Hawaii get-away a deal for you before Christmas · Monday October 31, 2011 by colin newell
Our favourite Hawaii get away is the Hale Kona Kai off of Alii Drive in Kona.
We are coming up on a 4th visit in a row – what we consider a long-stay (1 month). They are usually pretty busy but they have a window available before Christmas and if you are thinking of a last minute get away to the Big Island and are looking for an awesome place to stay – look no further!
This unit at the Hale Kona Kai is available Dec 12 – 22 ‘starting’ at $100/night.
Meaning, the bigger the piece you take out of this booking, the cheaper it’s going to get.
Andrea and I enjoy the power of a tropical sunset. And if you are thinking Big Island last minute you might want to consider this property.
We write about it Hawaii Travel Chapter One – Hawaii Travel Chapter Two – Hawaii Travel Chapter Three Hawaii Travel Chapter Four – Hawaii Travel Chapter Five
Search my blog using keywords Hawaii or Big Island and you will find lots.
The link for the Big Island Kona condo is here
The decline of the American small business empire part one · Thursday October 27, 2011 by colin newell
My buddy Chris, and I, sit over coffee most mornings at the University of Victoria’s Finnerty Express – it is my morning hang out. We are often in the company of retired or working Math professors, economists, technicians and even gardeners. There is always a lively discussion on topics as widely varied as politics, religion and events of the day.
Chris had a story recently that was too hard not to share. And it is all about the decline of customer service and small business in America (much of this could apply to Canada as well…) So here we go.
Chris and I are both aspiring musicians, both of us being active guitar players and singers. We actually performed recently in front of a lively crowd of around 100 people in one of the Grad student lounges on campus.
Chris likes to build and modify guitars – for most of us guitar types, the endless tweaking of our instrument is in our blood. In this particular instance, Chris was ordering a neck for one of his prized instruments, an old Fender Telecaster. He was ordering this new component from Seattle – and as it turned out, one weekend recently, he found himself in Seattle, not far from the factory that makes the parts that he was looking for.
So. Brilliant. He was in town and decided to head to the factory store and get his purchase directly. Over he goes. When he gets to the store, somewhere near Redmond Washington, he drives into the parking lot and walks up to the door. Looking in he can see a wall of instrument parts and the desired neck he seeks. There is a sign on the door. “Appointment only – showroom not open!”
Chris sees someone working in the store and beckons him to the locked door. A fellow comes over and open the door an inch. The guy points to the sign. Chris says, “I have come all the way from Victoria and would like to buy one of those necks… I have the cash in my pocket…” Store clerk: “We do not accept drop ins… you will need to call for an appointment…” Clerk hands him a card with the 1-800 number.
Chris backs away and phones the number.
You guessed it. The clerk in the store picks up the phone at the counter. I kid you not.
The clerk takes his information and comes back to the door.
Chris comes into the store and points to the neck he is interested in.
Clerk says: “We do not do direct store sales generally…” “You will have to place an order on the internet…”
Chris repeats, “I have cash in my pocket, I want that neck on the wall… and you have a shipping area in the back… can I pick it up there?”
“the shipping area is for couriers only… fedex, purolator, etc…” the clerk tosses out.
At the end of the exchange, Chris was several feet away from a guitar component that he was ready and willing to pay for on the spot – and was unable to because of a poorly operated business with completely and unflinchingly inept staff.
This is one reason while America is failing. They have lost touch with reality and the ability to do business.
Example two from the beleaguered Chris:
Chris recently bought an audio mixing board from a company in the U.S.
Over the internet.
Audio mixing boards: All of us musicians have one. We often use it to hook up multiple instruments and microphones in a studio or stage situation.
Chris needed a small mixer for performance scenarios. He found the one he was looking for at a decent price. Brand new. When he purchased it online, he took the option for “extended warranty and insurance coverage” — for virtually any situation; drop it off a cliff, it is covered. No worries.
Within a week, his mixer arrives. But it does not work properly.
He calls the help line for the equipment company that sold him the equipment.
Chris tells his story, “The gear arrived but it does not work… it is broken… there are several channels that are dead…”
“Not sure what we can do for you…” says the voice on the telephone…
Chris reminds them, “I bought warranty coverage for this piece of…”
“Ah, says the fellow on the help line…” “you are describing a pre-existing condition sir… it did not fail while it was in your possession! Your warranty coverage does not cover this!”
Say what?
I looked at the mixer for him – it was a simple take apart and I am a qualified technician. By the looks of it, it could not have worked even from the factory – it was defective in that there were cold solder joints and solder bridges from the factory. It never worked. It could never have worked. Shocking.
Anyway – 2 months on and Chris is still fighting via the phone and the internet to get his money back, a refund or something functional.
Another reason why America is in trouble…
Because small business and manufacturing have utterly lost their way.
This is the 1st chapter in what might become a small series in why we are falling down in the area of manufacturing and customer service in North America.
Thanksgiving 2011 - so much to be thankful for · Monday October 10, 2011 by colin newell
Just spent a wonderful 3 day weekend at Point no Point cabins – Andrea’s and my primary get-away.
Timely escape as it is Thanksgiving weekend – and true to form, we never do anything within the realm of ordinary. This is Canadian Thanksgiving weekend – yes, I think it is earlier than our American counterpart… all about seasons and all. We harvest earlier.
Anyway – this weekend we had our favorite cabin (it is a secret…) – packed in some wine, some food and some radio equipment (to keep station VA7WWV on the air – kind of a civil defense priority!)
Dinner on Friday night was a quickie of gourmet kosher all beef hot dogs, beer and potato chips – the beer was Blue Buck. We arrive around 4 or 5 normally on one of these weekends and the sooner that we get into the outdoor hot-tub the better!
Saturday morning included a road trip into Sooke, B.C. for lunch at “The EdGe” – I had the kitchen sink bowl and Andrea had their classic burger served on an in-house triangle shaped bun. The Kitchen sink includes a bit of beef, white fish, shell fish, some pasta in a spicy Thai style broth.
Afterward we had a quick coffee at “The Stick” in Sooke.
On our way back through Otter Point, we stopped at the Tugwell Creek meadery – for those unfamiliar with mead, look it up. Oddly, I have around 8 bottles of Tugwell mead in my wine rack that are untouched – good thing some of them will last upwards of 1000 years! Yes, we bought two more bottles!
Saturday evening dinner was at “The Point” restaurant – and for a change we ordered all appetizers; Frisee salad featuring pork belly and soft boiled egg on frisee lettuce, seared scallops on a marmalade biscuit, a duck confit treatment, and an in house “tortilla chip” salsa thing… cannot remember what the protein on it was.
We had a bottle of an Argentinian Malbec with this collection.
We tend to avoid the mains at the Point no Point restaurant because they tend to be somewhat over the top, not so much with the quality (which is great) but the quantity – I avoid mains that have too much on the plate.
Dessert. For a change, we ordered two: the Creme Brulee and their awesome chocolate mousse.
Getting away from the grid gives us a great opportunity to count all of our blessings – and there are lots of them; great health, wonderful marriage (15+ years and every day is part of a remarkable honeymoon!), steady work, awesome friends and on and on and on. I am sure my readers have their own stories – love to hear them in the comment field of course!
The Sun was out the entire weekend – which is a little odd for this time of the year. The Sunday was spectacular – and we sat at the Beach House at Point no point, completely alone and undisturbed while a brilliant Sun blazed down – we imagine the temperature rose to around 20 degrees © for a while.
As I mentioned on my twitter and facebook feeds, I am kind of off the grid for a while I study for my Apple Technician certification (and it is a lot of study…) – I will be blogging and posting the blog URLs on twitter and facebook — just no random musing on the social network sites – at least for the time being.
Hoping you all have your own version of a great Canadian (and coming up… American thanksgiving!)
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Food Drink and Customer Culture Victoria - Mark Engels interview · Saturday September 10, 2011 by colin newell
I have known Mark Engels for years – and if you are a Victoria resident and fan of great food and drink, then there are few people better to have the ear and opinions of.
Victoria has lots of interesting food people. Many of them with a leading edge sense of what is going on here, some of the things that have been attempted in the past (that have failed) and some things on the horizon.
Which often brings me to one of Mark’s food and bakery ventures. I am a junkie for whats happening and what might be happening in the Victoria food groove. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy having a leg up on the food culture intelligence?
And considering that there are few people as driven as Engels, there are even fewer people that will have that innate 6th sense of the trends.
We spoke at Bubby’s Kitchen, Oscar and Cook St. on Saturday over his interpretation of the gourmet burger and the classic kosher hot dog – and the life and times of one of Victoria’s most beloved bakers and raconteurs, his staff, his customers and the trials and tribulations of running a tight culinary ship.
Mark’s dialog is a contiguous and literate stream, musings include a dissertation on the fragile nature of the food supply, satisfying a seemingly endless queue of regular devotees, customers old and new – all ages, the scaled up version of “Bubby’s Bakery” now in dining form at Oscar and Cook street, and so on.
Mark, Valerie and their business partner Joel are part of a, not so much revitalization, but a fresh stucco treatment of the historic Cook Street Village. The density near village center has gone up some – with the addition of condos near the core, and the relevance of more food services has never been more welcomed. Which is not to say that food choices were never stellar – The Cook street village has evolved with the times. And Mark and company have kept it ahead of the wave as it were.
Mark muses on the broad spectrum of customers in the village, “Look at our customer base down here… young parents, the elderly, urban professionals… somewhat different than Bubby’s at Meares and Cook…” Cook and Meares is almost something of a bakery hipster hang out with way more civil servants, writers, students, etc.
Mark pauses to direct a few staff and frequently interacts with everyone on the team. He continues, “Valerie and I are always delighted when we get that extra-special super passionate staffer – in fact, they all become part of the Bubby’s family in short order…”
As a food writer I am always looking for that special something-something that separates the average food places in Victoria from the gems; like Bubby Roses, Zambri’s, the great cafes, and dozens of others. And it comes down to passion and putting the “perfection” ahead of the profit.
Mark injects, “There are myriad ways of making more money on the process of running a place like this… raising the price of items without reason or justification, or taking the fun factor out of the equation… At Bubby’s the passion comes before the bottom line…”
I get the sense that when the fun ends that Mark will hang up his fedora.
In the meantime, Andrea and I share the Bison burger, perfectly prepared, presented on a bun made in house, with a in-house salsa and aioli – and an all beef “dog” and a bowl of awesome (and very hot) Minestrone soup.
