Victoria Spring 2011 - Canada Post why do you hate us so much · Wednesday April 6, 2011 by colin newell
Ordered some parts from EspressoTec.com in Vancouver a few weeks ago – good people – they have everything and they have an inventory of parts that goes back… way back.
Unfortunately, little more than the envelope above showed up – along with a plastic pouch, barely sealed, and one of the plastic pieces that I ordered.
Surprised? A little.
What angers me are the numbers of calls I have made to Canada Post the last few years for utterly crappy service.
We go to Hawaii every year for a month. We get “Mail hold” – we pay for that. On one occasion only has the mail hold gone even remotely well – generally the mail keeps coming.
Both times I have appealed to Canada Post – asking for my $35 dollars back.
Their reply: “Your postal carrier insists that your mail was held…”
Actually, some of it was – because there was a brick of mail that was held and a shit load of other mail that was not held. Oddly, in the “held mail” was mail destined for neighbors – Can you imagine being a senior waiting on your pension cheque – and they do not get it because it is in my mailbox.
What is wrong with Canada Post anyway? I once considered doing a gig there back when I was a teenager – Christmas overflow or something – visited the depot out in Royal Oak – the atmosphere was so oppressive that I could not imagine working there – so I started my own gardening business that turned out to be hugely successful…
Anyway – Canada Post? What is wrong with you? And how can we fix it?
Victoria Spring 2011 Getting Funky with Rick May · Tuesday April 5, 2011 by colin newell
Local Bass player and session musician, Rick May featured on this DB Clifford snippet.
If you do not find yourself shaking something within seconds of this track starting, you had better spot yourself for a pulse!
Rick May, locally known for his involvement in The Superior Cafe is a past partner in “Java on Johnson”, The Old Town Cafe and La Boheme Restaurant in the eighties.
Rick has played bass guitar with Michael Jackson (on the hit song “Beat It”), members of DEVO, Mae Moore (touring this summer), Marc Almond (Soft Cell), Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix experience, Ricki Lee Jones, Roger Taylor of Duran Duran, etc etc.
Rick can often be found, when in town, sampling the great coffee at Habit Coffee & Culture on Yates Street in the Atrium (at Blanshard).
You can check out his thing on his website – RickMay.ca
Victoria Spring 2011 Observations Murder of Crows · Tuesday March 29, 2011 by colin newell
Nothing like a murder in Rockland near Victoria B.C.
A murder of crows that is – and I found myself near ground zero of a crow convention this morning – around 5:30AM – or when it was getting light.
And it was distinct in an entertaining kind of way – there were approximately 50 crows in a variety of perches – and what sounded like one head crow speaker on the hustings.
A main crow speaker who would cackle a couple of phrases with a clatter or derisive caws from 1 or 2 in the crowd.
Eventually, the main crow uttered something that the stadium liked because they all went wild — in a good way. I have never heard quite an eruption from a flock like this before. It was like the Justin Beiber crow hit the stage and all the crow girls and boys went nuts.
Translated
Main crow: “What say we all go down to Clover Point and look for garbage?”
Handful of crows: “F*ck that. We are SICK of garbage and picking floaters out of the water!”
Main crow: “Alright, alright… how about the Sooke Hills?”
All the crows: “HELL YA! SOOKE HILLS! YEE HAAAAAAAAAA!”
Assorted crows: “Awwwwwwww f*ck!”
And then everything went quiet – apart from the occasional clutter from some of the birds that were talking amongst themselves.
It is well known that crows are family oriented, cooperative, have social values, are generally monogamous and they share intelligence on the subject of food and drink.
Something we do not seem to find in our politicians… Federal or Provincial.
Colin Newell lives, works and writes in Victoria B.C. on the subject of nonsense – and this is how he sees it.
Winter to Spring Pop Culture 1 Facebook Face off · Saturday March 19, 2011 by colin newell
Just decided that my blog and websites have been neglected long enough – and the web stats show it.
This blog averages around 75,000 unique visitors a month – and that is not hits – that is actual people. Thanks folks!
But those reader levels have been dropping faster than the water level in the spent fuel rod baths… and it’s all my doing.
Dang you twitter.
Because if you do the math — and I am fond of my core twitter followers, that is a small audience relative to here — but it is there that I am putting my energy.
Foolish huh? Yea. It is.
And it is not like there are lots of people out there sitting on their hands waiting for me to write something – I mean, I hope not.
Still, writing pulp blogs here is way better that firing quips into the wind on Twitter.
As much fun as that is.
So my new rule is: Before I utter a beak full of tweets, I am going to bash the side of my head and think up some observation on the human condition…
Like this one.
Good start. But I am not finished.
Facebook – it has been way useful for keeping track of events of my actual friends in almost real time – with alarming regularity and reliability that rivals gravity.
But what of those special friends… you know the ones… the ones you have stalked on facebook from your past. The people you went to High School with. The friends of the people you may have dated 25 years ago… etc.
Well, I ask myself. Why am I peering into their lives. I have a cluster of friends on Facebook who are part of my distant past and I am pretty sure I will never, ever get together with them – for any reason… ever. So why do I look into the window of their lives? Or why do I continue knowing what I know?
Hard decision.
Time for a Facebook cleanup. People do it all the time. Different reasons. You have yours, I have mine.
It is time to let the past go and let people get on with their lives.
It is the right thing to do.
Colin Newell lives and writes in Victoria B.C. Canada and is often the go to guy for opinions on the subject of Canadian Cafe and Pop Culture
