So my friend Jim decided not to purhase that parcel of land beside me after all. I think he was talked out of it by this dip stick of a realestate agent who probably has a neat little piece of land in her listing book that she can actually MAKE a COMMISSION on! Oh well...not that it matters much. I'll re-list the property and make a sale at going rates, rather than at "friends"s rates. I resent the wasted time I spent down town at the registry office this week sorting out "severances" and "minor variances" and so forth. The work time has to be made up, and here I am, nine thirty in the evening, playing catch up on my jobs. That ticks me off. I also resent the fact that now I might get neighbours I can't stand instead of really good people like Jim and Catherine. And I resent paying eight dollars to a registry clerk to punch up my name in her computer, and give me a printout on the history. I mean, really....it was, like, 2 minutes! What a scam this all is!
Oh well, now I know more than the average bear about zonings, variances, right of ways, covenants, and easements. Nothing like doing a thing to become knowledgable in it. My head is still spinning from the sheer mass of things involved in making a parcel of land "clean" for sale. The cost of doing all this paperwork is under 5 thousand bucks...(is that good news?)
Brenda got most of the stock packed for the summer shows....who knows..there may be a Ren Faire, but a "soft sided" faire at some location around Milton. Or maybe not...have not heard boo about anything happening, so I will assume there wont' be one. Ahh well...at least there is the Star Trek convention...which still allows vendors to carry knives and swords.... so far. She is not looking forward to the summer....a last chance to visit with David E, and D'Arcy, maybe ever! So many good bys. Think I will make some wine. Might have time for it to work before we have to leave.
Rob wants to take over the business. I will do my best to set him up as an entrpreneur, but I dunno...you either have it or you don't. Rob might be able to do it...if he can keep from chasing the girls all summer! Trouble with running a business is that you rarely have time for a business AND a family in the first few years!
Well, enough of this...time to get back to work!
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Friday, May 27, 2005
Trademarks and Tarrifs and Trouble
I remember when Walmart first showed up in Ottawa, and even before they put shovel into ground, they took on a little mom and pop operation for name copyright infringement. Wool-Mart had been in Ottawa longer than Wal-Mart had been in Canada, but that didnt matter to the lawyers. (an out of court settlement allowed Wool-Mart to change their name to Wool-Time) Then a few years later, Rockin' Johnny's restaurants are popping up all over Ottawa. A well established US company called Johnny Rockin' again took them to court,same reason, even though they were in a separate country, and no competition can possibly occur. Don't really know the results of that case, but the owner sold one restaurant in South Keys, but is still hangin in there on St Laurent blvd.
Now I see that the Supreme Court of Canada granted US toymaker Matel Inc permission to appeal rulings by the "Trademarks Opposition Board" (ever hear of that before?) that allowed a Canadian company to continue business as Barbie's BBQ Restaurant. This case is a little different though.....seems they really are blatantly ripping off Mattel, who registered Barbie and Barbie's marks many years ago for Doll related items, but neglected to register them for restaurant, and presumably clothing related items.
I am reminded of when KFC used to be Kentucky Fried Chicken. Until sometime in the late 80's when the state of Kentucky demanded huge licenceing fees for using their name...so they changed it to KFC. So why KFC Canada? Another lock step move from the parent company I suppose...
Ahh well...I remember when my friend D'Arcy came up from Texas and we drove all around the Milton Oakville area looking for the UPS depot. She said it looked so much like West Texas that it was uncanny! Same little strip malls, same big box stores, even the big traffic signs over the highway had a sort of universal look to them. She noted at the time that Ontario was looking more and more like just another midwest state every year. I wonder if that is all bad though....
Now I see that the Supreme Court of Canada granted US toymaker Matel Inc permission to appeal rulings by the "Trademarks Opposition Board" (ever hear of that before?) that allowed a Canadian company to continue business as Barbie's BBQ Restaurant. This case is a little different though.....seems they really are blatantly ripping off Mattel, who registered Barbie and Barbie's marks many years ago for Doll related items, but neglected to register them for restaurant, and presumably clothing related items.
I am reminded of when KFC used to be Kentucky Fried Chicken. Until sometime in the late 80's when the state of Kentucky demanded huge licenceing fees for using their name...so they changed it to KFC. So why KFC Canada? Another lock step move from the parent company I suppose...
Ahh well...I remember when my friend D'Arcy came up from Texas and we drove all around the Milton Oakville area looking for the UPS depot. She said it looked so much like West Texas that it was uncanny! Same little strip malls, same big box stores, even the big traffic signs over the highway had a sort of universal look to them. She noted at the time that Ontario was looking more and more like just another midwest state every year. I wonder if that is all bad though....
Friday, May 20, 2005
Bike rides and bone heads....
Yesterday, I was driving back from Kingston on my V-Star, and observed most interesting passing behavior. The cement truck in front was blocking the view, and the fellow right behind him kept sliding out into the left lane from time to time to see if it was safe to pass. At one point, he slid left, and nearly collided with the fellow who was passing BOTH of them. They sorted themselves out....and booted forward to finish passing...but by now, they were on a double solid, and should have simply hung back. Sure enough, over the hill comes some poor sap. The buggers slid back into the right lane with less than half a second lee way. Good scare right? naah...the one who was behind is determined to pass. The one in front, feeling no doubt that he was going too slowly, sped up. So we got two fools booting up the Canadian Shield side by side at over 140 km/hr. The cement truck driver just grinned at me and waved me to pass when I gave him the universal "thumbs up thumbs down" signal because I couldn't see around him either.
And these are people who wouldn't risk eating a bit of cheese with mould on it!
And these are people who wouldn't risk eating a bit of cheese with mould on it!
Monday, May 16, 2005
power politics, office politics...
I was planning out my future career, and was reminded how seldom we get a chance in our lives to actually do that. Usually, people do what they gotta do from day to day, to make other people happy. There is usually a payoff in the long run, same as there is a payoff in taking the wife to the Ice Dance finals. (something which I detest so much that I have been known to pay people to stand in for me....)
Back when I was in the military, they would always be working at cross purposes. They said they wanted one thing, but always rewarded another. For instance, even back in basic training, they "said" they wanted super shiny shoes, super shiny floors and so forth, but they always rewarded conformity. If they really wanted the shiny floors, they would not have objected to the self shining floor waxes, and if they really wanted shiny shoes, they would not have objected to the lacquer. After a while, it became a bit of a game...."sure you SAY you want such and such, but you really want...what?" After I graduated, right on the grade point average....where I expected to be because of course I was too good too flunk out, but too independent to get top dog...my career followed much the same path.
I was on Bill's blog, and he posted a thing about office politics...some academic who had a theory that not all politics is bad...an excessive amount of verbiage to state the obvious that if it works FOR you, it is good, if it works AGAINST you, it is bad. So you should learn to make it work for you. Fine...in theory. I would like to meet an organization that didn't know that from the get go!
Office politics is okay when it works for you, but not okay when you don't get what you want. It is there regardless, so it pays to learn how to play the game.
It helps to write down your goals, put it on a paper under your blotter on your desk. The first question you ask whenever somebody comes up with an idea is "how will this aid the achievement of my goals". Second question..."If I support that fellow on his tangent, will it affect me and my goals in any way?"
Unfortunately, if they are brutally honest, most goals people would write down on that paper they slide under their blotter is "I want to get paid, get promoted, and look good to the boss, my wife, her brother and my employees." Fair enough...of course, nothing will get done as long as management rewards that goal.
As a boss myself, I would ride roughshod over the office politics, making myself thoroughly unpopular with most people, getting the job done better than anybody had ever done it, but getting no loyalty from the organization when something goes wrong. And it did...eventually something blew up in my face, and I was disiplined not for messing up, but for not picking up a problem my idiot underling did.
When did I become cynical? Well, maybe it was when a person I trained got promoted over me who had never done anything but organize office parties and file log books. He never fixed a problem, just worked in the front office handling the reports from the workers, filing them, collating them, being in front of the bosses all the time. We were aircraft technicians, and this joker got promoted without ever setting foot on an aircraft in his entire career.
All cynicism aside, it was very instructive for me and my group to observe this, and re-define our goals based on solid observation....sucking up to the bosses works....so if you want to get promoted, buy the knee pads, and start organizing parties. We did that, the aircrafts languished, eventually being retired because they were "too difficult to keep repaired", and we partied like there was no tomorrow. In retrospect, with the loss of the aircraft, we all lost our jobs as well, but hey, ya gotta do what works. At least we didn't end up in jail as the last person repairing the aircraft which crashes frequently tends to do.
I saw how to make the organization work (define your goals), how to make it fail (reward the wrong goals) and how to thrive in either mode. Not bad...
Back when I was in the military, they would always be working at cross purposes. They said they wanted one thing, but always rewarded another. For instance, even back in basic training, they "said" they wanted super shiny shoes, super shiny floors and so forth, but they always rewarded conformity. If they really wanted the shiny floors, they would not have objected to the self shining floor waxes, and if they really wanted shiny shoes, they would not have objected to the lacquer. After a while, it became a bit of a game...."sure you SAY you want such and such, but you really want...what?" After I graduated, right on the grade point average....where I expected to be because of course I was too good too flunk out, but too independent to get top dog...my career followed much the same path.
I was on Bill's blog, and he posted a thing about office politics...some academic who had a theory that not all politics is bad...an excessive amount of verbiage to state the obvious that if it works FOR you, it is good, if it works AGAINST you, it is bad. So you should learn to make it work for you. Fine...in theory. I would like to meet an organization that didn't know that from the get go!
Office politics is okay when it works for you, but not okay when you don't get what you want. It is there regardless, so it pays to learn how to play the game.
It helps to write down your goals, put it on a paper under your blotter on your desk. The first question you ask whenever somebody comes up with an idea is "how will this aid the achievement of my goals". Second question..."If I support that fellow on his tangent, will it affect me and my goals in any way?"
Unfortunately, if they are brutally honest, most goals people would write down on that paper they slide under their blotter is "I want to get paid, get promoted, and look good to the boss, my wife, her brother and my employees." Fair enough...of course, nothing will get done as long as management rewards that goal.
As a boss myself, I would ride roughshod over the office politics, making myself thoroughly unpopular with most people, getting the job done better than anybody had ever done it, but getting no loyalty from the organization when something goes wrong. And it did...eventually something blew up in my face, and I was disiplined not for messing up, but for not picking up a problem my idiot underling did.
When did I become cynical? Well, maybe it was when a person I trained got promoted over me who had never done anything but organize office parties and file log books. He never fixed a problem, just worked in the front office handling the reports from the workers, filing them, collating them, being in front of the bosses all the time. We were aircraft technicians, and this joker got promoted without ever setting foot on an aircraft in his entire career.
All cynicism aside, it was very instructive for me and my group to observe this, and re-define our goals based on solid observation....sucking up to the bosses works....so if you want to get promoted, buy the knee pads, and start organizing parties. We did that, the aircrafts languished, eventually being retired because they were "too difficult to keep repaired", and we partied like there was no tomorrow. In retrospect, with the loss of the aircraft, we all lost our jobs as well, but hey, ya gotta do what works. At least we didn't end up in jail as the last person repairing the aircraft which crashes frequently tends to do.
I saw how to make the organization work (define your goals), how to make it fail (reward the wrong goals) and how to thrive in either mode. Not bad...
Friday, May 13, 2005
Power politics,
And they are not even Liberals! Some of my friends tried to play in the big leagues and buy the Ren Faire. Like fools, we trusted them, without considering that they didn't have any stake in the show at all, and now we find that they blew several really good chances to make the show happen on the same site. So I am looking at the loss of 80% of my income because some silly person couldn't get her own way and be a CEO!. Not that anybody who reads this really cares....but I just had to vent somewhere!
On a totally non related note, a good friend of mine called me, with jealousy issues. Seems that some five or seven years ago, I kissed his new girlfriend hello, she is now his wife and mother to his children, and he is still carrying this baggage...the kiss was just a little too passionate (he feels) for a hello kiss. It implied that we had had a fling, or something, and still had feelings for her. Even he saw how laughable it was...but there was no denying the existance of the baggage. I simply re-assured him that his wife was still very attractive, that I would love to make passes at her but that would disrespect her, and not incidently disrespect him. And of course, we did not have an actual "history". The last point was the most important to him I think. Its kind of nice to think that even and fat balding guy like me has to think about the jealous husband...what a nice compliment!
I am making my first anime armour. Normally I refuse to have anything to do with cartoon armours....but this one is for the guy's wedding, and may even work! I'll try to post a picture of it here when I finish it.
Time I got to work.
On a totally non related note, a good friend of mine called me, with jealousy issues. Seems that some five or seven years ago, I kissed his new girlfriend hello, she is now his wife and mother to his children, and he is still carrying this baggage...the kiss was just a little too passionate (he feels) for a hello kiss. It implied that we had had a fling, or something, and still had feelings for her. Even he saw how laughable it was...but there was no denying the existance of the baggage. I simply re-assured him that his wife was still very attractive, that I would love to make passes at her but that would disrespect her, and not incidently disrespect him. And of course, we did not have an actual "history". The last point was the most important to him I think. Its kind of nice to think that even and fat balding guy like me has to think about the jealous husband...what a nice compliment!
I am making my first anime armour. Normally I refuse to have anything to do with cartoon armours....but this one is for the guy's wedding, and may even work! I'll try to post a picture of it here when I finish it.
Time I got to work.
Thursday, May 12, 2005
The collapse in slow motion
Today, I witness the collapse of any reasonable sort of government by the Liberal Party of Canada. Despite a frantic attempt to buy votes with our own money, they are spiraling inevitably down the drain. Stephen Harper is bound and determined to nail the lid onto the Liberal Coffin by forcing an election.....and Martin has simply told the world that he needs some time to finish the Gomery inquiry. He "could" order the inquiry to proceed regardless of an upcoming election, but clearly he is keeping the threat that if the government falls, we will NEVER know what went on during the great scandal. Yeah, like Harper wants the Gomery inquiry to falter now! Don't worry Paul Martin, its a LIBERAL scandal, and the tories are not going to let it go away!!! Besides, if Harper becomes PM, you betcha the first thing on his list is to re-convene the inquiry!
And also, we have some vague news that there will definitely not be a faire on the old site. Doesn't matter, rumours are flying....makes no difference to me....the buildings are coming down regardless.
I have a line on a company which sells forty foot containers. A nice trucker named Paul will drop off the container, and later on, will even pick it up off the ground and move it to Ottawa for us. Will cost a bundle, but hey....I am NOT going to let the vultures pick over that nice post and beam building I built!
And also, we have some vague news that there will definitely not be a faire on the old site. Doesn't matter, rumours are flying....makes no difference to me....the buildings are coming down regardless.
I have a line on a company which sells forty foot containers. A nice trucker named Paul will drop off the container, and later on, will even pick it up off the ground and move it to Ottawa for us. Will cost a bundle, but hey....I am NOT going to let the vultures pick over that nice post and beam building I built!
Monday, May 09, 2005
Road Rage....risk and more.
Spent a week in Toronto. Yet again, I have been amazed at the courtesy of Toronto drivers. Maybe Darwin was right...all the stupid ones have died off. What they DONT do is let you dawdle along doing the speed limit without tail gating you. Some of the unsafe passing was a little un-nerving.
I was working out our future business with my wife now that the Ren Fest has closed, and we were wondering if we should put time or money into one of the alternative proposals. "I dunno" she said "I'm not sure I want to risk whatever we could mortage...twenty or thirty thousand or so... on a business venture. Just at that moment, a Passant passes up at 90 klicks on a double solid line. A little startled, I checked my dashboard...yup, its a 60 zone and I am already doing 70. "Hmmmm" said I, "that fellow who just passed us is risking at least that much in his nice new car, risking the rest of his life, and risking damage to any on-coming car which might be coming over the hill at us. And for a payoff? She looked at me....."so what is the connection?" "There are lots of people taking risk every day....huge risks, like that guy. Risk is part of life...no pain no gain....and of course risk can be evaluated. It helps if you don't think about it too closely." That guy is risking everything just for the hell of it.
My daddy used to tell me that you should never gamble more than you can afford to lose. He played crown and anchor, but never passed on a solid line. Like he said, don't gamble more than you are prepared to lose...and if you are going to do stupid things on the highway, or ride on "those" tires, or put off getting the new brake pads, you are not only gambling, but gambling stupidly because there is no payoff.
So what did we decide about our business venture....well for one thing, we decided that we had no control on the variables. We didn't own the show, didn't know how much the insurance would be, didn't know how much most of the expenses were. On the other hand, we had a fair idea of how much we could earn at the show. We have NO IDEA if earnings will exceed expenses. So investing in this show is like crossing on a double solid....we don't know what is coming over the hill at us. Obviously, most of these questions could be answered. For sure, we would earn SOMETHING....but will it be worth the losses?. The last question was...how much can we afford to lose on a gamble. JP Morgan once showed a broker the door when he said "well, this mining venture right here looks like a good gamble". Mr. Morgan replied..."I never gamble" and fired the broker. On the other hand...the broker went on to buy the mine, and made millions, and all his life regretted using the term "gambling" to describe a business venture. I think this venture is looking too much like a gamble.
This whole line of thought came to me when I read a story in the Winnipeg Sun about road rage,
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/News/2005/05/09/1031641-sun.html
and it recalled to me our conversation as we were driving. This is kind of funny actually, though of course the results were a little tragic. Four seventeen year olds out for a drive, were in the drive through at MacDonalds, and for some stupid seventeen year old reason, threw candy at one of the other cars. The other car contained some "baaad dudes" who chased them down, trashed their car with a chain, beat them up and stole their wallets. A most interesting lesson in "consequences". They gambled and lost. They COULD have lost a lot more. Some would say, They weren't gambling at all, they were just being kids. Well, they participated in the high speed chase (that was a gamble that they could get away)....they provoked the conflict (gambling that what they did would have no consequences).....I think it was a pretty cheap lesson all in all.
I was working out our future business with my wife now that the Ren Fest has closed, and we were wondering if we should put time or money into one of the alternative proposals. "I dunno" she said "I'm not sure I want to risk whatever we could mortage...twenty or thirty thousand or so... on a business venture. Just at that moment, a Passant passes up at 90 klicks on a double solid line. A little startled, I checked my dashboard...yup, its a 60 zone and I am already doing 70. "Hmmmm" said I, "that fellow who just passed us is risking at least that much in his nice new car, risking the rest of his life, and risking damage to any on-coming car which might be coming over the hill at us. And for a payoff? She looked at me....."so what is the connection?" "There are lots of people taking risk every day....huge risks, like that guy. Risk is part of life...no pain no gain....and of course risk can be evaluated. It helps if you don't think about it too closely." That guy is risking everything just for the hell of it.
My daddy used to tell me that you should never gamble more than you can afford to lose. He played crown and anchor, but never passed on a solid line. Like he said, don't gamble more than you are prepared to lose...and if you are going to do stupid things on the highway, or ride on "those" tires, or put off getting the new brake pads, you are not only gambling, but gambling stupidly because there is no payoff.
So what did we decide about our business venture....well for one thing, we decided that we had no control on the variables. We didn't own the show, didn't know how much the insurance would be, didn't know how much most of the expenses were. On the other hand, we had a fair idea of how much we could earn at the show. We have NO IDEA if earnings will exceed expenses. So investing in this show is like crossing on a double solid....we don't know what is coming over the hill at us. Obviously, most of these questions could be answered. For sure, we would earn SOMETHING....but will it be worth the losses?. The last question was...how much can we afford to lose on a gamble. JP Morgan once showed a broker the door when he said "well, this mining venture right here looks like a good gamble". Mr. Morgan replied..."I never gamble" and fired the broker. On the other hand...the broker went on to buy the mine, and made millions, and all his life regretted using the term "gambling" to describe a business venture. I think this venture is looking too much like a gamble.
This whole line of thought came to me when I read a story in the Winnipeg Sun about road rage,
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/News/2005/05/09/1031641-sun.html
and it recalled to me our conversation as we were driving. This is kind of funny actually, though of course the results were a little tragic. Four seventeen year olds out for a drive, were in the drive through at MacDonalds, and for some stupid seventeen year old reason, threw candy at one of the other cars. The other car contained some "baaad dudes" who chased them down, trashed their car with a chain, beat them up and stole their wallets. A most interesting lesson in "consequences". They gambled and lost. They COULD have lost a lot more. Some would say, They weren't gambling at all, they were just being kids. Well, they participated in the high speed chase (that was a gamble that they could get away)....they provoked the conflict (gambling that what they did would have no consequences).....I think it was a pretty cheap lesson all in all.
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