Jeremy Tyrrell

Spam and Speedo

2011-12-18T11:16:00.000-05:00

It's always amusing to me that a brand name can have both a positive and negative meaning.

Take Spam, for example. No really, take it. I've got three cans still in my cupboard from the mid-seventies. Spam is a pork and ham canned meat invented in 1937 by Jay Hormel. They've sold seven billion cans of it. But it also has negative connotations as unsolicited emails, and is defined on the web site spamlaws.com thus:

"The term spam refers to submitting the same message to a large group of individuals in an effort to force the message onto people who would otherwise choose not to receive this message.

Speedo is another brand new that evokes both positive and negative reactions. Picture your middle aged uncle in a Speedo. Sorry about that. Now imagine a competitive swimmer wearing something other than a Speedo. Sure, there are other brand names but they are all grouped, in the mind of those who don't care or know, as Speedo.

There's a lesson in this for all of us. If you figure it out, let me know. I'm buffaloed.

All my Yesterdays

2011-12-16T10:48:00.002-05:00

There's nothing like a silent retreat to cleanse one from all ones obsessions. In October I spent a week in the wilderness, not completely silent, but all but cut off from the outside world.

Weaning myself and entering into the solitude of my own thoughts, I realised that maybe, just maybe, all the connectivity is actually creating a disconnect. I have all the opinion I want, 24 hours a day, on Twitter and Facebook, but spend little time forming thoughts of my own.

Humans are the only creature that use a 'net to escape (not recognizing they can be just as trapped in their daily surfing as a dolphin behind a Japanese trawler).

It isn't going away, but for me, here is yesterday's social media:

Twitter - too much. The name is appropriate, and I like Twitter. If I could have only one media, it would be Twitter. Yet the endless self-promotion renders every tweet and link suspect. If you have to filter for the inevitable come-on it loses its usefulness.

Blogs like this one. Enough already. Very few are any good. If the writer sticks to one area of interest, genuinely imparts original thought based on solid research, and writes with the intent to serve, it's a good blog. If you read my blog at all you'll immediately recognise that I wouldn't include this it in a list of good blogs. This thing bounces all over the place! Cars, management tips, sales opinion, restaurant reviews...what the hell? But if you like it, hey...there's no accounting for taste.

Dailies are so yesterday. Does anybody really care what anyone thinks on a daily basis? This crap about referencing individuals on Twitter to drive readers to your daily and then to your site is such a colossal fail, it's right up there with writing names on a grain of rice at the county fair.

Newsletters..see dailies. Sorry, they serve only to promote, not to inform. Oh, yours is to inform? My mistake. I'll do business with you. The day you recommend your competitor, or publish an unbiased piece that drives me to your competitor I'll read your newsletter. Heck, I'll recommend it.

Facebook and LinkedIn still serve to keep us current and connected with the person, professionally and personally. They go off the tracks when users post the same update on both plus Twitter, or when every update is a sales pitch.

We know what yesterday held, how it helped us, and how it's held us back. Let's get busy on tomorrow.

http://deaconjeremy.blogspot.com/2011/12/all-my-tomorrows.html

Young Men...Some Advice

2011-12-14T09:10:00.081-05:00

Guys, I don't mind telling you I'm a little peeved at you. I won't go so far as to say disappointed, but I think you can do better. I'm talking now to the young fellows, under the age of thirty or thereabouts. You guys are pretty cool most of the time, and I like almost everyone of you I meet, but you're innate uncoolness is, well....uncool. Here's why and remember, this is coming from a guy who has NEVER been cool.

High Priced Razors and Shaving Cream: Why do I pay more for razors now than I did for a full tank of gas when I was in my twenties? It's your fault. Here's the thing - the razor companies are targeting all this high priced smoothness right at you, and you guys walk around with two days of stubble on your faces, so what the heck do you need all those expensive blades for?

Don't think I don't know the answer to that question - I do know and it's uncool. It's your business, but when it starts hitting me in the wallet because you're afraid of a little razor burn where it itches, it reluctantly becomes my problem too.

You're Fat: Too many of you are at least 20 pounds heavier than you should be. Uncool. Don't deny it. And don't blame it on the beer and give it cute names like the "Freshman 15". It's you and your processed food and your lazy fat asses. It's not the beer; it's the nachos. The average dude in his twenties today looks like what we used to call the "fat guy". Don't believe me? Look at your dad's high school yearbook and see how many guys you can count in his graduating class who are as heavy as you or your friends. Now count the heavy dudes in your yearbook. I rest my case. It's not cool, and you're killing yourselves.

Personal Responsibility: Remember that scene in Good Will Hunting when Robin Williams tells Matt Damon "it's not your fault" over and over again until Matt's crying like a baby? Get ready to well up.

"It's not the beer, it's YOUR fault you're fat and in terrible shape; it's not the beer, it's not the beer..." Crying yet? Well stop it, and don't expect a hug.

Hugging it Out: Guys, did you never learn to shake hands? A good, firm handshake? What's that, your dad never taught you, and neither did your mother's boyfriend? OK, stop with the quivering lip and STOP hugging your friends like you're a couple of schoolgirls. It's unbelievably uncool.

A Full Day: If you punch a time clock and work to a schedule, enjoy your 8 hours and enjoy your paycheque because that's all you're getting. I'm sorry to say that until you get off the time clock, your career ain't a career...it's a job. Nothing wrong with that if you're not interested in a career.

What motivates you; your goals and aspirations and professional responsibilities, or a ticking clock?

Size Doesn't Matter except when you're comparing. But it's just a paycheque and some are larger than others. Don't worry about the size of your buddy's bank account, car or apartment. As long as you've got a roof over your head and you can meet your obligations, there's no need to take a job or to leave school for a job just because it pays relatively well. Concentrate on your vocation and do what you love, or do what you have to do until you can do what you love. The money will follow.

I'm not your Dad
Look, stop thinking of me as some old guy who sounds like your dad. I am; but stop. Think of me as future you coming back to warn present you. Except I can do more push ups than you can and I'm statistically likely to live to a much older age. But damn, doesn't your chinstrip face fuzzy thing look cool!

Actually, it really doesn't.

Road Test - 2011 Kia Soul

2011-12-11T14:56:00.003-05:00

Some people might think it unfair to judge a vehicle strictly from the driver's seat after only a couple of days of rental driving, but look at how we buy them. We can do all the market research we want, but in the end, for most us it comes down to a 20 minute test drive and a 2 hour negotiation.

My opinion of the 2011 Kia Soul is not a good one, with all due respect to those who design and build them. Look, no one's NOT buying a car because of anything I say, except me. I won't be buying a Kia Soul. Here's what I thought.

Great - It's got a GREAT turning radius, so if you're into u-turns and mall parking, this is the vehicle for you. Hello soccer moms, I'm talking to you. Pick up your child from school, make the u-turn and drive three blocks back home before you load up and head another few blocks to the soccer field.

Good - Funky interior design with all the knobs and buttons in all the right places. I think the ladies could use a place for their purse.

Room to Grow - Look, this is a pure chick-mobile, but I don't think the average mom-driver is going to like the fuel economy. It's not good for a car this size. The combined city/highway mileage on this drive was 11 litres per 100 km. Heck, my 1996 Thunderbird with a massive 8-cylinder under the hood gets the same on the highway.

Would I buy one? I don't know how it is in the snow, so I can't promise I'd buy one even if hell froze over. Not for me, not for my wife. Next time I'm offered one at the rental counter I'll be asking what's the second choice. Sorry Kia. I'm not a Soul-man (who didn't see that coming?)

Watch my One-Minute Review here:

Deal or no Deal? Salesperson or Order Taker?

2011-11-28T09:13:00.002-05:00

I recently spent $526 on winter tires at my favourite tire place. These guys take very good care of my wife's car, and so when I went shopping for winter tires for my old beater, I called them first for a price.

Buy three, get one free was the deal. $526 out the door. I checked around, and on the same tires they were not the lowest priced, but within a reasonable margin that it warranted continuing what has so far been a great relationship. It still is. I ordered the tires and they put them on this weekend.

I paid my bill and they told me all the other great stuff that went with the deal. Four free oil changes. 120 days complimentary roadside assistance. $250 in a coupon booklet, and reasonably speaking I may use about $100 of it. Free alignment annually. Replacement value pro rated on road hazard damage to the tires. I was blown away and very glad I had paid a few extra bucks and come back to this place.

But none of that was mentioned when I was still in the shopping stage. They were order takers. Customer asks a question, guy at the desk gives an answer. Your move, Mr. Customer. Without a pre-existing relationship they might not have got the sale at all, and I would have ended up with four tires from someone else, never the wiser or worse, retroactively wiser if I found out what could have been.

We're all in sales, folks. A smarter man than me once said, "You can have the greatest product in the world but if you can't sell it, you've still got it." Sell, sell, sell!

Well, Shut my Mouth!

2011-11-25T09:10:00.002-05:00

Want to lose weight? Shut your mouth. That's the title of an article on CNN.com - read it here.

The subject of the article found she lost more weight by keeping her goals to herself, which is counter intuitive to what we've been led to believe about enlisting a support group, a confidant, someone who will cheer you on. But I have to agree.

Sometimes we spend more time dreaming and talking than doing. Frankly it's a panacea, if we engage the endorphin inducing state of imaginary success already realized, we can avoid the adrenaline and pain of doing; of failing, of facing defeat on the way to victory.

But first you're going to have to get off your butt. So stop talking and start doing. Here's three more things about which you should just shut up, please.

1. Your first million. You're lying. You wouldn't be talking about it otherwise.
2. How many women you've been with. I don't believe you, and if it's true, I don't respect you. Wait, I don't respect you either way.
3. How much you won (or lost) in Vegas. You're an idiot.

We are surrounded by the quietly successful, and if we can just keep our mouths closed long enough to use our eyes and ears, we might just benefit from being in their humble company.

Agora and the Occupiers

2011-11-23T09:10:00.016-05:00

ag-o-ra
: a gathering place; especially : the marketplace in ancient Greece
merriam-webster.com

The dictionary definition sounds benign, however the wikipedia description suggests that the gathering place in Greece and in Rome (the forum) was under government control. I can't imagine freedom of speech was a coveted right in ancient Rome . We have only look to the Christian martyrs for proof. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agora

The Occupy Wall Street movement is slowly disbanding across the globe by government decree, by ennui or by inclement weather. If this movement is to survive, and it has to, what will replace it? There isn't one sane person who believes the occupiers can camp out forever, but I wonder, "how can we use the village square as a place of the people to be heard?"

The answer may be "agora", the gathering place of civilisations long past. What if?

A view to City Hall Square in Windsor, Ontario

Local government created a place in the square for a permanent "soapbox" of sorts, that included proper audio visual, and perhaps a recording aspect that municipal politicians could access and listen to. Yes, Much Music in Toronto did it first, but why not continue it into the public square?
Politicians, wanna be politicians, protesters and loudmouths alike would have equal access to the soapbox, not regulated or monitored except by the patience of the assembled
This place is protected and celebrated, not merely tolerated.

We regularly see protests in front of government buildings. What I'm suggesting is town square by design. Windsor's City Hall square has some nice flowers and benches and a cenotaph, but I can't see where the right to freely gather was built into the design.

We are citizens first, before we are taxpayers or voters. Let's encourage and elevate debate.

Here's another look at the Occupy Wall Street movement; interesting reading:

http://www.truth-out.org/agora-liberty-square/1321290469

I Have Met the OccuHippies (and I like them)

2011-11-21T09:10:00.005-05:00

The other day during lunch I walked across City Hall square and waded into the midst of the "OccuHippies", as I have referred to them (here).

I went prepared to learn enough to write a second scathing piece, which I suppose I could now. I couldn't find even one person who voted in the last election, which actually suits me just fine. No, really, it does - I've written about that here. But I have trouble criticizing them for it. I found what I was looking for but can't write the scathing piece because what I found were people, not ideals.

Look, these citizens want change. You may not agree with their methods, but do you have a better idea? Don't tell them to join a mainstream political party - they don't trust 'em. Don't tell them to get jobs - they're trying. Starbucks only needs so many baristas. As one of the underemployed told me, "I'm just sick of being poor."

In the Windsor camp the voluntarily homeless occupy when it suits them, showing up to protest and then heading to their warm homes and apartments. The tents mark the spot. For others, the first wave of fainthearted joiners have been replaced by the actual homeless. If not here, they'd be under a bridge. Here they live in community, people give them food and treat them with respect. They have much to protest, as much as their situation is as much of their own making as it is of society's.

There are no easy answers. The fate of the least of us falls on the shoulders of each of us. In our lives we will never eliminate poverty.

But shame on us when we look the other way.

Well I Ain't no Superman

2011-11-18T09:10:00.064-05:00

Perhaps you've met or worked with a Super-manager who's respected by one and all for being the go-to guy when things get rough. You know that things are hitting the fan when he breaks down a door and enters the room. When he flies in and saves the day everyone breathes a sigh of relief and feels an enormous debt of gratitude. Compliments abound and buoyed by our affection, off he goes until he's needed again.

What he doesn't seem to know is that if he applied himself to the mundane task of a problem free workplace, there'd be no need for his heroics at all. A focused presence and an attitude of anticipation, not reaction, would make it difficult for the supervillains who threaten productivity and outstanding customer service to gain a foothold. Boredom, staff chatting, neglected customers, over and under scheduling, lack of inventory, lack of tools to do the job would all but disappear. But what's the point of owning tights and a cape, if not to don them from time to time? The trouble is, things have to be well on their way to hell (in or out of a hand basket) by the time his preferred management style is implemented.

This "putting out the fires" stuff makes for great movies and comic books, and for some legendary stories, but it's a lousy leadership model. It is reported that with an excellent and diligent system of routine traffic and by-law enforcement the incidences of more violent crime and costly crime are reduced; the need for a Superman in a well governed town is rare*. Carrying the metaphor, the same is true of our businesses.

Following policy and procedure, holding people (and one's self) accountable in a well managed organization is far more work and takes more fortitude than swooping in when all hell breaks loose, but infinitely worth it to the professional manager.

Besides, as exciting as it is for us when things go crazy, as good the celebrations afterwards when we save the day, our customers like it way better when we've got things are under control.

"Well I ain't no Superman, if that's what you demand then set me free" Set Me Free - Utopia

Cool tune - listen to it here: Set Me Free - Utopia

* Source: http://www.ou.edu/oupd/traffe.htm

Take my Call, Please

2011-11-16T09:07:00.006-05:00

There are a few people who really enjoy cold calling. Frankly, I'm not one of them. I do like getting "cold" calls, though. I learn and I'm inspired to persevere. I am by no means an expert, but here's what I've learned from the best of them, here's what I try to put into practice every day:

It's a good idea to warm a call up a bit with a personal connection, perhaps through a mutual friend or association membership.
I like to get a feel for the potential client's needs by doing a small amount of research first, either by the web or connecting with a few of my associates in the biz.
Armed with a bit of knowledge, I use it not to tell my potential client what I think she needs, but to frame my questions in a way that helps her get directly to the point. I don't know anyone who has the patience to explain what is easily attainable through a little background work, but I have met lots of people who have shown me the professional courtesy of sharing information in answer to a genuine query about their unstated needs.

Cold calling is not dead. It's an introduction that can be nurtured at networking events, trade shows, conventions and monthly meetings of our Association. At it's best it isn't a cold call at all, it's a follow up to a conversation we've started elsewhere. It's a live connection to a mutual interest perhaps, or a common goal.

If we determine we're not a good match, isn't it better for both parties to have had the conversation? Neither of us wants to do business if it's just going to end in anything less than success.

A thoughtful and professionally delivered telephone call is far from a nagging annoyance in a busy person's day; it may just be the right information (for both parties) at exactly the right time and it can lead to a satisfying and profitable relationship.

So, for all those salespeople who believe cold calling is dead, you just keep on believing it. That just frees the phone lines up for those of us who don't.

Flux Capacitor...Fluxing!

2011-11-14T19:53:00.016-05:00

It's official, says the L.A. Times. Time Machines Won't Work. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/07/time-travel-impossible.html

That's good news and bad. Frankly, if time travel was ever going to be possible we'd already know about it. So now that it's been proven that the photon cannot travel faster than light, we can get on with our linear day. Here's some good (and bad) news as a result of time travel being put to rest.

1. I'm thankful this discovery wasn't made 20 years ago, or every other episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation could never have been filmed. All they ever did was travel through time.

2. What we do today matters today and going forward. We can't undo the past, so once we've atoned for it, let's move on, shall we? Step away from the time machine.

3. We can't come back and fix today - so doesn't it make sense to give it our all right now? Play full out, go the extra mile, stiff upper lip and all that... Choose your cliche. Pedal to the metal. You won't get another chance. Don't wait, do it now.

4. One day most of what we worry about today won't matter, so let's try and remember that through our sleepless nights.

Your humble scribe stepping away from the Delorean

Remembering

2011-11-11T07:47:00.004-05:00

A few months ago I wrote about my absolute abhorrence of the overuse of the word "hero". I think it does a great disservice to the individually heroic to label everyone a hero simply on the basis of their vocation alone.

I was taken to task by one reader for that, and understandably so. It's a tough subject to broach with one who is the parent of a soldier, sailor or airman. I respectfully stand by my words and humbly present those of another, of a man who knows what he's talking about first hand.

While I write comfortably from my chair, enjoying the freedom to be have an opinion and sometimes be wrong, he writes as one who served our country in West Germany, arriving at the Canadian Air Force base in Baden-Soellingen in 1970 just as my family was leaving, my father having served three years on that same Base.

Read Jock Williams' beautiful remembrance of Captain Paul Rackham, the first casualty to travel in 1973 what is now known as "The Highway of Heroes". http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/Remembrance_Day/accompanying-a-fallen-airman-the-highways-first-hero/article2230132/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=Home&utm_content=2230132

OccuHippies

2011-11-09T07:51:00.001-05:00

I miss the hippies of the sixties. They didn't trust anyone over thirty. Under thirty? Cool. Over thirty? You're the man (and that didn't use to be a compliment). They just wanted to tune in, turn on, and drop out.

It's not like I'm not paying attention, but I don't know what the Occupy movement stands for. I kind of think I know what they're against. I think.

When I walk by a tent city filled with the voluntarily homeless occupy hippies, I am filled with sadness at how easy it is for them to put a canvas roof over their unwashed heads, cook on camp-stoves and take bio breaks in portapotties, all on public property.

Fill that same space with the legitimately poor and homeless, and wait to see how long it would take the police to clear them out.

If the occupiers are serious about building a better society, and I think that's their raison d'etre, then they will begin a peaceful retreat, leaving the tents and stoves in place for the homeless to take their place.

When Willpower isn't Enough

2011-11-07T10:47:00.010-05:00

We are several decades into the "believe it, achieve it" delusion in the business world. Several decades before that I was raised on a little engine that could, by personal willpower alone. "I think I can, I think I can..." therefore, I will.

It makes for great movies, for mythic success stories, but for some it becomes an anesthetic to the realities of life. I once worked with a sales person who started each day with a different motivational saying. She talked herself into joy and optimism every single day. Trouble was, she spent the rest of the day repeating the mantra de jour, but doing nothing else about it. Before long she was broke and unemployed, still, presumably with that optimism of certain wealth just around her cheery corner. She's one of many.

There's a business lesson in all of this, that optimism and self-motivation alone are not enough. Hard work, continuous growth, reflection, the good sense to ask for help, properly directed sweat equity AND a great attitude are all predictors, but not guarantors of success. Pithy quotes? A little, but not so much.

You think you can? Just do it.

You Guys are Idiots

2011-11-04T19:28:00.002-04:00

"You guys are idiots," he said. "Excuse me?" I answered, a little surprised.

We were a few days away from opening a restaurant in the Eaton Centre in Toronto back in the mid-eighties. "You invest all this money, you design, you pay all sorts of professionals, you research the market, you pay guys like me to build it" (he was a professional painter), " and then you pay some waiter $4.25 an hour to go to the table and blow it."

He continued. "One waiter in a bad mood who gives crummy service makes all this investment worthless, and you pay them minimum wage and roll the dice that they won't bankrupt you." A sobering thought, and I have spent the rest of my career making sure that doesn't happen, either at the minimum wage front line level, or at the managerial level either.

Here's one Room Service attendant who cost herself a tip and cost the hotel my future business. She didn't do it alone. When I called the hotel management to let them know about the card that was left in my room, their answer was a matter-of-fact reply, without a hint of an apology, that they were in negotiations with the union and this sort of behaviour was to be expected.

Not by me. Not by any reasonable person. Contrary to what my painter friend from the 80s thinks, I'm not an idiot, and I won't be back. Don't ask me the name of the hotel. Between their management and the union, they don't need my help putting themselves out of business.

Road Test - 2012 Fiat 500

2011-10-28T22:39:00.000-04:00

I had the opportunity to try out the Fiat 500 this week. I've seen them on the road, and I've always been tossed between thinking the Fiat was pretty cool, and thinking I wouldn't be caught dead anywhere near one. One thing's for sure, love it or hate it, it's a head turner. Some guy came up to me while I was stopped at a red light and just circled the car and stared at it. I almost wanted to do a hidden camera view as pedestrians walked by my parked Fiat and stopped to check it out.

I loved it. What a fun car to drive! I hate to overuse the word, but I was zipping around heavy traffic situations, parking in impossible spaces, and scooting around lane blocking land cruisers in spaces that shouldn't fit a car. Here's what I thought of the Fiat 500:

Great: Well, I've written it already, but here it is again. This car is just plain FUN to drive. I get so tired of driving boring cars, and I can't exactly put my finger on what makes a car fun. Why is the Corolla so yawn inducing, and the Cruze interesting? Why is couldn't I wait to give back the Versa, and was sorry to have to return the Mini and the Fiat? Why is Tom Cruise making make Mission Impossible 4? These are difficult questions to answer.

Good: I think the European feel of the Fiat adds to it's attractiveness, and may be partially the answer to most of my questions above. It's aggressive, bold, perhaps a little spunky for a little car. It's like it didn't get the memo - it doesn't know it's just a little guy. Maybe it knows and doesn't care.

Room to Grow: I'd like the "sport" mode button moved to the gearshift lever where it makes sense. You have to take your eyes off the road to find it at the very time you should be paying attention. Love the fog lamps, wish there were heated seats. Cool mute button on the steering wheel so you can turn off the radio if you get a call (on your hands-free phone) but I wish the radio control buttons were on the steering wheel as well.

Would I buy one? In a flash, but only after I test drive it a snowstorm. I'm betting it's a tank (and that's a good thing).

Here's my video review:

A Debater's Truth

2011-09-30T07:54:00.000-04:00

I'm a political freak. Election night, for me, is like Super Bowl (without the Doritos commercials, but not without the Doritos). If I could have two TVs going I'd be flipping between 3 or 4 stations watching results come in.

Debate night is like a play off game. I'm glued to the set, waiting for someone to say something that will turn the tide, even if it's against my guy. I like intelligent discourse. Remember a few of the best lines of the last few years of televised debates?

"You had an option, sir" Brian Mulroney to John Turner in 1984. Mr. Turner should never have come back to the patronage issue after he had already deftly maneuvered out of Mulroney's first trap, but for some reason he reopened the subject and Mulroney landed this punch. He'd been waiting.

"Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy" Lloyd Bentsen to Dan Quayle in 1988 in the U.S. VP candidate debate. Like Turner, Quayle felt compelled to address a vulnerability; the question of his relative youth and readiness for the Presidency if called upon. Quayle pointed out that John F. Kennedy was about the same age when he became President, and Bentsen delivered the "I knew Jack Kennedy, and Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy" punch, right to the solar plexus. You could actually watch Quayle lose his wind, angry at Bentsen for the cheap shot and at himself, aware he had made the mistake of walking into a rehearsed line, into a well laid trap.

"Can we have it back, please?" Fictional President Jedd Bartlett of The West Wing challenges the fictional Governor of Florida in the Presidential debate to renounce federal association and his state's shared tax revenues with the other 49 states, if he despises federalism so much. You have to see the episode and the campaign episodes leading up to the exchange to fully appreciate it.

Of the three lines quoted, though The West Wing is fiction and obviously scripted, Martin Sheen delivers it as though extemporaneously, unscripted.

In the Ontario Provincial Leaders debate this week, all three tried to score that memorable line, the challengers tried harder than the Premier had to. They failed because they tried. They failed because they were too obviously programmed, scripted, waiting for an opportunity to recite their lines, instead of seeking an opportunity to speak their truth.

We're not that stupid, folks. Give us a real debate. We want to hear you speak with passion from your guts, not from your memory. That's why it's called gutsy - you wonder if you might lose the contents of your stomach in nervous apprehension of working without a safety net.

That's why you're a leader - because you do it anyway. Except our three couldn't be bothered.

Consequences and Youth

2011-09-28T17:30:00.006-04:00

I take no pleasure in it, and I have absolutely no knowledge of the upbringing of this young man, but yes, I'm making a connection between his temporary foolishness and his ability to discern consequences. Read the story about a young polo player and his part in the Vancouver riots, and what it has cost him:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/more-sports/polo-player-photographed-participating-in-vancouver-riot-gets-two-year-ban/article2181732/

I feel bad for the kid. Trouble is, he's not a kid anymore, and these are the adult consequences of his actions. We've all been there...well, maybe not THERE, but the young men in our midst can relate, and yes, there are gender differences. We have all done something terribly stupid and maybe even risked all that we and our parents have worked for. Some of us get caught. The vigilante judgement has been swift and terrible. Read this story from the Vancouver Sun that printed immediately after the riot:

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Rioting+teen+Nathan+Kotylak+family+face+backlash+forced+leave+home/4972283/story.html

I pray for his ability to rise above this, get past it, and I pray for the community's ability to forgive and move on. He's paid the price. God bless him, he stood up and took it like a man, so you know his parents have done something right.

Coffee Shops, Bars and Other Cool Ventures

2011-09-26T09:10:00.015-04:00

"The Coffee Shop Entrepreneur Myth": I read the title with interest, even more so because the blog was written by Craig Ballantyne of Men's Health fame. Finally, I thought, someone is busting open the notion that just anyone can successfully own and operate a cafe, a lounge, a restaurant or a boutique hotel. Thanks to TV shows like Cheers, Friends and Newhart, many dreamers have tried and failed; heartbroken, disillusioned, exhausted and broke.

But Craig Ballantyne's article had nothing to do with actual coffee shop ownership. It was an attempt to kill the fairy tale that wannabe millionaires will ever actually reach their goal in a coffee shop. Ballantyne contends, with real world experience, that Starbucks might be the worst place to attempt to develop a business. Read it here, it's a great article.
The Coffee Shop Entrepreneur Myth Early To Rise

Here are some cold hard facts for anyone who wants to own their own restaurant or lounge, three simple dream-killing (or inspiring) realities:

1. If you build it, they might not come. Field of Dreams was a movie, dammit. Your best ideas, your grandmother's recipe, your flat screen TVs and the encouragement of your buddies to sell your special (burgers, donuts, muffins, whatever...) may end up in your lasting fame and fortune. Truth is, it probably won't, particularly if your entire marketing plan relies on other people innately recognizing your brilliance.

2. Get ready for competition. If you're any good, they'll try to imitate you (and put you out of business). If you're pretty good, they'll try to best you (and put you out of business). It's why you're thinking of opening your dream spot, isn't it? You make better (burgers, donuts, muffins, whatever...) than those other guys, right? And if you serve crap and have lousy service, even unintentionally, there's a good chance you'll put yourself out of business. It's only a matter of how long you can avoid the inevitable.

3. There are 24 hours in the day. If you're open 12 of them, and probably it's more like 18, be prepared to work most of them. And then sit down and do your paperwork after the last customer leaves, or before the first one comes in. If all this attention to detail and long hours isn't enough, remember the success of your business is often in the hands of a minimum-wage, part-time front-line employee, who can make or break you with each transaction.

4. Your friends are the ones who insist on paying full price for everything, who come back often and bring friends and clients because they know they can count on you to make them look good for choosing your place. People who come in looking for discounts and freebies aren't your friends (though they may be family and there's nothing you can do about that). They're leeches.

I said I had three points. I've actually shared four points already, and that's point number five. If you can't count you should stay out of the biz. Your profits will be exiting the back door with your dish guy, either due to waste or theft.

This is why I can't abide some Twittering Twit trashing restaurants on-line, and I've discovered how thin-skinned some of these textperts are when challenged about it. They wouldn't last 5 minutes in the hospitality industry, or anywhere else in the real world. If the place is great, tweet away! They need all the help they can get. If you're displeased, let them know privately but stay off line. If they can't improve, they'll put themselves out of business without any of your help.

Be Human

2011-09-22T09:48:00.003-04:00

I don't mind sharing that I'm a little bummed today. Last night I made the horrendous mistake of communicating with an on-line superstar, a self-described on-line strategist, in what she perceived to be a criticism. Actually, my hero was having an on-line meltdown and I was trying to caution her that I thought she may have stepped way over the line, publicly.

So, my hero tweeted that I was a "troll". Actually, an "awkward troll". At first I wasn't sure she meant me, then I thought it might be some sort of internet slang that I didn't understand. And then it got personal.

You see, I'm a little self-concious about my height. (And of my thick eyebrows and scruffy beard, my pointed ears and my penchant for fresh goat). As the tweets progressed, I realized "troll" was a slur on my name. Tyrrell - Troll, get it? If at first I didn't, but I caught on after she tweeted something about J Troll. She's so clever, my hero.

OK, so what did I learn? First, even admired leaders sometimes just blow it. I feel bad that all 20,000 of her followers had to see it happen. There, but for the grace of God, go any of us.

Secondly, even though we feel like we know someone who tweets 5 or 6 times a day, even though we admire their insight and appreciate their timely links, we are not friends. We've never met, although I used to hope we would someday.

It still hurts to be mocked publicly. And that's my third lesson learned. Although well intentioned, she saw my communication as an attack. (She actually tweeted that - "I've been attacked by a troll.") If I had to do it all again, I wouldn't. She was clearly having a public, reputation-destorying meltdown, and I know I didn't help though I didn't intend to hurt.

And so I leave you with the tweeted words of another of my internet heroes, Mr. Shane Gibson. "Social Media Tip: When you criticize people online realize that one day you may have to interact with them face to face. Be human." Good advice for trolls and nanny-goats alike.

This Beautiful City

2011-09-19T10:34:00.000-04:00

I am fortunate that through a combination of my work, my natural wanderlust and my upbringing as an Air Force brat, I love to visit new cities. I'm not one of those cosmopolitan travellers who can regale you with tales of exotic locales. You're more likely to hear of gritty inner cities in unlikely destinations. This is one such story.

I am in Saskatoon as I write this. I've never been. So far we're off to a good start with a nice meal in a small "global café" (their words) called St. Tropez. The front desk agent recommended it and pronounced it traw-pez, but hey, she pronounced my surname correctly (teer-rül) so I won't quibble.

This morning started with a run along the river on some nice trails and I was impressed at the fitness level of the locals Not a sloppy, overweight, out-of-shape person in sight, yours truly excepted. It occured to me how much I would enjoy living here, going so far as to be a little envious that our little city isn't more like this little city in so many ways.

Truth be told, living here is different from visiting. I would imagine the citizens of this city experience frustration probably as much as anyone. They may not even recognize their beautiful river and vibrant downtown (sidewalks dutifully rolled up on Sundays) for the gems that they are, seeing them every day.

That this town, or any town including mine, is a good place in which to live, visit or work, is not by accident or happenstance. It takes political will, vision, trust, cooperation and an engaged citizenry. That didn't just happen here.

It is happening in my town. Sometimes you just have to leave to see it.

Chopped Liver

2011-09-12T09:15:00.000-04:00

"What am I, chopped liver?" One translation of this old Jewish saying turned modern colloquialism suggests that since chopped liver is a traditional side dish, the implication is that the offended party just didn't make "main dish" status.

Imagine being invited to a dinner party. Everyone who is anyone in your social scene is invited. You're looking forward to it, and you arrive at the party ready for a great time with a great host and good friends.

Now imagine you're the only guest who shows up. You and the host for dinner. No one else arrives; a host's worst nightmare. And now comes your nightmare. The host spends the next few hours listing off the guests he invited but didn't show, looking at the door; if he stares at it long enough someone will knock. It becomes clear that the people who aren't here are more important to the host than the one who is sitting right across from him. "What am I, chopped liver?" one would legitimately wonder.

How many times have we done that in our own lives? From talking about parishioners we don't see in church anymore in front of those we do, to beating ourselves up over lost customers, crying over lost loves or mourning lost loved ones in the face of the present and apparently unaccounted for, we miss the here and now. We miss the chance to celebrate the gifts we have. This day is a gift.

There's a time and place to mourn, wonder, worry about, pray for and remember those aren't with us today. And there's a time to pay attention to the ones we love, the ones who love us, the ones who count on us, the ones who are here; now.

It's September 12.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

Oh Lord Open My Lips

2011-09-10T11:52:00.000-04:00

"If you watch the video of the half time entertainment at the 2002 Super Bowl in New Orleans, you can hear Bono, over the music and the cheering, speaking into the microphone: "Lord, open my lips that my mouth may sing forth your praise." These are the same words spoken at the beginning of the Liturgy of the Hours every day in the Catholic Church." Deacon Greg Kandra

I wish I wasn't so damned cynical that I could have appreciated this performance as much then, as I do now.

Watch the video here: U2 at the 2002 Super Bowl

Promotion DE (wait for it) NIED!

2011-09-08T09:10:00.012-04:00

Tom, (let's call him Tom), has reached the pinnacle of success in his current job. He's ready for a challenge that can only be realized with the responsibility, and frankly - the reward that comes with a promotion. There's no internal candidate more qualified or even as qualified as Tom (just ask him).

He applies, he interviews...and an outsider is brought in. What now, for Tom? In one section of his mind he knows that once upon a time HE was the external candidate who got the job over an internal candidate. A man of faith, the words of the Gospel ring in his ears, "A prophet is not without honour except in his own country." It is difficult to recognize homegrown talent. He knows how that feels, and it smarts.

Tom goes through Elizabeth Kubler-Ross' stages of grief after a loss, which do apply to his situation, sort of. Tom experiences denial, and then anger. In a form of bargaining, he mentally lists all the reasons why this was a bad decision on the part of his boss, as objectively as he can, which in truth is the farthest thing from objective but he's a long way from admitting it. For a short time he experiences a kind of depression and then, God willing, acceptance.

His wife doesn't hear the news until he gets home late that evening, so she is a full 8 hours behind him in all these stages. It's actually harder on her and not made any easier that he's already accepted the decision while she's still listing his fabulous attributes against the obvious shortcomings of his boss, his internal competition, and a few outside candidates neither has ever met.

What Tom will hopefully internalize is that there is a higher purpose that he has neither given thought to nor is willing to acknowledge. He can't see things from the Boss' chair, so he doesn't know all that factored into the decision.

My advice to Tom? His coworkers and boss will remember how he acted in the hours and days after he got the news. A period of disappointment is natural. For damned sure let's hope he keeps his thoughts to himself. Misery does indeed love company, the rest of us can stand it only for a short while.

A period of reflection, a frank conversation about the boss' expectations and some private reflection would serve him well as he applies himself to the goals and aspirations of this new phase of his career, wherever that takes him; a smile and a cheerful countenance to welcome the new guy, who shouldn't be able to tell that Tom was the spurned applicant. And finally, a consideration of his standing within the company outside of his annual performance review.

An old boss once explained how he had moved up the ladder with several different employers, "sometimes you have to move to improve".

Tough Decisions

2011-09-08T09:10:00.007-04:00

I'm kind of missing Jerry Lewis this year, but his absence proves that the cause is greater than the man. That's a lesson we need to learn in all areas of our lives, whether we're reeling from the loss of a loved one, picking up the pieces after the fall of a hero from grace, or a parishioner adjusting to a new Pastor.

By all accounts the Muscular Dystrophy Association raised more money this year than ever before. We armchair critics can chalk it up to one thing or another, but initial results indicate the board of the MDA made the right decision in asking Jerry to hang it up. In a day and age where boards and managers and teachers and politicians are operating in fear of upsetting real and imagined up applecarts, this executive team took a bold step. It hurts to see a man who's given so much asked to step away. It must have hurt like hell for them to have to do it, but it had to be done.

There's a lesson in this for all of us. We may not always like it, but an effective leadership team makes tough decisions that are best for their organization. That's the job of an informed, educated, dedicated and courageous Board.

Say Only the Good Things People Need to Hear

2011-09-06T09:10:00.047-04:00

From time to time a blogger will present a criticism of a product, process or experience. Hopefully the intention is to serve others with a lesson learned, and ultimately an introspective evaluation keeps we service providers humble, knowing that, except for the grace of God, there go any of us. Sometimes criticism is malicious. This criticism isn't. It's about a bad business practice, and not about the place in which it occurred.

I guess it's better than Tweeting

Today's businesses are but one Tweet away from closing the doors. Any idiot with a smart phone is a critic. Sometimes is seems like every idiot with a smart phone is a critic.

When do you concentrate on excellence in product and service, and when do you sacrifice quality and service for cost?

Recently my son, a Business major in University, received incredibly bad service from a well-known local restaurant, the gist of it being that his take out order was mistakenly prepared a full hour before the requested pick up time. The deficiency in execution came in at least two parts. First, the order taker argued with him about exactly what time the pick-up had been arranged, and took as proof of her own infallibility her history of apparently never having made a mistake. Secondly, the restaurant protected their costs by determining the hour-old food to still be edible. It wasn't, and that presumption leads to two sorrowful conclusions.

First, that merely qualifying as "edible" is their culinary standard, and secondly that the restaurant, for the sake of saving about $3 in food costs, placed its reputation on food that had been sitting under the heat lamp for over 60 minutes. In effect they determined that even though this customer would base his opinion of their restaurant, his recommendations and all future dining experiences on this one meal, rather than make a fresh order they were willing to risk everything on hour-old, cold, and dried out food. The good news in all this bad news is that they saved a few bucks in not having to prepare it twice. The bad news is that they will never have to bother making my son or his friends a meal, ever again.

And that, my friends, though I'm sorry to report it, is nevertheless painfully good stuff we all need to hear and learn from, we in business. We can't fix that place, but if we take our eye off the ball for even a moment in our own operations, there go any of us. We walk a fine line between watching the bottom line and serving the customer, but even when our priority is necessarily the bottom line, it can't be obvious to the customer.

We don't need to know the name of the business. Does it matter? It could be any of ours, no matter what we make or do. The error was executed by a front line employee in a culture that finds it's source and support at the top.

To deny that it could happen to any of us is the first step towards closing the doors.

The final word is that my son did complain to the manager, and after a full day of reflection(!), she offered to replace the meal on his next visit. He took her up on her offer immediately. There was no apology.

Answering God's Call

2011-08-31T19:31:00.015-04:00

God speaks to everyone. Everyone. God waits for our response. It is anticipated, unique, and given (or not) through the grace of free will. As Getty Lee from Rush sings in Freewill, "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."

God knows that answering His call is not always the easy path, but He does not wish hardship on any of us, though that is almost certainly guaranteed. The reason is simple. God calls everyone. Everyone. Some ignore, pretend not to hear, or reject the call. Some give a lukewarm and half-hearted response. Few give fully of themselves, even to the point of death. Those who do find themselves on the outside of society.

The 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A, just passed, presented two readings, a psalm and the Gospel all addressing how differently we respond to God's call. In the first reading Jeremiah complains of being mocked, and yet he presses on; he can't help himself. I suspect most of us can be silenced on the mere threat of being laughed at. The Psalmist longs, on the other hand, to see and be with God. St. Paul, in the epistle, reminds us to be a holy and living sacrifice, yes a living sacrifice to God. The word is not chosen lightly.

And finally, in the Gospel, Jesus tells of the persecution and death that awaits him. Peter tries to talk him out of his journey to Jerusalem, and is harshly reminded that he is thinking only of human things, and not with God at heart. "Get behind me Satan!" says Jesus to his right hand man. Ouch.

The readings run the gamut of response we can expect from others when we do God's will - from laughter, to longing, maybe even death. It takes humility and courage to submit.

Jeremiah 20:7-9
Psalm 63
Romans 12:1-2 (pithy and poignant)
Matthew 16:21-27

Designer Funerals

2011-08-29T17:24:00.016-04:00

After this weekend's State Funeral for Jack Layton I fear we will see an increase in "pep rally" funerals, specifically designed following very little traditional format, if any. We already see this in weddings, so why not funerals? Jack Layton's funeral was a political rally, a tribute to an outgoing leader as though it was a retirement party, and a melded cultural presentation, presented like the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, or a Canada Day performance. Was there anyone, any favourite cause NOT represented?

I met Jack, and I liked him. I grieved, like all of Canada, when he died. I have watched his political career since he was a city councilor in the early eighties in Toronto. I liked his preferential option for the poor, and told him so. I profoundly disagreed with some of his other positions. May his soul, and the souls of the faithful departed, rest in peace. My prayers are with his family and friends, and especially those in the NDP caucus. Literally, and every day after we learned of his death.

I watched his funeral, as much as I could. God was at best a dignitary who, because of His position, had to be invited. Like the other VIPs present but not members of Jack's party, God was barely acknowledged. A couple of unattributed Bible readings and a prayer recited as mystical poetry by a flamboyant activist turned minister was about as close as He came to getting His foot in that door. Note - simply putting the word "hallelujah" in a song, even if you're Leonard Cohen and even less so if you're a former Barenaked Lady, does not make a hymn of praise.

Funeral rites and ritual exist to assist and comfort in times of sadness. The elders of our religious traditions chose the prayers and the form carefully for solid theological reason. For those who claim a religious association we serve our beloved deceased and their families with respect and kindness when we leave the secular pop rock where it belongs, and surrender to God's love in its entirety, with grace and humble courage.

Road Test - the 2011 Chevy Cruze

2011-08-28T15:31:00.002-04:00

I've been wanting to drive one of these since those catchy TV commercials hit the air. The 2011 Chevy Cruze is a good-looking small car, and I wondered if it really could live up to the implied promise that this was the future of the new GM.

It did. I enjoyed my day with the car, and while I confess I didn't drive it under very demanding circumstances, renting a car for 24 hours gives you a much better test drive than the 30 minutes I'd expect from the dealership. For the money, I'd recommend it. Here's what I thought:

GREAT: The car is zippy, if not a bit buzzy. It has plenty of go, and none of that air conditioning lag that used to plague smaller engined cars. It's tight, fast, handles well and feels great at any speed.

GOOD: It's well laid out, with lots of thoughtful touches like the handle inside the suprisingly very large trunk, 60/40 split folding rear seats, easy to read radio and console control centre, and a comfortable firm seating.

ROOM for GROWTH: Heated seats, baby. That should be standard on any car sold in Canada. Heated seats are as much about safety as they are about comfort, in fact the two go together.

WOULD I BUY ONE? Sure, if we were a young couple with a few little kids starting out, this would be a great car because of the roominess of the interior and the trunk. It's a great commuter car, great on gas and not bad looking. Maybe as an old retired geezer with a penchant for golfing, this car would do as well. As a highway vehicle, I'm sure it's fine but I'd really want to pimp it up with leather seats and a sunroof - taking it into a price range I'd prefer not to pay for a compact North American made vehicle.

Here's my 60 second video review:

WYD 2011: As I sang the Gospel in front of the Pope and half a million youth I saw that the Church is alive | CatholicHerald.co.uk

2011-08-26T22:09:00.000-04:00

Just under a month ago I was having supper with a friend when a text message arrived from Fr Stephen Langridge. “James,” it said, “I’ve arranged for you to read the Gospel at the welcoming ceremony for the Pope at WYD. Let me know if that’s a problem.” Deacon James Bradley

WYD 2011: As I sang the Gospel in front of the Pope and half a million youth I saw that the Church is alive | CatholicHerald.co.uk

The Steve Report...Making Sense of Business Events: Speakers: A Critical View

2011-08-09T14:02:00.000-04:00

The Steve Report...Making Sense of Business Events: Speakers: A Critical View: "As buyers of speakers for our event(s), have we built the wrong model? With the recent global economic reports of another potential reboun..."

The Loaves and the Fishes of Our Times

2011-08-03T09:10:00.034-04:00

When people struggle for parity, with the ordinary things of life seemingly always, and maddeningly, just out of reach, who could blame them for losing hope?

We sometimes look at a bad situation and wonder if God has forgotten the people affected. The relatively poor, unable to even afford the things that set them apart from the rest of society (such as field trips for their kids, or organized sports, nutritious food) might rightly wonder if society has forgotten them; if God cares.

St. Paul's letter to the Romans assures us that NOTHING separates any of us from the love of Christ. Addressing their concerns of the day, Paul tells the Romans that no height nor depth, not death nor life, no circumstance or situation or station in life can separate us from Christ's love. He specifically mentions famine. Not even finding ourselves victims of famine means that we are unloved by God.

Kevin Carter 1993 Sudan Famine
Mr. Carter took his own life
3 months after he captured this photo

In the Loaves and Fishes Gospel, the only miracle to be related in all four Gospels, we learn that there is enough food for everyone, quite literally in the miracle of the moment, and quite literally in our world today. There is enough food to feed everyone, including the 4 million people starving in Africa today. Today.

All that stands in the way is a societal will to overcome every obstacle to making it happen. And in the meantime, those who can must give what they can, and then some.

You Can't Get There from Here

2011-08-01T09:10:00.001-04:00

There was an article I read probably 13 years ago that ended with that sentence. "You can't get there from here." It stuck with me. The article was about relative poverty, the working poor, those who long for better or more, but can't reach it from where they're at.

Reporting on conditions in the inner city of a second tier Canadian city, it could have been Windsor, the article was about hunger. It was born of the frustration of seeing the poor in the writer's neighbourhood sending the children off to school without a proper lunch, of seeing children eat packages of Mr. Noodles (a dry ramen noodle with a package of sodium meant to imitate a chicken stock) as a breakfast substitute as they shuffled to school; of seeing a child stop by a convenience store, buy a large bag of Doritos, put it in the hood of her winter coat (for lack of a proper backpack). This was her lunch.

It is difficult to find nutritious food within a reasonable walking distance of most neighbourhoods of our inner city. Big Box supermarkets (and hardware stores, and pools and rinks, and libraries) may work well for people with wheels, but those without spend precious dollars on taxis to bring their groceries home. It is faster and more convenient, but not better or cheaper, to spend precious dollars on belly-filling junk foods in the local 7-11 or a Tim Hortons.

Sickness and poor health as a result of poor nutrition keep people in poverty. Children lack the energy to concentrate at school, adults struggle to get through the work day in listless surrender. Decrying the lack of reasonable local alternatives to convenience store food shopping, to quote the article, "You want fresh vegetables? You can't get there from here."

The relatively poor in a country of plenty live a quiet desperation. Not only do they live day to day with a hunger for a decent meal, they live in a land of plenty, just out of reach.

The poor of Windsor live with empty stomachs in a poverty of hope. You want better for yourself and for your children? You can't get there from here. Not the way it is now.

Running on all Cylinders

2011-07-29T09:50:00.010-04:00

"Going to church every Sunday doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car!!" That was the oh-so-clever Facebook update I read last week. I have no idea whether my friend counts himself Christian, or even attends Church. I doubt these words of admonishment are from a regular church goer, though.

I don't disagree with the sentiment, but the premise is a bit off. Since a man cannot become a machine, I think my friend might have meant to say "Going to church every Sunday doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a mechanic."

One cannot call himself or hope to be a mechanic without spending a good amount of time in a garage, any more than one who rarely or never attends church can call ever properly hope to be seen a Christian, and certainly one who does not attend Mass at least weekly is at best a Catholic in name only.

I say this not to condemn, but to caution; not to accuse, but to encourage.

Come and worship with the body of Christ, take your place among the great unwashed, we hypocrites, we the struggling, we the generous, we the meek, we flawed sinners. It may be time for a spiritual tune-up.

Not my Cup of Tea, at any Price

2011-07-27T09:10:00.009-04:00

I had breakfast with a professional associate. We meet regularly and the talk is sometimes about the challenges each of us face. Different industries, remarkably similar challenges. We both learn from each other. We're both in sales. I am in hotel sales, he is in technology.

This time the talk took a turn to salaries, and he asked for an idea of what people in our industry earned. I told him how much I made last year He was suprised. I could tell by what he said.

"I'm surprised," he said. "I thought you made more."

It was my turn to be surprised. I thought I was doing OK. Actually, I am doing OK. I guess I could be making more if I applied my skills and enthusiasm to selling his widgets. but his widgets do nothing for me, and I love the industry I'm in. Sure, I'd like to make the kind of dough I imagine he makes, but you can't do that in my bakery. (See what I did there?) The truth is, in his industry I'd be an underperformer who despises his job because I'd be selling a product I don't understand, that I don't believe in from the heart. He'd have to fire me and I'd go back to doing what I enjoy, if they'd take me.

My industry, the hospitality industry, doesn't pay a lot, it certainly doesn't pay what most of us are worth. If it did you couldn't afford your burger, frankly. You couldn't afford to stay in my hotel, if it did. It is, however, the industry I love. I study it, dream about it, blog about it and wouldn't trade my career for all the tea in China.

Come to think of it, I think the lady at table 12 could use another cup of tea. Gotta go.

The "H" Word

2011-07-25T09:10:00.033-04:00

Father Mychal Judge, NYFD Chaplain
First casualty September 11, 2001

Before a couple of planes hit a couple of buildings in Manhattan, I had never heard a firefighter referred to as a "hero" before. I'm not saying they aren't or weren't, I had just never heard it said. The title has since been bestowed on military casualties in Canada's latest war, and the highway between Trenton and Toronto renamed the Highway of Heroes in honour of the route they take on their final journey after repatriation at CFB Trenton.

I have no argument with any of this, and I hesitate to even mention it for fear my words might be misunderstood. John Allemang of the Globe and Mail, on the other hand, minces no words. "Death in a war zone isn't automatically heroic, no matter what Ontario's Highway of Heroes procession route implies."

Read his article here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/baseball/from-alomar-to-gretzky-to-mozart-reflections-on-true-greatness/article2107270/

If we overuse a word, it loses it's meaning. One doesn't become a hero simply by employment status, vocation or calling. One doesn't become a hero by the way that they died, but by the actions they took while they lived, sometimes that lead to their death. Just being there isn't enough. Extraordinary action in unusual circumstances on behalf of another, and not on behalf of a country blissfully engrossed otherwise with day-to-day life, but on behalf of a present and engaged other who is in immediate danger.

This is my definition. The Merriam-Webster on-line dicationary somewhat supports my definition, and to a degree, that of the common definition of a "central figure in an event, period, or movement". John Allemang says it simply, "A...hero is someone who faces down common sense to do the uncommon thing."

If everyone's a hero simply by association, then no one's a hero.

That would be a loss to society on two levels, first the loss of yet another word watered down to become a bland modern colloquialism, and secondly the loss of what it truly means to be a hero, notwithstanding the very many examples of truly heroic individual behaviour by the men and women in Manhattan on 9/11, and of the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan.

Why I'm Opposed to Abortion (and so are you)

2011-07-22T09:10:00.009-04:00

I oppose abortion, and so do you. Here's how I know that you know it is wrong to kill a human being not yet born. Here's the scenario - you see a woman who you know to be pregnant. She's smoking. Let's be honest, we all agree she shouldn't be smoking in her "condition" because it will harm the child. I have even heard people express their belief that their should be a law against smoking when pregnant, and around children.

OK, let's add some context to the scenario. She's smoking on the way to an abortion clinic for a procedure. Is it OK to harm the child with cigarette smoke now?

I rest my case. This isn't arguing apples and oranges, this is life and death, this is right and wrong, this is good and evil.

Quality of Life and a Nice Home

2011-07-21T09:10:00.001-04:00

Years ago we were transferred to Windsor, Ontario from our life in Toronto. Frankly, I had no idea where Windsor was. I knew it was west. That's an understatement.

"Get on the 401 highway and head west," were the directions from my boss. "When you get to the end of the highway and someone asks for your I.D., back it up a little. You'll be in Windsor." Windsor is on the border with the U.S. Detroit is across the river.

Long story short, that was 18 years ago. In spite of career upheaval and crisis now and then, this has been the best thing that ever happened to our family. We couldn't possibly have enjoyed the quality of life we now enjoy - our neighbours and neighbourhood, our proximity to a major American city while still living in a small town, our friends, our Church, and our well adjusted, well educated and very cool children raised right here. Windsor has been good to us.

There's more to a community than house prices. There's more to life than working to pay a mortgage.

Read the Globe and Mail article on the subject:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/mortgages/want-to-buy-a-sweet-house-for-under-200000/article2101942/

Verso L'Alto!

2011-07-20T09:10:00.000-04:00

It's a mainstay of almost every conference or meeting I attend, at which a minor celebrity or inspirational motivationalist (my word) is needed to fill the bill. Someone's climbed Mount Everest and we have to sit and take life lessons out of it. If I sound cynical, it's because I am. I have no doubt that climbing the Mount is hard, so too is running a marathon. I have a tremendous amount of respect for those who have disciplined themselves to do it the once. Frankly, I'm more interested to know what they've done with their lives since and besides before they start telling me how their singular endeavour should inspire me to change my life.

I have far more respect for the avid mountain climber than I do for the hobby-climber who, on their first foray, challenges the world's tallest peak.

I like the concept, though. Reach for the top. Go towards the peak. Toward the heights! We should all aspire to better. Verso l'alto.

Pier Giorgio Frassati was an avid climber. He was a young, athletic man, handsome and devout. He died at the age of 24 reportedly from a disease contracted while serving Italy's poorest of the poor. He has been described as a man of the beatitudes.

Perhaps you know the beatitudes, also called the sermon on the mount. You can find them in Matthew 5:3-12 and in Luke 6:20-22. "Blessed are the poor.." and so on.

Pier Giorgio had a special place in his heart for the poor from a young age, when at four years old he is reported to have spontaneously given his shoes to a pauper child in need. He was a devout follower of Christ all his life, without the support of his family.

At his funeral after a brief illness and sudden death from poliomyelitis, thousands of the poor whom he had helped lined the streets to mourn his passing, surprising his parents who knew nothing of the extent of his preferential option for the poor.

There's so much more to his story than what I've written. What impresses me, and the reason I wear a wrist band with the words "VERSO L'ALTO" is that this man reached toward the heights physically by climbing mountains, and reached greater heights in life by stooping to help the lowly, quietly and with nary a speaking gig to show for it.

Learn more here: http://saltandlighttv.org/blog/?s=pier+giorgio+frassati

Play Full Out

2011-07-18T09:10:00.000-04:00

http://www.frassatiusa.org/

I've got no time for people who don't play full out. I've got no time for people who don't give it their all. Whether it's the morning paper delivery, or the drive-thru attendant, or a famous entertainer; I'm a big fan of anyone who respects their audience, their sport, their vocation or chosen career and their employer.

I've worked with people who deliberately give less than their best, even in their lame excuses. "I'm hung over, I'm tired, I guess I'm under a lot of pressure..." well boo-flipping-hoo! I heard once of a hung over cook who was asked at what percentage she thought she might be operating, the morning after a bender. "Sixty per cent," she replied with a moan. "Great, that's what I'll pay you," said her boss. "Sixty per cent of your hourly wage." She perked up and if she ever came to work hung over again, no one knows and no one cares.

I knew a manager who used to ask us, "If you paid $100 for a ticket to see a performer and they just 'phoned it in' (gave a mediocre performance), would you feel ripped off?" Naturally, any of us would. "Well," he'd say, "Those people pay good money for a meal at this restaurant. Give 'em what they came for! Every time!"

Play full out. "Verso l'alto", my friends, in all that you do. Head toward the top.

From Boardroom to Breviary

2011-07-18T09:09:00.000-04:00

Father Thomas Dowd, former young telecom Exec who answered God's call, and the first Catholic priest to blog, will be ordained the Auxiliary Bishop of Montreal. He will be the youngest bishop in Canada.

If ever I wonder that there can be a connection between business and faith, Father (soon to be Bishop) Dowd reminds me that God calls us from wherever we are, and sends us to wherever he needs us to be. We have but to listen.

Read more here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/blogging-priest-to-become-canadas-youngest-bishop/article2100251/

Thanks for Your Resume - now F*** Off!

2011-07-15T09:10:00.010-04:00

Thanks for your resume, now f*** off! OK, so no one's ever said that to me exactly. And sometimes that's exactly what the comfortably employed mean to say to the underclass who dare to presume they might someday join their midst. I was surprised to learn of the behaviour of a major Canadian company recently, I am sorry to say, who effectively behaved just that way to a good friend.

A man I know, well educated, well experienced and well respected responded to an opportunity on LinkedIn. I would suggest that he was almost uniquely qualified for the position. He submitted his resume with a cover letter and then followed up. This guy's a pro; the kind of guy you want working for you, the kind of guy you want in your corner. He reached out to an executive in the company, a man he had not seen in years but with whom was once a friend and professional associate. He researched the company, properly prepared his position, made contact on several levels, followed up, followed up again, requested a meeting with his executive friend, and waited for a response. Hell, he waited for an acknowledgement.

Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Bupkis. This is the kind of guy who sells to company presidents and has no trouble in the company of the influential. Some might count him as being one of the influential people in his profession. This is also the kind of guy who knows crass behaviour when he experiences it.

This guy doesn't need a job, he's doing very well where he is. What he craves is a challenge, a place to spread his wings and grow, a place to practice his career of excellence. What he got was rudeness in return. What the company lost was goodwill, and their reputation. My friend forbade me to use their name, but I can tell you that now there are two of us that will never do business with them again. It won't bankrupt them, but this continued behaviour could. He wouldn't accept a job with them now, not out of spite or anger but because he won't be associated with such a culture of disrespect. He certainly won't recommend them either as a place to do business.

You could blame it on the actions of one, two or three people in the company (that's how many his resume would have reached, minimum) however the pattern indicates that it's deeply ingrained in the corporate culture. "We don't need you, we're doing you a favour, thanks for your resume, f*** off!"

I suggest it would be good corporate and personal policy to be respectful to every candidate, every applicant. A simple "thank you, no thank you" would go a long way in differentiating a company. They have invented the technology to do it by email if postage costs are a worry.

Look, I'm a professional sales guy, a pretty good one. I do OK. Rejection is my stock in trade, so to speak. Certainly it comes with the job. If I'm not getting rejected regularly it's because I'm not trying hard enough; not reaching for more. I can handle rejection and so can my friend.

I just can't abide rudeness.

In Real Life, we're Friends

2011-07-12T11:38:00.002-04:00

I use three social networks primarily - Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and occasionally Four Square. I don't differentiate strictly, although naturally Facebook is more for family and friends, and LinkedIn is strictly business. They meld, and so I am careful not to post identical messages in all three, just to avoid filling someone's page with, well...me.

These social networks are sources of leads for me, as a salesperson. They are a way to keep up on what's happening in my friend's lives. They are a way to keep current on my profession, and our world. Here's what you can do to assist me, since it is all about me. Isn't it?

Keep tweeting your activities. You know who you are - you're a frequent speaker at conferences and meetings. Keep tweeting about it. I use that as a source of leads. Here's how. @Prominentspeaker tweets: "On my way to Honeypot Lodge to deliver keynote for the Widget Association" Me thinks - hmmm...Honeypot Lodge is about the same size as our place, and the Widgets are meeting there in July, I wonder where they're meeting next year? So I call the Widgets in August....

Keep telling me where you are via FourSquare, especially if you're my competition. It helps me to get a feel for your sales activities, your target market, your techniques. Hint - it's especially helpful when you name the client you're taking to dinner, if for no other reason than I'll take her to a different restaurant when I'm in town.

Keep tweeting reference material like articles and white papers. That way I know what you're about, I know you're serious, and you keep me on my toes. What you tweet tells me a lot about who you are, and what motivates you. I can talk to your interests, and you to mine when we're fully engaged on social networks.

Please keep your LinkedIn profile up to date. Seriously, it's my on-line rolodex. I need your address and phone number if we're going to catch up for a beverage next time I'm in town, or if I just want to call and say hello. I'd have to say this is the most neglected social network but the it's the one that has the most potential to reach and be relevant.

I love your Facebook pictures and status updates; no really, I do. No matter what we get into professionally, it's important to keep it all in perspective. If it's important to you, it's important to me whether you're my client or my competition - social networking reminds us that in real life, we're friends.

http://twitter.com/#!/jeremytyrrell
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/jeremytyrrell

This Frog Doesn't Sing for Just Anyone

2011-07-11T09:10:00.014-04:00

One of my favourite Warner Brothers cartoon involves a man and a frog - you know the one. A construction worker discovers a remarkably talented frog in a time capsule, figures the frog will make him a millionaire, sinks everything he has into it, and when it comes time to perform, the frog doesn't.

Beyond being one of the funniest cartoons ever, time and time again that sneaky man with dreams of a shortcut to easy street shows up in real life, all over town. Every time I'm faced with one of these "no work, big money" schemes, all I can hear is that frog singing in my ear.

Local Networking Events - every time I attend a Chamber of Commerce networking event some sales neophyte gets hold of my card and tries to convince me that my organization, one of the largest in our little town, should do business with them. Maybe we should, but why do they imagine we're going to drop our current provider for someone we've just met? Maybe it could happen, but I wouldn't start counting the cash yet. So for the umpteenth time - I'm not a decision maker, I'm just a sales guy. You can tell me how well your frog sings, or you can tell someone who cares.

Pyramid Selling - OK, I'm in sales, and I'm pretty good at what I do. What makes you think I'm going to give it all up to buy from you so I can recruit a bunch of someones to buy from me until eventually someone finds an end user to buy a product no one wants? This frog doesn't sing for just anyone, fool.

Plus, I'm not that into frogs: Know Your Market. I'm thrilled that we live in a world where frogs can just belt out a tune anytime they feel like it, and I admit we've come a long way; congratulations. I'm just not that into frogs, which doesn't, by the way, make me ranidaphobic. I didn't say I was scared of frogs, I said I wouldn't pay to hear one sing.

Tradeshows: I'm a Sales Guy. If you're Talking to Me, Get out your Wallet I'm not saying I don't have some connections that you, my fellow salesperson, could benefit from, but that's not why I'm here right now. If you can't buy from me, and I can't buy from you, could we both just get out of each other's way while we talk to actual customers? I promise I'll buy you a coffee some day soon. Plus, it cost my company a lot of money for me to be here. I feel sort of obligated to make some of it back. I know my company could probably use your fantastic product, but since you didn't buy booth space and I did, I'd appreciate it if you could take that stupid frog someplace else.
Watch the cartoon here - One Froggy Evening

http://twitter.com/jeremytyrrell

Looking at the World Through Rhodes-Scholared Glasses

2011-07-08T09:10:00.039-04:00

There's a saying, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing," oft thought to be a warning to the aristocracy to keep the proletariat in the dark, for if the unwashed had even a little knowledge it might spark a revolution.

Not so.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, because a little knowledge is not enough. In fact, it is arguably dangerous to proceed with only a little knowledge. Yet we purchase, make medical decisions, and choose education for our children based on a little knowledge. We elect based on a little knowledge, we run for office based on a narrow idealism and a little knowledge, and we condemn others based on only a little knowledge, we reject (or embrace) religion based on a little knowledge.

Worse, we hold in contempt those who have pursued a higher education beyond the norm. Witness the last Canadian federal election in which the ruling party effectively turned public opinion against a credible opposition because, besides his crime of having pursued a career outside of Canada, their leader dared to ask, dared to know.

Yet, overwhelmingly, the educated and the worldly are the ones who have the best opportunity to turn the word's attention to the needs of the many, and in fact are the ones who are more likely to show a preferential option for the poor. They are the ones who can influence policy, and do.

The Rhodes Scholarship "requires that the candidate be a well-rounded individual, having shown not only academic excellence, but also active engagement in their community and evidence of a strong commitment to leadership in improving the state of the world." Andrew Wilkinson, Canadian National Secretary, Rhodes Scholarship Trust.

These Canadians are Rhodes Scholars, to pick a few from the many who have made and are making a difference. I should confess, in this world of educated, uneducated and uber-educated, I fall somewhere towards the lower end of the scale. I am schooled in my craft with a measure of theory, a sprinkling of practice, and a heap of experience.

John Turner - MP, former Minister of Justice responsible for reforms in the way Justices are appointed. Canadian Prime Minister - He used to sit in front of us at church. He'd tousle my oldest son's hair and call him "sport" and "champ".

Marc Kielburger - with his brother Craig, challenging the world to "Free the Children"

Bob Rae - MP, MPP, Ontario Premier, current interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada - is it possible he may be the best Prime Minister we'll never have, joining the likes of David Lewis and Robert Stanfield in the great "what could have been"

Roland Michener - Ontario MPP, MP, Speaker of the House, Governor General of Canada, populist, fitness enthusiast - I met him once when he came in to get a haircut at Jimmy's wearing his trademark retirement track suit, still looking great at 85. I was in awe; I could barely choke out a "good morning, your excellency." I still remember the Star Weekly interview with him, in which the reporter was invited to join Michener on a morning run if he wanted an interview. Thirty years his junior, the reporter could barely keep up with Michener.

David Lewis - MP, father of the aforementioned Stephen Lewis, socialist and avowed anti-communist, once the leader of the federal NDP and the only Father - Son team to head political parties at the same time (Stephen was leader of the Ontario Provincial NDPs while his dad was leader of the Federal NDP)

Rex Murphy - studied at Oxford, this CBC commentator is thoughtful, provocative and a defender of democracy and of the little guy.

This Canada runs the risk of being a tale of two solitudes, the uninformed and the educated, in the fashion of Dickens' Tale of Two Cities, in which the poor rise up against the aristocracy. We ought not to hold the educated in contempt, but listen to them critically and welcome higher debate and an intellectual meeting of the minds for the good of the many.

From an Old Friend...

2011-07-06T09:10:00.006-04:00

I came to the crashing realization this month that I might be a few years older than most of my co-workers, professional associates and Facebook friends. Who am I kidding; a few years older? A few decades!

Oh sure, I guess I always knew that I might be the only one on the sales team who's ever seen an original episode of The Brady Bunch or Star Trek. And sure, when my friends' nostalgia has them pining away for sitcoms I have never seen because I was too busy working every night in the nineties, I feel like a pretender. Seriously though, who names a kid Topanga?

The gulf is wide - I have friends who can't remember a time when John Travolta wasn't fat. Co-workers who have only seen the short version of Bugs Bunny cartoons, and who don't believe me when I describe the entire bullfighter episode as it was meant to be seen, or the opera singer versus the banjo playing Bugs. I don't think any of them have the attention span to wait for the payoff. Kids, I mean friends, there is nothing funnier than a fat Opera singer getting his payback. You have to see the Bunny on the losing end of encounter after encounter to fully appreciate the brilliance of his final revenge. I doubt you could find a television network willing to go the full length of a Bugs cartoon between commercials these days.

I work hard not to start a sentence with the words "in my day," but more and more I can't help myself. What really brought the age difference home these past few weeks were the Facebook status updates, of which I'd like to say two things.

1. I don't believe that all of your children graduated with honours from Senior Kindergarten or even their Grade 8 class. I'm not calling you liars, just seriously deluded. They can't all have graduated top of their class! That would be like suggesting that no one came in the bottom, which would imply that no one has ever had to face the harsh light of failure, or second best, or last place. That ain't right. In my day we got our asses kicked once in a while. Things can't have changed that much, have they?

2. When my co-workers and peers share pictures of their kid's high school graduations, I feel a bit old. My oldest kid graduated from high school the same year Topanga eloped with Cory. (OK, I might have seen at least one episode of Boy Meets World).

Funny enough, I don't feel so old around all my friends having their very first babies. At least two of my kids are of marrying age. Maybe it won't be long before we're posting baby pictures, too. Will it? No really, how much longer are you going to make us wait?!? Kids, by the time your mom and I were your age, we already had you.

I'm not getting any younger here. Corey and Topanga didn't keep their parents waiting this long.

If Restaurateurs Knew What Hoteliers Know

2011-07-04T09:10:00.102-04:00

ron leischman illustrations rlillustrations.blogspot.com

I've spent a lot of my life working in the kitchens, dishrooms and dining rooms of some pretty fine establishments, and the restaurant biz remains my first love. I'm naturally drawn to it, to write about it, and to relive it in rose coloured hindsight. I've also had a hell of a good time in the hotel side of the hospitality industry, and I've discovered a whole new world right next door.

If restaurant managers had the first clue what hotel managers do, there'd be a revolution.

Hotel Managers have a great deal of autonomy. They take it upon themselves to see that the guest is truly satisfied. Maybe that's because they have them overnight, while restaurant managers only have them for a couple of hours at best. It changes the way you think about someone when they're spending the night, or several days. The restaurant manager just doesn't have as many tricks up his sleeve, and he certainly doesn't think long term. You treat a customer differently when they're not going anywhere anytime soon. Where the hotel can upgrade a guest to a nicer room, or send an amenity, the restaurant just doesn't have that inventory to work with. Or do they? Is there a way to "upgrade" a favoured client, perhaps with premium booths, reserved parking some other sort of premium service or product?

Hotel Managers focus on every aspect of the guest's needs. They see the guest holistically, so to speak. The guest is more than a just customer with an appetite, which is all a restaurateur might see. He's also tired, or stressed, or far from home for a long period of time. She needs to feel safe, he needs a place to work out and to relax...they don't just arrive in a hotel with only one need. Can a restaurant look beyond the obvious and offer the unexpected? Free wi-fi, free use of an I-Pad, a newspaper from any home town in the world (it can be done).

Concierge service in a restaurant? Why not? Wouldn't it be cool if the restaurant host or Manager knew where the hottest bar was, or what movies were playing, or the best place for a decent breakfast tomorrow morning just the same way the hotel concierge is expected to? What if you could order theatre or concert tickets right from your table? The concierge will arrange it in any decent hotel. Isn't it time we combined the role of Maitre D' and Concierge?

Proactive vs. Reactive Hotel Managers proactively plan for every guest, and are better equipped to handle the unexpected because of it. The hotelier is always thinking at least 12 hours ahead, and in reality is looking days, weeks and even months into the future. The restaurateur is usually trying to take care of the business directly in front of her at the moment. Sure, the average restaurant guest does not make reservations 30 days in advance, but planning is about more than that. Revenue managers in the hotel industry release inventory to third party wholesalers in slow periods - what if restaurants did the same? Forecast out and based on trends and known local events, offer packages or specific deals on line? What if instead of forecasting a downward trend in sales and shrugging your shoulders, one translated that to be a downward trend of, for example, 20 customers a night and began a dedicated effort to capture exactly 20 more customers through available channels and creative means?

We're always chasing money like it walks in the door by itself. It doesn't. There's a person attached. Maybe we could focus a little less on the money, and more on the person.

Hotels know that when a hotel room goes empty, it's spoiled inventory since tonight will pass by and never happen again. Restaurants understand spoilage in the kitchen, but I don't know many restaurateurs who look at empty tables in the restaurant and shake their heads at the "spoiled inventory" right in the dining room. What if they applied themselves to the task of ensuring that every table is filled, every night, several times over. It's called "turnover" and that's a word used to describe historical activity. Do we even have a phrase like "projected occupancy" that we apply to our planning model in a restaurant?

Hotels have dedicated sales people to bring in group business, or entice individual corporate travelers. I think most restaurants, even the larger ones, would consider that to be a luxury, or a "fluff" position. If only they knew about hotel sales people who bring in 10 to 100 times their salaries in sales. How much could be accomplished if the restaurant viewed that as a real job, not just a project assigned to a junior manager. Maybe a chain with two or three locations might see the value in having a sales person whose only job it is to make sure that the sports teams eat there, or the office parties are booked and serviced, or the wedding showers or rehearsal parties were planned and executed perfectly. That's exactly what's happening in hotels while restaurants leave it to chance, and to word of mouth. What if a national restaurant chain had a national sales team, not to look for franchisees, but for customers?

I compare these two different business models in the same industry because it's what I know. But in the past when I worked two jobs to support my family, I applied the skills of car sales to bartending and achieved some very profitable results - so much so that I walked away from selling cars but still use those skills in hotel sales today. Product knowledge, never sell on price alone, test drives...it translates into any industry, I'd wager.

What can we learn from someone who does what we do, in a different capacity or in a different industry?

There Goes the Neighbourhood

2011-06-30T09:10:00.008-04:00

When my buddy Rick (Moose) Moore's family moved to Toronto when we were teens I was distraught at the thought of him leaving our little town, afraid he'd be swallowed up in the big city. On one of his visits back to Belleville he reassured me. "Jeremy," he said, "in Belleville we live in our neighbourhoods. In Toronto we live in neighbourhoods, too. There's just a whole lot more of them." With those words of wisdom my fears were at rest.

I wish Moose was here to talk to Mayor Eddie and council. (Why does our council entertain delegations if they have no intention of listening, or perhaps even changing their votes because of what they've heard?)

As when they opened the WFCU Arena and closed several neighbourhood ice rinks, by opening the aquatic centre they intend to close down neighbourhood pools and the main library in this "big box" approach to city services. I think that's a bad idea.

~ conflict of interest alert - all 3 of my kids have put themselves, or are putting themselves through University on lifeguard wages ~ all 3 of my kids have given everything they have (including cash from their own pockets) to make a kid's summer a great one at the neighbourhood pool ~

We live in our neighbourhoods. My kids spent summers walking over to an outdoor pool and spending afternoons with their friends. If we lived in the vicinity of one of the soon to be closed pools, the summer magic and the lessons of community learned at an early age would have been lost to them, as it will be to kids today.

Pools, rinks, libraries are NOT cost items on the city budget, at least not in the sense of a profit/loss calculation. They are the services provided with the tax dollars pooled for the benefit of all. Yet lately we hear about pools losing money, or libraries costing money. They're supposed to. So is snow removal.

When we land the big swimming events, who's going to be temporarily evicted? Swim classes, recreational swimmers, library users who can't find a parking spot, all of these citizens will have to cool their jets while the big pool and all the little ones in the complex are being used for some mega-event or another.

I'm in favour of a new sports-plex type installation downtown, seriously really in favour. It's good for business, it's good for tourism, it's good for Windsor. I'm not sure it has to be so big, and I'm just not in favour of shutting down the lifeblood of our neighbourhoods for this Council's legacy project.

Heat and Serve is bad Enough in a Restaurant

2011-06-29T09:10:00.018-04:00

There are a lot of really poor restaurants out there, some of them chains and some of them independents. They take a prepared product straight from the freezer to the deep fryer or oven, slap some canned sauce on it, and serve it to you as if you couldn't buy the exact same crap at the supermarket and throw it in your own oven at home. Heat and serve.

We can criticize the common eatery for outsourcing, thawing, deep-frying and broiling in a bid to fill the gullets of the masses for a measly profit, but here are some areas in our own lives in which we should avoid it.

Social Media - we heat and serve opinion when we take what others have written and serve it up thoughtlessly. It's bad when some tweet other's blog posts minutes after the original is posted EVERY time, it's worse when Facebookers attempt to shame each other into turning their status into a PSA (Public Service Announcement). Create your own damned cause! Drop me as a friend if you can't handle that I refuse to copy and paste your status for an hour. We'll both get over it.

Our Vocations / Careers - if you're going to open a restaurant dammit, do it because you love to serve wonderful food to really nice people. The same goes for our careers, figuratively speaking. If it's truly a career, and not a 40 year job, do it because you love to do it. Don't heat and serve someone else's watered down dreams just for a crummy paycheque. Like eating in a mediocre roadhouse, sometimes you have to until you can do better. Just don't fool yourself that it's fine dining, that it's nutritious, or that you won't end up with a fat ass.

Love and Friendship - there's another human being involved. She or he deserves better than warmed over platitudes and self-serving afterthoughts. He or she deserves better than a "can I take your order" attitude, or "cheque please!" response the first time the going gets tough. Take the time to work up an appetite, to savour the moment, to glory in a shared meal and to dream about it long afterwards.

Our Faith, or Lack Thereof: Our Relationship with God - specifically with Christ. Embrace him or reject him - your choice, but do it whole heartedly and live with the consequences. Don't heat and serve tasteless blather and call it prayer, don't slop out banalities about inner spirituality or outer atheism unless you've taken the time to personally prepare the dish. After all, you'll be eating it for eternity.

Ordering!

The Three Coolest Things ever said to me by a Hospitality Professional

2011-06-27T09:10:00.019-04:00

We can mandate service standards all to hell, but in the end it comes down to the front line people having the autonomy to speak from the heart in an excellence oriented culture. A waiter in Baltimore last week reminded me of that, and of two other occasions where the hospitality professional knew just exactly what to say.

"Hi, I'm John!" That's how John at the Baltimore Hilton greeted us. "Good morning Miss Williams," (reading my breakfast partner's convention name badge). He turned to me and extended his hand, "Good morning sir, I'm John." I wasn't wearing my badge. I shook his hand and said "Pleased to meet you John, I'm Jeremy." John then gave an outstanding overview of the breakfast menu, apologized that we had to wait for a table (5 minutes at most) and for the rest of the meal he addressed us by name. "More coffee, Jeremy?" Cool. In his greeting he had advised that if we wanted pancakes or waffles as part of our buffet, he'd arrange to have them made for us fresh. We didn't ask, but he showed up unexpectedly mid-way through the meal with a waffle for us to share. "I thought you might enjoy this!" Very cool.

"It's my problem, not yours." The second coolest thing ever said to me was by a hotel Assistant Manager a lot of years ago. My former boss was throwing one of her trademark tantrums about the hotel room and something about a hair dryer and how she'd already been moved once, and I just couldn't take the whining anymore, having put up with it for several trips already that summer. Nothing was ever good enough. I went to the manager on duty and asked them (begged them) to apply my frequent traveler upgrade for my boss' stay but unfortunately the offer was non-transferable. I pleaded with them to concede just this once and put her in a suite, and put me out of my misery. "You don't understand," I said. "She's making my life hell!" The Assistant Manager smiled and said, "If your boss is unhappy in my hotel, it's not your problem, it's mine. Leave it with me." Very cool.

"Congratulations!", the coolest words ever spoken. A lot of years ago, on our honeymoon in New York City, we went to dinner at Sardi's. You know the place - caricatures of Stars on the walls, it's been in a number of movies. We couldn't afford it but we went anyway. The only thing in our price range was the theatre menu. Because the shows were about to begin and we had arrived late and ordered from the theatre menu, the server assumed we were in a rush and ramped up the service. When we realized what was happening we told him the situation - we weren't going to a Play, and this was our honeymoon. The place cleared out quickly as the well-to-do and the well-known headed off to Broadway, leaving only my bride and I almost alone in the famous dining room. That's when Mr. Sardi stopped by. "I hear you're newly married," he said, extending his hand. "Congratulations!"

As a young restaurant manager just out of Chef's school at the start of my career it was an unforgettable moment and not just because it was Mr. Sardi. It was almost the last time a manager or owner has ever dropped by our table. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I'm saying it doesn't happen often. Mr. Sardi made welcome the penniless kid and his wife enjoying what, to this day, is still one of the best meals we've ever experienced.

This is a great career if you're humbly inclined to the service of others.

Our Father. No really, Our FATHER, our Daddy, Abba, our Papa...

2011-06-24T09:10:00.002-04:00

Those two words, spoken by Jesus, have changed the world. "Our Father..."

Before he gave his disciples freedom to speak directly to God, they prayed quite differently. They followed strict rituals, they brought their petitions to the priest, and he prayed on their behalf. He kept his eyes averted, and never directly addressed God by name. The Jewish people didn't even have a name for God, they gave Him the unpronounceable YHWH. We, of course, added a few vowels and use the word "Yahweh" as one of the names we call our Father.

With these two words, "our Father", we could now pray directly to God, and on behalf of others.

It has been suggested that how we relate to our own fathers conditions us in the manner in which we relate to God. For some He is authoritarian and strict, for others a friendly daddy.

The first few sentences of the Lord's Prayer are addressed vertically, directly to God. We recognize His place in our lives. We pay tribute, and then we move on to petitions.

The petitions are a horizontal expression of our oneness as a people. Give us this day OUR daily bread, forgive us OUR trespasses, and so on. This prayer is meant to be prayed daily, if not for ourselves, for others. Our DAILY bread, not "enough bread until I get around to praying again," but our daily bread.

The Holy Spirit, breathed into the world by God when He sent the Word, His Son, in the same way that when we speak our words they are sent out with our own breath. The Holy Spirit gives us the courage and faith to pray the Lord's Prayer daily. The Lord's Prayer is perhaps the most profound statement of our belief in the Triune God; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and we say it daily separately and together.

The Lord's Prayer is a spoken expression of the sign of our faith, the sign of the cross.

Our Father, Yours and Mine

2011-06-22T09:10:00.002-04:00

Those two words, spoken by Jesus, have changed the world. "Our Father..."

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, the word "our" must have rocked their world, to use the popular vernacular.

1. Before this, only the priest prayed on behalf of the people. With the introduction of this simple phrase, "our Father", Jesus empowered each of us to pray on behalf of another. And so, in effect, we are all priests. In fact we are a priestly people, we are all prophets, and we share in the kingdom.

2. If he's"our" Father, then that makes us children of God. All of us. That's pretty cool. But wait! There's more...

3. That Jesus said it makes him our brother. Yes, I know we've heard that said, but has it really sunk in? He's a sibling - we can talk to him just that plainly. He's one of the family.

4. And here's the relationship that changes everything, or has the potential to change our lives. If we're all children of God, then we are brothers and sisters. All of us.
You know how sometimes kids accuse their parents of playing favourites? Of course they don't, they love their children individually and equally, and especially so does God. (Have you ever noticed? When we think our parents play favourites, it's never we who are the favourite, but when we think God has favourites, we assume it's us, our way of life, our country...)
You know that madman that wants to wipe Israel off the map? God loves him as much as he loves me. You know those madmen that flew the planes into the buildings, or those who want us dead, or those who kill Christians simply for following Christ? God loves them as much as he loves me; as much as he loves you. That family who lives next to us that dumps their garbage on my lawn every day? God loves them even though they're driving us crazy.

Picture borrowed from Calvary Chapel Shreveport

And just so should we.

When we pray the Lord's Prayer, it's not a personal prayer at all. It's a prayer for and on behalf of everyone, even those who don't believe.

More to come...

The Real Undercover Boss

2011-06-20T09:10:00.003-04:00

One of my favourite TV shows is "Undercover Boss". Each week a different company is featured, with a CEO coming down from on high, from the corner office, the Executive suite, the Ivory Tower - by whatever name you call it, he comes down to associate with the common folk in the sewers, roadways, fields and warehouses of their business. And yes, more often than not, the boss is a he but there is hope for the future.

It seems the best way these men can disguise themselves to prevent from being recognized, and to best fit in with their employees, is to stop shaving and bathing and to move into a flea-bitten motel. I guess if that's the standard they've set in the workplace...when in Rome and all that.

The comparisons to our own Undercover Boss are not that big a jump, although it's tough to pretend that Jesus was exactly undercover. He gave ample warning that he was coming. It is said that Jesus is mentioned in every book of the Bible. Still he wasn't recognized, perhaps because he came as the humble king, born into poverty.

And if today we fail to recognize him, it's our own fault. He warned us - whenever we fail to recognize the poor, the hungry, the homeless and the lonely among us, we have failed to recognize him in our midst. And, like at the end of every Undercover Boss episode when the employees are faced with the evidence of their own words and behaviour, we too will have our own personal "come to Jesus" moment.

But here's the good news. He didn't come to judge, just to show us the way.

And in doing so, he taught us to pray using the two most profound words ever uttered by a human being, (and make no mistake, he was fully human as well as fully divine).

What are the two words that have changed the world, and have the potential to change our lives?

"Our Father..."

More to come...

The Real Cost of Watering my Lawn

2011-06-17T09:10:00.005-04:00

Early this spring I purchased a rain barrel and hose attachment for about $100.00. This is the real cost of infrastructure to deliver water to my humble garden, (I don't water the grass) and no matter how much I use or don’t use that cost remains the same.

Some people on the municipal system think they should be charged for usage, and that there shouldn't be an infrastructure component on the monthly water bill. OK, let's put a meter on my spigot and charge me for the water I drain out of my barrel every time I water the flowers. I think we’ll discover that the water itself is actually the least expensive consideration.

I have a friend who was complaining that his municipality has implemented a watering ban and that even if he does buy a rain barrel, it won't be enough to keep his lawn green. He'd need several. Yes! By George, I think he's got it!

But let's be real. Whatever I'm saving in not watering the lawn and garden from a hose, I'm blowing in thawing out food for the barbecue under cold running water because I just can't be bothered to think two days ahead.

Lessons in Management, Learned in the Garden

2011-06-15T09:10:00.007-04:00

I'm no gardener. I'm a guy with a yard and a wife who likes it to look nice. I'm also currently a manager of a small sales team of professionals, but in my career I've led teams of 100+.

If you remember "The Karate Kid", Mr. Miyagi tended to his Bonsai tree while he taught Daniel-san the lessons of karate, and of life. I have often thought it was a powerful metaphor that largely went unnoticed in the plot.

My mind wanders when I work in the yard, and I'm of the mind that when your mind wanders to the same subject constantly, it's probably best to let it. Maybe a freedom trek of the imagination will help solve a problem. Lately my mind finds itself pondering the challenges of being the best possible manager to the benefit of my organization, and for the others I serve - my team.

Here are some lessons from my humble backyard:

Plants need water and sunshine, but too much or too little will kill them. The same is true of the people who report to you. They need constant attention, some less than others, and it's up to the gardener to know his garden, and the needs of each individual plant, and to give them just the right amount of attention that each requires. You learn that by getting into the garden and getting your hands dirty.

Weeds don't belong. Some weeds masquerade as attractive or complimentary plants. Right now I have a problem with some sort of clover growing slowly over the yard. It's tempting to keep it. It doesn't need any attention, and it's always a green carpet no matter how dry the rest of the yard gets, but it doesn't belong. I didn't plant it, and it wasn't part of the plan. So I pull it out every time I'm out there tending the yard.

The weeds in our organization can be people with bad attitudes, and yes, their attitude IS our business. Weeds in the organization can be bad practices that creep in over time. A business that closes a few minutes early becomes a business more focused on closing early than serving every client up to and well past the last minute. An office team can walk out the door promptly every day at 5:00, but that weed-like behaviour creeps into other practices, like not answering late afternoon emails or phone calls, and putting off late afternoon requests for proposals until tomorrow morning (while the competition stays late and gets their proposal in front of the customer's eyes first).

The whole yard needs attention. From time to time we have to focus on the individual components, but only in context of the whole. Too much attention on one part of the garden creates an imbalance and the other parts suffer. The same is true of our team. Individuals get the attention they need, when they need it, but ignoring the rest of the team will lead to bigger problems brought on by imbalance.

Prune, prune, prune. You're not doing the bush any favours by letting it grow wild. It isn't cruel to the bush to prune it back, it's actually helpful to it's growth. So why are some managers afraid to reel in their subordinates? Prune too much or at the wrong time and you'll kill the plant, prune too little and it will die unhealthy and unkempt. We owe it to our reports' careers to prune and let grow, alternately and at the right times.

Sometimes you just have to hire a landscaper. You're not expected to know everything, but it's your job to maintain the garden after he's gone. Management landscapers come as consultants, in your HR department, and in recruiting firms, but the role they play doesn't abdicate the manager of her responsibility after they're gone. Hire a good one, share your vision of the end goal, and be prepared to speak up when he's headed in the wrong direction. You are the manager - it's your garden.

Most of all, enjoy your work! You don't pull out the shears or the lawn-mower every time you go out into the yard. Sometimes you just have to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labours. The same is true of your team - sometimes you just have to kick back and enjoy their company.

Road Test - the 2011 Hyundai Santa Fe

2011-06-13T09:10:00.038-04:00

Once upon a time our family owned a Saturn Vue. It was a sport-cute, and my wife was the main driver. Apart from a lot of road noise, a nagging gearshift issue that the mechanics couldn't recognize (but we did), and how very badly it handled in the snow, we kind of liked it. But we've actively avoided all Sport-Utes since we got that out of our system and went back to driving a sedan.

I've boycotted all Hyundai products out of protest because of the Pony. I won't even rent them. Back in the eighties we had just enough means to buy one of only three cars in our meager price range - a Pony, a Pontiac Sunbird, or the Renault Alliance. Thankfully we chose the Renault, because the Pony had a useful life of exactly three years, and the Sunbird was a blue smoke belching excuse for a small car. I had a friend who owned a Hyundai Pony and got not one hour more than 1080 days out of it. Last payment and a dead car (back in the day when you could afford to buy a car over three years).

So when the rental guys try to offer me a Hyundai, I always decline, but this week I caved and took the Santa Fe. What a great vehicle! It's got me rethinking my aversion to Sport-Utilities, and I have discovered a new respect for Hyundai. Here's what I thought:

Great: The design. This is a good sized vehicle that doesn't feel cumbersome. It's easy to handle, has plenty of zip even with the air conditioning on full blast, it's quiet on the highway and comfortable to drive. It feels like a whole lot more car than what you probably pay for it. Quality - it just feels like quality. Somebody who cares designed and built this vehicle.

Good: Fuel economy is surprisingly good for a big Sport Ute. It's larger than a number of it's competitors, and even in mostly city driving I was surprised at how little fuel it used. Still, if I didn't have to commute in this vehicle, I would probably prefer something a little smaller. But for soccer moms and hockey dads, the flexibility and size doesn't have to come with an excessive trade-off in operating costs.

Room for Growth? It feels like they intentionally built blind spots into the design. Backing up with the high back seats and headrests combined with tinted windows was uncomfortable in a parking garage. I always felt like I was guessing. I wouldn't even attempt to back up out of the family driveway without knowing where every little kid in the neighbourhood was for fear of running over someone I couldn't see. Maybe a back-up camera is needed? So an excellent family oriented design on the inside of the vehicle and wonderful performance under the hood fails a little, in my opinion, in the lack of consideration of all that's happening outside and around the vehicle.

Would I Buy One? Frankly, I'd like to test drive it in the snow first. But if it was as great as it looks like it might be, and if we were back in the days of three young active kids, and if we could afford more than we could back then, we most definitely would have put this vehicle on the list.

Even today, maybe a hybrid Santa Fe could be on the list of future vehicles.

Here's my One Minute Review of the 2011 Hyundai Santa Fe

Sociologist: Every 5 Minutes a Christian Is Martyred

2011-06-10T09:10:00.005-04:00

A sociologist representing a European security organization says that the number of Christians killed each year for their faith is so high that it calculates to one martyr's life being taken every five minutes.

"If these numbers are not cried out to the world, if this slaughter is not stopped, if it is not acknowledged that the persecution of Christians is the first worldwide emergency in the matter of viodislence and religious crimination, the dialogue between religions will only produce beautiful conferences but no concrete results,"

Read more ZENIT - Sociologist: Every 5 Minutes a Christian Is Martyred
http://www.zenit.org/article-32747?l=english

Of Spoons and Muggs

2011-06-08T09:10:00.032-04:00

When I was first in sales selling dishwashers and dishwashing chemicals to restaurants in Toronto's downtown core, I was given some great advice by my boss in the now defunct chemical company I worked for. It amounted to this: "Take care of your best clients, first."

I had inadvertently neglected a call from a late-70s style big food big restaurant concept in it's final days. No one knew it at the time, but waiters with attitude were about to become yesterday's news in the big restaurant segment. Seems the hoi-polloi would grow weary of the hype and hip and faux-happiness that came with deepfried cheesesticks and boil-in-the-bag marinara sauce. Big concept joints in the tourist district would soon stack their last patio chair, spear their last pickle and place it in their last Bloody Caesar, hand out their last oversized menu, and embroider their last server apron.

Freezer to fryer, though not dead, was on the decline.

But that was still a few years away, and this joint was one of our best accounts. I hadn't responded immediately because I was in a Diner on Queen Street, under the dishwasher trying to figure out why the damned thing wouldn't turn on. Lunch dishes were stacking up.

The big restaurant GM was livid by the time I responded, although I had gotten there as soon as I could. He had waited several hours for me to come and see why the coffee mugs just weren't as clean as they could be, while I had chosen not to leave the small diner without a functioning dishmachine.

As the Boss said in our post-mortem - "We can't afford to lose this client! The next time they call for any reason, I don't care what you're doing, drop it. It takes 20 "spoons" (greasy spoons - a nickname for a small restaurant)..."it takes 20 spoons to replace one big account like this one."

True enough. But the big guys are mostly gone, and Chef Susur Lee from Peter Pan on Queen Street has gone on to open a few "spoons" since. Maybe not twenty, but a few.

The lesson - the boss is always right, except when hindsight is on your side.
Lesson two - he was right, we do need to take care of our most important clients. Sometimes they're just not our biggest.

Of Parliament, Pages and the Privilege to Serve

2011-06-06T09:10:00.008-04:00

My son, at the age of 13, was a Page at Queen's Park.

He studied hard to get that spot. Maps of the chambers on the dining room table, he (and his parents) could name every Member by riding and by seat location by the time it he was ready to take the test. Once a Page is accepted it is a rigorous course to teach these kids from all over Ontario the rules of Parliament.

As Pages, they cannot show any sign of partisanship. That's why they wear black and white, so that no Party colour is evident in their dress. They treat every member equally, and respond when called, performing essential duties of Parliament. Had a Federal election been called while my son was serving, our family would not have been permitted to plant a lawn sign. That's how non-partisan Pages MUST be, it even extends to their homes.

A university student Page in Ottawa recently broke the code of non-partisanship and openly protested the Prime Minister on the floor of the Senate. Shame. Shame. Some say they've seen worse behaviour on the floor, and current decorum is at it's lowest in history. If that were true there'd be no need for the Government benches and Opposition benches to be separated by a distance of exactly two sword lengths; there is a long history of raucous behaviour in the process of making laws. Let us hope there is a short history of foolish behaviour by officers of the House.

Some praise her, but I can't. It wasn't courageous, it was a heinous breach of protocol. Following the argument that her actions are to be applauded, I suppose we should be happy every time Parliament grinds to a halt because some other Page or another non-elected person with access to the chamber decides to get naked and streak, or to egg the PM, play a guitar, hold a sign, wear a rainbow-coloured headband or in some other way make a personal statement of protest.

The young lady's behaviour brought shame to all Pages. It threatens democracy. The House of Commons must be the one place where democracy is allowed to run it's course, a course any Canadian will cheer or decry, depending on one's loyalties, depending on exactly what moment in history is unfolding.

Read about this recent silliness here: http://goo.gl/h75bN and a commentary here http://goo.gl/0lg7M

Boomers, Billionaires and Baristas

2011-06-03T09:10:00.003-04:00

Many conferences I have attended have sessions addressing the cross-generational divide in the workplace today. Witty and expert presenters codify us by age groups with names like Boomers and X or Y, they tease us for our common foibles, and offer suggestions on how to address each others' needs. In truth, it's the older ones who are expected to accommodate the younger ones while they put up with us. The young 'uns don't pay us no never mind, and never have.

I admit I have experienced my share of frustration with the twenty to thirty-somethings, but they have some qualities I greatly admire, too.

Billionaires and Baristas: Seems the mid-twenties crowd are either uber-smart millionaires working towards their first billion, or they are baristas at Starbucks. Here's the cool thing - they mutually co-exist. Neither looks down on or up to the other, neither would change places, each is happy in their own self-centred world.

The Winner, by a Tie: They don't own ties. They don't tuck in their shirts. They have a one-day growth of facial hair, every day (how is that even possible?) and they look good. Well, not all of them. A lot of them are overweight and out of shape but they still try and pull off this sloppy casual look. But to the ones who can pull it off, congratulations. We were never that cool. I look forward to one of you millionaires giving the keynote address at my next conference looking like you just rolled out of bed as I sit there all suited up out of respect for your coolness.

The Winner by a Vote: Life is just one big reality show to them, and losers get voted off by indifference and apathy and downright freestyle editorial comment on the social networks.

Everyone is a Self-Editing Comedian: and some of the stuff they say in 140 characters is insightful and pretty damned funny.

They're Smart: but not wise, which is a shame. Just once I'd like to hear them give a well-considered opinion, not just a re-#hash of someone else's tweet. I do like the way they drag their fingers across the screen of their I-Pads in dazzling speed as they search for evidence on the net that what I've just said is wrong. Very cool.

They all Want to Earn RIGHT NOW the Salary it Took me Thirty Years to Get: And I'm OK with that, they can have it. "Money can't buy me love..." (That's the Beatles. Look it up, Google it, YouTube it.)

I try to be kind to every one of them. They won't all be Baristas for life; they won't all be Billionaires (I know, I know...but someone had to say it. Were you gonna tell 'em?)

One of them will be my boss when I'm working as a Greeter at Wal-Mart someday, they just don't know it yet. I want them to remember me as that old guy who was pretty cool and "down with it" in the 2010s.

Ego and Ministry, Me vs. my Better Self

2011-06-01T09:10:00.001-04:00

I often joke that the last thing any clergyman wants to do is upset the choir. I joke because it's just too dangerous to say something like that without a smile and a self-deprecating chuckle.

I know, my mom was in the choir. She once left her Parish because she was highly insulted by something someone said about her singing, spent a year lending her talent at another Parish, and only returned to good old St. Thomas' when they begged her to return.

There are lots of ministries in the church. There are lots of activities to the glory of God.

The danger of Ministry, the danger of volunteerism, is when one defines himself / herself by the work. A person becomes the work and prefers to be known by the title, the raison d'etre becomes the raison d'autre. The ego defines us. We clutch tightly until it hurts, we get angry when people don't recognize our selflessness, we continue on grudgingly, we burn out. As a good friend reminded me, nowhere in the Bible does it say "burned out to the glory of God!"

Here's a simple test to see if we've fallen into the trap. What if your Pastor told you he wanted you to consider volunteering your talents to something other than what you're doing? What if you were asked to stop singing in the choir and join the St. Vincent de Paul society instead, or more to the point, what if you always sing the Psalm and you were asked to let someone else sing "your" solo? What if you were asked to step aside from heading up Sunday school to working in a support situation for another?

Sure, it would hurt at first. That's natural, our egos take a bit of a bruising from time to time. But when we're ready to quit the Parish or volunteer organization because of a perceived insult like these, maybe we're holding on just a little too tightly and for the wrong reasons. That's a hard lesson to learn.

That's a great lesson if we can learn it. God willing some day I will, too.

Trouble in the Local Catholic School Board

2011-05-30T09:10:00.008-04:00

There's trouble in the local Catholic School Board, and many will take this opportunity to suggest that the problems begin in the "Catholic" part of that title. I've have my own concerns regarding that as well, not the least involve statements that are decidedly un-Catholic from some of our Catholic teachers. I've heard Catholic teachers make statement supportive of same-sex "marriage" and another make statements supportive of couples living together. Regardless of what is now considered to be mainstream and acceptable in society, it's not what Catholics believe and it is not what teachers in the Catholic system can support, even privately.

It's not my place to judge others, however as a parent in the system and a taxpayer contributing to the system and as a Roman Catholic Deacon, I would like to see at least one change beyond trimming the administrative ranks in the local board.

I believe any teacher and administrator or trustee in the Catholic school system who does not attend Mass on a regular basis should resign her / his position in the Board, and go and find work in the Public Board. I am not advocating they should be fired, far from it, I believe people should have the courage to admit when they can't support what their employer supports, when they can't fully perform the job they were hired to do. In the case of the Separate School teacher, that includes teaching the Gospel - always.

Teachers in either Board do not just teach the three R's, they develop young people into responsible adults, they shape character, they mentor and encourage while they teach. Catholic teachers have the extra responsibility of doing all that in Christ's name. If they don't attend Mass themselves, they can't pass along the Church's teachings because they aren't participating in the Liturgy of the Word, or of the Eucharist. Don't talk to me about praying in a field or a forest; don't talk to me about being a good person. Go to Church, participate in the Mass at least weekly or stop pretending. This isn't just a job you're doing, folks.

We don't need to amalgamate two boards into one to save money, each board is funded per pupil so we'd roughly need the same amount of schools and teachers whether there is one board or two. To all those who want to see the Catholic Board shut down, I say "be patient."

It's ours to lose, and frankly, we Catholics are presiding over its demise quite nicely without any secular help at all.

Read more here: http://goo.gl/Cmm4h

Why an NDP Opposition is good for Business in Canada

2011-05-27T09:10:00.008-04:00

This week marks an historic first - a meeting of Her Majesty's Official Opposition and it isn't either the Liberal or Conservative party. You might be tempted to suggest that the Bloc Quebecois got there first in 1993, and I'd clarify that I said "Her Majesty's Official Opposition". The Bloc had no allegiance to Her Majesty, no matter what they raised their hands and swore on a Bible.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/05/24/pol-ndp-caucus.html?ref=rss

Here's why an NDP in official opposition is good for business in Canada:

Jack Layton is a scrapper. Business people everywhere can relate to that, even if they don't agree with his politics. He'll engage in real debate, listen, and offer well-considered opinion. It will be good to have a little integrity on the Hill.

Business needs consumer confidence. When the average Canadian realized that, even in Canada, change is possible, it inspired us to dream for a better Canada. Again, you don't have to like the NDP or agree with them to sit up and take notice that maybe, just this once, the future could be different than we were told was a pre-destined eventuality.

Sometimes the little guy gets noticed. Little guys everywhere rejoice - and go and buy some new duds and a haircut while you're at it. If you're going to get noticed you might as well look good.

This ain't your fat union NDP. These guys are lean and hungry, the way labour used to be, they won't be pushed around by beer-bellied bellicose single issue unionists. Labour will have a greater voice on the Hill, and it won't have to yell and drop f-bombs in the process. Respect for the worker is good for business.

Respect for all people is good for Canada.

Faith in Business

2011-05-26T09:10:00.001-04:00

When I think about being a man of faith at the same time as being a businessman, the usual "don'ts" come to mind. Don't sleep around, don't take advantage of others, don't lie, don't steal...the kind of stuff that even an atheist would agree is wrong. Yet we're able to turn a blind eye to our own transgressions with excuses, like "it was only one time" or "it had to be done in this instance" or "if I don't do this, someone else will', or my absolute least favourite, "it was the best of two evils."

Faith in business, to me, goes much deeper than the basic rules of social behaviour with a threat of vengeance hanging overhead, as some might describe the handcuffs that bind the faithful. Or do they?

I'm not handcuffed by my faith. Christian faith is actually quite liberating. Knowing that your Father is in charge of the whole universe makes the trials of everyday business life seem so inconsequential.

There are only two guiding principles on which all the others are founded, for the Catholic business person: Love God, Love your neighbour. Matthew 22:36-40

When we Love God, we don't love other things ahead of Him. We don't worship money, or promotions. A corner office or a nicer car (at the expense of someone else, at the expense of our soul) are not our motivation. When I think of all the gods in my life that have come ahead of the one, true God I can trace all my most miserable times to when I had forgotten about God. The years when my mantra was "40 at 30, 40 at 30" (meaning I would make $40 thousand a year before I turned 30 years old), I managed to do just that but then was promptly laid off from a bankrupt company after achieving that goal. In my debt-ridden misery the first place I found myself, before I could even drag myself home to tell my wife that we were destitute with no severance package, was to my church. I've never looked back.

When we love our neighbour, that includes our co-workers, our clients, our competitors, and yes, even the boss. It means we don't talk behind their backs, unless it's complimentary. We celebrate their success. We still want to beat our competitors in the game, but we do it with integrity; "winning at all costs" seems foolish. We don't lie to our customers because it shows a profound disrespect for them. We assume the best intentions when the boss makes impossible demands and have the respect to point out the impossibility of the demands that perhaps the boss didn't realize.

That's it, only two rules, into which lie the 10 commandments. The first three are "love God" rules, the next seven are "love your neighbour" rules. http://wiki.ask.com/Ten_Commandments

Guys' Guys

2011-05-25T09:10:00.038-04:00

The lost art of being a guy is being "frittered away" (as my dad used to say when he'd lecture me about my lost paper route earnings) by the wrong headed (but very funny) portrayal of dads as dolts, young men as nothing more than walking erections, and all men as bumbling fools. Add that to the abdication of responsibility by many fathers today, and we've got a society of thirty-something men who don't even know how to shake hands properly, why they should put in a full day's work which might mean staying late and coming in early, or when to go home to their wives and families. That's a two-parter - first you have to go home, and when you do, you have to be there. Put down the game controllers gentlemen, you have a three-year-old of your own now.

Here's some guys who are real guys (in spite of the fact that some are fictional):

Dick Van Dyke as Rob Petrie in the Dick Van Dyke Show, yes, he was a bit awkward, but he knew his stuff and his family and friends were important to him. He was the boss, but felt no need to flaunt the title; he was in there with the troops. A reformed alcoholic in real life, Van Dyke recognized his failings, hit rock bottom, and did something about it. Still working hard into his eighties.
Daniel Craig as James Bond because he can and does get hurt. He isn't very pretty at the best of times but like most men, he looks great all cleaned up and wearing a tux. He doesn't take any crap from the boss because he's just that damned good.
John Spencer as Leo McGarry, the boss who doesn't take any crap from his reports in The West Wing; he's all business; loved by his underlings and by his friends but always from a respectful distance.
Pope Benedict XVI - he's an unapologetic expert in his field, a leader, and he gets straight to the uncomfortable point without messing around. You may not want to hear what he has to say, but that's precisely why he has to say it. I know a few priests who are just like that - damned hard to argue with them in matters of faith; damned glad that we're on the same side.
Donny Osmond and all the real life dudes like him who have stayed true to their faith, their wives and their families, guys have have stuck with their careers when times got tough, and guys who are driven to succeed not at the expense of others, but by sheer determination, hard work, continuous improvement and talent. My financial advisor, our grade school principal, a school Superintendent I know and the former VP of my department are all men like this - stand up gentlemen, perhaps even a bit boring to some, but guys who just get it done and stay true to themselves in the process.
Mark Wahlberg and Mario Lopez, my son's hockey coach and any other guy who is unashamedly Catholic, as best as he can be. No one's looking for perfection in this department fellas, but one's very best effort is a shining beacon for others.
Gary Lautens, the Toronto Star columnist who was gone too soon in 1992 (almost 20 years ago!) at the age of 63. His writing inspired young dads like me to hang in there. There's humour in the strangest of places, our families. I had the chance to meet him a couple of times, and thank him for my favourite of his columns - the time he catches Jackie (his wife) eating garlic. I loved the way he wrote about his daughter and about his sons, the oldest is my age. His heart attack and untimely death has been one of the key motivating factors in my own exercise and healthy lifestyle; he's the reason I see my doctor annually. I may not ever be the dad he was, but I'd like to stick around to keep trying. God bless the Lautens family.
Craig Kielburger / Neil Patrick Harris - boy wonders who still amaze now that they're all grown up; each making a difference in his own way.

Any man who respects his marriage vows, keeps Christ in his marriage, comes home when he should, gives his all in a job he can be proud of, and works hard to raise the best children he and his wife can send out into society is doing OK in my books.

Movie Review - Bridesmaids

2011-05-24T09:10:00.001-04:00

At the suggestion of some of my Facebook friends, I took my wife to see Bridesmaids the other night. As I told the kids, it had been far too many years since I have seen a movie that was laugh-out-loud funny, can't catch your breath hilarious, hurt-my-sides laughing as I struggle to catch the dialogue in between snorts and guffaws. It will be a few more, I fear. Some FB comments indicated this would be that movie. It was not.

GREAT: Kristen Wiig as Annie and Chris O'Dowd as Rhodes. She's funny, he's believably a vulnerable cop, and Melissa McCarthy is, as always, comedically impeccable. Actually, the entire cast is great in their roles, which could have been spectacularly clever if the writers had just managed to stay away from "poop" jokes and unnecessarily bad language. Seriously, these ladies don't need it.

GOOD: The premise. This ain't The Hangover for chicks. They never make it to Vegas, thank goodness. Probably the last thing I want to shell out $13 for is another full-length commercial for Las Vegas. On the other hand, maybe a few situations other than Annie's ruining every moment not due to clutziness or awkwardness, but from jealousy of the Bride's new best friend. This was less comedy and more a story of childhood friends drifting, nay, torn apart when one of them makes the commitment to marriage.

ROOM for GROWTH: Judging by the forced laughter from the young "ladies" in the audience at every sex joke, fart joke and vomit joke, Producer Judd Apatow has hit his mark and has no need to pay attention to what guys like me think. But if he did, I'd ask him to lay off the unnecessarily bad language. The only time the bad language was perfectly timed and as a result funny, was when the step child tells his prissy "mom" to f-off. It was completely uncalled for when Annie calls a young girl the c-word. Seriously? And this actress agreed to say that word?

Would I recommend this movie? Only for what it could have been with some courage and better writing; only for those who just don't aspire to better.

Road Test - 1996 Ford Thunderbird LX

2011-05-23T08:43:00.000-04:00

This picture on the right isn't a Thunderbird. It's a 1996 Saab 900S. I'm a Saab guy. I don't mind admitting it. I own two of them, but not for much longer. One of them is off to Saab heaven, which is located somewhere between "GM doesn't own us anymore" and "people are buying our cars faster than we can make them." Sadly, this heaven doesn't exist.

When I took the Mighty Saab off life support (I cut off access to my credit card and my mechanic had to take a night job as a bartender), finding it's replacement was destined to be a challenge. It had to be cool, it had to be versatile, it had to be fun to drive, and if possible, upscale but not ostentatious.

The 1996 Ford Thunderbird is all of that except the versatile part (my Saab's glove box was wider that the T-Bird's trunk). It's built to drive, and to drive hard. It's fun. I'm glad I bought it. Here's why:

GREAT: This car has power! I haven't felt the surge of 8 cylinders and rear wheel drive in so long I had forgotten what it was like. I felt like a guy again; I actually felt 'em growing back after 32 years of front wheel drive. I had so much testosterone flowing after the first time I opened it up on the highway I had to shave twice that day. It's nickname? THUNDERBEAST!

GOOD: Suprisingly not bad gas mileage on the highway. 18 mpg (hey, it could be a lot worse). Comfortable, well laid out, very masculine cockpit.

Room for GROWTH: (as if Ford's designers are headed back to the design board after they read this). That trunk is not very deep. Seriously, the cargo room in my hatchback Saab with the seats down was enough to bring home from Ikea an entire living room set, to whit: one couch, one love seat, two armchairs, one coffee table and two side tables; mind you that's what both Ikea and Saab were designed for. If I go to Ikea with the T-Bird I will be bringing home in the trunk, at most, a catalogue, a Boomjaga cutlery tray and Flimsgaard magazine rack.

Overall recommendation: If you can find a 1996 Thunderbird with only 200,000 kilometres in mint condition, buy it. I'm glad I did.

Marie Osmond, Married Again

2011-05-07T07:37:00.002-04:00

On the occasion of Marie Osmond's wedding (again) to her first husband, I think it's only fair to remind her of the one that got away.

Just sayin...

First Class Travel - First Class Pool

2011-05-06T09:10:00.000-04:00

The Mayor is traveling to faraway lands to check out swimming pools, of all things. Read the story here

City administration has proposed a new travel policy that would allow Mayor and Council to fly Executive, First Class, Business Class - however it's marketed, wide seats and free wine - when flying outside of North America to, say, faraway lands. Read the Report Here

The Mayor is lauded, rightly so, for his extensive travel to bring jobs to our region. It's worked. Read all about it here

I'm just not sure we need to send him first class to have a swim in an Irish pool. Perhaps someone from Parks and Rec could handle it, and Eddie could stick to an agenda that includes job creation, which he has done so very, very well.

The Library...Street Smarts vs. Book Smarts

2011-05-04T20:47:00.000-04:00

I make no secret of it; I think Alan Halberstadt is a hell of a journalist, a hell of writer, and a hell of a bad city councilor (and I like the guy, though I don't blame him if the feeling is not mutual). Full disclosure - he kicked my ass, figuratively, in the 2003 Municipal election; fair and square, no excuses.

He writes a fantastic blog article about the Windsor Public Library, which to those who haven't been paying attention, appears to express his unreserved support. For those who were in the room when he said "we'll just get a Private Members Bill to take over this place" when the Board wouldn't capitulate to political influence, his words today are either a conversion come too late, or deceptive. Read his blog here - it's really quite good. It just doesn't jibe with his behaviour in the past. Read part two here . Well written, sir (and well played).

This isn't about my arch-nemesis ("To the Batmobile Robin! We haven't a moment to lose!") This stuff with the Library has to stop. Council and the Mayor absolutely HAVE to be "hands-off" when it comes to Library locations, types of books, resources available, hours of operation or any other means of control.

When government controls and influences access to information by any means, we're just one step closer to losing our democracy. It seems impossible in today's day and age, but is it?

I'm not worried about our current Mayor and Council turning into dictators. Laws have to be in place and strictly observed, both the letter of the law and the spirit of the law, to protect us from the megalomaniacs we haven't elected yet.

On Majorities and Minorities

2011-05-03T09:10:00.001-04:00

The 2011 election was historic in so many ways, and here are a few that matter to me.

1. The Conservative party was able to unseat the Liberals as the party of the immigrant. It used to be taken for granted that the new Canadian vote would go, in gratitude, to the party in power that got them here. No more. The Conservatives actively courted these voters, and say what you will about their methods, it worked in the GTA where they needed it. Never take your best friends for granted.

2. If this wasn't the nastiest campaign in history, then I'm glad I missed the one that was. I'd congratulate the Conservatives on their majority except for the way they did it; by good old-fashioned character assassination. They never let Ignatieff (or Dion before him) talk issues, they just kept up an unrelenting monlogue of, well...meanness. If you think the kids weren't paying attention then you deserve to be shocked when the school calls you in because your kid's been slandering another kid on Facebook. You may reach your goal, but at what cost? If their only goal was power - mission accomplished. If it was a Canada of civility and respect, a model of leadership and debate, a better Canada? As they say in baseball, "Swing and a miss!"

3. The defining moment came in the debate when Jack Layton refused to be written off as a fringe candidate, a leader of losers, as though the NDP's place in the back corner of the house was their raison d'etre. Harper and Ignatieff never saw it coming, and it was too late to stop the orange tide after that. Even the little guy's got something to contribute - ignore him at your own peril.

Are there lessons in this for us in our daily lives?

Holy See on the death of Osama Bin Laden

2011-05-02T23:24:00.000-04:00

HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE DIRECTOR ON DEATH OF OSAMA BIN LADEN

VATICAN CITY, 2 MAY 2011 (VIS) - This morning the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., released the following declaration on the news regarding the death of Osama Bin Laden.

"Osama Bin Laden, as is known, claimed responsibility for grave acts that spread division and hate among the peoples, manipulating religion to that end. A Christian never takes pleasure from the fact of a man's death, but sees it as an opportunity to reflect on each person's responsibility, before God and humanity, and to hope and commit oneself to seeing that no event become another occasion to disseminate hate but rather to foster peace".

To Vote or not To Vote...Thank you for NOT voting

2011-05-02T09:10:00.009-04:00

I still think some people just shouldn't vote, and I haven't changed my mind...read my blog from 2008

The Benefits of Standing UP for Yourself

2011-04-29T09:10:00.003-04:00

The Benefits of Standing Up! (This isn't about activism.)

It isn't about the dangers to our health of sitting down for hours at a desk at work, or in front of a TV at home. Read these related articles for all the health reasons why my makeshift stand-up desk in my humble cubicle at work is good for me, but read on to learn the truth of why I did it.

Wrinkles. I hate those wrinkles in the back of my suit pants that are caused by sitting all day. I hate those wrinkles in the waist and crotch area of my pants from sitting all day. I have a pants-press at home where I hang my pants and press them fresh daily, thus getting at least one or two wearings more before they hit the dry cleaners. I'm guessing I save probably 4 to 6 cleanings a year per suit this way, and save replacing at least one suit a year by cutting down on the wear and tear. (I just wrote the word "pants" 5 times in one paragraph.)

If it firms my abs or speeds up my metabolism, strengthens my glutes or tones my calves, well...bonus. If I save somehting like $600 a year in wardrobe maintenance and replacement costs, even better.

Next time - why listening to rock music on my headphones all day every day at work is good for me.

--

Showing up is Probably MORE than Half the Battle in Sales

2011-04-28T09:10:00.002-04:00

This past month I have had the uncomfortable displeasure of hearing from a few prospects that they have chosen my competition, effectively taking me, or more accurately my product, out of the picture for at least another year and probably more.

This would bother me enough if it was merely a matter of being out-bid, out-negotiated, out-sold. It isn't. In every case it has been because my competition has been in contact with the prospect well before I ever showed up - before I ever made the prospecting call.

This would bother me enough if it was merely a matter of me discovering the client for the first time, and in prospecting discovering I've just missed a booking pattern. It isn't. These were all people whom I knew, or knew of, and I just hadn't gotten around to asking for their business yet.

The lesson in all this for me? Show up! Play full out!

Don't assume that because someone knows you that they know what you do. Don't assume because you serve in a volunteer capacity beside a potential customer that you will be top of mind when they're in a buying mood. The truth is, you'll be top of mind when they're looking for a volunteer. Don't assume because someone thinks you're a swell guy that it would occur to them to do business with you.

I have a friend who designs widgets for a living; damned good widgets. He diligently serves on many committees in a professional association. He is frustrated and confided he is thinking of quitting the association because of the number of people who know him and volunteer beside him who've asked him to check out the widgets they've just paid a stranger to design. The reason they haven't asked him? He never asked them; he just assumed they'd call simply because of his ubiquitous presence everywhere and all the time.

Guilty.

If the relationship is one of customer / client, even if only by nature of our respective positions, but even with our friends, family, neighbours, associates and all future clients, we owe it to them (if only to stop them from making a terrible purchasing decision) to:

tell 'em what we do,
find out if it's a good fit for what they need,
present our product and
ask for the sale. We owe it to ourselves and to our potential clients to ask again and again until we are categorically rejected.

Then we can all sleep well because of a job well done.

An Article by Cortney E. Martin and John Cary: "Greg Mortenson and our false ideals about social change"

2011-04-27T09:16:00.000-04:00

The co-authors of this article, Cortney E. Martin and John Cary absolutely nail it in one sentence, " In this culture of 24/7 news, swollen with schadenfreude, Mortenson appears on the brink of becoming another tragic figure – the most recent saint to fall from his pedestal of six-figure book contracts, sold-out speaking engagements, and CAI’s millions in annual donations..."

Read more: Greg Mortenson and our false, ideals about social change

Prayer - There, I Said It

2011-04-26T10:32:00.001-04:00

One day, like ever other day, the boss arrived at the office and answered the morning greeting from his assistant with his usual "never better, how are you?" If he wasn't "never better", then he was "excellent" or "outstanding" that day, and every day. I suppose it got a bit annoying for his team to hear day after predictable day, though each day he offered it as if it was a brand new thought to the man. He always asked in return, and had never received any better than a "not bad" in response.

So one brave soul got up the courage to address the issue. "You're always on!" she accused. "Nothing ever brings you down. Every day it's the same bright attitude when you come in. Do you read inspirational sayings every day?" she challenged, and the team leaned forward to hear the answer.

"Do you mean like new-age motivational stuff, quote-a-day stuff, a calendar page of inspiration-a-day stuff?" the boss answered. He almost called it crap, because that's what he thought of it, but he knew that some of the team believed quite strongly in it.

"Yeah, that's it - that self-motivational stuff - you must read it every morning when you wake up," teased his team mate.

"No," said the man, and that was the end of the discussion. "None of that really appeals to me."

The truth he'd tell them, if they wanted to hear it, is that he begins and ends every day in prayer.

Three Reasons Why Even Atheists Should Observe Good Friday (and Lent)

2011-04-21T14:11:00.013-04:00

You don't have to be Christian to benefit from observing a good Lent, and a Good Friday. Here are three reasons why.

1. It ain't about you. Sorry to break it to you, but the sooner you acknowledge it, the sooner you can get on to caring about someone other than yourself, the sooner you can celebrate that it ain't about you. You don't have to carry the load yourself; you're not alone; it's OK to ask for help. Repeat - it ain't about you.

   Some people discover that when they have children, and they devote their lives to raising the best possible children. Some don't and focus instead and only on being best possible parents. There's a difference.

2. As C.S. Lewis says in his book Mere Christianity, "there are two kinds of people: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, "All right then, have it your way." Lent and especially Good Friday is a good time to step back and reflect on which we choose to be.

   When it comes to famous last words, none can beat Christ's. "Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit," or more simply put daily by Christians throughout the world, "Thy will be done."

3. Christ was a human fact in the history of mankind. Contrary to what South Park's creators would have us believe, he was not a mythical creature like the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus. Looking for profundity? You can spend your riches on dough-heads who spout off on four hours of sleep a day, you can self-motivate, and you can anesthetize your soul with chicken soup and or your mind with daily quotes.
   You can read the Gideon bible available for free in any hotel room. Go ahead, no one will see you. You can download and read the bible for free on your smart phone and people will think you're checking your emails and texts and tweets for the umpteenth time. You can read the words of Christ (they're in the New Testament) and try to figure out what he's saying, and how that applies to you.

But first, you're going to have to surrender your pride.

And that, my friends, is the great lesson of Good Friday, the day God surrendered to the will of mankind and was nailed to the cross for his troubles.

Once you wrap your head around that one, you'll be ready for your very own Easter Sunday.

On Smart Communities...

2011-04-21T08:39:00.002-04:00

In most communities there's an element I have heard referred to as "movers and shakers." These people are the ones you see at every event, every opportunity, and every reception where the wine is flowing and the shrimp is free. They natter and gnosh, gladhand and trade bon mots, imbibe, air kiss and pat each other on the back for jobs well done, whatever it is that they do.

Frankly, it's been my experience that most "movers and shakers" are just "bobbers and weavers" in expensive suits.

The other night the usual suspects were noticeably absent and the room was mostly filled with academics and entrepreneurs who somehow found time to celebrate Windsor's Top 7 standing as one of the world's most intelligent communities. Columnist Chris Vander Doelen of the Windsor Star in his column today succinctly describes almost exactly my thoughts on the matter, both before Monday evening and after a wonderful night, beautifully presented at the St. Clair Centre for the Arts.

Read it here

I was a skeptic about the amount of money being spent to promote the region, but now I'm a believer. Here's what a number one ranking would mean to a man in my position:

1. Doors would be opened in Toronto and Ottawa as I sell Windsor as a convention destination to provincial and national associations.
2. One more reason for people to consider our region for tourism, investment and relocation, as if an extra month of fresh vegetables, golfing and nice weather on either side of the summer wasn't enough
3. A fresh infusion of influential dandies and dilletantes
3. The long term viability of a pretty cool city for my wife and I, but also for our kids.
4. I look like a genius for relocating the family here all those years ago.

Stay tuned to see how it all turns out. The World's Most Intelligent Community will be named in June 2011.

http://www.intelligentcommunity.org/

The Value of Gas and its Influence on Behaviour

2011-04-20T22:44:00.000-04:00

When gas was going for about 79 cents a litre, I made the stupid error of telling my dad that I thought it should sit at a buck a litre, and maybe people would stop driving such big gas-guzzlers, and as much.

What I failed to take into account was how much that would affect a man like my dad, driving three times a week for dialysis, on a fixed income. He would no more welcome a twenty-cent hike than he did my granola crunching self-righteousness. I think he told me to go hug a tree, except he didn't say "hug" and he didn't say "tree".

At the risk of revisiting the situation, I would suggest that at current high gasoline prices, I can't help but wonder what would happen to prices if demand were to drop drastically. More specifically, what if most of the 3200 people in the place where I work were to buy homes within walking distance, or on a bus route? Would gas prices be as much of a concern?

Could we become one car families, use less fuel, bring life to downtown neighbourhoods and prosperity back to the inner city?

Road Test - 2011 Chevy Malibu

2011-04-16T14:31:00.001-04:00

My first car was a 1973 Malibu. Picture this car (above) in a light blue, with a white vinyl roof that started at the B pillar (driver's door) and went all they way to the trunk line. Swivel bucket seats. Big engine, big power, thirsty. I sincerely regret ever selling that car, although I do recall that the rusted hole in the floorboards was causing the interior windows to fog because the carpets were always wet from road spray, the swivel seat was broken so it kept rotating when I turned corners, and the damned car disliked wet weather so much that it stalled BEFORE it came to a puddle.

I hated what GM did to the 'bu after that year. Squared it up (notice the round tail lights on the '73) made it a family car (Mal-boo!) and took the guts out of it. The model died, came back, died and then came back again like a cheap whore in an afternoon soap.

This week I rented the 2011 Malibu, something I've been wanting to do for some time. It's got it's looks back, though nowhere near as dangerous looking as it used to be. It's got some guts. It doesn't come in a two-door anymore, but there aren't many models in both a 2 and 4 door. Yeah, it's a family car, but a young man in his early fifties can get into it, too.

Here's what I thought of it:

GREAT: It was great on fuel. I did mostly city driving and was very pleased on how little gas it used. That's a very big deal to me, and even back in the day I never liked the idea of transferring money from my wallet to the big oil companies' bank accounts simply because of the inefficiency of my automobile's engine. It's never been the prime motivation for choosing one car over another, but it can be a deal breaker.

GOOD: Comfortable layout, easy to use controls, tight steering and handling, lots of zip, easy to park, handle inside the trunk lid so you don't get your fingers dirty (yeah!) and most importantly - not BORING. I rented a competing sedan, the Camry, on my last trip and found it all of the above but BORING as hell. I aged 20 years just taking a two-hour drive down the highway in the Toyota. Kind of like the Volvo S-10; I think it's against the law to listen to rock music when you drive a Volvo, it's just so boring.

Room for GROWTH: Where's the heated seats? I'm not being a luxury hound - this is a safety issue! A comfortable driver is an alert and responsive driver, but a driver who is hunched over the steering wheel drawing his extremities in and avoiding movement as much as possible in order to conserve body heat on a snow-crunching dark January morning is not going to be as ready for evasive action, at least until the car and the driver warm up. Heated seats should not be an option in Canada. Oh, and the seatbelt kept getting stuck between the door and the seat on the driver's side - small but annoying design flaw.

Would I buy one? Already pricing 'em.

It Really was the Best Buy

2011-04-11T19:43:00.005-04:00

On Saturday in Windsor it was left to me to do a little big box shopping, perhaps my least favourite activity. I had to stop by the big American home improvement chain for some lumber to repair the fence. I prepared for the worst.

Loews was my first stop. I arrived, parked, found the lumber section after a quick scan of the bbq / patio / outdoor seasonal stuff for some grass seed, I asked a Loews dude for help. He took me right to exactly what I was looking for, sold me on why it was a great buy, and answered all my questions. I was back out the door in probably less than 15 minutes, and it wasn't a bad experience as I expected it would be. It was actually a good experience.

On my way home I spotted Best Buy, remembered I needed a disc drive for my netbook, and stopped in. I went into the computer section, in full asshole mode, and steeled myself for some very bad service. I even set my watch to time how long it would take for anyone to notice I was there (hey, I said I was in FULL asshole mode). Fourteen seconds later Mark showed up and asked if I needed help. Fourteen seconds; I'm not kidding!

He called a guy named Scott over to help, who answered my questions, helped me good naturedly in spite of my lack of knowledge, directed me to the best buy (no pun intended), and I purchased it and went on my way. My shopping excursion was so short that they didn't even have time to raise the gas prices in between going out and coming back.

Thanks, great service from both stores, nice to write about a service issue and actually name the company in a compliment!

Death and Life - Sacramental Suffering, A Question of Euthanasia

2011-04-10T16:30:00.002-04:00

Lazarus John 11:1-45

Mens' Health ran an article about Nick Chisholm, a 27 year old New Zealander who through a traumatic injury while playing Rugby, found himself “locked in”. Being locked-in is a medical condition in which a quadriplegic is still very much conscious. His doctors wrote him off as brain dead, and advised his mother to pull the plug. She declined. Locked in, fully conscious and completely unable to communicate his agony, Nick Chisholm heard every word. His friend offered to kill him...

Read the whole article here:

The man who might have been the instrument of Nick's death, instead became the reason he lives.

Our Gospel today, of Lazarus rising from the dead, tells much the same story, an act of love in which sisters Mary and Martha pray to their Lord Jesus Christ for help. Jesus doesn’t come right away.

Have we ever felt that way? We call for God’s help, and does it ever feel like he doesn’t hear us? In my ministry of Palliative care, in working with families living with life threatening illnesses, people tell me all the time, “I’ve prayed and I’ve prayed, and it seems like God just doesn’t hear me!” Of course He does, and of course he will answer our prayers, but not always in the time and method we would like.

In the coming years our country will face the question of Euthanasia. Well-meaning people will use the argument that we should do all we can to relieve people of their suffering, but I ask: “Whose suffering are we talking about?” It is very difficult to see someone you love suffering – it was for Boyd Carter, and it was for Mary and Martha. The misguided arguments in favour of “mercy” killing are the same, I would suggest, in support of better palliative care for all Canadians, not just the few.

What is our Catholic response to the looming Euthanasia debate? I refer you to today’s Gospel, the Gospel according to John; John the apostle; John, the beloved disciple. John, who with Mary, was the only apostle at the foot of the cross.

Mary and John, family and friends, kept vigil as their loved one suffered to the end. Mary and John, seemingly helpless, giving all that they had to give, in two ways – they were there, and they prayed.

How many of us have kept that same vigil at the foot of the bed as our loved one, made as comfortable as possible, awaited for God’s will to be done?

Christ, by his submission to it, makes suffering a sacrament, not a shameful fact of life to be hidden or denied.

The Joys of Waiting

2011-04-07T20:04:00.006-04:00

I'm at my desk working late, plugged in through the Internet to the Mighty Q in Toronto, rocking out to their "live drive" segment in which they play cuts from live concerts. It's always great music, and sometimes my appreciation for a band or their song really grows hearing it performed outside of the studio.

Such was the case today, listening to Fleetwood Mac performing "Don't Stop" - one of the worst Fleetwood Mac tunes ever recorded, to my ears. But in this version they perform with a live marching band, a la "Tusk" - and delivered one of the best live Fleetwood Mac tunes ever recorded, to my ears. I was rocking out the cubicle here alone after 5:00. Watch it here:

I resolved to YouTube it, and enjoy it again and again. And then I remembered the days when you'd hear just a song on the radio, or just a few bars of a song (as happened with one particularly cool tune in the late seventies when I heard the last 16 bars, sourced the album and have enjoyed every tune on that disc ever since) and you couldn't wait to find the album, carefully unwrap it, gingerly place it on the turntable, take control of the arm and lower the needle gently to the groove, and then groove along - over and over again.

Not only is today's I-Pod generation missing the joy of the b-side and the bad tunes on the way to the one tune they bought the album to hear, but they are missing the sweet agony of waiting until they can afford to buy the album, or waiting to find it in the store, or buying the wrong album and discovering it's pretty cool anyway.

They've never hummed a few bars to the scruffy dude at Sam the Record Man and followed him to the exact spot in the store where musical gold awaits, (although I hear there's an app for that).

They're missing the joy of waiting and wanting and longing as they hum along to their collective theme song, "I Want it All (and I Want it Now)" .

(That's a song from Queen's album, The Miracle. You can find it in the Rock section , under the Qs. Back of the store.)

Ten Mistakes Managers Make

2011-04-06T10:09:00.000-04:00

A knowledgeable friend of the Association industry, Jack Shand, has written a very good article on mistakes managers make. Read it here: CharityVillage® Ten Mistakes Managers Make

A Simple "Hello!"

2011-04-05T10:10:00.001-04:00

You can tell a lot about a man by the way he enters, and leaves the workplace.

Years ago when I was just a pup with a tie, I learned a valuable lesson from Peter Hunt, a seasoned veteran of the restaurant industry. He used to arrive for a shift all smiles and shaking hands, saying "hi" to everyone and sharing a story or a laugh. When he left, it was the same, all "goodnight!", and "thanks for your work today!" (Contrast that to a boss who once took until two in the afternoon to acknowledge my presence, and we'd been in the office together since 9 a.m.) But I'm not one to learn by example, or wasn't at the time. It took Peter to tell me what I missing. And it took my last shift before Christmas, when I left without saying goodnight, tired and weary, and Peter chased me out into the snow and called my name, "Jeremy!"

I turned to see what I had forgotten, and he came up to me, shook my hand, and said simply, "Merry Christmas."

Since that day, and every work day since, I made it my goal to never enter the office, the kitchen, the hotel - the workplace, without a greeting to everyone present, (and sometimes that means going looking for them), or left for the night without stopping by every desk, cubicle, office, section of the restaurant or into the depths of the walk-in freezer, without saying goodnight.

Thanks Peter.

Ten Tips For Successful Conference Tweeting

2011-04-05T09:10:00.000-04:00

buJeff Hurt gives some excellent tips for effective Social Media. I'm especially impressed with the consideration he shows to followers on Twitter - with some good suggestions that will enhance their experience (and appreciation) of your Tweets.

"Tweeting at conferences and events. It seems to be a love-hate relationship with some.

Some say it’s become passé. Others see it as a way to spread information.

Some conference organizers, mostly those outside of social media events, are beginning to see an uptick in the backchannel chatter. Their attendees are just starting to discover the value and usefulness of Twitter at a conference."

Read the rest here: Ten Tips For Successful Conference Tweeting

I'm Your Homeless Guide!

2011-03-28T14:50:00.003-04:00

Years ago in Atlanta for a conference I had the opportunity to take an evening walk downtown. Almost as soon as I got started I was approached by a man who offered to be my "homeless guide". He explained that panhandling (my word) was against the law and strenuously prosecuted but providing a tour guide experience for a tip was permitted. I have no idea how close to the actual Atlanta by-law his explanation was, but I do know this: I admired his entrepreneurial spirit, and the couple of hours we spent walking and talking were some of the most enjoyable I have ever spent in conversation.

His view on life was different and enlightening on so many levels. We argued politics and who was to blame for his situation, and conceded that both social and personal culpability have a part to play in homelessness. At the end of the tour we shook hands, I tipped him well for his hospitality and I went on my way.

In London, England organized tours given by homeless people to convention delegates called Unseen Tours are a reminder to those of us in the conference and hotel industry are in the people business – not just the "people who can afford the hors d'oeuvres and conference rates" business. We need more of this, in more places, and more often.

READ MORE: http://goo.gl/UXWgR HERE'S THE WEBSITE http://goo.gl/XnlzQ

The Woman at the Well and the Sacrament of Reconciliation (John 4: 5-42)

2011-03-27T16:14:00.002-04:00

"How is that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria? (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans)"

Many years ago when I was in the restaurant business in Toronto I made the mistake of nearly throwing out a man who came for a meal, even before he ever made it inside. He was unsteady on his feet, had wild hair, big glasses (it was the early eighties) and a rust coloured corduroy jacket of which I wasn’t very fond. He looked like trouble to me; he might have been drinking, he might be unable to pay for his meal, either way he wasn’t going to cause trouble in my restaurant. Until I spent a few minutes getting to know him at the door, I had no intention of letting him enter – I planned to invite him to leave even before he was seated! In the end I was glad I didn’t do any of that, and the man came in, enjoyed a meal and paid for it in full. I bade him farewell and wished him luck in his performance.

I later learned (through the power of Sesame Street) that he was a world renowned violin virtuoso in town for an evening with the Toronto symphony. His unsteady gait, far from being a result of over consumption of alcohol, was in fact because of a bout of polio he had suffered as a child.

This is not just a story about how I met Itzak Perlman and didn’t realize it, or a lesson learned about judging people on appearance, although it is both of those. This is a story of reconciliation, and a personal experience with Christ, which for the Samaritan woman in the Gospel happened at Jacob’s well. Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions all associate the well with Jacob, and so it is a place of religious significance, and perhaps no coincidence that Jesus would welcome the Gentiles into the faith (through a conversation with a Samaritan woman) at that very spot.

The Samaritan woman judged Jesus on first impressions alone. He was different, a Jew. How she knew that the Gospel doesn’t indicate: perhaps his manner of dress, or accent or his choice of words gave him away. Perhaps because she didn’t know him to be a Samaritan she deduced he must be a Jew. However she arrived at the conclusion, she decided she shouldn’t be speaking to a man in public, and certainly not a man who was a Jew.

We judge people by their appearance and get it right just enough times that it is a hard habit to break. Even getting it right is not a good enough reason to use our intuition and preconceived notions as the sole measure by which another person is valued, even less so when we get it horribly wrong, as I nearly did with Mr. Perlman and I’m sorry to report, certainly others since.

"To be received and heard is a human sign of the acceptance and goodness of God to his children." Pope Benedict XVI

The woman at the well was received and heard, and learned the mercy of God. We too, through the Sacrament of Reconciliation draw into a closer, and personal relationship with Christ. When we confess, do penance and are forgiven, we reconcile with God and can truly unite with his body in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

Why Does God Hate Toyota?

2011-03-24T21:18:00.005-04:00

He doesn't. For starters, let's get that out of the way. People of faith can agree, without pretending to know the mind of God, that He doesn't hate Toyota or Japan, or any other country or company, any group of people, faith, association or individual. How do we know? Because He tells us so.

Japan has suffered through an earthquake, a tsunami, the rising risk of nuclear meltdown, and now an economy on the edge of ruin. Just last year Toyota's sales crawled to a halt as the company operated under the cloud of suspicion; had they deliberately mislead or dodged dangerous mechanical situations? And now production of Toyota automobiles around the world is threatened by a lack of parts from a crippled Japanese economy. People of faith pray for the people of Japan at this time.

God doesn't exact revenge in this manner, or at all, nor is there any reason to suspect one country or company would be singled out in this way. We, humankind, has been given the gift of free will. We can build on fault lines, we can build nuclear plants on fault lines if we want. We can settle below sea level in Louisiana and the Netherlands, if we are inclined. The ruling class can clear cut trees from the mountain sides of Haiti so that when earthquakes rock and rains fall, there will be nothing to hold back the mud to wipe out the shanty towns of poor Haitians. We can blame God if we want to, or ask ourselves how a just God could let this happen.

God is love. God gives us the means to help each other. God gives us enough food that no one should go hungry, God gives us the wherewithal to build safely at great expense, or not at all. In spite of all this, God gives us a planet that sometimes behaves in a way that can harm us, and as we know from scripture, God makes the sun shine and the rain fall on all of us, equally. Sometimes, even when we get it right, nature exacts a terrible toll on the innocent and unsuspecting.

There is no deserving, or not deserving any of it based on our works of good or evil, or on our faith or lack of faith. And there, because of the grace of God, go all of us.

Sales and Service Should be One

2011-03-19T10:52:00.001-04:00

These days companies are seeing more and more departments as revenue producing, and viewing most employees within their organizations as sales people. Departments whose goals in regards to the P&L were once only to keep costs in line, are now expected to increase revenue. This is done by upselling and by referrals to the sales team. This is a good thing, if done with excellence and superior customer service as the goal.

A great customer oriented service advisor does not merely act as an order-taker, but as a trusted and expert advisor in the customer experience. She suggests products or service that will enhance the customer's enjoyment of the product; for example - a service department in an automobile dealership might suggest a fluid change because, and only because the performance of the automobile will be improved, or because, and only because, it is needed. The extra service will add revenue to the dealership's income line, but that MUST NOT be the sole reason for suggesting add-on services or products. The same goes for appetizers and desserts in restaurants - suggested by professional servers to enhance the guest experience, not just to pad the bill. It applies to hotel front desk clerks - upgrades to premium rooms to enhance the guest experience based on information gleaned at the reservation or check-in. An astute representative will determine what is the purpose of the visit. If it is to celebrate an anniversary, for example, an upgraded room for a few extra bucks might make this a memorable weekend for the couple (and make the husband who booked the hotel look like a superstar in the eyes of his adoring wife). It applies to the service department in your company, whatever your product or service.

The flip side of the company's representative's failure to fully engage is a client who never experiences the best they have to offer for the price, or fails to get the service he needs. "They didn't ask for it," is the telltale excuse of the order-taker, as though the customer is supposed to be the expert. "It was OK," is the telltale appraisal of the customer experience. OK, but not memorably good or bad.

"They didn't tell me they didn't want it," is the cry of the coward, who slips in a service or product the client might not have approved, had they known the price or the details. In this case the employee fails to fully disclose, perhaps in embarrassment at the price or the value, or in fear of rejection by the customer. It can happen because of the pressure of sales targets unrealistically imposed on secondary, or accidental salespeople. (An accidental salesperson is an untrained or undertrained employee whose primary contribution is in one area, and who by the nature of his expertise has the opportunity to increase sales without the necessary intervention of the professional salesperson.)

Clearly, the optimum is a fully informed customer interaction with an empathetic expert that may result in increased revenue for the company, and will definitely result in increased satisfaction and repeat business and referrals (loyalty). That requires a commitment to excellence from the top and a clearly defined statement of intent, something frequently lacking in today's business environment.

Those who get it right make money. Those who don't scramble for every penny they can filch out of the unsuspecting client's wallet.

Gotcha!

2011-03-18T09:40:00.001-04:00

Recently in our city a cop was "caught" playing video games in his cruiser, with pictures to prove it. Not long ago pictures of a sleeping transit worker in Toronto were splashed across the front pages. Our cell phones and smart phones are always at the ready to catch others in the act of offending our sense of what they should be doing instead.

The transit union protested that instead of snapping a picture of the sleeping booth attendant, the judgmental picture taker should have checked to see if he was in any sort of distress. It turned out to be prescient, as I am told by a someone in the know that the transit worker died not long after that picture was snapped. It may or may not be related to what caused him to be sleeping on the job, and who cares?

Have we become a society that is quick to broadcast other's faults through social media? In both these cases the pictures and story were picked up by the mainstream media, and the community tsk-tsk'd in shame.

Ironically, in our privacy obsessed times, a man's illness or death cannot be announced from the pulpit, nor prayers requested of the congregation, without the express permission of the family. So, if I have a heart attack and slump over on a park bench later today, feel free to take a picture of the sleeping drunk and post it on the web. Do not, however, do anything to help and for God's sake, don't say my name in church. I need my privacy.

Is nothing sacred?

The Steve Report...Making Sense of Business Events: Everything I’ve Learned About LinkedIn (so far)

2011-03-16T09:18:00.000-04:00

The Steve Report...Making Sense of Business Events: Everything I’ve Learned About LinkedIn (so far): "Over the past six weeks I’ve learned a lot about LinkedIn; reading articles, attending webinars and in general just playing and experimentin..."

Road Test - 2011 Dodge Charger

2011-02-27T17:53:00.007-05:00

My first car was a 1973 Malibu. I bought it used in 1978. It was a two-door with vinyl roof, swivel bucket seats, and and 8-cylinder engine that spit out 350 hp. I often lie and say it was a four-barrel engine, when in fact it was only two. I have no clue what that means.

Driving the Charger brought me back to the heady days of big power, rear wheel drive, and high fuel consumption. This muscular car made me feel like a guy. I could almost feel 'em growing back after 3 decades of driving emasculating front-wheel drive cars.

My rental car place gave me a "complimentary" upgrade to the Charger, but actually what they did was push me into a perceived gas guzzler at a time when everyone is asking for a fuel sipper (like I was born yesterday). I was however, born at a time when I can appreciate some old school muscle driving. Here's what I liked about the Charger:

Good - you feel like a guy again. It feels a little dangerous. It has a serious, almost a "mean" face to it (as opposed to happy-faced mini-vans and compact cars). The rear wheel drive feels powerful and tough. You strut when you walk towards the car.

Great - all of the above, and more. The car is smooth on the highway, and reasonable on gas considering... It's roomy, simple, and the controls are easy to read, understand and use. There are no distractions and it's far from boring to drive.

Room for Growth? It's pretty basic at the level I was driving, but that is also it's strength. It's a throwback to the 70s in its simplicity, and yes I know it's loaded with computers and gadgets that hadn't been invented in the 70s. They're out of the way, and the cockpit is simple and a very cool no-frills experience. If I could add one thing, it would be a trip computer that showed fuel consumption, a compass, upscale sound system controls...but I can live without all that.

But Would I Buy One? If I did a LOT of highway driving, this would be a very cool car to do it in.

How to Destroy your Business and Still Collect your Bonus

2011-02-26T21:52:00.007-05:00

I've remarked several times in the past about the very bad impression the car rental agency has been leaving with me lately. Here's the final straw...

For the second time in as many weeks I arrived to pick up my rental car and found it at somewhat less than a full tank. The tank was at 3/8 full (or 5/8 empty). Because of that, the manager refused to let me purchase my usual option of pre-paying for a full tank and returning the car empty. He argued economics - he wasn't going to let his team fill it up at $1.10 per litre and sell it to me at the pre-paid price of $.94. And yet, that's the very nature of the deal.

I asked superstar manager about this new procedure, he called it policy. Upon further investigation, he admitted it's HIS policy at HIS store and it's been that way for about 3 weeks (probably really more like two months, he just doesn't want to admit that). It's not company-wide or industry-wide, it's his store.

Two things - first, it's a basic rule of car rental that you ALWAYS depart with a full tank and bring the car back full. It's been that way since I rented my first Volare at Tilden in 1979, and probably long before that.

The second thing is that when I rent a car locally, my nearest appointment is at least 200 km away. I don't care about the economics of pre-paying a full tank; this isn't about saving a buck. It's about convenience and good service.

About an hour into my trip I had to find a highway gas station and fill the tank at inflated highway prices. So why has he has implemented this policy? Here's my considered opinion.

When he stopped filling up the tanks on all pre-paid rentals that came back near-empty (probably starting back in December), he saved hundreds or thousands of dollars in fuel expense. The bottom line looked pretty good that month, probably just in time for year-end. The manager probably got a bonus, and he seems to have received a promotion. He's moving to a bigger metropolis next week.

Here's the mess he's leaving behind - I am now looking for an alternative rental car company to deal with. His replacement manager will be saddled with the expense of filling up the fleet (higher expenses) and a regular customer is fed up and actively seeking another company from which to rent (lower sales).

And everyone will wonder why the replacement just can't deliver the bottom line like his predecessor could.

Oh, and I've shared my concerns with the manager, but I think they fell on deaf ears.

Humility

2011-02-06T07:51:00.003-05:00

Deacon Greg Kandra blogged this piece on Humility, and I share it with you.

A friend posted this on her Facebook page, and it seems too good not to share. Here are some thoughts, then, on humility from the writings of Saint Josemaria Escriva:

The Seventeen Evidences of a Lack of Humility
1. To think that what one says or does is better than what others say or do
2. To always to want to get your own way
3. To argue with stubbornness and bad manners whether you are right or wrong
4. To give your opinion when it has not been requested or when charity does not demand it
5. To look down on another’s point of view
6. Not to look on your gifts and abilities as lent
7. Not to recognize that you are unworthy of all honors and esteem, not even of the earth you walk on and things you possess
8. To use yourself as an example in conversations
9. To speak badly of yourself so that others will think well of you or contradict you
10. To excuse yourself when you are corrected
11. To hide humiliating faults from your spiritual director, so that he will not change the impression he has of you
12. To take pleasure in praise and compliments
13. To be saddened because others are held in higher esteem
14. To refuse to perform inferior tasks
15. To seek to stand out
16. To refer in conversation to your honesty, genius, dexterity, or professional prestige
17. To be ashamed because you lack certain goods

Commentary: A "Shush" Heard Around the Room

2011-02-02T12:10:00.003-05:00

This happened at a dinner in Ottawa last week, and regrettably I was one of the offending parties. I remain deeply embarrassed by my inadvertent bad manners, but I am thankful for the opportunity to have learned a lesson. When the room quieted, the most beautiful voice emerged and shared a compelling story... click below to read more...

Commentary: A "Shush" Heard Around the Room

Thanks to Mitchell Beer for sharing it.

A Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

2011-01-22T20:17:00.005-05:00

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A Matthew 4:12-23

In this week's Gospel "Come, follow me," we hear that Jesus had already begun to establish a ministry – he was already out and about preaching a message of repentance. He was picking up where John the Baptist had been forced to leave off. By the time he walked past the fishing boats of Peter and Andrew, James and John, it is reasonable to suggest that his reputation, or at the very least this new message of the Kingdom of God had preceded him. When he called Peter and Andrew, “come, follow me” he was not an unknown preacher just strolling by. Like the society we live in there would have been at varying degrees of awareness of Christ, and hopefully we who hear it today are open to his call. As he walked along and more and more people began to follow him, people of varying backgrounds and religious traditions, all for a time unified in the Word.

Some who followed were Apostles, some disciples, some curious, and many who lost interest and went back to what they were doing. All were called by Christ, all are called by Christ. Some follow.

We pray for Christian Unity. Christ knew, Christ knows that we are stronger together, and he calls different people of different backgrounds and practices together to one central way of living a life of repentance, of anticipation of the kingdom of God, and a life lived in service of God through the service of others. That’s how society will know us apart from those who haven’t heard or believed the word, that’s how we share one unity in Christ. All that is different between us seems so petty, and small and meaningless when together we follow the one who calls us each by name when he says, “Come, follow me.”

Why I'm Glad I was a Sea Cadet (or how I learned to crap overboard)

2011-01-15T15:55:00.004-05:00

In the mid-seventies I joined my local corps of Sea Cadets. It was a tough and happy three years. Times weren't always great as a cadet, but better than they might have been without the discipline, camaraderie and discipline. Oh, and the discipline was cool.

Here then, are the the top reasons I'm glad I was a cadet.

1. The discipline. Leadership roles rotated between those officially in charge and those occasionally in charge, and those who took charge because the situation called for it. You didn't have to like it, but sometimes your life depended on following orders whether you liked the authority figure or not.

2. Sometimes your life depended on following orders, literally. I can count more than a few times, each involving water, where we found ourselves in situations that could have ended badly or worse. Every time there was one person in charge, the rest us followed orders, and each time we all came out together, even once when we were tossed overboard into the Pacific, all but one cadet struggled back into the boat and he was too exhausted to climb over the gunwales. We fought to drag him in and then as he went under the waves for the third time we found the strength. The boy beside me said, and I quote, "no one is going to 'f-ing' die today." The rescued cadet laid inside the boat spitting out sea water and he cried. In that moment he went from being an older cadet we all feared and disliked to being a human being who nearly died that day. I was sixteen. I never told my parents.

Oh yeah, I've since figured out that if we had been wearing life jackets we might not have come so close to calling some dude's mom with bad news.

3. I was sixteen. I'm not saying we didn't get into trouble, but we didn't have time to get into some of the trouble some of my school friends found. Band on Tuesdays and Saturdays, on Thursday nights the whole Corps assembled, and every other day and night were taken with cadet projects and activities. I couldn't find time to cut the grass at home on weekends, which lead to some terrific arguments with my dad, and he was right. "Cadets" was not more important than family.

4. I was in great shape. Marching, obstacle courses, calisthenics... We were all in great shape, even the "fat" guys, who in today's high schools would be considered just a bit heavy.

5. I learned to crap overboard. You don't just stop a sailboat. One guy hangs on to your shirt as you hang your butt overboard. No room for the shyness here. When you have to take a leak it's a lot the same, except someone holds on to your belt so you don't fall overboard. I'm sure there's a life lesson here, but I'm not sure what it is.

6. I learned to play three instruments, and though I can't really play any of them today, the lessons and memories of being part of a 120 piece marching band and summers in British Columbia have served me well.

Next time: Why I'm Glad I was in a Military Marching Band

Corps: A Corps (pronounced /ˈkɔər/ "core"; plural /ˈkɔərz/ spelled the same as singular; from French, from the Latin corpus "body") is either a largeformation, or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function

Gunwale: The gunwale (pronounced /ˈɡʌnəl/ "gunnel" to rhyme with "tunnel") is a nautical term describing the top edge of the side of a boat.

Why I'm Glad I'm an Air Force Brat

2011-01-08T12:59:00.005-05:00

People sometimes ask me if I'm from Windsor. I tell them, "my dad was in the Air Force, I'm not sure where I'm from." Here's five more cool things about being a military brat:

1. I can tell military time. I don't have to subtract 12 after noon to calculate the hour. I use the 24-hour clock on my wristwatch. There's no misunderstanding what time of day it was if my notes say we met at 08:00 or at 20:00.

2. I respect authority. I may not like the person in authority. I may even publicly disagree in the decision making phase, but always respectfully and appropriately. In the end, when a decision is made I respect the office and move on. Authority is not a bad word, and neither is obedience.

3. I like hierarchy; another word for it is accountability. Reportability (I made that word up). Answerability. (I didn't make that word up but is nevertheless not a word). Support.

4. I may not like some of the dumb things my team mates do, and they definitely do not like some of the dumb things I do, but even military children know that no matter how we feel about each other, we stand together against all external challengers.

5. I learned at an early age how to make really good friends and then move on at a moment's notice when our dads got transferred. Sure, there were tears, but they were soon replaced by laughter with new friends. We learned early a welcoming attitude towards others. This skill has served me well in the hospitality industry.

Next time - why I'm glad I was a Sea Cadet in my teenage years.