the western world.

Sean Baylis . China's Evergrande Group, the embattled property developer, is not going to fall off the eastern edge of the world. They’re getting some government support - challenge being, how does China help Evergrande without creating a line-up of other companies with their hands out? They’ll figure it out, Sean figures, and with interest rates being so low, this might even be a buying Opportunity. • The shortage of natural gas in Europe is aiding and abetting our gas prices and the energy markets in general. • Banks seem to have avoided feared losses in loan defaults and continue to build up their war chests. Buy, he mutters. • Anticipating scads of people with lots of cash to feed their pent up desires to travel, socialize and have fun, he’s touting an ETF with travel, recreation and fun-for-all holdings.

Jim Bladon . Just when you thought things were getting better … for example, “some 80% of us are now vaccinated” sounds wonderful … but wait a minute: that’s in the cities. In the small towns, the ratio is reversed. Or worse. (And the split between the jabbed and the un-jabbed is becoming fraught with aggravation.) • In any event, financial services are ploughing ahead and reaping opportunities for growth (hey, how can you tell that Jim is an agricultural expert?). • A heads up: this is SCAM season. Microsoft has a Windows update so be careful - very careful - about who and where you download from. And if thinking of applying for a job via LinkedIn, know that scammers are using help wanted ads to capture your data. Again, double and triple check the sponsor.

Paul Boucher . He’s been looking into facilities for video/zooming. • And is bidding on some large voice projects - including a couple from Europe. But like so many bid opportunities, margins are squeezed by lack of buyer discrimination (knowing good voices from bad). As someone said: no one wants to compete with stupid.

Ian Campbell . Another fishing story from Manitoba where the pickerel are biting before you can say ‘here fishy, fishy, fishy’. And the size of them is just amazing! (This is a fish story, after all.) • To the tune of the Teddy Bear’s picnic: If you go down to Wreck Beach today, you’re sure of a big surprise; If you go down to Wreck Beach today, you’d better go in disguise! (Seems Ian and Jo-Ann did not know that Wreck Beach is a popular nudist area. Has been for 60 years or more.)

Matt Dart . Some great golfing is happening and Matt is enjoying being a part of it. • He mentions the that the Sweetwater guys are getting their comeuppance.

Don Davis . There are Microsoft windows and then, there are Davis’ windows. And thanks to Brad’s expertise, Davis’ windows will do just fine for another 10 years or more. • Don’s son is into ice climbing, an exhilarating sport. And one of the world’s best ice climbing athletes lives in Canmore. Check him out at https://willgadd.com/ And hey, if ice climbing isn’t your thing, there’s always rope rigging. Another rare talent abiding in Canmore.

Don Doolan . Can’t help but wonder why we (Alberta) didn’t do our ‘I’ve been jabbed’ cards as QR codes. So easy, it would now be to present your status.

Tony Fisher . Raised the spectre of China's Evergrande Group failing. But let Sean fill us in on it.

Dan Kennelly . Everyone wanted to talk today and all talkers were, well, windy. But Dan brought us in, bang on 8:30.

Andy Lockhart . Andy can’t help but mention that his local golf course is getting spiffy … while he speaks without warmth about our PM, Skippy. (There: a rhyming couplet for this sunny day.) • Andy knows a senior nurse, at Foothills, who is struggling to keep her ward intact … in the face of losing half her staff: they’ve been ‘looted’ for duty elsewhere. • I think it was Andy who mentioned the 200 bed ICU … set up in the Peter Lougheed Hospital parking lot. Unfortunately, it seems you cannot run an ICU ward on generators. Which is what they thought they planned on doing (this nugget from Brad.)

Brad Pachal . Brad mentioned a nurse who’s been in the profession for a long time and is almost stressed to the point of breaking. He reminds us to be kind. Very kind. Medical staff need us to behave. As do school teachers.

Dwayne Vinck . You can hear him coming. In fact, this morning, he drowned out the entire flock as he and his amazing Honda motorcycle arrived for breakfast. • He has a dim view of the electorate in (area code) 905. They talk like conservatives but vote like Liberals. • Debt is in our future, guys. Huge debt.

Bob Wiggins . Tomorrow, he catches up with Don Davis: for the next 6 months they’ll both be 81. “We made it”, he said, toasting Don across the table.

George Roberts.

Early Birds, September 16, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 15:14:34 GMT

Early Birds, September 16, 2021

A few good men showed up this morning: nine of us, to be exact. Will we meet again, next Thursday? Stay tuned: we’re still waiting for final confirm from Inglewood - but it sounds like we will - as long as we have proof of vax (or recent negative test) and wear a mask. • This morning was a bit of a trip down memory lane as that was where our minds seem to be. (May have something to do with all the Covid news - none of which is very positive.) • Though wait a minute! Mike Mikkelson and Renee just left for three weeks in Italy! That’s Ammazza!

Members:

Don Davis . Get this! Don is starting to live dangerously - and dragging me along for the ride. This morning we both ordered eggs benny! • Meanwhile, one of Don’s longtime friends is arranging a trip to Calgary and then to Kamloops from Halifax. Hah. What used to be a breeze to book and do, is now a morass of Covid complications. Puppy kennel fees are $200 a night. Flights to Calgary are complicated. And driving from here to Kamloops requires winter tires after September 30th. (These are but a few of the issues.)

Tony Fisher . He mentions that Roger Jarvis is in the hospital and that George Doherty has moved into CareWest for a spell.

David Hicks . He’s beginning to sound like a Travel Alberta pro: Dave and family enjoyed their time in their trailer at Gooseberry. Plus, to keep his projects not the go, he had to visit Pyramid Lake Resort and Patricia Lake, near Jasper. • He also got to see where The Pines restaurant is and may even review it, in the future.

Dan Kennelly . He’s in touch with Inglewood and will keep us posted about breakfast. • Right now, he’s holding tight to his wallet: inflation is pushing pub food into the ‘better restaurant’ price range. Bitter Sisters is pricier than ever. But the beer is just as good as ever.

Andy Lockhart . Sounds like her’s hanging up his nine iron for the season. But hey, good food and pleasant company makes for a great lunch at Starbelly in Seaton. • Andy had some book and TV suggestions as did others: (all listed at the end of these minutes.)

Ross Mikkelsen . A couple of Barbecues Galore’s significant brands have gone public. So now you, too, can treat yourself to Weber and Traeger yard toys while earning dividends on your purchases. (Um, this is in no way a stock purchase recommendation. That’s Sean’s puddle and Ross is keeping his feet well out of it.) • Ross has three or four employees who choose not to wear masks which rubs everyone the wrong way. It may just be time to say ‘mask up or move on’.

Brad Pachal . Brad likes the Storm Mountain Resort out by Radium. And though he digs Moraine Lake like all good Canadians do, he mentions that canoe rentals, there, are $126.00 an hour. (Compared to Glenmore’s $15.00 an hour.)

Bob Wiggins . He’s feeling Covid bound and with Kenny’s new restrictions, likely to feel so for sometime to come. In lieu of sending pecan pie, Dorothy asked Bob to say hello to all. • Bob recounted buying into the then, 1970’s new community of Bona Vista, for around $39G’s. And selling 5 years later for $109G’s. (Dave pointed out that had Bob held on to his Keith-built home, he could now sell for around $800G’s.) Thanks, Dave.

George Roberts.

Early Birds LIVE Meeting, September 2, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 03 Sep 2021 15:37:48 GMT

Early Birds, Old School, Back at Inglewood, September 2, 2021

This morning, a Baker’s dozen of Birds flocked to the Inglewood Golf and Curling Club. And they were such an unruly and noisy bunch. Blades brought greetings from Gord and Heather Forsyth (and a warning that Gord may just appear some Thursday, just as soon as Heather fills the Right’s coffers). Andy brought his own ‘perch’ for all to “See & Sit On”. Dwayne sang the praises of the Inn on Officers’ Garden. And not only did Don Davis take up his regular place; he called for his regular breakfast.

Brett Bain . He shared a mystery this morning: how could the Gleichen liquor store go out of business, what with a reservation next door?

Jim Bladon . Talked about the state of Ag banking (pretty good), charity golf (hard work but somebody’s gotta do it) and that the Aussie Rules Piano Bar is reopening tomorrow. Sadly, his sister-in-law passed away so Jim and Kim will be heading to Penticton for the celebration of her life.

Paul Boucher . Paul continues to lend his voice to Glencore Mining and Suncor (yes, the one with the invisible ‘e’). The TV series, Deadly Standoff, featuring Paul’s voice, is due out this fall.

Matt Dart . He’s been bidding on an interesting looking, Buffalo Run project. Meanwhile, he’s spending his hard earned cash on a new fridge. It was just a little part that failed but all the replacement ones disappeared in Japan’s tsunami.

Don Davis . Sounds like Pat is golfing while Don directs his yard crew on how to keep the homestead looking good … so they can properly entertain the 2-year-old twins. (For a couple of hours, and then it’s time for a nap. Don and Pat’s nap; not the twins - they can go all day.) Don reminds us that Bird, Bruce Roblin, continues to perform floral magic, via White’s Flowers.

Don Doolan . “Oh, to be 45 again, eh Don!” Ah well, he has a golden image of those centre discs emblazoned on his black Tee. Speaking of black, there were some bears out past Emerald Lake this week. And Don has cancelled their Hawaii trip in response to the governor’s request that tourists stay home, for now.

Tony Fisher . He’s keeping up with the changing trends in the entertainment business. Mechanical, coin operated games are collapsing in favour of e-pay, VR games - each of which has to earn back its purchase price of say, oh, about $40 Grand, before generating any revenue.

David Hicks . Started the morning off with a good line about … feeling like he’s wearing 3D glasses: seeing real Birds instead of Zoom images! Has recently returned from the East coast where he and his … refuelled on fish, fun and family.

Dan Kennelly . If you like ice cream, you’ll enjoy Made by Marcus’ new digs in Edmonton. Better yet, you can get a huge Bird’s discount on your cold treat or restaurant order - just ask for ‘Dan Kennelly’s daughter’. (Okay, so I’m lying about the discount … but you can still ask for her to say Hi, from her proud father. She had much to do with the success of this Edmonton location.)

Andy Lockhart . “The Future is Faster Than You Think”, is a book that you might just enjoy. Get it at the library.

Dwayne Vinck . His eldest daughter is engaged to be married and like so many couples, she’s been scrambling for a venue (because who knows when we might have another lockdown). Seems the Inn on Officers’ Garden is perfect for the kind of event they’re having. Phew.

Bob Wiggins . Had a fascinating tip for breakfast: how to identify different bear species by looking at their scat. (It could be this subject was influenced by his and Dorthy’s marathon of jigsaw challenge: a 1,000-piece puzzle.)

George Roberts .

Early Birds, August 26, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 15:25:16 GMT

Early Birds, August 26, 2021

Gentlemen,

Dwayne Vinck confirmed that the Early Birds are back to face to face meetings at Inglewood Golf and Curling Club next week, Thursday Sept. 2nd.

Of course, as case numbers rise, this could change. Stay tuned to your emails to ensure we actually meet.

The video for our (ostensibly) final virtual meeting is below a lovely graph, also shared by Dwayne regarding Prime Minister ****y's profligacy.

Early Birds, August 19, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 15:12:47 GMT

Early Birds, August 19, 2021

Gentlemen,

If Delta holds off, this will be the second-last virtual meeting, with in-person Early Birds resuming at Inglewood on Thursday September 2nd . Dwayne Vinck will update us if that changes.

The travails of retail were front and centre this week with cogent observations from Tony Fisher and Ross Mikkelsen .

Tony also updated the status of George Doherty and indicated how we could show our support, while cautioning us not to expect a response. Tony also added a nice quick story about Roger Jarvis.

Leisure related notes included two book recommendations from Andy Lockhart :

Early Birds, August 12, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 15:21:47 GMT

Early Birds, August 12, 2021

Gentlemen,

Our 2nd or 3rd to last Zoom meeting is "in the books" and viewable below.

Dwayne Vinck hopes to hear back from Inglewood between now and next Thursday to let us know which Thursday in September will be the date of our return to Inglewood.

There's some great "Show & Tell" today between Tony Fisher and Ross Mikkelsen , so enjoy the stories and the photos when they come up in the video.

Early Birds, August 5, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 15:42:03 GMT

Early Birds, August 5, 2021

Gentlemen,

We're on the home stretch with these virtual meetings. We'll be back at Inglewood in September. We're just waiting on the actual date.

Today's meeting welcomed back Birds Jim Bladon and Ian Campbell who'd both been away for good reason.

Dan Kenelly shared this fabulous image by email after the meeting. In these politically correct times of "identity", how you identify is important. Take a good look at the sticker.

And now, the August 5th meeting.

Early Birds, July 29, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 15:14:32 GMT

Early Birds, July 29, 2021

Gentlemen,

The video from this week's meeting is below.

First up - a quick update from Dwayne Vinck : The Birds are back at Inglewood in September . We're waiting to hear if we're back on Thursday September 2nd or 9th. Stay tuned.

Other than that, some insight into why everything is going to cost more from several Birds - and it mostly come down to various tales of logistics-chain mayhem around the world post pandemic.

From Ross Mikkelsen , some Internet rabbit hole car-hunting on collector cars: https://bringatrailer.com .

Early Birds, July 22, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 16:12:23 GMT

Early Birds, July 22, 2021

Gentlemen,

Two important updates are right off the top of the video this week. One is an update on George Doherty via Tony Fisher , and the second is an update on Inglewood.

It looks like the Birds will get to go home again soon! Inglewood proposed an updated arrangement to Birds Treasurer Dwayne Vinck, which he relayed to the Birds, and there was unanimous support among the members present to "go back." Details are in the video update.

Dwayne is waiting to hear back on specific dates. We might be back at Inglewood on fairly short notice, so keep an eye on your inbox.

From the "you can't make this ***t up" file comes news via Tom Olson of "Helibacon."

The opening pitch on the web site is "WAIT… SO YOU’RE TELLING US YOU’VE NEVER SHOT MACHINE GUNS FROM A HELICOPTER?!"

Like I said, I couldn't make this up. You can shake your head in front of your own screen using this link: https://www.helibacon.com .

And now, this week's meeting.

Early Birds, July 15, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 15:31:39 GMT

Early Birds, July 15, 2021

Gentlemen,

The video of the July 15th Birds meeting is online.

Among other things, a welcome visit and update from Michael McLennan , a quick update on Inglewood from Dwayne Vinck , market insights from Sean Baylis , and a great book recommendation from Matt Dart on some of the rights and wrongs in a particular episode of the Second World War.

Just before the meeting video, I'll share here the video I shared with the Birds during the meeting. It arrived via Brett Bain, and it's a wee telling of some of the goings-on around the cronyism surrounding our Teflon prime minister. The meeting video is below that. Enjoy.

Early Birds, July 8, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 15:46:44 GMT

Early Birds, July 8, 2021

Gentlemen,

The video of the July 8th Birds meeting is below.

Special thanks again to the birds who've taken the time to help me fill in missing information on the brand spankin' new Member directory. Remember that to access it, you'll need to re-enter the site password, so have that handy.

I'll continue to work on it, and when Bob Wiggins lets me know everything's in the right place and everyone's accounted for, it will be complete.

Highlights from today's meeting :

Dwayne Vinck updated the club on Inglewood (second speaker up in the video) - and then adds a bit more detail just before the end of the meeting. The short version is: not yet, but we're talking.

Business Insights/Notes from Tony Fisher, Brad Pachal, Ross Mikkelsen , and a great story of business getting done by Dave Hicks on his project in the National Park involving directional drilling.

Book recommendations for summer reading:

George Roberts: The Death of Expertise, The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters by Tom Nichols .

Book summary : "Technology and increasing levels of education have exposed people to more information than ever before. These societal gains, however, have also helped fuel a surge in narcissistic and misguided intellectual egalitarianism that has crippled informed debates on any number of issues. Today,
everyone knows everything: with only a quick trip through WebMD or Wikipedia, average citizens believe themselves to be on an equal intellectual footing with doctors and diplomats. All voices, even the most ridiculous, demand to be taken with equal seriousness, and any claim to the contrary is
dismissed as undemocratic elitism.

Tom Nichols' The Death of Expertise shows how this rejection of experts has occurred: the openness of the internet, the emergence of a customer satisfaction model in higher education, and the transformation of the news industry into a 24-hour entertainment machine, among other reasons.
Paradoxically, the increasingly democratic dissemination of information, rather than producing an educated public, has instead created an army of ill-informed and angry citizens who denounce intellectual achievement. When ordinary citizens believe that no one knows more than anyone else, democratic
institutions themselves are danger of falling either to populism or to technocracy - or in the worst case, a combination of both. A breakout hit immediately upon its original publication in early 2017, Nichols has updated this paperback edition to cover the alarming exacerbation of these trends in
the year and a half since Donald Trump's election. Judging from events on the ground since it first published, The Death of Expertise's a warning about the stability and survival of modern democracy in the Information Age is even more important today."

Pick it up locally at Pages in Kensington, Shelf Life Books or Owl's Nest, or at the usual suspects online. This link will take you to the Shelf Life Books online store - they have it in stock. https://store.shelflifebooks.ca/?searchtype=keyword&qs=The+Death+of+Expertise&q=h.tviewer&using_sb=status&qsb=keyword

Also via George : The Parasitic Mind - How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense by Gad Saad.

Book summary : ""Read this book, strengthen your resolve, and help us all return to reason." —JORDAN PETERSON

There's a war against truth... and if we don't win it, intellectual freedom will be a casualty.

The West’s commitment to freedom, reason, and true liberalism has never been more seriously threatened than it is today by the stifling forces of political correctness.

Dr. Gad Saad, the host of the enormously popular YouTube show THE SAAD TRUTH, exposes the bad ideas—what he calls “idea pathogens”—that are killing common sense and rational debate. Incubated in our universities and spread through the tyranny of political correctness, these ideas are endangering our most basic freedoms—including freedom of thought and speech.

The danger is grave, but as Dr. Saad shows, politically correct dogma is riddled with logical fallacies. We have powerful
weapons to fight back with—if we have the courage to use them.

A provocative guide to defending reason and intellectual freedom and a battle cry for the preservation of our fundamental rights, The Parasitic Mind will be the most controversial and talked-about book of the year."

They have one in stock at Owl's Nest books via this link: https://shop.owlsnestbooks.com/item/p5_EarT6dOPb-Z5aRRjCjw

Dave Hicks : added a pick that would complement the above nicely - The Coddling of the American Mind, How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure by Greg Lukianoff, Jonathan Haidt.

Book summary : "Something has been going wrong on many college campuses in the last few years. Speakers are shouted down. Students and professors say they are walking on eggshells and are afraid to speak honestly. Rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide are rising—on campus as well as nationally. How did this happen?

First Amendment expert Greg Lukianoff and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt show how the new problems on campus have their origins in three terrible ideas that have become increasingly woven into American childhood and education: What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker; always trust your feelings; and life is a battle between good people and evil people. These three Great Untruths contradict basic psychological principles about well-being and ancient wisdom from many cultures. Embracing these untruths—and the resulting culture of safetyism—interferes with young people’s social, emotional, and intellectual development. It makes it harder for them to become autonomous adults who are able to navigate the bumpy road of life.

Lukianoff and Haidt investigate the many social trends that have intersected to promote the spread of these untruths. They explore changes in childhood such as the rise of fearful parenting, the decline of unsupervised, child-directed play, and the new world of social media that has engulfed teenagers in the last decade. They examine changes on campus, including the corporatization of universities and the emergence of new ideas about identity and justice. They situate the conflicts on campus within the context of America’s rapidly rising political polarization and dysfunction.

This is a book for anyone who is confused by what is happening on college campuses today, or has children, or is concerned about the growing inability of Americans to live, work, and cooperate across party lines."

The book was available to order at any of the local shops with about a 10 day wait. It was available and in stock at Chapters-Indigo - both online and in some store locations.

There's been no shortage of great TV recommended by various Birds. Today, however, there was a warning to AVOID one show on Netflix: Manifest. Thanks to Andy Lockhart for that one, and for the several Birds that heartily concurred.

However Ross Mikkelsen , who has a soft spot for zombies (not at all related to his experiences speaking with customers in his Ontario stores), recommended a local show called Black Summer (now in season 2) . If you've ever wanted to see what I nglewood would look like overrun by zombies, this is your show. You may recognize a couple of locations in the trailer:

And now, this week's meeting.

Early Birds, June 24, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 15:28:15 GMT

Early Birds, June 24, 2021

Gentlemen,

First, please note there will be NO Birds Meeting on Canada July 1st. Our next meeting will be on July 8th. With any luck at all, we'll at least have an update on the possibility of physical meetings at Inglewood by then.

Two quick notes before getting to the video of the meeting below:

1) A great memory and photo from Sean Baylis' trip out to the West Coast for some deep sea fishing with his dad, brothers and his son Carson - who caught the first fish, a 23 lb salmon.

and 2) a book recommendation from Andy that will make you understand the old saying "It is to weep."

The book's title pretty much says it all: Wilful Blindness: How a criminal network of narcos, tycoons and CCP agents infiltrated the West (Holding the Chinese Communist Party to Account) . You can pick it up at the library if you don't mind waiting. And waiting.

Or you can pick it up from the usual suspects, including local shops like Pages in Kensington. That's where this link will take you to: https://pageskensington.com/item/g78zeseMvPW3JunBOrswrA .

And now, the meeting. Enjoy.

Happy Canada Day next week. No witless cancellation of history here.

Early Birds, June 17, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 14:55:05 GMT

Early Birds, June 17, 2021

Good day Gentlemen,

The video of the June 17th, 2021 Early Birds meeting is below. Enjoy!

Early Birds, June 10, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 14:59:16 GMT

Early Birds, June 10, 2021

Gentlemen,

The video of this week's meeting is available for your viewing pleasure below.

Early Birds, June 3, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 15:03:41 GMT

Early Birds, June 3, 2021

Gentlemen,

The video of the June 3rd Birds meeting is below.

Fairly light cast today as both Brett Bain and Ross Mikkelsen had appointments that kept them from Birds, and a few other foundlings were absent from the Zoom nest, Brad Pachal, Don Doolan, Jim Bladon & Mel Gibson among others. We'll look forward to a fuller house next week.

Things to look forward to in the video include Matt Dart discussing two podcasts.

One features Jordan Peterson's compelling interview with Yeonmi Park ,a North Korean defector. There was no end to the surprises - gruesome and otherwise in this interview. You can find the podcast here: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast-225906/episodes/s4e26-tyranny-slavery-and-colu-92302111

The other podcast worth looking up is Brett Weinstein's Dark Horse podcast. The one Matt referred to specifically was in relation to an off-patent drug called Ivermectin that seems to be VERY effective at combating COVID. BUT, no one's hearing about that because big Pharma can't make any money off it. I'm paraphrasing, but that's a definite thread of the interview among others. You can see or listen to this one since it's on his YouTube Channel. You'll have to fast forward a few minutes, but you can see the YouTube video below. If an audio podcast is more your thing, then you can find that here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/covid-ivermectin-crime-century-darkhorse-podcast-pierre/id1471581521?i=1000523859023

On the subject of COVID, Andy Lockhart mentioned Michael Lewis' new book "The Premonition - A Pandemic Story". There's a great quote on Michael Lewis' writing among the reviews: "I would buy an 800 page history of the Stapler if he wrote it." Lewis has a few fans among Birds. You can find a link to the book via Pages in Kensington here: https://pageskensington.com/item/L0V8Hcd1MxaxdQaKkZP_7w

Dave Hicks - who's on the road a lot between Calgary and Jasper, PRIME podcast listening time - had this recommendation from the podcast The Joe Rogan Experience. It was the episode featuring an interview with Jonathan Haidt, co-author, of The Coddling Of The American Mind. Definitely some Birds-friendly opnionating in this one. Find the podcast here: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/61483309

If you're interested in searching, both authors of the book are also interviewed on the Dark Horse and Jordan Peterson podcasts in separate episodes. You'll notice that each of the podcast links ties to a different location. The reason for that is that most podcasters with their sort of profile have their own sites with links, or they "broadcast" their podcasts on various channels, including Apple podcasts, Spotify podcasts and numerous others. I just pick the one I find first generally, and the least annoying one from an ad perspective, if possible.

Tony Fisher popped this into my inbox right after the meeting was over; it's a quick newsletter release from MP Jag Sahota regarding the Liberals' odious bill C-10, which can be most charitably filed under "...it started with good intentions....". Tony fired over a scan of the newsletter, which you can view by clicking the button below.

Early Birds, May 27, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 27 May 2021 15:21:13 GMT

Early Birds, May 27, 2021

Gentlemen, the video of the May 27th meeting is at the bottom of this post.

A few things to look forward to in this one:

As some of you will know, Andy Lockhart 's daughter-in-law is a horticulturalist and manages plants/flowers at several golf courses including Andy's home course in Priddis. As always at this time of year, there are some surplus plants. If you're interested, please shoot Andy an email at andy@andesigns.ca.

Jim Bladon shared ATB Economist Todd Hirsch's policy paper dispatch with the group. Todd's views for Q2 and beyond for the Alberta economy are in the document, which you can access by clicking the button below.

We seem to be acquiring a rapid list of surgeries on Birds, or Bird loved ones this year, and Tony Fisher passed on the news that Michael McLennan 's wife Maria had recent surgery. Michael and Maria are both looking at working on their property in the Azores Islands near Maria's Portuguese roots in 2021 and beyond.

Brad Pachal shared his enjoyment of the "This Old House" Clear Story podcast, and in particular, Season 2, Episode 1. "Host Kevin O’Connor speaks with three guests about how, like many pandemics throughout history, COVID-19 could change our homes and communities forever.

https://www.thisoldhouse.com/22433359/the-post-pandemic-home-clearstory-s2-ep-1

Don Doolan shared an evening comedy palette cleanser after all of the dramatic, dead-detectives, detectives finding dead people, etc. recommendations we've had, and it looks hilarious. if you've missed the 5 seasons of Superstore - it's on Netflix in Canada. You can get a sneak peak via the hilarious trailer below.

One last recommendation for leisure time, via Tom Olson : Elvis The Searcher, an HBO Doc series. Tom recounted seeing Elvis in concert in the late 60's, was/is a fan ('cause who knows if he's actually dead), and highly recommends it. Trailer below.

Early Birds, May 20, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Mon, 24 May 2021 16:31:37 GMT

Early Birds, May 20, 2021

Gentlemen,

I apologize for posting this a bit longer than usual after the fact. The video from this past week's meeting is below.

Tidbits to discover in the video:

Dan Kennelly shared that the Blues Can in Inglewood is trying their hand at streaming live music events, including good, contemporary blues players. When I dug into it, I discovered that the Blues Can, like a lot of live music venues is genuinely struggling to stay alive. So the event they were streaming over the long weekend was a "Save The Blues" event. Although the event ended Sunday at Midnight, the Donate Now button is still active. That link is https://www.thebluescan.com .

You don't have to be someone in the arts to realize that a LOT of people - from the artists, the facililty/venue owners, and their staff in the hospitality industry - need a hand up through this extended pandemic that's prevented them from being open. If you're so inclined, I'm sure they'd appreciate any support - and a visit for an ale or 3 when they finally open up again. I don't think Kenney, Shandro, Hinshaw & co. will be on the guest list for their re-opening night.

Jim Bladon shared another update regarding the Calgary Stampede. The Stampede has AHS-approved re-opening plans, which are COVID-scenario dependent of course. They're looking at all sorts of COVID-mitagations, including timed-entry tickets (no word on how you kick them out of Nashville North after they're in), grandstand events at 40-50% capacity, etc. More to come as the days go by.

Tony Fisher mentioned seeing a cray long queue outside a store: Krazy Bins - which is where your returned Amazon products go to help pad Amazon's profits. So, what happens is that Amazon processes a chargeback to the vendor for the returned item, then, they sell them at 3 to 5 cents on the dollar or LESS out of the old Winners location in Sundridge. It's literally a "bin store". You never know what you'll find from one day to the next, and the discounts escalate to almost $0 over the course of a week, before the store is restocked again.

On the one hand, "nice business if you can get it", and on the other, "Nice! Amazon's found another way to defenestrate local businesses." In any case, the URL for the business is https://krazybinz.ca .

Dwayne Vinck stressed the great value in a stock tip for BHT - Braveheart Resources , a company he's involved with a high level. You can see and read a bit more about the stock here. It's a copper play - and right now, Copper might as well gold (from a layman's perspective, anyway): https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/bht?countrycode=ca .

Sean Baylis followed up with a couple of tips of his own - and it's all in the video below.

Enjoy.

Early Birds, May 13, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 14 May 2021 01:50:17 GMT

Early Birds, May 13, 2021

Gentlemen,

A bit of an odd one this morning with a rare Internet issue on my end.

Thank goodness for George Robert's very quick thinking and hitting the record button on his computer when I froze. There is a very short missing interval during Andy Lockhart's comments at about the 30-minute mark, where I had to insert a transition to "stitch" the two recordings together but otherwise, the meeting video is intact and ready to view below.

Enjoy!

Early Birds, May 6, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 06 May 2021 15:17:12 GMT

Early Birds White Shirt Day, May 6, 2021

Gentlemen,

In the ongoing tradition of Early Birds, insight, wisdom, scoffing at rampant BS are all on tap in this week's video of the meeting.

Among other tidbits: if you followed Dwayne Vinck 's investment advice on Secure Energy from this time last year, your investment gained 285%!!

Jim Bladon , gave an eyebrow raised, tongue-in-cheek investment tip: the new cryptocurrency from Carol Baskin (of Tiger King quasi fame) called $CAT. More information in the video below and here: https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/05/entertainment/tiger-king-carole-baskin-crypto-coin/index.html .

George Roberts commented on the continuing slide of academia into the quicksand of quackery with this article: "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives Do Not Belong In Academia": https://globe2go.pressreader.com/article/281762747119298

Dan Kennelly had a jaw-dropping observation on the two companies essentially monopolizing the importation of steel for their own massive buildout plans. They are not pipeline companies.

That story was further amplified by Matt Dart who, while respecting the terms of his NDA, nonetheless gave hints as to one of the companies doing a build of a 2.8 million square foot warehouse facility. One of two in Calgary!

Tom Olson forwarded this link post meeting: "Lockdowns May Be Canada’s Biggest Policy Failure in History, Report Says". The story's here: https://www.theepochtimes.com/lockdowns-could-be-canadas-biggest-policy-failure-in-history-report-says_3796311.html?utm_campaign=socialshare_email.

If you're looking to golf at the one golf course where aerosol contamination will NOT be an issue because they ALWAYS have a breeze, look no further than a social membership at Springbank Links. Ian Campbell has purchased a $500 social membership which includes 12 rounds of golf, and unlimited access to the practice facilities.

The rest is in the video for you to discover. Enjoy!

Early Birds, April 29, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 14:54:46 GMT

Early Birds, April 29, 2021

Gentlemen,

As was the case with regular, in-person Birds meetings, some of the best stuff happened outside official "minutes", or in the case of virtual meetings, the recording.

That said, there's a great stock tip from Dwayne, many warm-hearted words about Gerry Parcells and family, updates on Don Davis, Henry Heuver, and Bill Hoogstraten and a couple of other folks whose faces we miss seeing, and word about Stampede 2021 plans via Jim Bladon.

It's all in the video below. Enjoy.

On Losing A Good Bird Named Gerry Parcells

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 18:56:19 GMT

On Losing A Good Bird Named Gerry Parcells

The last time we Early Birds met for breakfast at the Inglewood Golf and Curling Club, we knew what to expect when we arrived. It was always thus:

The ‘early, Early Birds’ would flock together along the right wing of our table set-up. And then, sometime between 7:20 and 7:30, Gerry Parcells would arrive, providing balance and sway to the left wing. How he did this without raising his voice, we will now, never know.

He could mutter the word “saw-sages” under his breath, and we’d lean in. Because we knew - he knew - where to get the best sausages: usually in one of the better hotels on the “wet” coast.

He often indulged in the manly art of car talk. He could make driving to Phoenix for a car wash sound like ‘just a thing people do’. Oh, he’d add, he did check out a ’55 Chevy … but it was overpriced. So he and Gail made their annual deposit in Vegas and came home.

Speaking of vintage Chevies, we recall him being anxious about Banff’s weather in October of 2012: after all, one of his about-to-be-married daughters deserved a ‘proper’ car ride from church to reception. He spoke often of driving (and flying) for family. More than once, he dropped in for breakfast on his way to Saskatoon to catch a Blades game.

Who other than Gerry Parcells would humbly report that “their Christmas turkey was just devastated”? It happened in 2013, when he and Gail had 39 family members for dinner. Indeed, for a while, it seemed that Gerry was just coming for breakfast to announce the birth of yet another grandchild.

For decades, Gerry helped make sure we Birds could keep in touch with each other, by printing our club roster. He helped make our club’s ‘cream mogul’ famous, by putting George’s face on George’s Cream. And he would politely say he doesn’t really want a Eulogy … but if we’re determined, at least make the audience chuckle.

We all have a favourite memory of Gerry. Like when he mentioned that he controls ‘the Nest’ at his home … and that he doesn’t do it by iPhone, either.

- The Calgary Early Birds.

Early Birds, April 22, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 15:05:28 GMT

Early Birds, April 22, 2021

Gentlemen,

Some lovely memories of Gerry Parcells this morning to mark Gerry's passing, some well-placed, pithy shots regarding the federal budget, a great "Green" investment tip from Sean Baylis, and more awaits you in this week's video, below. Enjoy.

Early Birds, April 15, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 04:22:37 GMT

Early Birds, April 15, 2021

Good day gentlemen,

Your Early Birds meeting for April 15, 2021 is below.

Early Birds, April 8, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 15:27:24 GMT

Early Birds, April 8, 2021

The video for the April 8th meeting is at the bottom of this post.

Lots of talk about COVID, vaccines, impact on personal and businesses (3 of Ross' 5 stores are in Ontario, and closed. Again.).

On the subject, several Birds noted the revolt within the UCP, and George Roberts made a cogent point about discord on the right, means opportunities to the left. He outlined a few of the finer points of the Federal NDP platform that would make a LOT of us want to move if they ever came to power.

Tom made a few of us think that this would be a good time to be living in Israel despite the ***tshow that the Middle East can be.

It's all in the video.

Just above the video is a quick clip from an erudite British politician named Laurence Fox running for the mayoralty of London. He makes the point about it being time for lockdowns and restrictions to be ended once and for all in the UK. His last two sentences are "mic-drop" worthy and will resonate with many of us.

Early Birds, April 1, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 15:31:43 GMT

Early Birds, April 1, 2021

Early Birds, March 25, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 16:06:30 GMT

Early Birds, March 25th, 2021

Gentlemen,

The video of this week's meeting is at the bottom of this quick post.

There was a lot of interesting, substantial news shared at this week's meeting, but at one point Don Doolan exclaimed, "Doesn't anyone have any GOOD news?"

Not long after, Tom Olson talked about how we all exist with "filters" to process the world, and how with everything that's been going on, our filters have become clogged with "negative." He reminded us that make sure to do a little "filter maintenance" (I'm paraphrasing) to allow the good stuff to come through. It's out there.

Immediately after the meeting, the best quote to sum up "positive-negative" balance had dropped into my inbox.

"Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words.

Keep your words positive because y our words become your behaviour.

Keep your behaviour positive because your behaviour becomes your habits.

Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values.

Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny."

Mahatma Gandhi

The tone of today's meeting was set right from the start with Brad Pachal relaying news that confirmed the procurement/logistics challenges that Ross Mikkelsen and Tony Fisher have discussed in meetings past (Great tip again from Tony on how to possibly circumvent problems when his turn comes around). The basic message that Ross and Tony have relayed before was very graphically confirmed in the article: If you see something in a store you need, buy it now. There may not be more of that particular item available until 2022.

The headline on the article was "From Down Under, a prediction on 2021 bike supply." The article itself is at: https://www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-analysis/2020/12/16/down-under-prediction-2021-bike-supply-which-probably-applies-here-well?utm_campaign=later-linkinbio-bowcyclesports&utm_content=later-1124364&utm_medium=social&utm_source=instagram#.YFyqtEhKgaW .

Jim Bladon happened to be at another meeting with intel from the Stampede board in time to relay the news to the Birds. He shares it when his turn comes around in the video, but the highlights:

Stampede Lotteries are a GO
BMO Expansion is a GO
17th Avenue expansion through the grounds is a GO
Stampede Park looks a LOT different: Hall A and B are gone, The Boyce Pavilion is gone, the Coral is gone
Finally, working closely with the Feds and the province, Stampede itself will be a GO in some form. There'll be an announcement in early-mid-April about how it will look.

Jim also fleshed out information around various business aid programs initially brought up by Dwayne Vinck. Thanks to Jim for sending this information after the meeting.

ATB Business - Here is the direct link to the page on our website that has the links to the 13 Federal Programs, and 3 Provincial Programs - specific to businesses and COVID-19/Economic downturn.

https://www.atb.com/covid-19/government-relief-for-business/

HASCAP ( Highly Affected Sectors Credit Availability Program Guarantee ) - These loans are for small and medium-sized businesses that have seen their revenues decrease by 50% or more as a result of COVID-19.

https://www.bdc.ca/en/special-support/hascap

BCAP ( EDC Business Credit Availability Program Guarantee ) - For Canadian small and medium-sized businesses...To cover payroll and operating costs caused by the current economic situation. The Guarantee is actually from EDC ( Export Development Canada ), administered via BDC and all other financial institutions.

https://www.bdc.ca/en/special-support/special-support-edc-business-credit-availability-program-bcap-guarantee

George Roberts picked up on comments initially made by Brett Bain regarding the acknowledgement of Indigenous peoples. He recently watched a BBC doc that among other things, "reframes" the word and notion of "colonialism" (explicitly at near the 35-minute mark). To quote George's email:

" Neil Oliver travels back to ice age Britain as he begins the epic story of how our land and its people came to be over thousands of years of ancient history. The ice age saw a struggle for survival in a brutal world of climate change and environmental catastrophe.

- Neil Oliver explains history poetically, absolute pleasure to watch.

- This narrator is like a smooth Scottish whiskey poured into my ears. "

Another wee cultural treasure was shared by Ross Mikkelsen . Prodded by reading Red Notice, Ross went down the rabbit hole of Russian kleptocrats and oligarchs and found the book Kleptopia.

" In this shocking, meticulously reported work of narrative nonfiction, an award-winning investigative journalist exposes “capitalism’s monster”—global kleptocracy—and reveals how it is corrupting the world around us.

They are everywhere, the thieves and their people. Masters of secrecy. Until now we have detected their presence only by what they leave behind. A body in a burned-out Audi. Workers riddled with bullets in the Kazakh Desert. A rigged election in Zimbabwe. A British banker silenced and humiliated for trying to expose the truth about the City of London.

They have amassed more money than most countries. But what they are really stealing is power.

In this real-life thriller packed with jaw-dropping revelations, award-winning investigative journalist Tom Burgis weaves together four stories that reveal a terrifying global web of corruption: the troublemaker from Basingstoke who stumbles on the secrets of a Swiss bank, the ex-Soviet billionaire constructing a private empire, the righteous Canadian lawyer with a mysterious client, and the Brooklyn crook protected by the CIA.

Glimpses of this shadowy world have emerged over the years. In Kleptopia, Burgis connects the dots. He follows the dirty money that is flooding the global economy, emboldening dictators, and poisoning democracies. From the Kremlin to Beijing, Harare to Riyadh, Paris to the White House, the trail shows something even more sinister: the thieves are uniting. And the human cost will be great. "

The link to purchase the book at Pages in Kensington is below.

https://pageskensington.com/?q=h.tviewer&using_sb=status&qsb=keyword&qse=YHsfyCIcKaW_u5mSgTbbRA

Another "share" before the meeting video comes via Matt Dart . He mentioned the Netflix series Narcos which was a fictionalized version of the various forces at work in the Mexican and Latin American Drug trade in citing a new documentary series called The Last Narc . It's on Amazon Prime, and the tailer is below.

It's not without a bit of controversy, a lawsuit from one of the DEA agents portrayed in the film as being complicit in the murder by the drug lords of a fellow agent. It's a quick read before you watch the trailer: https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/james-kuykendall-lawsuit-amazon-the-last-narc-1234868193/ .

Finally, for your reading pleasure just before the video and via Tom Olson :

The Americans with No Abilities Act (ANAA)

The House and Senate are considering sweeping legislation that will provide new benefits for many more Americans. The Americans with No Abilities Act is being hailed as a major legislative goal by advocates of the millions of Americans who lack any real skills and ambition.

“Roughly 50 percent of Americans do not possess the competence and drive necessary to carve out a meaningful role for themselves in society,” said congresswoman AOC. “We can no longer stand by and allow People of Inability (POI) to be ridiculed and passed over. With this legislation, employers will no longer be able to grant special favors to a small group of workers, simply because they have some idea of what they are doing.”

In a Capitol Hill press conference, Nancy Pelosi pointed to the success of the U.S. Postal Service, which has a long-standing policy of providing opportunity without regard to performance. At the state government level, the Department of Motor Vehicles also has an excellent record of hiring Persons with No Ability (63 percent).

Under the Americans with No Abilities Act, more than 25 million mid-level positions will be created, with important-sounding titles but little real responsibility, thus providing an illusory sense of purpose and performance.

Mandatory non-performance-based raises and promotions will be given to guarantee upward mobility for even the most unremarkable employees. The legislation provides substantial tax breaks to corporations that promote a significant number of Persons of Inability (POI) into middle-management positions, and give a tax credit to small and medium-sized businesses that agree to hire one clueless worker for every two talented hires.

Finally, the Americans With No Abilities Act contains tough new measures to make it more difficult to discriminate against the non-abled, banning, for example, discriminatory interview questions such as, “Do you have any skills or experience that relate to this job?”

“As a non-abled person, I can’t be expected to keep up with people who have something going for them,” said Mary Lou Gertz, who lost her position as a lug-nut twister at the GM plant in Flint, Mich., due to her inability to remember “righty tighty, lefty loosey”. “This new law should be real good for people like me. I’ll finally have job security.” With the passage of this bill, Gertz and millions of other untalented citizens will finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Said Sen. Dick Durbin, II: “As a senator with no abilities, I believe the same privileges that elected officials enjoy ought to be extended to every American with no abilities. It is our duty as lawmakers to provide each and every American citizen, regardless of his or her inadequacy, with some sort of space to take up in this great nation and a good salary for doing so.”

Early Birds, March 18th, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 18:11:51 GMT

Early Birds, March 18, 2021

Gentlemen,

Your video of the March 18th Birds meeting is available below. Regrets were sent by George Roberts and Dan Kennelly who couldn't be there due to other commitments.

First up, via Mel Gibson , word of the Immunity Passport app. It's what it sounds like, for good or ill, and is likely to be the first of a few such apps. This app, although developed in Estonia, has some powerful, credible parties and developers behind it, including international Fund Transfer Service TransferWise (recently rebranded as Wise). The FAQ answers pretty much every question you might have. To their credit, it's as transparent as can be, although you might have further questions after reading the whole page, which I'd encourage.

The link to the app's page for more information is https://www.immunitypassport.co/ .

The link to the detailed FAQ page is https://www.immunitypassport.co/faq .

Unrelated-to-COVID tip from Mel.....Bobbex for your flower and plant gardens to keep the deer and bunnies at bay. https://bobbex.com/ .

Jim Bladon gave us an important update on Stampede 2021 possibilities, which was further fleshed out by a few answers to Bird questions. That's in the video. One thing is certain though, and that's the Stampede Lotteries have evolved and are going forward for 2021. You can get more information and TICKETS at https://calgarystampedelotteries.ca/ .

There's some good history, info on the charities supported (70th anniversary of charity lotteries this year!), and an updated Stampede 50/50 lottery. You can bet the Stampede is watching the Edmonton Oilers 50/50 success (ditto the World Juniors 50/50 success) to learn more.

Two extra direct links from Jim re the lotteries:

First, the prizes page and prize carousel: https://calgarystampedelotteries.ca/prizes/

Then, the Charity/History page: https://calgarystampedelotteries.ca/charities/

Jim also shared something hot off the presses after the meeting: the ATB Economic Outlook from Todd Hirsch's team as or March 2021. It's a PDF doc, and as always, some quality, fact-based and clear-eyed assessment of the "state of the nation". You can access the document by clicking the button below.

Just above the link to the Birds video is the link to a trailer for a series that Tom Olson told us about today that looks intriguing. As he said, if you don't mind slow-moving, but smart drama, The Midnight Diner on Netflix looks really good.

And now, the March 18th meeting awaits your click. I hope you have a great day.

Early Birds, March 11, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 03:18:20 GMT

Early Birds, march 11, 2021

Gentlemen, it was another interesting "round table" this morning, with loads of extra things to check out via various Birds.

From Dave Hicks , we received an invitation to check out a series of posts from the National Post. It's called National Platformed and the premise is succintly laid out here: "Canada today needs real debate — not more political correctness and cancelled thoughts." To visit the site and sign up for the occasional email newsletter, visit this link: https://link.nationalpost.com/click/23172465.346/aHR0cDovL25wcGxhdGZvcm1lZC5uYXRpb25hbHBvc3QuY29tL3AvMQ/5b1161d291d15c39d9247de9B4435fc56 .

Dave also passed on the link to Metrovino's Wine Journal. The link to the actual journal is this: https://www.metrovino.com/wine-journal . The author's "nom de plume" is Al Drinkle.

Any Lockhart shared a little SAWS goodness with us today (Southern Alberta Woodworkers Society). They have an exercise, a contest of sorts to see what these woodchucks that would chuck wood can do with a single 2 X 4 that's 96 inches long using various techniques. After Andy told us he managed to get 5 of his full size, carved wood cowboy boots and couple of miniatures, we admonished him and told him there must be photos or video.

Happily, he obliged. See below.

As one wit said, for a lot of us, it would be close to a masterstroke to end up with two pieces of 2 X 4 that were the same length.

George Roberts was as close to apoplectic today as George gets. Think Jordan Peterson after a few whiskeys and a painkiller.

His frustration was tied to the Indigenization of Canadian universities, and he wanted to be sure to share the article that brought his feelings to a head. The headline was: " Jonathan Kay: How a single anonymous Twitter account caused an ‘Indigenized’ Canadian university to unravel ". The link to raise your blood pressure is: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/jonathan-kay-how-a-single-anonymous-twitter-account-caused-an-indigenized-canadian-university-to-unravel .

Tom Olson had a few choice words about the non-Royals-we're-supposed-to-feel-sorry-for, and it led to him sharing this fabulous little video post-meeting with the lovely title " why are u @^#%#$ following me? ".

The boundless gratitude of the female in the video may remind you of a certain someone only getting by in her new $15,000,000 home. Watch to the end.

And with that, we arrive at the recording of the meeting for March 11th, below.

Early Birds, March 4, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 16:43:43 GMT

Early Birds, March 4, 2021

Gentlemen,

The video for the March 4th meeting is below. Great to see JD from Son-Rise Plumbing able to join us.

One note from this morning's meeting include Matt Dart's overview of the Alberta Government's Capital Spending plan, which their business looks to to time bids on projects, target clients, etc. You can take a look at Kenny & Co.'s plans for your money by clicking the button below.

The other note comes via several Birds this morning - be on high alert for SCAMS. They're arriving via phone call, email, and text, and they've bilked some smart people out of significant sums of money. They target seniors in particular, but they're capable of fooling anyone. Hopefully forewarned is forearmed.

Carry on!

Early Birds, February 25, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 17:13:48 GMT

Early Birds, February 25, 2021

Gentlemen,

This is a bit of a catch-up post. I apologize for not getting the notes and video out for last week (Feb. 18th) in a timely way.

Last week (Feb. 18th) Jim Bladon mentioned a small business program called CUSBRF (Canadian United Small Business Relief Fund) being managed and administered via the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. I pronounce the acronym roughly as cuss-barf. They need new marketing people, or need to avoid acronyms.

In any case, the gist of it is this: "The Canada United Small Business Relief Fund is providing Canadian businesses across different sectors and industries with grants of up to $5,000 to offset the cost of expenses businesses have incurred due to COVID-19. These costs include the purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE), adjustments to office space, and development of web/e-commerce capability."

Early Bird Ian Campbell applied and received the grant this past week for his business.

The link to the program page for eligibility information is https://www.grantthornton.ca/insights/coronavirus-covid-19/small-businesses-can-claim-$5000-cusbrf-covid-19-relief-grant/?_cldee=amJsYWRvbkBhdGIuY29t&recipientid=contact-55e853366779e311bb226c3be5a3be6f-dbbe756078eb4595917ebe065e0f7ae6&utm_source=ClickDimensions&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ABS%20-%20COVID-19&esid=5d244bcb-5371-eb11-aa1a-0017a47700a0 .

Jim also passed on the link to the PDF "Toward a Fiscally Sustainable Alberta" prepared by the Business Council of Alberta. No surprise that the council wants the province to address the revenue side of the ledger, but it makes for interesting reading.

That link is https://www.businesscouncilab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/BCA_Policy-Paper_Towards-A-Fiscally-Sustainable-Alberta-FINAL-1.pdf

To that end, via Todd Hirsh's Twitter feed comes this graphic which was originally provided via Trevor Tombe, an Associate Professor in the Economics Department at the University of Calgary. It explains in short strokes the Provincial Government's problem by comparing their situation to a family budget.

Trevor Tombe's Twitter feed is a bit of a rabbit hole, and among the nuggets I found there, more than a few Birds might be interested in this:

"Canada’s equalization program is one of the most important federal transfers — and one of the most misunderstood. To help, I'm *very* excited to share a new tool from @FONCanada: an equalization simulator. You can see the tool and see if any biases we might hold stand up. The link to try the tool is https://financesofthenation.ca/2021/02/23/new-equalization-tool/ .

Via Dan Kennelly comes The Nemeth Report - another potential rabbit hole - but this time related to the way that a progressive Green movement is working successfully to transform various economies around the world, starting with, but not limited to Alberta's. You can download a copy of the report using the button below.

This week's video is just below that.

Early Birds, February 18, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 17:16:24 GMT

Early Birds, February 18, 2021

Belatedly, and with apologies, here's the video of the February 18th, 2021 meeting.

Early Birds, February 11, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 18:42:33 GMT

Early Birds, February 11, 2021

Gentlemen,

The video for the February 11, 2021 meeting is below. As Mel Gibson said, if we were at Inglewood and it was -31 out, we might have got 5 or 6 people there instead of 14. Haha.

Enjoy.

Early Birds, February 4, 2021

paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 01:28:32 GMT

Early Birds, February 4, 2021

Early Birds, January 28, 2021

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 17:14:28 GMT

Early Birds, January 28, 2021

Gentlemen,

Welcome to the Birds, January 28, 2021, meeting. The video's at the bottom of this post, as usual after a few Birds contributions.

Quick notes: George Roberts and Dave Hicks had given a heads up they wouldn't be able to attend and sent their regrets about missing the group this week.

On to those contributions from Birds, some direct, and this one, indirectly via Jim Bladon . Jim has recommended Birds sign up for the ATB Owl Newsletter. Today's post was another good example as to the quality of the business and life-related information that the newsletter shares daily. You can find the January 28th "Owl" clicking on these words .

If nothing else, you'll be able to complete this sentence: " According to Fortune Magazine, the largest company in the world in 2020 as measured by annual revenue is... ".

It's NOT Apple or Exxon.

From Dan Kennelly - and especially for Dave Hicks , a funny Geico commercial that illustrates some problems in a homeowner's "pipes."

From Don Doolan - another "watch" recommendation, the "Tiger" series on HBO, available via Crave in Canada.

Via Mel Gibson - word that Trans-Canada Highway work between Golden through Kicking Horse Pass will begin on a 6 week-on, 6 week-off sort of schedule.

From the info.news.ca site, the details were:

" Work on Phase 4 of the Kicking Horse Canyon construction project will require a month-long closure of Highway 1 just east of Golden this spring.

The closure will run from April 12 to May 14 and traffic on Highway 1 from Golden to Castle Junction will be rerouted via highways 93 and 95, which will add up to 1.5 extra hours of travel time. (Ed. note: More like 3 hours)

The construction zone will be opened briefly to local and commuter traffic twice daily, escorted by a pilot vehicle during one half-hour period beginning at 7 a.m. and one half-hour period beginning at 4:30 p.m. Similar escorts will be provided for school buses so students will have uninterrupted access to school. Emergency vehicles in response mode will be provided escorted passage on short notice. "

Mel recommended the Regional District of East Kootenay site as one good place for current road information. Their information is here: https://www.rdek.bc.ca/ .

Tom Olson also recommended calling Kootenay National Park: https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/bc/kootenay .

Dwayne Vinck passed along his thanks to Sean Baylis for the opportunity last week to participate in the event featuring RBC's Jim Allworth. Dwayne's key takeaway was the refreshing change in tone that Jim provided: "optimism", to sum it up in one word.

Sean has graciously offered up the link and password to see the one-hour presentation if you'd been unable to make it.

Jim Allworth Global Insight Replay

The password to access the presentation is : 2rRp579t

Last thing before the recording, Tom Olson re-recommended Andy Lockhart's recommendation of a funny BBC show called Still Game. As Andy mentioned, you might want to have the subtitles on. The brrrrrrogue is fairly thick, as you can hear yourself in this trailer for the current season of the series.

Finally, the video of the meeting. We're thinking of buying George Doherty a desk lamp so he doesn't appear to be speaking from another dimension. �� That being said, it's been terrific to see George these past two weeks, and this week he discusses some of the issues facing property owners at Sylvan Lake that might have a negative effect on property values.

Early Birds, January 21, 2021

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 16:13:04 GMT

Early Birds, January 21, 2021

Gentlemen,

A lot of good stuff was shared in the email I sent directing you here, but as always, there are invaluable words and wisdom during the video meeting of the assembled Birds below.

However, as promised, here are the two excellent 60's-era Calgary Brewery ads via Ross that show what happens when a brewery can't actually discuss what they *actually* brew, and come up with their own ginger ale ads instead.

Everything else is in the video. Enjoy!

Early Birds, January 14, 2021

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 15:46:57 GMT

Early Birds, January 14, 2021

Gentlemen,

Here's the recording for the Birds meeting for January 14th, 2021.

Have a terrific weekend.

Early Birds, January 7, 2021

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 16:43:09 GMT

Early Birds, January 7, 2021

Gentlemen,

To paraphrase the Who: welcome to 2021, same as 2020. For now.

From holiday reflections to looking ahead in business, it's all in the video below. Enjoy.

Virtual Birds, New Year's Eve, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 16:05:13 GMT

Virtual Birds, New Year's Eve, 2020

Gentlemen,

Welcome to the final Birds meeting of the year, fittingly, on the last day of 2020.

The sentiment of gratitude is expressed eloquently by Ross Mikkelsen in the video, but thank you to everyone who's made the effort when they could to join us virtually. It has made a world of difference to all of us.

Once again, your standing invitation to join is via this link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89000880587?pwd=c2VlcTZMRDRyU3JrUTlGNE5tcXJlUT09

Meeting ID: 890 0088 0587

Passcode: 741081

Our first meeting of 2021, will be next Thursday, January 7th,

Here are a few quick highlights from the meeting:

From Don Doolan - a recommendation to enjoy the takeout meal for two from the Hyatt. About $60 per person, but easily enough food for two meals, and he was literally taken aback at the quality, and how well prepared it was.

Along similar lines, Brad Pachal recommended the Curbside Pickup option from the Cattle Baron.

Year-end book recommendations:

Don Doolan : Burke's Law: A Life in Hockey by Brian Burke. This link is to pick up the book from Pages in Kensington (please try to support your local bookstore - many of them now have excellent online ordering systems). Obviously, you can get it from any of the usual online suspects as well. https://www.pageskensington.com/?q=h.tviewer&using_sb=status&qsb=keyword&qse=rC8Hn_GwKfQXgYuDMWTa8g .

Two from Andy Lockhart : Facts Don't Care About Your Feelings by Ben Shapiro. I couldn't find this at any of the Canadian bookstores I searched, including Indigo, so here's the link to the Canadian Amazon site: https://www.amazon.ca/Facts-Dont-Care-about-Feelings/dp/1949673162/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Ben+Shapiro&qid=1609428879&sr=8-3 .

And

Economic Facts and Fallacies by Thomas Sowell, https://www.pageskensington.com/?q=h.tviewer&using_sb=status&qsb=keyword&qse=dRd52YVrme8sFQyixdw_FA .

Finally, via Paul Boucher , Calling Bullshit by Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West: https://www.pageskensington.com/?q=h.tviewer&using_sb=status&qsb=keyword&qse=dRd52YVrme8sFQyixdw_FA .

Finally, a lovely share from Tom Olson : https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/travel/this-jaw-dropping-frozen-lake-in-bc-has-the-longest-skating-pathway-in-the-world-1941870?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=VIA_facebook&fbclid=IwAR0Jg7jPCjdEfFBcXQMSxXZeEnPTRu1m2bhVcOA-NEdzYa55UySYTL2cYJo

Happy New Year and a hearty wish for all the best in 2021! The video is below.

Virtual Birds, Christmas Eve, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 24 Dec 2020 15:55:12 GMT

Virtual Birds, Christmas Eve, 2020

Gentlemen,

Best of the season - whichever holiday you're celebrating, and certainly Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas Eve meeting video is below.

Remember, Birds are welcome to join in on our next Holiday meeting, next Thursday, Dec 31st (another breakfast Bailey's opportunity - not that COVID hasn't provided plenty of those).

Virtual Birds, December 17, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 16:24:36 GMT

Virtual Early Birds, December 17, 2020

Gentlemen,

No extra notes to add today except to recommend Rex Murphy, and to take care of yourself and your loved ones as you enjoy the holiday season as much as you can.

The video for the meeting December 17th, is below. Enjoy catching up.

We WILL be meeting next Thursday, Christmas Eve, because as many Birds said: "Why not?" These virtual Birds meetings have been a highlight of the week for many of us during the pandemic, so we've opted to continue during the holidays, including New year's Eve as well. Please bring Bailey's to the next two meetings. ��

Virtual Birds, December 10, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 17:26:57 GMT

Virtual Birds, December 10, 2020

Hi gents,

Today's video is a bit of a Frankenstein monster. My internet connection "imploded" for the first time ever, and so I caught about 33 minutes of the meeting, before Zoom automatically detected Dwayne Vinck's account, made him the host while I disappeared into the ether, and he was able to start recording.

When I logged back in, the Zoom meeting resumed as if nothing had happened on my end, and I began recording again. Pretty impressive of Zoom to hardly miss a beat.

In the end, I had to assemble the three pieces of today's meeting, so the video has two short "transitions" at about 33-34 minutes and again at about 36-38 minutes where there appears to be a quick fade and jump to the speaker continuing. I figure there might be about 15-30 seconds missing from each speaker (George, then Jim).

Other than that, business as usual with the notable exception of the conversation about dues for 2021. Dwayne won't be sending out invoices. That conversation is in near the start.

Also discussed and resolved today: one of the reasons the Birds had always taken a holiday break was because Inglewood shut down over the holidays. Since we're in virtual mode, we'll continue to meet through the holidays for anyone so inclined. The Zoom-room will be open on Christmas and New Year's Eve s at 7:15.

Dr. Tom Olson contributed a couple of post-meeting nuggets today. One was this article that led at the top with this quote:

"“Every Store And School Should Be Open.” Confronting The Pandemic With Confidence".

"Before Covid-19, there was 9-11. And the morning after the world changed on September 11, 2001, David Redman, Director of Community Programs for Emergency Management Alberta, found himself in Edmonton...". To read the rest, follow this link: https://c2cjournal.ca/2020/12/every-store-and-school-should-be-open-confronting-the-pandemic-with-confidence/

Before I move to the second bit, Tom wanted to thank and acknowledge Mel for the generous plug for his book "Don't Die With Your Helmet On." As he said in an email asking me to ensure Mel was acknowledged, he added: "...his comments may give me the inspiration I need to continue rewriting the tome."

The other bit that Dr. Tom shared was an old trailer about old friends/old enemies:

From Dan Kennelly , this gem:

And, our recording of the meeting is below.

Virtual Birds, December 3, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 16:19:59 GMT

Virtual Birds, December 3, 2020

Good day gentlemen,

The video of today's Zoom meeting is at the bottom of this post. As many Birds have said, and as Dr. Tom Olson reinforced this morning, it's a good reason to be up this early Thursday mornings. There's more than one laugh, and good shares this week.

Jordan Peterson came up a few times today, first via Ian Campbell , then seconded by several who'd either read Peterson's book The Twelve Rules For Life or watched him speak. Dave Hicks mentioned that since the book can be dense in spots that he personally found it easier to digest in Audiobook form.

So, first, Dr. Tom's quick summary of the book is available in a Word document. That might help you determine whether or not to spring for the book, or the audiobook. The summary document is available via the "Download Dr. Tom's Doc" button below.

The link to the audio book if you're so inclined is here: https://www.amazon.ca/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/B0797XNVYZ

Last note from Dr. Tom was regarding a Calgary company with a solution to possibly allow universities and primary and secondary institutions to open safely. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/12/02/2138364/0/en/FluroTech-Announces-Product-Solution-to-Safely-Open-Universities-Colleges-as-Well-as-Primary-and-Secondary-Schools.html#.X8gmU8STOyY.linkedin

Sean Baylis who couldn't make it this week shared a link to the RBC seminar recorded last week on Succession Strategies for Business Owners . The meeting link i s password protected. When you click on the link, enter this as the password: NiNrTcP4

https://rbcteams.webex.com/rbcteams/lsr.php?RCID=435676dd3bdf47ebbafff54541edefb9

Mel Gibson, who also had another commitment this morning shared this Insurance related link via email about the UCP's attempt to bring No Fault auto insurance to Alberta. The link to the Herald story is: https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/corbella-tell-ucp-government-no-way-to-no-fault-auto-insurance

Below, Andy Lockhart shared this "best quote of recent times":

Last thing before the video, via Dan Kennelly : "If any of the Birds are thinking of getting family together for Christmas, h ere ' s a simple invitation to get around some of the restrictions on gatherings.

Virtual Birds, November 26, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 18:44:50 GMT

Virtual Birds, November 26, 2020

Gentlemen,

This week's highlights include bringing attention to the word "feckless" courtesy of the Globe and Mail but via our resident wordsmith, George Roberts . The Globe was applying it to our premier, but consensus seemed to favour applying it to our health minister.

Definition : feck·less /ˈfekləs/ - lacking initiative or strength of character; irresponsible. Example: "a feckless mama's boy"

Yep. That's our health minister.

There was a bit of book talk in the meeting and George mentioned that one of his favourite recent discoveries is the Libby app - which lets you borrow books from the public library. It's made by Overdrive - the same people who initially developed the app. It's free and available for your iPhone or Android device here: https://www.overdrive.com/apps/libby/

On books, Dave Hicks brought up "The Upside Of Stress" by Kelly McGonigal. You might be able to use the Libby app to get it at the library, but you can also shop local and pick it up Via Pages Books in Kensington (Shelf Life Books, another good local bookstore, didn't seem to have it available) with this link: https://www.pageskensington.com/?q=h.tviewer&using_sb=status&qsb=keyword&qse=WLhu9GQ-hlNpmtiZmwpwdA

Dave also mentioned that the author had also done a TED talk on the subject, which he mentioned was definitely worth a look, and might lead you to a decision on whether or not to do the deep dive into the book. You can view the Ted Talk here: https://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend/discussion

Dr. Tom Olson brought the contrarian's perspective to the table regarding COVID. He's certainly not alone in questioning the logic in some of what's going on regarding restrictions, the pandemic and others. His suggestion to look up alternative perspectives grounded in verifiable fact helps to add some grey, and a few other colours back into a black and white world.

This week, Tom recommended a short, interesting series of 3 "pamphlets" collated into book form as "Unreported Truths about COVID-19 and Lockdowns". To Tom's point about quality alternative perspectives:

" Former New York Times reporter and prominent lockdown critic Alex Berenson provides a counterweight to media hysteria about coronavirus in this series of short booklets answering crucial questions about COVID. Drawing on primary sources from all over the world - including state and national-level government data, Centers for Disease Control reports, and papers in prominent scientific journals - Unreported Truths about COVID-19 and Lockdowns offers clear, concise, and measured answers to some of the most important questions around the coronavirus..."

You can find the 1st one here: https://www.amazon.ca/Unreported-Truths-about-COVID-19-Lockdowns/dp/1953039014

Quick story from Dr. Tom - especially of note for Ian - or for that matter, anyone wearing a hearing aid:

The final cut: A longtime surgeon finally hangs up his scalpel at 85

Dr. Michael Ross, Vascular surgeon reflects on his career and speaks of a hearing impairment suffered by a WW 1 vet.

“When Ross looked in the man’s left ear, the senior advised him not to bother, saying: “I lost my hearing there in 1918 when a shell killed my two buddies and I was left unconscious. I have a pension for hearing loss.”

Ross took a look anyway. Deep inside, he discovered pieces of cotton batten that had been blasted against the ear drum. “I took them out and the man covered his ear and said: ‘Stop yelling!

After his ear drum had been protected by the cotton for 50 years, the man suddenly had acute hearing. “He left with a hand over his ear saying he wasn’t going to tell the army,” said Ross.”

The Times Colonist

NOVEMBER 22, 2020

Final note before the video, Paul Boucher mentioned he'd attended a virtual event via the Calgary Chamber of Commerce on "Doing Business with the Government of Canada: Supplier Registration and Finding Opportunities". As someone who's provided bilingual narration to a variety of Government Departments including Parks Canada (for a GPS navigation guide to Kootenay National Park among other things), this seemed like a logical extension to prospective customer/pipeline building, albeit a VERY time-consuming one. If you feel there could be applications for your business, then visit https://buyandsell.gc.ca/ to get started.As with most GOC web sites this is definitely on the list of "rabbit holes of all rabbit holes".

And now, the video. Enjoy.

VirtualBirds, November 19, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 16:13:34 GMT

Virtual Birds, November 19, 2020

Good day Birds. Welcome to video for the Birds meeting November 19th.

Notes before the video:

Dan Kennelly added to Dr. Tom's news of a new COVID test called COVID Lamp. Lamp is an acronym and the testing is apparently more reliable and much faster than the current PCR tests being used by health authorities country-and-worldwide. Details in this article here: https://www.technologynetworks.com/diagnostics/blog/lamp-based-testing-for-covid-19-340508

Here's an article on the unnecessary obstacles to mass COVID testing from The Lancet in the UK. Their take is essentially a note sounded by the Birds early in the meeting that since politicians never admit they're wrong, they're reluctant to change the approach they committed to early in the pandemic to testing, etc. This could lead you down a rabbit hole with related links in the article, but the piece itself is short: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32170-X/fulltext .

Speaking of rabbit holes, the last thing Dan mentioned in the meeting today was a site called HowMuch.net. Dan specifically mentioned it in the context of discussing the most valuable export by country. To no one's surprise, Petroleum was the biggest single category, but its genuinely fascinating to see the world mapped out this way: https://howmuch.net/articles/top-export-in-every-country . Canada's biggest export is petroleum. Collectively, I'm sure we're wondering if the braintrust behind "Build Back Better" is aware of that. If you'd like to see the other categories, just shorten the link to https://howmuch.net/ . Grab a coffee before you do. You'll be there a while.

Dwayne Vinck shared a nice follow up to Proton Technologies CEO Grant Strem's visit to the virtual table two weeks ago with a Herald article about how Alberta Tech firms are testing their tech in Saskatchewan. https://calgaryherald.com/sponsored/business-sponsored/innovative-calgary-companies-test-their-energy-technologies-in-saskatchewan . The hydrogen economy will be a "thing". Here's hoping after all the hard work that Grant gets to take part in it.

And now, below, the video. Enjoy. See you next week via the Zoom link below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89000880587?pwd=c2VlcTZMRDRyU3JrUTlGNE5tcXJlUT09

Meeting ID: 890 0088 0587

Passcode: 741081

Virtual Early Birds, November 12, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 16:49:41 GMT

Virtual Early Birds, November 12, 2020

Gentlemen,

Like last week, the video is playable below.

Before that, a few things that Birds relayed during the week and during the meeting:

Related to last weeks guest, Proton Technologies CEO Grant Strem and the subject of hydrogen and the "hydrogen economy", an article from the New York Times via George Roberts: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/business/hydrogen-fuel-california.html?referringSource=articleShare

Dave Hicks happened to be driving through Forest Lawn and noted Atco Village as he passed it. On Remembrance Day, it seemed an apt bit of serendipity.

From the Atco web site: "In November 2019 we leveraged our expertise in modular housing to build ATCO Village, a community of 15 tiny homes in Calgary for veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces."

There's a moving video on their web page and many photos of the homes for veterans. You can see it here: https://www.atco.com/en-ca/projects/homes-for-heroes.html .

Tips flowed from Dr. Tom Olson today like other stuff flows from John Horgan's mouth, and they were good.

1) Tom is reader of The Epoch Times, a balanced news source that is less "opinion-based" (quotes mine) than a lot of other sources. Note that when you land on the site the first time it will ask you to pick your edition (US or Canada). However, you can switch back and forth any time you like. The link is https://www.theepochtimes.com/ .

2) A Calgary company (and penny stock) that made its name in Cannabis testing called FluroTech is working on rapid-test-result technology for COVID. It's in early stages and is mentioned specifically in an updated press release at this link: https://flurotech.com/update-to-previously-announced-sars-cov-2-test-development-initiative-with-albany-medical-college-for-the-presence-of-sars-cov-2-virus/ . Their home page is https://flurotech.com/ for more information on the company itself.

3) Finally, Tom is a subscriber to a couple of UK TV services, one called BritBox. He's a particular fan of a show called Our Girl which is summarized beautifully on this page: https://www.britbox.com/ca/show/Our_Girl_p0260ych . You can find out more about the service in general, including prices, etc. here: https://www.britbox.com/ca/ . You may also be able to access some of these shows via the CBC GEM service.

From Ross Mikkelsen , a reiteration that the podcast No Compromise, featuring a couple of guys who think the NRA are a bunch of lightweights is "something else" and worth a listen. Ditto for an unexpected new one he discovered called "Bunga Bunga" which documents the rise and fall of Silvio Berlusconi. Surprisingly compelling and available at: https://wondery.com/shows/bunga-bunga/ .

And now....the video. Enjoy.

Virtual Birds, November 5th, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 16:59:52 GMT

Virtual Birds, November 5th, 2020 - Special Guest, Grant Strem, CEO of Proton Energy

Dwayne Vinck invited Proton Energy CEO Grant Strem to speak to the group about their patented Hydrogen technology. The implications of the technology are mind-boggling as you'll hear and see.

You won't actually need it, but if you've had an abiding interest in chemistry your whole life, the concepts are useful.

On the other hand, at the end of the day, this is a business, and some of the business hoops Grant has had to jump through, and some he's aiming for are complex. Interesting and developing story.

There are some great Bird questions on the viability of the business, about the existential threat it poses to the natural gas business in AB, and a few on some technical possibilities and hurdles to overcome as the technology evolves to a larger scale.

Enjoy.

Status of Inglewood Golf & Curling Club, October 30, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Sat, 31 Oct 2020 01:48:37 GMT

Inglewood GOlf & Curling Club Still Closed For Birds

Gents,

Mike Mikkelson had written to ask where Inglewood stood at the moment as far as hosting the Birds. I imagined this was of general interest, so I followed up my initial reply to Mike by double-checking with Dan Kennelly and Dwayne Vinck .

The answer has two parts:

1) From Dan , who confirmed what I'd told Mike (beginning with the fact that the club isn't opening before 11):

"It wouldn’t make sense for the clubhouse to hire staff to come in early for us.

Also, we would not be able to sit in the same table configuration.

Recent Notice from Alberta Government

New measures for Calgary and Edmonton Zone

Mandatory 15 person limit on social and family gatherings in the cities of Calgary and Edmonton.

New measures for Calgary and Edmonton Zone

Limit cohorts to no more than 3: your core household, your school and one other sport or social cohort. Young children in child care can be part of 4 cohorts. This is a voluntary public health measure to stop the rapid rise of COVID-19 in the City of Calgary and the Edmonton Zone.

A COVID-19 cohort – also known as bubbles, circles, or safe squads – is a small group of the same people who can interact regularly without staying 2 metres apart.

A person in a cohort should avoid close contact with people outside of the cohort. Keeping the same people together, instead of mixing and mingling:

helps reduce the chances of getting sick

makes it easier to track exposure if someone does get sick

You should only belong to one core cohort. It is safest limit the number of other cohorts you belong to reduce the risk of getting sick or spreading COVID-19.

Personally, I wouldn’t be comfortable getting together until this thing has more control. (I second this concern.)

We are all in various contact groups and it wouldn’t be advisable to get together at this time."

2) Dwayne followed up with his contact at Inglewood, Ewelina Kozak, Food & beverage Manager and Executive Chef. She was succinct in repeating the same message, but interestingly, was at least curious as to what we'd been doing for the past 6 months. Perhaps they DO care. ��

"Hi Dwayne, at this time we still are not able to offer a meeting space and breakfast for your group. We are also not able to taking bookings over 15 people as per the mandatory restriction.

Crazy covid times are still in effect unfortunately.

What has your group been doing for meeting over the last 6 months?"

So, for others who had been wondering, that's the current status.

As of this moment, due to ongoing restrictions and uncertainty, there's been only token exploration of alternatives because they'd likely be shut down before we'd met more than once or twice.

The near-term future is still meeting via Zoom, which I'm happy to continue facilitating Thursday mornings at our usual time of 7:30 - with the meeting room online early at 7:15 so we can chat before getting down to business.

Thanks to Mike for the question. Thanks to Dan and Dwayne for answers.

Finally, the Zoom link to join us Thursday mornings is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87675585707?pwd=Unl4cHkzczNEb01HUnR1b3Rqc0xoQT09

Meeting ID: 876 7558 5707

Passcode: 473868

Virtual Birds, October 29, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 18:37:44 GMT

Virtual Birds, October 29, 2020

You can scroll down to the video directly below if you like - but a couple of notes from this morning's meeting before that.

Dan Kennelly talked about the story that's popped up about a Nissan Leaf owner in BC that points to a real issue for the used- electric-vehicle market and future: battery replacement after issues. You can see the story here: https://driving.ca/nissan/auto-news/news/b-c-leaf-owners-plight-highlights-difficulty-in-replacing-ev-batteries

Tom Olson had to pick up a new pair of glasses with graduated lenses after leaving his behind in Invermere and share the tip that instead of the usual $600-$700 he ordered through Zenni and paid $100. For non-graduated lenses, he's heard of people picking them up for as little as $39. Their site is here: https://ca.zennioptical.com/

Tom also had a great article to share as a result of the question uppermost on his mind most days in relation to all things COVID: Why? Definitely worth a read: https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/november-2020/welcome-to-covidworld/

Andy Lockhart mentioned a terrific book for anyone who likes to look for facts to support the case for and against some of the dominant arguments in society - especially some of the nonsense (sorry - that's my inside voice) being peddled by the "Woke folk".

Written by Wilfred Reilly, and African-American prof at Kentucky State University Taboo: 10 Facts (You Can't Talk About) is available everywhere, including Pages Books in Kensington: https://www.pageskensington.com/?q=h.tviewer&using_sb=status&qsb=keyword&qse=p5_EarT6dOMigWeQQgmFMg

Matt Dart mentioned a new possibility for client entertainment after a meeting: Screen Golf. Definitely worth a look: http://screengolf.ca/ . Matt's headed for eye surgery soon - good luck with that!

Michael McLennan made a post summer, pre-hunting season appearance and among other things mentioned a partnership with an Eastern company called CAD Micro to enlarge their footprint into the 3D Printing world. When you visit the TRS Officeware site, there's a pop-up that takes you to more information. If you haven't dropped in on Michael's business in a while, it's always worth a visit: https://www.trsofficeware.ca/

The video will tell the tale of who provided this tip - I believe it was Jim Bladon - there’s a new brewery whose beers are terrific, called Bitters Sisters. As good as the beer was, the menu is a standout as well since the executive Chef in charge of the SAIT cooking program is in charge. Jim also said it's worth asking your server the story behind the name. They're at 510 Heritage Dr SW, and on the web at: https://bittersisters.co/

On the drinkables side of things, Don Doolan also had a tip. A new store called Wine and Beyond at Sage Hill in the northwest part of the city is something else! I can heartily second that. As soon as I saw the store on the web site, I realized I'd been in there to get a hard-to-find wine at 2/3 the price I'd seen it for at Liquor Depot. You can get location and hours, etc. from https://www.wineandbeyond.ca/

Last note before the video, podcastaholic, Ross Mikkelsen had two new things for us to explore. One was the Sam Harris podcast Making Sense - and in particular this episode: A PANDEMIC OF INCOMPETENCE

A Conversation with Nicholas Christakis. You can listen to this episode and listen to the podcast using this link: https://samharris.org/podcasts/222-pandemic-incompetence/

His second tip came is a podcast called No Compromise. Ross's comments about how these guys feel the NRA is weak were pretty funny. It's from the peerless podcast producers at NPR. Here's the brief description:

"Discover a social media empire with an unapologetic vision of gun rights—generating millions of likes, follows, and dollars. From Guns & America, reporters Lisa Hagen of WABE and Chris Haxel of KCUR expose how three brothers from the most uncompromising corner of the gun debate are turning hot-button issues into donations and controversy."

You can get to the podcast here: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510356/no-compromise

And now....the video.

Virtual Early Birds, October 22, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 03:31:02 GMT

A Few Birds Off Healing...but...as usual no problem filling up an hour.

Good day Gentlemen,

Welcome to the new Birds site and the "minutes", such as they are for the Birds meeting October 22, 2020.

First, we wish Birds George Doherty and Dan Kennelly the best. Dan recovering from the latest in a series of ongoing treatments, and George from his surgery last week. All signs point to everyone going in the right direction.

The video for the Birds meeting is accessible below a few notes from a few Birds.

From Ross Mikkelsen, a book pick endorsed by Andy (who finished in a week): Moneyland: The Inside Story Of The Crooks And Kleptocrats Who Rule The World

Also from Ross, who's on a bit of a bender with things Russia-related at the moment, a Netflix series called Trotsky. There's is not a single ray of light to be found in this . Think Russian literature brought to life onscreeen.

Trailer below.

From Sean Baylis: A downloadable invitation to join RBC and your closest friends next Wednesday for some insights on Business Succession Planning .

Finally, here's the video with this week's conversation among your Virtual feathered friends. If you'd like to see the video full screen, hit the tiny "full screen" icon in the bottom right corner of the video controls once you've hit the "Play" button. The Full Screen icon looks like a square bracket set (just in case you didn't know).

New Paragraph

Virtual Birds, October 15th, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 22:56:18 GMT

Virtual Birds, October 15, 2020

Gentlemen, this the video from October 15th that I'd neglected to share.

I'm happy to make it available here. Enjoy.

Virtual Birds, October 8, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 23:07:00 GMT

Virtual Birds, October 8, 2020

Virtual Birds, October 1, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 23:03:29 GMT

Virtual Birds, October 1, 2020

Virtual Birds, September 24, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 22:59:41 GMT

Virtual Birds, September 24, 2020

Virtual Birds, September 17, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 22:56:11 GMT

Virtual Birds, September 17, 2020

Virtual Birds, September 10, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 22:52:25 GMT

Virtual Birds, September 10, 2020

Virtual Birds, August 27, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 22:47:48 GMT

Virtual Birds, August 27, 2020

Virtual Birds, August 20, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 22:43:38 GMT

Virtual Birds, August 20, 2020

Virtual Birds, August 13, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 00:46:42 GMT

Virtual Birds, August 13, 2020

Virtual Birds, August 6, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 07 Aug 2020 00:42:09 GMT

Virtual Birds, August 6, 2020

Virtual Birds, July 30, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 00:35:31 GMT

Virtual Birds, July 30, 2020

Virtual Birds, July 23, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 00:31:26 GMT

Virtual July 23, 2020

Virtual Birds, July 16, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 00:27:04 GMT

Virtual Birds, July 16, 2020

Virtual Birds, July 9, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 00:22:33 GMT

Virtual Birds, July 9, 2020

Virtual Birds, July 2, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 00:16:05 GMT

Virtual Birds, July 2, 2020

Virtual Birds, June 25, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 00:10:00 GMT

Virtual Birds, June 25, 2020

Virtual Birds, June 18, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 00:04:37 GMT

Virtual Birds, June 18, 2020

Virtual Birds, June 4, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 23:58:38 GMT

Virtual Birds, June 4, 2020

Virtual Birds, May 21, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 21 May 2020 23:34:36 GMT

Virtual Birds, May 21, 2020

Virtual Birds, May 7, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 07 May 2020 23:49:08 GMT

Virtual Birds, May 7, 2020

Virtual Birds, April 30, 2020

Paul@paulboucher.com (Paul Boucher) — Thu, 30 Apr 2020 23:51:54 GMT

Virtual Birds, April 30, 2020

April 23rd: Avian things.

Mon, 27 Apr 2020 20:33:00 GMT

Brett Bain: Navigating new rules for Federal subsidy programs is wearing. But on the positive side, he’s been able to avoid laying off his staff.

Sean Baylis: I solated, he is in Canmore. Fortunately, cycling opportunities abound between there and Banff – great head space for strategizing about the markets. Negative oil prices mean grim things for now. But next year should see mid 30 prices and the year after, mid 40s. Some signposts already look positive. Vermillion Energy was up 13%.

•• For more, talk to Sean.

Jim Bladon: Everything has changed but life goes on: Jim and Kim celebrated their 25th Wedding Anniversary by ordering In from their favourite restaurant.

•• Financial Services are an interesting space to be in right now. Every time you turn around, there’s another program: Relief for Students • Help for the Hospitality Industry • Aid for Agriculture. It’s all new and somewhat confusing but ATB is figuring it all out.

•• Though how farmers will practice social distancing during seeding is a mystery.

Paul Boucher: Paul performed as host.

Ian Campbell:

Matt Dart:

Todd Dean: Checked out the Priddis Greens flowers website and called Kerry (Andy’s Daughter in law): she will soon be delivering flowers and potting Todd’s flower pots. One call and his garden beautification for 2020 is taken care of. You too can get quality floral products and horticultural expertise and assistance at www.tlcgardens.ca (when you do an order, use the promo code ht4c8v , and you will be able to pick up the plants at Priddis Greens when they’re ready.)

George Doherty: Sylvan Lake is cutting its nose off in spite of its face: they’re telling cottage owners not to come to the lake, which has George wondering if that means they also don’t want him to pay his local taxes . Tit for tat, eh!

•• Lynx Ridge is looking at opening soon, for members only.

•• Expect drugstores to limit prescriptions to one month batches … and don’t call this a money grab. It’s the only way they’re going to meet the demand, given current supply issues.

Don Doolan: .Efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19 seem ineffective in meat packing plants. And now Montana is talking about opening up businesses of many kinds. Just …. be brave.

Tony Fisher: Despite all the doom and gloom, Tony's business is alive. Hot tub owners still need water treatment products and online table tennis is growing. But it is difficult - He’s had to lay off staff and government programs don’t really seem to fit. It’s stressful for everyone.

Gord Forsyth:

Mel Gibson: These “COVID Times” are begging all kinds of questions: Can companies claim insurance for business interruption? Will Cargill be on the hook for its workforce with covid-19 issues? Or will the WCB step up? Or will insurance cover (some of) the costs?

•• Meanwhile, residential break-ins are way down. Car insurance costs are being reduced. But before you breathe a sigh of relief, there’s a cube van on our streets that’s knocking over neighbourhood post office boxes.

Henry Heuver:

David Hicks:

Dan Kennelly: Recently discharged from the Rockyview (after his operation), Dan had praise for the AHS system. The staff was very nice, amazing actually. With no visitors allowed, they are able to get more work done (than with visitors under foot).

• Dan’s father recently passed away and this isolation thing has been hard on everyone in the family, especially his Mom. The family can’t get together until who knows when.

Andy Lockhart: There’s a little good and a little bad in everything: the snow is gone from the yard … and all the work that needs to be done is now uncovered.

JD MacDonald:

Michael McLennan: While walking his off-leash dog on convenient acreage, he cogitated about laying off staff and dealing with landlords looking for regular rent payments.

Ross Mikkelsen: Ross suggests we invite (ex Bird) Jeff Bradshaw to one of our Zoom meets. Jeff is interviewing business folks about the current and ongoing crisis. He’s indeed getting it from ‘the horse’s mouth’.

•• Head shaking in amazement, Ross described how a Moncton Government operated “marine toxicity lab” is handling the crisis: they sent everyone home BUT First, they instructed staff to kill everything in the lab. All 6,000 fish, frogs, anemones etc.!!! It makes him shudder to speculate about the future of the Vancouver Aquarium.

Mike Mikkelson:

Brad Pachal:

Gerry Parcells:

Dwayne Vinck:

Bob Wiggins:

George Roberts:

Associates

Gregg Callander:

Alumni

Ken Eades:

Bill Hoogstratten:

Tom Olson: He’s writing a book about how institution’s have failed us. This current crisis will provide some good material.

•• Some people are ‘sharing’ dinner via the internet while enjoying Hello Fresh: they order and prepare the same meal and then, dine together over FaceTime or similar.

•• Tom bemoans the absence of critical thinking skills as he watches people ‘not’ social distance.

Bruce Roblin:

Chris Wright:

April 16th: Boomers to Zoomers!

Sun, 19 Apr 2020 18:33:00 GMT

It’s interesting. Other than some black humour jokes about it, we’re not much into talking about being isolated. We’re more into keeping up with one another or events arounds us. National Take Out Day was Wednesday, April 15th. Not to worry, though: Take-Out Day is now every Wednesday. Jim Bladon suggests CanadaTakeOut.com and he encourages us to use it.

Brett Bain and Vick i: are enjoying spring and the outdoors, on their acreage. The snow is more or less gone. There are geese on the pond. Bald eagles in the sky. It’s downright idyllic but for the shooting! Not to worry, it’s just Vicki getting rid of the gophers.

•• Business – if one could call it that – is staggering. He’s looking into the emergency loan program and also the wage application program, too (You can go to the CRA website and it’ll do the wages calculation for you.)

• Remember when Pierre was PM and they called it Trudeaumania? Well, now, Brett says it is Trudeauphobia.

Sean Baylis: Sean’s Home Office is operating smoothly. While some clients are looking for good deals in what they see as being a market of opportunity, others are very nervous. Sean points out that there’s been a pretty good bounce since the end of March: up 20% in some instances. He’s liking corporate bonds. (Rather than try to explain the current market, I mention that Sean will be sending out a report. I suspect it will be more informative than my scribbling.)

Jim Bladon: As Ross will attest, the business community and people in Toronto do not “get” Alberta. Case in point: breakfast TV in TO was raving about their virtual tour of Lake Louise. It sounded pretty much like they just discovered this wilderness gem.

• Jim says there’s been a large uptake of the emergency business loan program.

• For updates from ATB, go to https://www.atb.com/covid-19/updates/

• And keep up with Todd Hirsch on The Owl. Get started at https://www.atb.com/company/insights/the-owl/

Paul Boucher: As host, Paul performed more than he talked.

Ian Campbell:

Matt Dart:

Todd Dean:

George Doherty: George sends kudos to Ian and his hearing-aids “aid stations”: they’re staying in touch with customers and have a ‘drop off’ service and repair program so you never have to be without your ‘hearing’.

• Some of George’s friends are getting a bit nervous about what’s happening …

Don Doolan: He’s not impressed by the power struggle between Jason Kenny and Canada’s Chief Medical Officer. Surely there are better. more important things to do than squabble about procedures and such.…

Tony Fisher:

Gord Forsyth:

Mel Gibson: Even a person as acquainted with fine print as is Mel … will find the rules of play at the Copper Point Golf Course tedious and extensive. Course opens on the 24th for three days … but golfers are encouraged to prepare by getting the rules of protocol now.

•• A big topic in insurance circles right now is the application of the rules around the concept of ‘force majeure’. It has large implications for commercial renters.

• There is a class action suit, launched by Merchant Law, on behalf of a large restaurant chain.

• The following clip may help: Acts of God are unpredictable natural events such as storm, earthquake, flood … Force Majeure is, human-initiated action that cannot be predicted or controlled by the party to the contract.

Henry Heuver:

David Hicks:

Dan Kennelly:

Matt Litke:

Andy Lockhart: H e’s been reading a medical group’s findings: how people in homeless shelters seem to be testing positive – at a rate of 36% – and yet showing no symptoms. This is disturbing news and so Andy warns us not to get too optimistic yet. We need to learn more.

•• For those of you who know Andy’s past business partner, Mike French: he’s still stuck in Australia (3 months now).

JD MacDonald:

Michael McLennan:

Ross Mikkelsen: There is some online selling happening. BBQ season is here and Barbecues Galore has the things people need at https://barbecuesgalore.ca AND remember this: The Barbecues Galore site is quite a bit easier to navigate than the big box stores’ are. So you can find what you want with way less hassle. And better yet, Ross’ will meet or beat any other Canadian store’s prices. PLUS, if you ever need parts, Ross likely has them — the ones that actually fit your barbecue … as opposed to the universal fit parts which will take you all day to fart around with … before you realize that they’re never, ever really going to fit. (This ad was neither paid for nor endorsed by anyone. Suffice to say it is written by someone who has tried to apply Universal-fit parts to relative’s BBQs with frustratingly ineffective results.)

The government’s “hey, let’s use tax payer dollars to pay people something programs” are working so well, Ross is having trouble enticing his temporarily laid off staff, back to work. Surprise, surprise … they’d sooner do nothing at home than work.

••As for landlords, it seems the local commercial property owners are realistic: let’s work together and figure something out, they say. The big landlords out of Toronto are so arrogant and ignorant they’re very difficult to chat with. They have never figured Alberta out and they likely never will. (As Andy says, start working your way up the totem pole until you find someone that knows the lay of the land. And remember, you’re not the lay.)

Mike Mikkelson:

Brad Pachal:

Gerry Parcells:

Dwayne Vinck: There’s a great and growing need for phone support for kids and adults in this country. The current crisis has kicked this need up several notches. And the Kids Help Phone service has shown that it has the chops to provide this vital service (to Kids and Adults). It has become the backbone of helplines across Canada. Here in Alberta, there are now 3 Directors and 19 Staffers and numerous volunteers.

Bob Wiggins:

George Roberts:

Associates

Gregg Callander:

Alumni

Ken Eades:

Bill Hoogstratten:

Tom Olson Further to Ross’ and Jim’s comments about Toronto’s insensitivity to Alberta realities, Tom adds that BC is just as bad if not worse.

• Tom is concerned about current and on-going government power grabs. Our Civil Liberties do matter – maybe more so now than ever before. If we don’t stand up for them , we will lose them.

•• Meanwhile, Tom suggests you take time to stop and smell the flowers and smoke your pot every night.

Bruce Roblin:

Chris Wright:

April 9th: Apart. But not alone.

Sat, 11 Apr 2020 21:15:00 GMT

Best line of the day: “I feel like a teenager again. Gas is 50 cents a litre and wouldn’t you know it, I’m grounded.” (Andy Lockhart)

We Birds ‘Zoomed’ together on Thursday, April 9th at 8:00 am. Eight o’clock? Yup. Seems we’re enjoying sleeping in and besides, we need to have breakfast, dress (from the waist up) and hook up to the Zoom Network. (This was easier than expected and I think all who tried, succeeded . It IS easy to use.)

We’re doing it again next Thursday at 8:00 and all Birds are invited to participate.

Brett Bain and Vick i: Are able to isolate on their farm so they have a fair bit of acreage to wander about and shake off the dregs of cabin fever. Brett mentions that his company is deemed an essential service which has benefits (of some sort). Vicki is pleased the Ed department wants online-learning for school students, now at home, but is disappointed the solution for doing so is: “you teachers just make it work, okay”. There are no programs, apps or systems provided.

• Brett is curious about the ‘no interest Business Loan’ (for qualifying businesses) but would like more info from ATB. Jim (Bladon) mentions that there are details on ATB’s website and better still, Birds can call him for way finding.

Sean Baylis: I s certainly experiencing a different way of serving clients. I suspect that never have so many questions been asked in such a short period. Markets just had a good week but in previous weeks, Bottoms have been hit and Bounces experienced. His advice: stay in touch; he knows the value of good communications and is up for it. And yes, there are some beaten up (er, down) listings like Resorts, Airlines and Boeing. But there are also some interesting opportunities like Disney and McDonalds. As always, good asset allocation of quality companies will … will out, eventually.

Jim Bladon: It has always been good to have a knowledgeable banker on line; now, more than ever. Who’d a thought you’d ever hear: Thank Gawd for Jim Bladon! (I expect he’ll hear a lot of this in the days to come.) He said, “Yes, today’s risk environment is different but make no mistake, gentlemen, ATB is open for business.” (Jim said more but his statement covers much of what we need to hear.) He also added:

••• About the recently announced government programs, know that providers are scrambling to catch up but catch up … they will. And Yes, do check out the emergency $40G loan with the hefty forgiveness clause.

Paul Boucher: As host, Paul performed more than he talked. His Hinterland Who’s Who spoof of the endangered west coast coffee barista – produced for Dr. Tom Olson – was a delight. We will find some way of sharing it with those of you Birds who were unable to join us.

Ian Campbell:

Matt Dart:

Todd Dean: His business continues okay for now.

• He is somewhat put off by our government’s strategies for these unprecedented times. They’re unwieldy and seem hit-and-miss. The programs are confusing, subject to abuse and probably way more costly than need be. He points to the simple mothballing of the months of April and May (and longer, if required) in France. He doesn’t deny we need to resolve this unpredictable mess; but it needs focus, freedom from political rhetoric and simplicity.

George Doherty: His laptop wasn’t up to the demands of Zoom but his iPad was Mac-easy: he clicked on Paul’s link and it pretty well did all the heavy lifting for George.

• His cream is in high demand: we’re all washing our hands so often, we need a special dry skin cream to offset our raw and dry skin. And hey, the Canadian distributor may be buying the Canadian rights from the fellow who bought George’s Cream. This will be good for those of us who use George’s Cream, I figure.

• The fellow who purchased George and Skip’s pharmacy, has closed because of Covid19: he was worried about the risks to his staff.

• George mentions that inventory and supply of drugs has become an issue so Pharmacists are only allowed to provide 30-day fills. This is a result of our times; not a move to gouge patients (as some folks seem determined to believe.)

Don Doolan: Don is discomforted like Todd and others are: our government programs are pretty much “don’t pay now but boy, are you going to have to pay later”! Don sees a 15% Provincial Sales Tax coming our way – not to mention a hefty GST.

• Speaking of haircuts, Yvonne’s barber shop is operating in Don’s house and as her only customer, he’s a VIP. (I expect that over the next few weeks, we – and specially our wives – will be clamouring for hair salons to be made essential services! We will all ‘see’ why.)

Tony Fisher:

Gord Forsyth:

Mel Gibson: All 2000 of his peers are now working from home. This will likely lead to changes in how insurance companies work to provide their services, in the future.

• Some interesting challenges are anticipated. For instance, how do we assess business interruption claims? And where on the priority list of the top 70 risks will pandemics sit? (Before covid, it was at 66 out of 70).

• The isolation/stay at home protocol is really hard on teenagers. They’re rambunctious and need to wear off some of that energy. But hey, we’re all doing the best we can!

Henry Heuver:

David Hicks:

Dan Kennelly:

Matt Litke:

Andy Lockhart: He mentioned that shooting ranges have been declared essential in Arizona. (I think he was kidding. ???) Andy’s Mom – she’s 105 – is a resident in the care centre across the field from the McKenzie Town residence where so many have caught and succumbed to the coronavirus. It’s a worry and then some: his daughter Cathy – who’s an RN – provides care in his mom’s residence.

• BTW Andy mentioned that his mom survived the Spanish Flu of 1918; he’d like to see her survive the Covid-19 event, too.

• He’s working on a post-Covid Plan for SAWS (we will come out of this crisis and SAWS will be ready).

• He reminds us: there are smart folks who will find opportunities in this environment. And NB: you are better than what you might, at first blush, think you are.

JD MacDonald:

Michael McLennan:

Ross Mikkelsen: He started by referring to The Titanic. It didn’t just stop, it sank. Quickly, too.

•.Retailers of non-essential goods are facing bleak prospects – and for a spring and summer seasonal operation, the covid-19 timing couldn’t be worse. However, Canada is probably the best place to undergo whatever we’re about to undergo.

• Ross’ parents in law had, and have recovered from, covid-19. There are some good stories out there and therefore, room for hope.

• Ross wondered out loud about negotiating with commercial landlords. He’s being proactive. Bird advice ranged from: “make it a problem solving exercise; not a bargaining event”. “Everyone is in the same boat: your landlord needs you as much as you need him. Who will they lease to if you move out.” “You have more clout/power/leverage than you think." ”We can make this work.”

Mike Mikkelson:

Brad Pachal. What was looking like a good project, for this season, in the Shuswap, is not likely to happen this year - Ah well, he does have his own project to work on. It’s been a year since he started on his own China cabinet; likely to now happen quite rapidly.

• Meanwhile, he’s finding his suppliers eager to fill his orders and even load them aboard his truck when picking up. Brad could get used to this kind of service.

• He’s concerned about his twin grandchildren: they’re just six weeks old and the world isn’t quite the safe place it used to be.

• There is a monster in his basement. A bike trainer. He does ride it but the experience is … horrid.

Gerry Parcells:

Dwayne Vinck: He started with a shout out to Gord and Heather Forsyth. They’re still in isolation. Hi Gord and Heather!

• Dwayne’s wife, Tyla, works at the assisted living facility across from the McKenzie Town residence that’s so much in the news. So far, she and her fellow caregivers are crossing their fingers.

• Dwayne has made it his business to look into and understand the government programs related to deferred payments and also, the 70% and the 10% programs. If you’re looking for info you might want to talk to Dwayne.

Bob Wiggins:

George Roberts: I was Zoomed and do encourage other Birds to join in. I felt like I’d been out and about a bit – even though I just sat in front of my computer for an hour and some.

Associates

Gregg Callander:

Alumni

Ken Eades:

Bill Hoogstratten:

Tom Olson: (Alumni guy and also, a Dr. of sorts). Tom is on the coast. He continues to lobby, consult, mentor and coach the salty folks on the west side of Canada. He is trying to get them to follow the Right light which would help them abandon their socialist leanings while they, on the other hand, endeavour to get him to accept the NDP mantra: what you have is ours and since we have so little, you get nothing.

Bruce Roblin:

Chris Wright:

Virus Viral Weekly (Edition #1)

Thu, 19 Mar 2020 00:38:00 GMT

Last night I ran a trial balloon by the Birds to gauge interest in a “digest”-style update in lieu of Minutes from our currently suspended Birds meetings.

Several responded that yes, they would be interested.

So, what I’ve done, with the help of George Roberts and Andy for this particular edition, is compile some interesting pieces related to the evolving COVID-19 situation. I’d like to invite any Bird who sees interesting things – particularly things that won’t date quickly – or that are updated regularly to please throw them my way via paul@paulboucher.com.

Just a few quick guiding principles to this. First this, which I’ve copied and pasted from a Globe and Mail contributor named André Picard:

For example, from Brett Bain :

Ross Mikkelsen and Barbecues Galore have issued several tweets in the past few days relating to their business hours and how they welcome your business online. Their brick and mortar locations are open 12 pm Monday to Sunday for the immediate future. They’re also engaging potential customers (and suppliers smartly) with tweets like this:

Let’s continue with a welcome lighter note via Andy Lockhart before etching any other pixels:

I promise a choice selection of other light moments in a section at the end. For now though, via George Roberts and the New York Times, details on the report that finally moved the US to act more forcefully:

Next, a quick heads up from George Roberts that scammers are alive and well and taking advantage of the tension and paranoia created by the isolation for COVID 19. In this case, it came via a quick message from Dennis Little:

We’ve heard almost as much about Italy as China in this story so far. This headline…

Coronavirus: Why it’s so deadly in Italy

…is from this story: https://medium.com/@andreasbackhausab/coronavirus-why-its-so-deadly-in-italy-c4200a15a7bf

The mathemetician who created the rich online Math resource The Khan Academy voices this video that explains how challenging it is to estimate ACTUAL Covid 19 cases in your area. It’s 12 minutes long, is guaranteed to make your head hurt a bit, but is fascinating, and sobering in its conclusion.

Another sobering piece, this time via podcast, again suggested by George Roberts . His note accompanying this was:

If clicking on the image above didn’t work, this link should: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-daily/id1200361736?i=1000468762963

As you might have heard, the Federal and provincial governments have issued stimulus plans, many of them to help tide over small businesses through this period. Paul Boucher’s accountant, Clayton Achen of Achen Henderson, has a blog, which they promise to continually update, listing the various resources. You can find that resource here:

There is never a shortage of “contrarian” opinion in situations like this, but finding intelligent, fact-based contrarian opinions is another thing entirely. This appears to be one of those instances. The author claims simply that we’re making far-reaching and consequential decisions without good information.

This is one is self-explanatory:

You’d likely heard that school was cancelled in Alberta, in all likelihood until September. What you might not have seen is how hard school and teaching staff worked to make sure kids get their stuff back from schools, in some cases to be able to continue learning remotely. For example, this school in Riverbend a friend of ours works at.

Regarding travel, this, from an Air Canada pilot-friend of mine who landed in Vancouver today:

Alright – and now a few laughs. This first one is what they’d call NSFW (Not Safe For Work), but since you’re working from home, as long as young children aren’t around, you should be good. Much swearing for comedic effect.

If dogs make you laugh….this:

You might or might not know country singer Rosanne Cash, but she posted a very funny tweet, which resulted in just as many funny responses. See it below:

Final word for this week:

Epidemic of Minutes, Birds Mar 5, 2020

Fri, 06 Mar 2020 07:07:00 GMT

Remember the time change this Saturday

**Something to look forward to in Ross’ contribution: perhaps the best name yet for the Coronavirus/COVID-19 thanks to Jim Bladon

Dan Kennelly – started with a shout out to Barbecues Galore. He went in to get one stupid plastic push button and then was happily led down the rabbit hole of exploring fireplaces, other barbecues, etc. The staff person who toured him around was very knowledgeable and pleasant. Left him with a great impression.

Dave Hicks – came across another electrician and they discussed electric vehicles (EV’s). Their conversation revolved around how people charged them.

For example, the biggest charger that Tesla sells is a 50 amp charger. The average residential service is 100 amps. The existing service is based on load balances through your home as it exists. If you throw a “spare” 50 amp charge at the system overtop of your dryer, your fridge and goodness knows what else, you’ll overload a conventional 100 amp service.

The options at that point include upgrading the service to 200 amps (easier with a new build, obviously). Another option is a manual isolation switch and choosing to run your dryer OR charging your EV.

There’s also a company building something called an EVEM; it’s an energy management system. It intelligently senses the load use day and night and will prioritize different things. For example, after everyone’s gone to bed and the only thing on is the dishwasher, it’ll direct power to your EV charger. The EVEM device goes for about $800.

Dave and this other electrician figure most new homes will evolve to have 200 amp panel rather than 100 amp to accommodate these vehicles.

All of this before you take into account the technical challenges of integrating any solar power you may have in the mix. Dave brought up the possibility of charging the car exclusively with solar power. That also allows the car to act as a “battery” and possibly feed power back into the house.

George Doherty chimed in with a note from a friend who figured that in 5 years, EVs would be the only thing you could buy.

To which Brett Bain said – uh-uh. Not until they extend the range beyond 300-400km. He also mentioned that until you can get stuck in an avalanche in Rogers Pass or on the Coquihalla and idle for a few hours…or longer and keep warm, it’ll be a no-go in places like Canada.

Dan Kennelly chipped in that he’d heard the news that several EV models were being cancelled by major carmakers. With subsidies being cancelled, they’re suddenly not *quite* as attractive – even for the Thunberg eco-warrior crowd.

I couldn’t find independent confirmation of models being cancelled – but I *did* find two interesting articles down the rabbit hole:

Mike Mikkelson – no tips but another shout out to Ross and great Barbecues Galore service.

The other note of interest from Mike was about his son and the marketing program he’s in at MRU (Mount Royal University). The program had organized a focus group at MRU. It was the first time Mike had ever taken part in one and he found it genuinely interesting. He learned a lot. It was on sports-based activities in the city/market.

The group’s goal is to gather data on younger demographic groups to try to figure out how to interest them and get them involved. ( *Ed. note: They could, for example, make a single ticket less than a car payment. That might help .). Anyway, the focus group took place at the new MRU Riddell Library and Learning Center – one of a suite of beautiful new facilities on the MRU campus. Mike recommends the focus group experience if you’re ever invited to take part in one.

This is a shot of the new library.

From treadmill desks to 360 cameras, 5 of the coolest tech features at MRU’s new library: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/mru-library-treadmill-desk-maker-space-1.4277319

George Doherty – continued his quest toward his second career as a Personal Library Curator. Last week it was Bill Bryson’s fabulous book The Body. This week, firmly occupying George’s start on #MeToo shelf is the Ronan Farrow book Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators. It’s the book that is held up as a contributing factor in the investigation that brought down Harvey Weinstein.

George offered the book up with the caveat that Ronan is an “interesting guy”. No takers at Birds – but you can read more about the book here: https://www.amazon.ca/Catch-Kill-Conspiracy-Protect-Predators-ebook/dp/B07TD413RV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=37EOLGC54G007&keywords=catch+and+kill+ronan+farrow&qid=1583465195&sprefix=catch+and+%2Caps%2C261&sr=8-1

Then Andy popped in to quickly recommend another Bill Bryson book: At Home: A Short History of Private Life – essentially a wonderfully written history of the concept of a “house” and every room in it in the past 150 years.

Like everything else Bryson’s done, it’s eminently readable and Andy said it’s one of the VERY few books that he remembers reading twice . You can take a sneak peek at a couple of chapters and some of the home photos on the Amazon page for the book here: https://www.amazon.ca/At-Home-Short-History-Private/dp/0385661649/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1TH421J92L32S&keywords=at+home+bill+bryson&qid=1583465985&sprefix=At+Home+bi%2Caps%2C188&sr=8-1

A final note from George was about a disagreement he was having with his son (I believe) over the impact of COVID-19 compared to the flu. His son quoted a statistic that George doubted – but I found the source. The quote was:

Jim Bladon – hoped we were all enjoying the nice weather since it’s supposed to be -17 this Saturday.

Jim enjoyed working in Edmonton because it also coincided with being able to watch his son playing hockey as the AHA moves toward playoffs.

Jim also noted the interest rate drop in both the US and Canada coming on the heels of a poor Q1 forecast. There are a lot of factors in play convincing the feds to act including an oil supply glut affecting both Canada and the US, agricultural issues getting grain to market in Canada, and geopolitics in general.

Not surprisingly, in light of the interest rates dropping Jim’s phone has been ringing off the hook with people wanting to renegotiate their agreements.

To which Andy chimed in with the old golf saying: “All bets are made on the first tee.”

In any case, Jim is definitely curious to see how everything will play out.

Bob Wiggins – was back after 3 weeks trying to get over a nasty cold. For the record, despite being in pretty fine fettle, he still sounded like an actor in a sinus medication commercial. ????

He’s been living the Birds vicariously through the minutes and recounted how the minutes have at times in the past read like an advance edition of the Herald. 30 days in advance with the level of connected knowledge the Birds brought to the table.

Bob also brought an image of a traffic ticket. A friend of his had run a red light in San Luis Obispo and thought: “…alright, well, $95.”

The ticket wound up being more after the policeman added various “line items: administrative fees, state fees, etc. In the end, the ticket added up to $499. See below.

Bob’s final note was a comment on a little known chapter during this whole blockade “episode”. Apparently our fearless “leader”, Trudeau, personally brokered a backroom deal between the railways so they could run on each other’s tracks to help get around blockades. It’ll be interesting to see how much of a positive or mitigating impact the deal had, or if it will ever be accounted for publicly.

Ross Mikkelsen – loves that Pharmacist show on Netflix. In case you missed it in last week’s minutes, the trailer is below:

Then Ross, adding to the EV conversation wondered what percentage of people with EV’s park on the street. In his part of Mt. Pleasant, when he walks and runs in the ‘hood, a LOT of people park on the street. That means cords hung up at head height in bushes and trees, across the sidewalk, whatever. How long before THAT becomes a problem.

Then – Jim Bladon interjected with a quick question for Ross about how things were shaping up for Barbecues Galore in Q1 because of the impact of Kung Flu ? ????

After the laughter died down, Ross explained that he figures the impact will REALLY be felt in Q2 for most people and retailers. Summer is when you’re really going to notice stuff missing from shelves – other than the toilet paper shortage right now of course. For example, they have 3 containers “on the way” from China. Normally, they’d have them by the end of March. He’s anticipating JUNE at the earliest.

Brett Bain – has naturally been reading about the virus and wondering if the press exaggerates (whaaaat?!). Brett is bravely heading out into the wild desert sands of Arizona….without a mask. OK, he’s headed to Phoenix.

Tony Fisher – had this information to add to the virus conversation. His contacts at the Calgary Airport Authority shared that flight cancellations are causing all sorts of problems, in particular with RETURN time from vacations and business trips. Due to multiple flight cancellations, people are literally returning days later than they anticipated, and sometimes forking over amounts like $1700 for flight changes. This is especially affecting travel from Asia, but his tip was to keep an eye on flights as you plan.

JD MacDonald – mentioned it had been a reasonable week in business if a bit up and down.

JD was at the Home Show last weekend and at least anecdotally, attendance *felt* lower. He was busy though as the “Plumber In Residence” at the booth for a company called “Nurture My Home”. They’re a company that teaches people how to maintain their own homes. Their target is younger buyers from Gen X, down through Millenials and the Gen Z kids now wandering into home or condo ownership. He found it fascinating to see who came up and asked questions.

One of the ways they engaged with the crowd was with a game called Wheel of Misfortune. You spun the wheel, and sometimes you won a gift, but sometimes you’d land on a possible crisis in the home, and there was someone on hand to explain who you fixed that problem.

Next week, JD is off doing something similar to what Dave Hicks has been doing a lot of: taking courses and upgrading his knowledge on the new building code.

Dwayne Vinck – was hoarse from cheering from the Flames at the Columbus games on Wednesday night. It was definitely a character builder and an indication fo character for the team. It bodes well for their aspirations heading into the home stretch.

Dwayne also mentioned that he has a client who’s a palette manufacturer looking to diversify. So, if you’re planning a protest…

Dwayne was also in Toronto and was remembering the Kids Help Phone national meetings. He couldn’t get over what a different world they live in in Ontario. Dwayne brought up the possibility of investing funds in the energy industry. The reaction was basically: ????

They quite seriously spoke about it in roughly the same terms as “unethical investments”. Everyone around the table from Ontario just ate that up. More than a little crazy.

As Dwayne was traveling, he couldn’t help pondering the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the trade show industry. SO MANY of them have been cancelled at the last moment leaving some pretty negative economic consequences in their wake. He figured the impact would be felt for at least 6 months.

While he was in Toronto, he attended a Mining Trade show. He heard about (but didn’t see) Trudeau’s speech to the industry about the environment and industry just “getting along”. It was all Kumbaya. Honestly, it just again, starkly highlighted the differences between commodity-producing provinces and how the power brokers out east are disconnected from them.

Brad Pachal – added this note into the virus conversation: the studio producing the next James Bond movie has delayed the release of the film from April to November. You can find one version of that story here: https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-51744374

In other Brad news, he attended a retirement party at Rotary house on the Stampede grounds. There were about 50-60 people there. Brad’s not sure what the venue cost, but thought it was a hidden gem. He felt it was a great venue.

Paul Boucher – mentioned that he’d met the founders of the Caravel brewery which is located north of Airport Trail. Co-founder Vladislav Covali indicated to Paul that he’s looking for a new equity partner to help him continue to move forward in 2020. He’d enjoy showing Caravel off in a lunch style event. Stay tuned for more information.

Next week, Paul is starting work narrating the next audiobook project he was hired for: Appel: A Canadian in the French Foreign Legion .

Mel Gibson – opened with a fascinating bit of information: the Better Business Bureau’s list of Top 10 scams. Mel’s office was the target of a scam that claimed to be from Microsoft. It looked very legitimate. It even had Microsoft in the domain name of the email address. It claimed that the user was over his email quota and had to click a link. It’s definitely a phishing scam trying to compromise people’s computers.

Wondering what the top 10 scams of 2019 were? You can download the PDF by clicking on the title: Top Ten riskiest Scams in Canada .

Also, if you’d like a PDF quick-view infographic to share, you can download the document directly from the Birds site by clicking on the Download button for the ScamTracker Infographic just below.

2019-bbbscamtracker-riskreport-infographic

Download

Mel also warned that one of the conversation topics in the business right now is a rash of break-ins on Canada Post pods. People are breaking into them to steal social security numbers from mailed out cheques, tax slips, etc. Make sure you pick up your mail regularly. Don’t leave anything lingering for longer than it has to.

On a lighter note, Mel loved a recent tour they took of the Studio Bell complex downtown. Recommended. amazing architecture, amazing display of musical instruments and more.

Andy Lockhart – is having a good week. He’s been doing a lot of volunteer work with SAWS (Southern Alberta Woodworking Society), including the work at CRA to officially have the organization recognized as a charitable organization. The lawyers signed off on the application Wednesday.

The group is looking to start a big-name speaker series to showcase the organization and woodworking to the community and anyone else interested. They’re looking for speakers of a certain stature/status. They’ve identified the Cardel Theatre in Quarry Park as a perfect venue.

The first speaker they have lined up sounds impressive. His name is Derek Jones and he made a name for himself as a cabinet maker and in antique restoration. He’s also the editor of Furniture and Cabinet Making magazine in the UK and runs his own school. The magazine even has an iPhone app: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/furniture-cabinetmaking/id437194402 .

You can also read a good interview with him, and perhaps just as importantly see some beautiful photos of his work at this link: https://cncking.com/derek-jones-editor-furniture-cabinetmaking-magazine-uk/ .

And finally, George Doherty had a question for Brett related to leaving computers on. So we’ll end today’s minutes with this TECH TIP: Should You Turn Your Computer Off At Night? And the answer is….here: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/should-you-turn-off-your-computer-at-night/

Minimum Minutes, Maximum Birds, Feb 27th

Sun, 01 Mar 2020 23:44:00 GMT

Dan Kennelly – opened the meeting talking about an article from an industry blog he follows that addresses the difference in the way the US protects its industries. It gleans from the “origin story” of trade protections, meaning the first time this protection was enshrined into law. It then moves to the present day. Seems like not a lot has changed despite cries of foul play worldwide over what’s perceived as Trump’s “nationalism”. From the look of it, he’s just more explicit about “America First”; it’s ALWAYS been the official doctrine. It would seem it’s just been couched in different diplomatic language depending on the time and administration. From Dan:

Blog Article from Dan Kennelly Mar 2, 2020 – Time Will Tell

Download

George Doherty – added a book to some readings lists ( mine included – I took a break from writing the minutes to go grab it at Indigo. This helps explain why the minutes are delayed… ). It’s called The Body: A Guide For Occupants and it’s written by the amazing Bill Bryson. You can check it out on Indigo if the description below intrigues you. The link is https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/the-body-a-guide-for/9780385685740-item.html?ikwid=The+Body&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0#algoliaQueryId=575acb79f6305338faa9c0fb68500f4e .

JD MacDonald – has noticed a bit of a trend lately: how specific some clients are when they request parts AND how fast they expect to have them. (* Thank you Amazon! ????* ) An example: a female client was very precise with a faucet she wanted. Naturally, she wanted it yesterday . When JD explained that after a LOT of research he’d found a supplier in Alabama who could have it here in 6 weeks, SHE “ made clear ” that six weeks wasn’t an option.

They call that an impasse.

JD solved the problem by finding another option she accepted ( no word on how graciously ).

Another note from JD: He and Phyllis were recently at the new Keg in Market Mall. Nothing but good things to say, including fantastic ambiance and the staff was good.

Sean Baylis – started in with a one-word summary of the past week on the market: tough. The Covid-19 virus is to blame. Sean then immediately went to Warren Buffet’s take on times like this: the best time to buy is when there’s fear in the market. Markets are down 10% or more compared to the usual state of things at this time of year. It’s to the point that many central banks are ready to interfere with stimulus including the Fed in the States

An interesting tangential note: 10-year bonds are at their lowest point in history. BUT, people are scared enough to lock their money in at under 2% and sit.

Stock tip: Gilead Sciences – They are apparently honing in on a cure for the virus. Their stock is apparently undervalued. The story is in this Baron article: https://www.barrons.com/articles/gilead-sciences-could-have-a-coronavirus-cure-biotech-stock-51582920128 .

Meanwhile, by pure coincidence, a research team in Israel says a vaccine for the virus’s worst effects could actually be weeks away: https://www.sfgate.com/science/article/COVID-19-coronavirus-vaccine-Israel-15093659.php .

Then: ’tis the season for TFSA and RRSP contributions. Deadline just passing by the time you read this…

Brett Bain – has had his around-the-world goggles on the past while and doesn’t like what he sees. He brought up his upbringing by Baptists in Scotland ( do they make Catholic Calvinists look good? ). Naturally, the biblical-scale plague of locusts in Africa, the pestilence around the world (COVID-19 virus), wars, famine in half the third world, the conclusion is that the end times are near ????.

OK, tongue firmly planted in cheek there, but, it is a bit scary to watch protests escalating, and no one to lead people out of trouble.

Andy Lockhart – at that point chimed in with a winning, pointed observation about our fearless “leader” following from a hereditary chiefs article in the national post. Trudeau is a hereditary chief. Heaven help us!

Brett…good news about the apocalypse; they’ve altered the 4 horsemen, and they’re not at all as threatening. Here are the 4 horsemen of procrastination.

Dwayne Vinck – recently visited a friend in hospital and came away with a sad story that contained some well-worn advice: If it sounds too good to be true…..

The friend recounted to Dwayne how he received a call from “a guy” who wanted to know if he wanted to buy palladium metal options. So he invested $10k. The investment appreciated so Dwayne’s friend called to sell them. Well, buddy at the other end is now demanding $12k to get rid of them. So, Dwayne, mindful that his friend is in the hospital with a terminal condition, probed gently to find out how his friend found the “guy”. “Oh, he found me…” was the response.

So for Dwayne, unfortunately, accustomed to seeing this sort of thing that was red flag #1. So Dwayne went digging.

The web site the guy gave his friend looked pretty sophisticated on the surface, but it was a trap. The second red flag for Dwayne was that in his experience, the business the “guy” purported to be in is a pretty high-touch business. A lot of individualized services, attention to individual investors, that sorta thing. As a result, on most LEGITIMATE sites, there’s a LOT of contact information and ways to reach staff. After looking around the site Dwayne couldn’t find a US or Canadian address and only a single toll-free number. When you google the address on a scam site, like this one, the address will often lead to a train station or the like.

The third red flag came about as Dwayne did more due diligence. He literally copied and pasted some of the text from the web site and found identical sites bilking other investors. His terminally ill friend thought he’d made $80K. Instead, he was out almost $20K.

The tip – resulting from a bit of work after suspecting “if it’s too good to be true…” is do the due diligence. If you can’t, hire someone like Dwayne to do it.

Ross Mikkelsen – had a couple of things. First, there was more info from the Chinese supply chain. One of Ross’s suppliers is not far from Beijing. He explained how 30% of sheet metal workers were back, and about 60% of packing people. Of those groups, 20% are en route (quarantined themselves). 20% off in the wind – perhaps not coming back. Naturally, there’s going to be at least a 2-week lag before these places get back up to speed. That’s just ONE factory.

Despite that, they did get notice of a container having either shipped or arrived for Barbecues Galore.

Ross’s daughter Mira is a type 1 diabetic and has been for 13 years. Ross happened to tumble onto a “U of C big brain guy” who claims to have discovered a new class of drugs that could cure all auto-immune diseases. That includes diabetes and SO many others. Dr. Pere Santamaria is the “big brain” of note and you can read more about the way they’re headed into pre-clinical trials via this article: https://snyder.ucalgary.ca/news/university-calgary-discovery-potential-treatment-autoimmune-diseases-takes-step-forward . It’s pretty heady stuff.

Paul Boucher hopped in at this point to mention an experimental stem cell treatment that has now been used to successfully REVERSE diabetes in mice. That research is taking place next door in BC. You can read more about it here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120627122252.htm .

Ross then segued over to talk about a friend who is a big food processor of frozen food. This stuff has been going on Reefer trains, but the eco-warriors are throwing blankets onto these cars, causing them to heat up and literally tons of food to spoil.

The final note from Ross was regarding an ad they’d put looking for 1 cashier and another jr position (s). They shut down the application stream after 500 applications!!

Tony Fisher – continued the U of C story strolling down another informational avenue by noting that the school and its research has all been sustained with corporate funding. He figures it about 1970-ish that they got started. They’ve clearly accomplished a lot. One innovative note is that doctors working at the school retain the rights to their Intellectual Property (IP) in Calgary.

Incidentally, in speaking to a doctor at the facility, he shared with Tony that he personally agreed with the UCP approach to health care.

Tony also had an eye-opening experience at the grand opening of a new seafood supermarket in the NE called Seafood City. It includes in-house restaurants. It’s 80,000 square feet of seafood, and despite the size, Tony was practically shuffling sideways in there it was so crowded. Easily over 600 people in there when he went. It’s a Filipino outfit and this is its third location in Canada. They have many in the US. Many of the Filipinos on hand for the opening and subsequent days said it was the next best thing to home. You can see some photos and watch a bit of a video to catch a bit of what Tony was feeling at this link from CBC: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/seafood-city-calgary-1.5472927 .

Quick addition to Tony’s story on how Calgary doctors get to keep their IP when they develop new things. That harkens back to the good old days of 3M and the invention of Post-it notes. That was a “mistake” from a 3M researcher looking for a super-strong adhesive. Instead, he found a super-weak one that could be reused multiple times. It’s an interesting story and in a nice, tidy Reader’s Digest version at this link: https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/who-invented-sticky-notes .

Mel Gibson ‘s – first contribution was a note that Intact’s stock is showing a little gain. (Sean chimed in to say RBC ikes them).

Then he went on to recount how the bank gave him a call AFTER they froze all of his accounts. It started with an eTransfer made from Mel’s account to an individual whose email address started with “info@”. It just had all the earmarks of a fraudulent act, so FREEZE!. Mel was actually grateful for the bank’s oversight but assured them it was all legit. Things were back to normal after he confirmed that for them.

Mel added a “ sci-fi-as-real-life ” scenario to our breakfast with the news that Liability insurance is starting to change with AI and robotic applications. For example in some places, it’s robots that serve the coffee. If the robot spills….who’s liable? This notion of where the ultimate liability lies behind a machine error will likely get tested with autonomous vehicles first.

Dave Hicks – was on course last week. He talked with quite a few fellow contractors. There’s a lot of doom and gloom among them. There’s a lot of maintenance work, but not a lot of new construction work which is where the bigger money is.

Hixi Electric is busy, thankfully. Even so, he is noting some desperation out there. Hixi quoted on a breakfast place and Dave was privy to one of the other estimates. It looked likely to set up the company bidding for a $100k loss on a $150k job. As it turns out, it’s for a development that is being steered by a friend of Michael McLennan’s, so Michael offered to throw a red flag up to prevent his friend’s development from being screwed inadvertently or otherwise.

You never know what you’ll get by mentioning some of these things in a Birds meeting!

Hixi continues to be busy in the mountains.

Andy Lockhart – started by reminding us he’d been whining recently about the interminable process of registering SAWS for charitable status via CRA. After toiling another 25 to 30 hours, that whole thing is off to the lawyers to finish up.

Andy continued with the story of a recent hearing test at the hands of Ian Campbell’s company Calgary Hearing Aid and Audiology. Andy’s discovered that his ability to hear “bacteria fornicating” when in a quiet room, no longer extends to noisy environments. Hearing aid required. So Andy left the down payment on Ian’s new forthcoming BMW.

Ian Campbell – started with thanks to Andy for his “ testimonial “. ????.

He then went on to explain the BM…I mean, the hearing loss problem.

Sometimes for mild and moderate hearing loss, the solution is more expensive because the technology is more sophisticated, delivering more nuanced and specific assistance.

He also added an interesting observation: the brain can actually “forget” certain sounds if you wait too long to address a hearing loss, no matter how small. So…don’t wait.

Michael McLennan – told us about In-Q-Tel, a venture capital company. They stand between startups, the market, and the CIA. Seriously. The blurb on them is:

Among the many companies they’ve given a hand up to are MarkForged – Michael’s primary 3D printing manufacturer.

Don Doolan – talked about some good friends who are planning on heading out for a bucket list trip to Europe. The wife is beside herself about the news out of Italy in particular. She’s wondering about trip cancellation in light of the COVID-19 infections there. She was essentially told by the insurance companies that until Canada declares any of the countries on their itinerary a no-go…..”have a nice trip!”.

Andy noted that some cruise companies, in particular, are being more reasonable and allowing passengers to re-schedule for a year down the road.

Brad Pachal – turned to George Doherty to ask what the heck kind of adhesive they use on prescription bottles. He recounted trying to take a label off of a prescription bottle. When he couldn’t, he thought…hey maybe I could get some of this “never-let-go” adhesive for my woodwork. ????

Brad also had a series of experiences that inspired a bit of reflection recently. He got a call at about 4AM one day last week. It was his son – about to head to the hospital.

The FIRST baby was born at 5 (*just in time delivery), Baby number 2 came into the world 25 minutes later. The twins weighed 3.6 and 3.8 lbs. Pretty common and in good shape, but they’ll be in there for a few weeks. Mom had a tough time though. She’s in for a lot of healing. The first twin was born naturally, but the second had to be C-sectioned out.

Brad was struck, not for the first time, at the simultaneous, or near-simultaneous arrival of life, and the exit, on the other hand of another person.

The first time the birth-exit experience happened for him was when his mom was dying of brain cancer. Now, it’s the mutual friend he and Dwayne have in the hospital who is on his way.

The introspection led to the observation that life is fragile. Treasure it, and take nothing for granted.

2nd Round

Paul Boucher added a quick note on the protesters in the lower mainland in particular in the past week – who are likely representative of a lot of the people who’ve highjacked the Wet’suwet’en moment to promote their own agenda. Turns out the organizers and leaders of a couple of the protests aren’t even from Canada. See this link for a bit of GLobal TV video – but only if your blood pressure is stable: https://globalnews.ca/news/6601384/who-are-the-wetsuweten-protesters/

Birds Feb 20, 2020

Fri, 21 Feb 2020 05:30:00 GMT

Dan Kennelly – was in Vancouver last week at least partially on business. A number of people and shops they deal with out there are busy. One welding shop out there with 140 welders is keeping every welder occupied. Trans Am looking to supply materials to some of those shops, but it’s mostly marine, which is totally different than their regular line of work.

From the Squamish area – Squamish is growing fast! Lots of condos in particular. Dan heard that at least some of that growth is due to Whistler simply being too $$$.

He had another quick note on Whistler. It’s been bought out by Vail, and apparently, the service has taken a nosedive. There are actually petitions being signed to try to force them to improve their service. He’s also heard rumours of lift tickets being charged in USD ($189 USD for a day of skiing to be specific which merits a WTH!).

Final resource note from Dan: The inside take on the Coastal Gas Link project and LNG is that it’s supported by the vast majority of First Nations and the rest of the population that live up there. The conflict in Wet’suwet’en First Nation is an internal one. The growing feeling is that this isn’t a national issue, but that the conflict should be resolved there, and the project should go ahead while they work out their differences.

Tony Fisher – thanks to Andy for a book rack. Hilarity ensued as Andy shot down the quality of work and Tony nixed plans to sell it. ???? Maybe you had to be there…

Brad Pachal – related quite a story he received this week from his neighbours. I hope I remember this all correctly. His neighbours are of Chinese origin. They’ve been his neighbours for 10 years. They’re both successful in the community and their daughter is a lawyer in TO. In any case, their family originates in Guangdong province. The wife is over visiting.

If you remember, last week, Ross mentioned the Chinese government is rationing masks – and they’re hard to find here as well. Brad’s neighbours reached out to him to request he send a care package with masks, hand sanitizer, etc….to China! “Hi, we have a “pandemic-in-a-box kit”. From Canada.” ????

I guess she’d reached out to her husband to find masks and other supplies and he looked as afar as Olds and Sundre – and couldn’t find ANY. (* Side note: autocorrect thinks Sundre should be “sundress”. Huh .)

Other Brad news: he’s into the final phase a large reno project. It should be about 5 weeks remaining for tiling and other finishing.

Dan – chimed back in at this point with an additional comment on masks. While he was Vancouver, his anecdotal observation was that it was only folks of Asian descent wearing masks. No one else.

Ian Campbell – was saying how his family likes to go somewhere for Family Day each year. This year, his wife decided that “somewhere” should be -18 degree, windy and freezing Halifax. ????

There was actually a family reason: they wanted to watch their son play in his final volleyball games of the year.

Ian made a point of saying that business is generally good, although after the exceptional year they had last year, year over year, things are a *bit* slower this year so far. Ian travels between shops a lot, and he noted that one of the upsides of the economic difficulties in the city is that there are no traffic jams in Calgary anymore.

Ian’s final comment revolved around everyone’s favourite city councilor, Joe Magliocca. He noted the way that council and his purpleness seem to be prepared to spend many, MANY thousands of dollars to explore a $6800 expense claim. That led to….

Dwayne Vinck – commenting as an auditor that this seems to be a clear case of petty fraud, not a “mistake”. If you happen to spot Joe – or any councilor other than Jeromy Farkas, perhaps you can pass this on to them:

Dwayne explained that one of the tactics of auditing is to examine something like this, a relatively *small* thing, to point to how an organization handles the *big* things. This is likely (he was being diplomatic) symptomatic of larger accountability issues. He wouldn’t want to be Joe as the council perhaps suddenly develops a conscience about taxpayer $$.

Dan K. then complemented Dwayne’s notes by noting that one of the large problems contributing to the lack of accountability is that there’s no penalty in place. Where’s the consequence?

At which point Andy dotted the “i” in the conversation citing Warren Buffet:

Sean Baylis – talked about moving into the last couple of weeks of RRSP season.

Then, moving to the investment side he noted that the markets hit an all-time high again yesterday. That’s partly on the fundamental strength in the US economy, good news on COVID-19 ( what they’re now calling the Coronavirus ), which was that the number of cases dropped.

The cautionary note though is that first-quarter earnings will be impacted, so that will be interesting to see.

Sean added that it’s a good time to take profit before earnings come out since they anticipate relatively bad news. Once those earnings are released, that’s when you’ll see a market pullback.

Despite the strength in the US economy, some forecasters foresee a stimulus plan coming in the US. There’s definitely going to be one in China. Some reports have growth in the Chinese economy slumping to 3.5%, which would be an AWESOME figure for Canada, and even the US, but is less than HALF the usual for China.

Having said that, the markets are a bit surprised at possible interest cuts in the US this early in the year, and in an election year.

The final note from Sean was a wry appreciation of his father-in-law’s latest attempts to “culture” a family that spends most of its time in a hockey rink. He’d bought the family tickets to the Tony-award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen which was put on at the Jubilee Auditorium this past weekend. Sean withstood a few hockey elbows from his wife Dianna when he and the kids reacted in a less “cultured” way than expected. He occasionally would glance over at the kids to see if they were “in”. His daughter, in particular, seemed to enjoy various aspects of the live musical.

Matt Dart – had two quick notes. He was in Tampa on business recently. Some of the workers at the factory he was visiting got to enjoy a hockey game that Matt paid for (for the wrong date). Matt DID get to see the Tampa Pittsburgh game. His observation on that was that Crosby didn’t look great while Eugeny Malkin did.

Matt’s second note was that business has been really slow. He was speaking to a rep who said says he’d never seen it this bad. The eye-opening stat that underlined the feeling was that divisional sales are normally around 2 million dollars a month. Right now, the business is suffering through a 300K month. Not its first one either.

Brett Bain – noted that OSI is persevering through a government-induced educational slowdown. There’s so much uncertainty about what the AB Government might do with educational spending that some of their biggest clients, including the Calgary Board of Education has completely frozen spending, particularly in regards to IT. Other customers still committed to spending are pushing back on everything.

Brett is also missing a few shoes. He’s been throwing them at the TV when Trudeau does his impression of leadership with his “Platitudes ‘r Us” schtick. At least he’s not wearing a Sari. Justin, that is.

Ross Mikkelsen – started with more news from China. He’s been receiving emails from some suppliers in China who say that people have started to trickle back into work. The reports say they’re at about 50% capacity. It’ll take a while before things back to normal.

Ross figures that unlike the market predictors that Sean mentioned, the impact won’t necessarily be felt as much in Q1 as Q2. Many shops have their inventory for the next quarter, but inventories will go off a cliff in Q2 as supply chains are operating at 50% at best as China recovers.

Ross noted that he can’t help but notice the differences when you juxtapose a country that can do what China’s done (take complete control of *everything*: shut down borders, essentially quarantine a country, control the back to work process, build 1,000 patient hospitals like LEGO buildings) with Canada…where a few hundred people can shut down the economy.

Ross also talked about Weber. They’ve jumped on the wood pellet bandwagon as a latecomer both with pellets and barbecues. They’ve been ripped to pieces on social media. The lesson here is if you’re going to come out with something, and it’s not perfect, just… don’t . Everything is under a microscope these days.

Ross’ final item today concerned the round of phone calls that he makes annually to reconnect with staff who’ve been off for the winter. Every single person they reached out to return said yes. He’s been doing this for a lotta years and never seen that. It means they’ll have a great team. Hopefully, the customers follow.

Michael McLennan – was celebrating. Maria had her 6th and last surgery post breast cancer. His tip: remind the women in your life to get tested and make sure they’re supported in every way possible.

Dan added at this point that men get breast cancer – so don’t ignore weird pains. This was first hand knowledge – not himself, but someone he knew.

Michael’s next contribution was that CRA seems to be on the hunt for subcontractors via auditing companies. They just survived a GST audit that was seemingly done at random and it was evident to him that “subs” were what they were on the lookout for. Auditing mid-size companies seems like a good way for CRA to generate leads, or to put it another way, next year’s hit list.

Mel Gibson – chimed in on the blockades but from an insurance perspective. This is part of the potential ripple effect that no one sees until after the fact. One thing the industry is on the lookout for is a potential flood of business interruption claims. However, there has to be damage to property or assets before claiming against those policies successfully. ( *Editor’s note: If Morneau Shepell were in the insurance business, do you think this would be over already? )

Andy Lockhart – leftover from last week – one other thing about time in Arizona recently: there was time to read by the pool. He had two recommendations:

Memoirs – David Rockefeller – Among other things Andy enjoyed was this insight: Rockefeller’s kids were growing up and university age during the Vietnam War. That’s where his kids got radicalized. That’s why the foundation run by the Rockefeller kids has taken their positions on climate change among other issues, etc.

Here’s a blurb on the book from the Pages bookstore in Kensington (figured we could shop local):

The other book was The Knowledge by Lewis Dartnell . The premise is: “Suppose that there was some kind of event (pandemic, asteroid, whatever). 95% of the population is wiped out. How do the other 5% rebuild society? This isn’t a post-apocalyptic adventure with zombies or Jennifer Lawrence in Lulu Lemon Armour (sadly). It IS, however, all of this:

The final note from Andy started with “…I’m not sure how I got roped into this…”. He continued on to explain that he’s the “volunteer” working on the application for SAWS (Southern Alberta Woodworking Society) to register as a charitable organization. The short version of the longer story is what he figured would be 10 minutes work ended up taking two hours thanks to a combination of rural internet speed, CRA web site, and who knows what other gremlins. In any case, if you hear screaming from the Priddis area…it’s likely Andy NOT throwing things at his computer with the CRA site on the screen.

Paul Boucher – relearned a valuable lesson last night. The lesson is to reconnect with past business contacts as part of his prospecting along with reaching out for the equivalent of the cold call. Out of 8 former connections that he collaborated with closely at his biggest client’s shop over the years, 8 replied with varying degrees of value from a prospecting standpoint. One, in fact, led to Paul subscribing to the City of Calgary’s external contractor jobs database: https://www.calgary.merx.com/ .

If you know contractors actively looking for a new source of work, this is worth passing on to them. For example, last week Michael McLennan shared the name of the kennel maker for his dogs. As it happened, while Paul was on the site today he saw that the city is looking for a contractor to make aluminum kennels for city trucks. The information has been relayed through Michael.

Jim Bladon – had a note on the blockades no one had heard yet. Greta Thunberg tweeted her unequivocal support. If you’re a bit chilly and you’d like your temperature to go up a few degrees, you can get the rest of that bul…I mean, story, here: https://www.narcity.com/news/ca/wetsuweten-solidarity-protests-have-officially-got-greta-thunbergs-support .

Jim added that the Edmonton blockades were down in 4 minutes with citizens taking things into their own hands and that protesters in Ontario referred to themselves as “cuzzins” of the Wet’suwet’en. I looked to see if there was some Urban Dictionary definition behind that spelling, but no, whoever the protester was was just illiterate.

File this under “further consequences”: Ag people can’t move their grain despite lower than usual shipments of oil by rail. Unfortunately, when the blockades are lifted, the “catch-up backlog will mean that farmers will again have problems moving their grain to market.

A final tip from Jim this week. He’s spent some quality time with a Netflix documentary called The Pharmacist. In short strokes, this man set out to solve the murder of his son who died in a crack deal. Police figured his son was just another scumbag, BUT during his investigation (spoiler: he solves the murder without police help), he uncovers the root of the American opiate crisis perpetrated by (among others) the makers of Oxycontin, Purdue Pharma. Needless to say, the forces aligned against him as he lit the trail back to Purdue were a bit more significant than the forces resisting his investigation into a single murder.

The trailer is below. Jim thought the pharmacist was a great example of resilience and perseverance in the face of nearly insurmountable odds.

JD MacDonald – like Brad Pachal, also has neighbours of Chinese origin. They’re two doors down. JD does their walk to help them and another older couple just past them down the street. The other day, she ran out “all masked up”, and went OFF. She’s a bit hard to get away from at the best of times. She was in a bit of a lather that day.

First, she asked JD where HIS mask was and why he wasn’t wearing one ! She works at a medical clinic but she said she’s not going back to work! She’s asked for 3 months off! She won’t even stop at the T and T market anymore: everyone there is ASIAN!! (exclamation points hers)

JD added that you can’t even get through her doorway. There are multiple locks on the door. They’re turning into panic-filled hermits.

Then JD went to supplement Michael’s celebration with a celebratory note of his own. Phyllis is now 16 years cancer-free. He reflected that the first 18 months after diagnosis and during treatment were nothing short of hellish.

Phyllis almost feels “survivor’s guilt” – not uncommon in cancer survivors. She often asks why she survived and others haven’t. JD looked back on all the work she’s done mentoring other patients/survivors and together with a nod to their faith, he figured that her work there is the reason she’s still here.

Surprisingly – he ALSO had a male acquaintance who had and survived breast cancer. If you feel pain in your chest that you can’t account for, don’t let pride prevent you from getting checked.

The last note from JD was that after essentially two months on call and getting some tough jobs…middle of the night, middle ‘o the weekend, etc. – he’s taking March off “on-call” duty and letting the young guns take over for a bit. Haha.

2nd Round

Andy – is working on a special project out at the Priddis golf course with his son. A huge storm last year felled a number of trees. Rather than get rid of the wood, or recycle it in the usual way, a project was struck up that will see Andy and his son morph those old trees into benches for the tee boxes at the golf course. There could be as many as 50 benches by the time they’re all done! There’s no word on whether Dave Reid will be allowed on the course to claim one

Dan – added another note from his swing out to the coast. In the False Creek area, near Kitsilano beach, the water there is terribly polluted from our environmental “cuzzins” dumping sewage from their boats and yachts because they don’t want to pay to do it properly. It’s so bad that the local authorities have started to offer “free” dumping to prevent further contamination. These are no doubt the same people concerned about “all those extra tankers….”

Unrelated to that, but perhaps prompted by memories of the port, Dan added this note about inventories and logistics chains. Trans Am Pipe’s inventories are pretty good now, BUT they have containers originating from Europe sitting in Eastern Canada. With rail traffic halted or compromised, it’s possible their stock and service could be affected.

PARTING SHOT – Brett Bain : “What’s 20 feet long and smells of urine?

A line dance at a seniors’ home.

Thank you and good night! He’s here all week!

Early Birds For Snowbirds Feb 13, 2020

Fri, 14 Feb 2020 05:38:00 GMT

Mike Mikkelson – chaired today in Dan Kenelly’s absence and started by noting the protests in support of the Wet’suwet’en Nation. He ran into one trying to turn onto the (ironically named) Reconciliation Bridge. Definitely frustrating. He talked about the disruption to CN passenger and Freight traffic out East.

Later in the day as I was preparing to write the minutes I came across a great editorial that very diplomatically (Oh Canada!) expressed the sentiment boiling under the surface across the country (throw them in jail already!). Worth a read: A protest is a constitutionally protected right. A railway blockade isn’t.

Don Doolan – was back after a bit of time in Montana listening to his neighbour ***ch about Trump. Same neighbour, or neighbor, in this case, likes to take Don snowshoeing. Don: “Snowshoeing is hard!”. ????

This neighbor thinks of himself as a trapper, although last year, the only thing he trapped was a skunk.

Ross Mikkelsen – added to the protest conversation by noting the consequences to freight shipments being delayed. He’s in the unusual position (for this early in the year) to have pretty much all Barbecues Galore’s stock, BUT the knock-on effects of prolonged logistics issues are going to hit retail hard. Getting parts (made in China, never mind the rail issue) is going to add cumulative hardship.

In China, Ross has learned that the government is going to allow people to go back to work -IF- they have the right mask. Guess who sells the masks? Yep, your friendly neighbourhood repressor-in-chief Xi. So, in effect, the government will dole out the masks-as-work-permits, which on the one hand is good. With the Chinese government, there’s always that other, often unseen hand though. So it’ll be interesting to see how that all works out.

Brett Bain – told the story of Vicki trying to book a flight to Phoenix via Westjet in March. She was shocked to discover it would cost her $947. She can go anytime, so she thought she’d look a little later in March and it was around the $1000 mark every time. Andy wondered aloud if maybe it had something to do with March Madness, then revised to suggest that the grounding of the Boeing plane had more to do with it. A quick check of Google Flights does show the best prices flying out and back on the weekend though. See below.

Brad Pachal – thanked Paul for a quick tip on iPhone photo settings. He takes a lot of photos for work and they were being preserved in Apple’s new format, which, naturally, won’t open on any non-Apple device.

The ????tip was to check the camera settings. I’ve put three screenshots that show you what to check for at the very bottom of the minutes.

Brad also mentioned that he was talking to a door supplier. That supplier was telling him the same thing that Mike M. had discussed in passing which is “big” commercial work is sporadic at best. HOWEVER, for Brad, as a small contractor who is consistently working, it’s worked out in his favour. He’s finding he’s getting MUCH better and more personalized service.

Brad also noted in passing that the old Rona/Totem in Midnapore is 100% shut down. He thinks he saw a Hutterite trailer at the store entrance last week hauling out stacking/shelving.

Tony Fisher – lives in Jeromy Farkas ‘ riding. Farkas has become the “ David ” to the council’s “ Goliath ” during his term. (I was going to say Nenshi’s Goliath , but that seemed a bit easy.).

In any case, he’s been sending surveys around his ward basically asking if his constituents think he’s on track with the various things he’s pursuing. (Magliocca’s just the latest issue he’s taken a “head-on” approach to). He wants to know if his constituents care as much about accountability as he does. For example, following up on an internal city recommendation to phase out the “transition” allowances for councilors on the way out. It’s a $50,000 “Golden Handshake” you can read more about here: https://globalnews.ca/news/6279900/calgary-municipal-politicians-transition-allowance-scrutiny/ .

In the grand tradition of finding absolutely the LEAST flattering photo of the “villain-de-jour”, I offer this courtesy of the CBC:

Michael McLennan – passed on thanks to JD and Son-Rise Plumbing for fixing his house last Thursday.

Michael’s business horizon might be consumed by 3D printing and additive manufacturing at the moment, but the shop still carries Epson film scanners. The scanners are perfect for anyone who doesn’t want to go the chemical route to developing old negatives…and who doesn’t have a darkroom just sitting idle in the basement these days, huh?

TRS Officeware carries one of the Cadillacs of the Epson film scanner line – the Perfection V850 (this is what happens when engineers name products), but Michael could point the way to one of their other options for smaller projects.

Michael also told us about a great business that’s provided him with excellent quality kennels for his dogs ( you KNOW they’re good, Michael adores his dogs). He’s lost a dog recently, so sold the dual kennel (powder coated, excellent quality – new for $900). However, he wanted for sure to give a shout out to Nikanda Sport Dog Equipment at https://www.nikanda.net/?fbclid=IwAR1sZn1mUKy93bpZULER2CLZsDR5r1CzIXWJOOeYeMzr1QKga4iU1oa1tQs . If you find yourself wanting a great kennel for a sporting, or even just larger, dog, they’re an excellent shop!

Andy Lockhart – was back after 3 weeks that went like this: YYC-YVR-PHX-North Carolina-PHX-YYC.

He enjoyed some great time in North Carolina with some fellow artisans, refreshing some knowledge and creating a few things before heading back to Arizona to hit the golf course. He did mention that it was cooler than they would have thought, seldom rising above the mid-60s. It was cool enough that on one day there was a one-hour frost delay.

He also noted how, as Canadians, they NEVER get paired with the locals. They usually wind being paired up with other snowbirds. Turns out this time, he was paired with a guy he’d played hockey with for 20 years. Nice to make Norm’s re-acquaintance

Sean Baylis – regaled us with a rich “market digest”.

Among the nuggets today:

JD MacDonald – Thanks to Mike M.

JD stocks bits and pieces from all sorts of manufacturers, and he’s noticed some strange calls lately. Strange as in calling tech support in one and being told to call back tomorrow.

Strange as in being told that parts for the patio heaters for a client (Cactus Club) won’t be available until NEXT Tuesday. Who does THAT in the Amazon era?

He’s experienced a similar delay from a German manufacturer for a client in Springbank.

Mel Gibson – was at the Larry Kwong Chinese New Year dinner, and although they had 140-ish people out for the dinner in the private event room, there were *2*, count ’em, *2* people in the rest of the Regency Palace restaurant.

Mel flagged the current re-write of many of the rules governing the insurance industry in Alberta by the gov’t. Among the changes that might prove particularly onerous to apply is one requiring owners of 300-400 unit buildings to confirm *tenant* insurance coverage in every.single.unit.

The benefit of that isn’t clear, and it’s a huge “make-work” prospect for owners and naturally, insurance coverage providers, but there it is.

George Doherty – talked about discovering that his blood pressure medication was in short supply at his regular pharmacy. He was only able to get half the regular amount and the pharmacist told him that the shortage was due to last at least 6 months and he might have to look at switching his medication.

That’s a potentially significant issue with travel insurance among other things, so George went to Shoppers Drug Mart on a hunch.

Monsieur Poirot-Doherty was correct. Shoppers had LOADS of his medication. The pharmacist there explained that Shoppers buys in bulk and supplies their whole network, giving the bigger players a HUGE leg up over the neighbourhood pharmacies. He also explained that Shoppers is attempting to hire only pharmacists with the qualifications to alter prescriptions (not just issue them).

George recalled how as a practicing pharmacist, he was part of a movement to allow that sort of thing to happen, but it turned into a turf war between the doctors and pharmacists, with doctors holding the line in the end. Obviously, the balance of power has shifted and it’s a positive evolution for consumers and pharmacists, but a potentially negative one for doctors until some structural changes to the way health services are billed occur.

2nd Round

Andy tied back into a business development conversation (Prospect! Prospect! Prospect!) that stemmed from a SAWS meeting that he and Brad attended. It turns out the 2nd generation owner of Black Forest Wood Company (Bay 7, 603-77th Ave SE), Dylan Thomas, has become a huge proponent (based on their success and hard data) of every type of social media marketing. The shop has three solid pillars for its business to begin with: retail, school, and door manufacturing. However, You can see the extent of their social “footprint” across every platform on a page dedicated to their social media presence on their web site here: https://blackforestwood.com/pages/our-social-media . They have 715,000 followers on Instagram. To give you an idea of the potential worth of that sort of influence. If you wanted to buy an ad on the Black Forest Instagram feed, it would cost roughly $3200 (it’s roughly $3400 per million followers according to an estimate I heard recently). That’s a potential revenue stream that has nothing, yet everything to do with their brick and mortar business.

Ross – turned to Sean and asked what he and RBC thought of Tesla…and the answer was basically “meh”. RBC’s not a fan. Feels they’re overvalued in a similar way to the Cannabis stocks in Canada last year. There are more and more conventional manufacturers (who can manufacture at SCALE) entering the EV market…and finally, Tesla doesn’t make any money .

Because Tesla’s often considered hand in hand with tech stocks, Sean mentioned that RBC has added a letter to the tech stock acronym FANG. it’s now FANGU – for Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google and…Uber. Analysts think that millennials in cities will rideshare before they ever own a car…and that makes Uber a solid bet.

Final 2nd round note was from Tony – who noted that he’d attended this year’s RV show. Speaking with an oil exec there, they discussed the fact the show was up 17% in traffic and then the conversation turned to the oil exec’s purchase of a motorhome. He was sort of sick of plane travel…didn’t necessarily want to travel into the States beyond Montana and Idaho and though the motorhome was perfect for that.

Montana and motorhomes always bring some slightly post-apocalyptic survivalists to mind…but maybe that’s just me.

Anyway – that was it – the only thing left are those iPhone camera settings you may or may not have a reason to look at below.

Snowshoe Birds, Feb 6, 2020

Fri, 07 Feb 2020 06:08:00 GMT

Dan Kennelly – meeting in Vancouver for TMX related business next week. Mike M will chair. He did note that things are S.L.O.W. while the industry wait to hopefully ramp up. Fabricators are idle and letting a lot of people go. 60-80 people from one fabricator next week. There is STILL economic carnage.

Dan also noted that the Olympic oval will have World Cup Speed Skating tomorrow and Saturday (Feb 7th and 8th). Tickets are available at the Olympic Oval web site: https://oval.ucalgary.ca/ .

Paul Boucher – Talked about creating a video ad to do a bit of social media marketing. He used a web site called Animoto to build it, but his 15-year-old digital-native son deserves the credit for putting the 8-9 visual elements in the right order, and for harmonizing the colour palette.
He DID discover though that the average human being, when looking at video online, has an attention span that is less than a Goldfish.

From: the web page at: https://www.falcon.io/insights-hub/topics/social-media-strategy/instagram-video-ads/ . The average human now has a shorter attention span than a goldfish. Source: Disruptive Advertising .

Dwayne Vinck – Had his accounting toque on and immediately picked up on the family slave labour theme. He noted how much the rules have changed for sharing revenue. Make sure everything is well documented and can be justified.

He then discussed changes taking place at a company that he’s (essentially) in control of. The company has been doing well, so investors have been paying more attention. It’s an interesting time with improvement in fortunes to attempt an accurate valuation.

Jim Bladon – joined in with an ATB-specific bit on attention spans. There’s internal coaching around the fact that even face-to-face, people have a 10-second attention span. If you don’t get your most important message out in the first 10 seconds, it probably won’t land.

He was also part of very well-attended meetings with many companies involved in the Cannabis industry. 70-75 of them if memory serves. Many producers are struggling for profitability. A big part of the problem is that these companies had very little understanding of their cost structure and what access to the market would cost or look like. Until the licensed, legal outlets figure out cost structure and *actually release good product* , many will simply disappear (in a puff of…oh, never mind). 5 large producers have gone under. 10-20 more lining up for the exit in 2020. Producers are running at about 60% capacity. Even at that, they’re still oversupplying the market with poor products.

Last tip from Jim – he used Trivago to get a rate of $89 at Caribou Lodge in Banff. The actual hotel site’s BEST deal when I checked writing the minutes was for $94 and that was valid for only one night for the rest of February.

Don Doolan – talked about Canadian mattress-in-a-box company Casper listing on the NYSE last week. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/06/casper-cspr-ipo-stock-starts-trading-on-the-nyse.html . Don noted that Casper is still a money-losing company despite the hype – $81 million last year.

Don also noted that he’s REALLY glad he’s not on any cruise ship quarantining Coronavirus or potential Coronovirus patients. Among other things he figures Yvonne would kill him in a few days after being cooped up in the closet they call accommodations on cruise ships.

Mike Mikkelson – had this headline: BlackBerry phones passing into history in August. The story’s here: https://business.financialpost.com/technology/personal-tech/end-of-an-icon-blackberry-manufacturer-to-stop-making-and-selling-handset-in-august .

In other news, Mike was talking to some of the biggest commercial flooring companies and their guys told him that they just lived through the worst December and January in history.

Ian Campbell – Once again looking for audiologists. Not only are they in high demand, but they have to a tendency to be female and young enough to be starting families. As a result, maternity leave comes into play often for his business. His tip was that if we had kids (particularly boys!) who weren’t sure what they wanted to be, they should look at audiology. They’d get work!

LinkedIn has been a valuable resource to help identify prospective new employees and continues to be.

The other problem he’s been running into is that his suppliers also need audiologists. Not only can they offer a bit more money, they are aggressive to the point of almost bullying them into accepting job offers. When one candidate discussed this with Ian his response was pretty direct: If they’re putting this much pressure on you in the hiring process, imagine what it’ll be like WORKING for them.

He was one of a few people to thank JD and Son-Rise Plumbing. In his specific case, it was for help with pipes frozen to the washing machine. (!?)

Ross Mikkelsen – thanks to Dave Hicks for work in the house. Everyone’s happy again.

Ross had some really interesting conversations with his China contacts. One told him a story about traveling in Southern China. The car was stopped, and everyone was forced to have their temperature taken since fever is one of the visible symptoms of Coronavirus.

Of course, it’s the Lunar New Year holiday there. Normally it’s a two week holiday. The government has given everyone an extra week off and ordered employers to pay their employees. How long can that go on before businesses are forced out of business?

Ross’ reflection was that no news outlets in North American have focused yet on what is possibly a looming crisis in MANY parts of the economy. As an example, he noted that while the majority of the barbecues Barbecues Galore sells are assembled in Canada – most of the parts are made in Chin a. No one’s driving to the docks. No one’s working at the docks. No one’s traveling on ships. He figures pretty much every retailer western world is going to run into stock problems. Major delays must be coming because of delays in so many supply chains.

One last related story – in Hong Kong – where no one has died from the virus yet, apartment buildings are organizing in such a way that ONE person per floor of an apartment building is being sent to get groceries and running other errands. It’s all very dramatic.

George Doherty – In his pharmacist career, he had a couple of opportunities to have a pandemic conversation with experts. One nugget was that deaths become linked to quarantine and lack of motion. It’ll be interesting to see how the various measures around the world being used measure up to the task.

He then told us about how his brother’s son is a curator. Of late he’s been doing some work for Contemporary Calgary (gallery) housed in the old planetarium building. Part of the process of bringing the building up to snuff was a large scale (and expen$ive) asbestos remediation. It opened to the public last week and there are some good exhibits. You can see for yourself for $10 per entry – OR buy an annual membership for $20. There’s more information here. https://www.contemporarycalgary.com/

Brad Pachal – Brad’s wife works with the federal government in a capacity assisting newcomers to Canada. Our economy has led to a cut of 80-90 seats in the part of the program that teaches English to the new arrivals. It’s partly a result of fewer people coming, but also a reflection of the lower level of activity in general in Calgary regarding immigration and in-migration.

Regarding social media marketing – a guy who’s very well known for his extraordinary tabletops has been making a killing on Instagram. He’s now teaching entrepreneurs is Brad’s domain how to use the various platforms, but Instagram in particular to get business.

Brad then wondered out loud about what the difference in conversations might be between entrepreneurs now vs 42 years ago. A few people chimed in that it’s still about who you know – and collecting MORE people that you know and that social media is just another tool to do it.

Dave Hicks – had thanks to Brad, Ian, and Ross for work in town. He has a special appreciation for the work in town since he and his crew have been busy out along the Athabasca Glacier/Columbia Ice Fields. They’re headed back out there soon. He mentioned getting his son out there on snowshoes. Fun!

Dave also mentioned that for a month now he’s been trying intermittent fasting . He’s combining that with a bit of focused exercise and finds that he’s had more energy, but he’s also sleeping better. So, he’ll keep at it for a while and keep us in the loop. In his case. it’s more about good health, not so much about losing weight – but it’s helped with that too. I went hunting for information on the practice and found this: https://www.cbc.ca/life/wellness/the-benefits-and-risks-of-intermittent-fasting-1.4979530 .

Tony Fisher – Knows a Philippine gal, who unsurprisingly, is having trouble traveling to Asia. Tony’s note about the Coronavirus is that he’s read that China and others are worried about the virus striking in Vietnam on any scale since they do NOT have the infrastructure to handle it. Ditto India.

One more virus-related note concerned the Calgary airport. They’ve REALLY noticed a travel cutback to and from Asia and a drop in overall passenger traffic as a result.

Mel Gibson – spoke about new WOOD FRAME 12 story condos being built. Firefighters are naturally not amused. They could be a real problem despite being 100% “sprinklered” per the building code. and firefighters with wood frames. Real problem. That might not be enough to prevent loss of life.

Switching gears he mentioned that as part of the industry’s mandate for them to retain their license to sell insurance, they have to engage in 15 hours of continuing education every year. Of all things, he found a course on 3D printing. They certainly discussed the marvels that 3D printing can bring about, but they’re also exploring it from a possible liability perspective. All this micro-manufacturing with very few controls could be problematic. That could a fascinating evolving area for the insurance industry! Maybe not in a good way.

From Mel talking about 3D printing to Michael McLennan evangelizing about it. He had a terrific article on precision cutting tools being printed/manufactured and a terrific article from the UK division of Guhring doing it. We ran short of time and he’ll bring the article back – but if you’re interested in reading more, please click on the caption below the image and it will lead you to a PDf version of the article.

Despite all the excitement around 3D printing and its future, the present still involves selling a lot of copiers to keep the doors open and support growth. They ARE finding that there’s a LOT of “like-new” used office equipment being sold as shops close around the city and the province.

One of the places Michael is capitalizing on the buzz around the technology is on LinkedIn. He prospects on LinkedIn, essentially proposes to connect in the event that 3D printers might come into play in that prospect’s business. He literally makes connections all day long every week. The connections come from all over Western Canada, but many are local.

A final note from Michael: he recently put his Toyota Tundra truck up for sale on Kijiji. It took 1 1/2 minutes to sell to a buyer who paid a fair price.

JD MacDonald – relating that after the hectic pace of the cold snap for their business, things slowed down this week.

He passed on that one thing he’s re-discovering is how much more effective presenting in estimates in person is rather than sending them via email.

JD and Phyllis also wanted to pass on how much they enjoyed Allora Italian restaurant in Aspen Landing recently. It was a little pricey but delicious, and a nice experience. https://allorarestaurant.com/

Bob Wiggins – once again advised to read your insurance policy. Bob’s no fan of Manulife which is particularly egregious when it comes to denying claims. This story had a twist to it though.

The widow of a Canadian citizen was denied the death benefit accorded to her by a lower-level court. The reason? Her husband had been, a bit, um, circumspect when NOT describing his history before arriving in Canada. To be fair, there were no questions on the original questionnaire about any of those things. He paid premiums from 1987 until his death on a $75K policy. However , he neglected to mention that he’d been a member of the PLO.

Manulife essentially argued that it was an undeclared risk that could have materially affected their decision to grant the policy in the first place. You can kind of see both sides in this one (unusual when talking about an insurance company denying a claim), but the rest of the story is available by clicking on the word Manulife .

After that light diversion into insurance territory, Bob again mentioned a book that is a damning indictment of large swaths of the insurance industry. The book Delay, Deny, Defend on insurance. It’s available on Amazon .

January 30th

Mon, 03 Feb 2020 18:35:00 GMT

Members:

Brett Bain. Frustrated by RBC: they’re replacing tellers with iPads. You want service? Go Online. But Vicky just wanted some US cash for trip. Not going to happen in the Strathmore branch. Not any more. • Strange things are happening in the jobs market. Guess how much an Apple Store Genius Bar tech makes? $75,000/year!

Sean Baylis. So. He sees an inverted yield curve which often precedes a recession by 12 – 24 months. Now may be a buying opportunity … though he’d like the corona event to settle down. • He kinda likes Azure Business by MicroSoft. He likes FaceBook but is a bit put off by recent performance. And he expects WhatsApp to be soon monetized.

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher. Remember Paul’s story about a client who wouldn’t/wasn’t paying? Well, the guy has paid as he now wants more work from Paul. • If you’re a social media user and have noticed those short videos with ‘supers’ (words on screen in lieu of turning on the audio function), know that Paul’s son has mastered the software for these productions.

Ian Campbell:

Matt Dart. He’s escaping winter by attending a Trade Show in Orlando. • He ordered some tickets to a sports event on Ticket Master and his schedule changed but tickets are not being changed. (Sometimes, a little insurance is a good idea, he says. )

Don Davis. Don and Pat are soon off to Victoria where they’ll enjoy lower cost SHAW services. Not only does Pat enjoy negotiating as much as Don does, she goes for the juglar. Shaw is now shy of her.

Todd Dean: Again: he’s been everywhere, man! And next is off to ski in USA. Speaking of which, Todd’ll be addressing a crowd of thousands of audiologists in New Orleans. soon.

George Doherty. He ran into Joe Drisdale who may just soon finish his 20-year real estate project in Okotoks. Sounds very promising.

Don Doolan .

Tony Fisher. He’s a bit leery of Chinese New Year events in China town.

Gord Forsyth.

Mel Gibson. As he has pointed out: water is a big hazard for residential insurance companies. Which is why some companies are pitching in on cost of Moen Flow alarm. (JD sells and install these BYW). Details vary by company.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks .

Dan Kennelly. (I know he’s been helping parents … but I was slow to start notating so missed the core message.)

Matt Litke.

Andy Lockhart.

JD. MacDonald. C old weather benefits: the temperature plunge has created a fair bit of work for JD and crew.

Michael McLennan. The LOW cost of golf at the Carstairs golf course is worth a look. • If you’d like a good truck, he’s selling his 2017 Tundra; low mileage.

Ross Mikkelsen . Like Mike, Ross has experienced the “thrill of realizing” your licence has expired just as he was about to rent a car. (.As it turned out, story has a happy ending as serendipity came along and saved Ross’s bacon.)

Mike Mikkelson . First thing right now, check your Drivers licence … make sure it has not expired. Mike was unable to rent a car on recent rip to Cleveland.• Mike’s safety equipment business is having a devil of a time getting respirator elements and such because of the Corona virus event. Supplies not likely to improve as the items are made in … China.

Brad Pachal. He likes his iPhone for the quality of the photos. Seems Apple has better compression technology.

Gerry Parcells. Has been hurting because of a drug for his kidneys. So he went off it and feels mucho better. Even his Doc agrees. • He is now driving a maroon Honda Pilot. Though it is so loaded he is challenged somewhat: how do I get the radio to play? He asks.

Dwayne Vinck. His sulphur recovery company/project is looking up. Seems there’s a Spanish twist in the works. Stay tuned.

Bob Wiggins .

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Balmy on January 25th

Thu, 23 Jan 2020 22:16:00 GMT

Dwayne will invite the CEO of http://proton.energy/ to breakfast one of these day.

Members:

Brett Bain. LinkedIn delivers job applications (if you know how to use it). Brett ran an ad and got 95 applicants (at that point, he turned ad off – having enough to choose from, he was also saving money ). Now, please pay attention: do not click on anything from email – including Attachments – until you’ve confirmed to yourself that it is a legitimate action to take. One of Brett’s customers just lost $40,000 from their bank account. Another opened a nefarious attachment and got a ransom note.

Sean Baylis. His RBC special meeting with Jim Allworth is this evening. Meanwhile, expect some softening in travel related stocks (hotels, airlines, resorts etc.) until SARS-like virus is addressed. Commodities may offer some up and down excitement. Markets sound complicated.

Jim Bladon. He and 600 of his Aggie friends enjoyed the Agricultural Gathering at the Big 4 Conference Centre. One observation: it’s amazing how similar Agriculture’s challenges are to Alberta’s Energy Industry’s needs. • Jim recommends the “Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez” on Netflix. It’s a compelling documentary.

Paul Boucher.

Ian Campbell: Ian reports that Garry Vaynerchuk (of Wine Library TV and various social media and VC activities) was an exceptional presenter/success-story teller at the conference Ian attended. • Ian is liking LinkedIn. • Ian also has much to say about hearing aide technologies (too fast for proper notes: maybe we should have an Ian presentation about the best of Hearing Aides?).

Matt Dart. Another Netflix show to catch: “Don’t F**k With Cats” •

Don Davis. (This scribe has been told to not mention Olga, so I won’t. But if you happen to smell garlic around Don, try not to look guilty, ok.) • Yes, Pat and Don’s daughter are off to Vegas. • Meanwhile, Don’s son emulates his father by negotiating low, low mortgage rate for his home in Canmore.

Todd Dean:

George Doherty. George is not sure he’s enjoying his brush with fame. Seems a charming and pretty young thing from the U of A bought him lunch and presented him with a copy of a book about the History of Pharmacists in Alberta (with a chapter about him and Skip). For desert, she mentioned that as he’s not getting any younger, had he considered leaving a financial legacy to the school of pharmacy?

Don Doolan .

Tony Fisher. If you’re careful with your shekels, you might want to get the GasBuddy App for your phone: it makes it easy to save ten cents a litre on fills.• And if you’re thinking of using 14th Street SW, don’t bother: access to Glenmore Landing is still a mess; road hazards abound and there’s so much room aboard the new buses, you might want to consider taking the bus.

Gord Forsyth.

Mel Gibson. R esidential insurance for condos is still an industry bugbear. A solution is on the horizon. Maybe.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks .

Dan Kennelly.

Matt Litke.

Andy Lockhart.

JD. MacDonald. Liking LinkedIn, he is.

Michael McLennan. Enjoyed his free time on business visit to Savanah. • MarkForged is recasting itself again. 3D is churning out parts for helicopters, LG products and BMW autos. Equispheres Inc is patenting a revolutionary metal powder 3D process that may revolutionize aluminium parts. More to come on this subject … enough for a breakfast some day.

Ross Mikkelsen .

Mike Mikkelson .

Brad Pachal. Too busy trying to control the meeting to say his bit.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck. His T-shirt maybe said it all. It reads” Keep Calm and Carry on, on the Fun Side of Trump’s Wall.

Bob Wiggins . He and Dorothy enjoyed a weekend at Banff Snow Days. Snow sculptures are impressive.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Sub Arctic Birds, January 16th, 2020

Sat, 18 Jan 2020 01:36:00 GMT

Let’s start with a little gold from Bob Wiggins :

Dan Kennelly – passed on that some shops Trans Am Pipe deals with are a bit slow and things feel a bit scary. A couple of reputable machine shops (one in business for 26 years) went out of business to start the year. When things get busier those absences will have an impact. They tend to be specialized, so they’ll be missed, and likely cause project delays.

Keystone construction work will start, which should lead to better times, but projects in Canada continue to be subject to both internal and external forces putting up obstacles. The latest frustration is the UN not minding its own bloody business and telling Canada that Indigenous rights trump everything else. We’re bad boys and girls and should be ashamed of wanting to develop and sell our responsibly produced resources.

Don Davis – testified that the Canmore real estate market is defying Alberta’s gravity. Don went out to see his son’s house and found it a little tough to reconcile some of the prices with the value acquired – especially right in Canmore. Once you’re actually outside of town things are marginally better. His son was being quoted mortgage rates by RBC like 3.1 – Don figures he should be able to get 2.5. Andy Lockhart chimed in with the age-old wisdom that variable-rate mortgages pay off over time if the variance of a point or two won’t do you in from month to month.

Other Canmore news – talk of the town was a couple of Vegas folks who got caught on the river and needed rescue help. They went walking out on the ice. It’s Canada – it’s frozen right? Well, the ice broke and they wound up stuck on an ice island. Rescue crew gave ’em a break because they were visiting from Vegas. ( *ed note – I think they should have asked them if they were Trump supporters first. If they were, I woulda wished ’em luck and told them not to mind the wolves. )

Ross Mikkelsen – was in Ontario making sure the employees there hadn’t burnt his store down. Says in Ontario, they’re worried about winter arriving. Sometime. Then it rained again.

Ross also noted that the City of Calgary and the Feds were patting each other on the back for a land swap including the lot behind the north store to build low-income housing. Ross noted that the homeless have been using that lot for years. More detail at this link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-city-affordable-housing-1.5427894

Don Doolan – had his eye on the Supreme Court case re: the pipeline. Until the verdict came down ( https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/supreme-court-bc-reference-trans-mountain-1.5429423 ), the thought had crossed his mind that the Feds might be kissing 4.5 billion dollars buh-bye.

Big excitement (other than country-shattering/building Supreme court decisions) was when he happened to be at the Foothills prostrate clinic doing yoga and found himself in the midst of a search for escaped psych patient who got away. How, no one knew. There was police everywhere, short-ish lockdown, but he assumes all ended well since he’s heard nothing more about it.

Paul Boucher – noted he appreciates the features of his Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, Nimble. For a solopreneur like him, having a solution that helps to semi-automate communication and follow up with clients has led to a couple of pieces of business closing. You can take a look at what it does here: https://www.nimble.com/ .

Paul also found a funny article that laid out “The Real Meanings Behind 28 Common Phrases”. The whole article is here – one of the best is below: https://twistedsifter.com/2020/01/real-meanings-behind-common-phrases-compilation/

Brad Pachal – was telling us how sales happen for his business. It happens mostly when clients come over to his home go over options and do budgets. They’re able to survey the quality of his work first hand since pretty much every piece of his home has at one or another found itself worked over by his skilled hands and craft/artistic vision. The sight of the finished outcome tends to stimulate an almost Pavlovian “I Want That!” response. One of the nicest compliments Brad has received from a client who’s been through is that they consider him more of an artisan than “just” a contractor.

Brad also passed on thanks to Dave Hicks for work done.

The last thing Brad talked about was getting a call from his wife about the temperature in the house having dropped to 16 degrees and the furnace not working. Brad being Brad, he went about methodically figuring out the problem and eventually arrived at the programmable thermostat. A change of batteries helped to make sure the signals were getting to the furnace. So, check those batteries from time to time. Although the battery meter on the device said things were shipshape, Brad tested the batteries and saw they were low. Another tip, he keeps an old school “hand-powered” thermostat on hand in case the programmable one goes on the fritz.

It prompted a good conversation and contributions from various people among them: if your furnace vents out underneath an overhang, keep an eye out for things like freezing soffits and ice or frost accumulation which could lead to the same in attics. Eventually, that stuff has to melt somewhere, and it’s usually…down. Through lights, along walls, etc. The other note I’ll add as a Nest Thermostat owner is that many of these new “smart” thermostats are able to tell when no one’s home (no movement detected). When that happens, the thermostat will allow the temperature to fall to your preset “Away” temperature. In a friend’s case recently, that turned out to be 12 which could turn into a problem…so be mindful of that setting among other things.

Andy Lockhart – contributed that note about variable-rate vs fixed-rate mortgages and other asides. The biggest news though was that they were taking off to Vancouver for a celebration of life for a cousin, then off Phoenix. While exploring points south, he’s planning to head out to Asheville North Carolina to hang out with fellow wood artisans.

Matt Dart – plenty of attention paid to economy talk, development and construction. The basic message for Calgary and Alberta was “good not great.” 2% growth likely for Alberta. 2021 is forecast to be better.

Matt added to the furnace conversation by mentioning that ATCO is selling an appliance that is half furnace half water heater. I couldn’t find it on the ATCO site but did find this article for anyone who’s curious enough to go down their own Google rabbit hole: https://www.probuilder.com/hvac-water-heater-systems-are-winning-combination .

For the record, Matt noted the impeachment trial started. This resonated with Matt and anyone else with an eye on politics. The 2016 election was divisive for America, but on the micro-level, it also divided families like Matt’s. In the runup to the Trump watershed, Matt discussed his family being more or less half MAGA and half anyone else. The world will watch. McConnell will haunt dreams.

Tony Fisher – countered *that* real estate news with a more positive take noting that at least in one source, real estate (construction, development etc) were 22 points up from last year.

Then Tony shared a sports note that you may have missed – about the big cheating scandal involving World Series winners the Houston Astros. Crazy stuff, AND they’ve been allowed to keep the championship despite all the evidence. Here’s a [retty detailed piece on the story from CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/15/opinions/houston-astros-cheating-scandal-downey/index.html .

Andy and Ross 2nd round – Andy mentioned that for all of the economic data we have, one of his favourite business writers, Kevin Carmichael has a great piece talking about how we’re completely blind to the growth being powered by the digital economy. That piece is here: https://business.financialpost.com/news/economy/oil-remains-a-pillar-of-canadas-economy-but-its-the-digital-economy-thats-driving-growth?video_autoplay=true . I found that on a page listing a clutch of great pieces written by Carmichael. That page is here: https://business.financialpost.com/author/kcarmichaelpostmedia . The upshot is that the economy is likely “better than it seems” at first blush.

To THAT, Ross chimed in with a powerful caveat, citing Amazon in particular. Amazon pays no taxes, and makes NO contribution to local or regional economies other than the one they live in in the US. No purchases made through Amazon benefit the local, regional or national economy they’re made FROM . Those things are all repatriated back to the US.

So, Amazon follows the Walmart formula. They set up shop, hollow out local business and then leave. The effects are foreseeable: no local options left and at the mercy of a giant monopoly. Ross mentioned the Land of Giants podcast as a great listen. It’s all about the rise of the big tech companies – but Amazon is its focus right now and episode titles include: “When Amazon Leaves Your Town”, “I Love Amazon. Let’s Break It Up”, “Why You’ll Never Quit Amazon Prime”. The link so you can take a listen and subscribe easily is: https://pod.link/1465767420 .

Incidentally, Amazon paid NO tax on 11.2 BILLION dollars in profit in 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2019/02/16/amazon-paid-no-federal-taxes-billion-profits-last-year/ .

Dan Kennelly chimed in on that theme of external suppliers citing as an example the new Enmax plant on the east edge of town. It was almost completely built outside of Canada and imported to be “assembled” here. These external companies that win bids aren’t forced to use Canadian suppliers; there’s no protection of any kind in these big bids for Canadian fabricators, etc.

Other 2nd round wisdom : Check your tire pressure on a warm car and tire indoors. Valves get stuck out in this cold and you might find yourself with a valve stuck open as you try to fill your tires. Also, be careful measuring – it won’t be accurate outside.

Sean Baylis wasn’t there – but had sent out a great email blast talking about an upcoming event that many Birds have attended in the past. Here’s the text from the email:

To close things out this week – wisdom up in lights:

December 19, 1019.

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 17:58:00 GMT

Birds December 12th

Wed, 18 Dec 2019 03:51:00 GMT

Dan Kenelly – Opened with news on Grizzly oil sands project for Teck Coal. IF it goes ahead (snowflakes are on the March), it will be great news for the industry. TC Pipeline work has started, and business in general is slowly starting to pick up.

Brett Bain – Threw this conversational hand grenade out: I question the return on value for the energy war room set up by the UCP . Responses flowed sporadically throughout and are below.

Dwayne Vinck – speech from Michelle Rempel – decisions made in parliament have more of an effect than a lot of other factors when it comes the capital fleeing Alberta. I’ve misplaced the link to the speech if Dwayne and I exchanged it, but I do have a link to her reaction to the Throne Speech here: https://youtu.be/bJ1-s7XRrOk . At least for her first response, she seems genuinely despondent on behalf of her constituents and her sincerity is unquestionable.

Dwayne also warned of ONE MORE email scam we should be on the lookout for, one from a party purporting to be a Junior mining company asking for bank details. Just. Don’t.

Gord Forsyth – First of a few responses to Brett’s verbal grenade: He was at a reception last night (Dec 11th), and the feeling there was that the war room is *already* doing a bit of the intended good, making some green opponents fearful for their funding. The war room hasn’t actually *done* anything yet, and the snowflakes are lining up their snowflake lawyers to legally obstruct it in any way possible.

George Doherty – George gets the flu shot every year and highly recommends it to everyone this year. It’s a bad flu this year and the flu season is off to an early (and strange) start. Here’s a piece from a site called Live Science: https://www.livescience.com/flu-season-weird-start.html , and in Canada, your tax dollars at work are supporting this (actually useful) page: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/flu-influenza/influenza-surveillance/weekly-influenza-reports.html .

Matt Litke – 6 days away from due date to number 1 child on December 12th (so, by the time you read this…). Ashley was still working (her last day was last Thursday).

Matt announced that he intended to take the take the next year off from Birds and miscellaneous other commitments as he concentrated on being a new dad, a sleepless husband (always useful after childbirth), and his NEW JOB. He received the promotion he’d been working hard to achieve and qualify for: Financial Planner.

Mel Gibson – Naturally Mel pays attention to industry news, but he has an especially sharp eye for when underwriters, particularly travel insurance underwriters, decline claims.

Recently a young Canadian guy in Thailand was denied a claim to return home via Air Ambulance by Global Allianz after doctors there discovered a malignant brain tumour. First, this classy organization, Global Allianz in case you missed it, initially denied the claim to bring home their client via air ambulance, then followed that up by quoting them $265,000 for one…then finally coughed up thanks to public pressure. He’s still in hospital (August event). Mel’s advice – be diligent going over the fine print on policies, always. There’s one version of the story from an insurance perspective here that echoes Mel’s advice and provides more details: https://stlawyers.ca/blog-news/canadian-with-brain-tumour-in-thailand-has-travel-insurance-denied/ .

Mel also mentioned that it may serve you to join an organization like AirMed to supplement your insurance in case of things like this.

Here’s a link to get more information about AirMed: https://airmed.com/ .

JD MacDonald – Enjoying some lovely family time and school plays. Maybe those seem better when you have a bit more distance from them. ????

On the work front, the ongoing story is many quotes, work being deferred, and certainly most work quoted on in early December has been deferred to 2020.

Tony Fisher – Tony saw Paul Brandt at Bella concert hall. Great facility and sound. First class. Parking easy too. it’s definitely worth looking up exactly where to park before you go. it’ll save you a long-ish walk.

Dave Hicks – Dave was in Edmonton last week- fire alarm training upgrade and training course. Dave has his Master Electrician designation, and brought up a concern that was discussed during the course. Outside of Master Electricians, there’s not a lot of upgrading imposed on the 80,000 electricians in Canada. Once you’ve got your papers, you’re good.

Naturally that means that even with constant building and electrical code changes, ONLY your master electricians are likely “current” in their knowledge (and even that is mandated provincially as opposed to federally). There are 4,000-ish master electricians in Alberta, but only 2,000 of them active. Tip : deal with a master electrician.

Social tip – while in Edmonton he and his colleagues found Woodwork – good cocktail bar in Edmonton. Recommended.

Andy Lockhart – Will sadly be missing the Birds Christmas event this week (met with groans over the lack of Andy’s masterful contribution to the Christmas exchange. Somewhere, Dave Reid laughed.). Don’t mourn for Andy, Argentina; he’ll be in Hawaii.

Pretty funny how this trip came about. Mid to late summer his son and wife discussed planning a trip to Hawaii. Then two weeks later, his daughter and her kids decided they were going to be going too. Sue asked what do you think of us going? Andy’s “inner kilt” flounced (do kilts flounce?) as he thought: “The kids are paying their own way. We only have to pay for us!” so they’re going. Wished everyone a merry Christmas.

Tip : Don’t Christmas shop at Costco. Parking is, um, not good. People are literally lining up to park

Finally, Andy endorsed Gord’s take on energy war room.

Brad Pachal – Brad and Paul Boucher are offering similar early January discounts to their clients to attempt to mitigate the post-Christmas/post-holiday slow period common to both of their businesses. JD mentioned Son-Rise Plumbing is also offering incentives to clients.

Brad also warned about a rash of car thefts, and these were new models with key fobs. Interesting article here from December 3 about the most stolen vehicles in Alberta. All but TWO are Ford pickups. The warning about key fobs and how to prevent car thefts in a newer model cars comes via the Calgary Police Service: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/most-stolen-vehicle-insurance-bureau-canada-ford-f350-1.5383065 .

Paul Boucher – Among others to hire him for his narration services this year, he can point to CN. If you’d like to see a quick 2 minute sample of narration in English about their Life Critical Rules, feel free to watch the video below. Just for interest’s sake, the French version is just below that. Hey, it’s a living. Done for CN via another Calgary company, Freshwater Creative (owners Jennifer and Neil Devine).

Bob Wiggins – Bob passed on how much the web site updates are appreciated by Birds who can’t attend, or who are no longer attending (the Catholic guilt thing worked, I’m typing the minutes out aren’t I? ????).

In any case, for any Bird alumni wondering about Roger Jarvis and Doug Parkin, Bob passed on that both are doing fine and pass along their best.

He then added further fuel to the travel insurance fire by echoing Mel’s comments to read the whole policy. In particular, he noted to pay attention to a term in many policies called “health stability” along with the already well-known “preexisting conditions”. There’s a pretty good article on what the insurance companies refer to as “stability clauses” in the link to come, but the gist of it is this: “

Bob mentioned that AMA has a great policy for travel. That link to that “stability clause” article is: https://www.snowbirdadvisorinsurance.ca/travel/personalized-travel-medical-plans-snowbirds-and-seniors

Sean Baylis – Lots of news this week. Among the nuggets: 256k new jobs in the US, Canada lost 77K. The Loonie dropped immediately on the news There’s some speculation that Canada will drop interest rates in 2020 to keep up with the US economy. Speaking of our favourite ally…Sean mentioned the great Saturday Night Live skit lampooning Trudeau and Macron making fun of Donald Trump. This link is to the entire 8-minute piece…although you might have to suffer through an ad – and remember to turn on the volume: https://globalnews.ca/video/6269362/snl-cold-open-parodies-relationships-among-major-world-leaders-in-nato-cafeteria .

In trade news, the new NAFTA will now be signed in 2020 instead of this year. Keep an eye on Mexico who’ve stated repeatedly in the past week that they will not accept US “inspectors” checking up on labour conditions as Canada and the US force Mexico to upgrade their labour standards to match their northern neighbours. This thing going into force is STILL not a foregone conclusion.

Trump is actively trying to rack up one success after another despite the impeachment proceedings – including a semi-bogus (*my words, not Sean’s) deal with China. Semi bogus will do, however and trade fears have calmed.

Westjet was bought by Onex. Westjet employees appear excited about possible new benefits plans. The business view is that Onex ownership will make Westjet competitive and more profitable, but sadly, likely at our (the customers) expense. Nickel and dime travel charges, here we come.

Stock tips : Starbucks dividend grower, reasonably recession proof. MacDonalds – again recession “proof” to some extent. Costco too. There’s apparently a new MacDonald’s menu coming to keep things fresh.

Tax tips – charitable giving season. If you have appreciated securities, you can donate them and duck capital gains, biggest bang for your donation buck.

Don Davis – Passed on second thoughts for Matt re: leaving, even temporarily. He recounted how even when he was “commuting” back and forth between Toronto and couldn’t attend as often, the club and its members provided irreplaceable value. He also loves keeping up via minutes.

Matt Dart – Busy at work, despite market, BUT not getting a lot of new business. Multi family residential is the most active sector. Building permits for the past 10 months, down 15% from 2018. Naturally, head office expects 15% GROWTH from them despite that.

Matt also relayed a very sad story about a 20 year employee finally being let go after many years of declining performance due to alcoholism. Sadly not long after being let go, he took his own life. They have another long time employee with erratic performance for various substance reasons and at the moment, the company is being VERY cautious and is approaching the whole issue with kid gloves despite the clear problems this employee poses.

Don Doolan – Don piggy-backed on Dave’s comments about electricians and qualifications. he agreed the lack of recertification and requalifying was a problem. Master Electricians and trade bodies need to push the province to make certification and education mandatory.

Don also noted with interest Strategic Group and all-round nice guy (not!) Ryan Mamdani requesting and receiving court-ordered creditor protection for over 50 of their properties in Calgary. The Herald story is here: https://calgaryherald.com/business/commercial-real-estate/strategic-group-granted-creditor-protection-for-56-properties-citing-poor-economy .

Don figures that true to form, Mamdani will come back after declaring bankruptcy and pick up every one of those properties for pennies on the dollar. Scam in progress.

Final note from Dwayne Vinck regarding a company he’s involved with called Proton Energy. They have technology that promises to make hydrogen a viable alternative to other fuel options (including electric vehicles). Head over to their web site to explore it. The first thing that’ll happen when you click on this link is that a quick video investor pitch will pop up, but it gives you the Reader’s Digest summary if nothing else: http://proton.energy/ . They’re getting a lot of press and they’re definitely worth keeping an eye on.

December 5th. Two weeks to our XMAS breakfast.

Mon, 09 Dec 2019 18:28:00 GMT

(It’s time to buy a $20 gift, gents.)

Home Security Report: A. Lockhart mentioned that $25,000.00 buys a lot of dog food.

Members:

Brett Bain. Phoenix is booming. It feels wide awake and getting ‘woker’. Jobs galore. High hopes and great expectations. So it’s a letdown to return to the doldrums of YYC.

Sean Baylis. Canadian banks ‘missed’ their quarterly targets. He’s surprised at TD and RBC. For now he’s kind of in a holding pattern with an eye on income from preferred shares (with possible buy and hold opportunities).

Jim Bladon. Spooked, he was: no sooner did he mention to his passenger (in his truck) that he really likes the new Dodge RAM, when an ad pops up on his iPhone from … yep, Chrysler: promoting that very truck model. So is Siri listening in on your life? They say you can shut her ‘ears’ down by going to Settings and turning off ‘background’ option. • In any event, Jim was surveying the state of the crops north of Grande Prairie. Not looking promising at all. • BTW if you didn’t know this: online retail sales are huge in the 25 to 45 age categories.

Paul Boucher. The wine draw continues.

Ian Campbell: Hungry? Ian recommends Eden Restaurant in Inglewood on 9th.

Matt Dart.

Don Davis. The value of Don’s condo in Victoria is higher than the floor it’s located on. And no, he’s not complaining. Real Estate is booming in Victoria.

Todd Dean:

George Doherty. Pharmacology Economics 101: Generic drugs are cheap. New versions expensive. Same drugs in the US are exorbitant.

Don Doolan . Radon gas breathed its risky cloud of gassy leaks: it seems there are more than one way to measure your exposure. If concerned you might want to check with Don or the U of Calgary.

Tony Fisher. Just asking: when do Black Friday sales end?

Gord Forsyth. Gord is not suffering from over-priced insurance. Yet. (See next comment.)

Mel Gibson. Mel warns us to prepare for sticker shock: home and auto insurance rates are growing like sunflowers in Manitoba: higher than ever.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks .

Dan Kennelly. Engineering biz always erratic at year end. January should be better with TMX and the LNG plant in Kitimat.

Matt Litke.

Andy Lockhart. His mother is amazing.

JD. MacDonald. Phone is ringing. But number of peeps shopping for prices is taking some of the fun out of answering the phone.

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen . He likes Vero Bistro on 10th Street in Kensington and if steak and frites appeals, so will you. • He’s off to Belize. ’

Mike Mikkelson . He brought ‘Oil Sands in a Baggie’ to share for breakfast. It kind of looks like you’d think it would. And it smells like asphalt. • The huge Aurora project in Medicine Hat has been mothballed. Gotta wonder … what were they smoking?

Brad Pachal. Drafting he is. It’s that stage of projects, right now,

Gerry Parcells. His granddaughter is now a proud owner of Gerry’s Mercedes. • Gerry is considering upgrading his security system. (Shh, don’t say that out loud.)

Dwayne Vinck. He is taking on the challenges of recording the financial activities of The Birds. • It looks like Kids’ Help Line will expand their services to help a wider (range of ages) market. Other options are being considered but … • Remember: income splitting is a no-no so get a pro to help w taxes.

Bob Wiggins . After years of diligent treasury services, Bob is turning The Books of Burds over to Dwayne. • Thanks, Bob. May your successor keep us in the black as well as you did for 44 years.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Could it be a dog’s life?*

Fri, 22 Nov 2019 16:38:00 GMT

November 21st * Seems that, at Dan’s, dogs are in. NOTE: our Christmas breakfast is December 19th. Time to start looking for a $20 gift.

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis. Sean is n ot thrilled by Retail Week (retail industry reports are coming in low). Home Depot is a bit of a let down. Lowes and Macy’s are worse. REITS may have to pay the piper if retail continues to wallow. TD Ameritrade is now a part of Charles Schwab. Food retailers seem to be doing ok. CP Rail is up a bit while CN is on strike. If you like ‘robotics’, there is now an ETF trading in such things things things things…

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher. O nly in America: you can ask the NYBB folks to help you collect invoices. Worked for Paul! Here in Canada, he’s still chasing the scofflaw who owes Paul $8,000. Meanwhile, he’s voicing for CN, AHS, Ag/Alta and Dora the Explorer.

Ian Campbell: You, too, can be an Apple Genius. (Well, maybe not you or me, Gerry). But Ian’s working on it: seems the Apps that help control hearing aides are needing a little Ian-care & Attention. A little too much, actually.

Matt Dart.

Don Davis.

Todd Dean:

George Doherty. He and Karen did the Tram thing in Palm Springs. It’s just another way to get high there. They also did the Indian Canyon hike, snakes and all.

Don Doolan . He’s wanting an AGM for Birds.

Tony Fisher. He’s still liking Jeremy Farkas. Seems there’s quite a following for this straight-talking, business-oriented Councillor. Nenshi look out!

Gord Forsyth . Like attracts like? Gord likes the Gord Lightfoot documentary on TV. It’s titled “If I could Read your Mind.”

Mel Gibson. Ch eck your home insurance policy to see if you have insurance on ripping up sewer/water lines connecting your house to the city system on their property. It’s a modest price to add it on … with major savings should this line fail. • Mama Mia is at Stage West and well worth your attendance.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks .

Dan Kennelly. He and his family are ‘fostering’ a dog for a little while. How long is ‘a while’? We’ll see.• He’s not happy with stats for equalization payments. See https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/how-alberta-pays-quebecs-bills-four-charts-that-show-alberta-picks-up-the-tab

Matt Litke.

Andy Lockhart. He has good things to say about AHS: his hand operation was done and he was sent home within a 3-hour window.

JD. MacDonald. Some weeks are better than others. This has been one of the good ones.

Michael McLennan. Atabotics uses Michael’s printers (3D) and he mentions it because Andy also speaks highly of the firm. It has performed amazingly well; grown like a wonderful weed and will likely need more capital which could lead to … anything. Stay tuned.

Ross Mikkelsen . Ross’ POV was summed up by his thoughtful pause, head shake and muttered, “no good news”.

Mike Mikkelson.

Brad Pachal.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck. If you have good tax accountant, you probably know that dividend sharing is now a no-no and that spousal tax relief is screwy … but fear not, Dwayne has the knowledge you need (if you need it). Or not. • West High Yield is no longer a part of D’s life.

Bob Wiggins . He encourages you to listen to this inspiring Ted Talk from the the man who helped make Village Brewery what it is today: https://youtu.be/4SOKTFfAM6M

George Roberts .

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

You people!

Thu, 14 Nov 2019 23:02:00 GMT

N ovember 14th.

Christmas Breakfast is on December 18th. You might want to start looking for a $20 gift for the auction/exchange.

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis. Sean is smiling. Third Q results are looking reasonably good. Europe is settling down. Earnings are likely to remain positive. Consumers seem content. China, Black Friday et. al. should be ok. So: time for charitable gifting and if you’re of a mind to explore stock/share strategies, Sean has some that are beneficial for donor and donee.

Jim Bladon. “Welcome to Scam Season.” Call display may read CRA or Calgary Police Service – but it may not be them. So as Santa says, You better watch out. • Agriculture sector is hurting some because of weather delays/impacts. • Grey Cup preparations underway at Stampede Park, include a big, heated tent for festivities.• The Banff Craft Beer Festival is upon us and it will be a good time!

Paul Boucher. Netflix couldn’t help but notice: Disney + does it better! Their new streaming service attracted 10 million subscribers in 24 hours. The markets noticed, too, and Disney stock is up. • Not sure if he’s in character or out – but Paul is voicing trailers for Dora the Explorer, The Lion King and more; not to mention e-learning for Suncor, Tech Coal and others.

Ian Campbell:

Matt Dart.

Don Davis. So Don receives this brown-paper wrapped package in the mail. He sets it aside. Pat asks: well, aren’t you going to open it? Don says: look at the return address. It’s Montreal. It could be anything. They finally do open it. And inside is a plaque from Air Canada. Recognizing Don for flying a million miles. • For all the high flying Don has done, it didn’t give much loft to his investment in Canopy. • And finally: did you know there is a special flu shot for seniors? It’ll be available December 1. •

Todd Dean: He was in disguise, today: cool new glasses, beard and big grin. He’s sticking to his guns: he wants clients who want what he (knows he) can do for them; not those who want to tell him what to do and how to do it. • He’s in the process of hiring some additional talent …and then he’s off to Dubai with youngest son. •.

George Doherty.

Don Doolan . Bella Concert Hall at MRU is one heck of a venue and worth your attention.

Tony Fisher. There is a fair bit of lying in advertising – and he ain’t talking about laying down on the job. Some large retailers are making huge savings promises as a come on. And people are falling for it. Rona is claiming to be Canadian (when they’re owned by Lowes). Costco savings are often hyped. (We’re all smart enough to know this, eh.) But still …

Gord Forsyth This man tells truths that no one else dares repeat: Alberta needs a sales tax. Gord is quoting Dave Mowat (ex CEO of ATB).

Mel Gibson. Insurance industry continues to be distracted by electric cars, said Mel.• Also, when’s the last time you had a Tetanus Shot? That’s not a rare single malt. Seems we’re to have one every ten years, or lock-jaw may be in our future. Shots are free at Community Health clinics or $75/per at your pharmacy.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks .

Dan Kennelly.

Matt Litke.

Andy Lockhart. Now called ‘Greenview Rise’, the hotel project that Andy and the Drop-In Centre have nurtured for quite some time … is now a reality. There are 79 units, half are for assisted living and half are market priced. And they sold out in 2 weeks. This was in spite of all kinds of naysayers who predicted a dim future. “Persistence in the Face of Ridicule and Animosity” should be the title of this project’s story. • For some other good, local history stories: The Range Men , The Banker and the Blackfoot and Mavericks.

JD. MacDonald. Home Inspections seem to be on the rise (For resale homes).

Michael McLennan. So HP (printers) is being bought by one of the biggies. Watch for HP printers to be back in the market. • In Australia, Konica Minolta is teaming up with MarkForged which augers well for Michael’s allied strategy (for the same two players).

Ross Mikkelsen. I think he said “You people” while describing our city’s apologists for budget woes. His POV of government waste and non-accountability is not at all prejudicial.

Mike Mikkelson. He’s feeling the pinch of the bad year Alberta farmers are experiencing.

Brad Pachal. S top and start projects and others are keeping Brad busy,

Gerry Parcells. He’s talking to telus about a home security system. He’s muttering about the prices of new German cars. And he has JD’s roofing guys looking for a water leak. He’s doing his utmost to keep our economy rolling.

Dwayne Vinck.

Bob Wiggins . He has passed on the Accounting Torch for Birds to Dwayne. Inscribed on the torch is Keeping it Simple and Staying on top of Collections will keep Birds Afloat.

George Roberts .

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Remember, eh.

Mon, 11 Nov 2019 05:26:00 GMT

November 7th.

If looking for something to do on the 11th, Dan suggests the Museum of the Regiments just off Crowchild. While there, check out the hangers: some amazing Canadian fighters on display.

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher.

Ian Campbell: Have you heard? Good audiologists are hard to find. There just aren’t that many of them and when you find one looking for a position, you go to him or her. So Ian’s off to Halifax to interview a recent graduate … and he’ll catch his son’s Home Opener game at Dal, at the same time.

Matt Dart. There’s been some turmoil at Johnson Controls but it’s settling down.

Don Davis. He’s uneasy about the end of Alberta-owned grocery chains. Calgary Coop is now under the umbrella of Save On Foods. • With Remembrance Day upon us, he mentioned his uncle who was a WWII prisoner. When released, he weighed 68 pounds. But he lived to 76 years of age.

Todd Dean:

George Doherty.

Don Doolan .

Tony Fisher. Want to hang out with an interesting (my word, not Tony’s) bunch of people in the middle of the afternoon? Go to the Calgary Casino at Barlow Trail and 16th Avenue NE. You’ll find 800 slot machines ready to take your money. And if you start feeling peckish, just about any Vietnamese restaurant on 32 Ave NE will do.

Gord Forsyth There’s a clever Job share/Job shadow service for High School students. Details at . https://www.careersnextgen.ca/ The contact in Calgary is Stephanie Jones at 1-888-757-7172 • When he and Heather were in Europe, they visited Arnheim (seen in the movie, A Bridge Too Far). They were touched by how grateful to the Canadians, the Dutch remain • Gord shakes his head in disbelief at how much misinformation surrounds the latest AB budget.

Mel Gibson. A little insurance trivia: when your unoccupied Tesla starts up on its own and careens down the street and causes an accident … are you liable? • Don’t blink: Brokerlink is buying up agencies faster than you can say … Mel Gibson. • Mel has recently visited the deep south (of Calgary) and is impressed with South Campus Health Centre and also, the new, local CBE high school.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks . He’s proud of his son: the seventh fastest speed skater in Alberta. • Dave sounds pretty busy not being busy (if that makes any sense).

Dan Kennelly. He has some sky-hook stories to tell, I think.

Matt Litke. It’s a full life! First of all: his wife is 8 months pregnant and all is well. In-laws and parents are expected to visit, any day now.• His update on Henry Heuver: Henry has had some surgery on his hand and it’s not healing as rapidly as Henry’d like. • Matt is busy taking care of his banking customers while also studying for his Financial Planning Designation. •

Andy Lockhart.

JD. MacDonald. Be vigilant. Hire http://albertaverified.ca/ trades, contractors and providers.

Michael McLennan.I

Ross Mikkelsen. I n case you were wondering, Costco is the 2nd largest retailer in Canada. • The Eataly Store is just amazing. (Um, no they’re not here. Toronto and online are your best bets) • Another visit to the Twilight Zone? Not surprisingly, Ross had a recent, fascinating ‘engagement with the Federal government’. However, it was profitable in a way, actually.

Mike Mikkelson.

Brad Pachal. If you’re wondering how to dispose of your electronics, bottle depots are now accepting such items.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck. At present, he is looking forward to seeing if the Kids Help Phone bid to operate an all-ages, suicide support service (nationally) goes ahead. • Given the times and military comments at breakfast, Duane told us of his visit to the Miramar airbase – before 9/11,

Bob Wiggins . He’s currently chiseling new stone tablets for the change of signing officers for the Birds’ bank account.

George Roberts .

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Trick or treat? It’s October 31.

Thu, 31 Oct 2019 20:45:00 GMT

Encana moves shop to USA. Eh? But it’s a Canadian company! Not no more.

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis. B of C not changing rates. But Feds (USA) cut theirs, likely the last for this year. FB and other big names -Amazon etc.- are doing well on markets. (Exception being Google.) Sean wonders if this growth will continue. And reminds us: buy on rumour; sell on facts. • Attended a meeting of big players in Canadian medical industry (Gimbel, Cambie etc): on how to improve future of Healthcare. Dovetail private with public? System needs tweaking and excessive influence of unions has to be curtailed.

Jim Bladon. The fall pause is in effect. And general mood is optimistic. • Jim is sad to see Wellington Holbrook leaving ATB. WH has been an exceptional contributor to ATB culture. – Jim’s involved in the renewal of the naming for BMO Centre. So he’s interested in how Mike’s proceeding, as he renews naming of Trico Centre.

Paul Boucher. Reminds us that Business in Calgary magazine is still a decent new prospect resource. Also, that most successful entrepreneurs are middle aged. • New World Interactive was quite a coup for Calgary when they moved here. But they are now regretting that move in light of Jason Kenny’s impending changes to the movie/video/gaming industry incentives.

Ian Campbell: Did you hear: Opticon got hacked in Europe? Rather than pay the ransom, they chose to rebuild all their systems. They’re still building them. And losing inventory; and struggling with JIT deliveries; and suffering from accounting procedures that went out of style with the abacus.

Matt Dart.

Don Davis. Get a man out of his white shirt and god only knows what will become of him! For example: Don is now saying quite nice things about Hell’s Angels. (Shoulda been here this morning.) • WestJet Premium flight to Hamilton was delightful. • Tip: senior people (agewise and workwise) should be engaged to help firms out when holidays or illness or peak periods demand more ‘humanware’.

Todd Dean: Travellin’ Man renews his perch at Birds. Todd’s been to Italy, Nashville, Montreal, Newfoundland, Toronto and more. He’s home for a bit and then, heading back east.

George Doherty.

Don Doolan . Dreaming of flying the Dreamliner to Italy. WestJet will have direct flight to Rome starting in early May. • Update blues: Don finally replaced his iPhone4 with a modern unit but man, he feels like he got the bad Apple. They’re trying to be helpful but …

Tony Fisher. Tony’s not a baseball nut but the did enjoy the World Series Games.

Gord Forsyth . Kal Tire’s not too bad. But Harper’s was better. And hey, if you have an AMA card and want a decent discount, it works at Kal Tire (and elsewhere).

Mel Gibson.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks .

Dan Kennelly. Things could be worse. But Dan is not thrilled with the Encana news that they’re moving HO to the USA and changing the name to some unpronounceable collection of letters.

Matt Litke.

Andy Lockhart.

JD MacDonald. He hates to say it but bad weather is good for his business.

Michael McLennan. Michael could be in an action thriller movie: Jet boats, island hopping, beating the bushes, perforating the atmosphere, spooking deer and coyotes … all in order to bag the most desirable of prey: pheasants. Yes, Michael’s hunting again. This time in Southeastern Montana.

Ross Mikkelsen. ( Thanks for Hootsuite tip.) – Fresh velvet for dinner? Well, he was at Caesar’s the other night.

Mike Mikkelson. He’s liking the Mercato on 4th SW. It’s as least as good as the Mercato on 85th SW. • His discussions with Trico – in regards to renewing the naming for his community’s sports arena and centre – are proceeding intelligently. Wayne Chu is an honourable fellow. A pleasure to do business with.

Brad Pachal. Here to hear.

Gerry Parcells. Involved in very serious negotiations – with his grand daughter – she wants a fair price on his classic Mercedes. • Gerry warns us to be careful about revising our Healthcare. We don’t need a US system up here.

Dwayne Vinck. Trusting they are. It was too cold to check tickets at the hockey classic in Regina. • Duane wonders if the new AB provincial tax rates aren’t enough to make movie makers happy? Also, he worries about the stasis of Green projects approved under Rachael’s short reign.

Bob Wiggins .

George Roberts .

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Political Paucity?Oct 24

Thu, 31 Oct 2019 02:05:00 GMT

When Chairman Dan wondered if we’d sooner discuss the election results rather than offer tips, so raw was our disappointment in the outcome, we Birds went silent. (For a few minutes.)

Members:

Brett Bain. Brett had two words to say about the election: “smiling asshole”. (Somehow, we all knew of whom he was referring to.)

Sean Baylis. His take: the NDP is in the driver’s seat. If Trudeau wants them to support his pipeline, it could cost us a Capital Gains Tax, National Pharmacare and a Wealth Tax. He felt the Bloc success was a shock. – You might want to consider buying MicroSoft on the next pullback.

Jim Bladon. He attended the Economic Update put on by Mary Moran and Crew. Theme of Message was ‘more uncertainty’. How unpredictable, eh.. – The Mustangs are moving to Blackfalds.

Paul Boucher. He’s going big on Small Business Week. Keep an eye on Attabotics ( https://www.attabotics.com ): they’re in the modern fulfillment business and have turned warehousing and delivery into a science. Benevity ( benevity.com) bears watching. ShawPass, too. There’s a very smart fellow from RIM at MRU who might just be induced to come for breakfast with us.

Ian Campbell: He’s enumerating his ‘guys trip’ to Nashville: NFL game, Blues bars off Bourbon Street, other Blues Bars, great bunch of guy s…

Matt Dart .

Don Davis.

Todd Dean:

George Doherty.

Don Doolan . His tip: get a flu shot. And for an interesting and different read about a hippy cult leader, there’s a book out about Charles Manson.

Tony Fisher. He is not enjoying all the attention he’s getting from WCB. It sounds as though they might be indulging in cannabis. We will hear more of this tussle in weeks to come.

Gord Forsyth . I quote Gord: “I got nothing”.

Mel Gibson.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks . Is losing a bit of weight. Improving his B/P. Doing so by Abstaining in October and following the DASH diet.

Dan Kennelly. Coastal Gas line to Kitimat and LNG plant is sounding promising. – Liking the theatre/hall at MRU. A hidden gem with some under-advertised events.

Matt Litke.

Andy Lockhart. Shared the catalogue of creative (wood) projects that were on display at South Centre SAWS exhibit last weekend. Pretty amazing what woodworkers can make out of a dried and cured chunk of tree.

J.D. MacDonald. G’s Roofing redid JD’s roof and did an excellent job.

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen. Vegas sales meeting sounds like it was fun. He got to play with a digital golf game that plays like the real thing. – He had the interior of his home painted. Contractor was skilled and reasonable.

Mike Mikkelson.

Brad Pachal. If you’re enjoying Shaw service but dislike the price, give them a call. Brad did and pushed them a bit and saved a worthwhile amount of money.

Gerry Parcells. Sheer missed the boat, he said, sadly shaking his head. As someone said, Sheer had a breakaway and missed an open net.

Dwayne Vinck. The prospectus for his mining company was recently approved by SEC.

Bob Wiggins. Had nothing to add. Glum, he is, about the election.

George Roberts .

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Birds Thursday, October 17, 2019

Thu, 24 Oct 2019 06:02:00 GMT

Bob Wiggins – did a little housekeeping. The headline may have been “No dues increase for 2020” , but Bob also pointed out that our membership is at 25. The club would benefit from having 5 more people to fill out the roster to 30. Lawyer, realtor, printer, pharmacist, carpet seller.

The other thing Bob and I discussed was the current nature of the club and how it’s evolved quite organically to a more “mentorship” type of club rather than business tip driven.

The thoughts offered up for consideration from that conversation are that perhaps the pendulum has swung too far in that direction and maybe we should make more of a concerted effort to bring tips more purposefully to the group. Perhaps one way to move in that direction is that even when sharing the story/anecdote sort of updates many of us have provided, perhaps see if we can ultimately walk that out into an actionable tip.

It’s a thought and definitely up for discussion if it provokes some thoughts.

Dan Kenelly – Back from out in in the valley in BC. When reading the papers out there, one of the big subjects is the upcoming construction on the TransCanada Highway between Golden and Field and the impact of multiple temporary closures over the next 3 to 4 years (!) .

One of the anticipated effects is 10k vehicles a day through Radium and highway 3 during construction. Could be a gold mine for Radium and that area. More details on the construction can be found in this Herald article: https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/major-detours-over-years-loom-on-trans-canada-highway-through-rockies

Last note from Dan was that there a lot of wildlife on the move in the mountains and at the lake.

Don Doolan – mostly Montana the last little while.

Don noted a brand of outdoor cookstoves/bbq’s that he hadn’t seen much of in Canada. He mentioned it mostly as a possible opportunity for Ross and Barbecues Galore since it’s good quality USA-made stuff. You can get a look at some of it at this link: https://www.campchef.com/smokers-grills/grills.html .

Don also told the story of his son in law Paul getting turned away at the border because his truck was too dirty. Weeds on the underside afte Paul had been doing work in the fields. Turns out he’s not the first guy who’s been turned away for that reason. Paul found that out from the woman at the Canadian duty-free store who let him borrow the store hose to clean off the underside of the truck. (He also wasn’t the first one she’d done that for. ????)

Anyway, once he’d done that – he was allowed through no problem.

Last note from Don was a question about how all this blue light from our screens affects our vision and whether there’d been any meaningful research about the subject. As a matter of fact, there was a piece recently and you can peruse it here: https://opto.ca/health-library/blue-light-is-there-risk-of-harm . The long and short of it is that yes, too much blue light can permanently damage your vision, in some people, to the point of causing symptoms similar to macular degeneration.

Brad Pachal – gave the Lockhart Report (Shouldn’t that be the name of a TV show?) Anyway, Andy is recovering nicely from carpal tunnel syndrome surgery. He indicated to Brad that there was immediate relief from some of the nerve pain he’d been experiencing. Sounded promising.

Brad also had this great note about a beautiful home built by Eaton’s in Maple creek. Price? $997. Price of Hot Air Heating Plant: $112 Price of Plumbing Material? The princely sum of $169.

Mike Mikkelson – Spent a little time in Erie Pennsylvania. He’s *never* seen so much heated emotion, he used the word hatred, between the two party camps. Bitterly, bitterly partisan. He found it hard to imagine anyone reunifying the country down there – and had a little shake of the head about our election and the possibilities.

He had a good time in Chicago. Loves it there.

Dwayne Vinck – In The hopper – Dwayne mentioned a small company that had patent rights for a technology/process that extracts oil from botanicals, including for the premium cannabis market.

Dwayne provided an email update on the 23rd that said:

“ Dear All,

Please see attached press release which reports our first day of public trading is Thursday, Oct. 24.

Here is a link to our SEDAR profile where you can find financial reports and our prospectus.

https://sedar.com/DisplayProfile.do?lang=EN&issuerType=03&issuerNo=00045107

Our profile on Canadian Securities Exchange

https://thecse.com/en/search/node/mxt

Thanks,

Me dXtractor Corp.
Dwayne Vinck, CPA, CA, CFO”

Dwayne had also attached a PDF document to the email which you can read by clicking on “ MedXtractor MXT – Public Listing “.

Ross Mikkelsen – survived southern Germany and Oktoberfest. Mind-blowing event! 6 million visitors to what is essentially a folk festival.
Minimum serving of beer is 1 liter . Here’s what that looks like:

Ross also went through a couple of museums in Munich and Nuremberg. it was a pretty chilling counterpoint to Oktoberfest. Also chilling to seeing the evidence of an educated population becoming subservient to one person and or cult. We all know how that worked out.

Dave Hicks – Busines is picking up. Quoting a lot of work, a lot of it back up in the mountains. Road Trip! Again.

Mel Gibson – the insurance industry is approving the electronic pink card. *Some* people aren’t quite ready for it. At the scene of an accident on Sarcee Trail, one of the participants had the electronic card and the policeman wouldn’t accept it. Said she still needed a pink card on paper. Eventually, he allowed its use but made her bring her phone to the police car to collect the information.

Sean Baylis – has been away at United Way major donor event. He noted that we’re moving into that season of charitable giving, so for anyone has a good year, United Way is a great opportunity to give back. United Way is down about 20% and is hurting – and when they hurt, of course, many people feel the impact.

On the investment side, last week was a good week after phase 1 of the US-China “trade deal”. The current Director of the United States National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow, commented that “…the music has changed.”

Heading into earnings season and the majority of companies so far are beating earnings estimates. JP Morgan is one of many pointing to good things.

Sean noted that noise around Trump can cause some confusion, but he and RBC pay attention to fundamentals like dividend-paying companies, and it’s still important. Majority of growth in portfolios will come from dividend rather than capital gains. Naturally, it always comes back to earnings.

RBC optimistic heading into the fall. A rate cut in the US in the fall would be good for equities, ditto actual signing of this trade deal between the US and China. Portfolios up about 10% on average.

Matt Dart – will be part of the corporate dog and pony show in Dallas next week for clients including Cowboys games – 4th tier of the stadium (about the distance from here to Bragg Creek down to the field…). Anyway, front row in the section: $500 us each – $2600 CAD for “entertainment”. Cough . Capacity at the stadium is 100,000. Hopefully a good time.

Thinking of other entertainment for clients and, naturally, they’ll take them to a gun range. Tour of duty includes Dallas, Oklahoma City, two factories and then gone for training, so he’ll be back in a couple of weeks

George Doherty- Special thanks to Gord for tickets to the Rotary Club lunch. The speaker was mind-opening.

George also mentioned the terrific documentary on Bill Gates. Among the takeaways – Bill Gates’ Brain! 5 books a day and retains 90%!! See the trailer for the documentary here: https://youtu.be/aCv29JKmHNY

Tony Fisher – took us on a mini “video killed the radio stars” trip down memory lane as he sprung off the Bill Gates mention to talk about the origin of pcs, specifically the gaming origins B. A. (Before Atari).

Bob Wiggins hopped in at this point to mention that when he investigated buying a computer in ’79-80, the “salesperson” basically told him the “use case” for a personal computer was: recipes and Christmas card lists. Bet that guy also ended up thinking the Internet was a fad too.

Anyway, Tony was in Seattle when Pong came out. But Computer space was the first big video game.

Tony had the first one in Calgary at U of C. The game was so primitive that it used a can for coin collection, BUT they made $700 a WEEK in revenue from that machine at one site.

Then he recollected seeing Pac-Man for the first time in Tokyo. The whole game was on the old logic boards and you could get them “out back”. So, Tony did and had the first PacMan game in Calgary too.

JD MacDonald – They had 24 people for thanksgiving. Great time and the entire family enjoyed it. All except the family farmers who were sitting on 3000 acres of work still to go.

From a business standpoint, there have been encouraging signs with return calls from quotes that have gone out.

JD also noted that supplies have gone up 3-7% and even 11%. Tough to price ahead when buying having to price in potential tariff impact and uncertainty.

Sheer Boredom versus Aladdin?

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 16:57:00 GMT

October 2

Politics simplified by Birds’ pundit, Andy Lockhart.

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon. The Cannabis Report! (aka Smoking Weed for Profit): Edibles to be legalized this month but there is a 90 day moratorium … which delays launch to mid-December. Oops, and then there are the ‘missing’ guidelines for security packaging … which probably means a 2020 launch. • When in Mesa do as Jim and Kim did: attend an ASU football game. It’s good football!. • Village Brewing is launching this year’s Gardener Beer (made with carrots) – with proceeds flowing back to the Community Gardens program.

Paul Boucher. Voice actor as beachcomber? VROB (or AirBnB?) helped Paul find beachfront digs in Seattle. Only $124 night (US), included a basket of cheese, fruit and a bottle of wine. Oh yeah, and comfortable digs.• American peers were delightful. • Good news for Calgary: Propellor Studios has geared up (technologically), providing movies, shot here, with immediate, in-progress services.• Listen to the upcoming trailers for The Lion King and also, Toy Story (#3, I think): Paul is voicing them in French and also in English. (This is a big deal.) Paul has also begun lending his voice to Air Transat training programs.

Ian Campbell:

Matt Dart . More smoke? Another cannabis plant has been announced – which may or may not benefit from CBD regulations (in progress). • BTW: the plant is seeking ways to enhance uptime. With revenues of $700 a minute, downtime is well, a real downer.

Don Davis. Don and Pat’s son (Mike?), along with wife and 10-month old twins, were treated with great consideration aboard KLM to Amsterdam. They’re also enjoying proper accommodations and ‘twins-treatment’ in Holland and Greece.

Todd Dean:

George Doherty. George listens and learns:. Don Davis enjoys sharing how he saves money on retail purchases. So just the other day, George asked the Lowes sales clerk for the Don Davis price … and saved an additional 20% on a patio set. (Well, actually, he applied the DD strategy … a story best told by George D). • For a good read, The Reckoning by John Grisham.

Don Doolan .

Tony Fisher. Tony almost complimented the government. (Almost, Ross. Almost.) Seems Canada Post is doing a good job and keeping delivery costs down, for Tony’s online sales. • If you haven’t been to SunRidge Mall for a while, you may not recognize it.

Gord Forsyth .

Mel Gibson. Mel is a bit concerned about the switch to digital pink cards.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks . Kudos to fellow birds …

Dan Kennelly. Dan is finding sources for the equipment needed for his community’s new ice arena. • Business is in a holding pattern because of the election. • And silliness in bylaw enforcement now includes being charged for ‘distracted driving’ … for having one’s cell phone in your cup holder. A 78 year-old lady in Vancouver was charged with this. Fortunately the judge saw the stupidity and dropped the charges, along with the fine for $378.00.

Matt Litke.

Andy Lockhart. Wooden you like to see what others saw? South Centre is hosting the SAWS exhibition this weekend. Worth a visit, it is.

J.D. MacDonald.

Michael McLennan. It sounds like we better visit the Azores soon; while they’re still there. (When writing for Brewster, we used to joke about ‘Visiting the Columbia Icefield before it melts’. Not so funny, anymore.) • 3D printing is exploding.

Ross Mikkelsen.

Mike Mikkelson. So you want an attractive print package for your customer. And your printer sucks (or the cartridges require you to apply for a 2nd mortgage). So email your (PDF) files to Staples. Tell them what you want and they’ll turn it into a ‘beautiful thing’.

Brad Pachal. Seems YouTube, Twitter and FaceBook are merging. Newco to be called YouTwitFace.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck. Charlotte, South Carolina and Charleston, West Virginia, impressed Dwayne and Tyla. They visited family there, took a walking tour and quite enjoyed the history of the area..

Bob Wiggins. Kudos to Gord for arranging the day at the races. Bob and Dorothy bet on every race and ended the day with winnings totalling $5.30. They encourage Birds to do it again. • Their road trip took them to Thunder Bay and back, where they caught up with old friends in Kenora and Dryden, Regina and …. Interesting that Dorothy’s family hails from Romania. (That country has many connections to the world in the 20th Century – which we should save until next week.)

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

No heads in the sand.

Thu, 26 Sep 2019 17:55:00 GMT

Sept. 26

Coming election stirs burds to predict a Trudeau win but with a minority position, giving green ‘Liza’ some business-bashing powers. Not promising at all. Same for Canadian dollar. And future prospects for insurance industry.

See this article in The Economist as suggested by Paul Boucher: https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2019/09/19/changing-weather-could-put-insurance-firms-out-of-business .

Some good news: VR is coming to Burds, just as soon as Brett and Gord can coordinate a date.

Members:

Brett Bain. Even a canny Scotsman can be fooled by scammers: Brett was looking for some Alberta Labour guidelines, so he called them. Had a pleasant chat with lady – who sent out a gentleman to ‘help make things clear’. On his arrival, it became clear that this was an ‘Alberta Labour Pretender’ organization with a mirror website. They were selling their ‘guidance services’. Brett tossed the imposter out … but he is still unhappy that he was fooled for a minute or two.

Sean Baylis. He expects that the ‘impeach Trump’ activities will come to nothing. • He reminds us that the Tech Sector is volatile (Shopify is up; it’s down; and it’s still around). • As markets go thru times like this, investors often start selling. He cautions that you not sell all your winners. • In fact, he kind of likes Husky. Their distress may be an investor’s gain.

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher.

Ian Campbell:

Matt Dart . He and Irina enjoyed their visit to Washington, DC. They ‘scooted’ around town and even, all the way to Georgetown. Something they may not have managed were it not for those Scooters-To-Go.

Don Davis. You’ve seen those nodding-birds action toys that drink water? Well, there were many burds’ heads nodding in agreement when Don spoke of the ridiculous situation facing the Okotoks farmer who is now being sued by the lowlife who vandalized the farmer’s property. • Used to be, you could protect your property and family. Now, it sounds like you’re supposed to help the perps.

Todd Dean:

George Doherty. George is happy with the purchase of his new Accura MDX (or RDX?). Maybe have a chat with him if you’re in the market for a new car. Find out how Geo saved $3500.

Don Doolan .

Tony Fisher. So now you might want to be really really careful about parting ways with an employee. Seems they might have recourse if your actions cause them stress, Hmmm …

Gord Forsyth . There is a very smart (i.e. intellectual) fellow coming to Gord’s Rotary Club to make some interesting predictions that will follow on the heels of our Federal Election . The date is October 16th. I cannot find the fellow’s name – but Gord knows him and believes his insights are valuable. Gord has a table for eight and Burds can book with Gord. FCFS.

Mel Gibson.

Henry Heuver. Water.Water. And water some more. Your trees need to be watered-in for the winter. So let your hose trickle for a couple of hours. Roots run deep and water needs time to work its way down.

David Hicks . Used to be that you got what you bought. But now, with some of the new potlights, they come with an APP. So you can now adjust and/or change the colour, intensity and hue.

Dan Kennelly. Ah, the stupidity of government insurance. Seems ICBC is really jacking up the cost for first time car insurance buyers. This is leading to people saying they’d sooner pay the fine ($600, if caught) than the premium (around $5000). This is leading to quite a few uninsured drivers. • OH, and when you next head to Maui, you can now order your groceries from Wal-Mart and have them delivered on your arrival.

Matt Litke. Once upon a time, we had Behavioural Psychologists. Now that we have Behavioural Finances, does this mean we get Behavioural Bankers? (We’ll have to keep an eye on Matt.)

Andy Lockhart . Got any spare cash? Or near cash? Andy is putting his into US dollars. (Or US Treasury Bills.) Sean agrees. As does ex-burd Merlin. • BTW Merlin and his biz partner are now Directors of RBC Dominion.

J.D. MacDonald. JD and his staff are looking forward to their meal at SAIT.

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen. Surprise! Even Calgary’s Indian Buffet restaurants now get 40% of their business via Skip-the-dishes. Bigger Surprise? Someone called 911 demanding police charge a restaurant with assault … because they delivered a sandwich with tomato on it (after they had specifically requested no tomatoes!).

Mike Mikkelson. Want a good steak? The Salt Lick does a fine job. And when Mike was there the other evening, Bill Murray and Dan Akroid et al. (from the new GhostBusters movie production team) were there, too.

Brad Pachal. What goes around comes around. Brad was in Saskatchewan and marvelled at a 1912 Eaton’s House Kit (that you could order for delivery via train and then three local wagons). For $1200. He adds that you can now order a house kit from Amazon. For more than $1200, mind you. Much more.

Gerry Parcells. BC on his mind: he’s just back from his visit to Windermere where he got to watch 500 classic cars do a conga-like drive through town. • He loved the drive back to YYC. All the green and gold and yellow signs of fall. (Well, maybe not so much all of the Green ones!)

Dwayne Vinck.

Bob Wiggins.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Confession time.

Thu, 19 Sep 2019 22:59:00 GMT

Sept. 19

Self flagellation was practiced at Burds this morning. Member after remember hung his head in shame … recalling that time, years ago, when he wore black face or dressed as Kublai Khan or donned an Indian headdress, or …

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis. The US economy continues to perform well. Yes, there are bond issues (so invest in US Treasuries for now). One strategy: use equities for (dividend) income and corporate bonds for capital growth. But don’t take my word for it. (Work with someone like Sean for how to do this effectively).

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher. How well you sleep may have much to do with how effective the flu shot is for you.• Meanwhile, Paul waits for some slo-pay clients to … pay with cheques that do not bounce.

Ian Campbell: FM radio technology (newer than 2.4 Hz) may improve hearing aides in noisy rooms. More to come. Maybe.

Matt Dart .

Don Davis.

Todd Dean:

George Doherty.

Don Doolan .

Tony Fisher. Not that there’s anything wrong with classical music, but Tony enjoyed the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra’s recent tribute to ABBA. • Tony attended the Open House for https://youthlinkcalgary.com/ • Speaking of good causes, Tony’s Rotary Club is looking for a capital investment project -on behalf of a nonprofit organization – on the scale of $30M to $100M. (Preference is for kids, women, healthcare, education)

Gord Forsyth . The horse races were a lot of fun and we birds should do another trip to the tracks someday. • Why is anyone surprised by Tim Horton’s cancellation of their Beyond Beef product lines? It tastes like sh …

Mel Gibson.

Henry Heuver. Henry is still pulling his hair out … regarding the route Rockyview wants to use for their new road. They can’t see why Henry won’t just move over and let them pave his nurserylands. They – and DOT (out of Edmonton) – have no idea of how land is nurtured to be what it has become: productive agricultural land.

David Hicks . I find it appropriate that our resident electrician was once dressed up as Jimmy Hendrix (many years ago). JH’s hairdo is what Dave’s hair might look like after inserting his finger into a live socket.

Dan Kennelly. Dan’s community’s new community hall is a delight. Its formal opening was ‘piped’ by Dave.

Matt Litke. Here to hear.

Andy Lockhart . Andy is proud of his grandson who recently graduated from a Lifeskills program at MRU. Andy also likes the Calgary company, Attabotics, which is helping his grandson develop his career. See https://www.attabotics.com/ (for more info).

J.D. MacDonald. Do not believe all you read. Like, for instance, when a product says it is ‘flushable’. You know what is flushable. (You do.) Everything else isn’t.

Michael McLennan. Super Printing is becoming a big thing. Extruded metal (3D) products are catching on, super-bly.

Ross Mikkelsen. He is sorry to see some good ole retailers from his NW area shut down and/or consolidate into smaller footprints. Meanwhile, he suggests we all read “Why We Sleep” by Mathew Walker (or listen to his podcast).

Mike Mikkelson.

Brad Pachal. Here to hear.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck. I can imagine Dwayne in Quasimodo’s costume. But Dwayne as the Cher part of Sonny & Cher? That’s downright gender bashing. He should apologize as often and as insincerely as JT.

Bob Wiggins. George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Sept. 12

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 16:38:00 GMT

9/11 Remembered: Wednesday featured powerful reminders of the twin towers tragedy. Come From Away TV documentary showed that Canucks are (maybe) capable of rising to anything.

Members:

Brett Bain. Brett was at breakfast but had to run to a meeting at 8:00. So he was here and then, not here.

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon. All is fair in politics but I am not sure it’s proper for the ND’s to attack Todd Hirsch for telling the truth in ATB’s “The Owl”. (burds can subscribe to it here: https://www.atb.com/learn/economics/the-owl/Pages/default.aspx?_ga=2.91407193.2105401292.1568313581-973620264.1480436862 ) • One of the truths is: over the past few years, the fastest growing sector in Alberta, was the Public Sector. Public service jobs grew by 10%. NDs may not like this being said. But it is true.

Paul Boucher. Paul is unamused by the tax complexities of being a ‘global’ voice over artist. For instance: who wants to register for VAT accounts in multiple countries? Or pay 33% withholding taxes?. Or plough though red tape to claw back one’s hard earned money? It’s enough to drive a man to say “Yaw”, just like the Swedes do. Paul is now the Voice of Sweden for eTab (?).

Ian Campbell: Imagine listening to your favourite tune when suddenly, your hearing goes. Just like that. It happens and if/when it does, make sure you get it looked at immediately. Certain drug treatments can restore this sudden hearing loss — IF problem diagnosed in first day or so.

Matt Dart .

Don Davis. Don is a Malcolm Gladwell fan? Well, Don is a practical philosopher/moralist/historian kind of guy. He will address the complex and make it interesting. And at times, he gives it a deeper meaning than his casual delivery would seem to imply. • Don is saddened when he sees hard-working entrepreneurs selling their business to buyers who, in effect, use the previous owner’s own money to buy out the seller. It almost never goes well. And when it goes wrong it’s a mess. (As Malcolm Gladwell might say: What we don’t know about the people we don’t know … can hurt. A lot.)

Todd Dean:

George Doherty. Want some good reading? Try Beneath the Scarlet Sky or even, The Huntress .

Don Doolan . He’s looking for some smart B&B regulations. (Unfortunately, he’s looking for these regulations from the City.)

Tony Fisher.

Gord Forsyth . Saturday the 14th. Good company, decent food and an enjoyable afternoon of Win, Place and Show. • Horse races are the perfect place to discuss the likelihood of Rachael becoming our ambassador to Washington.

Mel Gibson.

Henry Heuver. There is nothing quite as obtuse as government planners looking for the easiest route for a new road. Of course, they want to run it through the middle of Henry’s (tree) nursery: it’s the most valuable land and most disruptive route.

David Hicks.

Dan Kennelly. Engineered safety for golfers? Dan shakes his head in despair for the ND government in BC. Seems they are legislating roll cages and seatbelts for golf carts. Yes, seriously. • Not that these stories are related … but he’s liking the one about Andy’s bomb. Check out this one on Page 37: https://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&pubid=32a3ab37-e5d6-4228-8f7d-93f40dcfe0a6

Matt Litke. Hinterland lament: we have no say in the government of Canada. None. • Ah well, a reminder: when in doubt (about anything), ask somebody. You’ll be surprised at what you’ll find out.

Andy Lockhart . Andy explained some of the ins and outs of RESPs. Dwayne chipped in, too. Now, I could really confuse y’all or … you could talk to AL or DV.

J.D. MacDonald. He was here but here to hear.

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen. Quiet today. There were probably enough government silliness stories. But he does like Colter Wall.

Mike Mikkelson.

Brad Pachal. You can visit drop-in clinics and be seen right away. Just make an appointment: the link to book an online appointment at the medical clinics is

Skipthewaitingroom.com

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck. For a look at some new tech in Alberta and a maybe a water-as-the-only-emission fuel, check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5cO0r2PEyM or catch up at https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/video/power-shift-canadian-technology-extracts-hydrogen-from-oil-without-pollution~1776608

Bob Wiggins. Driving Dorothy to Distraction? They’re headed off to a TransCanada Highway adventure.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

This was Sept 5th.

Mon, 09 Sep 2019 17:57:00 GMT

O Canada. True North, Strong and Cree. (Thank you A.L.)

Members:

Brett Bain. He is feeling as good as he looks. He has gone from ‘so sore he could hardly move’ to ‘no pain’. (And he did it surgically.)

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon. Alberta harvest looking good in Grande Prairie area; suffering from drought in SE and WAS looking good in the South, until hail ruined crops. • You might want to have a ‘clever’ handle on Twitter (yes, be invisible). • The 6 indigenous challenges to the pipeline are going to delay it by another 6 months. At least.

Paul Boucher. The next time you fly Air Canada you might find yourself looking around for Paul. He’s there ( in your ears): he’s now voicing the safety message on the new 787s. • And if you like the idea of using a photo of that which you want to search about, check out Google Lens. And download the Google App onto your phone or tablet.

Ian Campbell: Is excited that his son in now checked into Dalhousie U (he now has a reason to visit its hallowed halls … and sip good beer at famous pubs). And check out Peggy’s Cove, Blue Rock and watch a high-level volleyball.

Matt Dart . He’s going to Washington, DC. No, not as a Senator or Congressman. He’s going as a Spouse. (His wife has to attend a conference.)

Don Davis. Gentle, compassionate DD is quite firm about this: hitting in hockey should begin at an early stage. This helps prepare players for higher levels.

Todd Dean:

George Doherty.

Don Doolan . Smile. You are on candid camera. You are. Every time you ‘tap’ with your card, there’s a camera taking your photo.

Tony Fisher.

Gord Forsyth . Looking forward to enjoying the races on Saturday the 14th with some other couples.

Mel Gibson. Hmm. TransCanada Hwy to have many shutdowns over the next few years, between Lake Louise and Golden. Alternate route will be via Hwy 93. Pretty but very narrow. • Also, UCP has cancelled the 5% cap on auto insurance.

Henry Heuver. Not happy with all the pandering to the indigenous folks. We are all immigrants, including the Indians: they came from Asia via Russia.

David Hicks. Few sounds are as moving at a celebration of life, as piper piping.

Dan Kennelly.

Matt Litke. Kids can have a bank account at the RB from birth. Many people assume there is an ‘age’ restriction. Nope.

Andy Lockhart . Farmers can take their equipment on public roads (from field to field). And this time of year, they are working so they’re on the highways every day. And one was recently rear-ended by an idiot passing on the the shoulder.

J.D. MacDonald. Has been on a number of emergency calls. Likes the RESP.

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen. Even the smarter state (in the USA) can be pretty silly. For instance, Berkley (California) has banned natural gas from new buildings starting in 2020. Menlo Park, California, is now following in its footsteps. The Menlo Park city council decided to ban natural gas in all new commercial, industrial, and high rise apartment buildings within the same timeline (starting in January 2020). The decision is expected to be officially adopted on September 10. Many other cities in the state are considering a similar ban. (I think Vancouver did this in 2017??)

Mike Mikkelson. Hear, hear! He’s bang on (in my opinion): beyond beef is a questionable edible.

Brad Pachal. Mixing up work with pleasure in the Shuswap.

Gerry Parcells. Remember that line: “OMG, look at all the freaking Indians!” Well, so does Gerry. And he isn’t alone.

Dwayne Vinck. Med-extractor has filed and all is looking good. (Stay tuned.)

Bob Wiggins. You get what you pay for. So. That good deal at Pearl Vision may not be that good. In fact, after hearing Bob’s story, don’t bother.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Birds August Sayonara

Thu, 29 Aug 2019 23:06:00 GMT

Dan Kennelly – Talking business off the top with an interesting note: American companies doing business on the scale of Trans Am Pipe and/or bigger are requesting/demanding stable 4-year pricing. There’s so much happening down there, they’re trying to insulate against the sort of price overages that many have suffered on major projects. Next, they’ll be asking for equal rights for women and people of colour! Oh. Wait.

Dan also mentioned Mickelson National Golf Club ( https://www.mickelsonnational.com/ ) – 10 holes. Great fun. At the start 1-2 planes coming in right overhead (close enough to read the markings on the tires, but other than that….

Henry Heuver – A rare political moment wondering what Trudeau is thinking. Among the many, many, fiscal missteps, Henry noted the fact that the man can’t apologize for his own stupidity. Henry wished that M. Justin would just take a page from Ralph Klein, who pretty much apologized every day. For his own behaviour. Not some past misdeed he had nothing to do with. Sorry, I editorialized on the back of Henry’s comments there. Inside voice.

Another note from Henry – he’s noted how MANY trees in Calgary’s urban canopy have died this year through city neglect. He estimated 100K have died. The cost to replace them (especially the larger, mature trees) is about equal to the cost of the new sports centre. (!!?) City’s maintenance on them has been terrible. In Henry’s estimation water trucks would have saved a lot of them. Maybe if the trees had purple leaves….

Gord Forsyth – Played Silverwing Golf Course ( https://www.silverwinggolf.com/ ). A hawk came swooping down. They get a lot bigger VERY fast when they’re coming at you.

Brad Pachal – Dealing with an unfamiliar acronym in tandem with a recent death: MAID. Turns out it stands for medical assistance in dying . So, he’ll be heading to Maple Creek for a funeral.

It brought a few questions to mind though – not least of which is life insurance. Andy Lockhart contributed this note at that point: most policies have a limited time suicide-invalidation of policy clause usually lasting something like two years after acquiring the policy. Then Matt Litke chimed in with a note from his experience in the health field. There are usually multiple written diagnoses concurring on the terminal nature of the illness, and everything is cleared ahead of time.

Brad added that his sister (if memory serves) mentioned that in Kelowna they have a regular person on staff at the hospital for it

Brad also thanked Michael McLennan for the opportunity to do some reno work while Michael was away recently.

Sean Baylis – Interesting August for the markets thanks mostly to The Donald (Sean’s trying for understatement of the year). The yield curve conversation in the US continues with the inverted yield curve pointing to a downturn on the horizon in 10-18 months. From there, Sean is saying that RBC is asking their clients questions like how are you positioned in your portfolio? Sean’s/RBC’s advice: reduce risk. The thinking about the upcoming downturn is not if , but when . So, focus on companies dealing in things that people NEED rather than what they want. Defensive bets include utilities, health care, and infrastructure. Infrastructure was there because governments are running out of tools to stimulate the economy and are/will be turning to infrastructure spending.

RBC also recommends to increase exposure to fixed income (bonds) rather than equities.

Then investment tips: Again, Sean recommended Crown Castle ( https://www.crowncastle.com/ ) & American Tower ( https://www.americantower.com/ ). They’re both going to be big players in the deployment of new 5G cellular infrastructure in the US and worldwide. Verizon – one of the companies on the bleeding edge of that tech in the US is another one to watch that RBC likes.

Dave Hicks – not much other than a big upcoming blow job – meaning the bagpipes of course! What were you thinking? The Calgary and Canmore Highland Games are coming up this weekend – Calgary on Saturday and Canmore on Sunday.

Other than that, Dave echoed Henry’s malaise about vote-buying/pandering by the Federal Liberals. $600-$700 million doled out to media (CBC). Now, with the election approaching, CBC appears to be biased in favour of…shocker!…the Liberals.

Mike Mikkelson . he and Renee just took a wonderful, extended road trip through Spokane, Portland and Seattle. Of note, the vineyards south of Kennewick: stunning! Washington is now the 2nd largest premium wine producer in the United States . It was long, but a beautiful driving trip. For fun, here’s a quick Yelp listing of the 10 best wineries in the Kennewick area: https://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=wineries&find_loc=Kennewick%2C+WA .

While in Seattle – staying not far from the Seatac airport and noticed new Prime Air hangars in Seattle for Amazon. Prime Air will be Amazon’s delivery service. Mike said it was hard to take in the scale of these buildings. Roughly the size of a Walmart SuperCentre and twice the height!

Michael McLennan – Thankful to Brad for great work on renos. As mentioned – Michael and Maria were away (BEST time to have renos done!). Not sure if it was the Azores islands in this instance, but they were visiting islands off the coast of Portugal with 32 of their closest family members for a reunion event. They happened to see a big Boeing plane land so hard that it visibly creased the fuselage of the plane! The plane was grounded, and likely written off. They *did* note it was a Russian Antonov plane that flew in with spare parts. Irony much?

On the reunion event, it was fabulous and relatively inexpensive. They rented 20 rooms, which turned out to be the entire place (which was even better for the guests). As an indication of relative cost, Michael said they rented tour busses (full tour busses with bathrooms etc) for 430 Euros for the whole day.

Another amazing sight was the white festival (do NOT try this in Canada or the US). Everyone dresses in white, and in the evening with white fabric, etc. hanging everywhere, the whole place is lit up in blacklights. it’s a big deal, 55,000 people descending on this small downtown. Beautiful! I found two photos of the festival on the Azores islands – one during the day and one at night so you could see it because it’s sort of hard to visualize. Enjoy.

The last thing from Michael was a quick note on Brett: He’s doing well (more from Matt Litke shortly on that). Brett’s deck overlooks the ravine out at their place and recently Brett had a guest: a Moose peeking through the deck railing.

Ross Mikkelsen – Out east on business and he recounted that Ontario manufacturers don’t know what to do about those tariffs.

Other note: On a recent trip to Jasper they noted it was SUPER busy!

Retail news. Decathlon opening in Canada, LL Bean and few other major entrants. There’s so much new competition in such a short amount of time. If it was another industry, for example… aerospace (looking at you Bombardier!), people would be screaming that so much competition is allowed into the sector/country in a week never mind a year.

A final note from Ross was the Graffiti “festival” that Barbecues Galore had at the north location on the north wall of the warehouse. It was more of a conscious community-building event, but the energy was remarkable! 300 people showed up in the parking lot (NOT your garden variety Barbecues Galore customer) with rap music, dancing. It was a very positive thing all around. Quick video of the finished work is below thanks to Ross. It’s not a mural, more individual independent themes peppering the space.

Andy Lockhart – Priddis evaluated for national ranking by a guy who goes around and plays courses for the Canadian ranking system. “Where were THESE jobs when I was growing up!?”

They recently had their Greens Keepers Cup – which is basically an opportunity for the turf care staff to prove how evil they can be.

Examples: On one hole, they basically put a bucket on a stepped green that made it a *wee bit* more difficult to finish that hole. One guy in the group nine-putted on that one (the 16th) and gave up.

Another hole that starts you on a tee box that you can’t see the green from had an irrigation pipe strategically placed in front of the green so you had to chip your ball over it to get onto the green.

Another hole – and another one where you can’t see the entire hole – you were forced to select two clubs to use. Declare them at the outset and stick with them until you sink it, or it sinks you. Normally you’d use the driver to get to the corner….but in that case, then you’d be stuck with the driver and whatever else you choose. Hehehe.

Don Davis – was the first to elaborate on a topic quickly brought up by Mike Mikkelson . The Calgary Coop – in a major turning away from their history and their roots will now be sourcing their wholesale foods from Save On Foods. Don voiced the sentiment around the room that this *could be* a big mistake. Roots in the community and the club were very deep. If you’d missed the story, you can catch up via the Herald article here: https://calgaryherald.com/business/local-business/calgary-co-op-to-source-groceries-from-save-on-foods-analyst-calls-move-a-major-transformation .

Don’s spent some time in Canmore recently and noted the prices of real estate (not the value) are right up there with Toronto and Vancouver. He also noted that for a ‘walking town”, it’s pretty hard to find parking to start walking. It’s wall to wall people on weekends, never mind when there’s an event on like the Folk Festival or this weekend’s Highland Games.

Matt Litke – Recently suffered through stomach flu. NOT recommended. Regarding Brett Bain , Matt had talked to Brett. He hasn’t been pain-free for years, but according to Vicki he’s better than he’s been for years. He’s been re-engaging in limited ways with work to ease himself back into things.

Matt had been looking to “rehome” his big Great Pyrenees dog, and they’ve found a new home for him: a hobby farm with sheep. So far he keeps trying to play with the sheep – and they’re not having it. He easily hops over 4-foot barbed wire fences to visit with the people on their deck. So far so good though.

Matt added one note to piggyback on Sean’s insights: Canadian big banks still seeing profits- another safe investment possibility

His final note adding to today’s “Trudeaumania” was bringing up another federal payout – this time in the form of a law inviting non-status First Nations people to reapply to claim their “status”. That opens up the possibility of as many as 400,000 individuals to reclaim some “status”. This could affect people going as far back as 1965 who might have lost their status after leaving reserves, women will likely be the single largest group affected.

Bob Wiggins – First thing – (in a whisper) prices at Inglewood were supposed to go up in August…but haven’t. Shhhhhhh.

Also: Saskatchewan is NOT only FLAT! See photos here: https://www.tourismsaskatchewan.com/ .

He then told a great story about a guy he used to work with in Thunder Bay who asked him why anyone would ever want to visit Banff (after Bob set the record straight on why he’d want to visit Saskatchewan). Apparently, Thunder Bay boob thought Banff was such a tourist trap. When he was there – he visited Main street.

Well, Dorothy got his name and address and then contacted everyone from Banff backward to Thunder Bay for their tourism brochures and requested they be sent to that man’s address. ????

Jim Bladon – noted the story about Kevin O’Leary admitting he was “involved” in a boating collision that left 2 people dead. All sorts of wild stories are going around about it. Ross jumped in to talk about the location – Joseph Lake – and how it’s a rich, celebrity infested lake and that they pilot expensive boats drunk on a regular basis. That story’s still developing.

Jim also talked about noticing discrepancies in gas prices all throughout the city via his Gas Buddy app ( https://www.gasbuddy.com/App ). Apparently there can be up to an 11 cent spread on regular, 28 cents on premium and 22 cents in Diesel between the highest and lowest prices. According to the app, the Centex gas station in Ogden is the best place to go generally – but ESPECIALLY Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays where they take an additional 3 cents off their already best prices.

Dog Days of Summer

Mon, 26 Aug 2019 17:49:00 GMT

August 22nd: Gord is proposing an evening out for Birds at Century Downs. He’s looking for a show of interest. So please send him a quick email at ghforsyth@shaw.ca Just say you’re interested. Or not. The timing is around the middle of September.

And as the sports stories got underway, Andy waxed poetic about the Professional Sports Biz with: “You can use the game (for your benefit) or you can let the game use you.”

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon. Rose-coloured glasses still required. Even though financial services and interest rates seem stable. And even though some bank biz is seeing increased activities, Jim sees layoffs continuing, around the province. The Ag sector has been hurt by weather. Taber corn crop was virtually wiped out and the pumpkin crop is so bad that we might best be advised to put Halloween on hold until next year. However, the Craft Beer Program is being tweaked for the better. The new, Tsu Tina’s 7 Chiefs Sports Complex is amazing. And they are now planning a 10,000 home residential area. As ambitious as that sounds, it’s a positive sign.

Paul Boucher. Paul has always know what a New York Minute is and he got to enjoy quite a few of them, in and around Baltimore, Washington DC and the state of New York. He recommends the Lincoln Memorial, the Holocaust Museum and Alphabet City for starters.

Ian Campbell:

Matt Dart .

Don Davis. If you treasure your Japanese Steel knives, do not practice your sharpening skills on them. Take’em to a pro. (Would you sharpen you own skates? No. So …) • He’s now off to tour the Hamilton/Ontario area followed by a tour of Saskatchewan.

Todd Dean:

George Doherty. George has been, believe it or not, golfing this summer. But hey, much of it has been for good causes. For instance, Prostate fund raiser did good.

Don Doolan .

Tony Fisher. Interesting. The smarter bars are buying shuffleboards and such to help attract and keep patrons happy. Juke boxes – that play vinyl – are also popular.

Gord Forsyth . He’s been golfing for good causes, too. The Stampede Foundation’s bottom line is a little better thanks to some good ‘ballin’ out at Darcy Ranch

Mel Gibson.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks. His great summer continues. There’s the Y at Seton. There’s Everywhere in Inglewood. Then the new VIP Theatre where you, too, can catch the new Terantino movie. And of course, you can bike ‘the barley belt.’

Dan Kennelly. (It was a laid back, chatty breakfast and Dan really didn’t find an opening to speak in.)

Matt Litke.

Andy Lockhart. Getting his shop painted is on his mind.

J.D. MacDonald.

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen.

Mike Mikkelson.

Brad Pachal. Hmm. Do not neglect your eavestroughs. • And if you’re looking for a good source of truck accessories, try Chrome Truck Outfitters.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck. The new craft beer program is going to be good for Big Rock and this is a good thing. • (I missed the important details) … but someone in Dwayne’s family got four homers in a high-level, Slo-pitch game (in Manitoba, I believe). • Dwayne is looking for good things in the ‘medextractor’ business. Small batch cannabis has a promising future.

Bob Wiggins. Bob has mentioned this before but he reminds us: you are your best advocate for your own health. He’s had some interesting experiences recently and if he didn’t ‘push hard and persistently’, he’d be still wondering what happened to him and have no idea of what might help resolve the issue. Don’t let this happen to you. Be nice but be firm: doctors’ listen to squeaky wheels just like the rest of us.

George Roberts. One good read: Starlight by Richard Wanegase.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

August 15th

Fri, 16 Aug 2019 20:05:00 GMT

August 15

Andy asked about Brett Bain. He just had a back operation; they fused a few vertebrae together. And now he’s walking tall and not dragging his one leg. With his titanium insert and all those pins and screws, Brett could be called ComputerMan. He may not leap over buildings and scale mountains but he can again network Alberta School systems, defend against hackers and scammers and snap his fingers to bring hard drives back to life … for the fairest of maidens and even, dullish guys like you and me.

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis. Smiling Sean sees progress and profit where others see only signs of recession. Trump has whittled tariffs off consumer goods from China. The Fed has made a small cut in interest rates (a rare act). Yes, Germany is experiencing shrinkage and there is a negative yield curve (for what that curve means will not be found in my scribbles; sorry.). He is a bit leery of bank stocks for the next while – especially the B of M and BNS. • Seems there are 6 usual signs of an impending recession and since Sean can only see one, he’s … watching Crave and looking forward to the Chernobyl story.

Jim Bladon. T

Paul Boucher.

Ian Campbell: ( He was at Breakfast but I was late so missed comments from a couple of Birds.)

Matt Dart .

Don Davis . Don is marvelling at how different things have become. His son is buying his first home for about a million. Back in the early 60’s, Don bought is first home for $6500.00. It had a 20 year mortgage at a punishing 3%. Ch-ch-ch-changes (as David Bowie liked to sing).

Todd Dean: Todd is about to torment his body – particularly his calves, quads and glutes – in the 2-day Ride to conquer Cancer. Our weather and all the travel he’s been doing this summer has not tuned Todd up for such a bike ride. But duty calls.

George Doherty.

Don Doolan .

Tony Fisher. Crop gazing, he is. While pool tables and hot tubs stream out of his stores, Tony marvels at the healthy look of the local canola crops

Gord Forsyth. Nada. Not a tip to offer. But lotsa amusing quips for our amusement.

Mel Gibson.

Henry Heuver. Henry is not as busy as he’d like. He has time to notice how much work the City is supporting and can’t help but feel that some of that money would be well spent on landscaping. He’s probably right.

David Hicks. Great summer so far. He’s been to the Celtic Lodge (a timeless place); Halifax and all over Cape Breton and PEI. Dave has had almost enough lobster for one year.

Dan Kennelly. Canada could borrow a page from the US and make pipelines work for the good of the country. But when will we ever learn? Meanwhile, you might want to try your hand at Skydiving. There’s a great facility at Deerfoot City. You could tell by Dan’s grin and that shine in his eyes, he’s going to do it.

Matt Litke. Banking is never boring. Mortgages are an interesting part of the business right now and more customers than ever are actually visiting the branch.

Andy Lockhart. He’s renovating his woodworking shop and has one of his nephew’s firms doing the painting. It’s under the College Pro banner – Andy’ll let us know if his relative is recommendable. • Meanwhile, Andy wants us to know that the Indigenous folks have dubbed Justin Trudeau, ‘Walking Eagle’. (Which, in Ojibway, means he’s too full of crap to fly.)

J.D. MacDonald. It’s time for seasonal projects so your home is ready for winter. Hot water tanks need attention and JD has a specially priced package for same.

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen.

Mike Mikkelson.

Brad Pachal. ( He was at Breakfast but I was late so missed comments from a couple of Birds.)

Gerry Parcells. He has visions of churches, poutine and lobsters in his mind’s eye as he heads off to Quebec to see his son.

Dwayne Vinck.

Bob Wiggins.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

No Ross; no French Toast. What gives?

Sat, 20 Jul 2019 18:29:00 GMT

Read all about it: fentanyl, monster bombs and second careers!

Members:

Brett Bain. He enjoyed having his son and his family visit for the past few weeks. He couldn’t help noticing that as delightful as it was to pick them up at the airport … it was equally saddening to return to the airport to see them off. (Ah well, there’s next year to look forward to.)

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon. The Stampede ticketing program (for draws for great prizes) was hugely successful this year. Better yet, most of the big winners were local Calgarians (or within driving range). • The online sales were so popular, they increased revenues by $700,000.

Paul Boucher. A slip of the pen that could have cost Paul a pretty penny, was resolved by the fine folks at FEDEX. When Paul realized he’d made a mistake and that it was already enroute with Fedex, he called to ask if they could somehow call it back. They could and they did. Phew.

Ian Campbell: Faster? Smarter? More successful? Ian is spending less time with customers (patients) and being a little more hands-on as owner/manager. (His clients still get good care, so don’t worry.) His business volumes are growing.• Meanwhile, Ian’s volleyball-spiking son is keeping active – including playing in Edmonton where serious players can begin qualifying for the Olympics.

Matt Dart .

Don Davis .

Todd Dean:

George Doherty.

Don Doolan .

Tony Fisher. He marvelled at Gord Forsyth’s amazing selling abilities. In fact, Tony wondered out loud if maybe Gord missed his calling: Gord may yet have a second career in his future – as a carnival barker on the midway.

Gord Forsyth.

Mel Gibson.

Henry Heuver. Henry was happy to let others do the talking.

David Hicks.

Dan Kennelly. It’s a worry it is. An orange package was found in Dan’s neighbourhood – full of doses of fentanyl! Such a find in a family community is frightening. It’s reason enough to keep your eyes peeled for strange cars and/or people in your area.. • Dan also mentioned that heating, A/C and hot water equipment are all leased in Ontario. Nobody buys them there.

Matt Litke.

Andy Lockhart. Last week, he spoke of the burgeoning mosquito peril around his home section. This week, he’s speaking about recreating one of the biggest bombs of WWII. Hopefully, there’s no connection between these two events. • There’s a Men’s Club in High River that has nothing but nice things to say about the Biggest Bomb-maker we Birds know: Andy recreated their multi-player cribbage table (Lost in the 2013 flood).

J.D. MacDonald. Just back from the fine weather and high prices of gasoline in Agassi and Harrison Hot Springs. • To afford such pleasures in the future, JD may be talking to Don Davis about how to set up a lease corp for HVAC and related items.

Michael McLennan. Micheal remembers when English Bay area of Vancouver was an attractive place to hang out. Not so much anymore. So he now suggests the Village of Steveston – on the other side of Richmond. It has much going for it without all the street people, druggies and police sirens.

Ross Mikkelsen.

Mike Mikkelson.

Brad Pachal. Tipster of the day?. #1. Brad sits on his email messages and such until the next day. J-u-s-t in case he wants to change it, fix it or cancel it. • #2: You know how annoying WeedEaters can be. Their line spools are finicky and re-spooling is a pain in the butt. So Brad suggests you buy some ‘spiral line’. Spiral line cuts better than plain cord and lasts longer Available at CT.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck. Dwayne spoke of a cannabis-based firm (where he’s the CFO) and how its ‘going public’ plans are unfolding as they should.

Bob Wiggins. Bob delivered a short review of our annual report. Seems we’re in the black but as always, an edge of red could creep in at any time.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Yah Hoo!

Mon, 15 Jul 2019 21:03:00 GMT

July 11

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher. Switching from one business manager to another is … complicated. • On another note: some guidance from McGinnis and Holloway – plus having a lawyer in the family – eased the pain of saying goodbye to Paul’s father-in-law, last week.

Ian Campbell . Kudos to Sean for a good investment suggestion

Matt Dart .

Don Davis . Before you go gopher shooting (as in slaying the pesky critters on your own property), know that the RCMP might come by and worse, they might even arrest you. • Don also has kudos for Sean (enjoying his REIT, Crown Castle).

Todd Dean: He and the family are settling in for what’s shaping up to be a very busy year..

George Doherty.

Don Doolan .

Tony Fisher. Sales of Dream Home tickets – and 50/50 tickets – went well. The new tablet systems make transactions fast and easy.

Gord Forsyth. Gord continues his quest for that ‘one of these days’ treat: the perfect (well, at least, edible) corn dog. Did he succeed this year? We’ll find out on Thursday.

Mel Gibson.

Henry Heuver. Calgary area tree ailments include black knot disease (a fungus) and leaf miners. For black knot, if you can get at it, cut it out and dispose of it carefully. It’s too late for leaf miners this year; but earmark that tree for spraying next spring.

David Hicks.

Dan Kennelly. I think he used the word ‘bon hommie’ to describe his day in the sun, at the rodeo, sipping a Bud and watching cowboys wrangle wild horses and mad bulls for (up to) 8 seconds of sheer terror. Dan then took a tour of the ‘animal’ barns.

Matt Litke. Now grilling better burgers, flattened chicken and scorched beef on his new Barbecues Galore grilling gear.

Andy Lockhart. Millions of mosquitoes are having unprotected sex around Andy’s place. But they can’t stop him from carving with his grandson; or reading all about the German who invented the carburetor that enabled fighter planes to fly upside down etc.

J.D. MacDonald.

Michael McLennan. 3D printing continues to amaze people as it spins ever newer applications on top of the already new applications. Just watch: 3D may very well bring manufacturing back to North America.

Ross Mikkelsen. Passed around a copy of The Range Men, a book-full of “cowboys, outlaws, celebrated chieftains, murderers, disappearing buffalo, whisky peddlers, Black and Chinese Albertans, missionaries, cattle barons and brave policemen”—(cribbed from the foreword by Sid Marty).And what does a Century ago have in common with today? One of their biggest challenges then, as now, was getting their resources to market.

Mike Mikkelson. Mike was not impressed by the brawl between a couple of aboriginals while at the stampede. It kind of took away from the day, eh.

Brad Pachal. Brad has the Columbia river basin on his mind. On his to-do list, he has enough work to keep him busy until November. (But he can always squeeze another project in.)

Gerry Parcells. He was at Birds but not too chatty.

Dwayne Vinck.

Bob Wiggins. He told us a banker story.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

July 4th

Sat, 06 Jul 2019 19:40:00 GMT

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis. Does Sean like The Donald? Well, maybe not, but he likes the landing of the Trade Truce with China. Details yet to be determined but the truce is a step in the right direction. Plus, with Christine Lagarde as head of the European Central Bank, we can expect easy money rules for the EU. Oh, and hey, if you want 8.5% dividends? Check out Interprovincial Pipelines.

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher.

Ian Campbell.

Matt Dart . He’s enjoying backpacking with his family while waiting for biz to pick up.

Don Davis . Don is perplexed by the feds giving (GRANTING) Apollo Metals some $450,000. Seems a little rich and all of it is paid for by you and me and our fellow tax paying neighbours. • Ah well, he also notes that the PC’s Robocall marketing program is using a call centre in Florida. More jobs for the middle class of southern USA, eh? • Want some real-estate advice: if you can see water and/or mountains, buy it.

Todd Dean: Life is getting more interesting. He’s moved into a new home. His father is here for a long visit. Todd’s business is going great guns and he’s making new alliances with new contractors. He is now working on cloning himself.

George Doherty. While some Birds have fishing stories to tell, George has a whale of a tale: Check out the National Geographic’s feature on “When Whales Walked the Earth.” (Seems whales got so gall-darn tired of carrying all that weight around, they, took to the water. And there they remain, to this day.)

Don Doolan .

Tony Fisher. Found the latest listing of the salaries of the highest paid ‘snivelling servants’, “interesting”.

Gord Forsyth. He’s happy to report that Ruby Laine Forsyth is now home and content to be so. • City water bills are so silly, he’s turned his underground watering system off and saving money.

Mel Gibson. If you see him on the Stampede grounds with his rain-coated iPad, buy a draw ticket from him.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks. His mountain projects continue to expand. Meanwhile, Dave has accepted the ‘mile a day’ challenge’ and is now challenged to find the time for a mile run every day.

Dan Kennelly. Seems the Jim Beam bourbon storage facility caught fire and 450,000 barrels of their future inventory burned off. This may not be a great loss to single malt Scotch drinkers but the news is enough to make whiskey.drinkers weep a few, corn-mash tinted tears. • If you should get a speeding ticket, read it carefully before paying it. If the facts on it are wrong, you can get it thrown out and avoid the fine and points.

Matt Litke.

Andy Lockhart. I think he enjoys rubbing it in: he’s not in the City so he doesn’t have a water bill. • And he points out that those of us who appeal tax assessments may get a reduction this year … but that amount will then be added onto our next year’s tax bill. (He didn’t call us suckers but, if you close your eyes and listen to the tone of his voice ..)

J.D. MacDonald. JD’s back and his shoulder’s at work.

Michael McLennan. He’s not sure whether he’s looking forward to his first WCB assessment or not. (Some of us cou l d tell him WCB tales that would make a 3D printer freeze on its rails, but hey …)

Ross Mikkelsen. Sorry, but I can’t tell you what he said about Pellet-burning barbecues Except to say that he will sell you one.

Mike Mikkelson. This usually hard-nosed commentator spoke glowingly of the ‘River that runs Through our City’. “It’s a great ecosystem we have and we’re fortunate to have such clean water plus, one of the o better trout-fishing rivers in the country.”• He then spoke of the new waste treatment plant being building in this city and how huge a project it is.

Brad Pachal.

Gerry Parcells. Rented a car in LA and drove to Mexico to get some dental work done. Estimate was $6,000 in Canada. Actual cost in MX was $1,000. • He left his passports in the glove compartment of the rental car and had some fun getting though customs.

Dwayne Vinck. The Disability Savings Program has adjusted the age period of eligibility – from 50 to 60 which is good news for the disabled. • Also, remember that if you have stock options and if you cash them in, the proceeds can be treated as Capital Gains (a saving of 50%).

Bob Wiggins. If you’re bothered by telemarketers on your landline, you can select a service setting that asks callers to enter a number (#3 or whatever) to connect. This weeds out the Robocalls.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Birds June 27th

Thu, 04 Jul 2019 03:11:00 GMT

Dwayne Vinck – Rode in the MS Ride to raise funds for MS research – windy as all get out on Saturday, but they managed to avoid getting wet all weekend. Great experience, well organized. His and Brad Pachal’s 10th or 11th year.

Other than that, an old crew of guys who’d hung out and graduated as CA’s 23 years ago got together for a reunion. Hadn’t been together as a group for 23 years so it was a lot of fun.

George Doherty – tipless. However, in a follow up to last weeks “frosted cottage” story, the cottage kitchen sink wouldn’t drain..thought it was frost-related. Turns out, nope it was just plugged, so they called a plumber. When the plumber saw the plumbing George had done 30 years ago etc, he asked “who the hell did this?! Not sure if George copped to it or not. In any case, the plumber made all sorts of repairs and fixed them right up. If there WAS a tip there….it would be: hire an expert.

Dave Hicks – winding down in Maligne Lake after 8 months. About to come home when the client pulled up and asked for more work to get done. Not just “more work”, but more “WORK”. Dave said he’d get back to him. Great as the project has been, everyone’s looking forward to being home.

Headed to Cape Breton most of July with family.

Finally Dave’s Tip – “…#3 on lamest tips of the year” – Fountain Tip pen at Staples. Photo below.

Tony Fisher – Out the other night – town hall meeting for Jeromy Farkas. 200-300 people. Lasted 90 minutes. Tony remains impressed with Jeromy. Thinks he’s got a good backbone to do what he’s doing. Seems to be fine taking on the council, admits when he’s wrong. He added that there’s an interesting dynamic between him and Sean Chu at Council. Farkas’ motions are usually seconded by Chu to help give him a voice on council.

Gord Forsyth – At Rotary last Wednesday (26th) – one member praised BBQ Galore. Barbecues Galore is getting good things from all directions. Sure Ross would say “…just throw money…” but grateful for all the nice things people have to say.

Gord and golfing tips: In radium $48 Mountainside , $53 at CopperRidge and $65 at the Springs. No problem getting tee times. Empty until after 3.

Michael McLennan – June -was a great month for the business.

Michael and Maria’s personal project in Portugal is approaching completion after a lesson in patience, Or 3. It will have taken almost 4 years from start to finish. While the property is “idle” the owner still gets taxed…BUT…tax is $110 a YEAR – they’re on the hook for all the property tax accrued while it sits. Michael will be starting a Go Fund Me campaign for the $440 sometime soon.

Henry Heuver – not much to report this week except for this observation: some businesses seem extremely busy and others not at all. Of course, the one he needs for a repair is forcing him to wait 3 weeks for a repair. Don’t they know who he is?

Matt Dart – Jordan Peterson – 12 Rules of Life – gets his vote at least as “interesting” so far. A few other Birds have read this one and opinion is “mixed” in the sense that on the one hand, some have found it a slog – others have found it great to hear a proudly broadcast, politically incorrect perspective on nearly everything, and others think the guy’s started to believe his own press. I think it was Matt Litke who chimed in that the audiobook version makes it easier to get through. The author narrates it and he’s a great speaker and practised narrator. Among the discussions the book has prompted at Matt’s house is whether grit is more important than IQ as a determinant of success. Peterson says IQ. Matt’s wife Irina, a teacher, thinks persistence and hard work (grit) does it better

Brad Pachal – Reminiscing on another great ride for MS. 640 riders – raised 716K for MS research. Forgot all his electronics and the ride was better for it.

On another note, he had to fix plumbing for a client – it was a DIY disaster. Sometimes YouTube is too much of a good thing.

Sean Baylis$ – Exciting week in news because of G20 happening in Japan. “Trump Truce” with China – typically short of detail – still an empty boast at this point. He’ll be focused on politics at home soon. Democratic debates have started. Turning to investment in Canada – a nice spike in oil prices. Might feel it at the pump though. More talk about gold since it broke $1400 an ounce last week. Again a potential rate cut in July in the US could see the US dollar drop, but gold might go up.

RBC is advocating a defensive stance in portfolios – moving fixed income out of corporate bonds and in top government bonds, looking for good dividend companies to insulate portfolios. If you’ve made a lot of money in small-cap companies, it’s probably a good time to take profits.

Ross Mikkelsen – Happened into Aleppo Soap. Great post-Syria story. The owner runs a soap factory not far from the south Barbecues Galore store. Great soap – a nice story about a guy who’s come from a terrible place, adding to the community. You can click here to see their two locations in town and learn more about Soap from Aleppo .

Ross is a big fan of author Michael Lewis (author of Moneyball among many others). He’s been listening to the new Michael Lewis Podcast Against the Rules and happened on a particularly good episode about the role of referees and arbitrators not being given enough room to work in society. It sounds like this episode: Ref, You Suck! https://atrpodcast.com/episodes/ref-you-suck-s1!c5106

Don Davis – kudos to Jim Bladon for his TV interview – great interview, good speaker.

He then went on to mention that most people don’t think about negotiating at a department store – but at Home Depot they had an artificial hedge for $57. Don asked him what he could sell it for. Sales guy offered it to him for $30 – then the manager said: “Nah, let’s give him 50% off…”. Gord had a similar experience. A few others echoed that with Home Depot in particular (Ross hung his head). Dave Hicks had a similar experience with hard to find LED lightbulbs (no longer stocked). In that case, the store employee told him to just take the bulbs (10 LED lightbulbs. The TIP : You have to ask .

Mike Mikkelsen – In Medicine Hat on a tour of the Cannabis plant down there. It’s a massive building 1.6 million square feet. It’s hard to conceive the size of the space until you’re actually in there.

Jim Bladon – Homes by Avi are the builders of the 2019 Rotary Dream Home for Stampede. Beautiful ranch style with a nice western feel to it. 2500 sq feet. Goo set of pictures in this Herald article: https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/photos-calgary-stampede-unveils-1-8-million-in-lottery-prizes.

Jim continued by saying that prizes will be outstanding this year at Stampede. They anticipate the 50/50 could hit its 2.5 m cap. Stampede is offering prizes online for the first time. Raptors did the same thing during their championship run and they had payouts of 800K from time to time.

This is also the first year Stampede gone to e-tickets. Jim has trained 1300 volunteers on the new process.

Final notes from Jim last week: Kananaskis Golf in great shape.

Pedal Pub now has its liquor license. This looks like a blast! It’s literally a pub on wheels. Book through Pedal Pub or YYC beer pub.

And finally from Jim, if you’re looking for something different to do during Stoo-pede – Cowboys is hosting Guy Fieri second Thursday of Stampede. Toolshed beer infused brisket, Eau Claire gin infused ribs and other distillers working on pork. Looks like a messy, good time!

Matt Litke – Tip – Strathmore golf and country club – great shape, took his dad out there a couple of weeks ago and had a great time. Pretty impressed.. $55 a round, or $65 with a cart.

Then he underplayed his biggest news – he and Ashley are expecting, so he’ll be a dad in December! Congrats all around.

Andy Lockhart – Not an awful lot – spent the early part of the week on the gold course navigating around guys pumping out bunkers. TIP via Susan: if you mow the entire lawn with a lawn tractor having a flat tire – you WILL spend money on a new tire. At least.

Camping TIP in response to something else said during the meeting: Keep your boots inside your tent – porcupines love leather

Dan Kenelly – PBS doc – Humanity from Space, about 2 hours, but the 1st section is remarkable for showing the development of human-related traffic (planes trains and automobiles – and boats all over the globe). Worth watching: http://www.pbs.org/program/humanity-from-space/ .

Noted more on the impressive Russian development in the Arctic. They have 10 nuclear icebreakers to help clear the arctic – can slice through ice close to 10 feet thick. One of the new icebreakers is the largest of its kind in history. You can read one take on these icebreakers here in this article from Popular Mechanics , or here from a site that’s generally grumpy about the fact that the Russians or ANYONE can do ANYTHING in the Arctic. https://interestingengineering.com/russia-unveils-new-nuclear-powered-ice-breaker-to-force-open-warming-arctic

Final word from Dan on the world of energy this week: Do you know what the #1 fuel in the world is?

Coal.

Dwayne – 30th Anniversary of Tianamen – If you want to see how Canada could fare – take a look at how China. One of Ross’ people is from Beijing and he had no idea what was going on until he left the country.

2nd Round

Ross – in Alberta Boot to get boots for his daughter— great spot for boot. Smith built hats in Inglewood another good place for Stampede.

Don Davis – asking about Lithium from an investment standpoint. Sean’s response was to “basket” Lithium mining companies and Battery companies.

George Doherty mentioned that his accountant bought a Tesla. George was impressed!. Self-driving pickup in the rain. Sadly, that little function (unsupervised Fetch-the-human autonomous driving) isn’t allowed in Canada. Yet. Someone also chimed in that they’re great cars…if you DON’T run the heater. Apparently, that kills the battery way faster than it should. Handy for Canada.

BIRDS JUNE 20TH

Thu, 27 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT

G’day gents – George Away for the 20th and 27th – so minutes by the Frogman.

Dan Kenelly – TMX is a definite subject of conversation and Dan kicked things off by mentioning that permits will be a hot topic for (among others) the 130 bands would like an ownership stake.

Matt Litke – Mortgage rates up this year, down this year, and now down a fair bit. Renewal conversations might be worth having. Rates are only one factor to consider. Take the cost of switching into account. Look into getting transfer fees waived etc. as one bargaining chip. The market is competitive enough to at least ask. Fees and amortization etc also worth taking into consideration.

Keep an eye on US interest rates. If rates there drop – it will be more competitive. -Stress test seems to be working – turning away people that shouldn’t be getting mortgages anyway. However as Gord and Don Doolan pointed out, some people re-qualifying are sometimes running into the stress test obstacle and find themselves in trouble.

Matt Dart – In Milwaukee past couple of weeks training, so passed

Tony – nada. I think that’s actually what he said.

Ian Campbell – not a lot. Gratitude to some Birds for some business. George, Mel, Andy, Mike. One of the things he did mention was that am important pillar of their philosophy at the clinic seems to be paying dividends for the business. It’s regarding maintenance and accomplishing two things – keeping customers happy with 4 – 6 months checkups after 6 month trial period, and naturally, driving business.

Other comments on hearing aids to remember: moisture is the enemy. Sweating while golfing, caught in the rain, whatever. 3 things to prevent repair: maintenance, dehumidifier accessory, and, wait for it….hearing aid condoms. They’re called Ear Gear – neoprene cover for your hearing aids.

Bottom line, it’s been one of their best months in-sales – partly due to the maintenance philosophy.

One last note from Ian, he’s been golfing recently – not crowded. Sign of the time$.

Don Davis – JD doing work for them. JD’s son is 6’9”, 300 lbs digging an 18 inch trench. It’s a site to behold…and if anyone can make it “quick work”, it’ll be that boy.

Separate note for Ross re: Barbecues Galore reputation – the gas inspector who came out to approve the work recommended Barbecues Galore when it came time for gas-related work. Then a second inspector did the same thing on a different gas-related subject.

Mike Mikkelson – Recently in Lethbridge for a day and a half – business. Things have slowed down there – partly the season, but partly the economy. Mike also had an observation after touring the Cavendish potato plant – other than it being pretty cool. A lot of automation has replaced people. You expect to see a lot of people in there, but there are a lot of robots doing the work.

Final tip from Mike. He was helping his son with a purchase at Southcentre Fine Cars. Good experience buying a VW.

Bob Wiggins – Bob is locked in the eternal combat of non-conversation with Inglewood. It would be funny if it didn’t indicate that they don’t appear to value a group that’s been there for many years giving them regular business good times or bad. He emailed Inglewood half a dozen meetings ago. There’s been nada from them at all in 6 weeks. I think Bob’s feeling like a Canadian farmer dealing with China. Or Trudeau. Take your pick.

Don Doolan – Email – allegedly from Telus re unwanted call blocking. My “Spam radar” went off, but Bob Wiggins corroborated it. Turns out it can be as simple as dialing *77. You can get more information here https://www.telus.com/en/support/article/anonymous-call-block

Don also added his comments about a CBC story on a Calgary Police crackdown on street racing issues that have popped up in the industrial SE. They’re probably the same people who can’t merge on Deerfoot, which is what makes it REALLY scary.

George Doherty – Spent some time recently with some friends at Century Downs and had a ton of fun. They play a game where 4 of them can’t pick the same horse. Karen picked a horse with $2 bet – picked up $78!

George also commented on how it was really cold this winter. When they opened up the cottage this spring – frost went down over 5 feet and had to use a steamer to warm the pipe to thaw out their grey water system. Likely not alone discovering those sorts of issues.

Dwayne Vinck – Echoing Matt’s comments regarding renegotiating your mortgage if the time is right – and adding if you have non-registered investments you’re planning, it might make sense to put an assigned debt toward an investment like the mortgage. I couldn’t keep up with the idea, but it sounded brilliant, BUT it was important to make the steps in the right order. In the right order, CRA will allow you to deduct interest. Talk to Dwayne for more.

Dwayne rode in the MS Ride this past weekend and you can still donate to the cause in Dwayne’s name by following this link: http://mssoc.convio.net/site/TR/BikeTour/AlbertaandNorthwestTerritoriesDivision?pg=entry&fr_id=6513

Ross Mikkelsen – Visting Toronto. Happened to be either on or just pas his birthday – and Budget Rent A Car was quite happy to point that out to him and to explain that walking was a healthy pursuit. license expiring.

Ross also mentioned taking in the old St. Louis Hotel – redeveloped and reopened by CMLC since 2016. It’s quite a public art space etc. Worth checking out if you’re down by the new library. Here’s a link to a quick PDF including some pictures. If you were there in the old days, there’s a few stick left you’ll recognize: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/546e57ebe4b0223d29717b12/t/583e162c2e69cf1be5889766/1480463917849/St.+Louis+Event+Rental+Brochure.pdf .

Michael McLennan – Regaled us with the kind of story we’ll be talking to our grandkids about around the campfire in 2030: sort of a tech version about how they Drove Old Dixie Down : how they hacked the Internet of Things (IOT for short among geeks). Specifically, in this case, people are hacking HP printers by sending a fax and embedding malware. You update your printer by opening a piece of software most people install and forget about – their actual printer software. Make sure everything’s patched and secured.

Gord Forsyth – “I got nothin’…”

Brett Bain – Kudos to Ross – only thing missing from Ross’ day was French Toast! A friend of Brett’s bought a Komodo BBQ. he happened to be hosting a 60 person reception (!). He praised BBQ Galore and the BBQ up and down. Loved this thing. Dale “for what I paid for the fucking thing, I should love it!” Dolphin is a tough guy to impresss.

Other Brett and OSI news, it’s busy season for them right now, with schools planning their spend etc. They’ll know more in the next 3 weeks as the government gets its ducks in a row.

Good story about the Red Earth Creek First Nation and how NOT to purchase. They bought oodles of equipment – warehoused it – and then needed OSI to install it all. I’m not sure if that’s the same story where they lost many, many iPads after ordering them and warehousing them. Brett signalled that he’d be away for the next 3 weeks.

Sean Baylis – There’s a bit of excitement in the Market. US Fed – strong probability of a rate cut. Markets positive about that. Gold’s up $38 to close to $1400. US Treasuries are down. May was rocky – but June seems better.

Couple of clients Sean likes. Companies with smart mgmt teams find ways to make money, like…. Disney . They’ve acquired acquired so many assets and they’ll start streaming later this year. A few years ago, they acquired ESPN to figure out how to stream sports. You can bet they will figure it out≥ Analysts aren’t sure how that’ll change the revenue model. US consumers healthy and spending money. The Disney market target is about $185 a share from the current $140. His second pick was a bit more obscure: Crown Castle Corp is another competitor to American Tower. The cell phone Tower business is a good one to be in. These companies have tried to come into Canada to buy the infrastructure – no go. They’re considered a real investment trust – but the only thing they own is the “air” around their towers. You’ll look back 10 years from now and think “that was a good buy”.

Brad Pachal – Recently in Northern Sask on a fishing trip. 5 days of absolute calm. Caught more fish than they could possibly eat or bring home. Fabulous week. He’s doing the MS Ride (as is Dwayne Vinck I believe). It’s 200K (or close enough for government work) this coming weekend. If I don’t get fundraising links from Brad or Dwayne as I write this, I’ll be sure to include them in the minutes for the meeting June 27th.

Henry Heuver – mentioned the approval of TMX – people looking forward to the ground clearing work around it before construction can take place. Lots of people need to be put back to work on other things and in other businesses.

Dryness is affecting not only farmers, but outfits like Foothills. Henry’s never seen a year where the city is using their water trucks so much. Lucky not to lose too many trees because of that.

Quick Joan update since many people were asking (thanks for that) – doing quite well. Started to walk (not very fast yet), but things moving in the right direction.

In response to a question about Spruce Trees turning red Henry said it’s not an infestation, it’s simply drying out. Hundreds of trees around town in bad shape and the city is complaining about not having the budget for hydration. Andy suggested that it could be winter kill, with new growth evident. Henry chimed in saying that hydration conditions in general are more likely to be the culprit.

Andy Lockhart – chuckling about dry ground – but they got an inch of rain in 10 minutes out at Priddis.

As for TMX, he continues to be part of the skeptics. He’s convinced (not alone in the wilderness on this either) that Eco-terrorists are going to cause all sorts of issues and that Justin the beautiful will fold up like a lawn chair.

Got his beast of a machine up and running in the shop.

One last thing – scam. One of his golf friends told him about a robocall where they start jabbering in Chinese. Don’t give in to the temptation to call them back. Don’t . Expensive – you get billed for the call.

June 6th

Tue, 11 Jun 2019 00:08:00 GMT

June 6

Scotch anyone? Gord donated a bottle of McCallan Ruby to Business Fore Calgary Kids. It raised $450.00 in their silent auction.Which, along with the golf tournament, raises $250,000 every year. (It’s been reported that a retired, banker-looking fellow left the clubhouse with tears in his eyes. )

Members:

Brett Bain. To Phoenix he is going … to experience more of that US patriotism (aka Trump-ism).

Sean Baylis. Seems markets are floating upwards and Trump’s Tweets may be to blame. Let’s see what he does in regards to China. •

Jim Bladon. Picking up on Mel’s Stampede ticket selling system comments, Jim mentioned that there are 1600 volunteers being taught how to use the Tablet online systems and that $160,000 will be saved on ticket printing. • Jim sees some optimism in the marketplace but adds that the energy sector is struggling to recruit enough people.

Paul Boucher. (From last week): If you use Office 365, there ’s a mileage app included. MileIQ. The mileage tracking app, mentioned by Paul, is called MileIQ – and you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCnQGj6a924 . That’s a really good 2 minute walk through how to set up etc. There’s also a very well done 1 minute review from a small business owner in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMlV84knYrQ . The actual web site where Microsoft gets its hooks into is here: https://www.mileiq.com/ .

ALSO: Here’s an update on the best password managers. Paul’s favourite is their #1 pick … but the other options are also good.

https://www.wired.com/story/best-password-managers/?CNDID=21923368&CNDID=21923368&bxid=MzEwMTc5Nzg0Mjg1S0&hasha=afac3b3cc29ca7524742dbe340932760&hashb=12de8edcc2afb72217b7c26adce36ba5fbdfc737&mbid=nl_053019_gadgetlab_list2_p2&source=GADGETLAB_NEWSLETTER&utm_brand=wired&utm_mailing=Gadget%20Lab%20053019%20(1)&utm_medium=email&utm_source=nl

Ian Campbell.

Matt Dart.

Don Davis . He’s pleased to report that his twin grandchildren are doing well.

George Doherty. George is not happy about Calgary reconsidering adding fluoride to its water. The additive used causes mottled teeth in kids, contributes to brittle bones and is a snow job funded by Crest and Colgate and other dental lobby groups.

Don Doolan .

Tony Fisher. Westman Centre, down in Mahogany, is shaping up to be a pretty nice place to live. From fee simple to condos and assisted living units. Country club living.

Gord Forsyth. No Scotch on this man’s breath. • And he’s reluctant to go downtown what with $48 parking costs.

Mel Gibson. Feels the Windermere golf club is slower this year than others. Making it a little easier to get a T-time.• Have iPad; can sell tickets! He’s impressed with the Stampede’s new and almost almost paperless ticket selling system.

Henry Heuver. Henry honours D-Day and Canadian contributions to the WWII campaign in the Netherlands. reminds us not to take these memorial events lightly.

David Hicks.

Dan Kennelly. He has been enjoying the green ‘greens’ and the 75th anniversary of D-Day TV shows. With the US now producing 3 million barrels of oil a day, Canada is struggling to sell its production at anything near its value.

Matt Litke. He’s seeing more and more banking fraud and account takeovers. Plus, theft of ID. Online banking can offer you large transaction alerts which can give you a heads up to help protect you and yours.

Andy Lockhart. Bomb project in Nanton is getting close to being finished: just needs a special ‘metal spun’ piece for the tail. Challenge is finding a metal spinner.

J.D. MacDonald.

Michael McLennan. Is at the Global Petroleum Show, tomorrow till Thursday. Look for MarkForged and TRS. • If the $1500 charge for a new crown in Calgary dental offices is painful, you can cut that pain in half at dental offices in red Deer.

Ross Mikkelsen. Not sure if we should praise or damn Kenny’s Minister of Reducing Red Tape, but Ross is chary of Ontario’s Ministry of Labour. Seems yelling on the job can incur a visit from a Snivelling Servant

Mike Mikkelson. Hunting deer by truck is an inconvenience: you have to do without your vehicle while it’s being repaired. Contemporary Coachworks did a fine job of removing all signs of the deer.

Brad Pachal. Gone fishing. Casting for lunkers in Saskatchewan.

Gerry Parcells. Still meeting up with old printers at Phils for coffee in the morning.

Dwayne Vinck. A little magnesium. A little cannabis. A little push to get the AB gov to lobby other provinces to support Kids’ Help Phone.

Bob Wiggins.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

May 9

Thu, 09 May 2019 21:24:00 GMT

It’s soon Saturday Night! And you’re invited to a Manitoba-style Social in Westgate. That’s right – You are invited to our SPRING FLING event!

WHERE Westgate Community Hall 4943 8 ^th Ave. SW

WHEN May 11, Doors Open @ 7 pm

WHY – A great evening of music, dancing and enjoying yourself.

Live Music by WING IT, Cash bar. Lunch Served

Tickets $20/person – Get them soon – limited capacity!

Dwayne & Tyla Vinck 403 257 2637 vinck@shaw.ca

CHEAT SHEET: you’re going to need it! Paul sent this aide to help you sort out the Democrats as they gear up to move Trump aside.

How to pronounce the names of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates
There are currently 21 Democratic candidates running for president in 2020 so far, and many of their names are frequently mispronounced or mangled. Sen. Kamala Harris even once put out a campaign ad centered around how to correctly pronounce her first name. Here’s how 2020 Democratic presidential candidates pronounce their names.

Read in Business Insider: https://apple.news/AVEdp6l1GQ4yhpYuCNvnZXg

Members:

Brett Bain. As Brett prepares to leave the country (for a few weeks) he warns of ‘Ransomware’ getting even more vicious. Time was (i.e. yesterday), you could turn to your back-up if someone stole control of your computer. Now, they’re stealing your back-up first … you have to pay up or go belly up.

Sean Baylis. He sees opportunity ahead — albeit he wishes DT would stop yammering. Trump’s tariff threats at China are likely to hurt the stock market. But hey, there are dividend generating ‘buy & earns’ like: Enbridge, Algonquin Power, Fortis, TCP, Telus, Brookfield Renewable Partners Hydro One and various Canadian banks.

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher. The Alberta government is encouraging their child care workers to be aware of the Kids’ Help Phone.

Ian Campbell.

Matt Dart. He’s keeping an eye on Denver/Colorado as they lower and erase penalties for (magic) mushroom use.

Don Davis . He may be suffering from Spring fever: Don wants Henry to take down three spruce trees in his (Don’s) front yard. Plus Don is sprucing up his condo in Victoria by renoing the kitchen. • Last week, Don warned that the Beyond Beef and other plant-based meat products may contain peanuts and other serious allergic substances.

Todd Dean. Todd and family are moving to a new home at the end of the month – so he’s caught up in all the moving things you have to do. • Todd then spoke gobble gook about how SEO (that’s Search Engine Optimization, Gord) is morphing into a whole other ‘thing’. Instead of focussing on keywords, search engines like Google (I think that’s a Walt Disney character) are now focussing on ‘topic clusters’ (a nerdy word for phrases?). This change is happening as I poke my keyboard for these minutes. A driver (one of the causes) for this change is the speech recognition software used by Siri, Google Home and others. Todd also used the term, ‘verbal thought’. I leave that for you to noodle on your own.

George Doherty. Ah, poor George: he left the pharmacy business just a few years too soon. Seems people no longer need Alieve or Tylenol or aspirin. Today, a little gel tab of CBD will do ya. Arthritis is still very much with us but the inflammation and pain is more often than not, delightfully mitigated by cbt

Don Doolan . He didn’t have Dick, he said. (Well, he did.)

Tony Fisher. Wellington’s and Oscar’s are not closing. But they are not doing lunch anymore.

Gord Forsyth. Good news: Gord and Heather’s granddaughter is doing great

Mel Gibson. Just when we finally get comfortable with our resident insurance guru, he tries to sell us on Earthquake insurance. In case you think such coverage is overkill, know that such insurance will pay in the event of a sinkhole. Sinkholes are becoming more common, didn’t you know.

Henry Heuver. Business continues to slowly increase as the weather improves.

David Hicks.

Dan Kennelly. Finding BC a little short of Alberta golfers. It is obviously not attracting as many as years past.

Matt Litke. Matt and his wife were disappointed by the meal they had at Star Belly’s (restuarant) in Seton. Nice digs but food was pretty uninspiring. • And for a good dress shirt, check out the Serica shirts at Thomas Jeffery Men’s Wear..

Andy Lockhart. There are bombs, big bombs and then there’s the Nanton Air Museum bomb that Andy is helping replicate. Called the Grand Slam, it’s huge! • Andy mentions that the Bearspaw Golf Course bankruptcy story is a multi-faceted March of Folly.

J.D. MacDonald. He is finally going to get his shoulder operation. That’ll keep him away from Birds for a few weeks. (Seems JD can’t fly with his arm in a sling.)

Michael McLennan. His lawyer son has finally succeeded in escaping from that madhouse called the UK and is about to practice law in New York. Where Michael plans to visit often, during the Yankee’s season.

Ross Mikkelsen. His tip is: don’t fix your own brakes. His story was amusing. And no, it wasn’t Ross who fixed the brakes. But it was Ross’ fence that paid the price for a mechanically challenged DIY neighbour.

Mike Mikkelson. Mike and family have had a busy spring what with travel and minor accidents. His tips: avoid the Montreal Airport if you can. And if you need auto body work, Contemporary Coachworks is the place for it.

Brad Pachal. He has 50 sheets of drywall to hump into a job site on Monday. And he has some promising work coming up. Life isn’t too bad. Other than the fact that he is off to Regina for the long weekend.

Gerry Parcells. Just celebrated another granddaughter. And is soon expecting the arrival of another grandson. Which will bring his total up to 19 grandkids.

Dwayne Vinck. Last weekend’s walk raised $4 million for the Kids’ Help Line. • He’s kind of optimistic about the Alberta Tax Credit Program that looks like it’ll support the Natural Gas-into-Diesel conversion technology.

Bob Wiggins.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

April 18 was a Tory Blue Day!

Tue, 23 Apr 2019 18:33:00 GMT

On April 25 (in 2 days), Inventor Dennis Little tells an interesting story about getting his new invention to fly. (Well, trying to do so.)

Members:

Brett Bain. Smiling. Or maybe it’s more a grin. In any event, it is his thinking that Kenny’s recent win in Alberta will not bode well for Trudeau.

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher.

Ian Campbell. Ian is tired of being abused by the cable companies. His Shaw connections are questionable for his business and their service delivery is suspect. So Ian’s learning how to ‘stream’ SportsNet, TSN and AppleTV. Etc.

Matt Dart.

Don Davis . Want to buy a house? Now might be the time. There’s a six month inventory in YYC and prices are soft and slipping. Don just saw a place that should fetch $750,000 go for $525,000. (No, Don does not have his realtor’s licence. Yet.)

Todd Dean.

George Doherty.

Don Doolan .

Tony Fisher. Imagine playing soccer in front of a stadium audience of 100,000 fans. That’s what Tony’s grandson is doing in Spain. As for how he’s doing, their WIn, Loss and Tie record is pretty decent. • Tony is impressed by the Electric bikes by Honda. •

Gord Forsyth.

Mel Gibson.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks.

Dan Kennelly. It is the same old story: after writing the specks for pipeline materials (creating documents that are inches thick), pipeline buyers do not want to consider alternatives … not even those proven to be cheaper and better. So Dan and company are learning how to educate their clients … helping them open their wallets, so to speak.

Matt Litke.

Andy Lockhart. I better be careful how I write this (what with the CIA, FBI and CSIS spying online) … but Andy’s bomb building project for the Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton is throwing some challenges his way. Part of the bomb was conical and Andy’s having a devil of a time glueing the pieces of the cone together. To think the procedure through, he went golfing. And wrenched his back while screwing the T into the frozen turf.

J.D. MacDonald. If you’re considering a DIY project that includes waterworks, talk to your plumber before you order new parts. This chat could save you time and money. • His daughter is looking for a job. She’s has good office skills, works darn hard and has a communications background.

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen.

Mike Mikkelson.

Brad Pachal. He has little good to say about his Online Chat experience. He wanted support for one of his online services. So, to avoid a long wait on hold, he tried the online chat service. It turned out to be a double waste of time. They frustrated him with their pedantic systems … sending him to wait on hold.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck. If you recall, Dwayne has been worried about his friend, Randy, who needed a kidney transplant. Well, the good news is he finally got one.

Bob Wiggins. Dorothy needed a doctor’s appointment. Her’s was away. So she went to a Primary Care Network Clinic where the care was excellent. • You can book direct via the health link number, 811.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Election Eve Birds, April 11, 2019 Minutes

Tue, 16 Apr 2019 01:31:00 GMT

Don Davis – Selling their place in Phoenix. They were thinking 355-365. Realtor advised 375. Got 365.

Political climate in the states is extremely divided.

Partly because they’ve been so busy, they used the advance polls to have their say in the April 16th election. Apparently, you need to be careful with your wardrobe. Pat was wearing a slightly orange jacket…Had to take it off at the polls. It’s apparently against the rules/illegal (?) to wear anything that smacks of the colours of the various political parties. Good thing they didn’t ask about blue jeans. That’s a LOT of beluga white Canadian spring skin.

Henry Heuver – explained that’s there’s a herd of deer at the nursery. Once they’re inside the fence they’re REALLY hard to get rid of. Can do a lot of damage. They’re taking a wait and see approach for the moment. That’s despite Andy’s recommendation of using small bits of lead to get rid of them…

Henry has some more land for sale, 172 acres. Was zoned residential last time he checked. If you know any takers, you know where to find him.

Matt Litke – had his birthday weekend last weekend. He and his wife Ashley’s birthdays are 3 days apart, so it was a joint B-day weekend. Read: Ashley’s birthday.

To celebrate, they went to Royale restaurant on 17th Avenue “at the base of Mount Royal” at 730 17 Ave SW. Visit http://royaleyyc.ca/ if you’d like to know more and see their menus for brunch lunch and dinner. French modern cuisine. Part of the Teatro group. Matt’s one-word review: “ Extraordinary “. More than average but not ridiculous $$. Well, not Calgary ridiculous. An example is their Steak & Fries for $33.

Matt Dart – and his company are working on the BMO Centre project on the Stampede Grounds. The Corral is coming down. Hall A is coming down, but not until a new “Hall F” is built so the Stampede doesn’t miss out on convention business. The new BMO Centre will have 3 levels with 40-50 foot ceilings (!) and according to the Stampede CEO, the BMO Centre will go from ” just over 500,000 square feet to one million square feet of gross space,” he added. “That’s about 560,000 square feet of exhibit space.”

A well known architectural firm out of Chicago will be designing the building. The city and Stampede want this building to have “envy status” They want it to be the building that other cities look to for this sort of facility. Now with the combined facilities of the Telus Convention Centre and BMO Centre, the city will be able to host Tier 1 convention events.

As part of the expansion, 17th avenue will tie into the grounds.

Sad consequence….or not…the Cowboys Stampede teenage puking station…sorry, entertainment tent …will be gone.

Gerry Parcells – mourning the corral already. Received a call from the NDP if they could count on his vote, to which he replied…..NO.

Travel note….police all over Victoria…especially with speed traps coming off the ferry.

Sean Baylis – Economic predictions are more about throwing darts at the wall at this moment in the economic cycle. It’s “late” in the cycle, meaning a recession might be likely sooner than later. With that in mind, rebalancing portfolios is worth considering for many investors. The US economy is still fairly robust, but the Canadian economy is a bit shaker than the US.

I’ve linked to Sean’s Global Insight monthly and weekly newsletters (in PDF format) for more detail.

Global Insight April 2019

Download

Global Insight Weekly, April 4, 2019

Download

Also, RBC has partnered with David Chilton (Wealthy Barber) for their third event in their Wealth Management series: a discussion on choosing an executor. Some terrific bits of wisdom include considering proximity, financial literacy, when to select an executor, are they in good health, whether they’re willing, etc.

Tony Fisher – Following up on this great story, Tony told us that his grandson heading off to Spain to play soccer in Barcelona this week. His grandson is bilingual so won’t have any trouble with Spanish. Interesting that his parents are taking advantage of an Air Canada chaperone program. For $100, he’ll have a designated staff member make sure he gets on, gets off (the plane), and safely gets to his final destination.

SML Business rolling along. Among other things right now, they’re building a new store in Edmonton.

JD MacDonald – Business is moving along, but week to week still. Positive noises from clients regarding larger renovation projects. Tip : if you’re turning on your outside taps for spring, double check from tank to tap to make sure that everything is working as it should. Don’t just assume everything is good. There’ll be a few of those jobs between now and mid-May.

Jim Bladon – 10th in line for advance polls. Very slick. In, out and done in no time.

Jim was at the annual meeting of Ag producers and ATB. It’s usually a pretty good story, but not this time. A lot of the problems were caused by mother nature. Most recently though, it’s moving grain that is the real issue. 350,000 bushels of canola still sitting in bins. China and its trade action against Canadian canola are also causing heartburn. Another indicator of how tough things are is that peas are usually dealt with and done in April. Right now, there’s nothing happening until May. Farmers are wondering what banks can do….high stakes and difficult decisions. Not a super rosy picture.

Andy brought up the old J. Paul Getty quote: “If you owe the bank $100 that’s your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that’s the bank’s problem.”

Last note from Jim was regarding playoff hockey. Flames are hosting away game parties at Olympic Plaza, including libations. I wonder how that’ll go over with the street ministry that seems permanently camped there. Hmmm.

For home games, lot 3 is a parking pit, complete with beer gardens.

Ross Mikkelsen – is on the Greenview Community Association board. They were dealing with the Highland Golf Course question again. Still. The plan right now is that it will be a park.

For business, every year at this time of year Barbecues Galore doubles staff and transactions over three weeks or so. There are headaches and growing pains with that process, but good headaches to have. Business is better this year compared to last year thanks to the better weather.

Brett Bain – told of an Ottawa ransomware situation where a company’s/institution’s computers were locked out and the info was held for ransom. This resulted in a large 6 figure cheque being cut. About a week later, the person who cut the cheque happened to be sitting next to the guy the first cheque was ostensibly cut to. Suddenly a second ransom request was received. The bean counter turned to the person and said, “what’s with the large cheques being cut to you guys the past couple of weeks?” To which the other guy said….”…Um, what cheques? TIP: BE paranoid over emails., Double and triple check addresses when getting any suspicious looking emails.

Also, this note from Brent post meeting was a link regarding whether or not the NDP is *actually* committed to doing everything they can to get pipelines built: https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/vivian-krause-rachel-notley-the-rockefellers-and-albertas-landlocked-oil/wcm/b11b0dd6-6f37-4a85-be94-69ffd83defef

Don Doolan – Voted early as well, but contrary to the hype about heavy advance voting, it was s-l-o-w at the advance polling station he went to.

Don also mentioned a coming amendment to the building code that will address the safety of second-floor residential windows. Something like 420 kids nationwide have been hurt falling out of windows just this past year.

Perhaps counter-intuitively, EMS and other first responders were opposed to restrictor mechanisms because those windows are an important egress port in case of emergency. After a 15-year effort on the part of homebuilders, the change in the code will include restrictors on the windows, limiting opening to 4 inches. Window height will also be dictated to be above 3 feet to help protect small children.

Homebuilders, aware that people often mimic their decorating were VERY careful never to put benches or other elevated furnishings under windows to subconsciously drive home the message.

Bob Wiggins – had happy economic news. Last week, he brought the nearly apocalyptic news of (gasp) an inverted yield curve. It can be typically indicative of the economy heading toward a cliff.

However, this week, the news that according to CIBC economists, there is further albeit modest growth ahead. CIBC measured three factors that lag six months…so a recession is still possible, but the odds are lower than a couple of months ago.

Finally , this:

Andy Lockhart – is working with a guy…OK, he calls himself this guy’s “bitch”…and together they’re building a replica of the Grand Slam bomb that was originally carried aboard the Lancaster. It’s 26 ‘ long, 46 in diameter. It will be housed at the Nanton Bomber Command Museum of Alberta.

From Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Slam_(bomb) :

Don Doolan’s grandfather flew Lancasters in the war. Not always a pretty picture. Taking off, they already used the whole runway…and some of them didn’t make it off the ground. Add the weight of that bomb, and let’s just say that “Ten Ton Tess” didn’t do the plane any favours.

Then, there was the problem of landing with an undeployed Grand Slam aboard.

That’s it until Thursday gents.

The IVth of Aprilis.

Sun, 07 Apr 2019 17:46:00 GMT

Are we Birds becoming Eh-political?

Very little was said about the upcoming election.

Some (eh-political) links coming from Paul. Will resend by email and repost them here later.

Members:

Brett Bain. Cyber security is too complex to explain in a short sentence … but do delete emails that seem a bit dodgy and have attachments. And if your ‘spidy-sensor’ tingles at all, just flush the message. You can always call the sender to double check, before or after doing so. But hey, maybe it’s time for a breakfast about good security habits. Along with a bit of a pitch for protection services. Gord???

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher. It pays to be bilingual. Just ask Paul what he’s voicing now (and in that other official language). He’s now narrating an audio book (which pays slave wages but should get heard and for Paul, being heard can lead to being heard even more.). • He’s soon to have a new website (by Zoolstra).

Ian Campbell. He’s like a number of people: squirming about Jason Kenny. Ian wants to vote CON but the recent missteps by the UPC is discomforting. Did Thursday night’s debate help? Was Jason’s humble and sincere performance reassuring?

Matt Dart. He can see projects on the horizon but is not seeing much coming behind them. • Saw Todd Hirsch recently. Todd seemed a bit muted about the future.

Don Davis .

Todd Dean. Ode to Youth: one of his sons (Matt) is rather smitten by a lovely Brexit lass. He’s been to see ‘her’ in England and Scotland and is soon to visit her and her family where her dad works: Dubai. Sounds awesome.

George Doherty.

Don Doolan . Hockey – Flames run towards the Stanley Cup – is on his mind but he’s reluctant to part with high seat prices.

Tony Fisher. Enjoying his pastime of watching Asians shop in the big malls of Palm Springs. First they buy luggage. Then they send someone into store to shop for brand name goods (while family?friends? guard the fast filling bags). Then they trundle everything up and presumably, take them back to Asia to resell. • His 10-year-old grandson is heading to Barcelona to play some pretty amazing soccer (not that Tony told us this; Mel let it slip.)

Gord Forsyth. It’s only natural that this ‘Honda Ridgeline pilot’ would visit Nashville, Tennessee (Jeez! How many repeating letters are there in this name?) And guess what, while others talk about the Grande Olde Opry, Gord tells us what a fine hockey town Nashville is. It’s a Canadian perspective, eh.

Mel Gibson. Repeat after Mel: T here are plenty of good reasons for stellar rise in the cost of car repairs.Plenty • Want a good bodyshop? CarStar – on Bannister – seems pretty okay.

Henry Heuver. Joan fell and broke her hip some weeks ago. She’s walking again. • Henry’s business is starting to pick up and the nursery is reviving. But some nice weather would help kick start both.

David Hicks. You can put some Vancouver and Yaletown into this guy but you can’t take the Cape Breton out of him. That’s where be’s bound next. • And he’s liking how VRBO can help with accommodations.

Dan Kennelly. Renee Mikkelson (yes, Mike’s wife) walked into the hospital with a sore leg. Turned out to be a broken ankle. • Dan sees promise of new biz from Trans Canada and also, Trans Mountain.

Matt Litke. Matt is finding some sore lower back relief at Dakin Rehab. (as are Gord, George and Todd). Alignment First seems to be a good way to proceed. • Matt is not a fan of BNN. They’re shrill and over-reactive. Better to listen to a good banker.

Andy Lockhart. He has said this before and will say it again: investment management is a long game and markets will cycle up and down. Recessions happen. Always have/always will. Accept this and live somewhat frugally. Always keep some cash available for opportunities.• His grandson (Brendon?) is working for an AI/robotics firm that had 50 employees when he joined 6 months ago. Firm now has 175 people. Stay tuned – this may be a very interesting story.

J.D. MacDonald. JD is feeling heat: Alex is away on a holiday so JD is on call.

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen. Is Ross is giving in to the good life? He visited ATCO Commons for an excellent lunch in a pretty fine restaurant there.

Mike Mikkelson.

Brad Pachal. As much as he likes BC, he couldn’t help but noticing that there is little recycling or composting happening in Kelowna. How dare they put us (ALTA) down for our oil? • If you’re a member of AMA, know that if your bike breaks down away from home, they’ll come and pick you up and drive you and your ailing wheels home. Tip: Don’t leave home without your AMA membership.

Gerry Parcells. He’s missing the tulips, cherry blossoms and green grass … of BC.

Dwayne Vinck.

Bob Wiggins. Bob and long-time member, Doug Wight, reminisced about previous Birds’ breakfast haunts: the Parklane Restaurant, Smithies in the SW, Northhills and Brentwood, Calgary Tower, Holiday Inn, Quality Inn – breakfasts at some members establishments including Don Davis’ when he introduced the first colour copier (seen by most Birds).

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

All Quiet on the Birds Front.

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 16:58:00 GMT

Birds grieve Ken Eades.

Watch on YouTube: it’s open season on politics and Chairman Dan suggests you watch Gil Philbright for a bit of levity to offset all the false (oops) promises being made by our amazing politicians. Here’s a link to one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdZ5ThrtTtM

Netflix: for a romp through the 80s and 90s, watch The Dirt (especially if you like Motley Crue).

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon. Want to feed your mind? It’s Aggie Days at the Stampede, April 6 & 7.• Jim urges you to get your tickets for the Stampede Draws (before you forget). • ATB is wrestling with the challenges associated with appraised values for industrial and commercial properties in this turbulent period.

Paul Boucher. GoFundMe works for Canmore biker.

Ian Campbell.

Matt Dart.

Don Davis .

Todd Dean.

George Doherty. George’s Cream chooses to remain with existing label. There was a move to redesign the label by the new owner – but time has proven that George’s instincts were – and still are – sound. • George and Karen are off to Fla.

Don Doolan. Sombre on Thursday.

Tony Fisher.

Gord Forsyth.

Mel Gibson. Seems it is a bit too common for renters to forget to buy insurance on their rented homes/apartments.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks.

Dan Kennelly.

Matt Litke. Suggests we not ignore the inverted Yield Curve which often precedes a recession by about 11 to 20 months.

Andy Lockhart. Sue has had surgery on her eye and has been obliged to lie face down for a week (to let the gas bubble work its magic). • Andy is not happy with the DI being recommended as a ‘safe injection’ site. The deaths associated with such a facility take a huge toll on staff and the DI work life is plenty stressful enough.

J.D. MacDonald. As Mel says, water damage is a major home insurance cause. JD is installing automatic water sensors to cut-off water (reducing damage).

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen. Ross mentioned Apple Credit Cards … and made that Mikkelsen gesture with his hands. (Which means, I think, that you are going to have to look at Apple as part of your shopping model …so you may as well do it sooner than later.)

Mike Mikkelson.

Brad Pachal.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck. If motoring into Mexico, make sure you look into getting special car insurance for your trip.

Bob Wiggins. Reminded us that Ken’s funeral was on Friday.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander. University District is enjoying traffic and good sales activity. Proving yet again that with the right product and good marketing, success can be dragged, kicking and screaming, from a fairly reticent market.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Birds Email Addresses

Tue, 26 Mar 2019 16:51:00 GMT

Here are the current email addresses of the Early Birds, effective Mar 26, 2019

Below you’ll find a list of names and email addresses separated into categories.

Regular Members

Brett Bain: brett@osiconnects.ca

Sean Baylis: sean.baylis@rbc.com

Jim Bladon: jbladon@atb.com

Paul Boucher: Paul@paulboucher.com

Ian Campbell: ian.campbell@calgaryhearingaid.com

Matt Dart: matthewcdart@gmail.com

Don Davis: donwdavis@shaw.ca

Todd Dean: todd@zoolstra.com

George Doherty: dohertygk@shaw.ca

Don Doolan: dfdoolan@shaw.ca

Tony Fisher: tony@SMLentertainment.com

Gord Forsyth: ghforsyth@shaw.ca

Mel Gibson: mwgibson@telus.net

Henry Heuver: henry@foothillslandscaping.ca

Dave Hicks: dave@hixielectric.com

Dan Kennelly: dkennelly@transampiping.com

Matt Litke: mattlitke33@gmail.com

Andy Lockhart: andy@andesigns.ca

JD MacDonald: jdmacdonald31@gmail.com

Michael McLennan: michael@trsofficeware.ca

Ross Mikkelsen: rossm@barbecuesgalore.ca

Mike Mikkelson: mikkelsons@shaw.ca

Brad Pachal: builderoneprojects@gmail.com

Gerry Parcells: gparcells@outlook.com

George Roberts: gdroberts@me.com

Dwayne Vinck: vinck@shaw.ca

Bob Wiggins: wigginsbob@telus.net

Associate Members:

Callander, Gregg: gcallander@wcdt.ca

Alumni Members:

Jerry Aschenbrenner: jerryaschenbrenner@gmail.com

Brian Carnduff: bcarnduf@telus.net

Gary Cork: glcork@shaw.ca

Joe Drisdale: jodar6867@gmail.com

Bill Hoogstraten: behoog@gmail.com

Tom Olson: tom2020@shaw.ca

Doug Parkin: drparkin13@shaw.ca

Bruce Roblin: whiteflowers@shawcable.com

Doug Wight: dawight@shaw.ca

Chris Wright: chriwright@deloitte.ca

Dakin Rehab breakfast

Fri, 15 Mar 2019 18:07:00 GMT

Yesterday, we found out how to make our lower backs better.

If you’re tempted to find out more, I suggest the Discovery Session.

It’s free and you get a pretty good idea of how ‘aligned’ your body is.

And more importantly, how you can make it better.

Geoff’s clinic phone number is (403) 452–5055

If you want to do it at home, The Body Mechanic’s Handbook can be ordered at

March Lion Roars!

Fri, 08 Mar 2019 18:18:00 GMT

Next week: Geoff Dakin, Author of The Body Mechanic’s Handbook, is our guest at breakfast. If you have any aches and pains or mobility issues, he probably has an answer for you.

Last week: we Birds praised Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould. Then Treasury Board guru Philpot resigned and Red Deer experienced an earth quake. This week, we’ve all heard from Butts and Trudeau. Nothing was said yesterday morning at Birds. Nothing is more eloquent than Birds’ silence. Nada.

If you’re looking for financial wisdom, wit and clarity in prose (thanks Bob W): http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2018ltr.pdf

For some short, practical advice, “Learn from the questions people ask.” (From A. Lockhart)

Members:

Brett Bain. Nothing ruins a good drive to the office in the morning like having to listen to Justin justify his behaviour, vis-a-vis SNC Lavalin, on the radio. If Brett was one to spit, he would then have done so. But he didn’t. Because he doesn’t. Even though last week, he bashfully admitted to finally finding a Liberal he liked (Jody).

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher. Soon to sound like a man speaking French with a Texas drawl? Paul is voicing some nice stuff from that other place in NA where everything is oversized. BTW, he adds: their economic output (Tx’s) is equivalent to all of Canada’s. (That’s assuming Quebec is reporting its true output, eh.)

Ian Campbell. His son is looking at a rewarding basketball future at Dalhousie U (if he wants it). While in Halifax, if you want a good meal and have lots of room on your VISA, go to the Bicycle Seat Restaurant (down on the pier).

Matt Dart. Still reading Dark Money … and seeing the Koch Brothers for what they are: greedy SOBs

Don Davis .

Todd Dean.

George Doherty.

Don Doolan.

Tony Fisher.

Gord Forsyth. Gord is seriously concerned about the state of our country’s supply of … (wait for it) … (waitttt) … Virgin Olive Oil. It seems it may not have an intact you know what. Such certificates of purity are being questioned by Canada’s Food agencies and they are waging investigations into this oily affair … which might possibly be a smokescreen for Justin and the boys in Ottawa. BTW: are you using pure Virgin Olive Oil in your house? Check out the list at https://livelovefruit.com/fake-olive-oil-is-everywhere-7-popular-brands-stop-buying-now/

Mel Gibson. F urther to Gord’s concerns, March is Fraud Awareness Month. While coping with the Olive Oil tempest, you might want to be on the alert for email and online fraud. BTW, Mel adds, the #1 scam is online dating.

Henry Heuver. Henry reminds us that in economic times like this, there are often good buys on land. If you expect a future for Alberta, land may never be as cheap as it is now.

David Hicks. Mmmm. Dave added a high note to our breakfast – which was pretty fine on its own as we were feasting on French Toast and sausages (Yes, Ross and Gerry were both here, of course). Dave praised Caesar’s on the south side. He then warned us about the Ides of March: it’s time, he said, to change the batteries in your smoke alarms, electric door locks and thermostats.

Dan Kennelly. He is all too easy on SNL Lavelin.

Matt Litke. While the other Matt speaks of Dark Money, this Matt talks about Light Money: how a little RBC exposure can help even the most language-challenged new Canadians do better with their money. • And hey, if your hearing is capable of discerning high fidelity from digital noise, switch from Spotify to Apple Music. Way, way better sound.

Andy Lockhart. Andy is unhappy with the DI board decision to shut down their wood working shop in June. If you feel similarly, please let the board know.• Andy passed around a book titled “Writing with Clarity””. It’s by Bob Lee, a brother of the Lee Valley Tools Lee. In fact that’s where you can buy a copy of this helpful, slim volume of advice. Very clearly expressed, it is.

J.D. MacDonald. JD is enjoying this cold snap more than the rest of us … as it brings out the worst of plumbing problems … which are the best of plumbing projects for JD and crew.

Michael McLennan. 3D printing continues to spread its wings as it is being used to output more and more kinds of clever needs. And MarkForged is definitely the manufacturer to be aligned with. • Oh, and make sure your family knows where the water cut-off valve is. • And if you want pure olive oil, talk to Maria. She has vats of it.

Ross Mikkelsen. Ross is singing “China on my mind” as world tensions could interfere with product delivery. • Ross is watching the advances in stem cell technology There’s great promise for better treatments for diabetics (his daughter has this condition).

Mike Mikkelson.

Brad Pachal. Kudos to Birds.

Gerry Parcells. He’s eyeing that new Bugatti but shuddering at its $19 million dollar price tag. (USD that is)

Dwayne Vinck.

Bob Wiggins. Read the Warren Buffet letter: it’s well expressed and bang on the money, too. (Link to letter is above.)

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

The end of Freezing Feb

Fri, 01 Mar 2019 18:13:00 GMT

Who’d have thought that we Birds would praise Jody Wilson-Raybould, an indigenous female politician/minister with an LLB and, it would appear, bigger balls than many in Ottawa? (Last night, the minister of Fisheries attacked her for her ‘honesty’. Fisheries has been famous for its lies, since the cod off our east coast were forecasted to disappear. They did. Now Fisheries is dancing around the issue of salmon farming on the west coast. Reassuring, eh.) The sharp knives are coming out in Ottawa and Jody better not turn her back on any Liberal ‘pols’ fighting to keep their jobs.

If ever you’re feeling out of sorts, check out the video/song in the email that brought you this update.

Brian Carnduff came for breakfast to reintroduce himself. He’s 40 pounds lighter and in ‘swimmingly’ good shape. He’s coaching/lifeguarding at a number of swim venues around town and enjoying life.

Members:

Brett Bain. About Jody Wilson-Raybould he said: “I finally found a Liberal that I like.” (Imagine the pain of saying this!)

Sean Baylis. We should all sing the chorus to “Market Man” (to the tune of Rocket Man ) as Sean carefully enumerates how markets are recovering and/or having all the signs of an imminent recovery. Time to rebalance your portfolio? Talk to Market Man.

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher. Had to mortgage his car while it was parked downtown by the C of C. He’s been voicing projects for Reach Assessment Programs (in the USA). It seems they’re bang on with advice for parents.

Ian Campbell.

Matt Dart. He’s been reading the book Dark Money … and enjoying it.

Don Davis .

Todd Dean.

George Doherty.

Don Doolan. He’s positive – optimistic – about interest rates for the balance of this year and also, for financial support for the real estate market.

Tony Fisher . Going downtown used to be fun. Now, it’s just ridiculous if you want to park.

Gord Forsyth. He had kudos for Brad, Ross, and Tony. • He figures the SNC Lavelin investigation is an inquisition and will not go well for the participants. Kind of a: Everyone who touches a bag of poop smells bad; even the innocent.

Mel Gibson. Shingles! You don’t want them. So get the vaccination against them. Including the booster. $150 is cheap in comparison to the affliction. • Telematics (your car broadcasting your driving habits by iPhone) is saving people $$ on their insurance. Could also cause the opposite, too.

Henry Heuver. Henry is fighting his way back to good health. Took a trip with the family to Mexico.

David Hicks.

Dan Kennelly. Gently amused at the goings on in the engineering world, vis-a-vis SNC Lavelin. • Imagine how much pipe would get laid if SNC was lead on the pipeline projects here in the west.

Matt Litke. TFSA’s: Tax Free Savings Accounts. He can’t say those words enough – TFSA’s: Tax Free Savings Accounts – and shake his head at the number of people who could and should take advantage of them … but are not doing so.

Andy Lockhart. Not that he had any faith in JT to begin with … but that Justin could be so badly blind sighted by the Jody Wilson-Raybould testimony is just another reason to not have any regard for our so-called prime minister.

J.D. MacDonald. JD wants to know why anyone in Calgary would go away …after turning off their electrics and heating. Ah well, it leads to good work for JD and his boys.

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen. Um. How bad is the job market in Calgary? Well, he received 500 applications for a cashier’s position he wants to fill.

Mike Mikkelson. He was here but not in a chatty mood.

Brad Pachal. He has engaged this firm to provide gift baskets to his customers and is very impressed at their follow through. See more at https://thegiftdesigners.com/

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck. Just be careful about coverting RSPs into TFSAs.

Bob Wiggins.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Feb 21st

Thu, 21 Feb 2019 18:33:00 GMT

It was a full moon this morning and 15 Birds were on the road, headed to Inglewood. Here’s what they said (more or less):

Members:

Brett Bain. His firm is working with a piece of software that analyzes email accounts, looking for malware and then, suggesting (or signaling a need for) a fix. He mentions that if you’re going to be hacked, hopefully, it isn’t the Russians. They can hack your ‘everything’ on your computer in about 8 minutes. Better your attacker be a North Korean (they’ll need about 20 minutes to ruin your life); or the Chinese (they can steal your identity in about an hour).

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher. One Password. One Password. Listen to Paul and use a service like One Password.

Ian Campbell. On that ‘other bank reference’ below (See Matt Litke), Ian thinks a second bank might just come in handy, if CRA gets grabby again. He also wonders why RBC never gave him a heads up. • Seems hearing loss can contribute to dementia and maybe, vice versa.

Matt Dart.

Don Davis .

Todd Dean.

George Doherty.

Don Doolan. St

Tony Fisher . Looking forward to his trip to Palm Springs.

Gord Forsyth. I

Mel Gibson. Mel finds being under the ‘Broker Link’ umbrella, interesting. New things to learn and smarter ways of doing what one usually does. • His granddaughter competed in the downhill event at the Winter Games in Red Deer. Mel got to see her compete and then marvel at the resilience of the wheelchair basketball players.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks. Whitefish is a good winter place to go for a family getaway. They enjoyed the family lessons on the hill. • Dave was caught up in that Hwy #1 closure the other day: a reminder to always have some emergency supplies/warm clothes for when (if) you’re stuck in the middle of nowhere, in the wintertime.

Dan Kennelly. So it seems the engineering world is undergoing another evolution. Some firms are only hiring non-caucasian engineers. Fabricators (in Calgary) are desperately seeking skilled workers. Yet, some 40,000 local jobs are no longer in existence. Multi-national firms (like Imperial/Exxon) are showing signs of internal stress: the Canucks want to go this way, the Yanks are pulling that way.

Matt Litke. Banking basics: with all the complaints one hears about financial institutions overselling or over-billing consumers, Matt wonders why so many customers deal with more than one bank, thus incurring multiple charges for account services etc.

Andy Lockhart.

J.D. MacDonald. With all due respect to everyone else, JD is enjoying the fruits of this cold weather snap. Son Rise Plumbing is busy.

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen. His seasonal hiring has commenced and the number of applicants and the quality of same is like never before. This is good for Ross but as he says, it is a bad sign of where our economy is at.

Mike Mikkelson.

Brad Pachal. Caution is the best policy when buying things on the internet. He recently was asked to validate his RBC Mastercard while making a transaction. It seemed unusual – and though it turned out to SOP – it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck. Not unlike the software used by Brett to spot malware, the Kids’ Help Line has a series of protocols in place to recognize when an intercession should be made by a more experienced (or professionally trained) person. It’s based on the classic triage system to serve those most in need, time wise.

Bob Wiggins . Kudos to Paul for good minuting.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

LoveBirds, Minutes February 14th, 2019

Wed, 20 Feb 2019 03:32:00 GMT

Gents,

It all started with good news ( this doesn’t necessarily mean it went downhill or anything…keep reading ).

Dan Kennelly mentioned more encouraging signs in the market on the heels of similar thoughts from last week. Specifically seeing * some * action related to Trans Mountain. Dan’s company Trans Am Pipe is seeing requests for materials. Fabricators are taking up work on various projects from different manufacturers.

Dan also mentioned being hacked last week. It was completely random. If you anything looks suspicious, Dan recommended checking your Sent Items folder. He spotted emails there that he’d never sent and that’s how he knew. He contacted IT and they shut his machine down.

Tips from Paul : if you think your machine is compromised, disconnect it from the network by unplugging your Ethernet connection or turning off wi-fi. Then get your machine checked. Another tip: use a strong password and a different one for every account . If you can’t remember your last name on a good day, then use a password manager. There’s an article listing a bunch of the best options including my favourite, 1Password (It’s Canadian!). Interesting tidbit about 1Password:

You can read the whole article on the best of the Password Manager apps here on CNET .

Gerry Parcells – despite the dog wondering why the hell he was getting up – mentioned that Direct Energy had sent a friend a bill for ending a contract and switching to ATCO. He wondered if that sort of “termination” billing was legal. Dwayne , Don Doolan , and a few others sounded off and mentioned that in some instances they’d heard of friends who’ve successfully talked the new supplier into paying any “end of contract” fees. Gerry was going to take that information back to his friend.

Jim Bladon mentioned the SNC deal. The comment was that they didn’t anything wrong according to Quebec “law”. “Law” in Quebec is just the last part of the side dish you get at one of Montreal’s fine delis: coles law.

Jim’s other “gooder” was a Trump quote that it was going to be tougher to climb his new wall than to climb Everest. He actually said that. You can hear that and some other pearls of Trump-speak by clicking on the video below. The Everest comment comes at about the 40-second mark. I apologize in advance for the 50 or so seconds of your life that you’re never getting back if you click on the link. Interesting note as an ex-media person: all the journalists are taping him on their phones. Nary a TV camera in sight.

In Jim’s final contribution this week, he noted the TSN Skins curling event in Banff. Brilliantly put on, well attended. There was a $100,000 prize for both the men and women in an 8 end tournament on one sheet of ice. A lot of fun!

Mel Gibson continued the sports theme when he noted that he was heading for the Canada Winer Games that took place this past weekend. Events were scattered elsewhere in the province including Repsol Centre here in Calgary. *Side note – I was proud to be the voice in both English and French of the TV commercial promoting the games on TSN.

Mel’s 14-year-old granddaughter was heading to Las Vegas with her volleyball team.

JD MacDonald re-learned the truth behind this John Wagner quote:

The cold this past week meant a lot of broken pipes keeping his crew busy and he said he was just too old to be crawling under trailers to fix ’em. He also talked again about outdoor faucets. Disconnect hoses, Make sure the water to them is shut off.

Another outdoor household maintenance tip from JD : improperly installed high-efficiency furnace vents sometimes freeze over causing shutdowns. Don Doolan chimed in and mentioned that those vents come with a window screen type mesh filter attached at the end. The condensation freezes on the mesh, essentially blocking them, so some installers he knew just ripped those things out on install rather than cause a near-certain blockage in cold weather down the line.

Don picked up after JD to also add that Cirque de Soleil is coming back to Calgary and with a new show. It’s called Luzia. You can see a trailer for it below. Ticket information can be had by following the link below that.

The show will be at Stampede Park. Ticket Information here .

Ross Mikkelsen picked up on the school trip thing and mentioned that a friend’s daughter was headed to Vietnam on a school trip. He wiled away a few minutes remembering a favourite school trip of his which was almost as exciting: a visit to the Hutterite colony.

Mike Mikkelson noted that a recent change in regulation allows minors into the lounges of restaurants now. Specifically the lounge at The Keg in this instance. The addition of screaming kids to the lounge – likely the victims of helicopter parenting every.other.minute.of.their.young.lives – pretty much ruined a conversation he was having with a client. He hopes that change is reversed soon – if not by law – by restaurants wanting to hang onto customers who went to the lounge to get AWAY from kids on the other side.

Mike also mentioned the interesting story of a few stores removing their self-checkout machines. It was largely due to maintenance costs, but some of the stores have received some very positive feedback, particularly from customers with a demographic that favours dealing with people rather than a machine. Here’s the story with Canadian Tire doing it at a few locations: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canadian-tire-self-checkout-cashiers-automation-1.5011981 .

Don’t get too excited though; the larger trend toward automation in retail is growing by 10% a year or more according to this story: https://risnews.com/kroger-albertsons-eliminate-self-checkouts .

and more.

They’re including concrete and steel and more traditional building materials.

Jim chimed in to mention that that sort of construction is also big in the Cannabis industry.

Brad Pachal was next with a bit of a “tangled web” story. As part of the routine to volunteer at your kids’ school these days, you need to go through a police check. Brad had to go the extra step of being fingerprinted due to some “identity confusion”. It could have been a bad guy with the same name or same birthday, but the fingerprinting was necessary to separate “ good ” Brad from “ bad ” Brad. As Brad said, it makes you want to simply opt out of volunteering.

That story prompted JD to recount the story of his niece Jennifer Ann MacDonald. She needed to get her Nexus card in the US but then needed to go to Fredericton to certify that she was Canadian. All again, due to someone else “in the system” who matched up on more than one basis from an identity perspective, and not in a good way.

Don Doolan shook his head at the trials he’s seen people go through once they’re “in the system”. Definitely worthwhile to keep out of it as much as possible, and to correct any problem as quickly as possible.

However, close to a year later, and…..not even a slap on the wrist: https://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/2018/09/02/ontario-still-has-not-pursued-punishment-against-costco-after-its-pharmacy-directors-admitted-to-illegal-payment-scheme.html

Wonder if there’s ex-SNC or Bombardier people on their management teams.

An unrelated matter got more from Tony . Paul Boucher asked him if SML was in any way involved with Cineplex’ Rec Room properties, and Tony indicated their involvement was minimal. After hearing the suggestion that they might be good rooms for corporate events, Tony talked about how expensive they were. Cineplex has overbuilt these things, spending $34,000,000 on the Rec Room in South Edmonton.

Even in Calgary, the space is enormous: 45,000 square feet. You can get a feel for it here: https://www.therecroom.com/calgary-deerfoot/info.

Gord Forsyth reminded us again of our guest speaker on March 14th, Geoff Dakin, a Calgarian who’s written a book called “The Body Mechanic’s Handbook: Why You Have Low BackPain and How To Eliminate It At Home”. George Roberts is bringing Geoff in. Goerge also edited the book – and the book is absolutely better for it. You can see the cover and read a bit more about it here at Amazon.ca . Please plan to attend and bring a guest!

Gord also mentioned that Rotary friends are looking for prizes for an event on March 16th. A fun night is planned: bingo, green beer and in bed by 11 o’clock. He acknowledged and thanked a couple of Birds who’d already donated prizes to the cause. Reach out to Gord if you can help – and feel free to spread the word to others that could.

The story is here: https://www.neb-one.gc.ca/nrg/ntgrtd/mrkt/nrgsstmprfls/ab-eng.html .

Reader’s Digest version:

Have a good week gentlement!

Free Air Conditioning: Birds Minutes Feb 7, 2019

Wed, 20 Feb 2019 01:07:00 GMT

Hey gents,

Overdue minutes from Feb 7th beginning with the headline cue, Matt Litke’s recent installation of air conditioning…’cause you know, when it’s -35…

In all seriousness, that prompted a tip from Dan Kenelly about possible medical grants available to install air conditioning for patients with Asthma and possibly other respiratory conditions. After last year’s fire season, and predictions for more of the same, that note is worth passing around to folks you know that this could apply to.

Other notes from Matt: Henry was doing fine – just back from Mexico and taking it easy which partially explained his absence from the meeting. The other contributing factor was was that Joan had slightly injured a leg on the trip, but was doing fine.

Also, despite all the hype, hoopla etc over “online everything”, 96% of advice on sales in banking is still done in person. Matt noted that that in-person business is subsidized by all the online business but the bottom line is that “digital” compliments the real-person, real-world experience.

Gord Forsyth mentioned a special guest coming to Birds March 14th courtesy of George Roberts . Please attend and bring a guest if you like! Our guest’s name is Geoff Dakin and his talk will be of particular interest to any of us who have suffered from intermittent, chronic or other low back pain. Geoff is the author of “ The Body Mechanic’s Handbook: Why You Have Low Back Pain and How To Eliminate It At Home “. George helped to edit the book and did a wonderful job of helping the author talk to “the rest of us” who don’t know a disc from a disk when it comes to discussing the back.

Gord also mentioned that Jim Bladon was trying to arrange a tour of one of the facilities of one of ATB’s Cannabis clients. Impressive operations.

Dan Kennelly noted that fabrication shops (or “fab shops” if you’re ever at one of his networking events), seem to be ramping up production again, which is encouraging. More encouraging is that it seems Trans-Mountain-pipeline-related.

Tony Fisher noted a new convention centre opening soon on Aero Drive in the NE, which should help the hotels that wound up semi-stranded after the changes to Barlow Trail years ago. He also mentioned the big, beautiful new Y in Seton having to close briefly because of an ammonia leak.

Sean Baylis summed up the markets digesting earnings with a couple of notes:

Ian Campbell passed on a tip learned the hard way . His wife has been running her company with the impression that due to past history and status, she was exempt from paying GST. Turns out, nope. They received a bill that caused Ian and Jo-Ann not to be able to sit for a while, never mind sleep. CRA attempted to get in touch, but their modus operandi is if they don’t hear from you fast enough, they take action like freezing your accounts (after kidnapping your first born). The whole mess is a work in progress but distressing, to say the least.

Dwayne chimed in with the fact that if the income for an entity passes $30k, CRA can assign the GST number automatically and simply calculate their pound ‘o flesh from there. If you’re having trouble sleeping, here’s recommended reading for everyone except Ian and Jo-Ann : the page on the CRA site you can reference that makes it clear as mud. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/gst-hst-businesses/register-a-gst-hst-account.html#register

George Doherty talked about his grandson being defrauded via a compromised debit card. No one’s sure how it happened, but the potential problem is that the bank treats debit and credit cards differently. They’ll usually cover most fraud on a credit card unless you’ve broken one of the terms of the agreement somehow. Unfortunately for George’s grandson, most cardholders are responsible for fraud committed with their debit card.

Mike Mikkelson commenting on having been at Bass Pro and seeing literally 2 other people in that store. That’s 2 people in “. ..150,000 square feet of outdoor excitement including the area’s largest selection of quality gear for fishing, hunting, camping, boating and marine. ” He shook his head and questioned how that mall is keeping the doors open

Brett Bain brought up the new Stat holiday under consideration for some time in September to honour Indigenous people. How many of these can businesses afford? Especially in light of the new Alberta labour regulations requiring paying employees on stats.

Don Doolan introduced a bit of scepticism into the optimistic airport numbers. Don noted that all their numbers up…yet pretty much every other number in Calgary is down. He was wondering how they’re calculated. No light was shed. Statistic manipulation anyone?

JD MacDonald has been busy since the start of the cold snap. He’s headed for shoulder surgery (the other one), so he needs to find a new hiree. He posted an ad and got 69 resumes in 3 days, many of them from plumbers with commercial experience. Past experience has taught him that the “commercial guys” wind up not being a good fit most times, so he was going to refine the ad. Don Doolan or another Bird mentioned that Canyon Plumbing and Arpi’s had just let people go. Canyon had let go as many as 60 people.

Brad Pachal had a great tip for anyone using one of those battery powered keypad locks: lithium batteries. They’re superior in the cold. He also mentioned an inexpensive Smart Home possibility: Meross. You can look them up here . They make smart switches and more that can easily be controlled from an app on your phone.

Andy Lockhart – not much to add today other than “Adios” as they head to Arizona.

Dwayne Vinck had two things, the first a tip that had me scurrying to my accountant to ask if we’d been doing this: report 95% of your income rather than 100% since 5% of is GST collected for the government. I may be oversimplifying, so check with Dwayne or your accountant.

Dwayne’s other comment had to do with all the breweries and micro-breweries that had opened up in the past several years in Alberta. The industry sprouted at least partially thanks to protective (and protectionist) legislation. So many are so good. Here’s hoping they all survive when the legislation changes, as it must.

Bob Wiggins was shocked to discover the Red Bull generation can make a living playing videogames! He speaks the truth. They call it eSports and people who would otherwise be mouldering away in their parents’ basement becoming part of the shag carpet are making 6 figure incomes and creating events with audiences of 100 million fellow basement dwellers. One team, Cloud Nine, was recently valued at $300,000,000. The owner of the New England Patriots recently bought an Overwatch (it’s a game title) franchise for $20,000,000. MasterCard and Visa are angling for sponsorship.

Here’s a quote from a Wired Magazine article where you can read a bit more on this craziness:

Memorable moment from the second round came from Don Doolan asking Tony about the long walkways at the airport that work some of the time ( ed. note: union walkways ). He and Tony marvelled at the beautiful semi-circular escalators and River Rock Casino in Vancouver that WORK. Ours are flat and boring – retrofit over the flooring, and they still can’t keep them running.

Are Birds Indigenous?

Thu, 24 Jan 2019 20:34:00 GMT

January 24th.

This just in: Bob Wiggins reports that four Birds are still flying on fumes: they have until midnight, January 31 to pay their $562.50dues. After that, draconian measures will include a fine of $56.25

Members:

Brett Bain. As most of us know, Brett’s company works with educators, both practicing and bureaucratic. He and his staff have been impressed by representatives from several indigenous groups. Their technical savvy is impressive, as is their adoption of AI training systems.

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon. ATB’s resident ‘brewmaster’ and ‘weed-guru’ is pretty sure that neither industry (craft beer and Cannabis) are close to a cap yet. As the AGLC (over?)stretches to bring online gaming under its mantle, could Jim’s ever-present smile be turning into a Charlie Brown grin? Nah. • ATB’s We lIsten campaign is morphing into Why We Listen.

Paul Boucher. High, he is. Ontario has engaged Paul and his voice to help present their in-depth training programs for Cannabis matters. Sounds like good wholesome work.

Matt Dart. He is following all the big projects (BMO Centre, Kitimat and the Cannabis plant to the south).

Don Davis .

Todd Dean.

George Doherty. As threatening as ‘The Nest’ sounds, George is somewhat taken by the newer, home security systems. Even though some of his acquaintances are discovering their monitoring is no longer monitoring when they’re out of town. Seems this is commonplace with WIFI systems. So, some say, get cellular back-up. Andy Lockhart counters with the suggestion of having a prominent doghouse in your yard. It’s low tech, affordable and has worked for millennia. • Karen is trying some Cannabis for her Crohns.

Don Doolan.

Tony Fisher . The Foothills has pushed its new parking project back another year or so.

Gord Forsyth. He reports that the new parkade at the Foothills will be called The Gong Show III. Or IV. Or higher.

Mel Gibson. So. You like Costco prices, do you? But you hate driving there and walking half a mile to find what you want. So download the App at InaBuggy.com .

Tell them what you want and … expect it at your door within an hour or two. Low delivery fees.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks. His 11-year-old daughter is back from a month in Guatemala. She went there via a CISB (UNESCO) program. She loved every minute of it. • I wonder if she told them that her father is a tartan-skirt-wearing, haggis-eating, bagpiper? (Try saying that three times after imbibing 3 shots of Scotch.)

Dan Kennelly. He’s just back from a tour of the Kitimat projects. Yes, there are two plants. Two pipelines. And probably more than three large camps for workers; one of which may be a floating ship. The actual plants are manufactured in Asia and then assembled here. • The local indigenous peoples are jockeying for best profit sharing positions.

Matt Litke.

Andy Lockhart. When everything around you is crashing (iPhone, iPad, laptop), talk to MJ at OSI. And do not give in to that PC-Devil promising you lower costs. Stay with Apple. (This is not a paid commercial comment. Even though it sounds like one.)

J.D. MacDonald. He’s weary from all the work in the shop. But he’s not complaining. (It could be, he’s too tired to do so.)

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen. Fraud is usually a pretty simple crime to commit. But it is a challenge to explain. Tip: when buying a gift card (VISA, iTunes etc), make darn sure the plastic card is in the cardboard pouch. I’d explain but … just do it, ok. Thanks.

Mike Mikkelson. Is bundling getting out of hand? Telus is now offering Alarm Force security and for the techies, The Nest.

Brad Pachal. Nerves of steel? You need them to hold you back from buying new steel products (i.e. tools). Most steel-containing product prices will increase by 20% (and more) at month end.

Gerry Parcells. He controls The Nest at his place. And it’s not by iPhone, either!

Dwayne Vinck. You might say, our country’s indigenous peoples are reinventing the art of scalping.

Bob Wiggins . What goes around comes around. He remembers phoning-in grocery orders and having them delivered when he was posted in Souris, Manitoba and Dryden, Ontario. Hey, Bob: that was the last Century, by the way.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

January 17th.

Thu, 17 Jan 2019 18:08:00 GMT

Matt Litke’s brother-in-law was seriously injured in that recent, double-decker bus accident in Ottawa. His road to recovery is a long one, so a Go Fund Me campaign to raise $25,000 is underway. For more information: https://www.gofundme.com/f/chester-wilson-ottawa-bus-crash-recovery-fund

You can run but you cannot hide from Bob Wiggins. You have until midnight, January 31 to pay $562.50 for dues. After that …

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis. Get smarter. Touch up your cultural IQ. Sip some wine. Join some other Birds. Maybe learn how to make some better money decisions in 2019. Sean invites you, as his guest, to the new library, on January 28th. From 5 to 8 pm — with the presentation by RBC’s guru from 6:30 to 7:30.

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher. Talk, talk, talk. That’s all this guy does. And he gets paid for it! He does it so well, he’s busy. And happy to be so. Paul just finished a 25-minute script about co-gen for Pembina. He sounds … like a pro, he does.

Ian Campbell. Ian has kudos for JD and his crew. Ian’s hot water heater sprang a leak but it was no match for SonRise Plumbing. They responded and replaced it in hours.

Matt Dart.

Don Davis .

Todd Dean.

George Doherty.

Don Doolan. Still singing: “You Better watch out”. These days, you know not who might be watching you. So Don has begun wearing clothes about the house, again. It seems his new Shaw modem and wifi printer are being shared by his neighbour! What else might be going on?

Tony Fisher . One of his trucks overturned on the Highway by Sparwood. Thankfully, the driver is okay. The truck was loaded but because of his insurance agent – Mel, of course – coverage is taking care of things nicely.

Gord Forsyth. It’s frustrating is what it is. Gord can’t figure out why so many people are excited about getting tickets to Obama’s appearance in YYC. Don’t they remember that it was ‘Obee’ who killed the pipeline that mortally injured our economy?

Mel Gibson. Mel is loving his new ‘ears’ from Ian. It’s amazing what they do for him. • He recently visited the Calgary Tower where he and guests were besieged by gnats and fruit flies. Not fun at all. (Oh, and these bugs were not caused by his new hearing aids. At least as far as we know.)

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks.

Dan Kennelly.

Matt Litke. A little bankerly advice: keep all your tax and income and other documents in a file … so it’s easy to help your banker help you.

Andy Lockhart.

J.D. MacDonald. His son, Alex, hit a deer on the highway. It totaled the truck – but other than a hurt thumb, Alex is ok.

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen. If you know anyone who is looking: Barbecues Galore is hiring: a junior marketing person and an order desk clerk. • Unsurprisingly, Ross is starting the year off with a bit of an anti-stupidity rant. How can we allow Saudi Arabian oil to displace AB oil … especially in light of how they (the Saudis) disrespect human rights and Canadian laws? It just doesn’t make sense.

Mike Mikkelson.

Brad Pachal. Ouch. Brad has a bandage on his wrist. But he was not trying to cut it. He was using a new machine to sharpen a chisel … and all it took was for his attention to slip for a second … and that chisel nicked him real good. Lots of blood, a rush to the hospital and seven stitches later …

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck.

Bob Wiggins . So guys: do you all have an ‘enduring power of attorney’ set up? And what about a ‘Directive’ for what you’d like if in serious condition in the hospital? • Bob’s brother in law had a stroke which … knocked him to the floor … where he laid for 5 days waiting for rescue. So you might want to consider getting people you know who live alone … one of those emergency signaling devices.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

So. 2019 begins.

Thu, 10 Jan 2019 19:15:00 GMT

Do’s, dues and don’ts: Do pay your $562.50 Dues to Bob Wiggins before the end of January. If you Don’t meet this deadline, it’ll cost you an additional 10%. Yes, you can save $56.25 until midnight, January 31, 2019.

Members:

Brett Bain. Hmm. His back issue is ‘back’. Sounds uncomfortable. • Brett is weighing his options about maintaining ownership in AZ. • Brett is also sounding a bit disappointed in Apple (it currently seems to be bringing up the rear in the Samsung, Huawei, Apple line up).

Sean Baylis. He’s happy to say goodbye to 2018. It was not a great year for investors. And though we did not hear him say that 2019 was going to be much better, he sees some interesting buying opportunities. He mentions the TFSA increase. He is looking for ‘wage growth’ as a positive signal sometime this year. He is also putting on an event at the new Library of January 28th! • NOTE: Sean sees the Apple performance story being more politically driven than market driven.

Jim Bladon. A high note for 2019? Jim is arranging for a cannabis expert to come for munchies some morning, soon.

Paul Boucher.

Ian Campbell.

Matt Dart.

Don Davis . As part of Don’s search for a new job, this morning he demonstrated that he can talk for as long as Andy Lockhart. And be just as interesting, • Don is selling his AZ house, along with five sets of golf clubs and all kind of other good stuff.

Todd Dean.

George Doherty. Puppies! George and Karen have a couple of pets running around the house, gleefully peeing wherever.

Don Doolan. Want to watch some good hockey for $15 a seat? Check out the Calgary Inferno schedule.

Tony Fisher . Everything is changing. Everything, I tell you. The recreation and games room purchases are larger than in the past and more numerous. His sense is people are staying closer to home and want some fun home furniture to make it interesting to do so. • Tony is not seeing a positive outcome for the New Horizon ‘funny’ mall in Balzac.

Gord Forsyth. Not sure how this can be … but Gord says Heather is becoming a grandmother in June … but that he is not becoming a grandfather. Could he be spending too much time with Alexa, maybe?

Mel Gibson.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks. He and his team are spending a fair bit of time driving the Icefields Parkway. They’re proving that a bit of caution and good winter tires will get you there and back. So far.

Dan Kennelly. Looking for a replacement.

Matt Litke. Matt is liking his move to the Chestermere branch of RBC. • He mentions that the BofC did not raise rates this week. He speculated that mortgage costs may diminish – so delaying a house purchase may be a smart idea.

Andy Lockhart.

J.D. MacDonald.

Michael McLennan. True Plug & Play! Seems Amazon has a USB plug-in that effortlessly delivers their videos to your smart TV. If you’re a Prime member, the video service is free (he thinks).

Ross Mikkelsen. Sign up for ATB’s The Owl at https://www.atb.com/learn/economics/Pages/subscribe-to-the-owl.aspx

Mike Mikkelson. He swears by good shoes – especially when at an all-day trade show, standing on concrete floors. Get some at https://ca.shop.ecco.com/en_CA/home

Brad Pachal. Brad is getting some nice exposure via Stepper Homes for a project he managed in one of their models. • His major February and March project just fell through; so he has time on his hands …

Gerry Parcells. To all of us who feel we’ve accomplished something by becoming grandparents, he reminds us that he’s up to his fourth great-grandchild. •

Dwayne Vinck. H e agrees with Mikey; ecco are great shoes.• Dwayne suggests you might want to check out the ‘downtown’ Canadian Tire store just off 17th Avenue and 8th street. Clever, it is.

Bob Wiggins . Dues are due, guys.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

DEC 6 breakfast

Thu, 03 Jan 2019 20:04:00 GMT

(Yes, these minutes are a bit stale.)

In with the new. Out with the old?

Goodbye Donald? Sayonara Justin? Ciao Rachel? We’ll see.

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon. Gas and diesel prices were hitting high notes in November … the App GasBuddy can help you find the nearest, lowest price.

Paul Boucher. A well-used voice is a good generator of revenue. Paul is having a good year as the ‘voice of compliance’. He’s also being heard during hockey broadcasts.

Ian Campbell.

Matt Dart. Johnson Controls is splitting into two companies which is likely to make Matt’s job more interesting. • Matt enjoyed the book Johnny (about an amazing Canadian bomber pilot from WW2).

Don Davis . He’s very impressed by 3D printing of a jawbone to replace the one lost to cancer by a patient. • Don encourages you to look twice before jumping in as an Executor. • Everyone who believes that #MeToo has gone a tad too far … just blink quietly (so your wife doesn’t hear).

Todd Dean.

George Doherty. Into every life a little beauty must shine: George has a new iPhone for $5 less a month. The question is: is his phone as pretty as was the salesclerk?

Don Doolan. The Lancaster Bomber was a topic at breakfast: Don’s dad flew in one during the war. • Check your basement for Radon. And change your filter and get your fireplace checked.

Tony Fisher . It’s ba-a-ack! AMEX is getting serious about attracting new customers – users and retailers. Expect to see more AMEX stickers in 2019.

Gord Forsyth. Gord has a new woman in his life. Her name is Alexa and she will do anything he asks. (If she’s able.) You can Google Alexa all day long.

Mel Gibson. All together now, sing: To Palm Springs Mel must go …

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks.

Dan Kennelly. His year as Bird Chairman must be coming to close?

Matt Litke. It’s a new year and maybe a good time to remember to be nice to the people around you.

Andy Lockhart. His brother in law, Dave Birrell, wrote the book “Johnny” about Canada’s most decorated WWII bomber pilot. Dave is associated with the Nanton Air museum where Andy built a full-scale model of the Tall Boy bomb that was dropped from the Lancaster bomber. And wouldn’t you know it: a “Lank” awaits your attendance at the Nanton Air museum – one of only a few left in the world, I believe.

J.D. MacDonald.

Michael McLennan. Mike has some tips about the top ten tech companies.

Ross Mikkelsen. Amazon Prime Membership is over 60% of users and growing. And the warehouse in Balzac can provide same-day delivery.(I don’t think Ross is impressed.)

Mike Mikkelson. Kudos to Mel for help from Thelma.

Brad Pachal.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck. One of his clients has a ‘flow-through’, pooled risk investment opportunity based on a synthetic diesel.

Bob Wiggins . He’s been collecting dues for 2019.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

It was HAM for Nov 29th

Fri, 30 Nov 2018 19:38:00 GMT

Our Xmas Breakfast will probably be December the 13th.

Thinking of buying a book as a Xmas gift? Here’s a list from Paul: https://medium.com/@dolectures/100-must-read-books-of-2018-1a8a9f01c72d

Maybe you’re thinking of a phone? Here’s a list from Wired Magazine:

http://links.newsletters.wired.com/servlet/MailView?ms=MTQ3MDc4MDcS1&r=MjM5NjgxNDk3MDQzS0&j=MTUyMjMwNjM4NgS2&mt=1&rt=0

Andy suggests an excellent overview of oil and gas (energy, actually) in today’s world: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raMwTUjB224&t=1s

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis. When you go to Vegas for a golf tournament, you go to bed early because you need to be up and at’em. From all accounts, you can sleep in LV, though you might feel like you’re missing out. Until you hit the links. • Then you may feel that interest rates aren’t going to be all that bad, for a while. You may even anticipate a bit of a US and China accord. Which could reduce trade tensions? Which could indicate a buying opportunity? Or …

Paul Boucher. He’s annoyed that a recent UPS delivery – his pay packet – was opened in transit. Customer Service (a euphemism at UPS, I think), has been less than enlightening. Or even concerned. • Ah well, his Telus landline is down to $20 a month.

Ian Campbell. Ian went up to Grand Prairie with his son for the Volleyball Provincials. His take on GP is … it’s like Hinton, only much busier. • There’s a new cochlear aid that instead of being surgically implanted, is literally just ‘stuck on’. (I think it’s called the ‘LePage Sticker’.) • Ian reassures us that Alloy restaurant is as good as ever.

Matt Dart.

Don Davis . The twins are doing well. It’s a stressful time but getting better. • Not to be outdone by Paul, Don’s landline charges are only $17 a month.

Todd Dean.

George Doherty. He’s been reading about the coming revolution which will be caused by the 5G (cellular) network. It could change life as we know it.

Don Doolan. Speaking of life, Don’senjoying his: from cutting firewood in Montana to watching women’s hockey at Winsport. Great hockey for only $10 a game.

Tony Fisher . He who waits and is pleasant but firm as he perseveres gets a $28,000 credit from Telus. But note: it is a credit. He has to stay to make it pay.

Gord Forsyth. He sees another sign of onerous taxing by City Hall: Bushmills Pub is for sale for $195,000.00 (this is after the owner invested some $2 million into the operations).

Mel Gibson.

Henry Heuver. Henry is still not feeling 100% since his fall a year + ago. He’s not driving which is quite an inconvenience for someone who likes to rove about like Henry. Business is a bit slow but not as slow as accounts receivable payments.

David Hicks. His daughter is off to Guatemala for a month. The number of vaccinations and protective treatments is a bit much but better safe than sorry.

Dan Kennelly. You’d think pipe costs would be in the doldrums but with tariffs and market forces, it’s a tricky item to forecast. There is a threshold that can kick in with as much as a 25% premium at any time. And meanwhile, long-range projects need to be quoted now, if you want to participate in the business.

Matt Litke. RBC mortgagee rates are complicating home buying. Meanwhile, Matt’s father-in-law is having a devil of a time straightening out the insurance mess caused by an auto dealer’s employee … who was test-driving ‘pop’s’ car when it was in for service. As the Brits would say: it’s a sticky wicket.

Andy Lockhart. Andy is not famed for his patience … but yesterday, Canada Post did finally deliver to him … an important letter mailed … on August 18th.

J.D. MacDonald. He’s trading gentle barbs with Eastern relatives. (Ask them to hold their noses but to watch Andy’s video.)

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen. He’s watching Farkas hold city council’s feet to the fire about budgets and expenditures. • He also notices that Canada Goose parkas are selling well in China. Not sure it was Ross who mentioned this … but prospective purchasers can now don their coat and stand in a huge, in-store freezer to test the coat’s effectiveness.

Mike Mikkelson. If you visit the USA, you can anticipate being asked about cannabis at the border.

Brad Pachal. Brad tells of a homeowner who’s fridge-water feed (for ice and drinking) sprang a leak and puddled on the kitchen floor. A restoration company came and hacked out about 50% of the hardwood. This was not necessary. The wood will shrink back. And then it just needs a sanding and varnish treatment. Tip: don’t give restoration companies carte blanch. Call a pro.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck.

Bob Wiggins . Bob enjoyed the oil industry overview video recommended by Andy (as did many of us). The link follows. The link is also in the header. Watch it. • Bob also mentioned that a recent NEB report says that Wind and Solar won’t work for us. I’ve heard too many conflicting opinions on this subject so it’d be nice to get an ‘unbiased’ overview. (Is there such a thing?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raMwTUjB224&t=1s

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

That was November 22nd

Sun, 25 Nov 2018 20:18:00 GMT

Our Xmas Breakfast will probably be December the 13th. (To be confirmedly by Bob.)

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis.

Paul Boucher.

Ian Campbell.

Matt Dart. Matt mentions that as many as half of the homes on his street now have permanent Xmas lights and that they’re programmable for other purposes (i.e. Halloween). Check out https://gemstonelights.com

Don Davis . He’s very pleased with how supportive AHS is being for his twin granddaughters. They’re still in the ICU and the quality of nursing is amazing. May Hazel and Julianne get big enough to go home, soon.

Todd Dean.

George Doherty. Palm Springs is a popular Canadian place in November. • He mentioned Dogs for Daughters … (I was distracted so missed the details. Sorry.)

Don Doolan.

Tony Fisher . His retail operations are actually moving along ok.

Gord Forsyth. Get a leg up on 2019: call Gord and get a ticket for lunch with Todd Hirsch in early January (at Gord’s Rotary club).

Mel Gibson.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks.

Dan Kennelly. Not that he thinks it’s nothing … but the oil spill off the East coast was rated at 1578 Barrels versus the 4.9 million Barrel Deep Horizon spill in the Gulf. The media uproar, however, would seem to be of a similar scale.

Matt Litke.

Andy Lockhart. And you thought politics was a road of twists and turns? Hah. Try making an insurance claim for a stolen car. In the USA. It’s a story best told by Andy (so you should have been here). • Andy has bought out his partner in his AZ place and is looking for a replacement. It’s a good way to share costs.

J.D. MacDonald. He’s looking to conduct a cold-calling campaign and trying to identify the more common home-owner plumbing issues – but in their terms, not his.

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen. Doesn’t seem enamoured of JT, either. • Mentions that Black Friday is now a bigger retail event than Boxing Day Sales here in Canada.

Mike Mikkelson.

Brad Pachal. Just when he gets into wood carving, 3D printing pokes its nose in. There’s a story here somewhere. Just need to whittle it out.

Gerry Parcells. He called JT a wimp. Actually, I think he swore and called JT a goddam gutless wimp. The silly commissions in BC are making a mockery of our country and JT doesn’t have the courage to deal with it. Or anything else.

Dwayne Vinck. He’s exploring the production of hydrogen from existing oil & gas reserves. If I understood correctly, he’s working on acquiring a license to do so.

Bob Wiggins . Bob mentions a telus phone feature that adds an intercept on calls which makes it difficult for hobo-calls to ring through. (Robo-calls, I know. But they’re kind of like hobos if you think about it.) I want to learn more about this intercept feature.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

It was the NO of times,

Fri, 16 Nov 2018 02:24:00 GMT

It was the YES of times.

It was the continuation of the Winter Olympics debate at Birds. It was Nenshi’s fault. Or the media was at fault. Maybe Mary Moran misled us. Or did Licia Corbella lecture too much? Did Farkas fly confusing flags? The YES crowd was too well-heeled. Not heeled. For sure not heeded. And so it goes.

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis. Sean gravelled (the sound of a voice that has a cold) that Tech stocks are (may be?) a bargain. Apple, Google, FB and Amazon are down right now. But unlikely for long. • Getting Older. Getting Wiser. He’s been hosting events for those not wanting to end up where no one wants to end up: With no will and no say (after passing on).

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher. The golden strains of a busy voice. He’s in demand.. • Suggests the Fine Diner in Inglewood for breakfast. Maybe a bit $$ but tasty. • A vocal off the old chord? His son is voice acting now and again.• Paul told of an interesting new Cannabis product called SexxPot. Helps women reach orgasm quicker than ever. Question: if we found one to slow guys down, would that be karma?

Ian Campbell.

Matt Dart.

Don Davis . Don and Pat are grandparents to twin girls. • Kudos to Ross for bringing Jeff Bradshaw for breakfast.

Todd Dean. His icefall last Thursday is still hurting. Birds, if you’re tempted to wear crampons, it may not be a bad idea. Nor would wearing a helmet. • Todd’s off to NY, NY soon for business.

George Doherty.

Don Doolan. Voted NOPE in the plebiscite.

Tony Fisher . Sees people moving outside of Calgary to escape city taxes. • Also sees some interesting use of Reverse Mortgages.

Gord Forsyth. Not sure he likes reverse mortgages. • Knows for sure that he does not like Licia Corbella’s admonition in today’s newspaper. “Who does she think she is?”, he demanded. (Well, he did in that kind of nice but not happy Gord Forsyth tone of voice.)

Mel Gibson.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks.

Dan Kennelly. Who says engineers are so logical they’re insensitive? Doesn’t apply to our chairman: Dan spent some time on turtle beaches, helping the newly hatched find the sea. Loved Cabo. Experienced the Day of the Dead. Even sunset cruised. Dan is, well, much like everyone else.

Matt Litke.

Andy Lockhart.

J.D. MacDonald. Looking for a student (late high school; first-year U) who wants a part-time job doing office work. If you know anyone, have them call JD. • He’s talking to the U of C marketing department for some marketing assistance.

Michael McLennan. Inkjets have come a long, long way! (Printers, that is.) He’s impressed with Epson printer/scanners for SOHO use. Lots of function for a low cost.

Ross Mikkelsen. Distracted by the plebiscite.

Mike Mikkelson. Mikey needs to find better reading material. He’s just been through the City budget and is disappointed that the best the city thinks it can do is maybe reduce the $4 Billion budget by 1%.

Brad Pachal. Kudos to Dave Hicks. • Brad has been attending a (hobby) carving class and enjoying the knife work.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck. The Kids’ Help Phone now offers country-wide texting. (That’s a very smart add-on, for kids.) • He’s looking at an App for on-demand freight. Stay tuned for delivery of the rest of the story. He’s leery of cryptocurrency promoters. He senses they smell like Amway.

Bob Wiggins .

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander. UD (the University District) continues to attract new owners and seems to be thriving in this market. • Retail project unfolding nicely. Financing is a bit of a wrestling match, as funders tend to generalize when assessing our local market. Ah well, ATB and BMO seem to have some critical visioning abilities.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Macabre November 1

Thu, 01 Nov 2018 21:36:00 GMT

If you thought Halloween was scary, that was nothing in comparison to the macabre grotesque Andy brought to breakfast.

Here’s what his carving/whittling knife released from a block of linden wood. Don’t turn your back on it. And never spend a night alone with an innocent- looking piece of linden, either. (Or you’ll be sorry.)

2026 Olympics. To host. To not host. To fund. To not fund. Remember: Mary Moran is making her pitch at Gord’s Rotary Club next week and he has tickets. Note: Buying one is in support of Rotary; not Mary.

Special Guest, Tom Olson, appeared this morning and admitted that he and Marcia are celebrating their 50th anniversary. (He was so excited, he couldn’t sleep … so to Birds he came.) Ever the Doctor, his one-liners were delightful.

Members:

Brett Bain. After the high prices of London (UK) and Glasgow, Brett is heading to Phoenix for a little pocketbook relief. • Meanwhile, his long-time, rock solid-sidekick, Bill, is retiring. Ah well, Brett’s son is now aboard and adding some more ‘bain’ to the company.

Sean Baylis. Reminded us that October is ‘wonder month’, as in: I wonder what the heck the markets are going to do, today? Yes, tech stocks are down and staples are slipping but the US midterms should settle things down. • Sean has a couple of RBC events lined up. They’re free, as is the wine.

Jim Bladon. You might want to go to atb.com and enter one of their contests. Cash is always useful to win at this time of year. • Brightside is worth a look, too.

Paul Boucher. Our chairman this morning. Knows how to do it. • Reminds us that if an airline cancels a reserved ticket and changes your return date, tell them they can’t do so. Tell them to find you an appropriate flight on the same day.

Ian Campbell. The Eden Restaurant might just be the place for you. Good French food, modest wine prices and as close as 9th Avenue in Inglewood. • Seems appendicitis may be treated by pharma products (as opposed to surgery). His daughter just got out of the hospital. No operation. Just a prescription.

Matt Dart.

Don Davis . Knows how to attract ghosts and goblins: seems 228 kids came for treats last night and cleaned out all of his goodies.

Todd Dean.

George Doherty. George’s business partner, Skip, just turned 75. HBD SG! • George enjoyed the Canadian Race event (It’s like a treasure hunt but the clues are to locations where you take a selfie and move on to the next locale.)

Don Doolan. To Shingrix or not to Shingrix? The answer: Shingrix (the new double hit) says George Doherty. Seriously.

Tony Fisher . Spaceport is expanding at the YYC. • Also, Air Canada now flies to Palm Springs.

Gord Forsyth. After 45 years of wedded bliss, he is now wondering why so many people ask Heather about how she’s managed to achieve such a milestone with Gord … when nobody has ever asked him how he’s managed to do so with Heather?

Mel Gibson.

Henry Heuver. He’s not against the Olympics coming to Calgary. • Joan has a new car so she can drive Henry around in style. • The nursery is keeping busy. (The ‘tree’ nursery, Gord. The tree nursery.)

David Hicks. No country music fan is this guy. But he just attended one of the best concerts ever – starring Chris Stapleton.

Dan Kennelly.

Matt Litke. He’s seeing some cautious holding patterns in the banking industry.

Andy Lockhart. He mentions that he has not had a trick-or-treater at his home in 18 years. After seeing the grotesque that he brought to breakfast, we all now know why.

J.D. MacDonald. Hoses off, gentlemen. And eavestroughs checked and cleaned. Now would be a good time to do so.

Michael McLennan. It’s pretty amazing when the guy in the industry (3D printing) is, himself, amazed by the process and product. Go to this link, watch the video and you’ll see why: https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/tekna-opens-5-5m-production-plant-for-additive-metal-powders-142484/

Ross Mikkelsen. .

Mike Mikkelson. You can go to Vegas, not gamble and still lose your shirt. Prices are going stellar.

Brad Pachal. There’s a needle for that. (Well, a number of them.) Brad hurt his back and went for therapy – but in lieu of massage and exercise, he got some ‘needle therapy’. It worked.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck.

Bob Wiggins . Revived his banking skills – especially his business loan criteria for approval/disapproval of same – and said no, definitely no, to the business model for Olympics for Calgary. (Take that Mary Moran!)

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Master Tipster Gord Forsyth Returns

Wed, 31 Oct 2018 09:17:00 GMT

Seriously – many thanks to the Birds for their support, in person and otherwise. – thanks to everyone. He’d like to forget September, but the drugs weren’t THAT good.

Brad Wall – thanks to Dave Hicks. Not least because Dave’s working with Brad and there’s some nasty, ugly “circuitry” that will take a lot of work to fix up. One of Brad’s most FAQ (geek-speak for frequently asked questions) from people considering building or renovations is: Granite or quartz? Brad’s comments were that in his opinion (or back to geek-speak IHO), quartz is the better bet for longevity. It’s man-made. Hard as nails. Granite is a mountain. You would think also “hard as nails”, but you’d be wrong. Granite will scratch, etc.. However, there are no veins and fossils in quartz. Some people call that “character”. Brad noted that in 10 years, matching is easier with Quartz since granite will naturally change. To sum up – he rolled the stone back to personal preference with a more informed perspective.

From Andy to wrap that section of breakfast up: “I’d hate to be taken for granite.”

Mel – Thanks to Mike for inviting Jeromy Farkas to speak at Birds. He certainly appeared to be “all that”. On the subject of the now-nearly-dead Olympics, plebiscite advance voting is crazy and inefficient. Couriered the docs to the house (not sure if that is Canada post related). Seriously?

The insurance industry is still struggling with marihuana. So many potential pitfalls, scenarios, exceptions. It’s ugly. One piece of good news that came about because of the conversation is that the US is no longer barring Canadians for life if they’ve come within sniffing distance of the industry, even as a non-partaking investor. This article in Business Insider magazine still implied caution was warranted though: https://www.businessinsider.com/us-no-ban-canadians-marijuana-workers-entering-country-2018-10 . As Don, Michael and others have said, the best answer at the border is still Nancy Reagan’s:

Mel’s final tip: turn your water off if you go away. The industry is still seeing a lot of water-related problems.

Ian – recommended Brad – complimented his work once again as top notch. Also thanked and appreciated Dave Hicks and his work and response time. He’s got a bunch of electricians on his hockey team, and they’re so are so booked up, they’re a month or more out.

Dwayne – Autocorrect left me with a mystery – the first thing I apparently typed for notes was “business in flurries”. To which I say WTH? The first cogent, coherent note from Dwayne’s turn on the tip runway was that he’s working with a company developing a hydrogen-related technology. They have a playground to test the tech in the field. Dwayne is trying to prepare them to report to potential investors.

More recently, Dwayne was also invited to the management team for a new app. Couldn’t say much, but they have big plans. Currently testing outside Canada but hope to come in. Think “Uber for Freight”. The model could disrupt the freight industry in a huge and positive way. However, as he said, it’s early days. Don thought it sounded like something Amazon would buy. Dwayne didn’t doubt that was possibly one of the end goals of the founders. The business idea made sense…we’ll see.

Mike – no real tips. Happy everyone enjoyed Jeromy. He also had a one-sentence summary of his concern about how people expect the Olympics to “save” Calgary. Basically, it’s a case of too many eggs in one basket using the Olympics to save Calgary. The misplaced faith is a big concern to him on a number of levels.

Don Doolan – in Montana again and crossed over on the 17th – but was disappointed there was not.a.single.question.about.pot. There were signs up at the border on the Canadian side warning doofuses about the obvious.

Don also had an interesting experience renewing his Nexus card. In the interview, they asked if he’d ever experienced any anomalous encounter with border officials. Don replied there was none he could recall. The border person insisted on giving him ONE.MORE.CHANCE to come clean. (These border people love their drama.)

It turns out there *might* have been something in September 2016 with an Agricultural official. Don differed. Thankfully, boy scout Don writes everything down including his calendar. The official was mistaken, but Don was wrong until he proved he was right. The powerful tip from Don was simply that when it comes to the border, travel to the US: log everything . Their country, their rules.

Matt Dart – no tips. Work slow – hearing a lot of cannabis-related chatter.

Tony – There’s a billboard by Ross’s north Barbecues Galore site. It mentions the double pension for our mayor. That’s unlike other cities.

Tony also mentioned an onerous new paperwork requirement around Workplace violence and harassment. He did mention that the CFIB can help with the forms. There is serious auditing of the problem going on. He chalks it up to an over-abundance of auditors hired by the NDP.

Tony mentioned one guy who was basically asked to report a minimum of 10 incidents per month. Even if they didn’t happen.

Michael McLennan – Also went to Montana on the 17th. Again, no pot questions. Loved hunting on both sides of the border.

Don Davis – seeing Bill Hoogstraten with George and Sandi. Will say hi from those of us that know him.

He also had a hilarious story about his kids and their Australian Sheppard staying at the house. Long story short, they wound up taking care of the dog, but apparently, the Shepherd is VERY protective. Aggressively so. You have to be careful and plan around the dog when people are coming over.

*Not actually the dog at Don’s house

Don told the story of some poor schmuck canvassing in Lake Bonavista who came to the door. Don thought the dog was otherwise occupied – but when he opened the door to the canvasser – the dog came barreling out of nowhere like a missile with teeth. Don managed to close the door, but the guy was scared so bad he jumped 5 feet back. Asked by the man if the dog was aggressive, Don replied yes. It was a short conversation. Pat asked why he didn’t mention it wasn’t his dog…to which Don said: “why?”.

Bob – no tip per se. He did comment on Trump denouncing the media after the recent spate of bomb mailings in the US, but observed that Trump continued to be Teflon when it comes to accountability of any kind. Most packages were intercepted safely with no one hurt.

Andy – among other things, rejoined with that to note that Sue used to open her boss’ mail. She would have taken the hit had he ever been in a similar situation.

He then went on to address their Aviva to Intact transition. This has been ongoing with Intact’s prices originally having been quite a bit higher. That’s changed and the car insurance was fine, however, the house insurance wasn’t. Andy called to correct an error noted regarding his roof on and it saved him and Sue $650. Tip: Read the cover sheet to your policy. You might be “richer than you think”.

Mike M. chimed in to ask about that because he’d also found the prices uneven between the two companies when contemplating a similar move.

Dan – asked about a possible final gratuity for Roger as he retires. Bob stepped in to mention that Roger really hadn’t served us much this year and more importantly, Inglewood now automatically tacks on an 18% gratuity for our wait staff. Perhaps this is the Birds’ opportunity to abandon the supplementary gratuity they’ve been giving annually.

Dan then continued to address Notely bringing up trains as an alternative to pipelines to address the ridiculous discount Alberta oil is trading at. He noted that training engineers is a long process and that along with that difficulty, the politics within the railways from a union standpoint hold things back still further. Not only are we short on personnel and locomotives, the rolling stock to transport the oil doesn’t currently exist. It needs to be fabricated. Will railways make that investment when there’s still so much uncertainty over pipelines? When the business could literally dry up after they’ve made a multi-million dollar investment?

On pipelines, Dan also noted that steel tarifs affect pipes. They, naturally, are passing on the increased cost to their customers. Customers will get an automatic 25% January 1st, and another tariff based on the country of origin. That one’s part of Canada’s tariff retaliation. TransAm Pipe is being asked for price guarantees. They’re passing on the word that anything already on the ground is fine, but anything coming in will be hit hard. Twice.

George Doherty – on why come to birds now that he’s no longer running George’s cream: great tips!

George also told the story about a guy with a boundless entrepreneurial spirit who hit the immovable object of Spanish unions and regulations. This guy’s major business is burning garbage to make energy. However, he l oved Spanish wine, which led him to Spain and a trip to their vineyards. He now distributes cases worldwide.

He also tried to solve a huge problem with olive oil production in Spain. The mash discarded in the production of the oil is toxic, and the way they dispose of it is to burn it. Thinking he could solve two birds with one stone – the production and pollution problem, he proposed a solution. * “No dados!” said the unions who value the most unproductive, labour-intensive way to address the situation. So, he had to abandon the idea.

*No dice!

Mike’s Good Guest!

Fri, 19 Oct 2018 16:27:00 GMT

Ward 11 Councillor Jeromy Farkas was an interesting guest. He doesn’t sound like a politician. He doesn’t act like one. He acts like a thoughtful entrepreneur who cherishes the opportunity to live and work in Canada. I liked him. I think we all did.

His grandma came from Hungary. She was an activist in the 1956 revolution there and stared down the barrel of a Soviet tank. She was obviously a person of principle. His grandfather is a Saskatchewan boy who escaped from an abusive family and came to build a future in Calgary. He didn’t need help to deal with life’s hard knocks. He just managed as best he could.

Jeromy is a ‘live and let live’ kind of person. As he said, I’m a municipal politician: I’m not here to fix the world. I’m here to fix potholes. He doesn’t like a paternalistic city hall. He’s sure Calgary could host the Olympics in style – but he’s not willing to consider doing so without a better financial analysis. If the games go over budget (as they will), Calgary will be stuck with the costs. Another point he makes is that he doesn’t see a Frank King on the horizon. (We need a responsible and smart person to guide the Olympic ship.)

Farkas handled Andy’s searching questions with ease. And showed he knows policy and city history. And my Gawd, is he young!

What I wonder is … how many Birds are moving to Ward 11?

(Thanks Mike.)

Pot alert!

Thu, 11 Oct 2018 17:35:00 GMT

On October 18th, Councillor Jeromy Farkas of Ward 11 will join us for breakfast. (thank you Mike M; now, please see about inviting Kenny. He has much to talk about.)

Gord is at home and entertaining visitors. (In a manner of speaking.)

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis. Markets are exciting. They got a jolt yesterday. Bond rates seem upward bound and tech stocks are in a ‘correcting’ mode. These things are no reason to not see markets as being buying opportunities. Keep an eye on SNC Lavalin. It’s a powerful company and though it has had its fingers slapped for bribing customers in South Africa and elsewhere, it should persevere.

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher. Here’s a link to productivity advice: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/320955 • Seems millennials are stubbornly stuck on one-click connections. I’m sure Paul’s correct but … so am I. Millennials are being dismissed as being a target audience or market by firms like ValueGraphics (David Alison). I hear he’s coming to town. If so, will ask if he’d join us for breakfast. His take on markets would be a feast for Paul, Ross, Todd and Andy Lockhart.

Ian Campbell. No matter how bad your hearing is, Ian can help. No, he cannot restore that which was lost. But he can make residual hearing work so much better than you might think. Listen to what’s on the wind: go see Ian.

Matt Dart. He’s enjoying a Podcast titled, The Daily. It takes The Donald and others to task.

Don Davis . He’s still looking for a job. Meanwhile, he’s wondering what the difference is, between fraud and creative accounting. A rose is a thorny plant kind of thing.

Todd Dean. Work. Help parents in Ottawa. Be a husband and parent back in Calgary. Work. Help parents in … (you get the drift).

George Doherty. Pretty nice looking new packaging design for George’s Cream. But I’m staying on the fence: George’s Cream’s bold/simple look from before was deemed a stolid but significant reason for the cream’s success on the shelf. So. We’ll see.

Don Doolan. Not much to say this am but opinionated he is.

Tony Fisher. Humming Pretty Woman and praising Roy Orbison.

Gord Forsyth.

Mel Gibson. Tipless but expects next few weeks to be interesting as Mary Jane (weed, pot, gangha, rope, hemp) starts smoking. Remember when the worst thing about pot was the rap? Well, now the ‘rap’ continues in a different way. It’s called yack, yack, yack, yack, yack.

Henry Heuver. Henry moved a huge, 80-year-old oak tree for a customer. The root ball was 30 some odd feet wide. A crane was required to keep the tree vertical. It was a year in the preparation and quite a process to ensure it survived. Henry saw to it that it did.

David Hicks.

Dan Kennelly. You can never beat city hall (or town hall). Invermere just showed a local pharmacist how municipal might trumps property laws.

Matt Litke. So. Are signatures on the way out? How do you get young people to sign their name when all they can do is print? Well, you can get them to print it.

Andy Lockhart. Reminds us that tax revenues always fall when tax rates are raised (especially on the rich). • His mom turns 104 later this week.

J.D. MacDonald. Wet weather is hard on family farmers: they still can’t get their crops off.

Michael McLennan. Remember when 2-sided photocopying was a big deal? Well, now it’s 3D and Michael is still having fun.

Ross Mikkelsen. W onders how eastern Canadians can consume Saudi oil without a thought (or comment) about the morals/ethics of those red and white, checkered head-dressed tyrants. • It’s enough to make you want to give our own so-called leaders a suggestion that they do what they never seem to do: think before enacting (minimum wage legislation).

Mike Mikkelson. So busy lining up speakers for Birds, he has little to say at Birds.

Brad Pachal. Kudos to some Birds but no tips this am.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck. Impressed by what comes out of Kenny’s camp when he’s in a ‘tactical’ mood.

Bob Wiggins . Quiet this am.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Snowed In Birds, Oct 4, 2018

Fri, 05 Oct 2018 00:12:00 GMT

G’day gents,

I apologize, it took me a minute or two to clutch in that because George wasn’t there I needed my phone for something more than eye candy and I started taking notes.

I missed the detail on Dwayne Vinck’s succinct, smart rant on the new Canada Bend Over Free Trade Agreement – but that might sum it up. Sorry, Dwayne.

One note ahead of the rest – Dan reminded us that Ward 11 Councillor Jeromy Farkas will be speaking at Birds on the 18th. Invite a guest if you like. If you’d like to know a bit more about Monsieur Farkas, I recommend you visit this link: http://www.calgary.ca/citycouncil/ward-11/Pages/Ward-11-bio.aspx

We pick things up with Jim Bladon – who talked about a terrific addition to ATB’s BoostR series of events. This one will start in Calgary with a tour of Village Brewery, then the “hopped up” travellers board a bus and head to Banff. Back in Calgary by 11pm.

When: October 20th, 2018

Where: Please meet at the ATB Branch of Arts & Culture, 102 8th Ave SW, Calgary

Event Schedule:

You’re in?

Don Davis – The conclusion to the Telus We Don’t Give a Damn Series: The Davises had no phone service for 11 days. One tech found nothing wrong. A second tech, an “outside” specialist found the problem and fixed it even though he initially told Don that he “wasn’t allowed to fix anything inside ’cause he’s an outside guy”. Eventually, he fixed everything. Don and Pat got their bill…but surprise, surprise, no discount for the missing days of service. Pat called, and not only did she get a credit for the missing days, she got her home phone service dropped from $46 to $20 in Calgary. On a roll, she thought she’d ask about their Victoria phone and she got that one down to $12 a month while she was at it. Coda : Inspired by Pat, I phoned Telus today and asked about my home phone service which costs $50.96. After that call, Telus gave me the “loyalty package” and my home phone bill will now cost $21 a month.

Ian Campbell – recently held a successful wine and cheese event at the relocated, improved Market Mall Clinic. He’d been hoping to attract a few of of the medical folks from the building and did. He also thanked the Birds who showed up to take peek and swill some free plonk. Adding to Ian’s story, George Doherty had a great anecdote about Karen – Ian’s Market mall clinician and the compassion she showed hugging a client having trouble. At one point while Karen and this patient were talking, the patient was evidently struggling, and Karen just hugged it out with the patient. Pretty much stopped time in the office, and more than a few people were choked up by Karen’s compassion and the situation.

Dan chimed in with an eyebrow-raising stat: “…hearing aids are the third-largest purchase in most people’s lives after a house and a car…” That quote came from this article in Scientific American if you wanted to read more on how the technology has entered the 21st century: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hearing-aids-are-finally-entering-the-21st-century/

Henry – told about how Foothills Landscaping was doing y’know, landscaping before the snow brake was applied this week. Now…snow clearing. Foothills has bought a sweeper to clear parking lots. They like to stay off the streets as much as possible. Henry also noted that Jack Anderson and his family performed an incredible act of philanthropy recently. They donated “…an entire working ranch — land, buildings, a 1,000-head herd of cattle and all — to the University of Calgary’s faculty of veterinary medicine.” Foothills had done a lot of work on the property… many tons of rock for landscaping. It was always a pleasure to work there. The Herald story on the donation is here: . https://calgaryherald.com/business/local-business/entire-working-ranch-with-1000-head-of-cattle-donated-to-u-of-cs-vet-school

Michael McLennan – deep into hunting season. His dogs had 25 miles on them Monday morning according to their GPS collars. Pheasants next week. he loves his new Benelli shotgun. The technology in them is so amazing that there’s no kick at all, even to a 12 gauge shotgun! They’re mighty fine looking toys… https://www.benelliusa.com/super-black-eagle-iii Pheasants are up next. Bye bye pheasants, we hardly knew ye….

Ross Mikkelsen – has had a busy September. Trade show in Europe..then a couple of weeks galavanting in Greece. Wrapped up with a furniture show in Chicago talking tarifs. The existing 10% tariff will be moving to 25% Jan 1 unless Trump plays nice. The comment is that Americans have NO idea what they’re in for when prices go up after Jan 1. Every company that can has ramped up production to try to beat the implementation.

Ross also noted that Amazon is opening more of those “Go” grocery stores that don’t have checkouts. There’s a pretty cool 2 minute video on YouTube that demonstrates what might be the future of food retail. It’s a potential game changer:

Andy Lockhart was a tip machine today! 1st tip – don’t install the snowblower on your tractor in a foot of snow. However, if you are enough of a doofus to do that, then remember that there is at least one thing that will make your life easier when dealing with snowblower-clogging wet snow: Silicone spray (or even cooking spray) will help to prevent the chute from clogging.

#2: Andy’s in for blood work every 3 months. Don’t show up early…they’ll turn you away. He was a few days early if I recall correctly, and they relaxed their restriction for Andy, but there was a guy who literally arrived 15 minutes before his 3 month period was up and the personnel actually made him wait the 15 minutes before they took him in.

#3: Insurance claim in Arizona following a break-in is going sideways. First, they insisted on original receipts. Andy told them – “I bought the place furnished”, so, ah….. Then, they said, OK – we’ll accept photos. Andy said they didn’t have those either. So that’s where things stand. The tip? Take pictures of EVERYTHING in your place just in case.

Finally, #4: General Door came out to tune doors on the garage and Andy was impressed. They did three doors that now run “slicker than snot on a doorknob”, charged him for an hour and the total came to $145.

Sean Baylis apologized for missing last week after getting stranded in Inglewood by a train for a half hour…which led him to a stock tip that the railways are a pretty good stock right now. :-).

He also relayed that they’re into a busy fall event schedule.

More from Sean : His son – Playing with the Royals minor midget triple a team. As he’s done in years past, Sean’s offered ad space opportunities for Birds businesses in the blue line magazine. Drop him a line at sean.baylis@rbc.com if you’re interested in knowing more.

Paul Boucher – thanked the Birds for mentoring & modelling how to care for people around you and how to be open and hospitable. It led to a great experience hosting a friend’s son who’s on his way to Whistler for a job a the Fairmont property there. He mentioned that a bartender in one of those high-end hotels keeps a safe on hand to stow cash from tips varying between $10,000 to more than twice that. A month ! One of the other conversations led to a book recommendation – Jordan Peterson – 12 Rules of Life.

Bob Wiggins: extended the conversation about the hospitality industry by talking about CRA auditing the industry and Bob’s son needing dad’s tax planning advice to fly under their radar. Bob also tied back to an earlier conversation about “simplifying”. It was easy when he and Dorothy were moving every two years, but now, after 37 years in this house….well…let’s just say after he described the situation, I thought of George Carlin’s “stuff” routine.

Gerry Parcells: concluded the story of Gail losing her purse two weeks ago. Gerry saw the purse in a dream – and off on a road trip to the cottage they went, where he looked exactly where he’d seen it in his dream, aaannnd, didn’t find it. So much for that. BUT, he was looking through a pile of other stuff when he thought he saw something at the bottom…and sure enough there it was.

Andy 2nd round – planting a seed. Roger was back serving up breakfast today but he mentioned that he’s retiring in November. Andy thought we should have our ducks in a row to send something back home with Roger on November 12.

Finally, an anecdote from Tony Fisher – and he told it better than I’ll write it, but here goes. The day the snow started falling, he spotted a lady walking across the parking lot of their building in the NE. She was wearing a long coat, looked to be about mid-40’s. Then he realized…”wait a minute, she wasn’t coming from the road or sidewalk, she was coming from the building !”. Sure enough, they followed her tracks through the snow back to a spot where they found her shanty-lean-to up against the building. That’s where she’d been. Made me think of that old chestnut of a quote “There but for the grace of God, go I.”

Snow Day: 09/27

Thu, 27 Sep 2018 17:58:00 GMT

Mark October 18th on your calendar! Mike M has arranged for Councillor Jeromy Farkas of Ward 11 to join us for breakfast.

Gord may be going home soon. Visiting him there is a good idea.

Members:

Brett Bain. He asks the unanswerable: why run for a political post when you set yourself up for intense abuse in the media and online?

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher. Paul visits Denver and experiences how a robust and diverse economy can be seen and felt just by ‘being there’. Remember when Calgary felt like that? How can we get that feeling back? See Brett’s question above. • It’s heresy, I tell you. Heresy. Paul is praising the Dell laptop – recommending it above the (fat-priced) Apple.

Ian Campbell.

Matt Dart. Is everyone smoking a ‘doogie’? Are we all high on good weed? Aurora has seven projects on the go and more coming online. And that’s just Aurora.

Don Davis . He’s liking all the fish jumping in the lake. Mike M assures Don that this time, the local fishers will not delete the stock.

Todd Dean.

George Doherty.

Don Doolan. He encourages us to visit Gord. • He also recommends Roberts Jewellers for evaluating your possessions for insurance and estate purposes.

Tony Fisher. So how come Alberta is making a mess of its minimum wage policies while Ontario in doing it so much better? Have you driven a Ford lately? Or, see Brett’s question above.

Gord Forsyth.

Mel Gibson. Not sure what to do. Do I sit in my car? Or stay home? Auto thefts and home B&E’s are high and going higher. • Mel says gas is cheaper in Medicine Hat … but it’s a bit of a drive.

Henry Heuver. Don’t wait. Do it now. Blow out your irrigation lines.

David Hicks. To calm himself down about the silliness of pending residential speed limits, he’s stocking up on good whiskey – now on sale at Coop.

Dan Kennelly. It was exposure to radiation while in space, I think. GG Julie Payette is rewriting the Governor General’s job description to suit her sluggish lifestyle. Doing nothing suits me, she says. Besides, I only get $240Gs a year. If I’m gonna intone “Dib, dib, dib” for Boy Scouts, I’m gonna want more money. Of course, JT is waffling.

Matt Litke. Asks an intelligent question: do we want a Christmas Party this year?

Andy Lockhart. He shares Gord’s feelings about the professional Physical Terrorist assigned to Gord’s ward. • Andy also figures JT will sell out our supply management system – right after the Quebec election

J.D. MacDonald. Has some surgical work coming his way … directed at his left shoulder.

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen.

Mike Mikkelson. He’s attending the Pipeline Show and finding the mood very somber. He might have seen Rachel there – but she’s so short and her retinue so large, he’s not absolutely positive she was there.

Brad Pachal.

Gerry Parcells. Kids and grandkids are traveling everywhere. • His wife has given up her driver’s licence. Voluntarily. That’s a very big and difficult thing to do.

Dwayne Vinck. The Power Purchase Agreement and the balancing pool here in Alberta are political tools to be abused by the NDP, it seems.

Bob Wiggins . Backend discussion.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Sept 13th was cool.

Sat, 15 Sep 2018 17:37:00 GMT

We’re concerned about Gord. He’s having a tough time after surgery. May you get better soon, Gord.

Members:

Brett Bain. He’s not too excited about the XS Apple phone. • He’s even less excited about the political double-talk dominating the airwaves, social media and news. The least they could do, he says, is lie with a good Scottish accent. At least it’d sound good.

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher. Paul’s voice is cutting through the chatter for Morrison Homes and also, for Finish (the proper finish for your dishwasher, didn’t you know).

Ian Campbell. Ah, the simple life of an entrepreneur! Ian hired a new audiologist. Again. Maybe this one’ll stick. Or not. • His shopping centre clinics are great fun. In Marlborough Mall, takedowns (yes, by police and security staff) are quite entertaining (if you enjoy such drama). As for stuffy old Market Mall, ne’erdowells avoid that place because of all the silly red tape and landlord-it-over-all culture.

Matt Dart. Not thrilled with real estate market. Also, the commercial glut in downtown is still slow to repopulate.

Don Davis . Very impressed by Mathew – JD’s son and talented plumber. Thanks to them, Don will enjoy a much better and more efficient heating (cooling) system. • Pat can tell everyone about it on her new iPhone 6. • Or she can photograph their son while he coaches hockey – including women’s teams – in Canmore

Todd Dean.

George Doherty. Take a look at the Valley Ridge G&C for great golf and good food. Or if you golf like George, go for good golf and great food.

Don Doolan.

Tony Fisher. He’s not thrilled with our position on dairy and softwood. • Not thrilled with Home Shows anymore, either. But he’s still smiling.

Gord Forsyth.

Mel Gibson. The insurance industry has not caught up to the challenges posed by marijuana culture (especially concerning home grow-ops). He suggests: be cool, man. Hang loose, eh. Smoke it if you got it but don’t grow it yet. • His Rotary Club is a big supporter of the new Bethany Riverview Dementia Centre. Mel forgets the details. He’s not even sure where it is. But that’s okay. We know where to take him if his condition continues.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks. For an evening of laughter and fun, go see The Book of Mormon at the Jubilee. • New electricity code demands 3-wires everywhere. Maybe get Dave to do your rewiring.

Dan Kennelly. He’s not happy with those who are fighting to shut down/stop our pipelines. They don’t get it and they won’t listen.

Matt Litke. Like PR man for Strathmore he is: housing is doing well as is the new water plant.

Andy Lockhart. Andy has an Olympic perspective from his chateau and it is not a glowing one. Calgary is going to rue the day it started down the bid path.

J.D. MacDonald. Marijuana and plumbing do not mix. However, if you wish to install an irrigation system for your crop, just call JD

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen.

Mike Mikkelson.

Brad Pachal. He’s liking being able to get City trades permits online. So much more efficient.

Gerry Parcells. Had to leave to get the dog groomed.

Dwayne Vinck.

Bob Wiggins . He’s keeping us up to date on Gord’s status. • Birds’ membership is at 27. We could use a few more members – including an LLB.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Early Birds’ Eye View Sept 6, 2018

Mon, 10 Sep 2018 18:13:00 GMT

G’day Gents,

Many of us learned about Gord Forsythe’s recent surgery and hospital stay on Thursday. Things were good, then dicey, but thankfully, improving again as of Monday morning Sept 10th, with updates being provided by Heather via Bob. Thanks to Bob for passing those on so quickly, and to Heather for keeping us in mind as she supports Gord. For further updates keep an eye on your email.

Minutes from last Thursday:

Dan Kennelly – picked up 3500 paving bricks from an old community hall demo. Waste not, want not will turn into a new driveway.

Mel Gibson – Had been away for 5 weeks turning himself into a Lethal Weapon on the golf course when he got his first ever – hole in one on hole two at Copperpoint (if memory serves – my keyboard did not). Mel returned and to a LOT of changes in the office. Among them, Brokerlink will no longer be dealing with Aviva. Intact will pick up a lot of that work. “ Water continues to be the new fire .” Take note, read your policies and protect yourselves and your property or properties. Brokerlink currently has 5 offices…will be buying a few more and will be consolidating their distributed corporate presence into one location in the Bantrel building just off Glenmore Trail January

Matt Litke – Just returned from the Kenora Ont. area. As many have attested to, it’s simply gorgeous. Of note, and not related to scenery, but certainly with scenery enhancing properties (particularly around 2 am when the ugly lights come on) – Lake of the Woods brewery – great beer. There’s a lot of wildlife in that area and Matt had some close but not threatening encounters with deer on the road. His tip was to definitely be alert on long tiring drives. Jim Bladon chimed in with a note that this is the pre-rutting season and the bucks, in particular, are very unpredictable and can be aggressive.

Todd Dean – Has been busy with clients old and new. He’ll miss Birds the next three weeks due to client meetings this Thursday but then, back to Ottawa for two weeks to continue to support his dad as the company MyndTec continues to work on restoring function in his father’s arm post-stroke. That company name is what happens when committees made up of IT people who can’t talk, never mind spell, struggle to come up with a catchy name. The tech though is impressive. Todd’s dad could regain more than 60% of the function in that arm with the technology. You can read more about it here: http://www.myndtec.com/

Don Doolan – reported being at the airport for his Nexus card interview. The Nexus folks let him know that facial recognition is coming within the next year. Not much will affect it..beards, glasses tattoos etc, no problem. Dining tip: Yvonne felt like fish and the two of them went back to a place that had underwhelmed Don a bit in the past, a restaurant on Edmonton Trail called Big Fish. He was impressed enough with their Sunday night dinner special to recommend it for the landlocked fish lovers at Birds. $35-$40.

Emerging markets getting beaten up. Might be a good buy opportunity as well.

There’s good value to be found in the Healthcare space.

RBC is Bullish on oil.

Brad Pachal – was just out in Kelowna…and found no meaningful traffic on the way to see grandkids. However, the family couldn’t get near Lake Louise it was so crowded. No parking anywhere. Stayed at Revelstoke Sutton hotel. Loved it. Working hard over the next 4 weeks. *Ed. Note: I’d stayed at the same hotel September 2017, and we had a favourable impression too. Kids loved the mountain roller coaster just out the back door of the hotel.

Henry Heuver – is busy and noted that companies that were in “wait and see” mode in the Spring are now working and moving forward with jobs and projects.

Paul Boucher – passed on some real estate news via Ken Rigel’s newsletter. Unfortunately, it’s not available on the web. The document he derived the information from is via his website and this link https://krgroup.ca/_media/documents/market-reports/August%202018.pdf?inline=false?inline=false . Head’s up: although the beef in the bun is on page 1, it’s a 27-page document. Here’s an extract from the newsletter:

From another realtor, Val Laferriere with Remax: “… What you may not know is that the $1 million+ market has actually done better year over year. In fact, homes priced $1.5-$2 million have exceeded last years number of sales and sale prices.

By contrast, there is a lot of ache and pain in the lower and mid price ranges, most noticeably $500k-$650k is still very hard hit. I believe this is directly related to mortgage rules. It is tougher to qualify in these ranges, and those buyers will not have any savings to do “work” to a home. Something to consider before listing your home to get maximum dollars!

www.RelocatewithVal.ca”

Ian Campbell – is still hunting for a full-time audiologist, or 3. Regulation in place to protect consumers has an unintended negative consequence on businesses like Ian’s. In this case, Alberta’s requirement that audiologists hired from out of province need a minimum vetting and qualifying period to be able to do work that is essential to Ian’s clinics. The regulation essentially acts as a provincial trade barrier. Business is good though. While he’s looking for audiologists, he’s working on his omnipresence. It’s not going well.

Tony Fisher – reports that in the hospitality industry, the coming $15 minimum wage is causing apprehension. Anecdotally, he reports seeing a drop in employment in various businesses. Tips lower too. There have been a number of closures that could be partly related to the additional labour expenses. He’s also seeing trouble with restaurants finding back-end staff. Restaurants are in tough. As for airport staff, among their other expenses, they have to pay $60 a month per employee for parking. He also noted that the new airport CEO has caused higher than normal senior airport staff turnover.

Brett Bain – On restaurants: OSI is planning their regular customer appreciation dinner. They’re planning it at Ruth’s Chris. When they initially approached them they received a quote of $100 a plate. They’ve recently come back to OSI with a $65 a head quote. OSI found the Ruth’s Chris experience better for them and their customers than Saltlik. Food in particular.

Jim Bladon – all is well in financial services. Order books full through the first part of 2019. Craft beer still a busy area, specifically in Okotoks, Cochrane, but others as well. The distillery space is following suit. The industry and its various stakeholders are watching government program supporting the industry closely. AB has to alter it by January. In the ag space, harvest is in full swing. East side of the province is dry though and there are concerns about crop quality in parts of the southeast of the province. In other news, farmers are worried about the weather.

Jim’s son’s involvement in hockey in the Humboldt area has resulted in a good stream of Humboldt Broncos news. The latest: in a tribute to the players who died in the bus crash, the team will be retiring their numbers of players.

Don Davis – provided us with the first news of Gord Forsythe’strialss and tribulations before updates from Heather and Bob took over. He’s at the Seton campus.

Also relayed another story involving Telus customer service: one of Alberta’s oldest oxymorons. After calling to alert them to a lack of home phone service, the problem was eventually discovered to be a neighbour’s new sprinkler system flooding the Telus box in the area (best quote from that bit o’ the story was the inside of those boxes looking like “…a bad spaghetti dinner…”). Anyway, the upshot is that this is a 10-day long issue with partial resolution (they have service back). No word on what Telus has done with the neighbour.

Matt Dart – reported that work is slow at the moment. He oversees a group of 9 guys with quotas, and figures only one or two will make quota. Long term care facilities are one busy areas.

He also spoke about a recent experience trying to get some custom made clothing via a new player on the scene: Indochino. In short (pardon the pun), the pants were long, shirts so short they wouldn’t tuck in. Overall he was disappointed…it took up a lot of time for very little positive benefit.

Andy Lockhart – small wager with Sean. Advantage Lockhart for now…

Two stories: One was about a friends grandson who has difficulty with conversation with new people who recently moved into res at U of C. This experience likely won’t help. He happened to sit down to a black kid ( or African-Canadian if you play on Justin’s side of the fence). When he said hello to introduce himself, the black kid responded curtly that he only talks with black people; he doesn’t talk to white people.

Golf story – After Andy’s group fell behind in a round because of the group in front of them, Andy politely mentioned to a woman in the group that they were behind the pace of play (by several holes at its worst). Afterwards, one of the women basically said that Andy had ruined her life (OK, just the round), and complained. The woman’s husband called. The facts were reiterated. The husband didn’t take the facts well. In any case, Andy sounded like he didn’t think that was the last of it. He’s waiting for the club to get involved. Summary: “Women use the rules for revenge. Men use them for fairness.”

Bob Wiggins – spent an extended long weekend in Koocanusa. It was not nearly as exciting this past weekend as it was earlier in the season. The trip did result in a good tip though: “…put your vehicle in park”. Bob recounted the story of a woman who did NOT put her pickup in “Park”. When she walked away, the truck did what it was designed to do: roll. As it rolled, the truck wound up sideswiping a building, picking up a bit of momentum before running over a few trees and then heading over an embankment/small cliff and dropping into the lake, where it floated for a bit before sinking.

Passed on another tip about terrific, honest service at Capital Chev Olds. Saved $$.

JD MacDonald – Mentioned Rona Uberhaus product not to criticize the product itself per se, but to note that parts and service can be a tough go. A client with an Uberhaus problem now has an Uber Large and expensive fix on his hands because it’s impossible to get parts. He recounted how about 5 years ago, he tried to help another customer with an Uberhaus-related problem. He couldn’t get through to the manufacturer, though he did finally reach the supply management arm of the company. In the end, there were no parts anywhere across the country. JD’s Tip: make sure you ask questions about parts in the future to avoid nasty repair costs with any plumbing hardware.

Dwayne Vinck – Picking up on Matt Dart’s negative experience with Indochino, he advised that Vietnam great place for custom suits.

He also added to Jim’s comment about Craft beer by saying that the regulation pendulum will swing back.

The merger he’s been working on hasn’t happened. Ultimately, these deals are about people. In this case, one 60 and one 63 year old principal. Despite much larger sums in the bigger picture, it fell apart (or is threatening to) over about $35k.

Monday, Monday.

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 12:41:00 GMT

Come to Birds and learn: How to drink, by Don Davis • How to eat smoke by Sean Baylis • How to open a bank account in 5 minutes or less, by Jim Bladon •

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis. Smoke-eating? Sean and cycling friends are practicing their smoking skills as they ride to raise funds to end cancer. Problem is, riding actually can be hazardous to your health. Medics canceled the ride to everyone’s dismay. But 8 million plus was still raised.

Jim Bladon. Fastest bank in town? Used to be it took an hour and a day to open a new bank account. At ATB, you should be able to do it in 5 minutes or less. • Jim bid goodbye to his dad, at a celebration of life golf game in Athabasca.• Jim’s son, Michael, is playing for the Humbolt hockey team.

Paul Boucher. Disappointed that ride to conquer cancer was canceled but is staying in shape for next year’s ride.

Ian Campbell.

Matt Dart. He’s watching fire alarm sales take off. • His wife chatted with Insurance company that wanted to charge them a fee for canceling their insurance policy (to switch to another firm). The company got so exasperated trying to justify their actions, they finally relented and canceled the charges.

Don Davis. Offered some tips about drinking, Don did. About making sure you drink enough water. Wife Pat collapsed the other day (after playing 18 holes of golf). Probably due to dehydration and lack of oxygen (because of smoke in the air). Since you’re probably dehydrated by the time you feel thirsty, just take a swig every 5 minutes or so when engaged in active pursuits.

Todd Dean.

George Doherty. Add one knee brace to some magic gel, stir in a little Priddis GC … and you may just be able to golf like George.

Don Doolan. One game is never enough. Don enjoyed three games of Blue Jays baseball in Seattle.

Gord Forsyth . Is still awed by Mel Gibson’s hole in one.

Mel Gibson. (When you can beat the odds of 12,000 to one, you get to sleep in and skip Birds.)

Henry Heuver. Newly planted trees need more than TLC. They need lots and lots of water.

David Hicks. A pipe off the old bag? Dave’s proud of his daughter who’s piped at the Highland Games.

Dan Kennelly. He’s golfing at Redwood Meadows to raise funds for Kids’ Cancer.

Matt Litke. This barbecue purist only burns Dragon’s Breath charcoal chunks in his classic Weber kettle.

Andy Lockhart. Rogers Mobility drove Andy to … telus.

J.D. MacDonald. Summer’s plumbing slowdown is giving way to fall activity.

Michael McLennan. Europe (Portugal) beckons and Michael is unable to resist.

Ross Mikkelsen. BBQ on the Bow was Ross’ destination this weekend.

Mike Mikkelson. His truck was hammered by hail to the tune of $5G. DENT CLINIC made all the little pits … go away very nicely. * If you’re looking for good service for your furnace, call Arby’s at 403-236-2444.

Brad Pachal. Thanks to Andy …

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck. Highway 22 paving is finally finished so it’s a great riding road for bikers (motor and/or leg power). Dwayne took a ride to Fernie.

Bob Wiggins . Not liking Impact’s insurance rates. Likes Aviva at RBC better. 25% better.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

No place for a guy named Justin.

Fri, 17 Aug 2018 22:22:00 GMT

Seems that one of the reasons Calgary is a top city in the world is … you do not have to purchase cigarettes in the summertime. Mind you, smoking is now mandatory for all citizens.

Members:

Brett Bain. Fought his way through the smoke to deliver his message at breakfast: he is no’ happy with yet another Canadian stat holiday. (As Andy pointed out, we don’t really need another holiday for the indigenous folks.)

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher. When in Fernie, take a sip of the local vodka. It’s clear: it’s pretty good. Speaking of pretty, Paul is quite taken with the rear view of many women in spandex cycling outfits. (And you wondered why Paul likes to ride in large groups of mixed cyclers? It’s for a cause, he says. And a very good cause, to get behind of, I am sure.)

Ian Campbell. If you know any Audiologists looking for a good job, Ian has such a position to offer. • Ian has found some off-the-beaten-track streams with cut-throat trout, ready and willing to rise to your bait. • Meanwhile, Ian is enjoying Roger Jarvis’ witty conversations while helping Roger improve his hearing.

Matt Dart.

Don Davis. Feeling a little white, he is. Seems the Indians on Vancouver Island are claiming every rock, tree and land holding as theirs. Seems so … petty. • Ah well, maybe they’ll get to rent a van like Don did … and get to pay such outrageous fees for insurance, they’ll turn white. Or do they get red when angered?

Todd Dean. Todd has been seeing to the care of his mom and dad in Ottawa. There is a new treatment for improving mobility and it looks like it might be beneficial for Todd’s dad. Here’s hoping it works.

George Doherty.

Don Doolan.

Gord Forsyth .

Mel Gibson.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks.

Dan Kennelly. Engineers tend to know what works and what doesn’t. That’s what they’ve been doing for 5,000 years or so. • All this smoke may be because we no longer fight fires with fire breaks. Now we just throw water at them and hope they go out. • Makes Dan shake his head, it does.

Matt Litke.

Andy Lockhart. Andy brought some cool woodworking samples, today, for show and tell. • He also told a funny joke about using Chihuahuas for big-dog population control.

J.D. MacDonald. The smoke is complicating long commutes for son, Alex … and other issues.

Michael McLennan. Michael continues to string us along, on 3D printing. The process in use today is saving companies significant money on various projects. There’s a device used to wrap pipe that has saved a company $30,000 by switching to 3D printer solutions.

Ross Mikkelsen. No fan of yet another stat holiday. • And though business isn’t all that bad, he is losing six full-time employees (good contributors all) to ‘better opportunities” outside of Alberta. He asks: if things really are getting better in Alberta, how come good people are leaving? • If you know anyone looking for an accounting position, retail assistant manager, warehouse worker or gas fitter position, please pass their names onto Ross. Please do it before he has to give one of his positions to an eager applicant named … Don Davis.

Mike Mikkelson. F

Brad Pachal. His wife suffers from Asthma so smoke is hard on her. He suggests A/C and also, just keeping your furnace fan running. Oh, a check your furnace filter. And turn off your humidifier.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck. This Great Canadian Businessman is proud to share the fruits of his hard labour with the indigenous peoples of BC. They may be hundreds of miles away and admit to never ever having walked near Dwayne’s land (for mining) but they still want a cut of it, no matter what.

Bob Wiggins . Medicine Hat was a tad warm the other day. 41 in the shade! (Bob is just a drop of sweat of his former self …) • He saw a news story about Bruce Roblin and his amazing Hot Wheels collection. Bob wonders if such a story might attract the B&E types to White’s Flower’s. Fair comment, I’d say.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Birds & Rabb-le, August 9, 2018

Fri, 10 Aug 2018 05:43:00 GMT

Esteemed gentlemen…oh wait, wrong group.

Gents,

Ross …you missed French toast. Again. I ate your helping. Need to feed the beast before the Ride to Conquer Cancer. ? Gord asked about the link to my Ride fundraising page. Here you go: http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/pauboucher . Thanks in advance to anyone who can contribute to the Alberta Cancer Foundation via my page. Sean, Ian and Todd, please send me YOUR links so I can post them.

Rick Rabb – visiting from US. Now a US citizen. He apologized for the orange menace. He’s in the great brown North to visit his youngest son Ken, who had a baby in July. His son, you may know, runs the man van program out of the Rockyview Hospital.

Brad – signalled, that like Ross, his suppliers have signalled coming price increases on…everything, but particularly glass products including fibreglass, and drywall. Not just an “uptick” either: 10-15% higher. Also of note, he’s started work at Mike Mikkelson’s.

Jim – Spent some quality time out in K-Country swinging his….clubs. Naturally, it’s a good course. Both 18’s are open & in great shape. Shout out to Gary Browning for rebuilding. Your Alberta Citizen discount makes your “pay to play” $88 reg, $99 weekends with Alberta discount. Only downside – no beer cart, despite over 700 people a day. It’s a huge missed revenue opportunity, and a bit of a mystery frankly why they’re not serving up.

Jim also mentioned talking with Barry Elbert, a golf course developer. He was talking up a very cool promotion at https://www.mickelsonnational.com/ . You can register to play four holes (the only ones built right now) and great prizes. One is a trip for two to the Masters.

Brett – Computers rising in price too (since every material in them is being affected by tariffs flying in one direction or another). Computers and tech products on the higher end by up to 20%. The Big players peg their dollar quarterly, so prices could increase pretty much quarterly. Buy now.

Andy asked about getting a new Mac to replace his existing Mac-laptop-a-saurus. That note about price increases was definitely an “act sooner than later note” BUT, in Andy’s case, if he doesn’t purchase a Mac from the Canadian Apple Stores (Chinook or Market Malls), or a Refurbished Mac online, he might be best off to purchase in Arizona. Again, refurbished via the online stores, or in person at a US Apple store. The link to the Canadian Apple Store’s Refurbished section is https://www.apple.com/ca/shop/browse/home/specialdeals . I can personally attest to the quality of the refurbished product and it comes with the original Apple factory warranty.

JD – Got a shout out from Dan K for good work done. JD added yet another notice from suppliers, this time received July 15th. Tariff related 12% increase stacked with another 10% coming in October. Very few alternative suppliers. Business is good just now. Here’s to hearing that again more consistently.

Andy – taking a course this weekend from a New Zealand texture and carving specialist. Observing hair puling between Canada and “Saudi Barbaria”. Among other things, observing the Saudis deliberately trying to hurt Canada economically. Perhaps we have a lever….the 11% of Canadian oil supply we currently get from them. Might Eastern Canadians have an alternative supplier? Hmmmm?

Gerry – reminiscing with Rick about flowers out the back of the truck. Life’s good. Grandpa is the title that matters right now.

Michael McLennan – has a law firm client getting rid of office furniture – beautiful desk, filing cabinets, all high quality. Call Michael at 403.235.3515 for info. The law firm is McConnell – McInnis. Partner taking it over but scaling down to 1 man show from current operation.

Matt Dart – Mexico – Recommend you avoid the Ibero Star resort they stayed at. “Meh” in almost every regard. Also a comment on the Google photo app. Both Google and Apple are making your photos searchable by keyword once you’ve uploaded them to their respective clouds because the Artificial Intelligence tech they have at their end “recognizes”, “catalogues” and “indexes” the photos using various data points. The bottom line is instead of scrolling through the 237 pictures you took on the beach, you can just search using the words “ice cream”, and anything that the mighty AI has recognized as ice cream should come up.

Matt “won” the car conversation and the family got a Honda Pilot. After several purchases at Calgary Honda, just for kicks, Matt checked out Okotoks Honda and they got a MUCH better deal on their trade-in ($4k) vs Calgary Honda.

Don Davis – great time in Victoria. Booming tourism. they’re coming from every direction…Port Angeles and Seattle and the high speed ferry from Vancouver to Victoria among others.

**Good medical tip: Don was scheduled for knee surgery but after six months of using 10.0% Diclofenac In Diffusimax10 (I think I got that right), his surgeon checked the X-Rays and said “no surgery for you!”. Keep doing what you’re doing. There’s a lot of great information on this class of drug online, but as always, ask your doc or pharmacist for qualified advice. Here are a couple of links to more info I found while checking the spelling: https://www.consumerreports.org/drugs/diclofenac-pain-relief-cream-you-should-consider/ , and this interesting page from the Mayo Clinic https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/diclofenac-topical-application-route/description/drg-20063434

Final tip from Don : The Victoria Symphony plays a regular summer gig called Splash in downtown Victoria. 40-50k people attend and spread out over the leg grounds and stay all day. Great event to take in.

Dan Kenelly – Cranbrook visiting relatives. Economy is down 40%. No one from Alberta seems to be going past the lake to spend money around the area. Witnessed a large Indian (the brand name ?) motorcycle convention.

Also a patio/bar/home bar note: Empress Gin.

Travel tip : Call ahead for road conditions around that Radium, Golden, Louise triangle.

Henry – Story you couldn’t make up about a land deal made with the city. If I got this right, the city has a chunk of property east and behind Henry’s property. They wanted to purchase a couple of small pieces on the edge of the property from Henry to provide better access. SO…their first tack was to suggest to Henry that he donate the land.

Uh, no.

They then came back and suggested $2000, to which Henry countered with a still below-market-value price of $5,000 per acre.

Crickets.

Then, they came back and paid Henry’s price. Patience is Henry’s tip there.

Gord – Retired professional golf tourist. Headed to Radium which prompted some Radium-Golden Highway horror stories from the group.

He did find some time to finish the book Red Notice by Bill Browder. Russian high finance and skulduggery. As a great read on similar subjects, Andy then recommended Dark Money by Jane Meyer about the hidden billions that are being used to shape the radical right in the US and elsewhere. Both titles are links that take you to the respective Amazon page for each book.

Dwayne – Picking up on the Saudi Arabia thread, he told of working with a small service company doing work with Saudi Arabia. Most of their clients are Canadian so impact sound be minimized, but everyone’s watching carefully.

Cooking/iPhone Tip : When soaking the cobs of corn before barbecuing, take the iPhone OUT of the bag before adding water to the cobs.

His new iPhone is waterproof. He he.

August beginnings on Aug 2nd.

Thu, 02 Aug 2018 22:03:00 GMT

Are we sure Ian had nothing to do with our meeting (this am) in the main hall? The acoustics are terrible – making it hard to hear each other. or is it just me? (Uh, oh.)

Members:

Brett Bain. Scot’s are tight about giving out small praise. They give nothing awa’. (Not even “y’s”.) It’s why they have trouble wearing trousers; a waste of material and thread when you can just wrap a towel around your middle parts. However, Brett sure had some nice ‘geeky’ things to say about Paul.

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher. He’s been voicing scripts for companies who keep revising their ‘weed’ policies regarding how much employees can have in their system. Mentioned that booze test is ‘pee in a pot’ and cannabis is ‘spit in a cup’. • One client is developing a ‘crane operator’s training system’ using VR (virtual reality). Seems they don’t like new operators tying up their cranes at $300,000 a day. • New Brunswick government has Paul voicing some “Before you Like or Share something on social media, check your facts.”

Ian Campbell.

Matt Dart.

Don Davis …

Todd Dean.

George Doherty.

Don Doolan.

Tony Fisher. Was wondering why Sean didn’t forewarn us of Apple’s jump from $140 to $200 a share. (Just kidding Sean!). • He sees WestJet’s recent quarterly loss partly caused by CIA airport fees. They’re high. There are also lots of vacant retail spaces at CIA … sounds like Garth is already being missed.

Gord Forsyth .

Mel Gibson.

Henry Heuver. Hail, hail, the crops are all … laying down. Heavy hail has played havoc with local crops and Henry’s trees are sporting ‘holy’ leaves. • Henry had a nice chat with Roget Jarvis.

David Hicks.

Dan Kennelly.

Matt Litke. RBC Canada and RBC US are working together to make cross-border banking easy and inexpensive.

Andy Lockhart. His mom had a fall and rather than put her through ‘the ambulance to the hospital etc. etc. routine’, he called a firm with a portable Xray machine. They were there within an hour or so. Results were quick and since no bones were broken, mom never had to go to the hospital. • He has now scheduled a Physio — who makes house calls — to help mom get back onto hr feet.

J.D. MacDonald.

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen. The BBQ season must be humming along nicely: Ross has been grooving to the music on Prince’s Island (a la the Folk Fest) and tallying up the score between the coyotes and the deer at Nose Hill Park.

Mike Mikkelson .

Brad Pachal. It’s the little things that get you. Like Sherwin Williams spray-on lacquer versus the ‘good stuff’. Due diligence is not, he says, just for LLBs.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck . Has a client group of condo owners who’ve pooled their properties and had a third party firm doing their management duties. But that firm is letting them down. They’re looking for a better group. Know anyone? • If you want to wind Duane up, ask him about protectionism, incubation periods and supply management. When it comes to economics, he can outtalk Samuelson.

Bob Wiggins . Insurance woes. Intact is hell-bent on keeping their profit margin intact. At Bob’s expense. They think. (We’ll see.)

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Birds Minutes July 26th and 12th

Fri, 27 Jul 2018 18:38:00 GMT

Gentlemen,

In George’s absence, I am a sorry excuse for a minute-gatherer and poster, but starting with the most recent, here are notes from the Birds Meetings noted in the title.

Starting with the 26th, the most important tip of the day award….goes to Bob Wiggins, who provided us all with an excellent resource via Ernst & Young. Bob had given me a detailed set of instructions that I’m happy to report can all be boiled down to this link https://www.ey.com/ca/en/services/tax/tax-calculators .

What that link gives you access to is various tax calculators permitting you to view different scenarios in your personal taxes and much, much more. This is going to be a rabbit hole for many!

Around the table we go….

Tony : 100 thousand people went through the dream home. The winner will move whole, WHOLE family in. Someone will end up sleeping on the pool table from the sound of it.

Dwayne : away the past couple of weeks. One reason was his In-laws’ 60th anniversary in Big Sky, Montana. Basically a family reunion terrific fun. Great Jack Nicklaus golf course just out of town, but also a great course in town (won’t lose as many balls). Right now, he’s busy with a proposed merger. He’s passionate and fascinated by that kind of work. One other thing he’s juggling: consulting on a project with a client to convert marijuana oil into a vaping product.

Matt Dart : Concept electric was a competitor so not “sad” they went under. Wish they could poach some of their good people though. In a separate business note, he was surprised to discover that piping ( for sprinkler systems in this case) is 50% more expensive in Calgary than Vancouver. In other news, he’s looking at a new car: Nissan Armada or Honda Pilot. His wife thinks the Armada is “pretty”. Hmm. Taking bets on who’ll win that one.

Mel : Stress is a daily thing for pretty much anyone…but he met a paramedic from Calgary who had such difficulty coping with the stress of living in Calgary while responding to emergencies here that he actually elected to commute from Invermere to cope. Life is better. He stays with his parents during the time he’s working – and retreats to the Invermere sanctuary for the rest of his life. He and Wilma are getting acquainted with their new ‘hood, and mostly enjoying the discovery process. A final note from Mel: Water continues to be the new fire in the insurance business. Be conscious of water. Don’t wait to fix any concerns with it. Seconded by JD on that.

JD : First, he reported that it had been a good week. One anecdote revolved around a customer who’s facing an issue with his insurance company about galvanized piping. The insurance company is essentially forcing plumbing replacement to facilitate their home insurance policy getting renewed. To Mel’s point about looking after water problems, another new client experienced the aftermath of horrible renos that turned a toilet fix into a $15k job (so far).

Ian : busy and moving the Market Mall clinic from the 3rd floor to the 1st floor. His contractor will refuse ANY work from Cadillac Fairview. Ian recounted how difficult they are to deal with. Among other notes, they apply a double standard as to when work can get done, making any sort of reno/construction a significantly more expensive proposition for their tenants by forcing them to get work done at “off” hours while doing their own work whenever they want, tenants be damned.

George : Turns out that he has separated the quad muscle from his knee. They won’t fix it via surgery, but arthritis is the real culprit behind most of the pain. Good news is that with a knee brace, he can still golf – and keep using those shiny new clubs. He related the story of a neighbour with a beautiful home who had a terrible fire that was partially fuelled/made worse by the fact that she had a wooden basement (rather than concrete), something JD said was more common in places built in the 70’s.

Gregg : Property at the corner of University Drive and Shaganappi Trail NW continues to evolve in leaps and bounds. They just had a huge, successful event to promote the opening of the new dog park. Cyclist riding by – not noting that hundreds of people and their dogs at the same time might * not * be a normal aggregation of people complained that people had to “get these dogs under control”. Finally – great tip – recommendation for an entrepreneurial young detailing guy who comes to your house and office and does a superb job. That’s a photo of his card.

Gregg’s Detailing Recommendation

Michael : His son bought him a drone for his birthday – and it’s amazing technology for all kinds of purposes. He figured there was insurance business growth possibility for Mel and the industry. Apparently you ridiculous amounts of liability insurance. Think seven or eight figures. Regulation is coming.

Matt Litke : Digital banking is s-l-o-w-l-y eliminating cheques. Handling 200 cheques a day in Strathmore. The important tip is that as the cheque business shrinks when you pay or receive payment by cheque, expect a hold. For foreign currency holds start at 15 business days and get longer. Ed. Note: You know how “business days” in banking can go. Cheques = Meh! Other ways of receiving and making payments were mentioned by both Matt and Sean Baylis.

Sean : Coming off a busy day in earnings. Facebook was the big news experiencing the largest share and value loss in American business history, over $150 billion in a single day. he also seconded Ross’ specific note on price increases by saying that the view held is that inflation is coming on a macro level for various reasons including tariffs.

Henry : Thanks to Ian for quick service. Also….Foothills Landscaping held their company BBQ, and in the past, it had always been steaks etc, but this year, they hired a food truck. Not only was it excellent quality, but they also had great variety and service was quick. They also had a dunk tank, bull ride (which all the “young” people did), said the man who is still climbing trees more robustly than some of his workers old enough to be his grandkids..

Gerry : Chiming in on cheques….hopes his last cheque to the government bounces when he dies . Commented on what appears to be a bit of a crime wave in Windermere and noted his paddle boat missing. Slowest. Getaway. Ever. Noted by Dan Kennelly.

Dan : Commented on the Fernie rink story that involved fatalities. Alledgedly, city and rink people knew about the problem years before the accident. They put the defective machinery the day before the fatality happened. I see lawsuits a-comin’.

——————————————–

From July 12th :

Gord: Unique Teaks on Aylith road worth checking out for antiques.

Ian: found three people for interviews on LinkedIn. Good place to prospect or certain types of specifically qualified future employees.

Don Doolan: travelling by car over the border and noted that they’ve stepped up “agricultural” inspection. Potential random checks of medical. Take everything in original containers. Very strict – a little tit for tat for other cross-border irritants? Maybe so.

Michael McLennan: Adding to Ian’s comments about LinkedIn – it’s also a great place to identify prospective customers. He attributes $100k in sales to customers uncovered via the network.

Gerry: recounting tales from celebrating his and Gail’s 60th anniversary in Campbell River. Watching the world go by. Someone caught a 50lb halibut – took forever to bring in. Loved the whales jumping: beautiful.

Ross: Was talking about someone experiencing chest pain refusing to accept medical suggestions – like calling an ambulance. The staff did anyway and the guy was experiencing severe cardiac trauma. His tip – if it happens to you (speaking to all the people who identify as “male” in the group), don’t be a doofus; call 9-1-1. At the time of telling the story – the guy was still in the hospital. Ross and his family had their own trip out to the coast – the former Queen Charlotte Islands (now Haida Gwaii). Fantastic. Recommended.

George: From the inside of the SAIT circle, SAIT might be struggling financially, partially due to government funding not being 100% stable or predictable. Used to have 9 financial analysts….now 4.

JD: A terrible story about RV batteries and absolutely stinky Canadian Tire customer service. Despite their error and incompetence: no money back…just credits. Tip: don’t buy batteries at Canadian Tire.

Bob: On the battery note: batteries from Costco, good deal and have lasted – Kirkland. Bob also reinforced Ross’ cardiac trauma story by noting his own story about “something didn’t feel right”, which turned out to be a 99% blockage. Listen to your body. Call the doctor, ambulance. Bob also noted we s till need 3 members for a full roster of 30 full-time members – lawyer high on the list.

George: *Important tip on generic drugs – make sure they’re Canadian vs Indian and China suppliers.

Dan: One last note shared by me on the 12th but with substance added from Dan July 26th via this document. It’s possible you may be banned from travelling to the US for life if you’re in *any* way involved with the Cannabis industry. Even remotely. This link will open a Word document if I’m right: Canadian barred from US. Also related is this story: https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/why-investing-in-pot-could-pose-problems-at-the-u-s-border-1.4011813 , and https://globalnews.ca/news/4140898/legal-pot-data-banned-us-border/ , and finally, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/cannabis/article-canadian-banned-from-us-for-marijuana-investments-seeks-waiver-to/ .

Reportedly, on June 28th …

Thu, 28 Jun 2018 22:39:00 GMT

Members:

Brett Bain. Stampede Party Report: please let Brett know if you’re attending the OSI BBQ

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon. Interest Rate report: Jim’s been talking to the analysts who are anticipating two more Interest Rate hikes this year and more hikes next year. Time to lock in variable rates, he suggests. • Want to win a nice home plus $100 Grand? Buy a Stampede Lottery package of tickets. House comes with a corner lot in Walden and a Whiskey room off the master bedroom.

Paul Boucher. The Disintermediation Report: (No, Gord, I don’t know what it means either. But if Paul can throw this word around at breakfast, I can use it in the minutes.) Paul is voicing a ‘trailer’ for the movie, The Quiet Zone. This is a pretty big deal as trailer voice work tends to be lucrative and attention-getting. And the pool of trailer voices tends to, well, pool. • Paul talked to a US representative (think agent) while in NYC and may just have found one. This is a big deal, too. Well, it could be.

Ian Campbell.

Matt Dart. The 3D Printing Report: they’re now printing 3-dimensional-blocks to use for building houses.

Don Davis. Hawaii Beach Report: Don’s nephew (?) plays for the Alberta Selects (soccer). They won a berth in a tournament in Hawaii. They lost their first two games so had to spend the duration of tourney … on the beach sipping beer. So sad. • Don has been bothered by his knee and was sent to a surgeon. After poking and prodding Don for a while, the cutter told Don he wasn’t cutting. He told Don to double or triple his exercise regimen. That, he said, will make the pain go away.

Todd Dean.

George Doherty.

Don Doolan.

Tony Fisher. Airport Report: (airport report? of course! He’s our guy at YYC, or CIA if you prefer). LAX is not getting better. If anything, it’s getting worse. • He tells of a young fellow on the escalator who’s shoe got snagged at the top. Escalator stopped. Kid’s foot exited the shoe so it wasn’t mangled. But scary none the same.

Gord Forsyth . Pick-up report: you know those sticks with a nail protruding from the bottom? Used for picking up litter? Gord needs some for a ‘good cause ’ clean-up drive.

Mel Gibson. New Digs Report: Mel gets to drive the Glenmore to Birds in the morning. He also gets to check his previous home till mid-July. Good thing he did: one of its toilets got a stuck valve. (Yay JD and Sons.)

Henry Heuver. Calgary and area tree report: it’s been a dry winter which was hard on trees. Harder than any recent winter. Lots of replacements needed.

David Hicks.

Dan Kennelly. The Mail Report: seems Dan’s company stopped receiving mail. Which reduced cash flow (cheques etc). Which saw Dan go on a mission to find out what happened. Seems the carrier quit. So, until new carrier starts, mail is stockpiled at the distribution centre. Dan recovered most of their mail – but one week of mail is missing. An investigation is now in progress. May it be faster than a snail.

Matt Litke. Realtor Report: seems Nettie Hendricks is a pretty thorough realtor.

Andy Lockhart. Weather report: Andy was bashing little white balls around the links when he noticed how dark the sky was getting. Suddenly the wind struck, knocking a dozen trees down and whisking sand out of the sand trap. And then it was gone; replaced by blue skies and gentle breezes. (I believe the wind gave him two mulligans and blew 5 strokes off his scorecard, too. That was some wind.)

J.D. MacDonald. Water Softener report: JD and his crew are becoming experts at water softening.

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen. Financial report: thanks, Bob Wiggins, for a large number of years of looking after Birds’ numbers so diligently.

Mike Mikkelson .

Brad Pachal.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck.

Bob Wiggins . Orange Juice Report: Bob got to the bottom of the Birds orange juice (or whatever kind of juice it was) mystery. Birds orange juice will now return for breakfast, regularly. Tastefully and reliably.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.Â

Chris Wright

That was June 21!

Fri, 22 Jun 2018 19:59:00 GMT

Members:

Brett Bain. Want to save up to 90 percent. (It’s a Scottish thing, okay.) Shop around for pet vet services and ask for estimates up front. There are vets – outside of the city – who do great work for modest costs. Well worth the drive.

Sean Baylis. Sean has been a supporter of the Stay in School Program for quite some time. And some six years ago, he began mentoring one of the kids – who just got accepted into the Pathways to Medicine program, on his way to becoming a doctor. It kind of makes all that time contribution (and all the other good cause activities Sean participates in) mean something.

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher. From the wildness to the wildest cultural smorg of all. Last night, it was the Jurassic Premiere. Today, Paul is on to NYC, NY. May it be a great trip and may those business connections bear fruitful voice acting gigs.

Ian Campbell. If you’d like to learn how to install your own business phones, just go for telus’ Business Connect Service. (Well, maybe don’t take the word ‘service” to heart.) Sad, really.

Matt Dart. Of course, our own electronics guru would be involved in getting the Amazon warehouse up and running. Fine project it is, too.

Don Davis. All good things take some time. Wine. Cheese. And Englishmen. 45 years ago, Don hired three salespeople in London, UK (for sales positions in Canada). The other day he got a call from one. He wanted Don to know that he (Don) was the best thing that ever happened to him (the Englishman). He (the Englishman) lives in Florida, has five businesses around North America and even more plants (manufacturing ones; not green ones). It was 45 years ago, to the day, that Don hired him. He just wanted to thank Don for making his (the Englishman’s) life so rewarding. Come to think of it, Don is a great model to copy. Or should that be, a great copy to model?

Todd Dean. (Out biking.)

George Doherty. Don’t kick sand in this guy’s face! Or you’ll be sorry. George is rel easing his inner man and hidden body. He is working out at World’s Gym. And listening to his Physio and Chiro. For a while, it looked as though Geo might need surgery on his upper body – thus, ruining his summer of golf. Which is turning out to be a real-PING summer of golf. George is loving how those clubs make him better than ever. (or is that, almost as good as he used to be?)

Don Doolan. Just passing through. He’s Montana bound, again. Seems his boat wants out of its pen and into … the water.

Gord Forsyth . Hot and sweaty, Gord is. Seems his new Honda truck (good looking one at that) is sans A/C. Calgary Honda dealership says it’s a factory issue – which is not their problem. Me thinks Gord is going to have to ‘learn’ them how to provide … what’s that word? Oh yeah, service.

Mel Gibson.

Henry Heuver. Henry and I were cut short this am (some birds chirped too long). But I managed to say what needed saying: Henry’s folks did a wonderful job of my backyard and patio in time for my wife’s retirement bash this weekend. Thank you, Henry and Julius and about 5 other nice fellows. Including George Heuver.

David Hicks.

Dan Kennelly. Smiling Dan ran a good meeting.

Matt Litke. Is he planning a ‘beer breakfast’ for us, in Strathmore, maybe? He sure is impressed with the suds from Origins Brewery. Worth a drive out there, I think.

Andy Lockhart. Not surprisingly, Andy is not afraid of bears on the golf course. He has a souped-up golf cart and can outpace anyone. • he’s looking forward to the SAWS AGM.

J.D. MacDonald. I missed his story this am. Sorry.

Michael McLennan. Keep your eyes on Fuji film and their little spat with Xerox. Could be quite messy. Billions of dollars messy. And fun to watch.

Ross Mikkelsen. Has some disdain for WCB. Seems one of his employees put in a claim and Ross’ premiums went skyward. Then some CC-TV footage revealed that the claim was false. When informed of this fraud, WCB guy seemed disinterested. • Ross also has disdain for online credit card purchases from Quebec. Seems they are all fraudulent.

Mike Mikkelson . So many Birds are grampas now … so watch your grandkids like a hawk when they’re near water. Be like an eagle. (He’s much saddened by the toddler who drowned in Lake Bonaventure.)

Brad Pachal. There’s nothing like a good laugh or two to begin your day. Reason enough to come to Birds.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck. Pleased at the support The Kids’ help Line receives from RBC.

Bob Wiggins . So he and Dorothy visited the South Campus Health Centre, the other night. It’s our city’s newest and biggest and best-equipped hospital. They got there just before midnight. Dorothy had a fall and they wanted it checked out. So to Emergency they went. And waited. And waited. And waited. It may be a fine facility but the hospital had one (count him, one) doctor on duty. Bob is not impressed.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

On the 10th day of May

Thu, 10 May 2018 20:42:00 GMT

When George Doherty reported how happy he is that he finally splurged on new, fitted-to-him-and-his-swing golf clubs – and told us how the PING clubs are taking all kinds of strokes off his scorecard – Andy Lockhart reminded us that it is the Indian, not the Arrow, that matters most.

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis. Warren Buffet saves Apple’s butt? Well, WB did say he is a big Apple fan, calming skittish stockholders. (And no Gord, big Apple does not mean NY.) (But yes, I know, NY stands for New York.) • Sean still likes being mostly invested. • His son’s hockey team is raising money for Stars Air Ambulance because of its critical role in helping the injured of the Humbolt accident. If you’d like to help out, contact Sean at 403-299-7136 (CELL: 403-835-5167)

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher. This is the link to the article on the son and his mom in the UK who were coping with her increasingly deep dementia, and how they managed to reverse some of the symptoms by changing their diet. https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/mums-dementia-bad-kept-hospital-14557468

Secondly, for anyone who has 7 minutes, Don Tapscott, explains Blockchain in this video. He’s the author behind many, many terrific books covering the intersection of technology and our lives including titles like the Digital Economy. His latest is called The Blockchain Revolution. The link to the video is http://dontapscott.com/2018/04/understand-blockchain-7-minutes/# .

Ian Campbell. No comment, he said. (Does this mean he’s guilty?)

Matt Dart. Matt is now HVAC Sales Manager with Johnson Controls.• His tip: don’t ignore those household projects. They’re almost never as complicated or expensive as you thought. (Unless you leave them too long.)

Don Davis. Smoke & Mirrors? Don wonders what you’d get if you combined a solar farm with a marijuana farm …

Todd Dean. Is getting in shape for cycling season.

George Doherty. Likes the book, Sapiens by Yuval Harari.

Don Doolan.

Gord Forsyth . Some people search for ever-lasting happiness. Others search for life’s deepest meaning. But Gord, he’s searching for a collar. For his table. The one on the deck that goes with the umbrella. At least it will when Gord finds the collar.

Mel Gibson. Moving from one house to another is wearisome. And costly.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks. I t’s a big job but someone has to do it … so Dave is. His big project is 70 percent done and it looks like the next phase will be starting soon. And Dave’s likely to be doing it. Happy to be busy he is.

Dan Kennelly. It’s biking season and the roads are loaded with hard-to-see pedal heads and motorcyclists. Be on the lookout for them and give them space. A friend of Dan’s was recently cut off by a motorist and is undergoing some pretty serious medical treatments, as a result.

Matt Litke. His sideline – helping align people with an appropriate senior care facility – is catching on. It’s a needed service, it is.

Andy Lockhart. Andy’s grandson dropped an ass-bomb so potent, it literally destroyed one of Andy’s gas-detector sniffers. Begrudgingly, Andy is actually kind of proud of that boy.

J.D. MacDonald. If you’d like to hear JD swear like a trooper, just say “YouTube” in his presence.

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen. Shakes his head in disbelief at some of the DIY gas line set-ups he and his people see. That those houses have not yet blown up, is a wonder.

Mike Mikkelson . Fish tales are out; solar panel fields are in: There is a nearby solar panel field that is so big ….

Brad Pachal. Yes, you should do something about those little – but necessary – repairs to your home. Now.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vinck. Randy (The Better Butcher) is considering roosting with the Birds. (Don Davis raves about the quality of Randy’s products.)

Bob Wiggins . Not talking today.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

May the 3rd

Fri, 04 May 2018 18:47:00 GMT

The Better Butcher came for breakfast, as Dwayne’s guest. Like Dwayne, he’s had to walk down a long road for kidney health. This morning, he shared some of his journey with us.

I left early, so minutes are incomplete. My apologies.

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis. He’s riding Kraft Heinz up and down. Right now, it’s down 40%. A buy? Maybe, eh. Crescent Point has board member issues. He’s keeping an eye on proceedings.

Jim Bladon. It’s hard being a banker: this weekend, he has to attend to his clients and their products at the industry festival in the BMO Centre. It’s called The Craft Beer Festival.

Paul Boucher.

Ian Campbell. Golfing in Invermere is already enjoying good greens.

Matt Dart.

Don Davis. In praise of Tea Gods and great dirt from Eagle Lake.

Todd Dean.

George Doherty. Would like us to invite Jeff Bradshaw to breakfast so he can talk about what he’s doing with weed.

Don Doolan. Learning how to pee straight, again. (Well, assuming he used to do so.)

Gord Forsyth .

Mel Gibson. He’s an insurance guy for gawd’s sake. You’d think he’d be subdued and somewhat conservative. Yet what does he talk about? Wildfires and Grow Ops!

Henry Heuver. His firm has finally been able to replant some trees this year. They’re already starting to bud out which is going to mean a short growing season for the trees.

David Hicks.

Dan Kennelly. His red baseball cap is much more clever than Donald Trump’s. Dan’s reads: “Make Trudeau a Drama Teacher Again”. • Kananaskis opens May 10th. • Gas compressors are scarce this year as the US can’t get enough of them. That’s how busy producing – and shipping – energy they are

Matt Litke. He’s liking Green Organic Dutchman and the Tea God.

https://www.equedia.com/the-green-organic-dutchman-tgod?utm_source=TGOD+2018&utm_campaign=TGOD+May+2018&utm_medium=email

Andy Lockhart. Brought a book without pictures to Birds. There are not even pictures on the cover. It’s an annual report. A green one. If you’d like to read Warren’s wisdom, here’s a link to the annual: http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2017ar/2017ar.pdf

J.D. MacDonald.

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen.

Mike Mikkelson . Quiet today.

Brad Pachal.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vink. West High Yield is being thoughtful these days.

Bob Wiggins .

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

No honour for Suzuki?

Fri, 27 Apr 2018 16:15:00 GMT

The Birds will not flock for Suzuki. No surprise that.

Members:

Brett Bain. Had choice words to describe the leader of our country. Didn’t make Trudeau sound very leader-ly. • Brett’s property has so much water this year, he is considering buying some used whitewater rafts …

Sean Baylis. Sell? Buy? Hold? Smoke weed? Um, I think you better talk to Sean before making big changes in your portfolio. Lots is going on.

Jim Bladon. Late spring and water issues could affect commodities this year. • Oliver could get mudslides. • But the bank is doing well. ATB is busy.

Paul Boucher.

Ian Campbell.

Matt Dart.

Don Davis. Just ask him about Post Office pettiness. Just ask him.

Todd Dean.

George Doherty.

Don Doolan.

Gord Forsyth .

Mel Gibson. How to get the goods on travel insurance: https://www.squaremouth.com for instance: you can get insurance that covers you should a terrorism attack disrupt things at your destination

Henry Heuver. Finally, the weather is favoring his business. Snow is going but he fears for some tree damage from upcoming frosts. His nursery is rushing to get ready for this season.

David Hicks.

Dan Kennelly. If you’re missing snow, take a trip up Windermere way. It’s still white. • He wonders if ‘the little plane that could land on Calgary roads’ had a tankful of dirty av-gas? It’s been a bit of an issue of late.

Matt Litke. Here to have breakfast. Period.

Andy Lockhart. His views of government operations were not improved when he went to the Post Office to buy stamps and they … were out of stamps. • He’s heard rumours of a snap election in the fall. • Wonders out loud about ‘separatists’ in Alberta.

J.D. MacDonald. Speaking of government, JD’s view of the city’s Catch 22 policies regarding what they’ll do in regards to shut-off valves … is not complimentary.

Michael McLennan. His daughter’s boyfriend had his wallet stolen and is suffering the complications of ID theft.

Ross Mikkelsen. Is happy about the weather but not so much about Canadian border/customs people. Their cash grab is not unlike the backsheesh corruption practiced in Uganda.

Mike Mikkelson .He likes Top Golf. It’s like playing a driving range that’s on steroids.

Brad Pachal. What’s up with all these emails about upgraded privacy? Ignore them Brad.

Gerry Parcells. Figures a cracked forearm is preferable to a heart attack. He got that right!

Dwayne Vink. He’s starting to dine in the dark. Want to know more? Talk to Dwayne.

Bob Wiggins . Nothing can go wrong. Nothing can go wrong. Nothing …

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Abbreviated Minutes April 19, 2018

Fri, 20 Apr 2018 19:04:00 GMT

Gentlemen,

I apologize – I didn’t take proper minutes in George’s absence, but did want to note a few things:

1) An alarming number of Birds discussed break-ins of various types – residential and commercial. George’s house break-in was outlined quickly. Dual break-ins seemed like a respite from Ross’ week from hell in Ontario. Matt Dart discovered fresh footprints in the snow that seemed to indicate someone was checking out tires (with rims) next to his house. He hid them from sight after that. The tip was to make sure that you’ve got things secured, sensor lights working and Gord recommended security camera footage.

To that end – some links to reviews of various security camera possibilities:

2) While we’re on cameras…Dan K shared a story about a Tesla that helped catch a hit and run driver. The car’s sensors detected an impact while the car was parked and turned on all 8 cameras around the car notifying the car’s owner of something abnormal going on as it did so.

The next notification confirmed an impact to the car.

The next notification was to the driver to report a hit and run, COMPLETE with a lovely photo of the offender coming close enough to the car to check the damage and get caught on camera. The H & R driver also parked close enough that the Tesla got a great shot of their license plate. Next notification was to let the driver know that Tesla had contacted his insurance company with all the details and snapshots.

3) Don Doolan’s prostate cancer surgery (which he coolly reported as “routine” last week) went ahead this past week. He anticipated being back at Birds in 2 weeks. Dwayne had passed on a card and good wishes on behalf of the group.

4) Brett’s OSI continues to make strides in introducing Augmented Reality (A.R.) into schools – this time in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Interesting times.

….and that’s all my aging memory captured to pass on this week.

UPS Never Turns Left. Maybe You Shouldn’t Either.

Fri, 20 Apr 2018 18:27:00 GMT

This is the UPS article that Paul Boucher shared with the group at last week’s meeting.

UPS (Almost) Never Turns Left.

Centre for Newcomers?

Thu, 05 Apr 2018 15:33:00 GMT

Anila Lee Yuen, CEO of the centre, provided an insight on how refugees and immigrants are accommodated, funded and pointed in the right direction when they arrive in this country.

She’s a realist – a pragmatic visionary with a fascinating job. A great guest speaker who knows how things should work and is capable of fixing things to make them so.

Her contact information:

work 403-537-8800 cell 587-439-3325

a.leeyuen@centrefornewcomers.ca

Genderless At Birds?

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 21:17:00 GMT

The Birds could do an ad for the Strathcona Animal Hospital.

A good word this morning: (there were many) summed up what we think of JT and his silly de-gendering of Service Canada’s vocabulary when dealing with the public. Person-toba. Thank you Matt. BTW: Are you Parent One or Parent Two?

Myth Buster coming for breakfast on April 5th.

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon. Who’d a guessed that a banker would know so much about ‘craft beer’? Turns out ATB has a vested interested in growing the sector, as there is still plenty of room for growth.

Paul Boucher. You never know what kind of bird you’ll meet at Birds. This morning we got introduced to Sargent Rooster.

Ian Campbell. He’s getting some clients together (some of them Birds) and having a round-table discussion about hearing loss and hearing aides. Chorus radio will tape the session and radio ads will be the outcome. And more people with hearing issues will directed to the better clinic(s) in this city.

Matt Dart.

Don Davis.

Todd Dean. Go see the movie Gringo. A good show!

George Doherty.

Don Doolan. You don’t want to bury the runoff from your eavestroughs. The pipes’ll freeze and the water will find a way into your basement.

Tony Fisher. When he says ‘telus’, it sounds like a four-letter word. Actually, it’s more like a stream of four-letter words.

Gord Forsyth . He is bringing a very interesting speaker to breakfast. I missed the name but she is one of the people charged with helping immigrants settle into Canada. Should be a myth busting experience for all of us.

Mel Gibson. He’s concerned about ‘police powers’ in traffic enforcement. It seems two more provinces are considering letting them take people’s licences on the spot, if deemed ‘distracted’.

Henry Heuver. He was here for brekkie this morning. He reports that business seems to be looking up … and may he be right.

David Hicks.

Dan Kennelly. Ran a good meeting this morning. Keeps the conversation going without cutting anyone off.And still gets everyone in. Magic, I’ll tell you. magic.

Matt Litke. Sending a photo of your cheque to deposit it is great service. But hold onto that cheque for 5 days. Just in case. (If FB can screw up so badly, your bank can make a slip or two. Unless it’s ATB.)

Andy Lockhart.

J.D. MacDonald. Congrats to Gramps! It’s his seventh. • He sees things looking good but wonders when good actually begins.

Michael McLennan. Wants you to know that his ‘skunk catching services’ cost a full case of beer. Period.

Ross Mikkelsen. “ Won’t you join his snow-go campaign” (to be uttered in your best Mr Dress-Up voice.)? Until it does go, his business kind of languishes.

Mike Mikkelson .He’s got a T-shirt from Cleveland. So there.

Brad Pachal. See the video that he made of pulling snow off his roof. It should be here on our site — but if I blow it, I’ll send it by email. (OOPS – it’s too big for Dropbox and this webpage. So check your email.)

Gerry Parcells. It’s good to know that the Silver Inn on Centre Street still serves good Chinese food.

Dwayne Vink.

Bob Wiggins .

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

The Tax System Explained with Beer

Fri, 02 Mar 2018 17:18:00 GMT

Gentlemen,

Via Andy Lockhart and creative types in Australia, tax logic, as applied by logic, but as interpreted by the layman. Enjoy.

https://youtu.be/BomQxCG5VG4

Birds and Eggs. (Or vice versa.)

Fri, 02 Mar 2018 00:49:00 GMT

Your scribe was late so I probably missed the songs warbled by a couple of Birds.

A good read: Woman in the Window by (?) Flynn. George Doherty read it in Mexico and gave it six margaritas (or was it seven cervezas?). It was that good a book.

Another: George Roberts suggests The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter. He rated it one pineapple, two palm trees and a topless sunbather (shocked into suddenly sitting up by a spilled cold drink).

Members:

Brett Bain. Phoenix bound. (Glenn Campbell sings Brett’s song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUg5p3BncuQ )

Sean Baylis. Smiling Sean seldom says much to denigrate anyone – but he is not happy with the Libs and their silly budget. Not good for investors. Not good for business. And frankly, a kick in the butt for veterans.

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher. Just a reminder: show a little gratitude when it’s due. We all appreciate things but we also, all too often, forget to say thanks for a job well done.

Ian Campbell.

Matt Dart. Matt is becoming quite talkative, of late. (I know because I take notes and today, I need a page for Matt.) He sees some promising projects happening. He’s a fan of e-cars. He’s bought a new home. Is finding the market slow for the home he wants to sell. Is thinking of airbnb (any experience with them?). Also will try to rent to Spruce Meadows attendees. Any other ideas would be much appreciated by Matt.

Don Davis.

Todd Dean.

George Doherty. Likes the Dream Vacations package people. Mexican fish stories about skip jack and yellowfin tuna and such. • He also partied with a drug lord who makes amazing pizza. (Topped with white powder?)

Don Doolan. An On-demand hot water heater is not a DIY project. Phone JD.

Tony Fisher.

Gord Forsyth . Need a new door? Creative Doors. New Printer? Phone Michael McLennan.

Mel Gibson. Fort Mac replacement housing (from fire) is going slowly. Is concerned about the BC tax on vacant homes.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks. Dream vacations in Mexico on his mind.

Dan Kennelly. Is watching Canada’s pipeline delivery system (once a marvel of the world) wither and die from lack of smart government, silly indigenous claims and such.

Matt Litke. He praised a speaker but our scribe (moi) was distracted and missed the details. Sorry.

Andy Lockhart. Best phrase of the morning, vis-s-vis Mr Dress Up (aka Justin Trudeau): Oh for Goodness Sikh! The DI Centre is continuing to have endless fruitless discussions with city hall. How petty Nenshi can be!

J.D. MacDonald. Thank goodness for idiots and may they always have water and water pipes to play with. Good work for JD and crew.

Michael McLennan. Got the newest shingles shot. Suffered for 24 hours but is glad he had it. The new vaccine is 95% effective. And it doesn’t need a booster. Yet.

Ross Mikkelsen. How do you spell Etobicoke? Ross’ new store is driving him to drink. Well, not the store but the suppliers, red tape and such. Ah well, he can always go to the Uzbek restaurant and order Tok-osh, Chuchvara, Funchosa, Marjimak and Achichuk. That’s the Uzbek restaurant … here in Calgary: The Begim at 4413 – 17 Avenue SE.

Mike Mikkelson . Visited with the Street Characters company, here in Calgary. They create mascots for companies all around the globe. Their main competitor: Disney. Cool.

Brad Pachal.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vink.

Bob Wiggins . Reports that Roger (our good man at Inglewood) is recovering. • Bob is concerned about how this city is handling (or mishandling) the secondary suites issue.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Birds and Eggs.

Fri, 02 Mar 2018 00:42:00 GMT

Your scribe was late so I probably missed the songs warbled by a couple of Birds.

A good read: Woman in the Window by (?) Flynn. George Doherty read it in Mexico and gave it six margaritas (or was it seven cervezas?). It was that good a book.

Members:

Brett Bain. Phoenix bound. (Glenn Campbell sings Brett’s song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUg5p3BncuQ )

Jim Bladon.

Paul Boucher. Just a reminder: show a little gratitude when it’s due. We all appreciate things but we also, all too often, forget to say thanks for a job well done.

Ian Campbell.

Don Davis.

Todd Dean.

George Doherty. Likes the Dream Vacations package people. Told us Mexican fish stories about skip jack and yellowfin tuna and such. • He also partied with a drug lord who makes amazing pizza. (Topped with white powder?)

Don Doolan. An On-demand hot water heater is not a DIY project. Phone JD.

Tony Fisher.

Gord Forsyth . Need a new door? Creative Doors. New Printer? Phone Michael McLennan.

Mel Gibson. Fort Mac replacement housing (from fire) is going slowly. Is concerned about the BC tax on vacant homes.

Henry Heuver.

David Hicks. Dream vacations in Mexico on his mind.

Dan Kennelly. Is watching Canada’s pipeline delivery system (once a marvel of the world) wither and die from lack of smart government, silly indigenous claims and such.

Matt Litke. He praised a speaker but our scribe (moi) was distracted and missed the details. Sorry.

Andy Lockhart. Best phrase of the morning, vis-s-vis Mr Dress Up (aka Justin Trudeau): Oh for Goodness Sikh! • The DI Centre is continuing to have endless fruitless discussions with city hall. How petty Nenshi can be!

J.D. MacDonald. Thank goodness for idiots and may they always have water and water pipes to play with. Good work for JD and crew.

Michael McLennan. Got the newest shingles shot. Suffered for 24 hours but is glad he had it. The new vaccine is 95% effective. And it doesn’t need a booster. Yet.

Mike Mikkelson . Visited with the Street Characters company, here in Calgary. They create mascots for companies all around the globe. Their main competitor: Disney. Cool.

Brad Pachal.

Gerry Parcells.

Dwayne Vink.

Bob Wiggins . Reports that Roger (our good man at Inglewood) is recovering. • Bob is concerned about how this city is handling (or mishandling) the secondary suites issue.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright

Snowbirds and Property In the US via Andy and The Globe & Mail

Mon, 26 Feb 2018 16:23:00 GMT

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/taxes/how-to-be-a-tax-smart-snowbird-with-property-in-the-us/article38074645/

Minutes via Paul for February 15th, 2018

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 23:51:00 GMT

George, I’m not! I apologize for posting minutes late (and not at all in one case). Here’s what was tossed around the table on the 15th.

Matt Litke – Mobile banking for auto deposit, 1-2-3. He can tell you more. He’d like to tell you more. He really would.

Mel – Brokerlink – enhancing their online services this year to access your account, add locations, goods etc

Ross – Cost of getting freight out of the us is going up fast. 7500 to 9000 USD on a truck vs 4000 for a container from friggin’ China! Cost will be reflected in food, goods etc

Jim B – NYC , great experience, but he’ll never bitch about traffic, sirens horns and homeless people again. Wet NYC, rain each day. Flames games, Rangers, Devils, and Islanders, great venues….although Islanders venue is perfect for….basketball. Madison Square Gardens had 1 billion $ Reno, looked amazing.

Dwayne – Kid’s help phone, pilot out of Manitoba, 200 volunteers supported by professional staff in case they need it. All remote staff, 4 hours a week. 700 people overall . Other news…waiting for his proper invite to the Alberta Securities Commission.

Sean – lots of volatility. Fear squeezed out of the system. 10 percent correction, good time to invest, little gift for RSP. Speaker Darren Spencer on the 22nd , alternative investments, including infrastructure, longer term. Us in particular ,but Canada as well. Good meeting for guests who have been on the fence on birds…this is a good one.

Tony – ongoing battle with Telus….15k to install fibre last year, and now being offered free

Brett – Commenting on the recent trial in Saskatchewan involving the unfortunate death of a First Nations citizen. Every farmer has been robbed in that area, and the farmer who was involved is a cousin of Brett’s wife Vicky. He’s despondent feeling is that his life is over. His farm is up for sale, he’s back in court for unsafe storage of firearms next month. Chance of unbiased due process seems slim. Similar situation in Gleichen. A farmer watched his truck being stolen, called RCMP told there was one an hour and a half away.. Andy’s comment, rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6. Brett’s been victimized as well, girl at the door, truck rifled by the boyfriend. No one held accountable.

Mike Mikkelson – Interested to note that the City is renovating McCall Lake after it being scheduled for closure. BC wants pipeline completion through northern Alberta…see how that works out.

Todd – getting over pneumonia and a cold. Breathe sparingly in his radius.

Gregg – detailed the complexities of negotiating the fine points of financing and the way forward to account for a project leased over 99 years University development is going like gangbusters. Anticipating a seniors home among other things. Selling so well that an independent building had 85 units opened one day, next day they had 85 deposits. Booming. Retail financed to the tune of 200 million.

Brad – Price of wood: plywood from $13 to $23 a sheet. Tip – Oil your spring in the garage door mechanism. Keeps it nimbler.

JD – Call a few days ago – water coming in, turned out to be a crack in the foundation. Watch your eave troughs…keep that water away from the house. Turned out to be the neighbour who’d run their downspouts up against the fence.

JD has a property for rent: in Thorncliff-greenview, 1360 including utilities.

Bob – No overdue Birds dues as of the 31st. New record.

Dan K – Shaw upgrades…after a conversation with the loyalty department. After conversation, Shaw dropped fees by 800 a year, bent over backwards to keep them. Ironic, not funny note about happenings in BC: There’s a new terminal on the coast for jet fuel to support Vancouver International Airport. Never mind the ironoy of the terminal – how the fuel – which they are importing instead of buying from Alberta.

Dave – off to Kimberley for family day. Wondering about whether something old is new again: house calls. Met with accounting co,many looking for their business. Willing to make house calls. Chiropractor did the same thing. Never leave home except to go to work. Uber observation…rating driver, and driver rates clients? Wonder how long before everyone has a rating. Black mirror episode about that called Nosedive. You can find a synopsis of the episode here: https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/24/13379204/black-mirror-season-3-episode-1-nosedive-recap .

Andy – Phoenix stories. Culture shock 1: over at a buddy’s for a beer. Gun show invitation for the next day. This occupies pretty much every building in the Arizona state fair grounds. 150k guns. You could buy almost anything prohibited in canada. Funny stuff…guy, 85-90 yrs old, pistol in a holster strapped to his walker. Politically incorrect tshirts: alcohol tobacco and firearms should be a convenience store not a govt department. I’m the infidel Allah warned you about. Culture shock # 2: If you buy a gun at the gun show, there’s a 3 day waiting period…but if they don’t get back to you in 3 days, you’re free and clear. Forget that noise though….instead…buy one in the parking lot – instant transactions. AR 15, expanded mags….crazy. Would have filled the bmo centre here and they do that every 2 months.

George is back the 22nd.

Bitcoins for breakfast?

Thu, 25 Jan 2018 18:22:00 GMT

The economy. Blockchain. Bitcoin. Credit for small biz. T’was like a micro-Davos this morning. (Sans Trump or Trudeau.)

Ya missed it: Chairman Dan brought a violin to breakfast this morning.

A good read: Sapiens – a brief history of humankind by Yuval Noah Harari • or his latest: Homo Deus. (No Andy, this is not a ‘gay’ book. A bit Jewish? Maybe.)

Birds, Balls and Baylis: we are organizing our second Bird’s trip south to watch and play some great golf at the RBC Heritage Tournament. We would be departing on Wednesday, April 11 ^th and returning on Tuesday, April 17 ^th . Approximate cost of the trip which includes travel, accommodations, golf and passes to the Heritage will be $2000 CDN. Let us know if you are interested and we can provide more details.

Members:

Brett Bain.

Sean Baylis. Copies of RBC’s Global Insight for the BIrds. Crypto currencies, the future of. Blockchain, what it might become. The economy, where it seems to be going.

Jim Bladon. You might want to subscribe (free) to ATB Business Beat at http://www.atb.com/business/resources/Pages/subscribe-to-business-beat.aspx • or Google it and get the latest as a pdf download. • recovery is slow but businesses are hanging in • capital/credit is tight

Paul Boucher. Seems we’re looking at a ‘jobless recovery’. • Suncor is revising some 800 narration projects (mostly for training). Paul might be busy for a while.

Ian Campbell. He told a pretty good shaggy dog story … that included George Doherty and Interior decorators, several offices, clients, forgetfulness and …

Matt Dart. Gets high every time he drives to Lethbridge. Could it be something in the air there?

Don Davis.

Todd Dean.

George Doherty. George is kind of taken by the concept of functional medicine and how it can help resolve broken brain issues. • George has Kudos for Brad. • Home to Go is a good link to use for rental properties .

Don Doolan. Timely tip: change your furnace filter.

Tony Fisher. A lifetime of filing. WCB files never close. Never go away. And never get filled up. Like the Energizer Bunny, they just keep coming and coming …

Gord Forsyth . Went to Edmonton. Seems their Hockey team is oberwhelemed by the beauty of their new arena. • Met with a client who ‘town halls’ with his staff (blue collar types). Meetings are about ‘warts and all’ and go over very well with everyone.

Mel Gibson. Get both overland flooding and sewer back up insurance. • Expect an Emergency Alert service by cell phone to be in place here in Calgary by April.

Henry Heuver. Got his life back: he’s allowed to drive again. • Just in time for Bidding time.

David Hicks. Bare legs, tartans and sheep’s innards and other delicacies: it’s Robbie Burns Day!

Dan Kennelly. No more tellers at (some) Cineplex Theatres. Buy tickets from machines.

Matt Litke. Enjoyed a pre-game meal at La Brezza. (BRIDGELAND.) Good Italiano pasta and stuff. • CIBC now has branches with no tellers. None.

Andy Lockhart.

J.D. MacDonald. Business is slow.

Michael McLennan.

Ross Mikkelsen.

Mike Mikkelson . Is interested in what’s going on at the New Fortune Mall. Big place. It’s like three football fields stacked atop each other. Shops are really quite small. All have sold. • Trade Show for world lumber industry looking pretty busy. • enjoyed meals at Salt Lick and also, Pasqualli’s. • How to Go is a good site for rentals.

Brad Pachal. Because sometimes you have to scan a document or your signature. There’s an APP fo that.

Gerry Parcells. He was unfairly charged – over a Grand – by Vivent Security. He had a devil of a time getting them to pay attention to him and refund his money. So he called Gord Forsyth (AKA Lucky Lucianno). Gerry got his money back within days!

Dwayne Vink. He has four kids in high school so he’s liking the RESPs

Bob Wiggins .Still stalking 5 Birds: if you don’t pay your dues by the 31st, it’ll cost you an additional $56.25. • Bob has a Lynx Friendly back yard. • His CRA spam story continues: the very person who first pretended to be a CRA staffer is now calling as an anti-CRA-fraud agent. Bob is not biting.

Chris Wright.

George Roberts.

Associates:

Gregg Callander.

Alumni:

Ken Eades.

Bill Hoogstratten.

Bruce Roblin.

Chris Wright