The family cruise to Alaska is coming to an end. As I write this blog we’re in Canadian territory, off the coast of B.C., on our way to San Fransisco, to head back to Toronto. Now that’s taking the long way home. Spending 12 days on ship is an experience, and it does take some adjusting. The biggest adjustment is being way from work for a prolonged period of time. It’s been close to four years since I’ve been away for more than five working days in a row. I’ve taken plenty of short vacations over the years but they’re usually four or five days in succession. The reason is simple, I can always come up with a reason why “now is not a good time to be away work”. Too busy or it’s too slow. There’s always a justification. If you’re guilty of the same thing here’s what I’ve learned, we’re not that important. I checked emails every morning, responded when I thought it was necessary but I made the decision that my family and this trip came first. MERIX wasn’t neglected in my absence because there’s a great senior leadership team in place, and they’re more than capable of taking care of the day-to-day tasks. If the business  consumes you that you can’t take a couple of weeks off, frankly, that doesn’t bode well for your business or yourself. Coming to this realization is an ongoing process, and I’m still working on it.

It’s interesting as a vacation draws to an end the work switch seems to get turned on. With every passing hour “work” issues enter your thoughts and I suspect it’s the minds way of preparing ourselves for what’s next. What’s next for me professionally? There’s been a number of changes at MERIX recently, and I’m really excited about the direction our company is taking. I’ll elaborate further about some of the changes in future blogs. I’m also looking forward to take on the challenges of being CAAMP Chair, effective this November. The next 16 months are going to be very busy, and I can’t wait to get started.

A a final thought relative to my trip to Alaska? Russia sold Alaska to the US in 1867. The land and all if its natural wonders sold for $7.2 million. That worked out to 19 cents an acre. As some of my Jewish friends want to say…”such a deal”.

Until next time.

Cheers

The excellent adventure continues and I’ve come to learn a lot of things about taking a cruise.  Firstly, don’t ever call it a boat.  The crew doesn’t like it, and given that they would be responsible to haul my sorry ass out of the water if I went overboard, no need to make them upset.  It’s called a ship. So ship it is.  I also learned that all cruise liners are not equal.  This is my first cruise so I’m basing this on what some of my fellow passengers have told to me.  It appears the magic number is around 900 passengers.  I’ve been told the really big cruise liners, the one’s which hold 3,500 people, are nice but given the amount of passengers on board it impacts service levels.  I’m told there are wait lines for everything.  From waiting to eat to going to the bathroom.  No such issues exist on the ship we’re on.  We’re on a Crystal Cruise Liner, and they have a reputation for not overcrowding and superlative service. I’ve come to learn that’s a fact. I’ll get to the service in a moment.

I also learned that many passengers are frequent cruisers.  Example, I met a man by the name of Barry last night in the cigar lounge. Yes, the ship has a cigar lounge…high backed leather chairs….mahogany wood…cognac…and a giant flat screen TV with Fox News on all the time. It’s paradise! I digress, Barry and I got to chatting, the usual small talk, what do you do for a livening, first time on a cruise etc?  This is Barry’s 10th cruise, and he’s already booked his cruise for next year, the Atlantic crossing.  Barry has time on his hands, he’s retired, as most of the passengers are.  I think the median age on board is 73.  It’s been a long time since anyone has referred to me as young man.  Barry did, and I like Barry.  He’s a big bear of man, a retired family law lawyer from Virginia.  His specialty was divorce.  He said to me in his Virginia accent, “young man, when I was practicing law my matto was…I’ll guarantee I’ll win your case or you’ll get your spouse back”.  Let me tell you, laughing so hard that you’re coughing up cognac through your nose is damn painful.

As for the service on board, it’s almost over the top.  After a couple of days on board I wanted to yell, “enough already…trust me…if I need something I’ll snap my fingers”.  Just kidding!  I would never snap my fingers…I’d whistle.  Truly the  service is exceptional, and it’s consistent throughout the ship.  I’ve spoken to crew members from Croatia, Poland, Check Republic, Australia, South Korea, US and Canada.  They’re all so happy and willing to please. Being an employer I asked many of them why they excelled at customer service.  Every one of them said the same thing, “the company is good to us, we’re good to the company, and we always put the passengers first”.  Truly inspiring when you consider that crew members are on contract anywhere between 4 to 6 months.  They work each and every day of their contract.  No time off, that comes at the end of the contract, usually two months off.  I can’t imagine working for six months straight, with no days off, away from family.  Many of the crew members indicated that it’s difficult being away from their kids for such a prolonged period of time but they do what’s necessary to provide for their families. 
Damn, if we could convince these people to become brokers and lenders we would all be golden. They’re committed…they have passion…and they’re willing to sacrifice.

The most important thing I learned about being on a cruise is…food.  It’s everywhere and it’s available 24/7.  Something happens to you when you’re on a cruise.  You’re on the ocean…you see an iceberg…and you say to yourself…”wow, that’s a big iceberg…I think I’ll have a hamburger”. 

Unlit next time

Cheers

Well not exactly.  I will be on the water for the next 12 days, and if I’m lucky I might be able to see a really big fish, like a whale. Yeah, I know, a whale is a mammal.  It’s family vacation time and we’re off on a Alaskan cruise.  Alaska’s a place that I’ve often thought about visiting but I really didn’t think I would actually ever go.  It’s like when you say to someone “we should do lunch”, and both parties know full well that it won’t happen.  The food would be nice, maybe even the company, but neither party is going to make the effort to make it happen.  Well, the effort was made to go on this trip, and here’s what I’ve learned so far about going to Alaska.

To get to Alaska costs an unbridled fortune.  The word fortune is relative, and I’m sure this trip will provide a lifetime of memories.  Based on the cost I better have memories in the next life as well.  In fairness, value is perceived. Example, if I was to get a call tomorrow inviting me to play golf at Augusta National, home of the Masters, I’m not sure how much I would pay but it would definitely fall in the stupid category.  So, it’s never about cost.  I now realize It costs big money to see big ice.

Packing for a trip like this is interesting.  “Let’s see, I packed shorts, golf shirts, winter coat and boots…all set”.  Recommended clothing for Alaska is layers.  Okay then, I’ll be walking around Anchorage looking like the Michelin Man.  Styling in Alaska.  I’m going to ask everyone I talk too in Anchorage if they know Sarah Palin …. Why?  It’s payback.  It’s for all the times that an American has asked me, when they find out I’m from Canada, “I know guy from Canada…his name’s Bob…do you know him?”

As I write this blog we’re just about to passed under the Golden Gate Bridge to begin our journey. What a site.  I’m really looking forward to all the sites on this trip, and continuing to blog. The wonders of technology…
always connected.

Until next time,

Cheers!

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Florida

I’m writing this blog from Florida. Hey, where else does a guy from Toronto go to escape the heat?   Florida, of course.  It’s steamy hot down here as well, but the heat and humidity seem tolerable when you’re in vacation mode.  I have to say that the state of Florida has really grown on me.  I love it down here.  Why? The weather is great all year round.  Secondly, they have all the amenities you can ask for – beaches, great restaurants, fantastic cigar stores, golf courses galore, professional sports franchises.  Thirdly, everything is cheap. The best part about buying anything down here is that you always feel like you got a good deal.   The best deal you can get today is real estate. I think it’s a good time to buy down here.  Distress means great value and flexibility by the home owner, be it the vendor or the bank.  A word of advice, if you decide to explore what’s available you better pick one specific location.  There’s just too much product available to bounce around from one side of the state to the other to check out homes.  Secondly, if you decide to buy, the day after the deal closes forget about values. It’s going to take years before Floridians see any appreciable increase in values. If you’re looking for a second home, a place where the family can go, a place where your parents can go to escape the winter, it’s a great time to buy.  I was speaking to a real estate agent yesterday and he said if it wasn’t for Canadian’s buying up product in his area he wouldn’t be busy.  Great value, and good exchange rates, is attracting a lot of Canadians.   What I don’t like about Florida?  Old farts that drive on I-75 doing 15 miles under the legal speed limit, while in the left hand lane.

The U.S. Avoids Default

Well that was a shock – There was little doubt that an agreement would be hammered out.  The only question is what the agreement would look like.  What I read and hear down here is both the Democrats and Republicans are not happy.  I guess in some ways that makes me believe that it’s an okay deal.  If both sides aren’t happy it means there was give and take.  As details come out about the deal, and is actually passed in Congress and the Senate, we’ll get a better idea if the agreement is a band-aide solution or something that has substance.  My money is on political cover rather than doing what’s best for the country.  Winston Churchill said this about U.S. politicians, “they always get it right but only after failing everything else they try first“.

Volumes Decrease

Over the last few weeks we’ve been hearing that volumes for Q2 are down year over year in the broker world.  We know for a fact that submissions are down as of the end of June.  How that translates to actual volumes will become clearer when D + H publishes their market share report for Q2 in the second week of August.  The market share report will probably validate what I’ve been hearing from brokers in the last 90 days, it’s slower and banks are still very aggressive.  If the Ministry of Finance wanted to cool things down from a borrowing perspective, with the changes they made in April, mission accomplished.  The only question is did the broker world take a bigger hit than the direct to bank world?  We’ll find out soon enough.

Until next time,
Cheers.

I think it’s safe to say that summer has finally arrived. I hear the snow melted yesterday in Calgary, and in Vancouver they’re calling for two days of sunshine, in a row. So summer must be around the corner. But you’ll really know when summer is here when Peter Mansbridge begins the National with the following intro; “Greece is on the verge of declaring bankruptcy….the war in Afghanistan rages on … US unemployment rate hits a staggering 14%…But first our top story…Heat Wave Hits Toronto”. And this is the reason why the rest of Canada hates all things Toronto.

Firstly, as Canadian’s we’re fixated on the weather. Have you ever noticed how much time we spend talking about the weather. Yet for some reason the press elevates the weather situation in Toronto. Look, 33 degrees is hot, but when it’s about Toronto, the humidex factor is always added. It’s not enough to say it’s 33 degrees, the reporter has to say “it feels like 46 degrees”. It’s like some kind of bragging right. Here in Toronto we’re equal opportunists. In the winter it’s all about the windchill. When it’s reported that with the windchill it feels like -28 in Toronto, people in Edmonton and Winnipeg roll their eyes and say “bleeping wimps”. When it comes to the weather, Toronto measures itself by how cold or hot it is. The long range forecast for Toronto, I know this because I’m Canadian, calls for a hot and dry summer. So for everyone living outside of Toronto, don’t be surprised if you hear on The National that the Mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, has called out the military to help us cope with the heat. The military will walk the streets of Toronto with umbrellas to shade us from the sun.

The summer is a great time of the year, but it can pose challenges for business. Firstly, don’t buy into conventional wisdom that business will slow down because it’s summer. Last time I checked bank’s weren’t boarding up branch windows, with a sign posted on the plywood that say’s…”We’ll be back in September”. It’s difficult but you have to remind your staff, and yourself, that it’s business as usual. Secondly, make a commitment to outwork the competition. Most of your competition will check out, mentally or physically. The majority of people will be lured by the distractions that summer brings. When your competition is playing, you have a great opportunity to eat their lunch. Thirdly, accept the fact that your staff wants to enjoy the summer months, but it doesn’t necessarily mean lost productivity. Flexible hours are an option, and you may decide to knock off early on Friday’s. That’s fine as long as everyone is focused throughout the week. The bills got to be paid.

Until next time.

Cheers