Master Tipster Gord Forsyth Returns

Seriously – many thanks to the Birds for their support, in person and otherwise. – thanks to everyone. He’d like to forget September, but the drugs weren’t THAT good.

Brad Wall – thanks to Dave Hicks. Not least because Dave’s working with Brad and there’s some nasty, ugly “circuitry” that will take a lot of work to fix up.  One of Brad’s most FAQ (geek-speak for frequently asked questions) from people considering building or renovations is: Granite or quartz? Brad’s comments were that in his opinion (or back to geek-speak IHO), quartz is the better bet for longevity. It’s man-made. Hard as nails. Granite is a mountain. You would think also “hard as nails”, but you’d be wrong. Granite will scratch, etc.. However, there are no veins and fossils in quartz. Some people call that “character”. Brad noted that in 10 years, matching is easier with Quartz since granite will naturally change. To sum up – he rolled the stone back to personal preference with a more informed perspective.

From Andy to wrap that section of breakfast up: “I’d hate to be taken for granite.”

Mel  – Thanks to Mike for inviting Jeromy Farkas to speak at Birds. He certainly appeared to be “all that”. On the subject of the now-nearly-dead Olympics, plebiscite advance voting is crazy and inefficient. Couriered the docs to the house (not sure if that is Canada post related). Seriously?

The insurance industry is still struggling with marihuana. So many potential pitfalls, scenarios, exceptions. It’s ugly. One piece of good news that came about because of the conversation is that the US is no longer barring Canadians for life if they’ve come within sniffing distance of the industry, even as a non-partaking investor. This article in Business Insider magazine still implied caution was warranted though:  https://www.businessinsider.com/us-no-ban-canadians-marijuana-workers-entering-country-2018-10. As Don, Michael and others have said, the best answer at the border is still Nancy Reagan’s:

Mel’s final tip: turn your water off if you go away. The industry is still seeing a lot of water-related problems.

Ian – recommended Brad – complimented his work once again as top notch. Also thanked and appreciated Dave Hicks and his work and response time. He’s got a bunch of electricians on his hockey team, and they’re so are so booked up, they’re a month or more out.

Dwayne – Autocorrect left me with a mystery – the first thing I apparently typed for notes was “business in flurries”. To which I say WTH? The first cogent, coherent note from Dwayne’s turn on the tip runway was that he’s working with a company developing a hydrogen-related technology. They have a playground to test the tech in the field. Dwayne is trying to prepare them to report to potential investors.

More recently, Dwayne was also invited to the management team for a new app. Couldn’t say much, but they have big plans. Currently testing outside Canada but hope to come in. Think “Uber for Freight”. The model could disrupt the freight industry in a huge and positive way. However, as he said, it’s early days. Don thought it sounded like something Amazon would buy. Dwayne didn’t doubt that was possibly one of the end goals of the founders. The business idea made sense…we’ll see.

Mike – no real tips. Happy everyone enjoyed Jeromy. He also had a one-sentence summary of his concern about how people expect the Olympics to “save” Calgary. Basically, it’s a case of too many eggs in one basket using the Olympics to save Calgary. The misplaced faith is a big concern to him on a number of levels.

Don Doolan – in Montana again and crossed over on the 17th – but was disappointed there was not.a.single.question.about.pot. There were signs up at the border on the Canadian side warning doofuses about the obvious.

Don also had an interesting experience renewing his Nexus card. In the interview, they asked if he’d ever experienced any anomalous encounter with border officials. Don replied there was none he could recall. The border person insisted on giving him ONE.MORE.CHANCE to come clean. (These border people love their drama.)

It turns out there *might* have been something in September 2016 with an Agricultural official. Don differed. Thankfully, boy scout Don writes everything down including his calendar. The official was mistaken, but Don was wrong until he proved he was right. The powerful tip from Don was simply that when it comes to the border, travel to the US: log everything . Their country, their rules.

Matt Dart – no tips. Work slow – hearing a lot of cannabis-related chatter.

Tony – There’s a billboard by Ross’s north Barbecues Galore site. It mentions the double pension for our mayor. That’s unlike other cities.

Tony also mentioned an onerous new paperwork requirement around Workplace violence and harassment. He did mention that the CFIB can help with the forms. There is serious auditing of the problem going on. He chalks it up to an over-abundance of auditors hired by the NDP.

Tony mentioned one guy who was basically asked to report a minimum of 10 incidents per month. Even if they didn’t happen.

Michael   McLennan – Also went to Montana on the 17th. Again, no pot questions. Loved hunting on both sides of the border.

Don Davis – seeing Bill Hoogstraten with George and Sandi. Will say hi from those of us that know him.

He also had a hilarious story about his kids and their Australian Sheppard staying at the house. Long story short, they wound up taking care of the dog, but apparently, the Shepherd is VERY protective. Aggressively so. You have to be careful and plan around the dog when people are coming over.

*Not actually the dog at Don’s house

Don told the story of some poor schmuck canvassing in Lake Bonavista who came to the door. Don thought the dog was otherwise occupied – but when he opened the door to the canvasser – the dog came barreling out of nowhere like a missile with teeth. Don managed to close the door, but the guy was scared so bad he jumped 5 feet back. Asked by the man if the dog was aggressive, Don replied yes. It was a short conversation. Pat asked why he didn’t mention it wasn’t his dog…to which Don said: “why?”.   

Bob – no tip per se. He did comment on Trump denouncing the media after the recent spate of bomb mailings in the US, but observed that Trump continued to be Teflon when it comes to accountability of any kind. Most packages were intercepted safely with no one hurt.

Andy – among other things,  rejoined with that to note that Sue used to open her boss’ mail. She would have taken the hit had he ever been in a similar situation.

He then went on to address their Aviva to Intact transition. This has been ongoing with Intact’s prices originally having been quite a bit higher. That’s changed and the car insurance was fine, however, the house insurance wasn’t. Andy called to correct an error noted regarding his roof on and it saved him and Sue $650. Tip: Read the cover sheet to your policy. You might be “richer than you think”.

Mike M. chimed in to ask about that because he’d also found the prices uneven between the two companies when contemplating a similar move.

Dan – asked about a possible final gratuity for Roger as he retires. Bob stepped in to mention that Roger really hadn’t served us much this year and more importantly, Inglewood now automatically tacks on an 18% gratuity for our wait staff. Perhaps this is the Birds’ opportunity to abandon the supplementary gratuity they’ve been giving annually.

Dan then continued to address Notely bringing up trains as an alternative to pipelines to address the ridiculous discount Alberta oil is trading at. He noted that training engineers is a long process and that along with that difficulty, the politics within the railways from a union standpoint hold things back still further. Not only are we short on personnel and locomotives, the rolling stock to transport the oil doesn’t currently exist. It needs to be fabricated. Will railways make that investment when there’s still so much uncertainty over pipelines? When the business could literally dry up after they’ve made a multi-million dollar investment?

On pipelines, Dan also noted that steel tarifs affect pipes. They, naturally, are passing on the increased cost to their customers. Customers will get an automatic 25% January 1st, and another tariff based on the country of origin. That one’s part of Canada’s tariff retaliation. TransAm Pipe is being asked for price guarantees. They’re passing on the word that anything already on the ground is fine, but anything coming in will be hit hard. Twice.

George Doherty – on why come to birds now that he’s no longer running George’s cream: great tips!

George also told the story about a guy with a boundless entrepreneurial spirit who hit the immovable object of Spanish unions and regulations. This guy’s major business is burning garbage to make energy.   However, he l oved Spanish wine, which led him to Spain and a trip to their vineyards. He now distributes cases worldwide.

He also tried to solve a huge problem with olive oil production in Spain. The mash discarded in the production of the oil is toxic, and the way they dispose of it is to burn it. Thinking he could solve two birds with one stone – the production and pollution problem, he proposed a solution. * “No dados!” said the unions who value the most unproductive, labour-intensive way to address the situation. So, he had to abandon the idea.

*No dice!