This week, I had the pleasure of promoting my colleague and friend, Aimee Deziel of 76design. 

Now I am not what anyone, particularly those who know me, would call a sensitive, emotional or coddling guy.

However, in promoting Aimee to the position of Vice-President of 76design, I really shared her excitement.

Three years ago, Aimee was the first person I hired in my now five year career at Thornley Fallis & 76design.  So (and not to sound condescending) I take pride in her success and the contribution she has made to our firm since joining us in 2004.

Her leadership has really been a driving force in 76design’s growth, particularly over the past 18 months and she will be a key element of the continued success of Thornley Fallis & 76design going forward.

Below is the email message that I sent out to staff earlier today announcing her well-deserved promotion.

On behalf of Joe and Alex, I would like to announce the appointment of Aimee Deziel to Vice-President of 76design.

 

Aimee has been with us for close to 3 years and was the first hire I made with the firm, so of course I am particularly excited for Aimee and very proud of her success.

 

We have a great team that is consistently delivering better and better work, and except for the odd March Meltdown, has fun along the way.  This is resulting in more work from existing clients and regularly winning new assignments from new clients in new sectors.

 

Aimee Deziel has been a very big and very important part of our success and growth.  She is a very smart, talented, passionate, creative and dedicated individual that brings a lot of enthusiasm to both the work we do and our office environment.

 

Originally hired on the TF side, Aimee’s advertising background eventually led her to start getting involved in more and more of 76design’s creative projects. 

 

Last year, we formally transitioned her fully to 76design.  Since then, she has been leading the design and creative team, and has been integral to 76design’s continuously growing reputation as a firm that does really creative and smart work, provides excellent service, and is great to work with.

 

Today’s announcement of Aimee’s appointment to Vice-President of 76design not only recognizes the role she is already playing, but is an indication from Joe, Alex and I, as well as Brett and Steve, that we believe her and her leadership are key to the ongoing and future success of not only 76design, but the entire firm.

 

Congratulations Aimee, you have worked hard, you have been successful and you definitely deserve this! 

Le Journal de Montréal nous annonce ce matin que la Cour d’appel confirme le jugement de Sophie Chiasson contre CHOI FM (Jeff Fillion).

Bravo.

Jeff Fillion ne méritait que cet ultime pied de nez. Une femme, de qui il est s’est permis de rire éperdument en utilisant des insultes plus basses les unes que les autres, lui remet la monnaie de sa pièce. Que dire de plus que : bravo.
     

Last night on the Coach’s Corner segment following the Leafs win over Montreal, Don Cherry threw any remaining thread of non-Leaf bias on Hockey Night in Canada right out the window.

In order for the Leafs to qualify for the 2007 playoffs, New Jersey needs to beat the Islanders this afternoon.

Don opened the post-game segment saying it “wouldn’t be fair” if Devils Head Coach Lou Lamoriello didn’t start Martin Brodeur against the Islanders.

Martin Brodeur is the Devils best player and the best goalie in the NHL.

Today’s game against the Islanders is meaningless to the Devils in terms of their regular season finish and playoff position.

So what reason would they possibly have to start the 35 year old Brodeau who has already started 78 of the Devils 81 games this year, which is the most starts by any goalie in the league.

Come on Don… that was a pathetic plee for the Devils to try to help Toronto get into the playoffs.

I don’t know who is responsible for determining the TV schedule for coverage of the Masters golf tournament — CBS, Augusta National or both.

Whoever it is, for golf’s first major (of 4) of the year, the TV schedule really sucks.

Thursday, April 5: 4pm to 7pm on USA (TSN in Canada)
Friday, April 6: 4pm to 7pm on USA (TSN in Canada)
Saturday, April 7: 3:30pm to 7pm on CBS
Sunday, April 8: 2:30pm to 7pm on CBS

Only 3 hours on Thursday and Friday when the entire field is playing.  Not starting until 3:30pm on Saturday.  Come on?!?!

Yesterday being Good Friday made matters worse as I was home from work and could have watched the tournament all day.  I’m sure I wasn’t the only golf fanatic that wanted to watch, but couldn’t.  Instead, I had to watch the Golf Channel telling me, rather than showing me, what was happening.

I even tried to watch CBS’ live feed of Amen Corner on the web, but was informed its not available outside of the US. Why the hell not?  Isn’t the Internet borderless?

The Masters does not need to worry about people watching the tournament on TV instead of buying tickets.

The patron list for tickets to the Thursday to Sunday rounds has been closed for 35 years, since 1972.  A waiting list began in 1972 and was closed in 1978.  The waiting list re-opened briefly in 2000, but is now closed.

The Masters does not need to worry about selling tickets and millions of people want to watch every shot.

Why not do a deal with the Golf Channel, like the PGA Tour did this year and let them provide early coverage each day before CBS / USA takes over?  I’m sure the Golf Channel would do it in a heart beat.  They’re already broadcasting from and about Augusta basically all day, all week, they are just not able to show any actual golf.

Or why not just broadcast the entire tournament, from first tee time to final putt, on the Internet?

Every time I see commentators from Quebec on Radio-Canada or TVA analyzing results of an election or referendum vote in Quebec, they always break down the votes into anglophone Quebecers and francophone Quebecers, thereby creating two classes of Quebecers.

These analysts are typically pro-sovereignist, talking about how the federalist cause (i.e. the Quebec liberals) are doing among francophones, etc.  Every single time I hear this, I think about moving across the river to Gatineau so that I too can become a Quebecois and drive the sovereignists mad by getting a vote.

If you live in Quebec, you’re a Quebecer.  I’m aware that drives sovereignists crazy, given their desire for an independent nation, but we live in a democracy, where everyone’s votes – man, woman, English, French, Catholic, Protesant, Muslim, etc. — count equally.

And a final aside — if Canada is divisible … Do the math.

It’s tax time.  Well, at least it is for anal people like me that don’t wait until the last possible minute to file.

For the last five years (maybe six), my first step in income tax preparation has been to purchase Quick Tax by Intuit.

Quick Tax works well, so I’ve never bothered to try anything else.  Plus, now you can download it on the web, so no trip to the store required.

Sure, Quick Tax makes it easier for me to complete my return, but it also no doubt makes it a lot easier and much faster for the Canada Revenue Agency to process my return.

So why does it cost me an additional $40 to help the CRA improve their efficiency? I’m already paying thousands in income tax. 

Why doesn’t the CRA run a competition and pay one or more companies to develop each year’s tax prep software and make it available to Canadians for free?

Or why don’t they make the cost of the tax prep software an eligible deduction?

I’m sure they save at least $40 per return when people complete it electronically and use NetFile.

I’ve thought about this each time I’ve handed over my $40 to prepare my income taxes, which then showed me the thousands of dollars my household pays to the government each year.

More infuriating was back a few years ago when I learned, from a contact working there, that CRA employees received tax prep software for free from the companies that develop and produce it.  I don’t know if that still happens, but as I’ve spend $40 per year for the last several years, it doesn’t seem fair. 

Bill Gates was speaking this morning at the National Arts Centre about the coming decade of change in the world’s ongoing digital revolution.

It was a very good presentation, and the speech was very well received.  What impressed me as well was that he said he’d speak for 20 minutes, and then he did.

Twenty minutes on the future of technology and its impact on our lives.

The lesson for me?  If that only took 20 minutes, then odds are good the longest any speech should be, ever, is 20 minutes.

The event started on time, ended early, and Mr. Gates is now the proud recipient of an Ottawa Senators jersey to boot.

Welcome to Ottawa, Mr. Gates — please come back soon.

The ‘back’ button on the side of my Blackberry stopped working a couple of weeks ago.  The device still works, but navigation between screens using only the scroll wheel & menus was a becoming a little too cumbersome.   Plus the same capability is now available in a much smaller package with a camera and MP3 player.

So this weekend, it was off to Rogers for the Blackberry Pearl.

Now, let me start off by saying I am an ultimate Rogers customer.  My household has the following Rogers products:

• My Blackberry/mobile phone
• My wife’s mobile phone
• Hi-Speed Internet
• Three digital TV terminals (HD PVR, HD Digital, Digital)

All this works out to about $400 per month, or about $4800 per year.  I would assume this ranks me high as an individual consumer for Rogers and they’d want to keep me happy or, at least, somewhat satisfied. 

Back to my experience at the Rogers store on Saturday.

I walked in, went up to the first sales person I saw and said, “I want to buy a Blackberry Pearl.”  So a pretty easy sale of one of their most expensive items.

As he was processing my purchase and linking the new device to my account, I was informed that there would be a $35 Administration Fee!  He asked if I minded this.

I said, “Well, actually I do, but I’m guessing there is nothing you can do about it.”  Big surprise, there wasn’t.  I then asked what it was for.  He said, “Administration.”  Really, well in that case… by all means charge it… 

I guess they couldn’t find $35 out of the $4800 I’m already giving them to handle ‘administration’ of my account.

I was then advised that the $250 I was paying for my new Pearl (based on a 3–year contract) was actually $300 less a $50 mail-in rebate.  This required me to fill out a short-form, copy my receipt and send it in to Rogers.  I did that today.  It was a couple of minutes, but why?

When are companies going to stop with the damn mail-in rebate?  Particularly when, like in this case, you are sending it to the seller (Rogers), not the manufacturer (Blackberry).  

For the love of god, I was standing in your store making the purchase, just charge me the price less mail-in rebate and save us all the trouble. 

If you (Rogers) then need to sort out something with Blackberry afterwards, use the ‘administration fee’ I paid and leave me out of it.

Today, February 15^th, is National Flag of Canada Day.

During celebrations at an Ottawa high school, Prime Minister Stephen Harper (who only celebrates the flag below) paid tribute to Canada’s Second World War veterans and announced a contribution of $5 million to operate the Juno Beach Centre in Normandy, France through the next decade.

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion issued a statement that said: (para-phrasing) flag day celebrates our common citizenship and sense of pride in our country; reminds us how lucky we are to live in a country of peace, where a Charter guarantees our rights, where the future is abundant with promise; this banner identifies us and powerfully demonstrates the strength of our convictions and our national pride.

Totally right on all counts.

Unfortunately, Mr. Dion has yet to give up his French Citizenship.  So does his flag day flag look like this?

Today is the second good opportunity Mr. Dion has missed to give up his French Citizenship.  The other was when France’s presidential candidate Segolene Royal made comments that appeared to support the idea of Quebec sovereignty.

In my opinion, if you want to lead this country your citizenship should be Canadian, only.

In my opinion, the Conservative Party of Canada is really good at fundraising through direct mail and email.

Living in Ottawa and being in the business I’m in, I’ve attended both Conservative and Liberal party events over the years.  Thus I receive mailings (letter and email) from both parties.

The Conservatives mailings seem to be more frequent (without being an annoyance) and deliver their message quickly and concisely.

The Liberals mailings seem to be less frequent and I tend to find the cover letters longer and not as well crafted.

I don’t have anything to support this, but I understand the Conservatives generate a lot more money through their direct mail fundraising efforts than the Liberals do.