The Squamidian Report – Feb. 25 / 17
Issue #770
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Things happen in threes, as they say, apparently including strange
things as well. Thats how my day went last Wednesday, with three
strange things happening. Thats the day I played up at the gondola.
Firstly, I got up there with all my equipment and went looking for the
person that arranges that kind of thing to verify where to set up.
Couldn't find the arranger person and the person I asked had a puzzled
look on her face. She was not aware that I would be playing that day
and asked when I had last talked to the arranger person. It had been
about a week and a half since I'd been given that date and that was the
last time I'd talked to 'the arranger'. So, the person I was talking to
suggested she would go get the food services manager, which she did.
That person came to talk to me with a puzzled look on her face. (We are
on first name basis with all these people but I'm not naming names).
After chatting with her she said great, go ahead everyone always enjoys
the music and so I did. It was just a bit weird but oh well. I have no
idea why 'the arranger' forgot to tell anyone, or why she wasn't there
as she is always there on Wednesdays.
Now for the second thing, I'll have to back up a bit. The biker group I
hang out with is always after me to post on social media (Facebook)
whenever I'm playing so they will know about it on the off chance any
of them might want to come up from the city to attend. Not that any of
them ever have, they seem to see the scenic ¾ hr drive up the Sound as
a long trip or something. Anyway, Wednesday morning I got a text from
one of them, a relatively new rider thats probably in her mid forties
or so, stating that she'd love to come up for a listen but that she
wasn't sure she could handle the lift ticket price, given her rather
destitute state. I said “no problem, just let me know if you are indeed
coming and I'll arrange a complementary lift pass”. Which I did. She
would simply have to tell guest services her name when she got there
and it would be waiting for her.
Well, after playing an hour-long first set and with her nowhere in
sight I checked my phone for messages. There was a text from her
stating no one at guest services knew anything about me or music or a
free lift pass. Rather than try to text back and forth any more I
called her phone number. It turned out that she had never connected the
fact that the Sea to Sky Gondola would in fact be in Squamish. She was
at one of the North Shore Ski hills. No wonder no one knew anything
about it. And this person wants to ride a motorcycle in traffic?? Wow!
Thats a scary thought.
Needless to say, I won't bother to post any future gigs on Facebook or anywhere else. I'll just keep them to myself.
And now the third thing... I have no problem with women breast feeding
in public. Its just a natural thing for them to do. Its feeding time,
deal with it. No big deal. But, most women are at least a bit discreet
about it, as they should be and is also only natural. Happens all the
time. Well, a young couple came over to where I was playing and sat
down right in front of me. They had baby with them and I guess it was
time to feed it. So, out came a breast. Just like that, pop and out it
was. Then she picked up the baby and commenced feeding it with
everything still right out there. Most women would have used a shawl or
baby blanket to preserve some degree of modesty. Not this one. Thats
still her right but this was a pretty public place and a small amount
of coverage would have been in order I would think. When playing to a
group of people one tends to look out at the audience. I spent the next
little while looking down at my guitar, up at the ceiling and over at
the far side of the room. Like I said, I don't have any issue with
public breast feeding. Its just normally done with a bit more modesty.
It was an interesting day. And oh, the music went just fine regardless
of everything else, and one of the people that works up there told me
he was submitting my name for 'employee of the month'. We both got a
good chuckle out of that because we all know I don't actually work
there, or anywhere for that matter. I wouldn't give up retirement for
anything.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
It’s nearing the end of February once again and this years “coldest”
month of the year has been a pleasant one indeed. We’ve enjoyed the
warmest February in decades and at this point most of our snow is
melted already. Our front lawn and most of our back lawn are green and
drying out quite nicely. Carole and I were out yesterday and spent most
of the afternoon cleaning up the yard etc from the winter’s mess. It’s
looking quite spring like out there and I’m hoping we don’t get hit
with another blast of arctic weather before the real nice weather sets
in! It would be lovely to have this sunshine and warm temps flow right
into a beautiful spring this year. It was predicted back in the fall
that we were in for a nasty good old-fashioned winter like yesteryear!
Well it didn’t happen, at least not so far! However, one never knows
what Mother Nature will bring our way so we could well be in for
another few feet of snow before March is over! I’ll be keeping my
fingers crossed that doesn’t happen and try my best to be optimistic!
Have you ever watched that show on TV called
“Hoarders”? Well, the other day Carole decided it was time that our
office was cleaned out and reorganized. In my mind it didn’t seem all
that necessary but once she (with a little help from me) began to dig
into the bowels of the job, it became apparent that we’d been
collecting all together too much stuff over the past 18 or more years.
We have a couple of small cabinets that have been holding books and
printer paper etc and apparently we’ve also tucked an incredible amount
of “who knows what” into the shelves of the cabinets as well. We’ve
discovered so many photos and odds and ends that we’ve literally
forgotten we even had among the items on the shelves. Guess one doesn’t
realize how cumulative this sort of thing can become! Oh well, it’s
been an adventure so far and I’m sure before we’re finished we’ll find
many more treasures hidden in the nooks and crannies of our little
office. With any luck we’ll get it all done over the next couple of
days and it’ll be like having a brand new office space to work in! A
home office is kind of like a guy’s garage, although it looks like
everything is in disarray, it really isn’t because for the most part
things are sitting where the people or person that uses that space the
most is used to having them and can easily put his or her finger on
whatever he or she needs on a seconds notice. A guy’s garage or home
“shop” space is filled with his “STUFF” and in most cases; only he
knows where everything is at any given moment. Anyone else looks at
those spaces and thinks that the place is in a Hell of a mess but to
the main user, things are just the way they should be and it’s best to
leave well enough alone! If I need a thingamajig or a whatchamacallit I
know exactly where to look! It’s hard to understand the logic but for
most guys, it works!
Living in a four bedroom house with loads of
space that for the most part is filled with cool stuff that is the
result of 43 years of accumulation of belongings is totally
understandable but when one faces reality, what’s the point of keeping
so many years of “Stuff”? There comes a time when we all take a look
around and someone says “Why did we hang onto this or that or all of
this stuff when in reality we can’t even remember why we kept it in the
first place?” LOL! Then you start with all good intentions to de
clutter and almost every item you pick up or come across looks too good
to throw away or give away and it is indeed hard to part with most of
it! After running so many garage sales over the years, one realizes
that there is very little profit in that type of sale and would it be
worthwhile effort-wise to even go to the trouble of keeping all this
“stuff” until spring in order to conduct another garage or driveway
sale? Of course it’s a waste of time but once you’ve got the garage
sale bug, you always think that the next one will be different and you
talk yourself into doing it one more time! Sheesh, here we go again! I
think we’ll reserve judgment on whether or not to do it all again until
we see how much “good stuff” we have in the box at the end of the
office clean up! I say box “singular” because so far we’ve been finding
more keepers than sellers! On the other hand we may just wind up with a
dozen or more boxes of Garage Sale stuff and it’ll be a go ahead for
spring! Only the next few days of “de cluttering” will tell the tale!
If nothing else, this make work project will result in one less busy
room in the house and Carole will feel better about the condition of
the “Office”! Happy Wife!
That’s about it for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now … Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
Women sometimes make fools of men, but most guys are the do it yourself type!
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Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.
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