Early Birds, October 20, 2022

Once Upon a Bird…..

Dan Kennelly – kicked off the meeting with good news from the oil sands re carbon capture. The planned spend is split into stages: first, $7,000,000,000 will go to retrofitting existing infrastructure to prepare it for Carbon capture. Then, stage two will include $16,000,000,000 toward needed new installations. Great news for Alberta’s workers and local economies where the infrastructure will be located.

Dan also updated news on fabricators that supply materials to TransAm Pipe. They are going flat out. They can’t make things any faster than right now, and part of that is that they can’t hire enough skilled workers/trades, welders being a prime example.

Dwayne Vinck – was back to Birds after a bit. 

Today’s theme from Dwayne was email fraud. Although it could definitely be a general piece of good advice to be on the lookout for it, his warning was related to specific activities at the company his company is helping to prepare for sale. 

It turns out that a contractor with one of their internal email address credentials was sloppy with security. The fraudster called or emailed their company saying that they needed to change the contractor’s bank account information for payment. This made sense on one level because another payment to this contractor had bounced back. However, $20,000 or so dollars later, one of the company’s people spoke with the contractor who responded with “…I haven’t changed the banking information for the company….”

Phishing emails are being crafted with increasing skill and can look convincing. The bottom line: be suspicious of every email from outside the company, but also be watchful for internal emails that stimulate a “whaaaaa?” reaction.

Needless to say, create secure passwords, etc., and change them on a routine basis.

Matt Dart – started by a doing a bit of heavy charitable lifting for his son Milon. First he thanked Birds who had already contributed to his son’s hockey team fundraiser.

For any Birds who didn’t have the skinny on the shinny funder, here you go:

“Looking for an easy was to get some Xmas baking done? Milon’s team is soliciting orders for: Cookie dough, Muffin batter, Cinnabuns, and Perogies

https://online.ultimatefundraising.ca/knightsu15bc2grey/cookiesandmore”

Then Matt spoke a bit of about an anti-phishing initiative within Johnson Controls that is pretty clever. Johnson Controls internal IT deliberately sends out phishing emails to help train staff. You only make the mistake once after being put on the naughty list.

The offer Matt’s been anticipating for a new management position in the reorganized JC is still coming. Not much negotiating on anything but salary, but Matt’s reasonably optimistic about the possibilities. It should come across his desk next week.

One thing he’s noticed recently is that the margins JC is requesting they sell at might be unattainable in Western Canada and the NW US. Many companies are posting margin targets of 24%. On average, they’re attaining roughly 18%. Alberta in particular is MUCH more competitive than the US side of the business, where many decisions are made. Matt figures based on his experience in our market that the market will tolerate margins of 13-14%. JC might have to recalibrate expectations.

Don Davis - just back from a 14 day cruise. The Birds breakfast fruit plate magically morphed into caviar and smoked salmon for the duration. There was SO. MUCH. FOOD.

Also on the cruise were two North Dakota farm types - 6’5 240-250 lbs-ish – who didn’t think there was SO.MUCH.FOOD. They helped themselves to HUGE breakfasts and complained about, um, pretty much everything. 

They were demanding as all get out. One of them happened to be down the hall from Don’s cabin and he heard one of the behemoths berating the relatively tiny Philippino staff about the fact that he was SUPPOSED TO HAVE BANANAS IN HIS ROOM EVERY MORNING AND GODDAMN IT, THERE WERE NO BANANAS IN HIS ROOM!!! Don kept his judgment confined to his smile as he turned away.

Don thought 14 days on the cruise ship was long, but he met people on the boat who were on a 144 day cruise headed to ports around the world.

After that trip, Don has made an executive decision: Europe is now off the table -  no more 10 hour plane trips. Cruises might also be confined to Lake Bonavista.

In other news, Don’s neighbours’ back yard construction odyssey continues. The construction company fired a worthless landscaper last time Don talked to us about it, but now, like homebuilders across the city, this contractor can’t get his hands on concrete.

Dan Kennelly – quickly hopped back in at this point to chime in on the 144 day cruise. Viking Cruises Canada offers something called World Cruises and Grand Voyages. Longest one I could see was 121 days, but there was a 93 day journey and many others. The unique aspect to this experience is the passengers configure and create the agenda for the cruise. It looks like a wonderful way to see a big chunk of the world at a time. You can get more information and gander at the trips here: https://www.vikingcruisescanada.com/oceans/cruise-destinations/world-grand/index.html.

Brett Bain – raised a cuppa joe to toast the British sense of humour. Bookies in Britain had placed a bet: who/what would last longer? The new British Prime Minister Liz Truss, or a head of lettuce? If you had the head of lettuce on your bingo card, you won! Liz Truss resigned this morning. 

In the continuing adventures of OSI in Alberta’s north serving a good First Nations client, OSI ran smack into the reality of limited accommodations while trying to place a tech up there to do the job required. Literally every room in the area (and “room” is, um, perhaps an optimistic euphemism for “modular accommodations.”), was rented out until next March at $265 a night. They were fortunate to be able to plop into a cancellation and they’ll start work up there soon. 

Brad Pachal – is celebrating being a grandpa again! Their son in town had their fourth child, a daughter finally. All are good.

Picking up on a thread I didn’t complete in last week’s minutes, I left a cryptic line about Brad’s wife Sharon being an English as a second language teacher. Most of the rest of the story is that Sharon’s been working with many Ukrainian refugees, and made it clear that language is one of their biggest hurdles. Many are eminently qualified in various fields and are anxious to work and put bread on the table, but language is a barrier that takes time and patience to overcome. 

If you happen to have non-front line positions, or know of anyone who might have positions where language is important, but not a dealbreaker as they apprentice and learn, please let Brad know and he’ll pass it on.

Alright, back to this week. Brad was picking up ceramic tile at Daltile. They had very little on hand and they explained that they get all their production sand from Ukraine. Their kilns are so large that they take a couple of weeks to shut down and start back up. If they actually run out, they’re looking at a month long shut down. They’re doing everything they can to avoid that. 

Another supply snag that surprised Brad was the fact that he couldn’t get his hands on red oak for some custom work he’s doing for a client. There was none available in the city. He went through seven suppliers before finding what he needed.  He’s *never* had trouble sourcing that particular wood before.

Last note from Brad this week was his endorsement of eBikes. Sharon enjoys riding, but not the distances and some of the more challenging routes that Brad enjoys. However, on an eBike she can enjoy longer rides that she would never have taken on otherwise. So, go ahead and get yourself one more thing to pile onto the grid to recharge. It’s a good investment.

Ross Mikkelsen – had a funny rejoinder on all the supply chain woes with one that defines irony: Staples ran out of….staples. 

He also chimed in on the importance of password security, and protecting yourself and teaching employees to protect themselves from identity theft.

Garry Friedrichsen – has been a busy lad in retirement, attending lots of different activities and events. Flames game last Thursday, Jack Singer for another night out on Friday then seeing a comedian live on Saturday night. 

On the Flames game – they no longer accept paper tickets, everything’s on your phone,but then, they insist on you securing your phone during the game in a magnetic bag that doesn’t open until you leave. It’s run by a company called Yondr (https://www.overyondr.com).  Their pitch is interesting:

“Yondr creates phone-free spaces for artists, educators, organizations and individuals.

In our hyperconnected world, we provide a haven to engage with what you’re doing and who you’re doing it with. In physical space and real time.”

In any case, Garry thought the whole process was going to be a giant, slow motion train wreck, but in fact, it worked very efficiently on the way in AND out.

On another subject, Garry reflected on how the questions from his kids have changed. They’re at the point now where they’re asking a lot of money management and investment questions. 

One thing he’s learned pretty quickly though is that they don’t want his prescriptive ADVICE. They want the benefit of his experience and perspective on those things and to learn from them and take away what lessons they gather on their own. 

This led him to wish that these kids had been taught all of the ins and outs of our tax system so they knew how to maximize their gains. Garry then mentioned that the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada actually have a course that he feels should be mandatory for these kids called Overview of Canadian Tax and Law. It’s a $750 course to understand how to do the best you can within the system. It’s an interesting looking course to pass on and you can find the link to it here: https://www.cpacanada.ca/en/career-and-professional-development/courses/core-areas/taxation/personal-tax/overview-of-canadian-tax-and-law.

Dave Hicks -  was recently down in Laguna Beach for completion of his wife’s certification. Beautiful time.

Business is a bit slow at the moment, but Hixie Electric will be back in the Ice Fields this winter and looking forward to it.

Picking up on a thread from last week mentioned by Brad Pachal about the electrical service in Calgary not being built to accommodate the expected surge of vehicle electrification and the specific hardware requirements.

About 7 years ago, Hixie Electric was approached by Tesla to install a proper charging circuit in residences. They didn’t take Tesla up on it, but Dave went on to talk about how the technology essentially evolved into an intelligent monitoring system of amperage consumed by the rest of the house.  When the usage dropped, the waiting car would charge on a 40 Amp station. The problem that Dave sees is that if every house in the neighbourhood reaches that threshold at the same time, and all the EV’s were charging, it would be like every house in the neighbourhood cooking Thanksgiving dinner every night! 

Having said that, in Dave’s opinion, Calgary and Alberta’s infrastructure is new enough that it’s difficult to envision a complete collapse of the gride. Strain, perhaps, but not collapse. Eastern Canada is another story. 

Andy Lockhart – proselytized: every golfer needs a dermatologist. He had a red mark on his shoulder that his doctor didn’t like. She liked it less after taking a biopsy, but then Andy didn’t hear any more about it. He did mention that shoulder mark on his next visit and this time the doctor referred Andy to a doctor who excised the thing. Andy stopped counting the stitches at 15. He has a similar procedure happening on a hand in the near future. 

Andy, sidestepping the memory of Gerry Parcells, had an IT-related note. Watch out for a fraudulent text from city hall regarding a parking ticket. A) it would come from the Calgary Parking Authority. B) Just no. 

Andy and Sue recently switched to Elon Musk’s satellite Internet service. They’re getting city speeds on uploads and downloads and are very happy with it so far. Anyway, as part of the process they called Telus to get them to come pick up their old Telus hub since they didn’t need it anymore, and while they were at it, they decided to cancel their Telus land line. Telus then dropped their pants a bit to half the price Andy and Sue had been paying for decades to entice them to keep it. Then when Andy still said no, they dropped their pants all the way down to their ankles and offered the service for $7 a month. They still said no and couldn’t believe they wouldn’t get why A & S might be a bit “uppity” about being ripped off for decades when they could have been paying $7 a month. Anyway, buh-bye Telus.

Tony Fisher – started with a quick shout out to Ross and one of his employees who provided outstanding service. 

Tony then picked up Jim Bladon’s story from last week about the success of the Rotary club’s recent fundraiser for Ukraine refugees. It successfully raised $160,000 in the end. 

Tony did note that NOT all fundraisers are experiencing the same good fortune. Ducks Unlimited was in the reverse situation recently. They needed to cancel an event 7 days before it was to happen due to pretty much zero interest and commitment.

Rob Beasant – also chimed in on the IT threats by saying that in his world, text scams are as big as email scams.

He then moved on to discuss his wife’s parking, um, travails we’ll call them. She teaches suicide prevention classes at U of C. Naturally she has to park at the U.

She’s acquired a few tickets in her time, and now, her reputation precedes her plate, to the point where despite her paying THAT DAY’s parking costs, they’re continuing to issue tickets for past transgressions. To the tune of $310. Rob’s planning on getting a new plate for the car. That only costs $28. 

As far as the Calgary housing market goes, right now Rob estimates that fully 75% of his clients are from out of town. A lot of immigrants, but the clients also include a slightly odd American migration story. The ex-pats initially moved to BC, but now have moved to Alberta because it’s more affordable. 

Servicing out of town clients is a lot more involved than simply “selling or finding a home” for local buyers. He finds himself consulting on cars, plates, and insurance as much as services related to the purchase of a house or condo.

Part of the reason for the high in-migration is simple: Calgary is seen as more affordable than Toronto. As an example of clientele, next week Rob will work with clients from Halifax, Toronto, and BC.

Second round – resonated with this comment based on Ross Mikkelsen’s question about where all these EVs were supposed to be charging: in garages or on the street? He noted that most people’s garages were basically full storage spaces and most people parked – and plugged in their vehicles on the street. So, with every vehicle being electric in the future would there by a hundred cords to walk over in every residential neighbourhood?

That caused Dan Kennelly to remember a story about a fantastic neighbour who used to help people clear their walks with his snowblower. He’d do the whole neighbourhood. EXCEPT, on one occasion, he happened to sever every.single.extension.cord his neighbours had out on the sidewalks for their cars. How he didn’t become a Thinning The herd episode is a bit of a mystery, but while extension cords are one thing, those $175 charging cables will be another thing entirely! 

See you next week!