Addicted to tech

Realized the full scale of my tech addiction when my Blackberry broke down (again) first day on vacation. Had a mild anxiety attack. Fortunately my Turbo stick which gives me Internet access anywhere has helped to soften the blow. It will be interesting to see how Bell customer service handles it.Took them 6 weeks after multiple calls and store visits to replace my last Blackberry. This time I vow to cancel all Bell services if they don't come through...

Hysterical but touching...

All of the sudden my 6 year old son breaks out crying while my wife reads to him Puff the Magic Dragon at the part when Jackie Paper goes away, leaving the dragon alone. Love that empathy that only a child could have...

Gone App Wild

Can't get over how amazing it is to be able to get the Sunday New York Times for free from the App on my iPod Touch. To think of all those Sundays I spend lugging around my weighty, ink-staining and pricey NYT, this is like a little miracle. we should be dancing in the streets. I'm also surprised by how readable it is on the iPod, not to mention easy to navigate. Still, I wonder how the NYT will be able to sustain this without charging. But I guess this monetization is still what everyone is trying to figure out.

Rushmore Trailer

Rushmore

It's been a while since I last saw Rushmore. Watched it again last night and will put it right up there with artistic masterpieces. The only other movie I can compare it to is my all time favorite, Broadway Danny Rose, where every scene is memorable and a delight. Rushmore is so rich, the settings (I have a weakness for stories set in preppy schools like Garp, Wonder Boys and If), the characters and their mismatched relationships, (Max - Blume (Bill Murray), Max - Teacher, Max - little sidekick, Max - school), a story chock full of surprises, continuously moving forward, great soundtrack, interesting cinematic POV and finally theme, nothing could be better than a tale of love, forgiveness and redemption. The final scene is true perfection and I must rewound it at least 5 or 6 times to catch all of the nuances on the dance floor, like the expression on Max's father's face, Blume's dance move with Max's gal and the final curtain closing. And finally, let's not forget performances from Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray that will leave an indelible mark on anyone's brain. Bravo writers Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson. As much as I love Wes Anderson's work, I wonder whether he will ever be able to make another movie as good as Rushmore, his other ones certainly have not been as good and seemed to be more of an ode to style and quirkiness than anything else.

Winter Boots...yawn, yawn

Winter boots, admittedly an ultra boring topic, but nonetheless I have been thinking about my recent purchase of Swiss Army boots all week long. I've never been one to think much of winter boots, I usually wore my Nike outdoor hiking boots and thought nothing more of it. Well those guys had seen their day and I decided to replace them with real winter boots. Got these Swiss Army winter boots and they are just amazing. Considering that I'm outside in -30 below weather walking the dog 3x day, I really need a true outdoor boot. Now my feet stay warm and dry and I actually look forward to walking the dog no matter what winter has in store. More than that, it got me thinking how much we can appreciate and enjoy some of the little things of life, like warm winter boots...Now how does this compare to the Tiger Woods story?

Best B2B Resource

I could probably spend the entire week on the BtoB Magazine website, www.btobonline.com.

Tons of great & free content from contact info to job hunting, but there's also regular (free - too) webinars that cover all kinds of areas that would interest any B2B practitioner. Sure there's tons of great content out there, but a lot of it, esp. the marketing stuff, is just a cover for self-promo. BtoB online is totally legit, with resources you can trust. Check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Montreal's Finest...Snow Removal

First big winter dump and the Snow Removal teams hit the streets...Only on my street the mega tractor couldn't get through, because of cars parked on both sides of the street-- (the No Parking signs weren't yet put in). As we wrapped up our weekly men's study group at my house, I looked out the window and saw the mega tractor plowing down our street, although it was obvious he didn't have enough room on the street to make it past my house. Of course I didn't realize that he did have enough room -- if he plowed into the van in from of my house, smashed the tail-lights as well as the side...I was stunned while watching this and stood frozen as the tractor continued on without even slowing down. Then he just stopped at the corner and sat in the tractor for the next hour. the owner of the van was at my house and I accompanied him outside to check out the scene of the accident. When we approached the tractor driver, he seemed shocked, and just stared at us, speechless. I told him he hit my guest's van and all he replied was, "Call the city."Nothing else, not even an apology. Based on this experience, it's not surprising that last year 2 people lost their lives to Montreal municipal snow removal workers, or that they caught others drunk in their vehicles or that the streets go uncleaned for more than a week. that's just the way things (don't) work in Montreal.

Broom of the System

Finally wrapped this 467 page pastiche of post-modern fiction and I cannot even say whether I liked it or not. Like some of the black humour and the writing style, but often felt a lot of it was over the top, like the names. For example, there's the Rick Vigorous character, who runs the publishing house, Frequent & Vigorous. Hahaha -- we get it. Other names like the yokel Lothario, Andy "Wang-Dang" Lang and minor character Candy Mandible. I also didn't trip on the talking cocktail that ends up starring on an evangelist TV program. More important, I wasn't really able to follow the plot line, which was all over the place with many situations without context...Then again, it took me a while to get Beckett and waiting For Godot, so maybe it's just me. Just lucky that I don't have to write a review on the book, or worse yet a test. The book gave me that same feeling I sometimes get during a dream, when I realize that I'm registered for these course but haven't attended any classes and don't even know why...

Car Rentals, Still a Big Rip

If someone came in and introduced EDLP to a car rental business, they'd clean up. Aren't you sick of the price game, renting a car is like playing the stock market. For example, I recently booked a car with Thrifty, but then had to change my pick up date. I called them back and told them that I was willing to pay for my original quote, even though I'd be using the car for a few days less. They wouldn't hold the car for me if I couldn't pick it up on the same day and suggested that I re-book -- at 2 1/2 times the original price for a third less time.

Then I checked availability with Sunwing a discount carrier / vacation packager and actually found a car for that period for 1/3 the price (with Alamo) of Thrifty's. From a consumer's perspectice though, this doesn't make any sense...

Overused phrase of the day

If I hear someone use the phrase "going down that slippery slope," I will gag. Why not just say, "precarious" and save three words?

Truffles, the most over-rated food

Don't get truffles, they taste awful and they're cultivated by pigs sniffing them out. They can't compare to potatoes from a taste perspective. I cannot understand what's all the fuss about. And while I'm on the topic of overrated foods, let me add mushrooms, a cousin to Athlete's Foot, and eggplant the homeliest food of all, to the list.

Hi there Corky!

Glad to see you join my legion of followers. What ever happened to the girl with the natural curly hair? Did she get a belly button ring?

Lovin' My Pumas

My wife pushed me to finally buy a pair of those retro looking Puma runners. And while I was never big fan of that look, I'm crazy in love with them now. The retro shoe is much lighter and less padded than today's typical running shoe which is a pleasure. They're easy to slip on and off and surprisingly comfy. Makes today's running shoe look like a ski boot. Think I'll be looking for more retro articles...

Felt the economic pinch in LA

The shopping malls and stores in LA over the past weekend seemed pretty slow and the locals didn't stop complaining about the economy and cut down in services. They even cut down the security checkers at LAX, so the check in line ups were long. Spoke to some people in the home improvement business with projects frozen because banks aren't giving credit. Seems like the Obama TARP money didn't make its way to the local banks, if it did, they're certainly not lending. And while home prices in LA have dropped, prices of the Beverly hills homes in the hills have gone up. All this is hard for an outsider to understand in a city dripping with wealth.,

An LA Thanksgiving Day not quite like the...

Corrections, but enough turkey, laughs, sappy moments, family tension and a close call when an 12 foot oak wood door came unhinged and crashed down in a kid's bedroom, narrowly missing the kid. Still no epiphanies for this writer though...