Friday, September 19, 2008
Much More Than A Roller Coaster
What a week. I don't remember the time that there has been such turmoil in the markets. Imagine, the TSE closed UP today 848 points! Great new and indicative, I trust, that all of the steps taken by the various central governments and US authorities has finally given a sufficient level of confidence that we have a from of stabilization! Let's keep our fingers crossed that nnext week falls into line!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Wednesday, September 17th, 2008
There is certainly a lot of financial turmoil happening right now. It’s a bubble bursting – long overdue to many in the know – and although it leads to scary times, the greed and excesses at every level of the US housing market from the consumer who purchased a house that they could not afford to the major bank that sold/insured these bundles of worthless mortgages are now seeing the consequence of their actions. Lax regulations helped make it easy for it all to happen. Let’s hope that the crisis has been adverted and stability will return.
There is certainly a lot of financial turmoil happening right now. It’s a bubble bursting – long overdue to many in the know – and although it leads to scary times, the greed and excesses at every level of the US housing market from the consumer who purchased a house that they could not afford to the major bank that sold/insured these bundles of worthless mortgages are now seeing the consequence of their actions. Lax regulations helped make it easy for it all to happen. Let’s hope that the crisis has been adverted and stability will return.
Sunday, September 14th, 2008
This was our last day at the cottage – packed up and returned to Toronto for another year. One highlight of the past few months are finding out about the Rogers Stick. It goes in the USB port on my computer and wirelessly lets me have access to high speed broadband internet. It works anywhere a Blackberry can receive data and is truly an enabling device. It let me check the various weather sites while sitting on my dock! Imagine that!
This was our last day at the cottage – packed up and returned to Toronto for another year. One highlight of the past few months are finding out about the Rogers Stick. It goes in the USB port on my computer and wirelessly lets me have access to high speed broadband internet. It works anywhere a Blackberry can receive data and is truly an enabling device. It let me check the various weather sites while sitting on my dock! Imagine that!
Friday, September 12th, 2008
Talk about distraction. The US election seems to have gone on forever. Imagine, the candidates have devoted almost two years full time to running for President! And that’s not the last of it! Prior, time was also invested. It seems to me that it’s a real distraction for everyone. How can you been “running” a country and also “running” for President. Not to mention the enormous amount of money being spent - $1 billion and more. But the real issue is the distraction when there are so many important other issues to be followed!
Talk about distraction. The US election seems to have gone on forever. Imagine, the candidates have devoted almost two years full time to running for President! And that’s not the last of it! Prior, time was also invested. It seems to me that it’s a real distraction for everyone. How can you been “running” a country and also “running” for President. Not to mention the enormous amount of money being spent - $1 billion and more. But the real issue is the distraction when there are so many important other issues to be followed!
Thursday September, 11th 2008
Realizing today is the 7th anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 tragedy reminded me that terrorism is, indeed, a threat to our world today! There should be no question or any debate about the realty of this.
What the world needs is a coordinated global initiative and strategy to combat this threat. Up until now, at least the public sense is that the US has lead the attack in Iraq and NATO in Afghanistan. However, it’s likely that both initiatives have huge flaws but nevertheless, we must remember that terrorism does exist and does need to be fought. Just because there haven’t been incidents of the same size, scope and horror of 9/11 doesn’t give any of us the right to “stick our heads in the sand”
Every nation must contribute and take the same risks. This is a worldwide challenge and must understood as such and fought in the same manner
Realizing today is the 7th anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 tragedy reminded me that terrorism is, indeed, a threat to our world today! There should be no question or any debate about the realty of this.
What the world needs is a coordinated global initiative and strategy to combat this threat. Up until now, at least the public sense is that the US has lead the attack in Iraq and NATO in Afghanistan. However, it’s likely that both initiatives have huge flaws but nevertheless, we must remember that terrorism does exist and does need to be fought. Just because there haven’t been incidents of the same size, scope and horror of 9/11 doesn’t give any of us the right to “stick our heads in the sand”
Every nation must contribute and take the same risks. This is a worldwide challenge and must understood as such and fought in the same manner
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008
September really brings in a New Year. The weather changes – summer slips away – it’s noticeably darker longer in the morning and earlier in the evening. Families find their children back at school. Summer clothes are replaced with winter clothes. Many promises and resolution are made by each of us to ourselves. It really is a 2nd New Year!
September really brings in a New Year. The weather changes – summer slips away – it’s noticeably darker longer in the morning and earlier in the evening. Families find their children back at school. Summer clothes are replaced with winter clothes. Many promises and resolution are made by each of us to ourselves. It really is a 2nd New Year!
It’s A Different World
The internet and email - Outlook, search engines - Google, social sites – Facebook & MySpace, entertainment downloading – iTunes, shopping sites – so much that is part of us today BUT was not almost yesterday! It’s really remarkable the new “stuff” that has spring up from nothing to become a household – regular part of our lives. Think about it!
I don’t know about you but I now order books, clothes, computers online, make travel arrangements myself – even select seats and print boarding passes, answer almost any question I have, talk directly too our customers, do my banking, check the value of my investments, find out the weather for the weekend and so much more.
The New screen is infinitely more powerful than the TV screen. It puts us in control of what we do when we want to do it where we want to do it!
This “power to control our lives” just happened – the internet – for the most part being FREE – enable it to happen!
However, to be fair, the key is making sure that everyone has the ability to access the internet. This “tool – invention – miracle” is so powerful that all of us that have the privilege to be able to have it MUST do what everything we can to help those people that don’t have it to have it!
Maybe it’s really the next level of communication. Imagine how handicapped you would be if you could not hear or talk! That’s the basic way we communicate. If you could talk or hear, you would clearly be so far left behind! Now there’s an additional way the internet!
Last Xmas, I took advantage of Nicolas Negroponte’s special two for one offer of his computers – one was donated and other came to me. This was the first tiny step to finding out how we do something to make a difference in enabling children and adults all over the world to have this “miracle” tool!
This leads to the conclusion that every major computer company MUST develop an inexpensive computer that can be offered/given to those that can’t afford it!
Only when this happens and everybody is connected – can we really begin to make changes in the world. Remember, we are in control – we really are – the internet has given us all the ability to talk to each other, to simply and complicate our lives but most importantly to be more
in charge of what we do when we do it and how we want to do it!
So some of the major “problems of the world” are really solved by everyone having access to the internet. It is the leveling tool – it gives everyone the ability and the power to maker a difference in the world.
Clearly what is happening is everyone will have a voice in what is happening in the world – if they are online! Imagine asking a question and having the input of all of your customers. Imagine sharing the results with your customers!
We’re moving from the power of the government/big business to the power of the individual! Hurray!
The internet and email - Outlook, search engines - Google, social sites – Facebook & MySpace, entertainment downloading – iTunes, shopping sites – so much that is part of us today BUT was not almost yesterday! It’s really remarkable the new “stuff” that has spring up from nothing to become a household – regular part of our lives. Think about it!
I don’t know about you but I now order books, clothes, computers online, make travel arrangements myself – even select seats and print boarding passes, answer almost any question I have, talk directly too our customers, do my banking, check the value of my investments, find out the weather for the weekend and so much more.
The New screen is infinitely more powerful than the TV screen. It puts us in control of what we do when we want to do it where we want to do it!
This “power to control our lives” just happened – the internet – for the most part being FREE – enable it to happen!
However, to be fair, the key is making sure that everyone has the ability to access the internet. This “tool – invention – miracle” is so powerful that all of us that have the privilege to be able to have it MUST do what everything we can to help those people that don’t have it to have it!
Maybe it’s really the next level of communication. Imagine how handicapped you would be if you could not hear or talk! That’s the basic way we communicate. If you could talk or hear, you would clearly be so far left behind! Now there’s an additional way the internet!
Last Xmas, I took advantage of Nicolas Negroponte’s special two for one offer of his computers – one was donated and other came to me. This was the first tiny step to finding out how we do something to make a difference in enabling children and adults all over the world to have this “miracle” tool!
This leads to the conclusion that every major computer company MUST develop an inexpensive computer that can be offered/given to those that can’t afford it!
Only when this happens and everybody is connected – can we really begin to make changes in the world. Remember, we are in control – we really are – the internet has given us all the ability to talk to each other, to simply and complicate our lives but most importantly to be more
in charge of what we do when we do it and how we want to do it!
So some of the major “problems of the world” are really solved by everyone having access to the internet. It is the leveling tool – it gives everyone the ability and the power to maker a difference in the world.
Clearly what is happening is everyone will have a voice in what is happening in the world – if they are online! Imagine asking a question and having the input of all of your customers. Imagine sharing the results with your customers!
We’re moving from the power of the government/big business to the power of the individual! Hurray!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Who Would Have Guessed?
Talk about coincidence! One of our Lauren Hutton Face Disc customers who lives in Yellowknife wrote us a wonderful testimonial about her experience with Lauren's product and quoted "As someone who NEVER wore make up prior to this product, I would now never leave home without it. Love, love, love it!!!" And we asked her permission to post this on our site - http://www.interwood.com/.
And then a month later, we received a 2nd glowing testimonial from another happy customer - also living in Yellowknife - telling us she had read her sister email, was very pleased to see that our testimonials were real and that her other sister and her mother also wear Lauren Hutton makeup and "love it".
What enthusiasm for the product and thanks very much to them for taking the time to tell us about it and sharing their experiences! Who would have guessed that there would be so many happy customers in Yellowknife?
And then a month later, we received a 2nd glowing testimonial from another happy customer - also living in Yellowknife - telling us she had read her sister email, was very pleased to see that our testimonials were real and that her other sister and her mother also wear Lauren Hutton makeup and "love it".
What enthusiasm for the product and thanks very much to them for taking the time to tell us about it and sharing their experiences! Who would have guessed that there would be so many happy customers in Yellowknife?
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Congratulations to Premier Gordon Campbell and Carol Taylor, Finance Minister
An amazing event happened yesterday in Victoria, BC. The British Columbia Provincial Government became the first North American State or Province to introduce a carbon tax effective July 1st this year. And it's neatly packaged such that the extra tax that we'll all pay when buying gasoline will be refunded through lowering of other provincial taxes. It appears to be "tax revenue neutral". and if so, is a major step towards changing our behavior and taxing us as we pollute!
What isn't clearly understood is that each gallon of gasoline that our cars consumes (each gallon weighs 6 pounds) combines with the amosphere to produce 19 pounds of carbon emissions or greenhouse gases as some of us! For us, each litre produces 5 pounds! What I don't know and would love to someone to show me is what these 19 pounds of greenhouse gases look like! Then it would make more sense to all of us. A picture is truly worth a 1,000 words!
This really now sets the stardard for the rest of us! Well done!
What isn't clearly understood is that each gallon of gasoline that our cars consumes (each gallon weighs 6 pounds) combines with the amosphere to produce 19 pounds of carbon emissions or greenhouse gases as some of us! For us, each litre produces 5 pounds! What I don't know and would love to someone to show me is what these 19 pounds of greenhouse gases look like! Then it would make more sense to all of us. A picture is truly worth a 1,000 words!
This really now sets the stardard for the rest of us! Well done!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Day After Family Day
For those of us that live in Ontario, Canada, I hope you all had an enjoyable Family Day! In my case, I snuck into the office to do some thinking. Our business is in the midst of change - as are many others - and it's a intriguing challenge to be part of that change and understand what role Interwood will play!
It's all centered around The New Screen as it's been called and is truly changing the way we live. It enables all of us to talk - virtually free - to each other, find new freinds, share interests, learn about almost anything - what an opportunity!
Interwood has been in existence since 1974, seen many changes but this is by far the most profound! As we continue to try to find our way in the New World, this blog will serve of a way for me to share our experience with you! I hope you enjoy it
It's all centered around The New Screen as it's been called and is truly changing the way we live. It enables all of us to talk - virtually free - to each other, find new freinds, share interests, learn about almost anything - what an opportunity!
Interwood has been in existence since 1974, seen many changes but this is by far the most profound! As we continue to try to find our way in the New World, this blog will serve of a way for me to share our experience with you! I hope you enjoy it
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