Early Birds, October 7, (and Sep 30), 2021 Minutes

Early Birds October 7th and September 30th

Ross and Brad and Tony are singing, “I’d like to get you … on a Slow Boat from China”. Appliances and parts are getting so hard to find and freight costs are climbing, so I expect we’ll all be singing a similar tune, soon.

And here’s another mantra: And no Bird Ate these breakfasts. Today, an even dozen Birds showed up at Inglewood. Which means we paid for 3 breakfasts which no Bird ate. Our agreement w Inglewood is that we’ll pay for (at least) 15 breakfasts to make it worth their while to serve us.

So, not to dun you, but if you can put in an appearance on Thursdays, please do. And maybe, help find some new members. We’re down 8, so beating the bushes is not only allowed; it’s encouraged. And if you tackle a lawyer who goes avian, you could win a prize. (I said ‘could’.)

Paul Boucher. He’s looking very chairman-ish … but then, that’s what he was doing this morning. Better watch out Dan; your seat at the head of the table is starting to fit Paul’s butt. • Paul mentioned burner emails and well, I think he’d be better explaining them to you than me. Paul says - read more here: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/how-to-disposable-email-phone-numbers-credit-cards/

Matt Dart. He’s keeping busy but like others, he is also singing that slow boat song. His appliances’ order may take 20 or even, 24 months. And that’s just a maybe. • Sleep apnea is haunting Matt’s dreams and I think he’s trying out a cPap device. • Local smokey air quality is not helping, either.

Don Davis. Once a salesman; always a salesman. Don is, a consummate enabler of commercial transactions. And one of the prime rules of selling is: don’t knock your competition. And for goodness sake, don’t mention their names! He restated this rule as he shared his views of the Mayors debate. Seems Farkas has never learned this pearl of wisdom. • Ah well, last week, Don got to share a good time with the always witty and positive, Roger Jarvis.

Don Doolan. One of these days, Doolan is going to lose his shirt. This morning he breakfasted in a collectable AC/DC T-shirt. • He mentioned some of the things we get to vote on - one being the Daylight Savings issue. Be careful, read the wording. Or just listen to Don: vote NO. (There are all kinds of reasons why this is the right choice.)

Tony Fisher. He shared a tale of woe about the cost of freight. A custom shuffle board arrived the other day and the shipping cost was $2300. Which is about 25% of the cost of the board. There’s various issues but the main one is the shortage of trucks and truckers.

David Hicks. Dave is living very dangerously and it’s not the voltage or the current. It’s the pub industry, where he is indulging in a number of Conversion Therapy activities: he’s managing projects to switch the signs and nameplates from The George to the Macleod Pub. (Okay, so I am exaggerating - but it does make for a better story, eh.)

Andy Lockhart. Anyone know what a FROE is? Had you been at breakfast yesterday, you’d know what we know: we know what a froe is! Are we better people because of it? We don’t know. But maybe. • Andy wonders how it is that Alberta only has 350 ICU beds while Alabama has 1500 of them. Hmm. Good question. We do have similar populations. • You may have trouble erasing the following image from your mind. So be it: Andy suggests Jyoti Gondek is just “Nenshi in a Skirt”.

Ross Mikkelsen. You want it when? (SFX Boisterous and sustained laughter.) No, Ross is not amused by the supply chain complications of our world. It is a daily challenge to source inventory and contract price commitments. Suppliers are holding prices for only a day. And if you haven’t ordered next spring’s product line by now, you’re probably too late. (Is the rumour true: is Ross dying his hair? Stay tuned.)

Brad Pachal. Have you heard the one about “managing client expectations”? It’s a dicy proposition, telling your customers their projects are proceeding nicely but for the lighting fixtures or appliances or special cabinet doors that will arrive … someday. Brad is not dying his hair, but then …

Dwayne Vinck. He likes his home but when he purchased it, the roof sported pine shakes which quickly rotted. So he went the asphalt route with a lifetime warranty. Unfortunately, it was a short life and so, he’s replacing roofing again while hoping for a class action settlement.

Bob Wiggins. Bob also had some roofing issues and found it was important to increase the ventilation in the attic. He did that when he replaced his shingles 10 years ago - and they are still looking just fine.”The roof looks good and I have recently been on it and there is no evidence of missing granules or curling. The shingles we purchased have a 30 year guarantee. Here’s a link to the manufacturer’s website GAF | Factory-Certified Residential Roofing Contractors

- George Roberts.

Minutes from September 30

Matt Dart - Johnson controls had a great fiscal. Exceeded goals by 50%. Next year is ***t the Bed year.

Matt is looking into a Flames game in a suite for Leafs in December, $8200 to $10k

Jim Bladon - At the flames game September 29th for the game against the Kraken.Great jerseys! COVID protocol was slick and smooth. Inside the Saddledome- a few renovations. Sidecar 6 with tables of 3-4, nice craft beer and decent liquor. Eau Claire distillery is represented there

Brad Pachal - helped Michael McLennan and his neighbour - and thanked him for the opportunity. Brad talked about Uniquities - a lot of unique items. Selling online has been very successful. So successful they’re redoing their web site: https://uniquities.ca. They regularly do “pop up” sales in the Manchester Industrial area.

Ross Mikkelsen - Out in BC with the family 2nd last week of September for the second time this year. The busiest the island has ever been. A lot of labour issues. Wage inflation among them. It’s happening all over the country, which was little consolation for it happening here. He enjoyed (well, maybe *enjoy* is a bit strong with golfing), but the fishing’s great.

Ross talked a bit about the impact of the rolling blackouts in China.Key sites open one day a week, shut down for 6. Supply constraints continue. One key supplier sold out until May. - which actually means sold out for next year. Still in Asia, Ross noted that after ducking COVID waves for the most part, Vietnam is being hit hard and and the garment industry in particular is sufering.

Don Davis - Introduced us to Brad Field via a story or two. He’s Dons choice for mayor.

Michael McLennan - Freshly back from Portugal and had good travel advice, starting with telling us about Tap Labs (https://www.taplabs.ca) - They’ll do a COVID test at your house if you’re travelling to Europe or anywhere.

There’s a terrific App in Europe upload to your vaccination record and COVID test making it easy to whisk through. The alternative if you’re not prepared….be ready to line up.

Everything was open but the economy has been hit hard and like everywhere it seems, there’s a labor shortage. Their house is a few months behind schedule.

On the way back the Canadian app was well organized, no issues at all. Pearson was actually BETTER than normal with the app. Breezed through.

Michael’s dad was having surgery the first week of October - rotating siblings will be helping him out, so that, combined with hunting season will Mike an infrequent visitor to Inglewood for a bit.

Dave Hicks - Quoting on jobs in the mountains for the fall of 2022. Then, a familiar refrain: lead times for materials arriving from China are a challenge.

Sean Baylis - things out there are between earnings reports. Lot of noise around commodities and China and supply chain. Nike a good example, high demand, but can’t get anything made. If you’re in sales and you can’t get product, what do you do? Investors are excited about CP Rail and the prospective North American Railway link if their purchase of Kansas City Railroad is successful.

Other market tidbits: tech companies that were high flyers during Covid are coming back down to earth, but cyclical winners are coming back

Cybersecurity is a potential winner, CrowdStrike (https://www.crowdstrike.com) and Palo Alto tech (https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/technologies). One way to invest in the sector is through the CYBR - ETF, https://evolveetfs.com/product/cybr/.

Tony Fisher - Noted the ring road was opening the last weekend of September….and that business is doing well out there. Lot of billiard tables out on reserve, and $300-$400 cue sticks.

One industry having a record couple of years in Calgary is paving. They’ve set industry records. One guy says business up 40%. Even smaller contractors are being hired by the big players. As an example, at the construction on Barlow in the south, many different companies involved-some smaller.

Don Doolan - had information on that Calgary COVID Passport app Portpass. Just. Don’t. Your information isn’t safe.

Costco in the US warning of shortages including toilet paper. Inflation is going to get worse.

Paul Boucher - With the Birds meeting happening on National Truth and Reconciliation Day (or just another day on vacation for Prime Minster Skippy), there’ a free Indigenous history and culture course being offered online by the U of A. It looks terrific - and you can’t beat free: https://www.ualberta.ca/admissions-programs/online-courses/indigenous-canada/index.html

Dan Kenelly - explaining the logistics behind ship slow down. One side of the world works 24 hours, then they get to 8-5 North America, and between dockworkers getting paid by the hour and truckers who only get paid on pickup, that winds up being one of the major pinch points.

Dan also noted a shortage of migrant workers will affect all sorts of things including final prices after the holds and delays.

Other shortages: Get your Christmas shopping done early. The word is that Christmas things on those ships will show up at Easter.

In tragic foods news: Vietnamese restaurants can’t get noodles.

- Paul Boucher

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