Post #7
We are currently enjoying unnaturally good weather here in BC at the moment with temperatures that must be in the low 30's regardless of what the local media are saying. This, and the thunder and lightning storm that hit on Saturday night, has caused around 100 forest fires in the Provence, no doubt stretching the already thin resources for fighting fires even thinner. Last weekend, as we were enjoying the sun at Harrison Hot Springs (a wonderful place if you've never been - actually, it's wonderful if you have been too) a fire was raging near the town of Kelowna and 10,000 people had to be evacuated for a few days as the the fire was fought and brought under control.
The family and I were over on the Sunshine Coast this weekend visiting friends from Scotland who are here visiting relatives and we spent a great weekend chilling out (an odd phrase given the temperatures but never mind) on the beach, watching fireworks and an annual parade in the local town. Thanks guys for a wonderful weekend.
The result of this, though, is that I feel drained of energy and struggled to get out of bed this morning. I felt the same last Monday after our weekend of chilling at Harrison and I have put it down to a combination of the heat and the meds I'm on and until the medical professionals figure out what caused the recent seizures (this may never happen apparently) and the source of the general fatigue (could be the my body getting used the meds or my body not liking the meds or something else entirely) I/we will have to put up with it.
My friend Brian told me about the ex-footballer, John Hartson's battle against cancer. He was diagnoses with testicular cancer recently and the tests revealed that it had spread to his brain and lungs. The news on the web today has suggested that he is recovering from a second brain operation, is recovering well and gaining strength, but there's gaining strength and gaining strength.
I'm also reading a book called "My Stroke of Insight" by Dr Jill Bolte Taylor http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b_0_9?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=my+stroke+of+insight&sprefix=my+stroke
It is her story of how, at the age of 37 this Harvard neuroanatomist suffered a rare form of stroke in the left side of her brain greatly compromised. As the stroke happened she was able to recognise the deterioration of various functions of her brain academically but nonetheless lost the ability to walk, talk, speak and think properly. I'm about half way through the book, on Day 2 of her hospitalization, but, not wishing to spoil the ending for anyone wishing to read this, she makes a full recovery and writes the book.
So as I moan and groan about how my minor condition makes we tired and prevents me from drinking beer (a love I have, particularly on a Friday night but hardly the end of the world), driving (notice now the beer comes first in this list mmmmmm!), swimming, flying on long haul flights and pretty much do anything after a day at work (erm...that's it), that's all.
John Hartson and Jill and numerous others; my mother who fought breast cancer, my mate back home who lives with CF, friends whose son was diagnosed with CF after birth and many others are constant inspirations to me and, on the really tired days give me the kick in the arse I need.
Brian told me about a couple of bands he has been listening to recently. The Friendly Fires www.myspace.com/friendlyfires sound a bit like an early Spandau Ballet, but good and Cajun Dance Party www.myspace.com/cajundanceparty sound just like The Kooks. All of this will mean nothing to those who have never heard of either Spandau Ballet or The Kooks but who cares.
More soon........
Monday, July 27, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Canadian Chocolate..fit for your dog
Post #6
The family and I have been living in Canada for over 2 years now and we see no reason to return to the UK for anything other than vacation. We have met lots of great friends, I've continued my association with Honeywell and enjoy my role here more every day and we've been introduced to a few new experiences.
Skiing: we were on the ski slopes on Vancouver Island within days of arriving under the expert tutelage of my cousin Kirsty and her family. We've progressed from cautious snow-plough to cautious parallel turns (technical term) to tempting the Olympic downhill course at Whistler. Actually that was Josh and I one weekend when we up with friends. Josh and the friends skied straight down the hill, or cliff as I liked to call it, and I opted to ski across the hill and therefore made far more turns and consequently took about half an hour longer. I don't think I will make the team for these Olympics. For those of you unfamiliar with skiing, we have 3 grades of hill: Green, which is the easiest regardless of which hill you are on; Blue, which can range from moderately difficult to the aforementioned cliff; and Black, which is almost always cliff-like, frequently bumpy and often narrow. These grades differ depending on the hill you are on. For example, the black slope on our local mountain, Mount Seymour, is like the blues at Whistler and our blues are like the greens at Whistler. we have also learned that snow boarders are the skiing equivalent of the dark side, sneaking up behind you before turning sharply. This has two results: the snow boarder narrowly misses you and secondly, they make a very loud, very sudden noise, right behind you regularly necessitating a fresh pair of undergarments. If you want to see some photos go to http://www.mountseymour.com/ or http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/
Football (or soccer if you live here): this sport, our religion back home is open to everyone; men, women, boys, little girls, of all levels of ability. From expert toe punters like me (I'm expert at hitting the ball squarely with my toe and nothing else in fitba) to little girls who have never kicked a ball before, like Evie when we first arrived. This is different to Scotland where fitba was really on open to boys who were pretty good (assuming you knew someone who coached a team) and amateur men who played on a week day night and took the sport far too seriously. So both Josh and Evie have been playing in a team since they arrived and I help coach Josh's team with a great Kiwi called Grant. We don't have to pass any coaching exams or courses run by the local authority, but nor do we have to submit forms so that the club can check our Police records. This is a little scary but it seems to work fine.
Baseball/Field Hockey: in the late Spring/early Summer Josh plays in a baseball team and Evie a field hockey team. We have to call it field hockey here because "hockey" is the game they treat as their religion here that they play on ice and if you are new to the sport you spend the entire game watching where the puck (think of the ball, but smaller, harder and kind of flat...so not really a ball) used to be 3 seconds ago. It's slightly easier when we watch my cousin Heather's boys playing, but not much. So baseball is the most boring game in the world, it typically lasts 2.5 hours and consists of small boys missing the ball a lot. Field Hockey is considerably more fun, being as it is considerably shorter in length and, with the success rate of Evie's team, including more scoring.
Spring time: in the Spring in Vancouver we are able to partake in the North American experience of skiing in the morning and lying on the beach in the afternoon. This is not something we were capable of doing in Glasgow. The closest we got to this was skiing on artificial ski-slopes which was brush matting. Imagine skiing over a large brush turned upside down. Now imagine how much skin you would have left if you fell on it.
Otherstuff: we have kayaking available, hiking, mountain biking and, of course, the wildlife. We regularly see bald eagles, bears, raccoons and pigeons(??) and in the ocean we have seals, sea lions, dolphins, Grey whales and orca.
However, it's not all rosy in the land of maple syrup. Their chocolate is just the wrong side of inedible. I'm not talking about some weird Canadian brand that we've never heard of, I'm talking about Cadbury's. It's something to do with the stuff they put into the chocolate to prevent it from melting, but the result is a chocolate that we would typically give to dogs in the UK. Canadian TV is awful, unless you have the really expensive cable, in which case it's lots of channels of awful content and a few decent shows and sports. We watch the BBC channel which is exclusively news programs, the Food Channel if our Jamie Oliver is on it and erm, that's about it. Of course it is perhaps deliberately bad to discourage us from sitting in front of it all evening and get out to enjoy all of the above activities, but even then, there's no excuse for dross we have to put up with. Those of you reading this from the UK should be grateful that you have the BBC's many channels (TV and Radio) and Channel 4. Equally frustrating are the Canadian takeaway curries. Horrible runny and, in some cases, quite healthy. If I wanted "healthy" I wouldn't be choosing a curry. They don't have pubs here but they do have sports bars. This means you sit at a table, have beer and other tipples brought to you by a waitress (almost exclusively very pretty, blond and wearing a dress at least one size too small). Then you sit with your friends and try not to be distracted by the myriad of televisions (monster screens) showing everything from hockey (the ice version) baseball, American Football, golf, and the most pointless of sports, basketball. A game in which a point is scored every 3 seconds by unnaturally tall boys whose shorts would make rather baggy trousers for the averagely heighted person. Every 3 seconds...which means there's absolutely no action or interest at all until the last 5 minutes. And people watch this, in bars. And the unnaturally large TVs, all competing for viewers in these bars, all have the sound up.
Other than this we are happy here.
The family and I have been living in Canada for over 2 years now and we see no reason to return to the UK for anything other than vacation. We have met lots of great friends, I've continued my association with Honeywell and enjoy my role here more every day and we've been introduced to a few new experiences.
Skiing: we were on the ski slopes on Vancouver Island within days of arriving under the expert tutelage of my cousin Kirsty and her family. We've progressed from cautious snow-plough to cautious parallel turns (technical term) to tempting the Olympic downhill course at Whistler. Actually that was Josh and I one weekend when we up with friends. Josh and the friends skied straight down the hill, or cliff as I liked to call it, and I opted to ski across the hill and therefore made far more turns and consequently took about half an hour longer. I don't think I will make the team for these Olympics. For those of you unfamiliar with skiing, we have 3 grades of hill: Green, which is the easiest regardless of which hill you are on; Blue, which can range from moderately difficult to the aforementioned cliff; and Black, which is almost always cliff-like, frequently bumpy and often narrow. These grades differ depending on the hill you are on. For example, the black slope on our local mountain, Mount Seymour, is like the blues at Whistler and our blues are like the greens at Whistler. we have also learned that snow boarders are the skiing equivalent of the dark side, sneaking up behind you before turning sharply. This has two results: the snow boarder narrowly misses you and secondly, they make a very loud, very sudden noise, right behind you regularly necessitating a fresh pair of undergarments. If you want to see some photos go to http://www.mountseymour.com/ or http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/
Football (or soccer if you live here): this sport, our religion back home is open to everyone; men, women, boys, little girls, of all levels of ability. From expert toe punters like me (I'm expert at hitting the ball squarely with my toe and nothing else in fitba) to little girls who have never kicked a ball before, like Evie when we first arrived. This is different to Scotland where fitba was really on open to boys who were pretty good (assuming you knew someone who coached a team) and amateur men who played on a week day night and took the sport far too seriously. So both Josh and Evie have been playing in a team since they arrived and I help coach Josh's team with a great Kiwi called Grant. We don't have to pass any coaching exams or courses run by the local authority, but nor do we have to submit forms so that the club can check our Police records. This is a little scary but it seems to work fine.
Baseball/Field Hockey: in the late Spring/early Summer Josh plays in a baseball team and Evie a field hockey team. We have to call it field hockey here because "hockey" is the game they treat as their religion here that they play on ice and if you are new to the sport you spend the entire game watching where the puck (think of the ball, but smaller, harder and kind of flat...so not really a ball) used to be 3 seconds ago. It's slightly easier when we watch my cousin Heather's boys playing, but not much. So baseball is the most boring game in the world, it typically lasts 2.5 hours and consists of small boys missing the ball a lot. Field Hockey is considerably more fun, being as it is considerably shorter in length and, with the success rate of Evie's team, including more scoring.
Spring time: in the Spring in Vancouver we are able to partake in the North American experience of skiing in the morning and lying on the beach in the afternoon. This is not something we were capable of doing in Glasgow. The closest we got to this was skiing on artificial ski-slopes which was brush matting. Imagine skiing over a large brush turned upside down. Now imagine how much skin you would have left if you fell on it.
Otherstuff: we have kayaking available, hiking, mountain biking and, of course, the wildlife. We regularly see bald eagles, bears, raccoons and pigeons(??) and in the ocean we have seals, sea lions, dolphins, Grey whales and orca.
However, it's not all rosy in the land of maple syrup. Their chocolate is just the wrong side of inedible. I'm not talking about some weird Canadian brand that we've never heard of, I'm talking about Cadbury's. It's something to do with the stuff they put into the chocolate to prevent it from melting, but the result is a chocolate that we would typically give to dogs in the UK. Canadian TV is awful, unless you have the really expensive cable, in which case it's lots of channels of awful content and a few decent shows and sports. We watch the BBC channel which is exclusively news programs, the Food Channel if our Jamie Oliver is on it and erm, that's about it. Of course it is perhaps deliberately bad to discourage us from sitting in front of it all evening and get out to enjoy all of the above activities, but even then, there's no excuse for dross we have to put up with. Those of you reading this from the UK should be grateful that you have the BBC's many channels (TV and Radio) and Channel 4. Equally frustrating are the Canadian takeaway curries. Horrible runny and, in some cases, quite healthy. If I wanted "healthy" I wouldn't be choosing a curry. They don't have pubs here but they do have sports bars. This means you sit at a table, have beer and other tipples brought to you by a waitress (almost exclusively very pretty, blond and wearing a dress at least one size too small). Then you sit with your friends and try not to be distracted by the myriad of televisions (monster screens) showing everything from hockey (the ice version) baseball, American Football, golf, and the most pointless of sports, basketball. A game in which a point is scored every 3 seconds by unnaturally tall boys whose shorts would make rather baggy trousers for the averagely heighted person. Every 3 seconds...which means there's absolutely no action or interest at all until the last 5 minutes. And people watch this, in bars. And the unnaturally large TVs, all competing for viewers in these bars, all have the sound up.
Other than this we are happy here.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Concert Prices
Post 5
Sorry Mr Ford for the lack of content yesterday but I am finding myself in need of a nap in the early evening these days and it's since I started taking my anti-siezure meds. Don't know if the two things are linked but I can only assume that they are. Even after a good nights sleep and a reasonably easy day in the office (no driving around to meetings for me at the moment) it's still the same so I may turn this daily post into a whenever-I-feel-up-to-it post. Maybe it's just old age catching up with me and punishing me and my body for years of abuse. No, that can't be it. I mean we drank a fair bit at university but that was 20 years ago and it was pretty watered down ale to be honest. And anyway, since then, my capacity for drinking in those volumes has reduced to somewhere on the wrong side of half a pint so it can't be that. The biggest problem though is not the unnatural tiredness but my enforced inability to drive. It's killing me. That used to be my time to listen to my favourite tunes, particularly the stuff that Tracey doesn't like which is pretty much all of it. Try listening to The Fall now. Not only that, I shouldn't really be left on my own either so I can't listen to "my music" in the house.
One thing I can do, though, is go to concerts, just as long as I go with someone who likes it too. Tracey and I went to see Coldplay the other week. We paid $70 each for tickets that the singer, Chris Martin, described as "suicide seats" when he saw them towards the end of the concert. And out tickets were the cheaps seats. Give them there due though, they gave away a free live CD as we left the concert. This was a nice thought but a) you can apparently download the CD from the interweb anyway so it's hardly unique and b) it probably retails for around $10 so we are still paying a lot of money to see a show from very high up in a hockey arena. It was, however, a great show.
We are also taking the whole family to see U2 this October at the big stadium in town. They have mandated that every show will have 10,000 at around $30...so we bought 4 of them...but we are behind the stage. It's a 360 degree stage so we should see something but the stage is up at our end of the pitch so the majority of the audience will be infront of the stage so that's where the band will be facing for most of the show I'm guessing. I will let you know.
Compare all this to the Raconteurs. I took Josh to see them last summer in the big park in Vancouver, Stanley Park and the tickets were around $30 each. It was Josh's first concert and he thoroughly enjoyed it but at least it was more affordable. And he can say this was his first show when he gets older and not be embarassed like his Dad: Hot Chocolate at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh when I was 10.
It's all very different from when the Incredible Richard Ford and I used to go to concerts when we were at university. 20 years ago the bands we like were playing live for 5 - 10 pound, or $10 - $20. These are the same types of bands that are playing in Vancouver now for $30. Not a huge increase when you think about it. So it's just the big shot bands and artists that are demanding the big prices and their promoters (Live Nation) and record companies that are probably taking the majority of the proceeds.
Everyone should come to the dark side and start listening to proper music instead of the only the mass (over) produced crap that makes all the big money for the record companies. I just hope that these artists are getting their fair share of the profits but I suspect not, hence the long line of artists that have filed for bankruptcy.
Here's some recommendations for my dozens (I wish) of followers out there. Records that should be considered by bands or artists that are not multi-millionaires. The Faces included Rod Stewart who definately is a multi-millionaire, but the rest of the surviving members are not.
1. Ogdens Nut Gone Flake by the Small Faces
2. Bryter Layter by Nick Drake www.brytermusic.com
3. Your Arsenal by Morrissey www.itsmorrisseysworld.com
4. Screamadelica by Primal Scream www.primalscream.net
5. A Nod's As Good As a Wink...To a Blind Horse by The Faces www.the-faces.com
6. Hour of Bewildrbeast by Badly Drawn Boy
7. Surfa Rosa by The Pixies www.4ad.com/pixies
8. Rings Around The World by Supper Furry Animals www.superfurry.com
9. Heavy Soul by Paul Weller www.paulweller.com
10. The 3 E.Ps by The Beta Band www.betaband.com
11. The Las by The Las
Happy Listening.
Sorry Mr Ford for the lack of content yesterday but I am finding myself in need of a nap in the early evening these days and it's since I started taking my anti-siezure meds. Don't know if the two things are linked but I can only assume that they are. Even after a good nights sleep and a reasonably easy day in the office (no driving around to meetings for me at the moment) it's still the same so I may turn this daily post into a whenever-I-feel-up-to-it post. Maybe it's just old age catching up with me and punishing me and my body for years of abuse. No, that can't be it. I mean we drank a fair bit at university but that was 20 years ago and it was pretty watered down ale to be honest. And anyway, since then, my capacity for drinking in those volumes has reduced to somewhere on the wrong side of half a pint so it can't be that. The biggest problem though is not the unnatural tiredness but my enforced inability to drive. It's killing me. That used to be my time to listen to my favourite tunes, particularly the stuff that Tracey doesn't like which is pretty much all of it. Try listening to The Fall now. Not only that, I shouldn't really be left on my own either so I can't listen to "my music" in the house.
One thing I can do, though, is go to concerts, just as long as I go with someone who likes it too. Tracey and I went to see Coldplay the other week. We paid $70 each for tickets that the singer, Chris Martin, described as "suicide seats" when he saw them towards the end of the concert. And out tickets were the cheaps seats. Give them there due though, they gave away a free live CD as we left the concert. This was a nice thought but a) you can apparently download the CD from the interweb anyway so it's hardly unique and b) it probably retails for around $10 so we are still paying a lot of money to see a show from very high up in a hockey arena. It was, however, a great show.
We are also taking the whole family to see U2 this October at the big stadium in town. They have mandated that every show will have 10,000 at around $30...so we bought 4 of them...but we are behind the stage. It's a 360 degree stage so we should see something but the stage is up at our end of the pitch so the majority of the audience will be infront of the stage so that's where the band will be facing for most of the show I'm guessing. I will let you know.
Compare all this to the Raconteurs. I took Josh to see them last summer in the big park in Vancouver, Stanley Park and the tickets were around $30 each. It was Josh's first concert and he thoroughly enjoyed it but at least it was more affordable. And he can say this was his first show when he gets older and not be embarassed like his Dad: Hot Chocolate at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh when I was 10.
It's all very different from when the Incredible Richard Ford and I used to go to concerts when we were at university. 20 years ago the bands we like were playing live for 5 - 10 pound, or $10 - $20. These are the same types of bands that are playing in Vancouver now for $30. Not a huge increase when you think about it. So it's just the big shot bands and artists that are demanding the big prices and their promoters (Live Nation) and record companies that are probably taking the majority of the proceeds.
Everyone should come to the dark side and start listening to proper music instead of the only the mass (over) produced crap that makes all the big money for the record companies. I just hope that these artists are getting their fair share of the profits but I suspect not, hence the long line of artists that have filed for bankruptcy.
Here's some recommendations for my dozens (I wish) of followers out there. Records that should be considered by bands or artists that are not multi-millionaires. The Faces included Rod Stewart who definately is a multi-millionaire, but the rest of the surviving members are not.
1. Ogdens Nut Gone Flake by the Small Faces
2. Bryter Layter by Nick Drake www.brytermusic.com
3. Your Arsenal by Morrissey www.itsmorrisseysworld.com
4. Screamadelica by Primal Scream www.primalscream.net
5. A Nod's As Good As a Wink...To a Blind Horse by The Faces www.the-faces.com
6. Hour of Bewildrbeast by Badly Drawn Boy
7. Surfa Rosa by The Pixies www.4ad.com/pixies
8. Rings Around The World by Supper Furry Animals www.superfurry.com
9. Heavy Soul by Paul Weller www.paulweller.com
10. The 3 E.Ps by The Beta Band www.betaband.com
11. The Las by The Las
Happy Listening.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Ronaldo signs for Hearts (I wish)
Post #4
So Cristiano Ronaldo has been presented at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu stadium this week in front of a capacity 80,354 crowd after finalising the world record transfer of 80 million pounds (I don't have the pound sign on this North American laptop). The Real Madrid President, Florentino Perez wants to return to the Galacticos era where the world's best players play for the club. They have already signed Kaka for 56 million pounds and will no doubt sign more.
It's a risky move since the last Galacticos ended in some success and lots o failure. For example, the club refused to pay defenders the same level of salary as the attacking players and this saw the departure of Makelele from the last Galacticos team to Chelsea when David Beckham arrived at the club. Ironically, at this point Real Madrid stopped winning silverware and Chelsea started.
But the really interesting point about this week's event is the number of fans that turned up to see a young man put the strip on and juggle a few balls about. 80,354. What did they expect to see? Off their heads, the lot of them.
The nearest we've had in Scotland was when Dalglish returned to parkhead as Director of football for Celtic. About 100 people turned cheering, shouting and, probably drinking Tennents Super by the way pal. It was a similar scene when Celtic were in dire straits about a decade ago and the fans were screaming for the Board to be sacked. This happened on a regular basis and the great unwashed (literally in some cases - soap dodging beggers) of Glasgow's East End would gather outside the main stand chanting and singing and drinking more Tennents Super. Young BBC reporters would be dispatched to get a sense of the atmosphere and interview some of the fans for that night's tele and be talked at by the assembled hords.
The same thing happened in Newcastle (and is probably happening now - Richard, comments?) but nothing in quite the same numbers as the mad Spaniards.
I suppose I'm just jealous. Hearts could afford to borrow Ronaldo for a week let alone buy him and even if we could he wouldn't come. Who would want to play in front of (barely) 18,000 fans on a wet Thursday night against Hamilton in the League Cup...and lose. This is why Kaka rejected Man City's bid to land him. Not that they play Hamilton but you get my drift. No, Hearts have other problems to deal with, mounting debt, a tiny wee stadium and a Lithuanian owner who fancies himself as the manager and makes a roaring arse of it in the process. I wish we had a stadium that was capable of holding anywhere near 80,000 people. The closest we have come is using Murrayfield (60,000) for European games and barely managing to fill half of it.
No, us Jambos will have to make do with what we've got and aim for finishing 3rd in the league...the closest we'll ever get to winning the league.
Peter
So Cristiano Ronaldo has been presented at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu stadium this week in front of a capacity 80,354 crowd after finalising the world record transfer of 80 million pounds (I don't have the pound sign on this North American laptop). The Real Madrid President, Florentino Perez wants to return to the Galacticos era where the world's best players play for the club. They have already signed Kaka for 56 million pounds and will no doubt sign more.
It's a risky move since the last Galacticos ended in some success and lots o failure. For example, the club refused to pay defenders the same level of salary as the attacking players and this saw the departure of Makelele from the last Galacticos team to Chelsea when David Beckham arrived at the club. Ironically, at this point Real Madrid stopped winning silverware and Chelsea started.
But the really interesting point about this week's event is the number of fans that turned up to see a young man put the strip on and juggle a few balls about. 80,354. What did they expect to see? Off their heads, the lot of them.
The nearest we've had in Scotland was when Dalglish returned to parkhead as Director of football for Celtic. About 100 people turned cheering, shouting and, probably drinking Tennents Super by the way pal. It was a similar scene when Celtic were in dire straits about a decade ago and the fans were screaming for the Board to be sacked. This happened on a regular basis and the great unwashed (literally in some cases - soap dodging beggers) of Glasgow's East End would gather outside the main stand chanting and singing and drinking more Tennents Super. Young BBC reporters would be dispatched to get a sense of the atmosphere and interview some of the fans for that night's tele and be talked at by the assembled hords.
The same thing happened in Newcastle (and is probably happening now - Richard, comments?) but nothing in quite the same numbers as the mad Spaniards.
I suppose I'm just jealous. Hearts could afford to borrow Ronaldo for a week let alone buy him and even if we could he wouldn't come. Who would want to play in front of (barely) 18,000 fans on a wet Thursday night against Hamilton in the League Cup...and lose. This is why Kaka rejected Man City's bid to land him. Not that they play Hamilton but you get my drift. No, Hearts have other problems to deal with, mounting debt, a tiny wee stadium and a Lithuanian owner who fancies himself as the manager and makes a roaring arse of it in the process. I wish we had a stadium that was capable of holding anywhere near 80,000 people. The closest we have come is using Murrayfield (60,000) for European games and barely managing to fill half of it.
No, us Jambos will have to make do with what we've got and aim for finishing 3rd in the league...the closest we'll ever get to winning the league.
Peter
Blog Instructions
Post #3
A few of you have asked about becoming Followers so I thought I'd share the method. Those of you with Google accounts (Gmail, Google blogs accounts etc) it's slightly easier but you start on the right hand side of the Blog:
click on the little box with the multi-coloured G Follow;
a new window will appear asking you to sign into one of the accounts that it offers;
if you don't have one you'll have to create a Google account, but I used Tracey's Gmail account, username and password and then clicked on a box - "follow this Blog"
Not sure what happens when you don't have a Google account but it won't be difficult.
If you manage to make it through this process it would help if you added a photo to your profile but I will leave that up to you.
Adding comments is easy too but I think you need an account too. I signed into the blog as me and bobs yer uncle. However, I think yo can add a comment with an "openID". Richard (the IT expert), is this correct?
OK, hope this makes sense. I'll post a proper Post in a mo.
Peter
A few of you have asked about becoming Followers so I thought I'd share the method. Those of you with Google accounts (Gmail, Google blogs accounts etc) it's slightly easier but you start on the right hand side of the Blog:
click on the little box with the multi-coloured G Follow;
a new window will appear asking you to sign into one of the accounts that it offers;
if you don't have one you'll have to create a Google account, but I used Tracey's Gmail account, username and password and then clicked on a box - "follow this Blog"
Not sure what happens when you don't have a Google account but it won't be difficult.
If you manage to make it through this process it would help if you added a photo to your profile but I will leave that up to you.
Adding comments is easy too but I think you need an account too. I signed into the blog as me and bobs yer uncle. However, I think yo can add a comment with an "openID". Richard (the IT expert), is this correct?
OK, hope this makes sense. I'll post a proper Post in a mo.
Peter
Monday, July 6, 2009
Michael Jackson Ate My Hamster
Post #2
Well my followers...well, follower...well Richard Ford, I've made it to the traditionally difficult second post and only a day after the first one. Richard, I was not writing on the Blog when you emailed because I was working and didn't think it would be considered, by Honeywell, to be "work" in the true sense of the word, or in any sense for that matter. And then my Blackberry wouldn't let me reply so I had to send you an email from my work address and then you would have gone home so you'll have to read it tomorrow [big breath].
So I've thought long and hard about the topic of this post and because every news network across North America is still harping on about it I though I'd share my thoughts on Michael bloody Jackson. CNN, in particular, are treating his death like he was royalty; real royalty. Every time I go onto the network to get some real news I am treated to stories of his death, his kids, his huge debt owing to his spending habits and his will. We've had 3 nights of Larry King interviewing one of his brothers (Michael Jackson's brother, not Larry King's brother - what sort of a show would that be) at Neverland. We've had night after night of video of crying fans thinking that the world has caved in on them. It's as if there's no news in Iran, Iraq or Newcastle (wee Michael Owen).
However, it would appear that since his death on June 25th the sales of his music have increased through the roof. In the UK, 3 of his albums and 13 of his singles are back in the charts where 600,000 units were sold last week. I assume a "unit" is either an album or a song...not sure. In the North America we have 9 of his albums in the Billboard Top 100 album charts including the top 3;
1. Michael Jackson: No. 1s
2. Essential Michael Jackson
3. Thriller
The latter, I'm reliably informed by the BBC's website is the best selling album of all time. Other albums reside on the Billboard chart at 15, 25, 27, 34, 39 and 41, a collection of his studio albums and compilations. The top 3 are at this lofty place due to sales of over 100,000 each from the previous week, mostly digital downloads it would appear. 2.3 million songs were downloaded during this week too. Compare this with total sales for all Michael Jackson albums of 10,000 in total from the week before his death and song downloads of 7,000 and you can see the volume of sales, all because Michael Jackson died.
So if Michael Jackson is "the King of Pop" and all his fans are so distraught at the news of his death, where were they all when his financial difficulties hit the news in 1995? If they had bought all the records they are buying now, then, perhaps he wouldn't have been so skint. Perhaps he could have kept Neverland (sold to some real estate company a few years ago to raise cash).
Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt that these people genuinely feel sorrow that he has died. But if Morrissey or Mark E. Smith died, I wouldn't rush out a buy the Smiths records or The Fall's CD...mostly because I already have all of them but that's not the point. My point is that these "fans" are not really fans at all. They don't love Michael Jackson for his music, they love the idea of Michael Jackson, the wealth,the glamour and the media-generated hype.
I saw a graph this evening showing the top 10 selling artists of all time based on units sold, according to the Recording Industry Association of America and guess where Jacko is? It's a trick question because the "KING" of pop doesn't make it onto this list. It is, in order from biggest selling first (in millions of units):
The Beatles 190
Elvis (Presley, not Costello) 168.5
Garth Brooks (who the hell's he??) 128.5
Led Zep 112
The Eagles 101.5
Elton John 91
Billy Joel 83.5
Barbara Streisand 78
Madonna 78
Mariah Carey (really????) 76.5
Pink Floyd 75.5
I think the fact that he's only produced something like 10 albums in nearly 40 years didn't help either. In around the same time (Jacko released his first album 4 years earlier) The Fall have produced 3 times this output and the same again in compilations botched together by a myriad of record companies that Mark E Smith has fallen out with. Its just a shame so few people buy The Fall records. There's me, the incredible Richard Ford, erm that fat lad we met at University in the pub up from Penny Lane and emmm that's it. Admittedly I chose a band with an unnaturally high output to compare Jacko with but the point is, how can he be the King of Pop if he's produced so few records and doesn't even hit the top 10 biggest selling acts of all time?
His spending was out of control. Where were his advisers? He bought the ATV Music in 1985 for $14.5M and with it, the rights to the majority of the Beatles music, then promptly had to sell 50% by merging ATV Music with Sony in 1995 to raise money. Then, according to the BBC, he secured a $200M loan with the Bank of America in 2001 using his half of the Beatles music as collateral to pay off debts and refinanced it again in 2006. At the time of his death it was speculated that his debt was $300M - $500M. How can it get that high?
I wouldn't mind so much if the media were focusing on his talent. Despite the fact that I don't particularly like his stuff (apart from the Jackson 5) I have to admit that the guy had talent. Song writing, singing and performing but this past 2 weeks has shown that it's all about the hype and not the music.
Well my followers...well, follower...well Richard Ford, I've made it to the traditionally difficult second post and only a day after the first one. Richard, I was not writing on the Blog when you emailed because I was working and didn't think it would be considered, by Honeywell, to be "work" in the true sense of the word, or in any sense for that matter. And then my Blackberry wouldn't let me reply so I had to send you an email from my work address and then you would have gone home so you'll have to read it tomorrow [big breath].
So I've thought long and hard about the topic of this post and because every news network across North America is still harping on about it I though I'd share my thoughts on Michael bloody Jackson. CNN, in particular, are treating his death like he was royalty; real royalty. Every time I go onto the network to get some real news I am treated to stories of his death, his kids, his huge debt owing to his spending habits and his will. We've had 3 nights of Larry King interviewing one of his brothers (Michael Jackson's brother, not Larry King's brother - what sort of a show would that be) at Neverland. We've had night after night of video of crying fans thinking that the world has caved in on them. It's as if there's no news in Iran, Iraq or Newcastle (wee Michael Owen).
However, it would appear that since his death on June 25th the sales of his music have increased through the roof. In the UK, 3 of his albums and 13 of his singles are back in the charts where 600,000 units were sold last week. I assume a "unit" is either an album or a song...not sure. In the North America we have 9 of his albums in the Billboard Top 100 album charts including the top 3;
1. Michael Jackson: No. 1s
2. Essential Michael Jackson
3. Thriller
The latter, I'm reliably informed by the BBC's website is the best selling album of all time. Other albums reside on the Billboard chart at 15, 25, 27, 34, 39 and 41, a collection of his studio albums and compilations. The top 3 are at this lofty place due to sales of over 100,000 each from the previous week, mostly digital downloads it would appear. 2.3 million songs were downloaded during this week too. Compare this with total sales for all Michael Jackson albums of 10,000 in total from the week before his death and song downloads of 7,000 and you can see the volume of sales, all because Michael Jackson died.
So if Michael Jackson is "the King of Pop" and all his fans are so distraught at the news of his death, where were they all when his financial difficulties hit the news in 1995? If they had bought all the records they are buying now, then, perhaps he wouldn't have been so skint. Perhaps he could have kept Neverland (sold to some real estate company a few years ago to raise cash).
Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt that these people genuinely feel sorrow that he has died. But if Morrissey or Mark E. Smith died, I wouldn't rush out a buy the Smiths records or The Fall's CD...mostly because I already have all of them but that's not the point. My point is that these "fans" are not really fans at all. They don't love Michael Jackson for his music, they love the idea of Michael Jackson, the wealth,the glamour and the media-generated hype.
I saw a graph this evening showing the top 10 selling artists of all time based on units sold, according to the Recording Industry Association of America and guess where Jacko is? It's a trick question because the "KING" of pop doesn't make it onto this list. It is, in order from biggest selling first (in millions of units):
The Beatles 190
Elvis (Presley, not Costello) 168.5
Garth Brooks (who the hell's he??) 128.5
Led Zep 112
The Eagles 101.5
Elton John 91
Billy Joel 83.5
Barbara Streisand 78
Madonna 78
Mariah Carey (really????) 76.5
Pink Floyd 75.5
I think the fact that he's only produced something like 10 albums in nearly 40 years didn't help either. In around the same time (Jacko released his first album 4 years earlier) The Fall have produced 3 times this output and the same again in compilations botched together by a myriad of record companies that Mark E Smith has fallen out with. Its just a shame so few people buy The Fall records. There's me, the incredible Richard Ford, erm that fat lad we met at University in the pub up from Penny Lane and emmm that's it. Admittedly I chose a band with an unnaturally high output to compare Jacko with but the point is, how can he be the King of Pop if he's produced so few records and doesn't even hit the top 10 biggest selling acts of all time?
His spending was out of control. Where were his advisers? He bought the ATV Music in 1985 for $14.5M and with it, the rights to the majority of the Beatles music, then promptly had to sell 50% by merging ATV Music with Sony in 1995 to raise money. Then, according to the BBC, he secured a $200M loan with the Bank of America in 2001 using his half of the Beatles music as collateral to pay off debts and refinanced it again in 2006. At the time of his death it was speculated that his debt was $300M - $500M. How can it get that high?
I wouldn't mind so much if the media were focusing on his talent. Despite the fact that I don't particularly like his stuff (apart from the Jackson 5) I have to admit that the guy had talent. Song writing, singing and performing but this past 2 weeks has shown that it's all about the hype and not the music.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
The First Post
My first post...ever. There's few questions going through my mind at the moment; what am I going to write about, who's going to read this, how do I punctuate this sentence properly? My wife has set me a challenge by suggesting that I will not stick to this task. She bases this on my past experiences of sticking to exercise (which I can't stand, unless it's playing football, sorry, soccer) but I enjoy writing and really only do it at work in the form of emails and erm, that's it really. I used to have to write tender and bid documents but now have staff to do that for me. They're not "my staff" but a shared resource in Toronto but they mean I don't have to write the documents. I used to write letters to customers but we don't do that anymore. And I used to write reports for my customers when I managed service contracts but I work in sales now and don't have to do that anymore either. So we will see. Time will tell.
I've started this Blog after reading , and being inspired by, a book called "What Would Google Do?" by Jeff Jarvis in which he suggests that all businesses, except PR firms and lawyers, should become more open with their businesses and use the internet to connect with more people (customers). PR Firms cannot become more open, he argues, because of the nature of their business and their clients but they are the few anomalies. Apple, the computer company, not the record company, was the other exception. Jeff's "first law" is "give the people control and we will use it. Don't, and you will lose us" and the latter half of the book describes how Google would operate other businesses such as real estate, the media, banks, manufacturing, service and utilities. Jeff is an expert on the media, lectures at universities and takes part in public discussions about the media. His blog is www.buzzmachine.com
I would recommend Jeff's book to anyone and have done so to the other members of the sales team at my work. I've asked for their recommendations for business-related books in return and received 2...out of 9...and one of those I had read twice about 10 years ago. I have a list of other books that I have seen recommended in books, on the internet and at training courses so I have enough to keep me going for now. The other recommendation from the sales team was the new Jeff Rubin book on the economics of the oil prices, "Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller". I've seen some of his speeches and TV interviews on the internet and read some compelling reviews so I think that will be the next one, once I've finished Napoleon Hill's book, "Think and Grow Rich". It was originally published in 1937 and is one of those books unearthing the "secrets of success". Hill was a contemporary of Dale Carnegie who wrote "How to Make Friends and Influence People", a book I read when I first arrived in Canada, not so that I knew how to make friends ( I was doing OK on my own thank you) but because it had been recommended in so many other books and by so many people I'd worked with in the past. Napoleon's book sounds like one of those self help books that claims to teach the secret to success through seeing your success to "obtain whatever you want in life". I bet it will be about identifying your goals, making a plan to get there and then working really hard. I will let you know when I've finished the book. It was recommended by another author that I have started reading, Jeffery Gitomer.
Jeffery was recommended by a fellow sales rep on a course in Phoenix in 2008. He's (Jeffery, not the other sales rep) is one of those motivational speakers for sales professionals who writes motivational books and has a weekly motivational blog and video on his website www.gitomer.com I bought one of his books at the airport on the journey home and read it in a couple of days which is good for me because I have the attention span of a goldfish. It was a short sales book and had great ideas and arguments about selling techniques. It was called "The Little Red Book of Selling". He also wrote "The Little Black Book of Connections" which described the importance and benefits of connecting with people to grow your network and increase your chances of success. He has other books that are small in size and coloured in some way and you can buy them on his website or in any good bookshop. You may even find them in your local library.
So, my first Blog post appears to have turned quickly into a recommendations post. Will this continue, I wonder? I'd like to think so. There's lots of other books, music, restaurants and experiences that I've enjoyed so why shouldn't I plug them publicly? So, the next question is how often I should post. Daily or Weekly? Jeffery Gitomer says that we should write daily to improve this skill so perhaps that should be my goal. I hope it becomes a quicker process in the future though; this post has taken an hour already.
Back to the recommendations. I'm also reading two aother books: "The World Accordng to Bertie" by Alexander McCall Smith and "The Book of General Ignorance" by John Lloyd & John Mitchinson. The first is the latest in the 44 Scotland Street series of books, set in the new town of Edinburgh and featuring at least one pub that I have been to, The Cumberland Bar (www.cumberlandbar.co.uk). This was a new pub when I was at university but was made to look old and was the first and only pub that I have been in that had no TV, fruit machines, jukebox or any other attractions. It just had atmosphere and great beer (and other tipples). So the 44 Scotland Street books feature this pub and a collection of characters who reside in or around Scotland Street. The books remind me of a certain part of Edinburgh that I call home. The other book is based on a TV show that we had in the UK where Stephen Fry asked two panels of "celebrities" obvious questions like "how many wives did Henry VIII have" and pour scorn over and deduct point from the idiot that shouts out 8. Aparently it was only 2, or 4 if you are catholic. One marriage was anulled, for example, and if you want to know the reason for the rest you'll have to buy the book or use the worldwide interweb.
I have apparently turned into something of a book lover in my old age. I don't know if it's the location (BC is certainly much more relaxing than the UK) or the aforementioned old age but I am reading much more than I did when I was younger. Perhaps it was because books were forced on me by teachers when I was younger as as I grew up I "didn't have the time" with career, parties etc. Don't know. But I am reading a lot now.
Alright, here endith the first blog. If I keep writing my wife, daughter (my son is at a summer camp) and I will achieve nothing today. Will anyone read it? Will I ever write another one? Well, there's one way to ensure both...tell lots of people about it then lots of people will read it and, as a result, I'll have to write more.
Peter
I've started this Blog after reading , and being inspired by, a book called "What Would Google Do?" by Jeff Jarvis in which he suggests that all businesses, except PR firms and lawyers, should become more open with their businesses and use the internet to connect with more people (customers). PR Firms cannot become more open, he argues, because of the nature of their business and their clients but they are the few anomalies. Apple, the computer company, not the record company, was the other exception. Jeff's "first law" is "give the people control and we will use it. Don't, and you will lose us" and the latter half of the book describes how Google would operate other businesses such as real estate, the media, banks, manufacturing, service and utilities. Jeff is an expert on the media, lectures at universities and takes part in public discussions about the media. His blog is www.buzzmachine.com
I would recommend Jeff's book to anyone and have done so to the other members of the sales team at my work. I've asked for their recommendations for business-related books in return and received 2...out of 9...and one of those I had read twice about 10 years ago. I have a list of other books that I have seen recommended in books, on the internet and at training courses so I have enough to keep me going for now. The other recommendation from the sales team was the new Jeff Rubin book on the economics of the oil prices, "Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller". I've seen some of his speeches and TV interviews on the internet and read some compelling reviews so I think that will be the next one, once I've finished Napoleon Hill's book, "Think and Grow Rich". It was originally published in 1937 and is one of those books unearthing the "secrets of success". Hill was a contemporary of Dale Carnegie who wrote "How to Make Friends and Influence People", a book I read when I first arrived in Canada, not so that I knew how to make friends ( I was doing OK on my own thank you) but because it had been recommended in so many other books and by so many people I'd worked with in the past. Napoleon's book sounds like one of those self help books that claims to teach the secret to success through seeing your success to "obtain whatever you want in life". I bet it will be about identifying your goals, making a plan to get there and then working really hard. I will let you know when I've finished the book. It was recommended by another author that I have started reading, Jeffery Gitomer.
Jeffery was recommended by a fellow sales rep on a course in Phoenix in 2008. He's (Jeffery, not the other sales rep) is one of those motivational speakers for sales professionals who writes motivational books and has a weekly motivational blog and video on his website www.gitomer.com I bought one of his books at the airport on the journey home and read it in a couple of days which is good for me because I have the attention span of a goldfish. It was a short sales book and had great ideas and arguments about selling techniques. It was called "The Little Red Book of Selling". He also wrote "The Little Black Book of Connections" which described the importance and benefits of connecting with people to grow your network and increase your chances of success. He has other books that are small in size and coloured in some way and you can buy them on his website or in any good bookshop. You may even find them in your local library.
So, my first Blog post appears to have turned quickly into a recommendations post. Will this continue, I wonder? I'd like to think so. There's lots of other books, music, restaurants and experiences that I've enjoyed so why shouldn't I plug them publicly? So, the next question is how often I should post. Daily or Weekly? Jeffery Gitomer says that we should write daily to improve this skill so perhaps that should be my goal. I hope it becomes a quicker process in the future though; this post has taken an hour already.
Back to the recommendations. I'm also reading two aother books: "The World Accordng to Bertie" by Alexander McCall Smith and "The Book of General Ignorance" by John Lloyd & John Mitchinson. The first is the latest in the 44 Scotland Street series of books, set in the new town of Edinburgh and featuring at least one pub that I have been to, The Cumberland Bar (www.cumberlandbar.co.uk). This was a new pub when I was at university but was made to look old and was the first and only pub that I have been in that had no TV, fruit machines, jukebox or any other attractions. It just had atmosphere and great beer (and other tipples). So the 44 Scotland Street books feature this pub and a collection of characters who reside in or around Scotland Street. The books remind me of a certain part of Edinburgh that I call home. The other book is based on a TV show that we had in the UK where Stephen Fry asked two panels of "celebrities" obvious questions like "how many wives did Henry VIII have" and pour scorn over and deduct point from the idiot that shouts out 8. Aparently it was only 2, or 4 if you are catholic. One marriage was anulled, for example, and if you want to know the reason for the rest you'll have to buy the book or use the worldwide interweb.
I have apparently turned into something of a book lover in my old age. I don't know if it's the location (BC is certainly much more relaxing than the UK) or the aforementioned old age but I am reading much more than I did when I was younger. Perhaps it was because books were forced on me by teachers when I was younger as as I grew up I "didn't have the time" with career, parties etc. Don't know. But I am reading a lot now.
Alright, here endith the first blog. If I keep writing my wife, daughter (my son is at a summer camp) and I will achieve nothing today. Will anyone read it? Will I ever write another one? Well, there's one way to ensure both...tell lots of people about it then lots of people will read it and, as a result, I'll have to write more.
Peter
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