The Atavist

Auto-pilot leads nowhere good

2008-09-24T08:52:00.006-04:00

I pulled up to the takeout window at my local Tim Hortons coffee shop this morning, as I do most days, and the attendant handed me a large coffee and asked for $1.40. That wasn't what I was expecting. I was taken aback somewhat as the staff there is usually very efficient. I usually order an extra large coffee and a raisin biscuit, the price of which is $2.30. I told the attendant that she had the wrong order. As she looked at me with confusion, I realized that it was my fault, not hers. I had driven right past the speaker box where one places an order and now that I was at the takeout window they thought I was the driver of the car behind me.

I had been lost in thought. I was on auto-pilot. My inattentiveness had caused me to skip an important step in my daily ritual and now, with considerable embarrassment, I realized that I must seem completely discombobulated to the attendant.

The attendant treated my apparent confusion with good humour. I got my coffee and my raisin biscuit. Not every lack of focus, however, ends as well.

That's life. So ist das Leben. We coast along, expecting to make it through each successive day without too many complications. Sometimes the universe unfolds as it should. Sometimes not.

I will be sure to pay more attention tomorrow.

Curmudgeons Everywhere

2008-09-22T14:21:00.005-04:00

I have great friends. I got an email over the weekend from one such person with the subject line: a gift from me to you. I couldn't imagine what kind of gift Mark might send me, or why for that matter, so I opened the email with some trepidation. I needn't have worried.

I love words and I especially love interesting words. I had mentioned to Mark once that I liked the word curmudgeon. He filed away that fact in his sizable store of grey matter and waited. Mark's company is involved in providing DNS services and he trades internet domains for fun, so he watched for domain names with curmudgeon as part of the name. When www.curmudgeon.ca came available, he pounced. Then he gave the domain to me. Not only that, when you go to that domain, you end up here at my Atavist blog. Neat, eh?

Thanks, Mark. I am now better able to let the world know that I am a a bad-tempered, difficult, cantankerous person.

The Delinquent Atavist

2008-09-19T13:18:00.003-04:00

I haven't been around much lately, have I? I've been busy dealing with the minutiae of our Panama Roca Milagro project and other fun stuff. The photograph above shows construction of the wooden cap that will adorn the main entrance way at Roca Milagro. Most of the main roads in the project are cut now and we are preparing the cul-de-sacs that the contractor left until last to complete. We are waiting for a permit to transport and use a huge rock crusher to produce gravel for our internal roads. And it is raining, more and more, as we enter the worst of the rainy season. That slows work down considerably.

I also took a week off to spend time with my cousin Friedhelm, his wife Brigitte and their daughter Sarah, who came to visit. Dr. Friedhelm Pedde, an archaeologist with the Free University of Berlin, gave a presentation at the University at Buffalo, New York, and I picked him and his family up there to spend some time with my family here in Ontario. I hadn't seen them since 1992, when I visited Germany. It was great to see them all and my family and I enjoyed their visit. Brigitte is an art historian and their daughter Sarah is an aspiring photographer.

It is getting colder here in Ontario and the days are getting shorter. Soon, I will be getting weird looks as I continue to wear the short-sleeved shirts and sandals over bare feet that I favour until my feet turn to icicles. I refuse to give in. I want my summer, dammit, even if I have to try to delude myself that it is still warm outside. I have been attending meetings recently with a financial adviser friend of mine who is suggesting to his clients that they invest in building lots in our project. Each time I show up, he glances down to make sure I am wearing shoes and socks. Don't worry, my friend, I won't embarrass you. But as soon as I leave those meetings, it's back to my usual, more comfortable, and more unusual attire.

What's happening out there in the financial markets and in the economies of the world? Things are falling apart. I have been writing for years about the excesses of our governments and about the foolishness of those investors who assume that there will always be a greater fool to buy their overpriced homes and stocks and other investments. There are interesting times ahead, folks. Strap yourselves in for a bumpy ride.

I'm ready. That doesn't mean, however, that I will enjoy the experience as things fall apart around us.

We're human beings. We never appear to learn from the past. It's a pity.

40 Years and Counting

2008-09-04T09:16:00.003-04:00

Sieg (left) and Al Pedde in an advertising photo taken in 1976 or so

It was 40 years ago today, on September 4th, 1968, that my brother and I started doing deliveries for clients in London, Ontario; he in his 1964 Volkswagen and I in my 1957 Volkswagen. I had started doing deliveries for select clients during the summer after my first year at the University of Western Ontario because I couldn't find a real job. When it seemed clear to me that there was a real business opportunity in becoming London's first messenger/courier service, I asked my brother Alfred to join me as partner. I bought out Al's interest in 1985, but I'm still here.

I could write a book about our experiences at Helix Courier. Maybe I will someday. We have had adventures aplenty over the years, enough to fill many seasons of a TV series based on our company. I even have a pitch ready. If you are a TV producer and want to talk, contact me. Think along the lines of an ensemble cast playing constant characters (management, operations, and drivers) at the company, with guest stars every week helping to tell the story of what happens between the time that a delivery order is called in and the document or parcel actually arrives at its destination. What was in the parcel? What news, good or bad, was relayed in the document? Think of the best and worst circumstances that might arise -- we've experienced them all.

I have never regretted dropping out of school to operate a courier company. It has been very good to me. I have an excellent staff and crew of drivers to whom I am eternally grateful. Because of them, I have the time to do other things like develop property in Panama and engage in other projects that attract my interest.

It has been a wild ride. I'm looking forward to the next 40 years.

Happy 16th Birthday, Zachary!

2008-08-09T08:04:00.004-04:00

Today is my son's 16th birthday. I wrote a letter to him, some of which I will share below. He will either save the letter for posterity or not, it doesn't much matter I guess. At age sixteen, any influence his mother and I might have on how he develops into adulthood is pretty much over. I hope we have done a good job.

Dear Zachary:

Today is August 9, 2008. We are celebrating a very special day, your 16^th birthday. I turned sixteen in 1961 and I wonder sometimes, and I’m sure you do too, whether any of my experiences, and those of your considerably younger mother, are even remotely relevant to the way we have tried to raise you into the fine young man you are today.

I think our experiences and our values are relevant. Your mother and I take great pleasure whenever we are told by teachers, parents and other people we know, how nice a person you are. Our experiences and our values definitely do have some part to play in that.

Our genes too have played an important part. You have your mother’s genial and easy-going nature when it is appropriate and my intensity and focus when you feel challenged. It is a toss-up whether you or I would win a challenge of wills. The secret, dear Zachary, is to know when to stand up and be counted and when to back down from confrontation. Even someone with your intellect needs the wisdom of experience and enough time on earth to know whether something is right or appropriate or if it is worth the inevitable fight that results if you won’t back down.

But you really don’t cause us much trouble, do you? Mom and I both know that. You are a very special kid and always have been. We are proud of you in a way that you will only begin to understand when you are yourself a parent. We love you because of who you are, because of your potential to be whatever you wish to be, and because you will live on and represent the genes bestowed on you by your mother and father, long after we are gone. And then, when you are ready and have found that perfect mate of your own, you will pass those genes on to another generation. We will live on through you and your children, as you yourself will one day.

This is a very special birthday. We could have given you a car, or some other expensive gift to mark the occasion. Instead, mom and I are going to give you a big hug and a big ‘Thank You!!’ for coming into our lives and enriching our remaining time here on earth. We could do no better than having you as our child and we will always be grateful that you came along.

And we will love you always, unconditionally.

Happy 16^th birthday, son.

Love,

Dad and Mom

A Hoarse Horse

2008-08-06T11:13:00.002-04:00

Were the horse in the photograph above able to count, it would take him years, I'm sure, to count all of the rocks on our Roca Milagro property. I love rocks. I love the rock walls we are building with the rocks. But there is always the possibility of too much of a good thing, right?

We need gravel during our infrastructure development at the site, lots of gravel. Rather than trucking in gravel from elsewhere, we are bringing in a rock crusher to make gravel from some of our gazillions of rocks. Don't worry, we're not going to run out. The counting horse will still make himself hoarse while counting our rocks, even if we grind up and crush a few thousand of them.

What gets me is that these boulders, some the size of a good-sized automobile, are purported to have been expelled by Volcan Baru, several dozens of miles away from our site. Wow. I'm sure glad the volcano is sleeping. And I'm especially glad I wasn't around when it belched out those rocks hundreds of years ago. On the plus side, we have enough rocks to keep on building rock walls for years to come.

I wonder if the horse in the photograph above is named Henry, and if he dances the waltz. Geezers like me will 'get' that reference, younger readers may have to do some Googling to 'get it.'

Another one of life's great puzzles

2008-08-01T13:58:00.002-04:00

Cattle eat grass, right? Or maybe the occasional leaf or other vegetable matter, or perhaps some prepared feed designed to fatten them up. But have you ever seen a cow eat a survey stake made of PVC plastic piping? Not I.

The cow above is chewing on one of those survey stakes. So were many of its friends and neighbours in the herd. We had let some cattle on our Panama land to keep the grass down during road construction but the exercise, instead of netting us some extra cash in grazing fees, lost us a chunk of cash. Yep, we have to pay a surveyor to replace all of those stakes at the corners of each building lot and along the roads. The damn cows even ate lot markers, little plastic signs telling us the number of each surveyed building lot. So, the cattle had to go. I wonder if they got indigestion.

We have all heard the 'grass is greener' cliche, but these stakes weren't even on the other side of the fence, nor were they green.

Maybe cows really are as stupid as the many jokes about them make them out to be.

Serendipity

2008-07-29T14:47:00.003-04:00

The word "serendipity" arose more than once on my recent trip to Panama. The two partners who travelled with me and I were struck by how some things just sort of fell together for us. It was a welcome change from the usual frustrations I face while trying to do business in a country where the people are lovely, the climate and scenery are beautiful, but customer service and any sense of business responsibility are almost non-existent.

I have been trying to find trees to plant at our development for about 18 months, perhaps longer. I have written emails and made telephone calls. My Spanish speaking friend and associate has done the same. Many calls, many emails. Promises of help were made by the occasional person we contacted but after each promise no further information or help was forthcoming. Now, finally, after all this time, we have found our trees. There is a large, government operated tree nursery about an hour's drive from our development. Yippee!

Not only have we found our trees, we have found a local man in Boquete who is going to work with us to plant the trees. He is also going to help us build a greenhouse and site nursery on our property and to make walking trails around our site, especially in what we call the jungle area down by the river that runs alongside much of our property. He is a graduate of an American university, really knows his stuff, and will be a great help to us. We met him serendipitously, by accident. He owns the hotel where we stayed on this trip.

See? To me this illustrates the fact that it never pays to give up hope. Eventually, just what you need will pop up from just around the corner. Of course it might happen after you are already dead or have spent yourself into bankruptcy while seeking a solution, but the answer is out there somewhere. All you need to do is to look for it, to recognize it, and be ready when it arrives.

Wearing rose-coloured glasses might help too.

A Short Story

2008-07-28T15:19:00.004-04:00

Larry, Curly and Moe went to Panama. Oops, wrong Three Stooges. OK, Herb, Wilf and Sieg went to Panama. There was much buffoonery, but surprisingly some actual business was transacted. Then Kent arrived. Hilarity abounded. Sides ached. Many good meals were eaten and a bottle of wine or two were consumed.

Soon the trip was over. Goodbyes were said. Everyone went home. The end.

There was, of course, much more. But you are going to have to check back in coming days to find out what really happened.

Another Milestone

2008-07-25T15:41:00.005-04:00

It's my birthday today. Age 63, if you must know. Don't tell anyone.

I'm still in Boquete, Panama and staying at the Villa Marita, a charming place owned by a man named Rodrigo and operated by his charming daughter Ana. Two of my partners, Herb and Wilf are here with me.

Wilf asked Ana yesterday if she would jump out of a giant taco in celebration of my birthday. She giggled at the bizarre image that suggestion must have created in her mind, but declined. Wilf has a great sense of humour but, frankly, I think Ana has more sense. She and her father have been perfect hosts.

I am rested, psyched about all of the great things we have accomplished on this trip, and am sad to be leaving Panama again so soon. By Sunday night I will be back home. I miss my family, but Panama does hold a special place in my heart and it is always diffcult to leave here.

Pictures and details when I get back to Canada and get caught up again.

Up, up and away

2008-07-11T12:14:00.002-04:00

Like Superman in the old black and white TV days, I will be "up, up and away" to Panama this weekend. It's business, mostly, and maybe a little fun too, if I can spare the time.

The graphic above shows the layout of our Roca Milagro development near Rovira Arriba in Panama. It has been a little over two years since we bought the property. Now, road construction is underway at the site and things are moving ahead nicely. Hurrah!

I used to own a Superman belt buckle when I was much younger. It helped hold up my jeans for years. It's not that I have ever seen myself as superhuman, it was more a reminder to me that in order to move ahead and accomplish anything in life one generally has to expend superhuman effort. Do nothing, gain nothing. Do a bit, gain a bit. Do a lot, gain a lot. I have always believed that.

It helps to have people around you that you can depend on, individuals who have skills and talents you personally don't possess. I have been fortunate in that respect. I am grateful. Super-grateful.

I had a chat with my son a few days ago. I explained to him that I have this huge 'to-do' list and that one of my greatest fears is that I won't be able to do all of the things I want to do, visit all the places I wish to, experience all of the pleasures that I would like. Getting older, to use the common vernacular, sucks. Never having done anything interesting or exciting or even crazy (to some observers) would, I suspect, suck more. I have done a lot, travelled a lot, experienced a lot. I have stubbed my toes and bumped my head many times. That is how we learn. Life, as they say, is not a rehearsal. We have one chance at it and then we die. Happy thought, isn't it?

I'm not planning on departing this earth anytime soon.

I am looking forward to seeing our project, seeing some of my partners again, and meeting some new people while I am in Panama. Maybe I'll have time to go riding, if I can find someone who will lend or rent me a horse. That would be nice.

Unlike Superman, I can't fly. I can still walk, but riding is more fun. Excuse me while I add finding a horse to ride in Panama to my to-do list.

Pecking for fun and profit

2008-07-09T13:02:00.004-04:00

I was standing at my kitchen window a few days ago, watching as a finch repeatedly pecked away at a floor mat my wife had left on the deck to dry. The bird was trying, without much success, to pry away a few fibers with which to build or line its nest. Picking up blades of grass or other detritus suitable to its intentions would have been much easier but the allure of clean, white threads made the bird willing to work so much harder.

We humans are like that, aren't we? When we are motivated by desire for something we really want, we are willing to work ever so hard and long to get it.

Or at least that is the way it used to be.

I think that these days we are so much into instant gratification that we want everything right now. Usually, the only way for many of us to get something right now is to borrow money or make a promise to trade something of equal value in the future. Our perception then tells us that the scales are no longer balanced; we have want we want now but we are paying for the thing well into the future and are usually paying interest for the privilege of instant gratification.

I prefer to buy what I can afford, pay for it and forget about it. The resultant peace of mind makes the wait worth it.

This weekend, I am off to Panama again. I'll be gone two weeks. There is a lot happening on our Roca Milagro project and I can't wait to see the physical changes since I was there last, in February. Two of my Canadian friends and partners are coming along and a good time will be had by all.

I am in discussions with friends and associates to form an investment syndicate some time in September or October with the express intent of investing in Panama and other Central and South American countries. Most of what we propose to do will be land banking but we may also be interested in purchasing hospitality businesses or residential rental properties. I don't know yet what the buy-in will be to participate in our syndicate, probably $50,000 or so with ongoing monthly contributions yet to be determined. If there is any interest in this beyond the core group of investors we already have, we will consider extending the opportunity to participate to others.

I hope to take a lot of photographs while in Panama and will post what I can when I can.

Vince has left the building.

2008-06-30T09:37:00.008-04:00

Vince Miller with 'Simpson' during December, 2003, visit at the Pedde home.

My friend Vince Miller passed away at 8:15 am, this past Saturday morning, June 28th, 2008. He will be missed. For those of you who knew Vince or are familiar with the International Society for Individual Liberty that he headed, here is more information on Vince and his accomplishments.

I met Vince in 1973, I think. A group of us was walking back to a Libertarian Party of Canada meeting of some kind after lunch at a Toronto restaurant, and Vince happened to be walking beside me. Rather than talking specifically about the meetings we were attending and the objectives we hoped to achieve, we spoke about guns and shooting. Vince loved both. He knew more about guns than I did and I listened with great interest as he described his favourite sidearms. One of the things that had been on my mental to-do list ever since was to go shooting with Vince. I guess it's too late now.

Vince left Canada years ago to take up residence in the United States. For a few years I didn't see him at all and then at some point we reconnected. He began to spend a day or two after Christmas with my family each year. He had relatives in and around London, Ontario, where I live, and would visit with them first and then spend at least one night with us. We would stay up late into the night, drink wine, and decry the increasing abuse of individual rights by governments everywhere and bemoan the human tendency to look to government for solutions to problems real and imaginary. And we celebrated the fact that at least a few people, world-wide, understand that the single most important principle in the world is freedom: freedom to do what you want, say what you want, associate with whom you want, buy and sell what you want, all with the caveat that your rights end where someone else's begin. Those were special evenings. My wife and I looked forward to them. My son Zachary was born in 1992, and as he grew up he too looked forward to Vince's visits.

My wife and I were discussing yesterday how long it has been since Vince first began his annual visits with us. She has a much better memory about these things than I and tells me that we went to see him in Richmond, Virginia (where he lived before moving to the San Francisco area) in 1987 or 1988. She thinks that he was already visiting with us before then. Wow. I wonder how many bottles of wine we shared, how many of the word's problems we solved on those evenings (only to forget those solutions the following morning) and how many derogatory statements we made about governments far and wide and how much derision we heaped on the fools who clamour for more and more centralization of power and thus enable the inevitable consequence of diminished liberty.

Vince, we will miss you. You were a good man and you left your mark on the world. Rest in peace.

A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste

2008-06-23T11:55:00.003-04:00

I get to meet some interesting people in my travels and projects. One such person is Miguel Bernard. That's him in the photograph displayed above, playing King of the Hill on one of the many rocks in our Roca Milagro development. Miguel lives in the Boquete area of Chiriqui province in Panama and our company uses his services extensively as interpretor and facilitator. That is one side of Miguel.

Another side of Miguel is what he does to help underprivileged kids in the Boquete area. He heads an organization called Panama United Foundation which exists to allow sponsorship of children with help to pay for expenses associated with going to school: tuition, books, uniforms, etc. A PDF brochure is avilable here.

I support Miguels's efforts, both in principle and financially. If you have some cash to spare and an interest in helping kids better themselves, I encourage you to donate to the Panama United Foundation. Every dollar helps.

Vince Miller

2008-06-18T10:46:00.003-04:00

My friend Vince Miller is in the hospital in California with what was originally thought to be pneumonia but is instead coccidiomycosis or Valley Fever. He is on a respirator and not doing well.

I met Vince in 1973 or so. We met in Toronto around the time the Libertarian Party of Canada was formed and he has been involved with causes of individual liberty most of his adult life. He now heads the California-based International Society for Individual Liberty. He is a man of many accomplishments and someone I have always been proud to call friend. Virtually every Christmas Vince makes the trek from California to London, Ontario, to see relatives and he always spends a night or two with my family while he is here.

So, Vince you old rascal, get off that damn respirator and get well. Chrystyna and Zachary and I have a room for you again this Christmas and a couple of bottles of wine with your name on them. You have hundreds of friends around the world and every single one of us is pulling for you.

I want to hear some good news!

For anyone who drops in here and who knows Vince and/or his work and wants to help out with a donation, go here: ISIL.org.

Another tardy post

2008-06-03T13:24:00.002-04:00

The photograph above shows the progress being made on the 'entrada' at our Roca Milagro development in Rovira Arriba, Republic of Panama. The view is from inside the development and looking towards the road coming from Rovira Arriba. Rains are slowing progress on road building and other infrastructure development on the site, but my partners in the area are working valiantly to cope and to make us all proud.

We will be selling building lots soon. If anyone is interested in looking at a very basic temporary brochure describing Roca Milagro, you can find one here in PDF format. Better and more comprehensive information will be coming soon and our website at www.rocmilagro.com will be completely revamped by July sometime. If you, or someone you know, is interested in building a vacation or retirement home in the mountains of Panama, near the Costa Rican border, or if you simply want to invest in a building lot or two to hold on to for a while, check us out. We are a group of industrious and freedom-loving Canadians, Americans and Panamanians and we would love to be joined by others who want to own their own slice of heaven. How about some of you from other parts of our ever-shrinking world? Join us!

Pay it forward . . .

2008-05-09T12:03:00.002-04:00

(click on image to enlarge)

The rainy season is coming in Panama and at our Roca Milagro development there is frantic activity to get things done before the annual deluge. In the top photograph, the entrada takes shape, and in the lower picture a worker works inside one of the columns making up the entrada. The insides of the columns will be filled with rubble and then capped with poured concrete, formed into planters.

Developing a project of this size can be daunting, frustrating, sometimes infuriating, but ultimately, we all hope, satisfying and rewarding. I am lucky to have a wonderful group of partners who are supportive and helpful. Thank you all -- you know who you are!

I don't like the passage of time because at my age it simply marks the inexorable march towards oblivion, but when this project is complete I will be happy to walk through all 108 acres of it and revel in what a group of dedicated individuals can accomplish. We still have a long way to go, but we are making significant progress, finally.

I was thinking back today to the days of my early teenage years and remembered a particular classmate who was shunned by others because his family was very poor, he always wore the same clothes, rarely bathed, and was cruelly called "Doodlebugs" by everyone. I was probably the only one who ever talked to him at length and who tried to treat him like a human being. I will always remember the gratitude in his eyes. I won't mention his real name here, but I learned a lot from him. I learned that my parents were right when they told me that a kind word, an act of compassion, a supportive gesture can go a long way. I try to act that way still, even though sometimes I really don't feel like it. I am particularly grateful that people around me are generally kind and supportive of me and projects I direct, including this one. It makes my life and my job much easier.

In that spirit, let's all 'pay it forward,' and extend kindness wherever and whenever we can. It will help make the world a better place, and folks -- the world needs a lot of help.

Have a great weekend.

More Roca Milagro

2008-05-07T11:05:00.004-04:00

(click photos to enlarge)

Construction methods in Panama seem primitive compared to what I am used to in Canada. The finished product, whether house or warehouse, usually looks just fine, but the steps getting there are certainly not what I am used to. In the top photo, a workman constructs one of the pillars that will become part of the entrance gate to our Roca Milagro site. The structure will be massive, with a 20 X 20 foot space to drive vehicles as large as cement trucks through and will be surrounded with our ubiquitous rock walls containing shrubs and flowers. It will be topped with an elegant wooden cap made of Nispero, a strong and durable wood harvested in Panama.

The bottom photo shows a road bed taking shape inside the development, heading into the site towards the Rio David and spectacular views of Volcan Baru. The cloud cover in the photograph obscures the views but is in itself very pretty.

We are considering building a pyramid on our site of the variety common to Central and South America, but of course much smaller, say 10 X 10 meters at the base and with about the same height. There would be an observation deck at the top. If anyone knows anything about such structures that might be helpful to us, please let me know.

Rocky Roads

2008-05-06T14:00:00.000-04:00

(Click photo to enlarge)

Finally, after waiting and waiting and waiting and lots of frustration, we have the actual permits in hand to begin infrastructure development at our Roca Milagro development in Panama. Unlike many developments in the region that seem to be selling hype and hope in an attempt to raise enough capital to pay for everything, we have no debt and have enough funds on hand to do most of what we want to do. We have paid for the actual property, all the work we have done to date and we still have enough money in the bank to pay for the equipment and materials and labour we will need to finish building over three kilometers of roads, bridges over our streams, drainage culverts, and to lay pipes and conduits for our water and electrical supply. Now, all we need is to get the work done. Had we received permits in a timely fashion, we could have been finished with all that by now and would be selling lots. As it is, we're running a little behind.

Oh well.

I could be selling many more shares and partnerships in the development now. It wasn't like that at the beginning. I always find it strange that some people get 'the vision' of an enterprise before anything is even begun and others wait until much later, sometimes having to pay much more to participate and missing out on the really big profits that early participants enjoy. As it is, we have been able to put together an excellent group of investors. There is a very strong individualist, capitalist, libertarian contingent, with a few token more moderate individuals who somehow still get along with the more radical among us. Who would have thought, thirty or forty years ago, that individualists would be considered radical? What is the world coming to?

We have a crew of men working full time on building yet more rock walls to complement the several kilometers of walls that already exist on the site. Why? Well, we like the look. And we have to do something with all the hundreds of thousands of rocks that are strewn all over the landscape. And as we grade the road surfaces as seen in the second photograph above, the machines dig up yet more rocks. This may turn out to be one of those never-ending projects because it seems as though we will never run out of rocks. Oh well. As long as we don't run out of money. I guess that won't happen, but at some time we may run out of patience.

Over the coming weeks I hope to make more frequent appearances here and hope to get back to reading some of my favourite blogger friends as well. I miss that.

Sweet Dreams

2008-04-09T09:07:00.002-04:00

Driving to work this morning, I listened to a compilation CD I had made, featuring among others, guitarists Roy Buchanan (1939 - 1988) and Canada's own Jeff Healey who died last month at age forty-one. Buchanan is someone mostly known to guitar freaks like me. He was greatly under appreciated, lived a troubled and tormented life, and hung himself in a jail cell after being arrested for 'public intoxication.' Healey died of cancer. Neither lived long enough.

I have been thinking over past days of how we spend a lifetime trying to accomplish something significant, to leave a legacy or some indication that we have been here, and then suddenly life is over. For everyone else life goes on. We push up daisies. Buchanan and Healey at least live on through their music.

Sweet Dreams, Jeff and Roy. We miss you.

'Rolling Up the Rim,' but forgetting to roll out the red carpet

2008-03-28T08:32:00.006-04:00

'Roll Up the Rim To Win' is an annual ritual in Canada, courtesy of the Tim Hortons coffee shop chain. You drink your coffee, roll up the rim, then read underneath what you have won. Usually, naturally, you have won nothing. Occasionally, you might win a free coffee or a doughnut, or even a TV or a car. It so happens that I have won a bunch of free coffees and doughnuts and so . . .

As I do nearly every working day while I am in Canada, I approached the drive-through window of a local (Highbury Avenue, near Cheapside) Tim Hortons this morning, and this is the conversation that ensued:

Disembodied Speaker Voice: Tim Hortons, may I (blah, blah, blah)?

Caffeine-starved Me: Extra large coffee, one cream, and a raisin biscuit, please.

Disembodied Speaker Voice: That will be $2.21. Please drive through.

Caffeine-starved Me: Can I pay for that with my 'Roll Up The Rim' thingie?

Disembodied Speaker Voice: What?

Caffeine-starved Me: Can I pay for that with my 'Roll Up The Rim' thingie?

Disembodied Speaker Voice: Pay for what?

Caffeine-starved Me: (Stunned silence, as I wonder if I have accidentally stumbled into 1.) a parallel universe even more screwed up than our own, or 2.) some weird church where a female priest was asking me for which of my many sins I wished to buy absolution.

Disembodied Speaker Voice: Pay for what, the coffee or the biscuit?

Caffeine-starved Me: Oh. Both

Disembodied Speaker Voice: You can only pay for the coffee with Roll Up the Rim , not the raisin biscuit.

Caffeine-starved Me: Never mind, I'll just pay for everything with cash.

Disembodied Speaker Voice: OK.

OK. Courtesy of Roll Up The Rim, I have a bunch of free doughnuts coming, but I don't eat doughnuts any more. I am trying to cut back on my sugar consumption. As far as I know, a raisin biscuit costs about the same as a doughnut, perhaps less, so why can't I get what I want, instead of having to take something I don't want? Who makes up these rules? Is there a Tim Hortons enforcer who drives around and cancels the lucrative franchise of any operator who breaks the rules? Do store managers or franchisees have any discretion over these matters? Is it worth pissing off someone who spends probably $1,000 annually at Tim Hortons over a ten or twenty cent issue?

I don't think so.

I don't care about saving a few cents. I am long past that stage. What is at issue for me is that no-one thinks creatively any more. Employees aren't trusted enough to act with any discretion and rarely get the training they need. Training should encompass not only how to pour the coffee but also cover the fact that customers are valuable and need to be cultivated and appreciated. That is a fact that few business establishments and their employees really understand any more.

Rant over. I just finished my coffee and, naturally, rolled up the rim. What did it say underneath? "Please Play Again." That's probably a good thing. What would I do if I won yet another free doughnut? The ones I have already are no good to me.

Well Said!

2008-03-25T15:46:00.002-04:00

I am trying to catch up on my blog reading and today came across a Hoosierboy post that is a very interesting read. Go here: Confessions of a Bigot. Nicely said, Hoosierboy!

Onward

2008-03-25T14:01:00.004-04:00

I can't believe that it has been two weeks since I wrote my last blog post. Every time I go to Panama, I come back reinvigorated with a long list of things that need to get done, so I have been very busy, immersed in stuff. Isn't 'stuff' a neat word? It can act as a lazy person's verbal shortcut; a descriptor used when there is no time (or talent) for elaboration. So, I have been working on stuff. Lots of stuff. Boring stuff, exciting stuff, even some disappointing stuff. How's that? Is that enough detail?

No? Okay then: Here's a little more. Cocktails in Boquete appears to be dead. I say "appears to be" because I suppose there is some hope of a reincarnation somewhere and somewhen, but not right now. Two parties are in dispute and we, the Canadian investors, are caught in the middle. It is not a big thing for us, financially, but it is disappointing because Cocktails, in the few short days of its life, was a fun and vibrant place. I will miss it. Still . . . Next! Or, as one of my Canadian partners put it: "We'll keep poking along. Shit happens. Onward."

I have never been one for post mortems. When something is dead, why agonize over its demise? It's gone. It's time for another chapter or at the very least another verse in the same chapter. I was having a logo designed for the bar by graphics students at a local college and when I get it I will still look for an opportunity to use it in the future, hopefully in a building I own (with my partners, if they still want another go-round after this experience) and with no strange entanglements with landlords and no bizarre supply arrangements. I will miss 'Pete.' He is off somewhere regrouping. I wish him well.

And, so life goes on. It is another cold and dreary day in London, Ontario, but I am listening to some gypsy jazz, mostly by Bireli Lagrene or The Rosenberg Trio, and that is keeping me warm. Now, if only the sun would shine.

Dallying with Dali

2008-03-10T15:11:00.004-04:00

The clocks moved one hour ahead this past weekend, because of the beginning of Daylight Savings Time. Spring forward, fall back. That's how I remember which way to turn the clocks. When fall come back again, all too soon, back go the clocks to our Eastern Standard Time setting. Pretty straight forward, no?

Not in my home. In the spring and fall of every year, I spend a few days trying to figure out what time it really is. In my world, setting all the clocks in the house to within a millisecond or two of the official Atomic Time would appear to make sense. Since my wife sets all the clocks, however, we do things her way.

No two clocks in the house are set at the same time. Some display something close to the real time, others don't. Some clocks are off by ten minutes or more. My wife likes to be on time, so having clocks display a time that is later than it really is helps her leave early and arrive everywhere on time. Personally, I would just leave ten minutes early, but that is just me.

My wife's idiosyncrasy is largely harmless. After a few days of trying to figure out which clocks are two, seven or ten minutes fast, I get the hang of it and life goes on.

We all have our peccadilloes, some harmless, some perhaps not so. Why do we humans need to try and fool ourselves about things? Why do we need so many coping mechanisms to survive? Why do we have superstitions? Why do we behave in ways guaranteed to be counter-productive or even harmless to ourselves?

I don't know.

I think I've run out of time to write right now, but I'm not sure. Does anyone have a watch, in particular a time piece with the correct time?

I'm Back in Canada (Boo Hoo)

2008-03-05T11:17:00.005-05:00

I'm back in Canada, just in time to experience yet another snow storm. Nuts. And apparently there is another one brewing somewhere out there and will be heading this way soon.

As usual, I had a great time in Panama. I met two partners in our Roca Milagro project that I had never met before. I am very particular about with whom I do business, and was pleased to find that the gentlemen in question are as good a fit into our organization as I had hoped. They are nice to spend time with as well. I personally screen and approve everyone who comes on board as a shareholder and in the case of these two men had to rely on telephone and email exchanges to make my judgment.

It appears that we have no more shares to sell in our company. Several existing shareholders, after visiting our site, decided our project was such a good opportunity that they decided to buy up the few remaining shares. We have a really great bunch. Most of us had meals together every day and several of us would drop in at Cocktails in Boquete, in which another Roca Milagro shareholder and I are partners. I haven't laughed so much in years.

There were disappointments too. Things sometimes move at a snail's pace in Panama. Although we managed to improve the road between Rovira Arriba and our development site on time, the approvals we are waiting for to begin road construction inside the development itself hadn't arrived by the time I left Panama. We have graders and bulldozers and dump trucks and rollers and who-knows-what-else waiting, but we can't make a move without that final stamp of approval. We are now told that it should be forthcoming this week. Let's hope.

I met some great new people, including Pete, my partner in the Cocktails in Boquete bar and one of his delightful (and pretty) bartenders, Sandy. Pete hired two more bartenders, Yaris and Maria, after I left. I will have to wait until my next visit to meet them.

Sandy

Yaris

Maria

The trip was too short. I didn't accomplish everything that I had hoped to, so I guess that means that I will be heading back soon, unless I can delegate some of the chores to my partners already living in Panama. Should I? Or should I simply hop on a plane again at the earliest opportunity and take care of things myself? Hmmmmm, let me think . . .