Alt Facts Feb 23rd
Increasing the Flock: Birds has room for three more upstanding Calgarians.
Members:
Brett Bain.
Sean Baylis. “ Deadline Driven?” You betcha: it’s RSP time. • Bank stocks made good money in 2016. But then that’s what banks do, isn’t it? • Down the Hole! EXXON has written off its downhole inventory to the tune of $19 Billion.
Jim Bladon. “ Once bitten; twice stung.” ATB’s Energy guru sees promising sunlight in Alberta’s economy, vis-a-vis the energy sector. But there is a hangover from this past recession: workers are not rushing to accept jobs in the patch. • Jim gave kudos to the Hitmen for their Pink Shirt anti-bullying promotion. • Speaking of bullies: Venture Magazine is not paying its freelance writers’ invoices. Some are over a year outstanding. Ruth Kelly, the publisher, acknowledges she’s behind on payments totalling $40 grand. And no, she is not sure when these monies will be paid. She’s crying poor because of the economy. Meanwhile Ruth is feting the business community with a splashy Awards night. Bad business, it is. And bad for the magazine industry, too.
Paul Boucher. “Now here’s the other side of the story.” Paul is standing up for the TWT Group (which is being slammed for some of its software-PassWord-business practices). • Paul is currently navigating the complexities of being a US star at an industry conference in Atlanta. His challenge is accepting US$ fees in the US without paying excess taxes.
Greg Callander.
Ian Campbell.
Matt Dart.
Don Davis .
Todd Dean.
George Doherty. “ Big, wet and wild.” Retirement is way more exiting than George ever imagined. George had a whale of a time in Loreto, Mexico. He got to reach out and pat a grey whale. There were over a 100 of these magnificent creatures frolicking in the Pacific waters off the west coast of Baja. • George encourages you to read “Thank you for Being Late” by Thomas L Friedman.
Don Doolan. “Waiting in line is not his cup of tea.” He’s liking Nexus for border crossing convenience.
Ken Eades.
Tony Fisher. “Aiding and Abetting?” Tony tells us how to counterfeit a $100 Canadian bill: cut the transparent window out of a $5 bill and glue it into your photocopy of a $100 bill. His tip: don’t get caught.
Gord Forsyth .
Mel Gibson. “Why I always hated Statistical Analysis 101 at UBC.” Mel was honoured (figuratively speaking) to be selected by Stats Canada for the long form questionnaire. The in-person interview took well over an hour and entailed some rather private, personal and memory issues.
Henry Heuver. Henry is just fine.
David Hicks. “ Once you’ve had 8 inches, it hard to settle for less.” Dave is dreaming of returning to Whitefish, Montana for 8 inches of powder. (tch, tch, tch, Gord. What did you think I meant?)
Bill Hoogstratten.
Dan Kennelly. “What goes around, always comes back around.” Dan has little sympathy for Exxon: the company is famous for bad project management.
Keith Kozak.
Matt Litke.
Andy Lockhart. “Lockhart says:” Andy offered a small tip to avoid a big inconvenience: make sure you update your Nexus Account when you renew your Passport.
J.D. MacDonald. “Bad Manners!” JD is miffed at people who call and ask for quotes and then just disappear. No call back. No thank you. No follow up questions. Just gone. Just rude, it is. • Sporting an Ixtapa tan, JD is.
Michael McLennan.
Ross Mikkelsen. “Repeat after me: Plastic in Canada. Cash in the US.” On the subject of credit card security, Ross says our Canadian chip and pin system is pretty robust. Not so in the US. (It is our activities in the US that lead to our credit card numbers being stolen.)
Mike Mikkelson. “ “Yah sure! Now you tell me.” Mike’s card was compromised after a trip to the US.
Gerry Parcells. “Money matters. No, really: money matters.” Gerry just renewed his passport. The question is: did he splurge on the 10-year card? Or did he save on the 5-year one?
Bruce Roblin.
Dwayne Vink.
Bob Wiggins. “Housekeeping? Yes, by Bob.” Gentlemen, we are 3 members short of a full house. Please beat the bushes and find some new members. (If they can come up with $500, walk, talk and chew gum at the same time and if they’re under 50 …)
Chris Wright.
George Roberts. Words work when written well.
