Turn That Music Down!
Jeremy pinged me a few weeks back: Big Sugar is coming, did I want to go? Given our previous two concerts this year alone, I was in. But more important, this is Big Sugar, which was a notable part of my late-1990s life. …
2022nd
2022s
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52 items
It's too quiet
It’s quiet. Too quiet. At this time of the year, in the marketing industry, it’s usually mayhem: everyone trying to get their sales up as the year winds down, get holiday specials out the door, and my …
No Meetings Fridays Don't Solve The Problem
I was at Shaw Communications when I first experienced “No Meetings Fridays”, and I realized how stupid an idea it really is. I’m going to keep this short: removing a day from being able to meet with …
Confirmation Bias Will Be Our End
Humanity, for millennia, survived by groupthink: we needed to have common thought to survive. Little changes here and there – a discovery of a new tool, a realization that permanent marks could be made with paint …
Social media is dead
Just over two weeks ago, Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion. There is no part of this that makes any sense. How anyone can justify a sum of money greater than the GDP of 56% of all (current) nations to acquire what …
Meta admits failure over the Metaverse
I do truly mean this: I hate it when I’m right. I have to give credit to Zuckerberg for trying, I do. But when you are so utterly blind on a vision without understanding the very audience you’re trying to …
The Arkells at the Saddledome
Speaking of the next show… For Christmas 2021, I got tickets to a concert. Two of them. To The Arkells. The last time I saw The Arkells, they were opening for The Tragically Hip in Red Deer. That was the first …
Heart and Styx at the Jubilee
Jeremy and I have been to a few concerts together, notably a few Tragically Hip shows and John Fogerty’s “1969”. So, to a degree, I’m lucky that he pings me to go to shows with him. I was a bit …
20th Anniversary of the CBC TV VIA Rail Train
This is the 70th year that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has delivered TV service. I know this because 20 years ago, I helped run a celebration of CBC TV across Canada. And today is the 20th anniversary of that …
In the Believeco Tent
In the second week of August, I got a rather strange meeting request. It was lacking nearly all details. It was at the end of the day, a Friday. This was the sort of timing and specificity that usually suggested an …
How Quickly They Grow Up
As a result of COVID, it’s been a bit hard to do some of the things one should regularly do as part of a healthy regimen. Like, say, getting an annual checkup. (I, in particular, am several years out from my last …
Belated 50th Birthday Weekend
As you might recall, I turned 50 a few weeks ago. We had a great party, lots of people, amazing food. But I felt, even before the shindig, that I needed to something a bit more special, the blatantly stereotypical …
A Visit to Lake Country
A number of weeks ago, Venture’s CEO, Arlene Dickinson, announced that staff could work from anywhere they liked this summer, to take advantage of our new-found COVID freedoms. By and large it wasn’t a big …
Covid. Dammit.
I still say it was the Best Birthday Week Ever. But … well, fuck, I caught COVID. I assume it was Stampede, the timing is the only thing that makes sense. But I’m the only one who caught it, everyone else …
50 Years of Me
Well, I’ve somehow managed to make it to 50 years of age. I’m pretty sure teenaged me is mildly shocked. (50 year old me kind of is.) I’m not where I thought I’d be, even as little as a decade …
The Last Days
Ten years. A decade my kids have been going to school. And up until the last year, it was a central part of my life. I’m the morning parent: get kids up, shepherd them through breakfast and lunch-making, get them …
The Long Road Home
I still wish there were trains between Vancouver and Calgary. Passenger ones, like VIA, not the Rocky Mountaineer (which, admittedly, I would still love to take, but I tend to not have an extra $5,000 lying around). But …
Resting in Ruskin
It’s a weird year, here, in Ruskin. When we’ve been here at this time of the year in the past, the back field is well under way, with flowers and shoots of whatever it is that Randy’s planning to grow. …
Salty Sea Dog Reunion, Return to Reality on Ferries
We’re back in Ruskin. And it took way longer to get here than I could have imagined this morning. We were the first ones away, having the car effectively packed by 09:00. I had no illusions for the trip ahead: …
Salty Sea Dog Reunion, Hikes and Sheds and Crabs
It was a quiet day, overall. Unlike yesterday, it was drizzly, if a bit rainy. And that was okay, at least for us – we were on the we(s)t coast, so of course it should rain. And we had no particular plans, so …
Salty Sea Dog Reunion, Whales, Shelter, and Jesus, Oh my!
It’s amazing what one good night’s sleep can do for you. I felt substantially better after a restful night (though I’m told I snored horribly), ready to take on the day. My day started, with a quick …
Salty Sea Dog Reunion, Hangovers and Sunsets
I awoke somewhere around 08:00. I think. The morning until about noon is a bit hazy for me. Yes, I overdid it. Way overdid it. I was a bit woozy, and although my head didn’t hurt as much as it should have, it was …
Salty Sea Dog Reunion, Arrival in Tofino
Today. Oh my, today. Perhaps one of the best days I’ve had in … well, a very, very long time. And there are parts that I will regret tomorrow. But for now… I couldn’t sleep. The bed in the …
Salty Sea Dog Reunion, Three Valley Gap to Ruskin
It was a comfy bed. Until it wasn’t. I dunno if it’s just me getting old, but I find it’s hard to find a mattress I’m truly happy with. I had to pry the family out of bed with a crowbar at 7:30am. …
Salty Sea Dog Reunion, Calgary to Three Valley Gap
Over six months ago, during our weekly FaceTime catchup, Mom decided that we needed to have a joint birthday celebration. She was due to turn 80 in April, I turn 50 in July. And although we were still in COVID …
Google's Moral Responsibility
Earlier in the month, I attended (virtually) Ad World, a conference about advertising. Yeah, I know, not the most riveting sounding thing, but it had some topics (notably Web3) that I wanted to hear more about. And …
Voting with Blockchains - Equity and Representation
Last night, I was helping Choo Choo with her homework. She’s in Grade 6 and learning about the Iroquois Confederacy, which up until Monkey had run through it three years ago, I’d never heard of before. This …
A Decade Without Cable Television
Ten years ago today, I cut the cord. (Not entirely true, I technically cut it a little over a month earlier, but this was the final slice.) At the time it seemed a little more daunting to my family, especially Alex, …
Happy 80th Birthday, Mom!
Today, my mom turns 80. I don’t really know if that’s a milestone, in all honesty, though it is a big number. And it’s a good number – it’s strength and health and will to continue forward. …
My Age of Intolerance
On Saturday, I got to meet up with some old friends that I hadn’t seen in forever: Tamara, Kalen, and Tim. The last time we saw each other was last summer, when we met for our first time since the COVID pandemic …
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The Metaverse Needs a Pandemic
Let’s be clear on one thing before we begin, here: I’m not advocating for widespread death and suffering. If it were possible to have a pandemic without all the pain we’ve collectively endured for the …
Soft Skills are Hard Requirements
Today I had a call with one of our vendors who helps find developers and other technically-skilled contractors that we’ve employed in the past. It wasn’t with Marlene, who’s been my contact with this …
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To COVID or Not to COVID
We flew back from England on Sunday. It was a long day. On Monday afternoon, I started to feel … off. For me, that’s somewhat common for flying, I often don’t feel great afterwards. Especially with …
Anyone sick of hearing about the metaverse?
A few months ago, Mark Zuckerberg stood in front of a large audience and declared the presence of the Metaverse, at the same time rebranding his company to “Meta” because it was so darned important. (And …
Happy 2nd COVIDversary!
Two years ago, we went into hiding from a rising pandemic. At the time, we were bracing for at most a few weeks of remote operations, with hopes that things would return to normal fairly quickly. Hoo boy, how wrong we …
20 Years Without My Dad
My father passed away 20 years ago today. There was a time, not too long ago, when I thought about having lost him a lot. I was a young(er) father with young children and I felt often at wits’ end and I so dearly …
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Are Successful People Awful?
I’m a bit late to the podcast game. I had listened to them on and off over the years but hadn’t really taken to them. Why would I want to listen to someone prattle on about something when I can listen to …
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The End of COVID and a Return to Normal
Today, Alberta dropped almost all of the COVID restrictions that we’ve been living under for the last near-two years. (I’m ignoring the boondoogle that happened in summer 2021 – The Best Summer Ever …
The Challenge of Authentic Identity
This morning, I got into a bit of a debate with my friend Duane, the result of a comment about how we need to find a way to tone down the rhetoric and prominence of racist shitheads and state-sponsored lies that are …
Happy Twosday!
Oh, we’re stretching this so far it could snap. But today is “Twosday”, the last time for over a thousand years when we’ll have AW WHO AM I KIDDING THIS IS COMPLETE BUNK! This is because someone …
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Protection, Freedom, and Assimiliation
It’s really hard to keep quiet anymore. For over a month, Canadians have been terrorized by groups of “protesters” demanding their freedom. I’m using the word “terrorized” …
Traveling in the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has been … I don’t want to use the the word “unprecedented”, because it’s not entirely true. If you look back far enough, there are similar scenarios: SARS in 2003, while never declared a …
Another Apology to my Kids
Hey kids, I hope you’re looking at this blog, especially at the two tags I’ve created to help you find all the things I’ve written for you, and you find this. Because I’m assuming you’ve …
Aircraft Manufacturers Need Better Accountability
I realize I’m stepping way out of my bounds on this one. I’m neither a telecommunications expert nor an aviation technology expert. That, by definition, makes me more of an “armchair expert”, …
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Be Selfish with COVID
I don’t have COVID, I haven’t had COVID, and I’ve been doing everything in my power to not get COVID. But I’ve known more than a few who have had it. People I know and love, my friends… And …
Cancel Culture is a Requirement for Modern Society
This is going to seem like it should be filed under “rants”. After all, I’m taking a contrary position to some thing that’s been popularized and that is, by nature, a diatribe. But I think this is …
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Open Source Vigilantes Hurt Our Industry
You might be one of those unfortunate souls caught in the debacle where a singular developer decided to intentionally hobble open source libraries to spite corporate users. To you, regardless of where you work, my …
Does the Sonos Patent Decision Ignore the Original Idea?
Yesterday, the US International Trade Commission made the decision that Google infringed (I’m sure some would say “blantantly stole”) some of Sonos’ patents and applied them to their Google Home …
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Dungeons and Dragons
Yes, I know it’s “Dungeons & Dragons”. I chose this spelling intentionally. Deal with it. I think I played D&D once as a kid with the neighbourhood kids. We ended up LARPing it a bit, as the …
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New Years Tea 2022
If there’s one tradition we’ve tried to stick to, it’s New Years Tea. We very much know this is an indulgence, one we are very privileged to be able to afford and enjoy. It’s a once-a-year thing, …
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2021, a Year in Review
2020 was a rough year as we all learned how to deal with a pandemic, and a world full of people who couldn’t give a shit about anyone but themselves. But 2021 would tell us that time doesn’t fix stupid and …
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2016-2020, a few Years in Review
It’s been six years since I’ve done one of these. There’s a host of reasons why, but it can be boiled down to a simple reality: I just didn’t want to. The last few years have been … …
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