I don't know the full details but it appears that Loud Lady tested her annoying loudness on AM. There was a reckoning and confrontation of some sort. I learnt a long time ago, not to mess with the H Girls. You have no chance to win. I'm not sure what compelled Loud Lady to test the waters? Donut Girl had just returned from vacation, maybe during her absence, Loud Girl gained a toehold on the office volume levels and wanted to test AM's tolerance.
Loud Girl's inability to understand that noise pollution in an open office environment can annoy other people, will result in confrontation. Some people grudgingly tolerate annoying behaviour, but Donut Girl is not one of them. I note in my area of the office, some people listen to music with headphones. I use a fan to drown out ambient noise. Our area is much quieter. I get startled when the phone rings.
I contacted AM to get the full story today. It appears that she used the stare down method. A very effective method of expressing displeasure without verbal, or physical intervention. A method never deployed by men. I believe she internally counted 5 steamboats and the message was delivered. It is unclear if she deployed the hands on the hips option. Very clever!
Saturday, 16 March 2013
Merilyn St. Martin
We learnt this week that our long time colleague Merilyn St. Martin passed away. She had retired maybe a year ago.
Merilyn, who we nicknamed The Bird Lady, was a unique and interesting personality. In an industry with cookie cutter personalities, she stood out in a very good way. She was always friendly and had a great sense of humour. She was passionate about life, not work, and did not take herself too seriously. It was sad to see illness really rob her of the last few years at the company. She was not the same person I had met a decade earlier.
Merilyn got her Bird Lady nickname after she rescued a small bird that was knocked unconscious after striking our office tower. A real problem in downtown Toronto. Merilyn nursed the bird back to health. Of course when the bird regained its bearings, it did what birds do and flew around the office. There are no windows in the office tower and we were on the 12th floor. For a couple of days the bird would fly all over the office floor, dive bombing people in their cubicles. They called in a company to find and remove the bird, but they were never able to locate the bird. People would report periodic sightings months later. I think we got a memo asking us not to attempt to nurse unconscious birds in the office. But that was Merilyn!
Merilyn ran the Lotto 649 pool in the office. She asked me if I wanted join? I told her I was interested in sharing in the winnings, but not contributing to the pool. I told her that if they won the big jackpot, she would be hearing from my lawyer. That whole idea ran contrary to her sense of fairness. She was a champion of the underdog. An artistic person in an industry that rewards conformity.
Merilyn will be greatly missed. It is very unfortunate that she did not get to enjoy her well deserved retirement.
Merilyn, who we nicknamed The Bird Lady, was a unique and interesting personality. In an industry with cookie cutter personalities, she stood out in a very good way. She was always friendly and had a great sense of humour. She was passionate about life, not work, and did not take herself too seriously. It was sad to see illness really rob her of the last few years at the company. She was not the same person I had met a decade earlier.
Merilyn got her Bird Lady nickname after she rescued a small bird that was knocked unconscious after striking our office tower. A real problem in downtown Toronto. Merilyn nursed the bird back to health. Of course when the bird regained its bearings, it did what birds do and flew around the office. There are no windows in the office tower and we were on the 12th floor. For a couple of days the bird would fly all over the office floor, dive bombing people in their cubicles. They called in a company to find and remove the bird, but they were never able to locate the bird. People would report periodic sightings months later. I think we got a memo asking us not to attempt to nurse unconscious birds in the office. But that was Merilyn!
Merilyn ran the Lotto 649 pool in the office. She asked me if I wanted join? I told her I was interested in sharing in the winnings, but not contributing to the pool. I told her that if they won the big jackpot, she would be hearing from my lawyer. That whole idea ran contrary to her sense of fairness. She was a champion of the underdog. An artistic person in an industry that rewards conformity.
Merilyn will be greatly missed. It is very unfortunate that she did not get to enjoy her well deserved retirement.
St. John's Trip
It's controversial!
I have now visited all 10 Canadian provinces, with my business trip to Newfoundland this week. The controversy is with Saskatchewan. I was on a train that passed through and even stopped in Regina, SK. I recall seeing Taylor Field Stadium from the train. I count Saskatchewan on my list, while others may not.
I went to St. John's on a business trip, but took an extra day to explore the city. I even accidentally walked up Signal Hill, featured in the photos below, which is quite a hike. Some of the locals were surprised I chose the walk up the very steep hill.
I visited many of the local pubs, in and around George Street. I went to the Duke of Duckworth pub, on two nights with my local counsel Steve F.
In most of North America they celebrate St. Patrick's Day, in St. John's it's St. Patrick's Week. This includes pubs selling out tickets for 9AM breakfasts, with the bar in full swing. I picked up some of the local lingo and a slight Newfie accent.
During the business portion of the event, I was asked 4 times "where are you at". I didn't know if it was a state of mind type of question, or literal? I found out it meant, what hotel you are staying at. I did sample fish & chips on 3 occasions. It makes a big difference when you can source fresh cod on a daily basis. The breakfast buffet had black, or blood pudding, that was the first time I have ever seen black pudding in a buffet.
The people of St. John's were very friendly. In the local bar, everyone really does know your name. I guess it is a small town, with a real pub culture. A very unique, distant part of North America. Well worth the visit if you get the chance.
I have now visited all 10 Canadian provinces, with my business trip to Newfoundland this week. The controversy is with Saskatchewan. I was on a train that passed through and even stopped in Regina, SK. I recall seeing Taylor Field Stadium from the train. I count Saskatchewan on my list, while others may not.
I went to St. John's on a business trip, but took an extra day to explore the city. I even accidentally walked up Signal Hill, featured in the photos below, which is quite a hike. Some of the locals were surprised I chose the walk up the very steep hill.
I visited many of the local pubs, in and around George Street. I went to the Duke of Duckworth pub, on two nights with my local counsel Steve F.
In most of North America they celebrate St. Patrick's Day, in St. John's it's St. Patrick's Week. This includes pubs selling out tickets for 9AM breakfasts, with the bar in full swing. I picked up some of the local lingo and a slight Newfie accent.
During the business portion of the event, I was asked 4 times "where are you at". I didn't know if it was a state of mind type of question, or literal? I found out it meant, what hotel you are staying at. I did sample fish & chips on 3 occasions. It makes a big difference when you can source fresh cod on a daily basis. The breakfast buffet had black, or blood pudding, that was the first time I have ever seen black pudding in a buffet.
The people of St. John's were very friendly. In the local bar, everyone really does know your name. I guess it is a small town, with a real pub culture. A very unique, distant part of North America. Well worth the visit if you get the chance.
Monday, 11 March 2013
Words of Wisdom from Financial Advisor
I met with my Colombian financial adviser for coffee today, after her day job was complete.
Let me start off by saying that you may want to be careful before you choose a Colombian financial adviser.
The South American oil stock she recommended is tumbling faster than a Chinese acrobat. Thankfully my Blackberry stock has hedged against this free fall. I asked her if she had any other advice?
The following is a direct quote: "D'Arcy, if you commit a heinous crime in Colombia, you should kill yourself, because you wouldn't last a week in a Colombian prison."
After I mildly complained about her stock recommendation, she told me that it would be more productive if yelled at my barber for my bad haircut.
She did get around to recommending I invest in REIT's, before asking me if I knew anything about REIT's, because she didn't have a clue. Real estate Equity Investment Trusts, for those that do not know what a REIT is.
Now my Financial Adviser is highly entertaining and we had a 2-hour conversation, before being thrown out of the coffee shop. I just hope her financial advice doesn't bankrupt me.
Let me start off by saying that you may want to be careful before you choose a Colombian financial adviser.
The South American oil stock she recommended is tumbling faster than a Chinese acrobat. Thankfully my Blackberry stock has hedged against this free fall. I asked her if she had any other advice?
The following is a direct quote: "D'Arcy, if you commit a heinous crime in Colombia, you should kill yourself, because you wouldn't last a week in a Colombian prison."
After I mildly complained about her stock recommendation, she told me that it would be more productive if yelled at my barber for my bad haircut.
She did get around to recommending I invest in REIT's, before asking me if I knew anything about REIT's, because she didn't have a clue. Real estate Equity Investment Trusts, for those that do not know what a REIT is.
Now my Financial Adviser is highly entertaining and we had a 2-hour conversation, before being thrown out of the coffee shop. I just hope her financial advice doesn't bankrupt me.
Saturday, 9 March 2013
On the Road
I will be travelling during the next two weeks. One business trip to the East coast and the other our annual Myrtle Beach golf trip. looking forward to both trips. After the East coast business obligations, I am staying an extra day to experience St. Patrick's Day celebrations in an area with a large population of Irish descendants and an healthy pub culture.
In preparation for my trip I spent 75 minutes on the treadmill today. I will be back in the gym Sunday lifting weights.
I have entered two year long golf pools, in both pools I spent a large amount of my imaginary budget on Tiger Woods. I'm in 71st out of 74 players in one of the pools, but Tiger appears to have found his game. I expect to make a big move up the standings.
I was pleased to see all the progress on my investment property this week. I call it an investment property, but really it will be where I will live in 3-years. But they really ratcheted up the construction this week.
Our rookie investor found out the hard way about the perils of the stock market. This is real life gambling. There was a minor market correction on some key TSX stocks. To the new investor it seems like a big deal, but the move represented only 1% of their holdings and will easily bounce back. Plus all the stocks pay healthy and steady dividends. I lost $70,000 on the market during the last crisis in a matter of days. I didn't panic and made all of the money back and then some when the market bounced back, as it always does. All of our friends stocks were carefully selected. There is no guarantee you will make money on stocks, but if you are a long term investor and pick blue chip, dividend paying stocks, you will likely do quite well. The people that panic in tough times, are the people that lose.
In my job I handled files that involved people that panic sold their stocks as soon as the market reopened after 9/11. The worst possible time to sell. You don't lose anything until you sell your stocks. Our friend will do fine in the long run.
In preparation for my trip I spent 75 minutes on the treadmill today. I will be back in the gym Sunday lifting weights.
I have entered two year long golf pools, in both pools I spent a large amount of my imaginary budget on Tiger Woods. I'm in 71st out of 74 players in one of the pools, but Tiger appears to have found his game. I expect to make a big move up the standings.
I was pleased to see all the progress on my investment property this week. I call it an investment property, but really it will be where I will live in 3-years. But they really ratcheted up the construction this week.
Our rookie investor found out the hard way about the perils of the stock market. This is real life gambling. There was a minor market correction on some key TSX stocks. To the new investor it seems like a big deal, but the move represented only 1% of their holdings and will easily bounce back. Plus all the stocks pay healthy and steady dividends. I lost $70,000 on the market during the last crisis in a matter of days. I didn't panic and made all of the money back and then some when the market bounced back, as it always does. All of our friends stocks were carefully selected. There is no guarantee you will make money on stocks, but if you are a long term investor and pick blue chip, dividend paying stocks, you will likely do quite well. The people that panic in tough times, are the people that lose.
In my job I handled files that involved people that panic sold their stocks as soon as the market reopened after 9/11. The worst possible time to sell. You don't lose anything until you sell your stocks. Our friend will do fine in the long run.
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