The good news is you have delirium

I’m a big Sam Roberts fan. He’s just a solid Canadian rocker, and I expect him to be rocking around for a long, long time.

Not long ago, he was playing a show at a local wine festival. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend, so I was pretty bummed about that. So when I heard he would be playing another show in Chatham (about a 45 minute drive from Windsor) in November, I knew I had to get tickets.

The show was this past Monday at the River Rock Nightclub. I went with my friends Dave and Jon. As we stood in line waiting to get in, we couldn’t help but notice this dirty, creepy, old guy behind us. He just didn’t look like he belonged. He started behind us, but as time went on and the line shuffled forward, he seemed to sneak to the side of us and eventually in front of us. We didn’t say anything, but maybe we all felt our wallets were safer with him in front of us.

We found ourselves a great spot on the upper level near the bar. The opening act was another Canadian band called The Stills. I thought they were pretty good. I just found the vocal mics may have been too hot because a lot of the words sounded distorted. Too bad that didn’t really get addressed. Well, until Sam came out. He sounded much better.

Of course, Sam has a new record out called “Love At The End Of The World,” so he played a lot of new stuff. And that was fine with me because I think the new album is great. And he played some of the earlier hits like “Brother Down” and “Where Have All The Good People Gone?” Then they did their fake good-bye before returning for an encore, which actually lasted another 3 or 4 songs, so it was a great show, but I couldn’t help leaving a little disappointed.

They didn’t play what was probably the song that really launched them onto the scene, which of course is “Don’t Walk Away Eileen.” I’m sure after 6 years, it might be driving him a bit buggy, but hey, fans expect it. It reminded me of the time I saw The Tragically Hip in Michigan when “Music At Work” was released. They didn’t play “Blow At High Dough” OR “New Orleans Is Sinking.” That was just so wrong. If The Rolling Stones can still play “Satisfaction” some 40 years later, I think Sam (and Gordon) have to give people what they want.

But hey, it was a great show. On the way home, Dave, Jon, and I sang every classic rock song that my Sirius Radio threw at us. I thought our best effort was “These Eyes,” the classic Guess Who song.

Great night.

Last week’s wedding show at the Caboto Club went very well for me. I had not done the fall show the last couple years, opting to just do the bigger show in January, but I guess I’ve found that bigger isn’t always better.

The first wedding show I ever did was actually the fall show. It’s been a while, but I don’t remember getting any bookings from it. Looking back, what could I have expected? I was new, had very little material to demo, and didn’t have the confidence and polish that I have today. My brochures and business cards are nicer, I have a a beautiful banner, I have much more material to demo, and my booth looks much better. Consequently, I had numerous engaging conversations with potential clients.

Go figure.

The winter show in January is much bigger, there’s no question about that, but one thing you can never predict is the weather.

Earlier this year in January, the Wedding Extravaganza got off to a roaring start on day 1, but overnight and into the morning of day 2, Windsor was tagged with a wicked snow storm. It got cold and nasty and the roads were very icy. Day 2 was a bomb. I don’t think we had even half the people we had from day 1. As a vendor, it’s tough paying $700+ for two days of booth space but really only getting 1.

Right now, I’m not sure what to do about the upcoming January ‘09 show. I’m tempted to wait until the week of the event and see what the weather report says. Of course, the selection of good booths could be very limited by then, or even entirely sold out. I will have to think about it over the next week or so.

This year’s WEVA Expo is being held at the Grande Lakes Resort in Orlando, Florida. I am very excited to get down there and learn some new tricks.

Not being from around Florida, I’ll need to hop on a plane and fly there. Ah, but where to book a flight, and when?

For last year’s expo in Las Vegas, I used Travelocity. It was a rather simple and painless process, and at a great price.

But…

Then my friend told me about kayak.com. It searches around 140 different sites for the best prices.

Beautiful!

So I found a place to book a flight, but pricing changes all the time, so which day of the week is best to book? From my research, I would say Tuesday.

Depending on the day, the best price could be as high as $269, but I’m happy to say that my Tuesday booking set me up with round trip airfare from Detroit to Orlando for $214.

I’m a very friendly, easygoing person. Cool as a cucumber, you might say. But everyone gets upset every now and then, even me.

If you have an appointment with someone, anyone (doctor, vendor, friend), and you can’t make it for whatever reason, you call. You call because it’s the right thing to do. After all, who wants to sit around, waiting, and wondering, will my contact show up? Especially in business, where time is money.

Within the last month, I’ve had two contacts (prospective clients) that were no-shows for scheduled appointments.

Not cool.

I’ve had people run late before, but this was new. 

The first one never answered the phone when I called, or returned any of the three voicemails I left. What’s up with that? At least have the courtesy to explain what happened. Maybe they booked with someone else, maybe I was out of their price range, or maybe they don’t even want a video anymore (silly goose!). That’s cool. Sure, I’d appreciate the business, but I won’t kick up a fuss if you don’t want to book me. I’ve got plenty of other bookings to tend to. But not showing up and then completely ignoring me? Totally unforgiveable.

At least the second one answered the phone and said they’ll re-schedule. Whether they actually do re-schedule or not, who knows? I’ll give that person the benefit of the doubt for now.

If you can’t make a meeting, call, it’s that simple. If you don’t, remember that there is something in life called Karma, and it might be late sometimes, but it always shows up (unlike some people).

There, that should cover my angry ranting for this year. Back to butterflies, peaceful rivers, and a light breeze blowing through your hair.

Whew!

The blog was down for about 14 hours but it’s back. It all happened last night when I tried upgrading to the latest version of WordPress. I didn’t have any trouble the first time I upgraded, but this time, it obviously didn’t go so well.

I’m still relatively new to the whole blog thing so I was worried I lost everything. Luckily it’s all still here. Not to brag, but I fixed this all on my own, and believe me, it’s not that easy.

Anyways, all is well. The sky is not falling.

I watched a very cool documentary on CBC the other night.

It was about the wonderful world of advertising, in particular, the way advertising is shifting from television to the Internet and mobile phones, and from big ad agencies to everyday people who create user generated content.

Did you know that in Japan, they actually swipe their cell phones like debit cards to make transactions? Wild!

You can learn more about “The Selling Game” by clicking here, or actually watch it by clicking here.

A short while ago, someone forwarded this video to me. It is probably one of the most inspirational things you will ever see.

In his presentation, Professor Randy Pausch offers great lessons on how to achieve dreams, and more importantly, how to live life.

Enjoy.

As an owner of two dogs (Bambi is the dapple dachshund and Lucky is the terrier/poodle) myself, I found it very difficult to watch Friday’s episode of Oprah. If you saw it, you know what I’m talking about.

It was about the horrible world of puppy mills.

I really did not know anything about puppy mills, but here’s what I learned. The dogs are put into tiny cages. Usually there is just enough room for them to fit and maybe stretch, but definitely not enough room to pace around in. They are never groomed. When the winter comes, they remain outside in their cages, and surely some die from the cold. They never receive any veterinarian care. If they get sick, the owners shoot them.

Apparently, there are about 10,000 of these puppy mills in the US. I’m not sure how many we have here in Canada, but rest assured, they’re out there. It is believed that 99% of the dogs (and cats) at pet stores are from mills. The experts on Oprah suggest that you rescue an animal from a shelter instead, or if you prefer going to a breeder, at least verify that the conditions are humane.