21Nov 2010 by R&O 4 Comments

Last Day at 2250 Granville

Events, Of Interest, People
June 27, 1997 was the last day of Pacific Newspaper Group (formerly Pacific Press) at 2250 Granville Street in Vancouver so I brought my crappy video camera to document the festivities before the big move to 200 Granville Street, our present location. Pacific Press moved into 2250 Granville Street in 1965 (from 100 West Pender) and although the old building was showing its age and smelled and looked somewhat like a Dickensian aslylum, it felt like a newspaper building. The floors would tremble when the big presses started up for the day's printing and there was a general sense of camaraderie and participation in the group effort it took to produce the newspapers. The top floor lunchroom had a spectacular view and was used by everyone involved in the day-to-day…
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22Oct 2010 by R&O 1 Comment

Global Hypocrites

Economy, Environment, People, Politics, Rants
In our present culture, celebrities such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Gore, Robert Redford and other multi-millionaire jet-setters are quite vocal about how the rest of us should live our lives. They advise us to sell our gas-guzzlers and buy an electric or hybrid car, exchange our incandescent light bulbs with annoying 'green' low-energy light bulbs, recycle our garbage, compost our kitchen scraps and generally spend an inordinate amount of our precious time taking care of mother earth. Fair enough, but what about THEM? What do THEY personally do to make our earth better? By all reports, very little except gorging themselves on our finite energy resources and having a blast in the process. This became abundantly clear when Al Gore was exposed as a green douche-bag when it was revealed…
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14Oct 2010 by R&O 32 Comments
Another Asshole

Another Asshole

Assholes, Observations, People, Rants
The world is full of assholes but I seem to run across my fair share on a regular basis. The newest recipient of the AprilRoad.com 'Asshole of the Week' award is Simon Swanwick, a New Jersey resident who managed to waste almost 5 hours of my time and have the audacity to berate me for it. This guy is truly a treat. Here's the story in a nutshell: I offer users of an open-source bulk email software system a variety of services including installation, configuration and tutoring. This idiot contacted me requesting I install the software on his web server, configure it and then walk him through the process of creating and sending messages. I should have been suspicious when he mentioned that a previous consultant had bailed on him…
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08Jul 2010 by R&O No Comments
When Queen was King

When Queen was King

Events, Music, Of Interest, People
Way back in December of 1979 and again in June of 1980, Doug Bower, a friend and fellow employee, went to see Queen perform at The Pacific Coliseum here in Vancouver. Back in these days of festival seating and lax security, a young aspiring photographer like Doug could bring his camera along to take photos of the band while standing a few rows back from the stage. (Yes, those were the days when we could get close to our rock idols without guard rails and security personnel. We refer to them as the good old days of rock.) Doug mentioned the photos he had taken back then as we discussed our favourite bands from the 70's and I asked him to dig them out and let me have a look.…
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