"Adventure" Boating
It could be said that all of my boating in the Okanagan should be called "adventure" boating. This was a term Wade and I started using to describe just some of our boating experiences, but it could also describe my record with boats in general.
When I first moved to the Okanagan I believed in the adage that it was a crime to live on the lake and not have a boat. One of the very first things I did when I arrived in the spring of 1993 was to buy a boat from Dockside Marine, which was to set a theme for the next fourteen years. I put a deposit on it because we were heading back to Ontario in the van to sell off everything in the house on Mara Crescent and would be back in about three weeks or so. I was to bring them a certified cheque for $5,600 after we had water tested the boat. My brother and I met the sales guy from the dealership at the Kelowna marina and he took us out for a spin. The boat seemed perfect, so I handed over the cheque to the sales guy and my brother drove the boat back to our marina in Westbank. I was to pick-up the trailer later in the week.
When my mother and I returned from garage saleing Saturday morning, where I bought a tow rope and a spare gas can, my Dad greeted us at the door and, from the look on his face, my first questions was going to be "who died"? He told me he had watched a story on the news about a boat on fire over in Green Bay and he had run down to make sure my boat was still in the marina. It wasn't. We immediately phoned the RCMP to report my boat stolen and see if we could match up the information, but they had little to share. A local resident had gone out to the burning boat to make sure no one was on board, then he had phoned it in. Although the RCMP attended to where it sank, they had no information what-so-ever as to its location. They said it was way too deep and I would never find it. They were useless and proved even more useless as far as catching who stole my boat. I managed to find the witness and he was very helpful. I asked if the engine was in the "up" position or down, but he could not remember. Because the boat was in the marina I left the engine down and this would mean it might not have been destroyed in the fire. I hired a recovery crew and we met the witness out on the bay. Amazingly he was within twenty-five feet of where it went down. They towed it to the beach but as soon as it started coming out of the water I saw that the engine was in the "up" position and it was just a mass of molten metal. The leg was fine but everything else was toast.
Oh well, I thought, I never even got to drive my first boat, but the dealer's insurance would cover it so I just needed to find another boat. I called the dealer, who informed me that it was not covered by their insurance because it was a consignment boat. I said no one disclosed this to me, and they still had my trailer, so the deal was not finalized and they were obligated to still be insuring it. To my amazement they said insurance was up to the owners of the boat. When I called them they said that they had let the insurance lapse back in May when they took it to Dockside, who they understood were insuring it as part of their inventory. They were as amazed as I was that there was no insurance on the boat.
Before I just accepted that my welcome to the Okanagan had been losing $5,600, something I could ill afford, I contacted a lawyer who agreed that the deal was not finalized because I had not taken delivery of the trailer and had not signed off. Obviously I needed the trailer and the papers to transfer the insurance and get new plates for the trailer. He made it all sound pretty simple and said we could sue them in small claims court because it was less than ten thousand dollars.
When we first got to court I learned exactly what kind of closed-knit community Kelowna was. The principle from the dealer was an ex-mayor and he was greeted warmly by the judge. After hearing his argument that the boat had been paid for in full by certified cheque, the judge ruled that was sufficient to consider the deal done and we never even got a chance to speak. So much for fairness. Welcome to Kelowna!
Much as it pained me not to have a boat, it was a couple of years before I thought of owning a boat again. I don't even remember the exact circumstances of how I found my next boat. I seem to remember it was parked outside a door and window salvage place, which should have been my first clue. It was a strange little boat because it was a tri-hull, something I didn't even know existed. The guy from the store came out and said it was a consignment boat, but he knew a little about it. He said the tri-hull design made it very stable, especially in choppy water, which there was no shortage of on Lake Okanagan. We took it out on a relatively calm day and it ran great. He was right - it was incredibly stable. I bought it.
Although I don't remember exactly how many years I had my little 14 foot "cork" we sure had some interesting times. Every decent weather weekend was spent on the lake, most of time just trying to find some calm water to ski. A bunch of us boat owners would find each other somewhere around Kelowna and tie all the boats together, kick back, enjoy the sunshine and some "pops". It was heaven. At the end of the day someone would volunteer their place and we would buy some steaks and have a BBQ, then pull our boats and meet at the Corral for the night. It was the best times of my life with the best people. Thanks to boating I soon had about twenty really great friends.
Two of the more "adventurous" (read life threatening) experiences with this boat were the hydroplane races and our weekend across from Summerland. Pretty sure it was the first year of the races and, of course, the best place to watch them from is on the water. The wind was pretty strong and the water was choppy, conditions my boat didn't like much. As the water got too rough the races were cancelled and everyone started for home. We had been on the north side of the bridge. Often the conditions on either side of the bridge were night and day. This was one of those times. As we came under the bridge, heading for the Eldorado just down the shore from the bridge, where the trailer was, we encountered the biggest waves I had ever seen on the lake. Thankfully Wade, who has a lot more experience than I did, was driving. We had two very drunk girls in the back and he looked at me and said it was good they were drunk because they didn't know how much trouble we were in. That didn't make me feel much better.
He started basically "tacking" like a sailboat, because if we headed straight down the shoreline, the boat would have been swamped. Every once in a while Wade would shout that we had "incoming" and a wave would crash over the bow and flood the boat. I had the sump pump running full blast, but the boat was lurching so badly there was no way I could manage to also bail with a bucket. At one point, when Wade yelled, I was on the cell phone, so I calmly told them to hang on and held my phone up high so the water crashing over the windshield wouldn't soak it and then went back to talking. Wade told this story many times. Admittedly it must have looked pretty funny. At full speed, the ride to the El might have taken ten minutes, max. This day, with all the tacking, we didn't get close until forty-five minutes after coming under the bridge. The swells were so huge I had no idea how I was going to get off to get the trailer and even less idea how Wade was going to get the boat on the trailer. As we approached the dock he said I had one shot at it and I would have to leap because he couldn't come in too close or he would crash into the dock. I literally took a "leap of faith", praying to make the dock, and not smash my body into the end of it, or worse, hit the water and drown, but I made it.
I backed into the boat launch area as best I could but the waves were just huge. I didn't know whether to stay to help Wade or stay away to avoid being killed when the boat came launched in mid air somewhere around the trailer. So true to Wade, he hit the crest of a wave, surfing the boat up towards the trailer. As the wave broke the boat landed perfectly on the trailer, literally a few inches from the winch. Wade just bowed. I hooked it on and pulled out and we tied it down properly. I had never seen anything like that, before or since. There were so many things that could have gone so wrong!
One of the joys of having a boat was to pack up and head to the other side of the lake, to Okanagan Mountain Park, find a deserted cove and camp for the night. One warm summer night Jackie and I loaded up some firewood and headed across to a favorite cove. It was getting a little dark by the time we got there but I managed to tie the boat off with the anchor and a nearby tree. We slept in the raw, of course, and when we woke to a glorious sunny, warm day, well, nature took its course. The next thing we hear is the giant CAT machine start-up at the top of the cliff, where someone was building a house! We made some guy's morning. You never saw two people get dressed faster!
Wade and I thought we would see if we could get a bunch of our friends together and camp across the lake for a weekend. Early Friday morning we started looking for places but they were all taken, all the way down the lake. We finally found a perfect sheltered cove with no one there, so we decided to head off early the following weekend and claim it. The following Friday was an awesome day. We loaded all our stuff into my boat and Wade's, Summer Thunder, and made our way down to our cove, just across the lake from Summerland. We spent the day and much of the next ferrying people across from Shaughnessy's Cove. In between we ate, drank, water skied, hiked and, in general, had a blast. I think over the weekend we had some twenty-one people spend some of the weekend there.
The number one "adventure" ever? Well, we decided to boat down to a pub in Penticton Saturday night, so we loaded up both boats. I remember having at least four good looking babes in my boat for the trip down. We had tied our boats off at the docks in front of the Lakeside and gone into the bar. Around ten-thirty someone came into the bar hollering that whoever owned the boats outside should get out there right away before they smashed to smithereens. When we rushed down to the dock the first thing I saw was that my bumpers were completely smashed to bits and my boat was crashing up against the dock. In minutes it would also be in pieces. Wade hollered instructions to me that I had only one shot at cresting the wave out of the marina or I would be smashed on the rocks behind us. Where were the girls who had traveled sown with me? Safely on Wade's big boat. I had a moment of panic at going it alone, but at the last minute, my buddy Greg volunteered to risk his life with me.
We no sooner managed to leap over the first giant wave out of danger from the docks, than the bow nose-dived into a huge wave and we were swamped by tons of water. In the darkness I heard Wade hollering at me to speed up so that we would cut the wave and not drown. I gently moved the throttle up but we were being thrown around like the cork my boat was. I honestly didn't think we were going to make it, especially not in the pitch black of night with no idea where we were or how not to crash on shore. Wade saved my life that night. He kept checking ahead and coming back, circling my boat and making sure we were okay. It took us hours to navigate to below the single light we remembered up on the hill and get into our little protected cove. No idea what we would have done if we had not had our sheltered cove or anywhere to go. It was a brutal storm. I wanted to kiss the sand when we finally made it back.
When we packed up the next day and bagged all our garbage, as we always did, everyone started piling the bags in my boat, not Wade's. I asked if they thought I was a garbage barge, which was a huge mistake, as the name stuck. I came down the lakes with babes and went back with bags of garbage. Not a happy ending.
Near the end of one summer we went up to boat and camp at a campground in the Shuswap, I think it was called Scottie's Cove. We ventured down the south leg of the Shuswap and ended up in a little marina, called Little River Boatworld, to get gas. While I filled up, Wade had wandered up to the lot to look at the boats for sale. He called me to come and have a look at one. It was what's called a "deep V" for the hull design. It had a very wide berth; a ski locker and an Evinrude 135 outboard. It was also very clean with hardly a mark on it. This boat had obviously been cared for. Wade urged me to speak to the dealer about it and I did. He said it was a 1984, one owner boat that they had always taken care of from the day it was new. They had just done a complete engine rebuild and he showed me the file, which showed $3400 for the rebuild alone, plus regular maintenance since 1984. They were asking something like $9900, but I told the guy I would only pay $8400, which was nothing to do with the boat value; it was all the money I could manage until I sold my current boat. He phoned the owner and to my considerable surprise and delight, he agreed. They would give it the once over and deliver it down to me in Westbank the next week.
So, here I was owning two boats all of a sudden. I was working at Central Valley Trucks at the time, who were located right at the very busy corner of Highway 97 and Sexsmith Road, so I asked if I could put the boat in the yard with a For Sale sign and they said no problem. A few days later I got a call from the RCMP telling me they had found what was left of my boat just outside of town on Glenmore Road. Although we had a security video showing them hooking up to the trailer, the black and white quality was too poor to read a plate number. I went to see the boat which had been ditched off the side of the road. There was nothing left but a shell. They had even stolen the sump pump. I managed to get a decent insurance settlement, plus they never asked me about the trailer, which was still fine and I sold it for over a thousand dollars on top of the insurance settlement, which was about six grand, so I made out okay.
There's a whole sidebar story here as to why it took forever to get my money from the insurance company, involving a boat that Greg wanted sold and he had transferred it into a friend's name, Don, in Vancouver. It had been stolen the very same weekend as mine and when the police called Don, like an idiot, he said he knew nothing about it, so the police thought there was some sort of ring stealing boats and they thought I was part of it. I wasn't.
The funny part of the new boat was that I had to put ten hours on the engine before I could take it over a thousand revs, so I spent the better part of a week puttering along the shoreline in Westbank. Finally on Saturday morning I knew if I went down to get gas in Peachland that would come close to the ten hours, so off I went. I was disappointed to be all alone on such a momentous occasion, but no one was available. It took forever to get to Peachland, of course, cruising at about trolling speed, but eventually I filled up. As I looked out to the lake that had been so calm coming down, now I could see the whitecaps. Just my luck, I thought! All this time puttering around to log hours on the engine and now this!
I eased out of the marina and started heading back to Westbank. The boat was pitching and rolling in the swells, so I gave it a little more throttle. It felt like it was cutting the crest of the waves a little better, so I gave it some more. Before long I was at full speed, knifing through the crests of waves with ease. I could have had a drink, the ride was so clean and stable. I was thrilled and let out a yippee, but no one was with me to hear me. I was so excited to tell Mum and Dad how great the boat was when I got back. It was the start of many hours of wonderful boating in my favorite boat. It was everything I could have wanted. The deep ski locker was perfect. The wide beam was perfect for having lots of people on board. The engine just purred and you could have a normal conversation at full speed. The deep V design is perfect for conditions on the Okanagan.
Had I not run into money problems I would never have had to sell that boat. I don't remember the exact circumstances but I had a period where I didn't work and money was getting tight. It was nearing the end of summer, the worst possible time to sell a boat, but I had no choice. I parked it on the side of 97 at Ethel and prepared to sit there until I sold it. I got asked to move it twice, and I said I would, but I stayed put. Eventually a nice young couple stopped to have a look and they ended up buying it. Although I had installed a smoking stereo system in it for a few hundred bucks, I basically got back what I paid for it. This was my last boat and will probably stay that way.
Although not specifically my boat, Dad's boat sort of ended up being mine and it was even more of a disaster. It involved a crooked dealer, a crooked seller, and a horrible bank, but it's one for another day. I'm missing boating on the Okanagan a lot right now and don't feel like another story at the moment. More later.
Coffee and Cigarettes. Blood Sugar Control?
After coming this close to slipping into a diabetic coma and losing the better part of five days before being rescued by my doctor, I had little choice but to quit smoking. I had no money for food, let alone very expensive smokes. This lasted for six months, until last weekend when circumstances, like having no food in the house and getting little from the food bank, I discovered my desperately needed cheque had gone in early on Saturday morning.
I could sense my stress level was off the charts, so I decided to celebrate with a pack of smokes. Although overwhelmed with the guilt of it all I figured after six months that I would cough my guts out and hate the taste. No such luck! It was nirvana! I could feel a sense of calm come over me immediately. Oh well, I figured, one pack and I'd quit again. No money for smokes, that was for sure.
Some background on my sugar levels - when I nearly bought the farm my sugars were in the upper thirties. Anyone who knows anything about diabetes knows this is well above the danger levels. Thanks to my doctor and the pharmacist who went together on getting me my insulin, my sugar levels started coming down, but they still weren't good. After very thorough tests at the diabetic specialist they upped my insulin and kept me on my meds as well. Still my sugars never got much better than mid teens, sometimes as high as lower twenties. Everyone, including me, was frustrated that nothing seemed to work to get me under ten, which was the goal.
Here's the interesting and crazy part. The day after buying smokes I made a morning pot of coffee, something I hadn't had since quitting back in December, because of the instant lifetime association of starting every day with coffee and a smoke. I sat out on my balcony, coffee in one hand and a smoke in the other, as God intended (that's why he gave us two hands), happy as a pig in you know what. Life was as it should be.
As I do every morning now I tested my sugars. To my considerable surprise it was 8.8, the best reading I had ever had. I figured there was something wrong with my meter, but a couple of hours later, after eating breakfast, when levels are usually elevated, my next reading was 8.9! Curious, I tested more frequently than normal the rest of the day, all with readings in the eights. After a rare treat of a fudgsicle, which should have put me in the twenties, I was again shocked to see a 9.2, not much higher than before. Over the last few days the readings have not changed. They've been the lowest since those thirties back in December.
So, what's the only change in my life? Diet? Nope, in fact I've had some rare sugar laden treats. Exercise? Nope, other than my normal walking with the bus routes. I was planning to bike, but the weather has not been great until recently. The only change is drinking my coffee again and smoking. I've actually written to Benson and Hedges to suggest a clinical study, of course with them providing me cigarettes. lol
Even more telling might be that I just enjoyed my last smoke and I have no money for any more. Dumb as it may sound, I wish I could keep smoking so I could get rid of the twenty-five pounds I gained not smoking. This has been more harmful to my health than anything. I've lost my energy. I can't bend down to tie up my shoes. I'm sleeping more. I feel like crap. So much for feeling better not smoking.
In fairness I'll report on my sugar levels over the next few days, but if they now go back up not smoking, well, it's going to get interesting at least.
Yes, and I know that at least one person who might read this is going to give me proper hell for smoking again. She's a cancer survivor so I don't blame her for her scorn. I thought of her when I took my first puff, but it didn't stop me. lol
Memories of the Kettle Valley Trail
My Dad, rest his soul, and I spent almost every weekend dirt-biking on our trusty Hondas. We saw such amazing country and had so many wonderful memories. You couldn't beat dirt-biking for a cheap sport. I had several Hondas over the years, my favorite a 1987 Honda 185 that we bought off George who used to run the off-road adventures. Dad and I modified an old boat trailer by adding ramps using steel door frames and tie down bars.
We could load our bikes in about five minutes. We had a pack of beer in a cooler strapped to the back of the bike. Mum packed us a lunch. Even though we rode miles, one ride being two hundred and fifty kilometers through Douglas Lake ranch, we hardly ever used more than a couple of bucks of gas. It was always a hoot when we stopped and opened the beer, which, of course, exploded after being bounced around on the back of a dirt bike.
We biked everywhere around Kelowna and up behind Peachland, and up in the mountains around Revelstoke. My very first ride, when I got my first bike, was the Kettle. That was back in the days before motorized vehicles were prohibited. At the time most of the trestles were scary as hell, with missing ties everywhere. We had parked at the lot at the end of June Springs road and, after a couple of the smaller trestles, which were scary enough, we came to the huge steel trestle, I think number 5 or 6. We got off our bikes and walked to the start of the bridge. I was amazed at how high we were (I think it's two hundred feet above the valley) and I was worried about all the broken and missing cross ties. Dad said, naturally, "don't look down" and told me to just think about it being a normal road, forgetting we were so high and death appeared almost certain. I still remember the moment of panic when I hit that first tie and the bike started lurching up and down as I crossed the next ties. Thankfully most of the missing and broken ties were off to the sides, as I had no clue what to do if they were in my path. You couldn't turn the wheel or down you would fall between the ties and you would be thrown off like a bucking horse, falling to your untimely demise at the bottom of the canyon. I think that bridge is something like five hundred feet long, but that day it felt like it was miles until I finally reached the safety of the other side. I wanted to get off and kiss the ground. I also had thoughts of killing my father for making me go across, but he couldn't stop laughing, which took the edge off the moment, that is, until he reminded me we had to go back the same way. I had forgotten that or I may never have gone in the first place.
Over the next ten years or so we never had a "bad" ride. Every one was filled with adventure beyond anything I had ever done, then or since. On one ride, I think up to Jack Pine lake, we were cruising along, Dad in front this time (we took turns eating each other's dust), when all of a sudden there was the biggest moose I had ever seen, trotting along beside Dad. They were both moving along at a pretty good clip and Dad was looking back at me with a huge smile on his face. All I could think of was what if that moose decided to turn into Dad. He would be just a memory. After a bit the moose did turn, but went off the road, probably as startled as Dad was at the experience.
Don't remember exactly what year it was, but one day when we went up to bike the Kettle, there were new barriers built and signs saying our days of dirt-biking the Kettle had come to an end. From then on I went up many times but on my mountain bike now. Still a wonderful place to go! As we sat on our beach in Westbank, watching the fire across the lake, I had no idea that I would wake up one morning to learn the trestles were gone. I had worked with the restoration society, adding planking and safety railings, with a great bunch of people. I broke down crying at the thought that it was all gone now. The fire of course went on to destroy 234 homes which was even more tragic. I was so angry when I learned from someone related to a fire-fighter that they had decided to "let it burn" when they first arrived at the initial fire, supposedly because they had been arguing for years to do a controlled burn in Okanagan Mountain park. The investigation that followed was a political white-wash and the truth never came out.
Another horrific experience with the Kettle was a windy day we were biking around number fourteen to eighteen, if I remember right. The wind was so strong that we were getting off our bikes and walking them across the very open and dangerous trestles. As tough as it is to ride across, it's even more fun trying to push a two hundred and fifty pound dead weight bike up and over all the cross ties. I got about half way across when I sudden strong gust of wind made me think I would be blown off. I had a moment of sheer panic and froze, afraid to move a muscle. I called to Dad, who had gone ahead of me, for help. As soon as he saw me frozen in terror he hollered that he would get across and then come back for me. It seemed to take forever, but he came back, took my bike from me and then coached me to walk across. I wanted to get down on my hands and knees. My hard leather biking boots felt like I would slip and fall any minute. It was not a walk in the park by any means. The following week we learned that a nineteen year-old girl has fallen to her death the following week off that same bridge. She was with her boyfriend, who must have been traumatized for the rest of his life. When we went up again there was a stone monument to her with her picture. It was a difficult and emotional moment for us. Such a tragedy! Naturally I thought about how that could have easily been me.
I know after the fire there was a huge movement to rebuild the trestles. When I left the Okanagan some had been restored and some had bypasses built. I don't know what the status is today, but in my dreams I hope to get back there one day and again bike the famous Kettle, one of the Okanagan's least known treasures.
Just Be Friends
This one is for all the broken-hearted men
Who feel that they will never love again.
They had found the one they’d been searching for
Someone to love unconditionally and truly adore.
But something went wrong along the way
The moment of dread. Those words she’d say.
“Let’s just be friends” ripped a hole in your heart
Just when you thought you would never part.
She was your one true love. The girl of your dreams.
Were those moments of love not what they seemed?
So lonely as one. So much better as two.
Now filled with pain. No idea what to do.
Too much sadness and pain for one man to bear
How could she do this to me? Why doesn’t she care?
The State of TV
Having lost my cable because Rogers wanted my first born child to continue (he's an adult now and objected) offering what they call "service", and being blackmailed by Rogers who are preventing Bell from providing me service (shouldn't that be illegal?), I am left with only my one local over-the-air channel, which, thanks to the government, apparently, I am also going to lose come August.
This got me thinking to the "good ole days" when all we had was over-the-air channels, not many if I remember my childhood, but they were all "broadcast" channels, including the three US networks at the time, NBC, ABC and CBS and two Canadian networks, CBC and CTV. The way it worked was we received the channels for FREE, but we had to sit through what they called "commercials" from advertisers who sponsored programs, paying for the actors and production costs. Everybody made money and we all went out and bought the products that were advertised on TV and we didn't have to pay a gazillion dollars a month for the privilege.
Today we have our TV delivered by cable or satellite. We still have to sit through all those same commercials, even more of them now, especially during programs like Hockey Night in Canada, which didn't use to have commercial "breaks" because that would mean losing the momentum of the game (oh, right) but for some unknown reason we now have to pay a bazillion dollars a month for the privilege. Now there's this thing called the internet, which we also pay a gazillion dollars for every month. So tell me why we can't get all our programs from this internet for FREE because the advertisers pay for the actors and to produce the programs and we go out and buy the products and then we wouldn't need to pay a cent for the privilege. What a concept!
The Ship Sailed Without Me
For most of my life I maintained a file called, simply, "Ideas", where I put drawings and writings and anything else related to an idea I had for a business venture. Before long the file became bulky with lots of ideas over the decades. When, at the last minute, I had to pair down everything I owned to fly to Panama instead of drive as I had intended, the file had to go. Naturally today, as I struggle to survive, I think of that file and wish it were still with me. For much of my life I have been criticized for being "ahead of my time", so many of those ideas in that file might be more workable now.
It is said that "you need money to make money" and that is very true, most of the time. In my life the rare exception would be Canada Lift, a forklift company that my colleague, Gerry Waterhouse and I formed on a whim and a prayer without a dime to our names. We secured the national rights for distribution for a Japanese company, NYK; setup a national network of dealers who gave us order, and got a line of credit from a bank to buy our first trucks, almost a quarter of a million dollars, almost all of which was pre-sold. As the trucks were coming across the ocean the bank changed their minds and pulled the dealer financing program, leaving us with no way to sell our stock. We met with a very high-priced lawyer who told us we could sue the bank and we would win, but he needed a fifty thousand dollar retainer and it would take ten years. I remember to this day asking him where the justice was? He replied that in Canada it was not a case of justice, but rather how much justice you could afford. We folded up our tent that day. So much for not needing money.
Pretty well my first idea was called BASIC, which stood for "Best Available Service In Canada". It was a take on basic book-keeping, but it was designed for busy lifestyle types and seniors who didn't have time to pay their bills and keep track of everything. The idea was that, for a monthly fee, we would pay all their bills on time and provide them with a monthly summary. The idea was to get our foot in the door offering this service and then upgrade our clients to doing their taxes, book-keeping, financial statements and so on. I felt the seniors market was very strong because these were people who easily forgot to pay on time even though they had the funds. My longer term goal was to see accountants or bookkeepers hold franchises across the country, all paying me a small fee to be under our marketing umbrella.
Another more forward thinking idea was actually called, at the time, The Future Shoppe. I went so far as to have a logo designed for it, which was a light bulb and stylized lettering. It cost me a pretty penny way back then and I hung on to the proof of the logo for a long time, long enough to see the Future Shop come along and send them a letter claiming my original name, but, of course, I had not registered the name and they blew me off. I remember writing a story about the experience of visiting the Future Shoppe. I wish I had it today because it included several technical ideas that didn't even exist at the time. The concept of the store was basically to act as a showplace for all new products, kind of an early focus group for manufacturers to test out product ideas and to launch new products.
An idea that I think has even more merit today was called the Big Kids Club. It was designed along the lines of the Welcome Wagon idea, but it extended to organizing special events to bring people together, especially those new to the community. I had developed about thirty different features, just one of which was hooking up with local businesses to offer special discounts to our club members. Sort of an early Groupon idea. It was all based on the idea that religions that had been bringing people together for centuries had fallen out of favor, leaving people to find friends on their own, something a lot of people find very difficult to do.
When I first decided to go to Panama part of my research involved what was planned for where I intended to live, in Boquete, up in the mountains. Thinking like a Canadian and not realizing that things in Panama took a lot longer, I saw things like the expansion of the road between Boquete and David to four lanes; a new road from Boquete to Volcan on the other side of the volcano; the expansion of the airport in David meaning new international flights; a planned flight from Toronto to David; a new refinery port on the Pacific near David, resulting in four thousand new workers being needed, and the multi billion dollar expansion of the Panama canal, all being huge signs of growth in Panama, much of it requiring housing for workers who would be in the country for only a couple of years. There were also changes being suggested to the Pensionado program that would make it easier for people from the US and Canada to stay for longer periods like six months.
When I researched housing it appeared that there were numerous homes, but they were all of Panamanian design and had no hot water, something that North Americans expected. First I designed a system that would easily add hot water to existing houses, adding the required plumbing on the outside of the home (no freezing here) then covered them up with architectural elements. I planned to use the profits from selling the place in Westbank to acquire older homes and then flip them after renovations. That all fell apart when I lost everything on the place in Westbank, thanks to my "friend" who let the roof collapse under the weight of the snow build-up that he was supposed to remove.
Even though my big renovation plans had collapsed when I first got to Panama I had started researching rainwater harvesting because I had heard so many stories about people running out of water. I knew that we were in the mountains, with hundreds of streams and rivers coming out of the mountain tops, plus we had over a hundred and twenty inches of rain per year, so I wondered how we could possibly have shortages? As it turned out, Panama was just about the only country left in the world that had no rainwater harvesting. I started researching systems and put together a business proposal and secured the rights for Panama for the equipment I needed. I hooked up with a local custom home builder who was willing to do the excavations for my underground tanks plus the plumbing required. I also had connected with a large developer who was putting cisterns under the patio slab and he was going to refer all his clients to me for the rainwater collection. I had made a connection with a guy back in London who was willing to be a silent partner and all he wanted to know was how much money I needed to get going. I explained that I needed a truck and some basic equipment but all I needed for the equipment was a line of credit with my suppliers. Once I designed the right systems for people they paid upfront because it was a custom system, so cash flow was not an issue. This guy made plans to come to Panama to meet with my builder friend and finalize the financing. I was off an running and thrilled to be in such a worthwhile business. I was just waiting for his flight information.
Days turned into weeks. My emails were not answered. I didn't want to appear desperate but my builder had a client coming down from South Carolina and he wanted to setup a meeting with me to design their system. Not only did they want rainwater harvesting, but also solar water heating, greywater treatment and power to keep them off the grid, which in Boquete was notoriously unreliable. I had no choice but to send him a little pushy email saying that we were going to lose everything here if we didn't respond. He sent me back a short email saying that they had discovered terminal cancer in his wife and he would obviously not be leaving her to come to Panama. The dream was gone. I did manage to consult to a guy who had been ripped off with his Poppa Paradise development. He drove me to his island near Bocas del Torro and I spent a week designing his system. I sourced the entire system and gave him the quotes, but, after I returned to Boquete, I never heard from him again. Although he put me up in a luxury cabin and fed me for a week, he never paid me for my time or contacted me again, even though he went with my recommendations.
The Big Idea, the one that would make me millions, is one I have been working on for several years now, to no avail. Over ten years ago I had put a proposal to Microsoft and at the time they had laughed at me, stating that Microsoft would NEVER allow such a thing. Today we know it as "cloud computing". The proposal I have been trying to get through to them and people like Apple, Google, Ning, My Life and anyone else who might listen, would revolutionize the way we all use the internet. I continue to try to get through to the movers and shakers in these companies and in the industry, but it's a closed system. Everyone hides behind the lawyers these days, worried about "intellectual property" concerns. There is no room for original thought anymore.
My "Idea File"
For most of my life I maintained a file called, simply, "Ideas", where I put drawings and writings and anything else related to an idea I had for a business venture. Before long the file became bulky with lots of ideas over the decades. When, at the last minute, I had to pair down everything I owned to fly to Panama instead of drive as I had intended, the file had to go. Naturally today, as I struggle to survive, I think of that file and wish it were still with me. For much of my life I have been criticized for being "ahead of my time", so many of those ideas in that file might be more workable now.
It is said that "you need money to make money" and that is very true, most of the time. In my life the rare exception would be Canada Lift, a forklift company that my colleague, Gerry Waterhouse and I formed on a whim and a prayer without a dime to our names. We secured the national rights for distribution for a Japanese company, NYK; setup a national network of dealers who gave us orders, and got a line of credit from the Bank of Nova Scotia to buy our first trucks, almost a quarter of a million dollars, almost all of which was pre-sold on the dealer floor plan BNS had also offered. As the trucks were coming across the ocean the bank suddenly changed their minds and pulled the dealer financing program, leaving us with no way to sell our stock. We met with a very high-priced lawyer who told us we could sue the bank and we would win, but he needed a fifty thousand dollar retainer and it would take ten years. I remember to this day asking him where the justice was? He replied that in Canada it was not a case of justice, but rather how much justice you could afford. We folded up our tent that day. So much for not needing money.
Pretty well my first idea was called BASIC, which stood for "Best Accounting Service In Canada". It was a take on basic book-keeping, but it was designed for busy lifestyle types and seniors who didn't have time to pay their bills and keep track of everything. The idea was that, for a monthly fee, we would pay all their bills on time and provide them with a monthly summary. The idea was to get our foot in the door offering this service and then upgrade our clients to doing their taxes, book-keeping, financial statements and so on. I felt the seniors market was very strong because these were people who easily forgot to pay on time even though they had the funds. My longer term goal was to see accountants or bookkeepers hold franchises across the country, all paying me a small fee to be under our marketing umbrella.
Another more forward thinking idea was actually called, at the time, The Future Shoppe. I went so far as to have a logo designed for it, which was a light bulb and stylized lettering. It cost me a pretty penny way back then and I hung on to the proof of the logo for a long time, long enough to see the Future Shop come along and send them a letter claiming my original name, but, of course, I had not registered the name and they blew me off. I remember writing a story about the experience of visiting the Future Shoppe. I wish I had it today because it included several technical ideas that didn't even exist at the time. The concept of the store was basically to act as a showplace for all new products, kind of an early focus group for manufacturers to test out product ideas and to launch new products. The real Future Shop failed.
An idea that I think has even more merit today was called the Big Kids Club. It was designed along the lines of the Welcome Wagon idea, but it extended to organizing special events to bring people together, especially those new to the community. I had developed about thirty different features, just one of which was hooking up with local businesses to offer special discounts to our club members. Sort of an early Groupon idea. It was all based on the idea that religions that had been bringing people together for centuries had fallen out of favor, leaving people to find friends on their own, something a lot of people find very difficult to do.
When I first decided to go to Panama part of my research involved what was planned for where I intended to live, in Boquete, up in the mountains. Thinking like a Canadian and not realizing that things in Panama took a lot longer, I saw things like the expansion of the road between Boquete and David to four lanes; a new road from Boquete to Volcan on the other side of the volcano; the expansion of the airport in David meaning new international flights; a planned flight from Toronto to David; a new refinery port on the Pacific near David, resulting in four thousand new workers being needed, and the multi billion dollar expansion of the Panama canal, all being huge signs of growth in Panama, much of it requiring housing for workers who would be in the country for only a couple of years. There were also changes being suggested to the Pensionado program that would make it easier for people from the US and Canada to stay for longer periods like six months.
When I researched housing it appeared that there were numerous homes, but they were all of Panamanian design and had no hot water, something that North Americans expected. First I designed a system that would easily add hot water to existing houses, adding the required plumbing on the outside of the home (no freezing here) then covered them up with architectural elements. I planned to use the profits from selling the place in Westbank to acquire older homes and then flip them after renovations. That all fell apart when I lost everything on the place in Westbank, thanks to my "friend" who let the roof collapse under the weight of the snow build-up that he was supposed to remove.
Even though my big renovation plans had collapsed when I first got to Panama I had started researching rainwater harvesting because I had heard so many stories about people running out of water. I knew that we were in the mountains, with hundreds of streams and rivers coming out of the mountain tops, plus we had over a hundred and twenty inches of rain per year, so I wondered how we could possibly have shortages? As it turned out, Panama was just about the only country left in the world that had no rainwater harvesting. I started researching systems and put together a business proposal and secured the rights for Panama for the equipment I needed. I hooked up with a local custom home builder who was willing to do the excavations for my underground tanks plus the plumbing required. I also had connected with a large developer who was putting cisterns under the patio slab and he was going to refer all his clients to me for the rainwater collection. I had made a connection with a guy back in London who was willing to be a silent partner and all he wanted to know was how much money I needed to get going. I explained that I needed a truck and some basic equipment but all I needed for the equipment was a line of credit with my suppliers. Once I designed the right systems for people they paid upfront because it was a custom system, so cash flow was not an issue. This guy made plans to come to Panama to meet with my builder friend and finalize the financing. I was off an running and thrilled to be in such a worthwhile business. I was just waiting for his flight information.
Days turned into weeks. My emails were not answered. I didn't want to appear desperate but my builder had a client coming down from South Carolina and he wanted to setup a meeting with me to design their system. Not only did they want rainwater harvesting, but also solar water heating, grey water treatment and power to keep them off the grid, which in Boquete was notoriously unreliable. I had no choice but to send him a little pushy email saying that we were going to lose everything here if we didn't respond. He sent me back a short email saying that they had discovered terminal cancer in his wife and he would obviously not be leaving her to come to Panama. The dream was gone. I did manage to consult to a guy who had been ripped off with his Poppa Paradise development. He drove me to his island near Bocas del Torro and I spent a week designing his system. I sourced the entire system and gave him the quotes, but, after I returned to Boquete, I never heard from him again. Although he put me up in a luxury cabin and fed me for a week, he never paid me for my time or contacted me again, even though he went with my recommendations.
The Big Idea, the one that would make me millions, is one I have been working on for several years now, to no avail. Over ten years ago I had put a proposal to Microsoft and at the time they had laughed at me, stating that Microsoft would NEVER allow such a thing. Today we know it as "cloud computing". The proposal I have been trying to get through to them and people like Apple, Google, Ning, My Life and anyone else who might listen, would revolutionize the way we all use the internet. I continue to try to get through to the movers and shakers in these companies and in the industry, but it's a closed system. Everyone hides behind the lawyers these days, worried about "intellectual property" concerns. There is no room for original thought anymore.
Another one that has yet to be invented or launched by anyone but me is what I call authenticated email. Back when email was first launched on the world it was pretty popular and quickly became the de facto standard for business. It wasn't long though before advertisers discovered the benefits of email and so did hackers. Soon your inbox became flooded with junk mail. Attempts to stop have mostly failed because the senders just change their IP address and keep going. Email has quickly given way to more instant messaging like text messaging, Instagram and WhatsApp, to name a few.
There are still a lot of things that you can best by email. There's also the social part of email. Not having an email address is like not having a phone number these days.
My system keeps all the good and gets rid of the bad. When someone new sends you an email you don't actually get the email. Instead you get a notice from your provider, let's say Google for Gmail, which asks you whether you want to accept it or not. Sort of like friending on Facebook. Same idea. Obviously if it's someone pushing Viagra on you you will block or not accept that sender. That puts them on a black list and you will never get another email from them. If you accept the notice Google will go back and authenticate the sender by sending them a notice that you have accepted them. It will double validate by sending them a code by text message that they must then enter to complete the process. The process now adds them to your contacts as being verified. In the same way you can block someone on Facebook you can also remove someone from your contacts and the process will start over again if they try to email you.
What ever happened to the "Smart Box"?
Years ago I read an article about the Smart Box that would soon be in every home and would revolutionize how we receive our television, telephone, music, games and movies. It would be a single conduit into the home and would deliver all the services throughout the home, with no wires. The discussion at the time was who would bring this to your home - telcos, cable companies, satellite companies, maybe even municipalities or local power companies. The technology was already there and companies like Shaw were promoting "fiber to every home" to provide the highest possible speeds. What happened to this vision?
All we have today, years later, is network executives, content producers, cable and phone company executives, software and hardware companies - everyone involved in the entertainment industry, all squabbling for control, protecting their own turf. Companies like Netflix, one of the only ones actually partly responding to what consumers want, true "on demand" services, then creating a backlash from traditional cable companies who impose ridiculous and unjustified bandwidth caps to stop people from using Netflix, or at least making it much more expensive than the $8 a month Netflix charges. There is no reason for this other than good old greed.
While Netflix does represent a solid concept - delivering on demand movies and series television from a well designed user menu interface, easy connectivity and fast streaming speeds, with the ability to pause. The service is limited to a single user on a single device, such as a WII. The downside of the service is that it is currently offering only older movies and series television, with no current TV offerings or recent movie releases. Compared to pay per view movies and cable on demand services, which typically charge upwards of $5.99 per movie, Netflix, at $8 per month is extremely economical. Even with a limited library consumers will likely maintain the service just to have it when they feel like watching something different or nostalgic.
Although I may not be typical, partly because I am not working right now, plus I am alone, I am still a consumer of entertainment, in some ways even more in need. As a job searcher my internet connection is vital as I spend a great deal of the day on the internet. As cloud computing becomes more and more the norm (some 40 million people use it today) a reliable and safe connection becomes more and more critical. It is equally important that the ability to move seamlessly between various devices is possible. Although I also have a cell phone, my plan is for unlimited incoming calls and text, not for making calls. For that I use my free Google Call Phone feature, which, albeit incredibly rudimentary with no features such as contacts, offers crystal clear voice call quality and ease of use. It could only be better for me if I weren't tied to my laptop headset and could use a Bluetooth ear bud and get the same call quality.
My Television is an old non HD set (why is it a "set?" Set of what?) so receiving HD broadcast or movies isn't critical, but this will soon be the norm. Until today I have been with Rogers, but the costs have been outrageous and I can no longer afford to have their service. A decent internet connection and a minimal television package was over a hundred dollars a month, not something I can possibly afford. Having been in the industry with Shaw Fiberlink, I know that the costs of laying fiber have gone down drastically, so it's fair to assume that most parts of the civilized world have been connected with fiber, so bandwidth is not an issue, except to print money. The cable companies have shown they are vultures here, putting "caps" on bandwidth, trying to convince us that it costs more to provide more. It's a bad joke. It's like the case of Bell Canada charging a customer some fifteen thousand dollars for a few dollars of cell phone service. These companies are today's robber barons and they must be stopped.
Just as bad as the cable companies are the content producers and networks, all of whom are acting like kids in a sandbox. Hard to believe these are high-priced adults when you see what they try to pull every day. They want the only football to be theirs and to threaten to take it home when they don't get their way. There's so much concentration of ownership and infighting, trying to protect their content from being widely distributed without being able to gouge everyone. Think for a second about movies. Talented artsy people come up with concepts for a movie. Producers then convince investors to put money up for production, hoping the movie will be successful and they will get a return on their investment. Theatres book the movie trusting that people will lay down their hard earned money to watch the movie. Everyone then hopes that people will enjoy the movie and then tell everyone to go and see it. The movie makes millions and everyone is happy. Okay, so at what point in this distribution chain did someone restrict access or charge exorbitant monthly fees or demand a guaranteed return, regardless of whether the movie was any good? No, it succeeded or failed based on merit, pure and simple. Why isn't TV like this?
The Smart Box model is still a subscription based model, but it allows for full customization of what consumers want. No forced theme packages chosen by someone who has no clue what you like. You are presented a list of all "channels", movie services, games, and internet. You select exactly what you want and then you receive a firm price back, both a monthly cost and a per use cost. The monthly cost would be similar to an iTunes model, where you would pay reasonable charges for things like "network" channels and "specialty" channels, interactive games and movie models similar to Netflix, which basically grants access to a library of older titles. Just like Netflix, the program would start to learn what you like and make recommendations to you.
The hardware part of the Smart Box is that is establishes an in-home wireless network for all devices, from desktop computers to smart phones, each with its own unique address. This same box might also deal with things like home security, appliances, lighting and HVAC. Here I'm dealing with the delivery of home entertainment.
The first concept is similar to a Netflix streaming service, but it deals with what's been referred to as "television". We'll now call it "broadcast" for clarity. The menu on each device first asks for a selection, such as Broadcast, Movies or Games. Selecting Broadcast then brings up what looks like the menu you see at tvguide.ca, but the times shown are not when the program is "airing" but rather when you want to schedule it. You start with the local news and the choices are "live" or "delay" with a time to watch. You can then either continue with "live" or program your evening, selecting the appropriate times. Similar to the way cable services allow you to set reminders, the program would warn of program overlaps, although this applies only to "live" selections. Even with "live" selections you can pause or rewind if you missed something, or select "record for later" if you are interrupted.
The other change is that all "live" programs are interactive, including the commercials. You can open a chat window and interact with other live viewers to comment on the show, similar to what you can do watching online content or playing interactive games. The interactive part of the commercials would allow viewers to do things like rate the commercial, the product; request buying coupons (downloaded to print) or comment on using the product, all of which would prove invaluable to advertisers. People might request a coupon to be delivered to their smart phone the next time they are at the Retailer, for example.
Movies and games would function as per current models, such as Netflix and Playstation. The monthly charge for a movie subscription would allow customization similar to a Windows Media Gallery library, with selections by genre, actor, or release date. For example there would be a children's library, a foreign films library and so on. The base rate, such as the current $8 a month would grant access to older content as it does on Netflix now. With the demise of Blockbuster there would be an upgraded service which would offer movies the day they are released. This might be in the area of $29 per month, which makes for economical viewing for all members of the family. Games would be charged on a similar scale. First run movies, that is those that are opening in theatres, would be available on a per movie basis, charged at a premium, but not as outrageous as it might cost to take a family of four to the theatre. Maybe something in the order of $12-14 would allow a family to watch the movie on their big screen TV and provide their own refreshments without the insane costs of the theatre for popcorn and drinks. Theatres will not go the way of Blockbuster because the huge screens and sound systems will still be a huge draw for many, plus the development of 3D and things like IMAX, which will never replicate properly at home.
Because all of this is based on connecting to the internet, having the option to access all of the features of the web on the "Entertainment Devices" is obvious. Everything is about interactivity, from chatting with fans of a broadcast show, to tweeting the stars of the show, to rating the show for the producers.
Instead of competing in the market for things like 3D, manufacturers would instead compete on design and integration, such as full integration between cell phones, tablets, laptops, PCs and HD TV.
The Smart Box - what you want, when you want it, where you want it - everywhere.
No worries..
I no longer need to wonder what it will be like to get old......I am old and have all the aches and pains to prove it.
I no longer need to wonder what it would be like to be fat.......I've put on twenty-five pounds since quitting smoking and I am fat.
I no longer feel the warmth and security of being surrounded by family......My dear parents have both died and my kids abandoned me years ago. I have no family.
I no longer wonder what my friends think of me........I have no friends.
I no longer worry about what to do with all my money................I have none.
I no longer spend hours renovating my house..............I have no house.
I no longer worry about repairs, insurance or gas for my car.............my beater car has been parked for months.
I no longer worry about fashion in clothes...................I have not had money for clothes in years.
I no longer wonder what it's like to be loved by someone special............I have not been in love for a year.
I no longer wonder how it feels to have someone special in your life..............I have been alone for a year.
I no longer marvel at the joys of where I live..............I am stuck here, it seems, forever.
I no longer wake every day, impatient to get to work.............I haven't worked since last year.
I know longer know why I am here.