General

Because every post deserves a category these posts could be about anything and everything.

  • 2023 Mosaic Parade

  • September 11th 2001

    September 11th 2001

    It was sunny, and warm 23C late summer morning. My first year being away from home in Fredericton NB at St. Thomas University at 9:46am I would have been waiting by the door for the class before mine to end. By 10:03am, I was sitting by the door listening to my second morning Introduction to Microeconomics with Dr. Andrew Secord in the first floor class room in Edmund Casey Hall. We really were completely oblivious to the outside world, almost no one had cell phones and the computer labs were in the opposites side of campus. Let’s face it the opposites side of campus is a 1 minute walk across the quad.

    My location by the wall during the class.

    At 10:37am and 11:03am I would have still been in this class unaware of the world being changed forever. The class let out at 11:20am and prior to going to the cafeteria for lunch I returned to my dorm room on the 2nd floor of Harrington Hall. The room next to mine had two aspiring musicians and movie fanatics, one from Newfoundland the other a foreign student from Maine USA. On their television in the dimly lit room laid the Pentagon in exploded smoke as the plane had struck the building some time prior. I asked them what movie it was and they then told me what had happened, and that this was not a movie it was live TV. As we were taking it was 11:28am and the 2nd tower had fallen.

    One does not go to university for a degree in Journalism without a keen interest in the news, so I powered on my computer, since I had a TV tuner card to view cable. I tuned in to ABC and just watched, I remember skipping dinner that day and just watching for survivors to be found, one after the other. When Peter Mansbridge took over the desk at CBC I switched to CBC Newsworld. One of the early questions was the Premier of NB safe since he was in Manhattan on that morning.

  • Deaf Difficulties (one of two: General Difficulties)

    This was written in the early 2000’s this segment was recorded over and I no longer have the video. It originally aired on Rogers Television on a news program called Focus NB.

    Lead: There are many disabilities faced by New Brunswickers. One of the most noticeable is cultural deafness. Our Reporter Charles Frees-Melvin brings us the difficulties faced by the Deaf in day-to-day life.

    Stand-up: Deafness is a condition faced by several hundred residents in this province. Many people are unaware of some of the difficulties faced by these people. Gerald Frazee stressed that the biggest concern is the need of interpreters to be present.

    Gerald: (48:47-48:59) 12 sec

    “Culturally I am deaf and a lot of what goes on in the world I perceive with my eyes, so probably the biggest concern for me would to make sure interpreters are present”

    VO: Mr. Frazee can’t stress enough the troubles he would faces trying to cope with day-to-day life without an interpreter.

    Gerald: (49:08-49:21) 13 sec

    “Oh, Gosh it’s chaos, the communication breaks down, writing back and forth isn’t adequate enough only having an interpreter there are we able to interpret adequately.”

    VO: Joanne Burke also agrees with the need for interpreters.

    Joanne: (49:24-49:55) 31 sec

    “Without the interpreter present I have to rely fully on my Children, and it’s not their responsibility they’re not professionally trained so we have to hire a professionally trained interpreter. and then we can communicate and make designs that we need. For us English is our second language, and not necessarily do we know it so by having the interpreter present, being able to communicate in our language of American sign language we have the confidence to make the decision we need to make.”

    VO: Another difficulty is the lack of Public Tele-Type devices so the deaf can make phone calls. Mike Clark definitely thinks that stores and malls should be equipped with these devices for their deaf patrons.

    Mike: (59:15-59:41) 26 sec

    “A lot of deaf people go into stores or into companies and they have absolutely no devices for us to make phone calls. We must have a teletypewriter. It is a device that deaf people use to make phone calls we need to make in public.”

    VO: (Insert Name) and (Insert Name) say they want to see devices installed so that they can become more independent. And that New Brunswick is far behind other provinces in meeting their needs.

    Group 3: (04:29-05:21) 52 sec.

    “In Ontario they have a lot of services for deaf individuals, flashing alarms for fire in public places, TTY to make calls. When they are in the public however in Saint John there is nothing isn’t anything like that for deaf people, no fire alarms, TTY, every time I have to go to the mall, I have to get a hearing person to make a call for me, but I want to be independent. I don’t want to have to rely on someone else.”

    Stand up: A special thanks to Interpreter Shelly Williams for assisting us with the interpretations. In Saint John, I’m Charles Frees-Melvin, for Focus NB.

  • The Pink Tax

    The Pink Tax

    I have a great new item to review and this is a super overpriced chocolate bar. I bought this at Sobey’s for $2.99. It is the Pink Cocoa Kit Kat bar.

    This bar was a little bit smaller than the typical flavoured Kit Kat bars. It was a weird shade of pink to make it have the appearance of being natural. It tasted a lot like white chocolate but with an unusual sweet berry side favour. My rating is 1.5/10. Like most pink items it is overpriced for what you get. If you are considering it, go for the green tea version. You won’t regret it.

  • A Disappointment with an Italian Name

    A Disappointment with an Italian Name

    Tonight, I’ve experienced the $1.49 special Tim Hortons take on a Tiramisu style donut. My opinion is that it is the biggest disappointment I have ever seen.

    The traditional tiramisu has 2 distinguishing characteristics that any cake and variations of it are basically the same, and experience of heaven. The name itself means ”pick me up” or ”cheer me up”. Those ingredients are whipped mascarpone cheese and coffee liquor-soaked cake.

    The variation that I was served does neither and is a ”let down”, or”scoraggiare” in Italian. This donut is made from their standard filled yeast base donut with a coffee flavoured Venetian cream centre. The top is dipped in white frosting with a chocolate zig-zag crossing the top and powdered chocolate and one or two coffee bean halves.

    Those coffee bean haves are the worst part of this donut as you have to pick them off as they are terrible to crunch on.

  • Posts from SunTrip 2018

    Posts from SunTrip 2018

    This is a collection of posts from my cruise on December 14-22nd originally posted to Facebook.

    14 December 2018 – 19:04

    So there is an episode of mayday where the prop flies off the wing and takes out a seat. I’m in that seat. ?

    14 December 2018 – 22:11

    Thought it was going to be checked the whole way but $12.50 is not bad for luggage storage for the night.

    15 December 2018 – 03:29

    There’s a guy in the way of the stairwell smoking and cooking his crack pipe.

    15 December 2018 – 04:04

    Two very drunk men can barely stand on the standing room only night bus. Toronto should follow Vienna and London’s night tube on weekends.

    15 December 2018 – 07:08

    Overheard Air Canada Rep: Just follow the signs with the American flag. Passenger: Is that the one with Stripes and Stars? ?‍♂️

    15 December 2018 – 08:49

    “Don’t line up until your Zone number is called” works as good as looking for volunteers to check their bags.

    19 December 2018 – 14:31

    Life’s a struggle right now. Apparently, there is a snowstorm home right now.

    19 December 2018 – 14:35

    There is a very bad storm and we are skipping Great Sturrup Cay. Apparently, Friday afternoon and evening could be fun. But we now have a full day at St. Thomas.

    21 December 2018 – 23:55

    Back home tomorrow, I love travel days.

    22 December 2018 – 12:36

    Flight is delayed for about an hour. Apparently, there were tons of flights cancelled yesterday.

    22 December 2018 – 19:08

    Every time I look at this board I ask myself not where am I going but, where would I rather be going?

    Pearson Flight Board
  • Russell Stover Cookie Dough Confection

    Russell Stover Cookie Dough Confection

    This is the first of an eight-part weekly series that I am going to try out unusual foods and review them.

    This week’s item is from Russel Stover Cookie Dough in Milk Chocolate. It was about a dollar from Giant Tiger. It consists of one 28g piece of candy. Nutritionally it was (past tense since I have already eaten it 😉)130 calories, has 5g fat, 17g sugar, 3g other carbs, 1g protein, and 2g other.

    As I open the package the item is a weird shaped glob without the pre-told story of the packaging is not anything corresponding with Christmas besides reindeer guano.

    It was nice and soft to bite into but the glob of cookie dough became overwhelming and hard to finish.

    I would not recommend this flavour, I would suggest solid chocolate or marshmallow varieties. As it is a marshmallow world at Christmas time.

  • IG: TV Posts
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    IG: TV Posts

    • One of the most random things I have collected over the years. #notahoarder
    • ESF Behind the Scenes
    • ESF Behind the Scenes
    • Lots of action in the truck. #rogerstv #NBIAA #Final12 #HarbourStation
    • The Final 12 on #RogersTV powered by GummiBears.
    • #RogersTV Election Night Selfie
    • It’s Hockey Season!
    • Might be my last time with this truck.
    • Bathurst has some pretty good rookies. #qmjhl
    • PP goal for Charlottetown 6-1
    • The Wildcats have some good new talent.
    • Apparently the media loves coffee PSL❤️
    • Pretty good game so far this afternoon. @rogerstvofficial @sjseadogs
    • That’s a long time ago.
    • Almost ready to go.
    • Mixing Saint John’s #1 TV show. TV Bingo!
    • Another hockey season begins.
    • Looks like TVNB was an Imperial sponsor the year I started volunteering. 13yr 11mo and 10days ago.
    • At the 1st Rogers volunteer orientation. Just before the Calder Cup arrived. #tbt #oct2001
    • This cute guy will be on @rogerstvnb at 6pm on #WhatMattersMost
  • IG: Food Instagrams

    IG: Food Instagrams

    This is a collection of Instagram posts over the last 5 years involving food.

    • It appears that Raspberries float. #mindblown
    • #bigtide #nocaptionrequired
    • I have an extra due to a bogo coupon.
    • Cooking my 1st bird and the package had no instructions. #wtf
    • An attempted #local breakfast. Eggs, Cheddar, mushrooms, and onion. Not sure where the salt and pepper are from.
    • Last St. Hubert meal. The SJ location closes forever today. #weekofchange
    • There is probably a rule about not making Poutine with British Cheese but it was all I had.
    • I need to find where I can get more of this!
    • Breakfast time.
    • Canadianized version of Bangers and Mashed. Maple Sausage and boiled potatoes w/ curds and poutine sauce.
    • Quick and easy dinner. #greatfood #food
    • No Easter dinner can compare to my tender Goulash.
    • Meal prep for lunches.
    • The @burgerweeksj #birthdayweek has commended @YorkBistro
    • The 2nd @burgerweeksj #birthdayweek burger is @eastcoastbistr0
    • Let the Birthday begin! German cake and beer!
    • Actual Birthday @burgerweeksj burger is @mexicali_rosas #birthdayweek
    • Quick and Easy supper tonight #foodies
    • It’s Canada Day, let the timbit pumbeling begin!
    • Brunch and World Cup Football!! @bigtidebrewing
    • Nothing beats a great fresh goulash!
    • My vacation began with a visit to Billy’s in the market for the 1st time. #latergram
    • Breakfast to with fresh NB blueberries!
    • Local Blueberries, Local Cream, drizzled with Local Honey.
    • Breakfast!
    • Lunch #CWTS2014
    • Dried Basil anyone?
    • Making supper. #hooterphotobomb
    • Lay’s Wavy Milk Chocolate Potato Chips are terrible!
    • It’s salmon night!
    • Having an early access pass to a PSL is a great start to a long weekend! @bsqcentre @starbucks
    • It has been 2 years too long since I had one of these!
    • @bearzmoke This is what canned pulled pork looks like.
    • Supper is ready!
    • Months supply of rice to freeze.
    • Lazy super baked chicken and Teriyaki Rice. #foodporn #meals #food
    • Clam Chowder #meals #food #seafoodisawesome #seafoodlover
    • Dinner #foodporn #homecookingrocks
    • Smoked Salmon Omelet with Coffee
    • Dinner time.
    • Mango Waffles!!! #homecooking #sundaybrunch #foodporn
    • I have a large pot of Blueberry Rhubarb, looking for ideas of what to do with it.
    • A slow cooked very thick pancake with Blueberry-Rhubarb topping. #foodporn #outsidetheboxcooking
    • Ketchup on waffles? #foodfail
    • This is the Danish I ate in Copenhagen Denmark. What shall eat in Hamburg Germany? #travel #travelfood #travelproblems
    • Burger Week is my favourite week. Hula Burger from Mix Bistro #sjburgerweek
    • My final meal of 34. I will be so glad for this year to be over. Cavendish Fries, Fritesauce, and 0% beer.
    • Made it to Denny’s 😍
    • With a little dessert 😍
    • The Wurst! #meaningoflife
    • Waffle Sticks dipped in custard. #healthybreakfast #foodporn
    • Home cooked waffles, with real fruit, and maple 🍁 syrup. #foodporn #healthybreakfast #greatfood
    • OMG! Tim’s brought the Dutchie back for #canada150
    • Mexican Rice #healthyfood
    • RibFest #healtyfood
    • So good
    • The #nbday #roadtrip #heathyeating dinner! 😍
    • Raspberry Sour Pie!!! ❤️😍❤️
    • Dinner
    • Not half eaten food.
    • Purity Jam Jams fresh from Newfoundland.
    • It’s #PSL time of year again! 😍 Grande with extra shots of Espresso!!! ❤️❤️❤️
    • Yum some good Chinese food from Manchu Wok
    • Seriously chicken
    • Tim’s Pumpkin Spice Muffin is so good but more expensive this year $1.69!
    • Ukrainian Breakfast looks so good!
    • I had to organize the chocolates. I’m not OCD.
    • Canned Kale… the Super Food. Better than Popeye’s canned spinach.
    • Good breakfast at Billy’s
    • ‪Everyone stop what you are doing and go to @sjcitymarket and get a fresh stroopwafel! You have not lived without one!‬ #livelifeuptown #saintawesome #healthyfood
    • Yum
    • Breakfast #saintawesome
    • Bacon and Donair Pizza!
    • The Saint John River breakfast is so good. #healthyfood
    • Dinner time! #healtyfood #freddyfoodie
    • It’s free Root Beer Day @awcanada #healtyfood #portcityfoodies #saintawesome
    • Teriyaki Veggie Rice, Steak and, Chow #homemeals #healthyfood #heathyeating
    • Which isle has more salt. The one with canned soup, meats, and veggies. Or the baking isle where you buy salt. #youchoose
    • Dinner on the work
    • Dinner on the way to Ottawa. Stay tuned for updates. #CanadaDay150YOW2YSJ #canadaday150
    • #roadtrip Fresh blueberries
    • Num Num

  • Remember?! (Part 1)

    It is a beautiful early summer morning on a Maple tree covered cemetery and the lake morning sun streaming partially through the leaves. The winds were calm with just enough movement to make the light twinkle through the leaves. Amongst the tombstones, there is a body lying as motionless and at peace as those in the soil a mere few centimetres below. Then Fred awakens, as he rises the reality of the situation hits him like a cement truck. He is feeling envious that the souls below don’t have to suffer the terrible feeling from the over-exuberance of the night before that he has forgotten.

    It was quite obvious that he had been drinking and he was missing pieces of clothing like his left sock, it was nowhere to be found. Fred had woken up hugging a small headstone.

    Fred is stunned as he realizes where he is this time as he sees a group of headstones before seeing the with “Fred Useless” engraved. Fred exclaims “Damn… Not again… Damn!”

    Fred rises to his feet and staggers holding his head while entering a pathway noticing Phil lying hunched over a tree with a few beer bottles around him.

    “Phil? Is that you, man?”, shouted Fred. “Phil, dude, wake up.”

    Fred hoping that Phil is still alive; kicks Phil’s leg. (Several times) Phil awakens with some disorientation as he suffers from a nasty hangover, and really pissed off that someone, not just woke him up but made his body suffer blows of unexpected pain by kicking him.

    “What a night…” squeaked Phil as he stretched and welcomed the morning light. Phil can barely see Fred standing over him as the sun irritates his eyes. “Oh, hey Fred. How the night treat you?” Phil rises to his feet as Fred pokes fun at Phil’s physical state.

    “Apparently, not as good as yours.”, replied Fred

    Phil suggests that they go get breakfast and Fred agrees. Phil gets up and starts to walk away with Fred but stops when they hear a voice in the woods.

    “Phil!?”, a mysterious long and very sweet sounding voice bellows.

    “Oh, Wait one second.”, says Phil. Phil runs back and finds Bekka (Looks perfect) from hiding behind the tree.

    “I’m sorry I forgot you.”, apologized Phil.

    “It’s ok, but I’m hungry.”, Bekka replied.

    “That’s ok sweaty, Fred just stopped by to bring us for breakfast.”, explained Phil.

    “You’re the best!”, Bekka replied, followed with a passionate kiss that made Phil really happy.

    Fred rolled his eyes and wanted to puke a little bit, and not just from the hangover.

    The three of them start waking out of the woods.

    “Out drinking alone, eh?”, Fred asks Phil. Since remembering that Phil had blown him off last night that he was going to have a quiet night at home with his bottle of scotch.

    “That was the plan…”, says Phil as he looks into Bekka’s eyes and then Phil kisses Bekka as they are all walking out of the woods.

    Fred is scratching his head and thinks as aloud, “I think I am forgetting something important?”

    Back at the “Fred Useless” headstone, it stands bare as Rita’s head appears

    from behind it, her hair is in complete disarray, makeup smeared and clothes loose-fitting and unfashionable.

    “Mmm… Fred”, Rita says in confusion. Rita notices the headstone and jumps away startled. “What the hell? Fred!” Rita wonders aimlessly. Hoping desperately that she is not alone, she continues to shout, “Fred! Fred!”

    This effort is to be in vain as yes indeed Rita is alone.

    (More to come in Part 2)

    The preceding is an adaptation of a screenplay for a short film of the same name, portions of this story were enhanced with suggestions from Tony Tompkins. It has been formatted from the original to fit the blog format.

  • MoCo Downtown– The Best Italian Style Restaurant in New Brunswick

    The following is a repost of my review for MoCo Downtown that appears on TripAdvisor.

    I was there for the first time on Saturday and I was floored by how wonderful this gem of a place was. I ordered the Sussex Sausage Risotto and for a side paired it with the Sliced Brussel Sprout with Prosciutto and Pine Nut side.

    It was so creamy and spicy and flavourful that it blew me away. The Brussel Sprouts we very salty, but that is exactly what you would get in Italy. Unlike many Italian restaurants that simply mimics what you would get in various parts of Italy, this place cooks like a Tuscan or Venetian chef would with access and highlighting of New Brunswick ingredients.

    The food was so good but I would not want to not mention how friendly the wait staff was and how efficiently the kitchen was putting out plates. Definitely going to go back and explore more of this menu.

  • An Election is in the Air

    As the fall approaches, it is time for another round of provincial elections. The province is in a tough but still hopeful situation, people throwing around money and making promises that will make them look popular and ruthlessly attacking their opponents.

    I’m going to make a list of items that I consider a priority for the next government.

    1) Remove the ban from walking down the street with open liquor. There is no real public safety impact here, and littering would be of little impact as the empties will quickly be retrieved.

    2) Rename the Saint John River the “Saint John / Wolastoq River”, it would only cost 50ish signs and would make everyone happy. Also, please the indigenous peoples in the area.

    3) Within 5 years, eliminate 10 schools. Even if you have to build new modern 20th century buildings.

    4) Change legislation to ensure there are no more than 6 levels of management between the minister and the front line staff in every department and agency.

    5) Change the way we do municipalities. Naming streets, municipal planning, recreation, transportation, by-laws etc are what makes a community and councils should be limited to those things. Protective services should not be at the municipal level. There should be large regional elected service boards that run protective/regional services.

    6) Reduce 10 municipalities. There are too many for the size of the Province.

    7) Modernization of the delivery of government services. It is completely ridiculous that you still have to play phone tag with the receptionist to get appointments at the hospital and be called by 3 different departments for the same procedure. Also that your medical information is in silos that don’t allow your doctor to know the whole story, and allow electronic filing of prescriptions so you are not given conflicting drugs, and reduce the addictions.

    8) Be ambitious and strive to have Bilingualism as a requirement of Graduation for all students of New Brunswick. “switching between two or more languages gives the brain a dexterousness and improves our attention, planning, memory and problem-solving skills.” (Irish Times, 27 March 2018)

  • Photo of the Month 2017
    ,

    Photo of the Month 2017

    As we ring in the new year time for my annual photo a month post!

    • December: Cruise to Costa Maya (Country 32 – México)
      December: Cruise to Costa Maya (Country 32 – México)
    • November: Empty Stocking Fund
      November: Empty Stocking Fund
    • October: Troll for Halloween
      October: Troll for Halloween
    • September: Fundy National Park
      September: Fundy National Park
    • August: When Lobsters Attack!
      August: When Lobsters Attack!
    • July: Surgery
      July: Surgery
    • June: Waffle Sticks in Custard
      June: Waffle Sticks in Custard
    • May: WordCamp Halifax
      May: WordCamp Halifax
    • April: Dinner at Rocky’s
      April: Dinner at Rocky’s
    • March: Out of hospital gone to see a Hockey game at Harbour Station.
      March: Out of hospital gone to see a Hockey game at Harbour Station.
    • February: View from hospital during a snow storm.
      February: View from hospital during a snow storm.
    • January: My first trip out of the hospital.
      January: My first trip out of the hospital.
  • IG: Road trips and Randoms 2017
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    IG: Road trips and Randoms 2017

  • Mobile Ordering

    Mobile Ordering

    Today I visited the local coffee shop in the mall. The line was very long and the people started to appear frustrated or tired, but there was the pot of gold at the end of the line to make it all worthwhile. Correction, it was coffee, not gold but in the eyes of the patrons waiting it was more valuable than gold.

    Meanwhile, I enter and walk past the line and pick up my coffee there waiting for me and leave to sit in the mall and watch the people and write this. The people watching began before I could even leave the restaurant. The scowl of disgust on their faces as I did not lime them join in the ancient, or present-day British, the tradition of fair queuing.

    I participated in the modern “there’s an app for that” method of placing my order using my phone and picking it up. Although I used an app this is nothing really new. For all my life you could call up and arrange for pick-up of take-out restaurants.

    Today’s purchase was at Tim Horton’s using their app. When it comes to ordering their app is pretty good. It is very straightforward and adding modifications is simple. The payment process and choosing a restaurant is also very intuitive. The downside of the app is that the specialty muffins are not in the app and some instructions like double toasting bagels are not there.

    However, they are making lots of improvements and when I first used the app you could not have 1/2 sugar. There is a promotion now where you can get a free coffee (Regular, Dark, or Decaf) after 3 orders by the end of the year.

    Another app I use regularly is the Cineplex app. This app is good for purchasing tickets, but the number of options to buy a ticket can be daunting. The perk, however, is not waiting in line for the kiosks and 50 bonus Scene points (1/20th of a movie).

    The McDonald’s Canada app is of similar quality to Tim’s and is really straightforward to make a complex or simple order.

    The final shopping app review has to be the Esso Speedpass+ app. This is really convenient as you do not have to stand outside and swipe your fuel savings card, then your points card, then choose a car wash option, then the on-screen payment. It is simply done on the app with very little effort.

  • Urban Renewal Saint John Update

    Urban Renewal Saint John Update

    I have received several posts on the book, and I don’t know how anyone can still get a copy, but for historical purposes, and that fact that my other post is one of the most popular sites here is some of the content from the former website for the book that is no longer online.

  • StartUp Weekend Saint John

    StartUp Weekend Saint John

    As most of you know I have volunteered at ROGERS tv for going on 19 years. Bi-weekly there is a talk show that I work on called What Matters most. A few weeks ago the had someone on as a guest from the Momentum Group to talk about a then-upcoming event for a Startup Weekend. Long story short that episode didn’t make it to air and was instead put on YouTube. Therefore you can watch the following 13-minute interview to get the idea of what it is about.

    Or not… I guess I can tell you what it is about.

    The premise is that you pay money for a ticket and choose if you are a Developer (can code), Designer (can design stuff), or Other (smart person, marketing person, money person, et cetera). Then on Friday you show up raid the buffet spread, socialize, network, and assess the competition.

    Then you get to listen to speeches, “The is is how the weekend is going to go down”, “we love business”, “entrepreneurs are awesome”, “there are so many services you have never probably heard of that you are going to get a taste of”, “your community needs you”, and lastly “who has an idea!”.

    This is the first taste of the opportunity where you get to line up and present and possible idea, everyone claps for you presenting your idea, then you walk off to write your idea down on a big piece of paper and stick it on the wall. After all the ideas are presented comes the fun. Everyone in the room goes an puts a post-it note on the idea they like. Then the top several ideas get selected and then they get moved around the room that the idea person stood beside their idea and if you liked their idea you could join their idea team. If an idea had at least 3 people it was then a team.

    We then spent a few hours planning out the idea. Then we went to socialize at a special after-hours gathering at the new Saint John Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Club.

    The next morning we arrived to have a light breakfast. Then go off to work. It was this portion of the day where we got to choose the local business people and entrepreneurs we would talk to in a type of speed-dating to understand our idea and it’s potential best future best. Of course, we then had an amazing lunch. Then back to work on the afternoon working on the business plan, the supporting market research, prototypes of ideas, and to build a blow-away presentation for the next day. Then a large supper arrived and it was back to work into the night.

    The next morning involves a lot of fine-tuning the presentation, and practice of the presentation. Our group used Prezi for the presentation and there were a few points where we had to add a few seconds of fill to transition the topics for the visual animations that done well, nails the presentation and, not appearing to be filler.

    Then we got to do a test presentation and got some great feedback from the event organizers. Using the feedback it just made the presentation stronger. Then lunch arrived I think this one was from Toro Tacos and it was a rice bowl that was incredible.

    Then it was presentation time. This was the first time I ever used a presenter button (or TV term GPI) it is so much better than hitting the arrow keys on a laptop and makes it easier to present. After the presentation, I was relieved that that was it. Now to listen to the other presentations. There were nine teams in total with prizes for the first, second and third place teams.

    When the third place team was announced, I was a little surprised. The criteria I thought of that would make a great idea was not what the judges looked for. There were great but impractical ideas in the pack, some that when it went from the idea Friday night took a turn for the worst. Then there was some that got a whole thot better after research. The thirds place idea was one of those and in reflection well deserved and was championed by someone truly invested in the limitless potential of their idea.

    My team won second place and again I was in shock not because I didn’t believe our idea but because I had spent the last hour being won over by some of the other ideas.

    Then when the first place was announced it was definitely the one I expected. I’ll link to a CBC interview on the winning idea.

    After the awards it was a bit more, socializing, networking, and business talk on where the ideas can go from there.

    There is going to be another one in Saint John hopefully in the Spring, and there is going to be one the first weekend of November in Fredericton.

  • My First Heckler

    I love comedy and always have. Robin Williams and George Carlin are amongst my favourites. Over the past few years starting with the summer of trying things I have started going to see stand-up comedy shows. Not to say I no longer love improv comedy, but there is just so much more stand-up lately in these parts.

    One of the recurring shows is the No Jokes Barred put on monthly by Jon Forward at the R Bar. What I love about this show are the new performers. Back when I was rehearsing on A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Ken Bolton, he kept encouraging me to try stand-up. I never did however mainly due to my anxiety.

    However, this past June, Ken was going to be leaving town, and after the No Jokes Barred show, there was an open mic for the third anniversary post-show. I was considering doing it and was trying to think up some good material all day before the show. All of which I ran out of time to perfect and only used a bit as a preamble to my 2013 Amsterdam Trip story. (Which you will not find on this blog)

    All during the show I was debating actually doing it. There was the option to do a Karaoke song, or comedy. They were giving past performers 6 minutes and other people 3 minutes. At this point, I was unsure about the comedy as 3 minutes was not enough time to tell my story. When the sign-up papers were placed on the table, I grabbed one right away and wrote “Charles Frees-Melvin… Comedy”. I was still nervous and spoke to a few people and then, what the hell, gave Jon the piece of paper.

    After a few others, my name got called and there was no turning back. From my 18 years of TV experience holding and talking into the mic was child’s play. I also love to story-tell as well so that was not an issue. The hard part was I had to make them laugh.

    As it turned out my story was either really funny or the crowd was great because they were laughing a lot and in all the right places. Then the dreaded R Bar experience a heckler! That guy said something stupid and wrong and I made fun of him and moved on to finish the story. I don’t know how but the right words just came to me to shoot that guy down.

    Obviously thrilled with myself I finished my beer and headed home.

  • My Messed Up Canada Day Roadtrip

    My Messed Up Canada Day Roadtrip

    I was off the Friday before Canada Day and had Physio and a call for the pre-op to fix my pinky finger. I came up with a plan to take a spontaneous road trip to Ottawa. My surgery is concerning the possible side effects. I was pretty devastated after the call with my anxiety.

    Since I was less than 500km from my oil change mileage I went to Kia and booked the appoint for this past week.

    I went home and cleared out everything from my car I didn’t need, grabbed my passport and wad of US cash and took off down the Hwy 1 towards the border. At the border I got through pretty quickly and had no issues. Having all the signs in a weird foreign system of measurement increased my anxiety. In Calais, I fueled up and headed down Route 9 to Bangor.

    I stopped for dinner at Dysart’s. It was a pretty good meatloaf. I then proceeded down Route 2 to Skowhegan where I needed to pee bad so I stopped at a gas station and it was there my fate turned. My GPS lost my route and I was lost. I kind of remember Route 201 so I turned on it and kept questioning that I was not on the right road.

    It turned out I wasn’t, I really wanted 201A in the next town. Around midnight I ended up at the border on the highway headed towards Quebec City. By this point, it started to rain really hard. I was not able to even drive the speed limit it was that hard. I made it to an Esso in Ascot Corner in Quebec and refuelled again at 1 am. I then kept driving but got too tired and stopped at a mall and slept for an hour.

    My sleep was interrupted by the lights of a cop that woke me to see if I was alright. He started talking in French and I was trying to translate it and I didn’t recognize enough words. He then spoke English and I responded I was okay and he moved on.

    I then determined I needed to move on. I then crossed the bridge to Montreal as the break of the day was happening. I was having such bad anxiety Siri was giving instructions that made no sense and there were so many construction signs that made no sense either. I stopped on a side street for a while and decided I wasn’t making it to Ottawa and it was time for starting a return back to see fireworks.

    After a few hours back on the Highway, I needed so sleep so I pulled into a gas station and slept for an hour in the back corner of a Petro Canada parking lot in my car. I continued on the journey down the highway. As I was passing the town of Levis I seen the sign to cross the bridge to Quebec City. Since I had never been there before, I made the decision I needed to see it.

    I took a drive through the packed old town and it was very reminiscent of the old parts of Paris. (Montreal is more reminiscent of the rest of Paris.) After leaving Quebec, the next stop was a gas and Tim’s break in Rivière de Loup. (a place Siri can’t pronounce close to right.) When ordering I asked if she spoke English and it was a fast nope. So I tried to order a coffee and a Dutchie and I was certain that I can pronounce Hollandaise properly but she had no clue.

    Armed with my coffee and gas it was off to New Brunswick and lots more highway with spots of rain along the way. The next stop was Florencevile and I grabbed a donair sub that was really good. The interesting part was a guy in line ahead of me was Amish and had his horses and carriage waiting outside.

    As I passed through Fredericton, the rain had stopped and was starting to clear. The people from home were messaging on Facebook that the weather in Saint John was bad and there were no fireworks to hurry back for. So I headed home anyway.

    The next day I slept in until noon and then wasted most of the day away. I had seen that Hampton was having fireworks and decided to go see them but then heard that Cambridge-Narrows was having some so I went there instead. They were pretty impressive and amazing.

  • A Smooth Package

    A Smooth Package

    imageI love when I get a parcel in the mail and that day happened yesterday.

    My order came in from Harry’s. I ordered a new Truman handle for travelling, the stand for my Winston handle, and most exciting of all 16 of the new style blades.

    Even though I still have 2 of the old style blades left, I tried out a new one last night. The improved flexibility in the blade was the most noticing everyone improvement and gives a great 5 blade shave. There is now an extra precision blade on the edge. Although, I personally don’t understand the need for a precision blade but it is a perk.

    I’ve now been using Harry’s for about 2 years and the savings and ease of having really good blades sent in the mail is a big perk. The only downside is that the purchase is in US Dollars even though it is shipped from Toronto, and they don’t have the free shipping in Canada like they do in the USA.

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