BIRDS JUNE 20TH

G’day gents – George Away for the 20th and 27th – so minutes by the Frogman.

Dan Kenelly – TMX is a definite subject of conversation and Dan kicked things off by mentioning that permits will be a hot topic for (among others) the 130 bands would like an ownership stake.

Matt Litke – Mortgage rates up this year, down this year, and now down a fair bit. Renewal conversations might be worth having. Rates are only one factor to consider. Take the cost of switching into account. Look into getting transfer fees waived etc. as one bargaining chip. The market is competitive enough to at least ask. Fees and amortization etc also worth taking into consideration.

Keep an eye on US interest rates. If rates there drop – it will be more competitive. -Stress test seems to be working – turning away people that shouldn’t be getting mortgages anyway. However as Gord and Don Doolan pointed out, some people re-qualifying are sometimes running into the stress test obstacle and find themselves in trouble.

Matt Dart – In Milwaukee past couple of weeks training, so passed

Tony – nada. I think that’s actually what he said.

Ian Campbell – not a lot. Gratitude to some Birds for some business. George, Mel, Andy, Mike. One of the things he did mention was that am important pillar of their philosophy at the clinic seems to be paying dividends for the business. It’s regarding maintenance and accomplishing two things – keeping customers happy with 4 – 6 months checkups after 6 month trial period, and naturally, driving business.

Other comments on hearing aids to remember: moisture is the enemy. Sweating while golfing, caught in the rain, whatever. 3 things to prevent repair: maintenance, dehumidifier accessory, and, wait for it….hearing aid condoms. They’re called Ear Gear – neoprene cover for your hearing aids.

Bottom line, it’s been one of their best months in-sales – partly due to the maintenance philosophy.

One last note from Ian, he’s been golfing recently – not crowded. Sign of the time$.

Don Davis – JD doing work for them. JD’s son is 6’9”, 300 lbs digging an 18 inch trench. It’s a site to behold…and if anyone can make it “quick work”, it’ll be that boy.

Separate note for Ross re: Barbecues Galore reputation – the gas inspector who came out to approve the work recommended Barbecues Galore when it came time for gas-related work. Then a second inspector did the same thing on a different gas-related subject.

Mike Mikkelson – Recently in Lethbridge for a day and a half – business. Things have slowed down there – partly the season, but partly the economy. Mike also had an observation after touring the Cavendish potato plant – other than it being pretty cool. A lot of automation has replaced people. You expect to see a lot of people in there, but there are a lot of robots doing the work.

Final tip from Mike. He was helping his son with a purchase at Southcentre Fine Cars. Good experience buying a VW.

Bob Wiggins – Bob is locked in the eternal combat of non-conversation with Inglewood. It would be funny if it didn’t indicate that they don’t appear to value a group that’s been there for many years giving them regular business good times or bad. He emailed Inglewood half a dozen meetings ago. There’s been nada from them at all in 6 weeks. I think Bob’s feeling like a Canadian farmer dealing with China. Or Trudeau. Take your pick.

Don Doolan – Email – allegedly from Telus re unwanted call blocking. My “Spam radar” went off, but Bob Wiggins corroborated it. Turns out it can be as simple as dialing *77. You can get more information here https://www.telus.com/en/support/article/anonymous-call-block

Don also added his comments about a CBC story on a Calgary Police crackdown on street racing issues that have popped up in the industrial SE. They’re probably the same people who can’t merge on Deerfoot, which is what makes it REALLY scary.

George Doherty – Spent some time recently with some friends at Century Downs and had a ton of fun. They play a game where 4 of them can’t pick the same horse. Karen picked a horse with $2 bet – picked up $78!

George also commented on how it was really cold this winter. When they opened up the cottage this spring – frost went down over 5 feet and had to use a steamer to warm the pipe to thaw out their grey water system. Likely not alone discovering those sorts of issues.

Dwayne Vinck – Echoing Matt’s comments regarding renegotiating your mortgage if the time is right – and adding if you have non-registered investments you’re planning, it might make sense to put an assigned debt toward an investment like the mortgage. I couldn’t keep up with the idea, but it sounded brilliant, BUT it was important to make the steps in the right order. In the right order, CRA will allow you to deduct interest. Talk to Dwayne for more.

Dwayne rode in the MS Ride this past weekend and you can still donate to the cause in Dwayne’s name by following this link: http://mssoc.convio.net/site/TR/BikeTour/AlbertaandNorthwestTerritoriesDivision?pg=entry&fr_id=6513

Ross Mikkelsen – Visting Toronto. Happened to be either on or just pas his birthday – and Budget Rent A Car was quite happy to point that out to him and to explain that walking was a healthy pursuit. license expiring.

Ross also mentioned taking in the old St. Louis Hotel – redeveloped and reopened by CMLC since 2016. It’s quite a public art space etc. Worth checking out if you’re down by the new library. Here’s a link to a quick PDF including some pictures. If you were there in the old days, there’s a few stick left you’ll recognize: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/546e57ebe4b0223d29717b12/t/583e162c2e69cf1be5889766/1480463917849/St.+Louis+Event+Rental+Brochure.pdf.

Michael McLennan – Regaled us with the kind of story we’ll be talking to our grandkids about around the campfire in 2030: sort of a tech version about how they Drove Old Dixie Down : how they hacked the Internet of Things (IOT for short among geeks). Specifically, in this case, people are hacking HP printers by sending a fax and embedding malware. You update your printer by opening a piece of software most people install and forget about – their actual printer software. Make sure everything’s patched and secured.

Gord Forsyth – “I got nothin’…”

Brett Bain – Kudos to Ross – only thing missing from Ross’ day was French Toast! A friend of Brett’s bought a Komodo BBQ. he happened to be hosting a 60 person reception (!). He praised BBQ Galore and the BBQ up and down. Loved this thing. Dale “for what I paid for the fucking thing, I should love it!” Dolphin is a tough guy to impresss.

Other Brett and OSI news, it’s busy season for them right now, with schools planning their spend etc. They’ll know more in the next 3 weeks as the government gets its ducks in a row.

Good story about the Red Earth Creek First Nation and how NOT to purchase. They bought oodles of equipment – warehoused it – and then needed OSI to install it all. I’m not sure if that’s the same story where they lost many, many iPads after ordering them and warehousing them. Brett signalled that he’d be away for the next 3 weeks.

Sean Baylis – There’s a bit of excitement in the Market. US Fed – strong probability of a rate cut. Markets positive about that. Gold’s up $38 to close to $1400. US Treasuries are down. May was rocky – but June seems better.

Couple of clients Sean likes. Companies with smart mgmt teams find ways to make money, like…. Disney . They’ve acquired acquired so many assets and they’ll start streaming later this year. A few years ago, they acquired ESPN to figure out how to stream sports. You can bet they will figure it out≥ Analysts aren’t sure how that’ll change the revenue model. US consumers healthy and spending money. The Disney market target is about $185 a share from the current $140. His second pick was a bit more obscure: Crown Castle Corp is another competitor to American Tower. The cell phone Tower business is a good one to be in. These companies have tried to come into Canada to buy the infrastructure – no go. They’re considered a real investment trust – but the only thing they own is the “air” around their towers. You’ll look back 10 years from now and think “that was a good buy”.

Brad Pachal – Recently in Northern Sask on a fishing trip. 5 days of absolute calm. Caught more fish than they could possibly eat or bring home. Fabulous week. He’s doing the MS Ride (as is Dwayne Vinck I believe). It’s 200K (or close enough for government work) this coming weekend. If I don’t get fundraising links from Brad or Dwayne as I write this, I’ll be sure to include them in the minutes for the meeting June 27th.

Henry Heuver – mentioned the approval of TMX – people looking forward to the ground clearing work around it before construction can take place. Lots of people need to be put back to work on other things and in other businesses.

Dryness is affecting not only farmers, but outfits like Foothills. Henry’s never seen a year where the city is using their water trucks so much. Lucky not to lose too many trees because of that.

Quick Joan update since many people were asking (thanks for that) – doing quite well. Started to walk (not very fast yet), but things moving in the right direction.

In response to a question about Spruce Trees turning red Henry said it’s not an infestation, it’s simply drying out. Hundreds of trees around town in bad shape and the city is complaining about not having the budget for hydration. Andy suggested that it could be winter kill, with new growth evident. Henry chimed in saying that hydration conditions in general are more likely to be the culprit.

Andy Lockhart – chuckling about dry ground – but they got an inch of rain in 10 minutes out at Priddis.

As for TMX, he continues to be part of the skeptics. He’s convinced (not alone in the wilderness on this either) that Eco-terrorists are going to cause all sorts of issues and that Justin the beautiful will fold up like a lawn chair.

Got his beast of a machine up and running in the shop.

One last thing – scam. One of his golf friends told him about a robocall where they start jabbering in Chinese. Don’t give in to the temptation to call them back.  Don’t . Expensive – you get billed for the call.