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Crisis? What Crisis?

The title of a 1975 album by Supertramp has absolutely nothing to do with the current financial meltdown. But the phrase (also from the movie Day of the Jackal) is my favourite response when things get testy.

With every news report laden with the latest stories on the financial crisis, and an election campaign both here and in the US, its time to deal with this stuff once and for all.

How ?

Simple.

Fugetaboutit.

Down on the docks at Horseshoe Bay there was no inkling of anything other than the typical waterfront activity.

Ferries from Bowen Island, Departure Bay on Vancouver Island, and Langdale came and went like clockwork. And hundreds of cars – long-weekend mainlanders heading to a B&B or Gramma’s house – lined up (as usual) waiting for their boat to arrive.

Over on the east docks, where Madsu is moored, river otters continue to make a mess on boats tied there. Given the choice between munching their seafood on the rocks or on a nice Sumbrella fabric cover, they go for the boat covers ever time.

They also seem to like those lovely upholstered seats in power boats, and they leave quite a mess.

Here’s what they left behind on the boat in the slip next to me.

This is the same guy who’s parents leave CBC Radio One on in their boat, claiming it keeps the otters away ( and it seems to work).

My boat neighbour though claims he’s found the perfect anti-otter-repellant: wolf pee. I’m not entirely sure how he’s going to acquire it, or how he’s going to apply it, and if his boat will smell better or WORSE because of it, but what the heck – sounds like a plan

Over at the government dock, a big vintage power vessel was tied up, getting all gussied up for what looked like a wedding party.

I’ve not seen the Tarapunga before, and her aft deck was decorated with ribbons and flowers – but the wedding is a fake: they were shooting on-the-water scenes for the TV series Harper’s Island.

While I was out sailing, Tarapunga went steaming by – not far behind the picture chopper flew just a hundred feet or so off the deck – swooping in on Tarapunga for what I’m sure will be a very sweet shot since as she steamed out into the Straight with the sun glistening off the water.

Beautiful BC couldn’t be much more adorable than it was today.

I tried to get Madsu in the shot but when it comes to a race between my Catalina 22 and a helicopter, well…

The wind piped up so I put a 2nd reef in the main and pulled out my bagged out old jib.

Six hours later I was back at the dock, giving Madsu a proper scrub down after soaking the foredeck in salt-spray.

One fine Thanksgiving Weekend sail – and the only bail-out I considered the entire day was in relation to the dinghy.

Markets ? What markets?

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Kung Fu Candidates and Other Great Links

What a week.

  • Tired of the election campaign(s) yet ? You won’t be once you try Kung Fu Election
  • Speaking of voting. Still time to cast your ballot for poultry trainee of the year
  • OMG! What can they be thinking! Musicians want ownership of their own material! The nerve of them !
  • Cool 20 years ago – can Q magazine be cool again ? 20 years ago it was a great way to see pics of bands and read about them before they hit big. Given the proliferation up to the second information available today, not so much.
  • Turn that thing up. Emergency vehicles may soon be getting sub woofers just like your local low riders.
  • 14 years ago almost to the day, EB and I bought a used 91 Jeep Cherokee after realizing that having kids and not having a car wasn’t going to work. This week ICBC towed it to the salvage yard – a write-off after I got rear-ended a couple of weeks ago. Bye Bye Jeepee, you served us well.
  • Somehow this doesn’t sound like an impending depression. Or does it ? “Hey Brother can you spare 7 billion dollars?
  • You Like Skype ? You Like Privacy ? Hah !
  • Craigslists and an inner tube. Sounds kinky. Wrong. Just a clever thief who’s probably already signed a book deal
  • Looks like the days of sailing barefoot are over for this season. Apparently I’m not alone. Canada’s coast lines are going red, and I don’t mean red hot.

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CBC Radio One – Not for Otters

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What a difference a couple of days make.

This is the last weekend of summer, and to make sure we get the picture, the sky turned heavy overcast with, yes, some rain today.

Walking to the marina ramp, I was stopped by a tourist who was looking out at Horseshoe Bay. “I guess it looks better in the sunshine ? “, he asked, optimistically.

At the boat I managed to drop my boat keys into the salt chuck as I was loading stuff into the cockpit. The keys were on a lanyard around my neck, but as I pulled my shoulder pack off, it managed to catch the keys and slide the lanyard right over my head and into the water. After 20 years of sailing, I’ve managed to do this twice – both times this year. The last time was at the beginning of the season, and even though I had a key float attached to the key ring, it too sank like a stone.

Since I’d already lost a set of keys, I knew I had no duplicates for the padlocks on Madsu’s hatch and cockpit lockers. So, off I went to the hardware store to buy more locks, and home to pick up my bolt cutters.

When I stopped by the Marina office to buy a new gate key, the staff and I exchanged ‘lost keys in the drink’ stories – I think they were doing their best to make me feel less foolish.

Somehow it all seemed to fit with the grey day and light drizzle, and somehow it didn’t really matter.

The Marina was quiet, so after cutting the old padlock off the hatch, I listened to Radiohead while I wrapped self-amalgamating tape around the new lock bodies so they won’t rust all over the cockpit.

Two slips over is a powerboat with a full canvas cover. The owner keeps a radio on inside 24/7. It’s not terribly loud so it’s not so much annoying as it is curious. When I asked one of my other boat neighbours what the deal is, they told me he uses the radio to keep the otters way.

The river otters use the boats as a sort of dining room. The guy next to me has tried everything and still the otters find a way into his powerboat and leave behind a huge smelly mess. I’ve been gifted the occasional bit of leave-behind, usually on my docking lines, but there’s some serious chowing-down that goes on in the boat next to me – and remnants smell to high heaven.

Radio guy seems to have found the answer though. He’s not troubled by otters any more.

His secret ?

He keeps his radio tuned to CBC Radio One, and that keeps the otters away.

Wonder if that’ll make it into an ad campaign anytime soon.

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Go Figure for Sept 9

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Screw Heading to the Pub

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Even though I’ve lived in Vancouver since 1987, I’m still a prairie boy at heart.

And the prairie boy in me still finds it amazing to be able to head over to the dock after work, go out for a sail, and still be home for dinner.

That’s precisely what I did today. Though I missed most of the afternoon sunshine, it as still a delightful couple of hours and an excellent way to unwind.

The wind was super light so I doused the 150% jib and hoisted the cruising chute. This is my first season with the gennaker and I can’t believe the difference it makes having this sail. Today is a prime example – on a beam reach the wind was barely filling the jib, and though I was moving, it was painfully slow.

As soon as I hoisted the cruising chute, the boat took off. I’ve got a NorthSails G3 which is a bit smaller than their big gennaker – its super easy to handle and having a snuffer means I hoist it more often knowing it’s not a big deal, even if I’m sailing by myself, as I was today.

Short of a dead still day, this sail keeps me moving, and for day sails where destination isn’t all that important, the off-wind performance is really nice to have.

Even though Madsu’s cruising chute is small, it’s still magic playing the sheet on the kite, and the sight of all that material full to the shoulders and pulling, is quite mesmerizing.

Given the option of heading to a bar for a quick one after work, or doing this ?  No contest.

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Gutenberg a Must See at the Vancouver Fringe

Its not too often, in fact it’s never happened to me before, that you get offered a free book while waiting in line to see a stage play.

The man with the bag of books is director Brian Anderson who’s done an amazing job with Gutenberg! the Musical!

The free paperback is just the first of many treats in store as characters Bud and Doug take us on a ‘reading of the musical’ they’ve written about the man who invented the printing press. Defeated by Google in their attempt at researching Johann Gutenberg, Bud and Doug opt instead for an ‘historical fiction’ version – as they say “It’s fiction – but its true”.

The two actors, like director Anderson, are both Theatre Sports vets – Nathan Clark plays Doug, and Ken Lawson plays Bud. The two play over 20 characters, including a complete Broadway chorus line and a bevy of singing mice rats.

They sing, they dance, they cry; more importantly, they pull it off. Under the deft and thoughtful direction of Anderson, what could easily turn into a big broad mess wins us over within the first few minutes, and holds right until the end.

In this show timing is everything, and Clark and Lawson never miss a beat – or rather – know when to take a beat, and let the comedy work. A good Fringe show pulls you into its big warm bosum and smothers you with heart – these guys, along with pianist Matt Grinke (who’s awesome), ace it.

– – – – –

There are only 3 shows left – Sept 10th at 9:15, Sept 13th at 3:15, and Sept 14th at 7:15. Advance tickets at the Festival Box office or at the venue (the Arts Club mainstage on Granville Island) 50 minutes before the show.

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The Loneliest Number

Two can be as bad as one, its the loneliest number since the number one.

-Lyrics from “One” by Three Dog Night

It’s been five years since I worked at CBC – but this week I’ve been pummeled with questions about CBC Radio Two.

Oops. Sorry.

Radio 2.

Once known as CBC Stereo, and beloved as “Classics and Beyond”, the CBC’s other radio network has become The New 2.

The New 2 is sporting a funky URL (thenew2.ca) that takes you to the same old URL (cbc.ca), and more fonts than you can shake a stick at…

Oh. And there are on-air changes as well.

Those changes have sparked yet another online protest by Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, who seem to have missed the importance of the number 2, and have focused instead on the actual content of the network, with their WHO? campaign.

I’ve received two (2) emails from Ian Morrison of Friends of Canadian Broadcasting who wants to enlist help in fighting the changes to Radio 2 (two).

They too (umm, also) have their own funky URL, www.friends.ca/fight4radio2 . . .

We believe the Radio Two changes are consistent with the misguided approach of CBC’s current management group to “dumb down” CBC’s programs in search for a new and broader audience without regard for the damage this will do to its current loyal listeners.

We also believe that these changes signal CBC’s intention to ask the CRTC for permission to advertise on CBC Radio.

So, what’s all the fuss about ? And why are all my friends and neighbours assaulting me with questions about The New 2 ?

  • A few were thinking this was some sort of long-weekend-hang-over-programming-error. You know, with the B team working the holiday weekend, someone loaded the wrong tapes in master control.
  • One called this afternoon asking if CBC was ‘trying something out’ since it was Wednesday and the kids are back in school.
  • Another (who knows a little of my history at CBC and the long fights we had convincing the the corp to let us call our online network Radio 3 instead of Radio Three) just emailed the classic text shorthand: WTF ?

The thing about it is this – it’s not that important.

They’ve made some programming changes.

Some of the new shows will be good and some won’t.

If they leave them on the air long enough people will get used to them, or they’ll find their niche audience, or they’ll just be mediocre and have small audiences.

Just like the old Radio Two.

See, it’s really hard to create any kind of broad or mass audience with ‘appointment’ radio programming.

The New 2 will have the same kind of small dedicated audience that the Old Two had.

It’ll just be a somewhat different audience, an audience that likes an off-centre, not ready for prime-time program. Just like the old Radio Two audience.

All the new hosts have that raised-on-DNTO sound. Just like all the old hosts had that Wanna-BBC sound.

The important thing to keep in mind is: it’s just a radio channel. There are others.

My answer to my neighbours:

Get an iPod.

You’ll be happier.

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Summer Never Ends

We had every intention of getting up early today and doing a circumnavigation of Bowen Island.

But given that this is the last weekend before school starts, we decided to let the boys sleep in.

So we got a late morning start on the boat, and managed to catch some nice in-flow breeze in Howe Sound with Madsu cruising to weather at 5 knots.

Heading back to Horseshoe Bay at the end of the day we played with the cruising chute a bit in the super light breeze ahead of the shift to an outflow.

Nice way to spend another summer afternoon on the west coast.

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Go Figure for Aug 27

  • Just how much traction has the organic food movement developed ? Apparently enough to attract Blueberry Hijackers.
  • Ever wonder why you keep getting so much spam ? You’d think those spammers would call it a day considering we throw all their stuff in the junk heap. Or do we ?
  • When times get tough, the rich go shopping. At Cosco.
  • Shopping for high end clothes will never be the same, now that Wallace and Gromit are on the case.
  • And they claim the cows are mad ? This loony British farmer crossed the Bering Straits in his Land Rover.
  • Still on that side of the pond… with the price of feed what it is, this makes total sense. I think. Tiny Household Cows.
  • I’m totally bummed about this cancellation, and I know my friend Dave T was looking forward to it as well. Apparently Nuns on the Catwalk won’t be happening after all.
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Liquid Sunshine

The day’s rain scented the neighbourhood with freshness impossible to duplicate. Grouse Mountain was nowhere to be seen, engulfed in a thick cloud that drifted down to the street and hung on the neighbourhood trees.

So I turned my lens on what was close at hand, fruit and flowers hanging on to the day’s raindrops.

Sadly, many of our neighbours had their automatic-in-ground sprinklers running.

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Pie In Waiting

Some of my neighbours find it odd that I’ve got fruit trees in the front yard.

They seem to think that front yards are for golf-course-like-manicured-lawns that you pour water and chemicals on all summer, and heaven forbid you should walk or play on it.

Not sure they appreciate the tether-ball in the front yard either.

Guess they won’t be getting any pie.

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August Full Moon Sail

When I put Madsu in the water this spring, I challenged myself to get in as many full moon sails as I could this summer.

The weather has been super cooperative – with another clear night last night (August 16th) for my third full moon sail this summer (see June and July).

It was one of the hottest days of the summer and I’d hoped for a nice offshore breeze once the sun went down, but no luck – just a few puffs off the bluffs at Whytecliff Park. So, I didn’t get as much sailing in as past full moon nights, but it was still inspiring to see that huge orb slow rise over the West Van hills.

Perhaps as a way of making up for the lack of wind, there was a wonderful sunset. The sky over Bowen Island turned crimson and reflected back on Madsu’s wake. Nice. Also out and getting an eye full was the massive motor yacht Nova Spirit which passed me inbound to Vancouver.

Now if I could just figure out how to do a long exposure on a moving boat, maybe I could get an actual shot of the moon…

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Hockey Stars from Citizens Bank

HockeyStars.com launched earlier this week. It’s a fun tool for anyone playing hockey and I was fortunate enough to help with a small part of the site.

I recorded and produced the audio you hear in the flash movies – there are more of them once you’ve registered.

It was loads of fun to work on. Hanging out at the rink all day reminded me of when I was a kid and spending the day at the DMCC arena in Dauphin.

Here’s what the site is about:

HockeyStars is devoted to the real stars of the game. It’s a free online community for amateur hockey players, coaches, parents and volunteers.

It’s where players come to connect with their teams and others in the community, and where managers and coaches can use online management tools to make team communication and operations easier. HockeyStars makes it easy to share game schedules, statistics, photos, videos and messages with teammates, family and fans.

HockeyStars is powered by Citizens Bank of Canada, a national online bank backed by the ethical grounding that comes from being part of the Vancity Group. Formed in 1997, we have a strong focus on corporate social responsibility and are the only bank in Canada with a clear ethical policy.

What does banking have to do with hockey? Well, some banks open new branches to serve the community around them. We’re opening online branches—small, online communities built around a common interest, like hockey. Through HockeyStars we hope to give back to the community while helping to raise a generation of young savers.

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Hilarious Community Engagement Trailer

James Glave is at it again.

Not satisfied with writing a wonderful book called Almost Green, James is also making some hilarious videos as a means of promoting the book.

Created with Cam Hayduk, they’re cheeky, gutsy and irreverent – 100% Glave.

The first two are online at his web site Glave.com – I think there will be more coming.

Sleepy Bowen Island gets to be a star as well – not since The Beachcombers has that side of Howe Sound had so much attention !

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Solar Charging My Mobile Phone

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It’s a bit convoluted, but while sailing this morning I was also using the sun to charge my mobile. There’s something magic about silently ghosting along under sail – added bonus is charging batteries at the same time.

On a sailboat, you typically charge up your batteries while using the engine. Just like in your car, an alternator on the motor charges the 12 or 6 v batteries on the boat. But since there is no alternator on Madsu’s old outboard, the only way to charge the 12 volt batteries that run the lights and other on board equipment is to use a battery charger plugged in while at the dock. I do have a 110v AC marine trickle charger installed, but all last season and so far this season, I’ve relied on a 14 x 14 solar panel I bought at West Marine.

It trickle charges the batteries and I’ve not had to plug-in to shore power since I bought it. I put a switch on the panel so that I can send the charge to either one of the two batteries on board, and so far, I’m super happy with the performance of the little panel. I mount it on the stern pushpit, clamped to the rail mount I use for the Force 10 BBQ which is stowed unless I’m using it.

When it was on sale last year, I also bought a small (coffee cup sized) inverter. It plugs into the cigarette lighter socket on the boat and outputs AC. Today I used it to charge my cell phone. I don’t have a 12v charger for the mobile, and don’t need to buy one. The solar panel charges the batteries, the batteries provide power to the inverter, and the inverter outputs AC to my standard phone charger. Nice.

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Canada’s Big Media Still Big

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I know with the long weekend ahead, you’ve been wondering about the state of media in Canada – now you can rest easy and enjoy that extra day off.

Big Media in Canada is doing just fine.

Again.

Still.

The CRTC today released its Communications Monitoring Report. In the past the Commission published one report on the state of broadcasting, and one on the telecommunications industry, and this is the first of their ‘converged’ reports – presumably to reflect the state of the industry.

The report makes it clear that the Canadian broadcast sector is doing just fine, despite dire warnings of its impending demise thanks to the internet. The report also shows just how big a role the internet plays in our every day lives and consumption of entertainment.

Here are some facts pulled from the CRTC report.

Money…

  • Revenues for private commercial radio stations increased by 6.2%, from $1.4 billion in 2006 to $1.5 billion in 2007.
  • Commercial television revenues increased 4.3%, or $218 million, from $5 billion in 2006 to $5.3 billion in 2007. This was largely due to increased subscriber revenues of $152 million.
  • Revenues for specialty, pay and pay-per-view television and video-on-demand services increased by 9%, rising from $2.5 billion in 2006 to $2.7 billion in 2007.
  • Revenues for private conventional television broadcasters went from $2.1 billion in 2006 to $2.2 billion in 2007, an increase of 1.3%. During this period, revenues for English-language stations grew by 2% to $1.8 billion, while those for French-language stations fell by 2% to $381 million
  • Online advertising continued to experience growth, with spending rising from $900 million in 2006 to $1.2 billion in 2007.

English Canadian use of…

  • RADIO: 18.3 hours of per week
  • TV: 26.8 hours of per week
  • INTERNET: 13.4 hours per wee

Habits…

  • The number of Canadians who have watched a video online has more than doubled over the past three years, with user-generated content being more popular than professionally produced programs.
  • Among the more popular online activities in 2007, 36% of Canadians watched a video, 16% listened to a streaming radio station and 17% downloaded music.
  • 11% of Canadians reported downloading and listening to a podcast on either their computer or an MP3 player, an activity that is seen as a complement to conventional broadcasting.

It may just be a case of bad timing, but just a couple of weeks ago, a CBC submission to the CRTC more-or-less argued Canadians aren’t using the Internet for entertainment. (you can read the CBC’s full position here)

Today’s CRTC report shows that we are in fact using the internet for entertainment. One of the most popular online activites happens to be…watching videos. At the end of the day, regardless of the facts, the CBC’s argument in it’s submission seems to be that since it hasn’t figured out how to make money online, online shouldn’t be considered a business opportunity for Canadian broadcasters.

Given that traditional broadcast is still showing yearly increases in revenue, I’m not sure they’re in any hurry to try figure out how to make money online, despite the fact that Canadians are consuming a huge amount of content online. To my mind, that bodes well for smart nimble companies that can jump into this obviously ripe market while the ‘big boys’ sit back and wait for it to be a more predictable business opportunity.

(cross posted here)

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Moonlight Sail with Bella and Aron

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Garnet and I were lucky enough to be joined by Aron and Bella on our FullMoon Sail last Friday night.

I got a bit of video footage – fun night. Sorry the video’s so dark but it WAS already quite dark (it’s gonna get darker), and I left the good camera on dry land…

Get the Flash Player to see this content.

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Is Vancouver Genius Bar Challenged ?

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I’m now heading into week 3 of trying to get my MacBook Pro airport fixed. I’ve been to the Apple Genius bar 3 times, they’ve worked on my machine twice, and after picking it up today it worked for about 2 hours then stopped.

The first time I brought it in, 2 weeks ago, they spent about half an hour at the ‘bar’ trying to figure out if it was a software or hardware issue. After decided it was hardware, they checked and by some miracle had a replacement airport in stock. I have Apple Care Pro so I left the machine with the promise of getting it back the next day.

Apple called the next day to say that they now thought it was the antennae, not the airport itself. One problem. That’s another part, and this they didn’t have in stock.

So I drove back downtown to pick up the machine since they expected it would be 10 days to get a part from California (huh ? Does Jobs drive them up here himself, on a bike? )

On Thursday (11 days later, but who’s counting) they called to say the antennae had indeed arrived. I dropped the machine off on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning (today) they called to say it was done.

Nice. Well, for 100 bucks a year you get 24 hour turn around on repairs, so they were just doing what they promised, but still, nice.

But Wait.

All excitement should be put on hold.

The wifi worked while I got mail and sent some photos up to the web site. When I came back to the machine 2 hours later, back to the flakey on/off airport reception, which is mostly off. It looks like maybe a physical connection problem – one second it’s showing 4 bars the next none.

So I’m tethered again (lan cable).

A call to the Apple Store netted a ‘…um, I’ll have a manager call you back’. Dude, I’m still waiting…

Can someone tell me, is this a normal experience at the Apple Genius Bar,

OR

is Vancouver particularly genius challenged ?

UPDATE:

No-one ever did call me back from the Apple Store. So I called at noon today, and just got off the phone after speaking with 3 people there.

What a nightmare.

Apparently if the Apple Genius decides a machine is working, then it doesn’t really matter what you the customer thinks since ‘we’ve run our diagnostics and it was fine’.

The upshot is that I will now be heading to the Apple store for the 4th time to see if they can actually fix my airport.

Here’s the thing – if I had a PC I’d just plug in an external wireless receiver but I can’t on the Mac, so I’m really hooped.

Maybe the Apple Genius will replace parts one at a time until they get it right ?

I’ll keep you posted.

UPDATE UPDATE (july 21):

Woaw. Night and Day. I got a call this morning from one of the first people I talked to at th Apple Store, who obviously IS a genius. It was like night and day – super helpful in trying to figure out what might be going on with my machine and wanting to solve the problem. A big thumbs up to Adam at the Apple Store in Vancouver ! Still have to resolve the issue, but at least now there’s someone there willing to order parts BEFORE having me come in.

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July Full Moon Sail

We had an incredible night sailing under the full moon last night (18th July).

Despite a morning of cloud cover, the afternoon cleared up and we had a completely clear sky for our night sail. We left Sewell’s around 9:00 and there was a lovely 10-12 knot inflow wind.

We had a couple of guests with us, and even though they were novice sailors they did amazingly well. In fact, I put AB on the tiller most of the night and within a few minutes he was sailing the tell-tales like a pro. We were doing between 5 and 5.5 knots to weather thanks to just a light chop.   (a short video here)

By the time the moon made it over the West Van hills it was close to 10 pm and we sailed by the light of the moon for another hour and a half before heading back. We did see one complete idiot (a sailboat I might add) with no running lights making way to Bowen – crazy. Otherwise, just the usual ferry traffic and one big barge with tow.

There’s nothing quite like the magic of a full moon night under sail. Hope we get as lucky in August !