5-Weeks Before Launch Date

Server From Hell

Bad Service

Speaking of bad service, my Rogers account finally lapsed this week. My old phone no longer works and I am saving $25 a month. Numerous service problems with Rogers resulted in my defection to Bell for TV and internet. Only a 3-year phone contract kept me from cancelling my cell service earlier.

I was so upset with Rogers horrific service, that I briefly exchanged emails with the Rogers president Keith Pelley. That resulted in a lecture from an underling that thought I overreached by contacting the boss. Even with the intervention at the very top of Rogers, I was still treated poorly.

My work phone is still with Rogers, but everything else is with Bell. I have been very pleased with Bell so far.

I'm still livid about the Jack Astors server from hell. I'm still trying to sort out what to do. The choice is to start an international boycott of Jack's, or confront Jack's management about this incident. For a server to refuse to serve customers at her own whim, is a gross violation of basic decency and respect. Failing to provide the most basic level of service, to customers that have been unfailingly polite, generous tippers and have spent $thousands in your establishment should not go unpunished, unreported and be allowed to pass without consequences.

Flaherty Finance Minister for Big Business

Jim Flaherty is handing out $7 Billion in corporate welfare to his business buddies this year. An insurance defence lawyer by trade, Flaherty managed to wipe out a massive budget surplus, BEFORE the recession hit. A recession in which he denied would effect Canada. He eliminated 2 cents of the GST/HST which has cost the government 10's of $Billions of dollars. He has ran up the worst budget deficits in Canadian history, even worse than Brian "I took a bag of cash for no services rendered" Mulroney.

Toronto/Ontario should impose road tolls to pay for subways, end of discussion.

I still do not know why people are against a casino in Toronto. I know there are a lot of leftwing artistic types in Toronto that are against everything, tall buildings, sporting events, Olympics, any developments. I don't understand why they want to live in a big city.

None of the 3 provincial party leaders in Ontario are fit to be premier.

My MPP Rosario Marchese is invisible. Someone take his pulse to find out if he is still alive. I only hear from him at election time. I do not want to highlight one ethnic group, but if there is a single competent Italian Canadian politician in Canadian political history, since confederation, at any level of government, please point him/her out to me. Just one!  Because there are a lot of really bad ones.
My last MP of Italian decent was sanctioned by the Ontario Securities Commission and banned from trading. His wife then ran in his place, with a different last name and no written, or photographic evidence of her husband's existence.  She threatened to sue a voter that dared mention his name.

Listen I'm a Canadian of Irish background and we had some really bad politicians, like Mulroney and Flaherty, but we don't hold a candle to the Italians.

Jack Astors Worst Server Ever

Attended Jack Astors on Front Street after work Thursday. The worst waitress in the history of bar service "served" our table. We had a couple of lawyers at the table and I asked them if I had a legal right to spray her with Heinz ketchup. The answer was no.  She was a very petite, short blonde and I do not recall seeing her before. People like her should be banned from public service positions.

I waited more than 30 minutes to get my first beer, she rarely returned thereafter, forcing our table to send emissaries to the bar to pick up pitchers of beer. This angered her, as it cost her tips. She then refused to get us beers. She was a surly despicable human being. I blame her parents for rising such a little piece of shit. It has been 24-hours but I still want to go back and confront her.

The service at Jack Astors has always been terrible. They do not care about customer service. It is a great location and has a very good patio, but I'm thinking about starting an international boycott of the chain.

Captain's Cape

Capes, Slips, Merilyn all Trending

I've been getting a lot of support for my idea of wearing a cape to work.
Donut Girl signed off on the idea the other day.

A cape frees up the movement of your arms. It is surprising to me that capes never really caught on. I want to be ahead of the fashion trend. I have little doubt that others will soon be wearing capes. I want to be the first one.

I was assigned a slip for my boat late last week. My slip will be within walking distance of my home. This is big news for me and takes some of the stress of launch day, less than 6-weeks from now, away.

I note that my Merilyn St. Martin tribute was by far the most visited piece I have written on this blog. I believe that she had a big impact on my many people in our industry.

I need to practise tying knots for the boat experience. I recall that during my Navy training I could never figure out how to tie a proper knot.

I'm struggling to find the right mix of crew for the boat. The H girls and Sailor Jimmy are a given. Crazy Paul and Ryan are onboard. CB is enthusiastic but irresponsible. Everyone will be given a chance to experience the boat. I was happy to see that Richard, my boat mentor has decided to keep his boat in Toronto. He was thinking of moving it to Peterborough. We should have fun times rafting the boats together and can have about 20 people out at the same time.

Mike Layton responded to my email within 24-hours.  You may not agree with their politics, but the Layton family, including Olivia Chow, are very responsive to their constituents.

Taxes and Revenue Canada

As we are into tax season again, I want to vent about the lack of fairness in our tax regime.

There is no political party, or politician that represents my interests. I make a decent income and the government is only interested in transferring my income to their base. Whether that base is big oil, regional vote buying, or the poor, it does not matter because I do not belong to anyone's base.

When I'm hit with a $2,500 reassessment in December, or the fact that I have to pay obscenely high tax rates despite a middle class income, when I see disgusting unelected, politicians like Mike Duffy, abuse the system it makes me physically ill. The entire Senate is a disgrace and a slap in the face of the taxpayer.

The government believes that it has the right to fleece the hardworking taxpayers to reward perpetual, seasonal EI recipients. These entitled, lazy tax takers rob their fellow citizens without any concern about the people that pay the bills. It is taxation without representation and was the reason the American Revolution was fought 240 years ago.

It is unbelievably frustrating when no political party is interested in representing your interests. They use you as a ATM machine for their base and pet projects.

Taxing the hardworking productive people to reward the unproductive. This is not a Mitt Romney 47% argument. The recipients are a much smaller group and don't just include people, but big oil and the government's pet industries.

I don't want any further reassessments from Revenue Canada. They are bleeding me dry. It is bad enough that rural voters have greater representation than city dwellers, but even the Olivia Chow's of the world, representing big city constituents fail to stand up for their citizens.

I'm not an artist, a street person, a seasonal fisherman or an oil company, therefore I'm just expected to shut up and pay the bills. Not only is my opinion worthless, but it is an unwelcome intrusion to the discussion.  

My Email to City Councillor Layton re. Proposed Toronto Casino

Hi Mr. Layton,

I reviewed your anti-casino mailer today.
I want you to know that not all of your constituents are anti-casino.
I'm 100% behind putting a casino in my neighbourhood. I'm tired of negative politicians turning down developments that would pump $millions into our economy and tax rolls. I'm tired of politicians that protect the 1% of people that are weak of self-control and moral decency to gamble within their means, at the expense of 99% of the population.

It seems to me that you and the perpetually cranky Adam "No-Fun" Vaughan, spend all of your time representing artists, low and no-income constituents. The people that pay for the services remain unrepresented. I pay the bills and have no representation at the local level. 

There is more to the downtown core than artists and homeless street beggars. I'm a taxpayer and I want entertainment options. I don't need you to wag your finger in my direction and protect me from my own vices. 

The far left and the far right have much in common. You both think you have the exclusive, righteous high ground and moral authority over the rest of society. You and Mr. Vaughan are really small town politicians with no vision. People that live in the core represent a cross section of society with different world views. The entertainment options I choose to partake in, are none of your concern. You are bereft of ideas that will generate tax $dollars for your pet projects, or transportation infrastructure. 

You lack the ideas to be in a  position to turn away $millions in jobs and investments. 

I deserve better representation than you. I pay more taxes than most of the people that you represent, yet you exclusively vote for positions that advance the goals of people that fail to pay the freight. 

John D'Arcy,
800 King St. West

South Carolina Golf Trip

Marina for D'Arcy Boat

Movie Critic

One of the reasons I like Air Canada much better than West Jet is the entertainment available. The West Jet planes and old style TV screens are dated.  Air Canada offers movies just out of the theatre and before they are available on-line, or on movie networks.

On the St. John's trip I watched Life of Pi and Lincoln. I also recently watched Argo on i-Tunes. Even though both Argo and Life of Pi had significant Canadian angles, I much preferred Lincoln. The acting in  Lincoln was much better. It did  contain the usual preachy, re-writing historical wrongs, present in many Spielberg movies, but they were minimal and did not take away from the film.

The film painted Mrs. Lincoln, Mary Todd as a little crazy. Her eldest son would commit her in later years. It does suggest that partisan politics, failure to compromise with the other side, has been around for a long time.

Funny Hotdog Van in St. John's

Loud Girl Noise Pollution

You go Away for a Few Days and All Hell Breaks Loose....

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!

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.

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.

St. John's, Newfoundland

Legislature

Investing in a Garage Hair Salon on Advice from M

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.

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.

Claims Gang

The Claims Gang

I was talking to our new Probationary employee Dawn. I normally shy away from new employees, while they are on probation, just in case they get let go during probation. You don't want to get too close in case they get let go. However I have managed to alienate most of the regular co-workers, therefore I don't have a lot of people to talk to. Plus new employees have not heard my well worn stories.

I was telling Dawn about my Claims Gang idea. Most people are dismissive and tell me to leave their cubes, or they will dial HR. But Dawn appeared to warm to the idea. As I have already recruited Crazy Paul, 3-people make for a gang, albeit a small one. But it is a start.

Now our gang is not violent, or intimidating, though we are collectively quite tall, we have no interest in causing trouble. What will make us standout is our capes, top hats and walking sticks. I have written about this before. What I would like to do is arrive at a mediation in our matching capes and top hats. All arrive at the same time, walk around the table without uttering a word, exit to hang up our capes, reenter the room and place our top hats on the table. Then loudly and repeatedly tap the tables with our walking sticks until we are told to stop.

I want people to know us as the people with the capes and top hats. Its a schtick, a statement without uttering a word. It's all about being taken seriously in the market.  A calling card in the industry.

Investing in my Investments

It may be hard to believe, but I have a Colombian financial adviser. Many would think that would be unwise. My financial adviser dabbles in claims adjusting and is a fashion and social critic. I took her advice and invested in what appeared to be a dubious South American oil & mining play. While I trust her advice, I did do some research into the company and true enough, it is a well thought of company by analysts and recommended as a buy. I made a modest investment and the stock price is headed in the right direction, plus they pay a dividend. In some circles I may be considered a bit of a Colombian Oil Barron.

I am a modest investor in the markets. In particular I like to buy index funds. I do own shares in various companies. I've made a decent return, even after I took a bit of a bath during the last market meltdown. Which may explain why I have an aversion to bathing. I also freely offer unsolicited financial advice as an untrained, unqualified financial guru.

My latest investments were to take minor cash holdings from dividends and reinvest them in stocks. The money was sitting there and not working for me. I also bought some Canadian bank stocks, which are always a safe play and pay regular dividends.

The sad part for my financial adviser, is that she had her money in some crazy bank, I think related to a chain of pizzerias, or something similar. She has been trying to move her money and invest in the market. It has been several weeks and the money has not yet arrived. They have no charge checking, or offer 0.25% more interest, therefore it is a good idea to put your money in a pizza parlour bank, apparently.

My financial adviser has been missing out on the rising market. I'm making a killing and she is waiting for her money. They can deliver pizza's in 30-minutes, but money? Not so much!

Half of GTA Employees in Precarious Jobs

If you  are employed Full-Time with a job with benefits in Southern Ontario, hang on to that job at all costs. Fully half of So. Ontario workers are in what is called precarious positions. No benefits, no guaranteed income, less than full time hours. Fully half the workers do not believe they will be in the same position in one years time.

The days of jobs for life are long gone. Defined pensions are a thing of the past, unless you work for the government. Unskilled, uneducated jobs are scarce and low paying. It is not a good time to be unemployed. Recent graduates and older workers are the most vulnerable. You are lucky to get a contract job. No employer will higher an older worker on anything but contract work.

The biggest mistake is to quit your work when you are upset with your employer. The number one rule is never quit a job, unless you have lined up another better paying job first. Even then your new employer will lay you off first in a downturn. If you are unemployed you are competing against dozens of people for any one position, maybe hundreds with equal, or better skills. Maybe they are younger with a longer shelf life, or friends and family of other workers.

In my industry the older workers compete for contract work. Many have full pensions as they were part of the last lucky generation. It is rare in my position to end your career in anything more than a contract job, working maybe in 6-month cycles, hoping to get a renewal of the contract.

Thousands of high paying industrial jobs have left the province for low pay jurisdictions in the US south, or Third World. When I was growing up in Hamilton, the sons of steel workers assumed they had a guaranteed job at the mill waiting for them when they graduated. In many cases they were the last generation to take advantage of those jobs. They are now long gone.

People took full time jobs with benefits for granted, but they are disappearing very quickly.

If you are angry with your employer, hang in there, wait it out. If they are upset with you, at least wait to get packaged out and give yourself time to look for work, with money to tide you over. There has never been a worse time to be unemployed and looking for work. It is not going to get any better.

I knew it was bad out there on the streets, but I was shocked when I read the articles last week. Google "precarious jobs GTA". Read the articles and hang on to your job for dear life.

The Bond Property Investment Under Construction

The Brawler

The Brawler is getting a lot of attention as Spring is around the corner. I had $2,500 of upgrades to make it seaworthy. A new VHF radio, which unlike you, I'm licensed to operate, new BBQ with a handy stand, a brand new horn and other accessories. It is not often that I Visa $2,500 without complaint. Not even a famous D'Arcy fist shake.

I have had several groups of people offer to gas up the Brawler in exchange for a group excursion with Captain D'Arcy at the helm. I'm glad to oblige. I will never accept money and this entire hobby is a money pit, but on rare occasion I will accept a group offering to top off the gas tank. From individuals, food, beer and ice are welcome, but not expected. I know I'm going to lose my shirt in this boating experience, but I'm counting on the fun factor to outweigh the expense.

There will also be a sexist factor to the Brawler. In order that the boat does not resemble a floating Pride flotilla, women board for free. They are not expected to bring anything.

I have Crazy Paul and Ryan getting licensed to on occasion take the helm. I'm hoping M also gets licensed.  She is responsible and rarely drinks. Ryan is also responsible, while Crazy Paul? Well he is a little Crazy? I don't want the Brawler to be the subject of a Gordon Lightfoot song. Or was it Edmund Fitzgerald?

Blacks in Ontario Jails

The Toronto Star has an an article and editorial today stating the fact that blacks are 4 times more likely to be jailed than white people. They blame society for this problem.

Blacks make up a tiny proportion of our population, likely less than 1 percent, yet when you read about a murder, or shooting, in Toronto you know the likely shooter and and victim will be black. If there are 100 murders a year in Toronto, 70 to 80 of the murderers will be black. Same number of victims as well. You are probably 100 times more likely to be a murder victim if you are black in Toronto.

I'm surprised that blacks are only 4 times more likely to go to prison. I thought it would be higher.

There is nothing that the greater society can do to keep them from killing each other. Almost all of them will be fatherless. How is the greater community going to force black fathers to look after their kids?  To take responsibility for their families?

The solution by the do gooders is to build them more basketball courts. To keep them busy so they  wont rob us.

What is the black community doing about making black males more responsible, when then have children?

Everyone in Ontario gets free education and healthcare. The black community should get their own house in order. Where is the community outcry to make black males more responsible parents?

It is not my fault when a black kid shoots another black kid in the Eaton Centre. I wont take any of the blame. The judge better throw the shooter in jail for a long time, so I can walk through the mall in relative safety. I don't care if the kid didn't have a basketball court to keep him busy, or know his own father.

The Toronto Star states that if we don't keep young black males busy with recreational spaces and give them a job, it is our fault when they commit murder. Newfoundland has a 19% unemployment rate and very few basketball courts, yet they have a low murder rate. Why is murder the fallback position? I'm not busy and don't have a job, so I will go murder someone.

Its not the gangster culture, the drug abuse, the fatherless homes. It's society's fault that 80% of black males are raised without fathers.

Am I saying there is no problem? No, there is a problem with black on black crime. I'm saying two things, one is that it is not my fault, the other is that there is no solution. Other than a cultural change from within the community. I don't think it will happen any time soon.