Back Again

Bloody 'ell! I just did a post and Blogger lost it! Argh.

What I was going to say is that I got a (literal) wakeup call from Vernon Mike recently. He's an old bud and reads my blog and (I guess) needed his fix of Korea/Vancouver/kids stories. Obviously he doesn't read it that much because he would know that I hit the hay at about 8PM (and get up at 4:45AM...give or take).

I lost another post on Monday and, owing to my increased workload (I won't bore you with that...for now) I didn't have the energy to redo it. Basically, there is a new freebie newspaper (really thin, though) in Vancouver: Metro. (There is also a Metro in Korea...and, of course, many copy-cats too.) Now The Province and Vancouver Sun are being given out for free on my commuter train--I guess in competition. I thought people were just saving spots, but it looks like everyday this week there is a paper on every seat.

A couple of weeks ago Starbucks and Royal Bank started promotng their new Duetto Visa card. They were handing out 1/2 pounds of ground coffee (with applications attached) as well as free brewed coffee and danishes & muffins. Mmmmmm. As well, VanCity and Vancouver Sun got together to give out free issues right on the same corner. Wow. Free coffee, food and a paper!

What else is up? Well, as for work...I have been working on a strategy for a couple of clients. It's a pretty simple idea, but I had to get the tax rulings and explanations to back it up as well as do actual quotes (it includes an annuity, a bank loan and a life insurance policy) and work them out on the spreadsheet. What's the verdict? It's not a good idea at this time. It took me 2 days to run the numbers 10 different ways (literally) and it turns out it's not much better than a rather simple strategy. Damn.

Had a meeting with a supplier today. They have some pretty cool products that might make sense for clients, which is cool. That's one thing I like about this business: there's always something new and (one would hope) improved cropping up.

I guess that's it for now. Later.