Summer food fun and drink - Say no to an unnecessary election · Monday September 1, 2008 by colin newell
Prime Minister Stephen Harper… leader of the ruling party in Canada… a minority government. Until now a reasonably effective minority government.
But apparently that is not good enough for Steve-o-reno. No no no.
He wants it all.
So he is breaking a law he created.
He wants to call an election. He wants to bring down his own government by throwing in various monkey-wrenches of his own creation and by urging various government committees to futz up their own functionality – triggering a lack of faith in government…
triggering a collapse of this minority conservative government.
Photo above: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper really needs to pick another arm gesture/salute.
Stephen Harper: I am a borderline conservative but you are a conservative fraud. You are running election ads before there is an election. Shame on you.
You struck a law setting fixed elections. You are breaking that law. Shame on you.
I am not a big fan of Liberal leader, Dion… but I am now much less of a fan of you and your self-serving conservative wonks and cronies.
And you know what I think we are going to end up with in the Fall… after this next staged phony election?
Another minority government and millions of wasted taxpayer dollars.
Shame on your Mister Prime Minister, you no good Conservative Wonk!
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Summer food fun and drink - Sorry we are on Island time · Friday August 22, 2008 by colin newell
I talk to a lot of employers around Victoria and the Island – food, drink and service employers that is… owners of some of the best cafes, delis and restaurants.
And I ask them: What is the number one challenge when it comes down to staying in business?
Coming through for the customer? Getting out quality product? Getting enough customers?
Nope. None of the above.
Coffee shops closed due to no staff? Brew it at home! Ascaso grinder (shown at left) reviewed over here .
The challenge is the employee. I hear story after story after horror story about the difficulty in acquiring, recruiting and retaining employees… any employees.
Hell, even the bad ones are better than no employees at all.
Examples like: “A friend of mine manages a store in Vancouver in Kitsalano and has shared a number of stories. Most recently there was the girl he had just hired, she went through all the interviews, training etc. then the day before she was to start work calls and tells him that she wants about three weeks off in two weeks, hasn’t even worked a day yet. He said that he couldn’t accomodate this request at this time so she quit before starting work. Then there was the guy he hired who worked two hours, left for a coffee and never returned. Then there are those potential employees who apply, he lines up interviews and they never show, no email no phone call just don’t show up. He called one once and asked if they were coming in for an interview and they said , “no, I am down enjoying the sun at the beach”.
Where is the sense of responsibility?
In the environment that I work in, if you do not allow for “Facebook” or “Internet” time for employees – or allow employees to pack their cell phones and text each other, you are almost setting yourself up for a revolution.
I hate to use the phrase… “Hey, when I was a kid… or a young adult…” But…
Times were not tougher 20 years ago when I started getting into the job market – I think there was an ingrained sense of obligations and responsibilities – not about what’s in it for me!
And now geezers like me in my forties (and the equivalent in women…) are the parents of these slackers. I blame us. I blame us for coddling and spoon feeding, hand-holding and indulging these little over-indulged princesses and princes.
By golly are these kids in for a wake up call one day.
That said…
Who is going to do the dialing!
For the CoffeeCrew Blog, I am Colin Newell… sitting on my duff after a hard days vacation… thinking about stuff…
Summer food fun and drink - enjoying friendships · Thursday August 14, 2008 by colin newell
Victoria once had a pretty good cafe called Torrefazione Italia – ostensibly owned by Starbucks in their latter days – starting independently in the eighties or nineties and then getting swallowed up by the green machine in the late nineties.
Starbucks gave them a freehand for quite a while. Alas, some of the Torrefazione outlets became a little too popular for the sensibilities of the Mother-Ship in Seattle. The Portland location (several of them maybe) were very popular with Italian Americans, the signature coffee resonating with this hard-working group of coffee loving folks. And when the ‘Bucks shut the doors on T.I. about 4 years ago, there were some pretty heady protests – some large. Some small.
I was part of the small protest. I bought my cups (shown above). I wished the staff best of luck… and then I cursed Starbucks when they opened one more cookie-cutter location a thin block away from yet-another-Starbucks on the corner of Yates and Government Streets in Victoria… in the place where the beloved Torrefazione used to be.
Torrefazione was a friend, albeit an inanimate one of sorts – but a friend I could count on none the less. For great coffee. Comfortable digs. And feeding the friendships that I had at the time.
Which brings me to my point… about celebrating with the people around you. Your friends. Your close friends. Your new ones… and the old ones.
Never take a friendship or association for granted. It needs to be nurtured. And fed.
It might be just me, but in these times of thriving specialty coffee – and vibrant cafes… friendships, new and old, appear to germinate and blossom in places like these. It could be the caffeine, that catalyzes voluble discussion in combination with the power of sugar and grains – that calm the soul… and feed the mind.
It helps us grow. And be the best people we can be. There for the people that need us… when they need us.
Celebrate a friendship today.
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Summer fun food and drink - Let`s have babies - that would be fun · Friday July 25, 2008 by colin newell
Romanian immigrant Livia Ionce has broken a British Columbia record — she’s the province’s most fecund woman in 20 years.
Livia and hubby Alexandru became new parents of their 18th baby, Abigail, on Tuesday. The Abbotsford couple’s 17 other children range in age from 20 months to 23 years old. Wow.
Photo above – In Romania, in the sixties, a woman’s ability to produce many strong offspring was measured in her ability to levitate mice deer – This phenomenon, known as the Flippening was demonstrated at an early age with Livia with her ability to levitate transport trucks… 3 at a time…
Abigail adds to a current line-up of 9 girls and 8 boys… uhm – making 10 girls and 8 boys. A youthful 44 year old Livia muses, “The girls in the house said they are happy that they continue to outnumber the boys, but it may not be the end of the story.” And concluding – “Maybe it’s the last, but I’m not sure.”
In the Ionce family, Mother’s Day is obviously more like Christmas than the traditional hallmark moment normally reserved for less prolific women. And when you do the math, it equates to a household birthday party, on average, every 2 and 1/2 weeks. More hallmark moments, more presents. You might say the giving never ends in this family.
Andrea and I are big fans of Jon and Kate makes Eight on TLC (The future of video entertainment – TV cameras in every house…) but these numbers are staggering.
My mother actually had a girlfriend (growing up in Montreal) who was one of 12 kids – Her mother was 40 when she had her last child – and there might have been more but her husband was tragically run over by a truck driven by a mysterious and never-identified woman – Hmmm. Makes you think doesn’t it?
Oh well – for all the thousands of couples (like us) that eschew a contribution to the gene pool, there are hundreds of families like the Ionce`s that fill in the gaps. Bless their hearts – all 20 of them.
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Summer fun food and drink - Heading home to Papua New Guinea · Monday July 21, 2008 by colin newell
A Papua New Guinea politician is threatening retaliation against Canadian companies after eight young dancers were denied entry to Canada, apparently because border officials didn’t believe they were on a cultural exchange.
The dancers arrived in Vancouver on July 4, expecting to spend four weeks in the British Columbia Interior, sharing traditional storytelling, dance and music at the invitation of the Little Shushwap Indian band.
Instead, they got four hours of interrogation by the Canada Border Services Agency… and then sent home. Bloody brilliant.
(Today)I had coffee with Papua New Guinea expert, Brendan Holden (retired University professor) at one of my cafe haunts – The Finnerty Express, underneath the UVic bookstore.
I know a little bit about PNG Culture (over 20 years experience observing PNG media) and Brendan Holden knows a lot about PNG culture, having lived and worked in Fiji for almost 3 years, having worked in Vanuatu and having visited a wide variety of Micronesian and Melanesian Islands.
Let’s just put it this way: The Canada Border Services Agency have just fuddled up big time… again. PNG Culture is entirely different than Canada’s – and when dealing with unique cultures like PNG, we need agencies and officers with a modicum of training and some sensitivity to cultural differences.
The Canadian Border Agency has no diplomatic training. They are about as culturally sensitive as a hungry wolf in a sheep paddock full of expectant ewes.
So, you wonder: What on Earth can PNG do to Canada, Canadians or Canadian businesses doing business in PNG?
Actually, I am not so concerned about Canadian businesses in PNG.
I am concerned about Canadian travelers and missionaries on the job in PNG.
Word travels fast in that part of the World – believe it or not.
And revenge or retribution is usually swift and painful.
Hopefully, next time, the CBSA will grab a brain and use a little reason, show a little compassion and exercise a little restraint.
On the up-side, the dancers got away before the RCMP airport detachment could put a taser cap in their asses…
Tok wantaim Yumi wantok (Say it with me friend…) – We live in interesting times!
