Those smokey days of July, 2017.

It’s been hot and dry. Great weather for a Calgary summer. And great weather to fuel the forrest fires the the west and south.

Members:

Brett Bain. Virtual reality (VR) is coming to local schools and Brent’s company will be one of the providers. It’s a much bigger deal than generally seen to be – as Brett will demo at Birds, some day soon.

Sean Baylis.

Jim Bladon. 

Paul Boucher.  Paul is high on his scripts: he is voicing corporate messages about marijuana in the workplace. He sees swabs and urine tests increasing for those holding safety sensitive positions. And he expects an increase in the number of jobs requiring that designation. • On a more chilling note: Paul recounted a story of four, fit and bright young athletes here in Calgary, who were at Cowboys with two young ladies. The group was casually partying when the fellows noticed one of the ladies being led out of the bar. It seemed odd so they chased after her. She was totally blotto (had been given what was once called a mickey; aka a date rape drug). And she was being held up by two snarling asian guys. The caucasian fellows intercepted, took her from the asians and left the bar as a group (the two gals and four guys). They hopped the LRT, followed by the asians. They threatened to take her back. It was tense until the group ran into a couple city police officers. The asians split – but it was touch and go, for a while.(White slavery here, in Calgary? Appears so.)

Greg Callander. 

Ian Campbell.

Matt Dart.

Don Davis. To Victoria he will go.  By WestJet. No road trip for Don and Pat, this time.

Todd Dean. He’s working with non-profits to help them take advantage of Google’s ad words program for charities. Great idea!

George Doherty. The new owners of George’s Cream are on their fifth design of new labels for the cream. But who’s counting, eh George.

Don Doolan. Loves Montana but hates smoke ( Yvonne has asthma). Summer plans are driven by forrest fires.

Ken Eades.

Tony Fisher. The town of Olds is getting high! They’re opening a marijuana plant, which will employ 500 people. • Cochrane is kind of going even higher: they’re setting up a rocket test lab that’s funded by NASA.

Gord Forsyth . Was surprised at how long he had to stand in line for security check, before entering Stampede grounds.

Mel Gibson.

Henry Heuver. The summer is whiling away while Foothills re-estimates and reconfigures projects. • Joan had a fall on their recent rip to Russia. It still hurts so is getting it checked out.

David Hicks. 

Bill Hoogstratten. 

Dan “Foghorn” Kennelly?  When you’re in the pipe business, you sell pipe for everything. While other firms nibble their fingernails waiting for pipeline approvals, Dan is in Vancouver selling to a shipyard. They’re building 6 (or 10?) ships. And Dan has the contract for all the pipes needed for the ships. (Quite a bit of pipe, too.)

Keith Kozak.

Matt Litke. …

Andy Lockhart. Have you ever heard of a linden tree (or a basswood)? Well, Andy heard of one for sale. So he bought it. It arrived on a 53 foot trailer. Five thousand pounds of linden wood; all of it needing to be kiln dried.

J.D. MacDonald. He’s still finding business slow.

Michael McLennan. 

Ross Mikkelsen. A tip: when you have a good experience with a company, talk it up on FaceBook (and Li and elsewhere). A positive attitude is good for everyone. • Oh, and regarding the BBQ wire brush scare, it does happen. But Ross suggests we be leery of cheap brushes, that we replace our brushes every season. And keep our grills clean. Don’t let the grease build up.

Mike Mikkelson .

Brad Pachal. He spoke of how to un-complicate things and deal with compliance issues. Start projects with a project manager or general contractor.

Gerry Parcells. For really good fish and chips, drive to Tsawwassen, take the ferry to Swartz Bay and drive north to Maple Bay (near Duncan). You’ll find the Maple Bay Marina by the chuck.

Bruce Roblin. 

Dwayne Vink. Brought his lawyer to breakfast. Jeffrey Helper is a partner at TingleMerrett. Is he going to roost with the Birds? We’ll see.

Bob Wiggins.

Chris Wright. 

George Roberts.