It was wonderful and ton of fun for me and my better half to see the Olympic Torch relay up close in Calgary. We got to see entrepreneur and Dragons’ Den panelist Brett Wilson ran in the Olympic Torch Relay. And I also saw Mark (a very nice librarian at CPL) who was a torchbearer that day. Plus I had the great honour and pleasure to meet Carol Huynh, the first Canadian to win a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I’ve also posted some photos here.
By the way, you can watch my previous video interviews with Brett here and here.
i’m sorry but please note that there is a independent nellies in marda loop. This location is privately owned and operated and has never had a violation of any kind. We have worked really hard to keep it that way. Now we have to pay the price for another persons mistake.
Kirk clarified that the Nellie’s in Marda Loop has been independently owned and operated by Mr. Al Scurfield for the last eight years since purchasing the store from Nellie’s chain.
Nov 12, 2009 Follow-Up/Re-Inspection
Action Take: WRITTEN REPORT
Critical: Yes
Date: Nov 12, 2009 Violation: VERMIN (EVIDENCE ON SITE) – Vermin have been allowed to enter this food establishment.
Rationale/Requirement: The owner of a food establishment shall not allow cockroaches, silverfish, rodents or other vermin to enter or remain in his food establishment.
[note: Nellie's in the Loop explained that there were 5 flies during the inspection. Of course, this leads to the question of why those 5 flies were there in the winter?]
Jan 10, 2008 Monitoring/Routine
Action Take: FOOD DESTROYED
Critical: Yes
Date: Jan 10, 2008 Violation: CONTAMINATION GENERAL – Food in this food establishment is not being protected from contamination.
Rationale/Requirement: No owner of a food establishment shall display, keep, store, or transport food unless it is protected from contamination.
Cleared: Feb 14, 2008
*******
A popular restaurant can make a lot of money. And breakfast is one of the easiest money maker because of its relative low food cost and the breakfast items being relatively easy to prepare. So there is just no reason why the Nellie’s in the Loop and Calgary’s Nellie’s can’t do a better job of serving customers good and clean food in a clean environment.
Watching debate of the motion “California is the first failed state” was a lot more fun than I expected. Both me and my better half were “undecided” before watching the debate.
I will let you watch the debate and judge for yourself first. And then you can read what I have to say after the video clip.
My better half changed her vote from “undecided” to ”against” the motion. The sticking point for here are the words “is” and “first” and also if there can be reasonable doubt for the fact that California may not be “failed” yet.
For me, I changed my vote from “undecided” to “for” the motion. I saw the three arguing for the motion being much better in presenting their case than the other side.
The following are my impressions of the members of the debate teams,
FOR–Andreas Kluth (I think Andreas set up the framework for the debate really well and then his performance in the other two segments also helped convince me a bit more.)
AGAINST–Gray Davis (Strangely, may be it is just me, the act of hearing the governor listing his achievements during his term really detracted from his effort in arguing against the motion. To be honest and a bit blunt, Governor Davis seemed to me the weakest member in both teams.)
FOR–Sharon Waxman (Great points re Hollywood. And Mr. O’Donnell’s points were so weak and obviously untrue that he lost my respect for his views afterwards.)
AGAINST–Van Jones (Strongest in the “against” team but not strong enough to make a difference. And a few of the arguments seemed a stretch.)
FOR–Bobby Shriver (Did a good job in laying out the arguments. It takes some guts for a sitting mayor to argue for the motion but his arguments and rationales seem reasoned and sincere.)
AGAINST–Lawrence O’Donnell (Most of his arguments didn’t help to convince me at all. And of course, there was the credibility issue.)
By the way, let me be clear. I believe California is a great place but now I know it has a lot of problems as well.
Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker is back (big time), and his decision will likely impact your investment in US banks and financial institutions. In fact, Canadian and international depositing taking and loan-making banks operating in the US may likely be equally impacted as well.
The “Volcker Rule” in the words of President Obama (emphasis added),
Banks will no longer be allowed to own, invest, or sponsor hedge funds, private equity funds, or proprietary trading operations for their own profit, unrelated to serving their customers. If financial firms want to trade for profit, that’s something they’re free to do. Indeed, doing so–responsibly–is a good thing for the markets and the economy. But these firms should not be allowed to run these hedge funds and private equities funds while running a bank backed by the American people.
An excerpt and more info from WSJ (emphasis added),
Now all of the sudden Volcker gets a “rule” to call his very own? In the world of politics, getting a “rule,” or better yet a “doctrine,” is not-quite having an airport named after you, but it ain’t far off.
So what’s changed?
For one thing, the stunning loss of the Ted Kennedy’s U.S. Senate seat to a Republican seems to have refocused the administration’s attention on demonstrating to the American public that it sees the economy as job one.
And looking around at his economic braintrust, there aren’t too many that are exactly adored by voters.
The sweeping reform President Barack Obama unveiled Thursday is short on detail, but in its broadest terms it aims to both preserve Wall Street’s ability to take risk and strengthen the money system at the core of banking.
Finally, someone with the power to make it happen is talking about a response equal in scope to the system’s failure. [...]
Eliminating those conflicts is where the Volcker Rule is aimed. The president and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker have agreed that banks need to get back to banking. The approach outlined Thursday may not be perfect, but its intent is to make the money and credit market safe and limit the impact of shadow bankers.
Think about how our language has reflected the shift in financial services. For 60 years after Depression Era reforms were passed, there was a clear line: Banks made loans and took deposits and investment banks handled securities — stocks and bonds and their derivatives.
Check out Andreas’ “We won: California IS the first failed state“. Video of the debate to be posted sometime around Friday as I am interested to see the debate and judge for myself. Stay tune.
I had a great experience and feel proud to cheer for the Olympic Flame arriving in Calgary and being part of the Olympic Torch Relay experiences in Calgary.
A Calgary grocery store has discovered more pins in its products, this time pushed into plastic juice bottles.
The Calgary Co-op store at Oakridge Centre in the city’s southwest was closed for several hours Monday after pins were found in some bakery items. A sweep of the store by employees turned up more pins in bulk food items and in cheese.
On Tuesday morning, employees uncovered more of the pins.
“Before our centre opened this morning at Oakridge we did another sweep and we did find a couple of more products that have the metal objects in them. Those included some of our fresh juices in our produce department,” said spokeswoman Sarah Boutron.
She doesn’t know if the pins, which she describes as the kind used in sewing, were missed during Monday’s sweep or are new.
Although there are no official words from Calgary Co-op whether business at the Oakridge store is impacted, customers at the Calgary store all seem very understanding. To immediately alert the press and the public, Calgary Co-op appears to have done the right thing for the customers and for itself in the long run.
Here are comments from customers at the Oakridge Calgary Co-op (see attached video),
“No [our purchase decisions won't be impacted]. It [food tampering] happened in the States too.”
“I rarely buy bulk [bread] anyway. [...] If I did, I will probably check it out really well first. Cut it open.”
“I buy grocery here for over 30 years and I never had any problem. [...] Yes [I will still come here and buy things].”
“Honestly, I couldn’t really care less. I am sure whatever in there, they taken care of it. [...] Yes [I will still shop here].”
“Well, it can happen anywhere, so what can we do? [...] I think they’ve checked it throughly. I don’t think they will be allowing customers in if there are more danger to be worried about.”
Note: repeated calls and voices mails left for Calgary Co-op press contacts have not been returned at press time.
The boards of Cadbury and US giant Kraft Foods have agreed a deal which will see Kraft takeover the British chocolate maker in a deal valuing the company at £11.5bn [~US$19.5 billion].
It means that the world’s second-biggest confectionery company will form part of the world’s second-largest food company. This is how the two firms currently stack up.
Irene Rosenfeld, Kraft’s chief executive, partially justified the higher price on an analyst conference call by announcing that she expects her company to reap an extra $50 million in annual cost savings through the merger. That brings the total figure to $675 million.
At a standard 10 percent discount rate, Kraft was essentially authorized to spend around another $500 million today for Cadbury, which is a little less than a fifth of what they ended up shelling out extra for the company.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said at a press conference that his government was “determined that the levels of investment that take place in Cadburys in the United Kingdom are maintained,” and, “at a time when people are worried about their jobs, that jobs in Cadbury can be secure.”
Cadbury employs 6,000 people in Great Britain, and more than 46,000 worldwide.
During its conference call Tuesday, Kraft reiterated that it would keep a strong presence in Britain and would be a “net importer” of jobs in the country.
[...] why did Buffett make his announcement that Berkshire would vote against a deal that included more stock? Why didn’t he just tell Irene Rosenfeld that in private? Why set off a frenzy of rumors about a rift between the two of them?
True, lines drawn in the sand in public are taken more seriously than warnings made in private. And Buffett’s message was sent to all parties concerned – especially, perhaps, the arbs and Cadbury.
My friend Daisann has an insightful first hand account and commentary of The Siege of HK Legislative Council on Jan 16, 2010. The HK government and some HK citizens may not realize it yet, but this protest and rally may be the turning point of the road to democracy for HK. Here is Daisann concluding comment (emphasis and link added),
As the dust settles, it’s looks like the pan-Democrats won’t have to struggle to make the argument for real political reform in Hong Kong when they resign in the five district referendum scheme later this month. The Siege of Legco–and the inspired, tactically savvy troops of the baat sap hauh [Post-80s] –have done the heavy lifting for them.
The following two videos are in Cantonese, for the record.
Many Calgarians (including this reporter) were shocked to hear the popular chain of Nellie’s restaurants and its owner have been fined a total of $61,780 for 30+ Public Health Act violations! And the even more disturbing thing is that some of those violations dated back to 1997, over 12 years ago!
Roxanne Taylor-King admitted there were 43 violations in her five restaurants: Nellie’s Cosmic Cafe, Nellie’s Kitchen, Nellie’s on 4th, Nellie’s on 90th and Nellie’s on Kensington.
Some of the violations include mouse droppings found on food in the kitchen; perishable food not being kept at a proper temperature; food not being handled safely by staff; and utensils not being cleaned and sanitized properly.
[…] “Failure to meet the minimum standard of care is a serious concern,” said the judge [Provincial court Judge Barbara Veldhuis]. “It is for the protection of the public. Compliance is needed to protect the health and safety of society.”"
[…] “A tearful Taylor-King said outside court she was devastated by the charges and that it was difficult for her, a single mother, to keep proper monitoring of all the locations.”“
More on the “tearful” out of court “rationalizing” later.
This reporter was surprised that something was missing in a CBC radio report and the above two media reports. You see, a very important online consumers tool was NOT mentioned. The powerful and comprehensive online ”Calgary and Area Environmental Health Inspection Reports” tool was launched over 18 months ago to allow all Albertans to see the latest health inspection reports of restaurants in Alberta. Yes, Albertans can check to see if the restaurants we go to have “mouse droppings” as one of their problems!
Alberta Health Services has added a lot more inspection reports to the online database since its June 2008 launch. And all Albertans and Calgarians should use this tool at least once to look at the reports of their favourite restaurants. When this reporter tried the tool in 2008, as expected, most restaurants came out passing all inspections. But to this reporter’s surprises, some restaurants that were thought to be clean were not at all and with repeat unresolved problems. And then some restaurants that were thought to be “dirty” turned out to have a long list of clean inspection reports.
Customer loyalties and business reputations like Nellie’s restaurants can only be built over time and over many many years. What happened at Nellie’s should serve as a warning and example for all restaurants in Alberta that they should pay attention to the welfare and health of the customers and not simply focusing on the money making side of their restaurant businesses. The simple fact is that customer loyalties take years to build up and sometime take days to destroy. Of course, in the case of Nellie’s, when the violations span over 12 years, one can’t really say the reputations and loyalties were destroyed over days, it was done slowly over 12 years.
Finally, if someone is running a restaurant, there is simply NO excuse of having repeated and unresolved health code violations spanning YEARS! If the owners are unable or unwilling to correct health code violations (because of personal or whatever reasons), then may be the restaurants should be closed until minimum health code standards can be met. Restaurant owners should realize customers, especially the young and old customers, can get seriously sick from bad food. And the long term health consequences are to be paid by unsuspecting customers.
P.S. To me, Nellie’s was always busy, buzzing and had been a well-loved Calgary institution. A Lovemark to me until this sad turn of event (unknown to customers, spanning over 12 years)!
I ask many people I don’t know to help me — to share numbers, interviews, etc. Often they say yes. I am grateful.
Many people who don’t know me ask me for help. Often I say yes. But many of those requests are presented so poorly they make me cringe.
Basically, if you want my help, take a few moments to know who I am. If you send me what is clearly a mass email asking for help, forget it. There is a right and wrong way to do this.
This post is about the right way.
As a habit, I try to leave comments on other people’s blogs and help them when it is within my abilities and the time I have. Same for helping people who leave comments on my blog like this recent question that I tried to help.
INTELLIGENCE SQUARED US Tuesday at 6:45 p.m., “California Is the First Failed State,” a debate on California’s financial problems. Those arguing in favor of the proposition are Andreas Kluth, a writer for The Economist; Robert Sargent Shriver III, a lawyer and member of the Santa Monica City Council; and Sharon Waxman ofTheWrap.com. Those arguing against it are Gray Davis, California governor from 1999 to 2003; Van Jones, a lawyer and environmental advocate; and Lawrence O’Donnell Jr., a writer and political analyst for MSNBC. The debate is the first in a spring series; a reception takes place at 5:45 p.m. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, 566 LaGuardia Place, at Washington Square South, Greenwich Village , (212) 303-4322,intelligencesquaredus.org; $35; $45 includes the reception.
After two previous unsuccessful attempts, this morning I finally got a chance to meet and chat with Mr. Paul Hinman, my Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Calgary-Glenmore, at his Calgary office. As expected, Paul was nice and easy to talk to (even I disagree with some of his views & approaches).
The first thing I bought up was the issue of whether Wildrose Alliance will receive official party status and be allowed a daily spot in the Question Period lineup when the Legislature starts on February 8? I am very adamant and think that Assembly Speaker Mr. Ken Kowalski really has no choice and should give Wildrose the official party status! Paul was more pragmatic and reminded me that it is still up to the Speaker.
I told Paul and promised again here: If the Speaker choose to use technicalities to play dirty party politics and ignore the precedence set by giving the 2-seat NDP party the official party status, then I will personally call Speaker Ken Kowalski‘s office and complain as a Calgarian and Albertan. (see this detailed commentary about wildrose official party status at daveberta)
We also talked about my concern of Bill 44 (currently suspended for a year, I think) and I asked Paul to pay close attention to it when it come up for discussions again in the Legislature. I told Paul about my two encounters with Minister Lindsay Blackett re Bill 44 (where I interviewed him on camera) and my deep concerns with the bill tying the hands of teachers in classes.
Paul and I also talked about a few other issues including a chat about human caused environmental change (aka global warming) which Paul and I are in almost total disagreement.
Finally, I would like to say Paul is nice and very easy to talk to and other Calgarians in Calgary-Glenmore should feel free to arrange to meet Paul and tell him your concerns (constituency offices contact info).
Now, I want to make a general observation. It doesn’t matter whether you agree or disagree with your three levels of elected representatives (city, provincial, and federal). Ask to meet them, talk to them, call them, email them, etc to tell them what you think about issues close to your hearts.
After all, these politicians work for us. And remember to vote in every single election because every vote is important!
Feb 3 Update: Both Wildrose Alliance and NDP are not happy with Speaker Kowalski‘s decision yesterday. See “Wildrose Alliance accuses Alberta Speaker of partisanship” and “Opposition wants answers“. It is good to see both parties speak up and try to change things to better hold the government accountable. At the same time, the Speaker seems to have done things in a “fair”-ish manner in my eyes.
The bottom line is the Alberta government needs more accountability and questions from opposition parties (MLAs elected by Albertans) are a good thing.
Posted by kempton 
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