CR Associates Load Coffers Of The Doc And Woody Fund For CHEO

It was another banner day for the Doc and Woody Fund for the Operating Rooms at CHEO on Friday with thanks in no small part to the incredible men and women from CR Associates and the many involved in the insurance industry. With the money still being counted, we are in the range of $12,000 raised from the Wint Rushton Memorial Golf Tournament (in memory of Director Mark Rushton's father and founder).

CR Associates, in the last three years, has raised over $30,000 for the Doc and Woody Fund alone and much more for many other Ottawa area charities since their creation in 1977, the same year CHEZ 106 was created.

I was first introduced to Mark Rushton through a great friend of mine, Tony Lackey, who is now related to Mark. Mark and his co-directors chose the Doc and Woody Fund as their golf tournament charity because of their strong belief in the services provide by the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario. Our relationship has been solid ever since, though I regret that their contribution to our fund far out-weighs anything that Doc and Woody could reciprocate. It's not like they need the business plugs on our airwaves. Still, I love to tell a good tale of an amazing corporate citizen and a model pillar in our community.

Last night, I was beside myself; again, the word shock comes to mind, just like the first time they blew me away with what was to be my strongest impression of what these individuals are actually made of.

Two years ago, the CR Associates tournament raked in close to $4,000 dollars for the Doc and Woody Fund. I was so appreciative of the generosity of the participants that I felt compelled to express to them that their dollars were going somewhere good, somewhere tangible, where the results are visualized. After, I had expressed my thanks, the directors huddled at the front of the room at the Canadian Golf and Country Club and broke from the huddle like The Renegades on first and goal. Mark Rushton took the microphone and proceeded to announce that the directors were going to match the money raised from the tournament and round it off to $8,000. Touchdown! My jaw dropped. It was humbling.

Last year, we were presented with a cheque for $10,000. This year, it's around $12,000 and I've been at a loss to articulate just what I feel about these people. Last night I tried to but, I confess, the sun and beer did as much to numb the senses as the impressive performance by these tremendous folks and I, after a couple of salient volleys, drifted at the mic. Thank god Mark stepped in and rescued the moment, much like I did once for him.

What you need to know about this group is that they are two industries that work together to help you when you suffer from a catastrophe; insurance and restoration. After witnessing devastation in the southern US by Hurricane Katrina, you must realize that victims need immediate assistance and, with the exception of New Orleans - a city not yet ready for the next step, the first people to get them back to some kind of forward progress are insurance adjusters. I golfed with these people many times and have often heard cell-phone conversations regarding the need for their assistance in Florida, The Caymans and wherever disaster has struck. They work long, tireless hours through those difficult times. Then there's CR Associates and their industry. They're the ones who help clean up. They're industrial strength and damned good at what they do.

Explaining it better than I can, here's a quote from their website:
CR Associates Ltd. has been serving the public, business, and insurance industry, in the fields of emergency services, cleaning, restoration, and renovation since 1977. From this backdrop CR Associates has developed a wide range of professional services and facilities which place CR in the vanguard of emergency restoration providers today. Many of our operations are unique, and take place in facilities specifically designed for our applications.

On top of all that, they raise a lot of money for good causes in the community. They're good people and I'm honoured to be associated with them.

I thank them. Doc thanks them. CHEO thanks them. And the tiny hearts will someday grow up healthy and strong enough to thank them all by themselves.

Britney Spears' Statement on Katrina

ht-Wirthy for helping ease all of our worried hearts.

Britney Spears wants all her fans to know that her "family members are safe and thank you to all my fans for your concern. Love Britney."

It's funny because, as I was watching helicopters and relief workers being shot at on CNN this afternoon, my thoughts suddenly turned to Britney's family members. Then they turned to that guy who lost all his cheese in the Saguenay. Then I started thinking, "LOL backwards is still LOL. That's just weird!" Then I saw something shiny and walked away.

Gas Price Update

As seen on Dave Barry's Blog.

Big Stink Makes No Scents

Another mind-boggling, head-shaking, face twitching proposal came a-belching from the brain of Ottawa City Councillor Alex Cullen last week, when he offered up a notion to possibly ban perfumes and colognes in public places.

Such a ban, Cullen said, could be "the new frontier after pesticides". The new frontier. So now we have former mayor and first apprentice to the Ontario Health Minister, Jim Watson, prancing around the province rehearsing the chorus of "Fat's The New Tobacco", promising to fight the evil obesity in vengeful defiance of his own proclivities to pudge out and, now, we have the "little social engineer that could", Clowncillor Cullen on a mission to outlaw Obsession, boldly pronouncing his new frontier.

To make sure I heard him correctly, I decided to look up the definition of frontier.

n 1: a wilderness at the edge of a settled area of a country

That didn't tell me a lot, so I decided to look it up in a thesaurus. I found the following synonyms:

backcountry, backwater, backwoods, boondocks, boonies, bush, hinterland, outback, outskirts, sticks

Yup. An accurately chosen word, indeed.

Now, I can be just as put off as the next guy by a carelessly overscented individual, but this new frontier thing has the more offensive stench of a City Council with whacked out priorities. Surely, they can better spend their time and our money on more important issues like, say, better services for the taxes we pay.

But, I must admit, I am just as concerned as Health Play-Minister Watson about fat being the new tobacco. What really worries me is all that second-hand fat I'm taking in.

Some Whine To Go With That Cheese

A recent poll by a world-wide corporate marketing firm revealed last week that Canadians are 4th in the world when it comes to lodging complaints against a company,service or organization.

Sorry, ... can't finish blog entry.... must write angry letter to pollster.

It Seemed Like A Cheesey Idea

I read a story in the Montreal Gazette over the weekend about this guy trying to revolutionize the cheese industry by dropping 2,000 pounds ($10,000) of cheese into the Saguenay River and now can't find it anywhere. Two things about the story struck me funny.

1) The following paragraph:
The idea to ripen cheese in the waters of the Saguenay was inspired by a fisherman who told Boivin about a tasty block of cheese he fished from the bottom of a lake a few years ago.

What kind of idiot pulls up a block of cheese out of a river and starts eating it? And what kind of idiot listens to an idiot fisherman who would pump his pie-hole full of found river-cheese?

2) Cheese Boy has already spent $15,000 to find his $10,000 cargo, including $5,000 in new sonar equipment, bringing his grand total of red-column figures to $25,000. Now, I don't know a helluvalot about sonar but I do know it's a high tech sonic method of finding stuff in water and, the last I heard, cheese doesn't make any noise... unless his curds are squeaking.

The guy is described in the story as a 3rd-generation-cheese maker. For the life of me, we can only hope he's the last one in line and is too stupid to procreate. And, with just a slice of processed irony, he dropped his tonne in the Baie des Ha! Ha!.

Many miles away, meanwhile, there swims a school of fish that can't fart.

New Orleans Is Sinking

It's America's tsunami. The devastation from the force of Hurricane Katrina was harsh enough. Then came the levee breaks. New Orleans now sits under more than 20 feet of water with no resemblance to the once 'suthan cajun chaahhm' we called 'The Big Easy'.

There is nothing 'easy' about New Orleans anymore. The thousands of lives lost and shattered all along the Gulf Coast will have a lasting impact. Months, no - years, will pass before any significant recovery will be made from this tragic event.

The effects of Katrina are widespread as a result the petroleum shut-down, sending gas prices soaring at the pumps. Overnight, prices in Ottawa jumped by 20 cents per litre. I haven't researched this but I dare say it is the largest single price increase in our history. If there was ever a time for the government to get serious about gas tax relief, it's now. But Paul Martin won't be doing it. He can't be taken serious as a Prime Minister. And, if you think I'm not keeping perspective in the scope of catastrophe, let me assure you many people will be affected at every turn because of this drastic price hit. We'll feel it not just at the pumps but at the grocery store, the bank, our regular shops and services - every single order of business in our lives has just gotten considerably more expensive. And, for many middle income earners who are already carrying the lion's share of the tax load, this will not just be a kick in the teeth to see the government further padding the surplus, it may be the difference on a mortgage default. That's what I'm talking about. Another destroyed home at the will of a an uncaring and/or incompetent government.

Now an impact, albeit minor by comparison but an illustration, nonetheless, of Katrina's extended reach:

Mrs. Woody was to attend a marketing conference at the Hyatt in late September. Here's a shot of the hotel today. Maid, please make up this room.


Below is what it looks like when a levee breaks into a city shaped like a bowl.


CHEZ 106, by the way, has pulled Led Zeppelin's "When The Levee Breaks" and Tragically Hip's "New Orleans Is Sinking" from the playlist for an underdermined period. Watch for Program Director Jeff Brown this evening on Entertainment Tonight.

Click here for New Orleans' WWLTV4 Slideshow
Relief donations can be made through The Canadian Red Cross

Woodman Shaves 2 More Strokes At Eagle Creek!

It was another Doc & Woody Stress Free Golf Day out at Eagle Creek today and, if you've been following Duffer's Progress here, you need to know that I've cut my score at the Creek down to 103, down 2 from last week and 8 from the previous outing. As Eagle Creek is not an easy course, I'm taking great pride in my improvements. My putting is now my worst enemy. I'm getting better with bunker saves and I'm improving with my fairway woods. It's the 3-putts that are killing me. Still, I'm losing my fear of the hazards and I'm beginning to champion the trouble I get into. That's what's making the game all that much more fun for me to play. I love this game. God bless the Scots!

Cross-Fire Hurricane Leaves Mass-Disruption In Its Wake

It came and went. Like Hurricane Katrina blowing through the Gulf Coast, The Rolling Stones beared down on Ottawa with category 5 force and turned the nation's capital upside down for much longer than the nearly two hour performance they gave to a Stones-starved crowd of 43,000. The intensity of the waves of anticipation increased with each minute leading up to the show. You could feel it. But, unlike the ominous taste of destruction from an oncoming storm, this was a welcome sensation. It was in the air and everyone knew of its magnitude and, moreover, everyone basked in its overwhelming mantle of historic importance. This was to be and ended up being the biggest, most important rock and roll concert event in the history of Ottawa. And I can't really articulate why. I just know it.

Arguably the world's greatest rock and roll band, The Stones have defied all logic and conventional longevity to not only remain simply in-tact, they're productive and successful and show no signs of slowing up. Mick Jagger, at 62, ran - no, sprinted - the width of the stage the entire show, exhibiting more energy and passion than he did that April night back in 1965 at the YMCA. For men who just don't need the money, they're firing on all cylinders from other motivations. Charlie Watts, recovering from throat cancer, is just doing what he loves - but, clearly, would otherwise be enjoying retirement had he been anything else but a Rolling Stone. Ron Wood, acknowledging the importance of such an undertaking as a Stones tour, voluntarily checked himself into rehab to clean himself up. And Keith - Keith! - conspiracy theories still abound as to his true mortal existence. Yet, there he is - in the flesh - albeit quite weather-beaten.

Yet, while we all joke about the 60-plus year old men who are old enough to be our fathers, if not our grandfathers, still touring like 20-somethings, there is a piece in everyone of us that is grateful for their staying power and never wants them to quit. It is, seemingly, the vicarious statement of our own mortality. "Rock and Roll will never die." Keith is proof enough for us all. And it's the band. It's the music; the soundtrack to our lives for over 40 years. The Rolling Stones are sole contributors to some of rock's most defining moments in our culture; from Satisfaction to Altamont to Maggie Trudeau to this year's defiant middle finger in father time's face.

And, so it was, on a balmy August evening in 2005, the pilgrimage to Ottawa's Frank Clair Stadium culminated - from Ticketmaster to ticket-taker - with the communion and celebration of our fabric as "rockers". The Rolling Stones were and are, on that night, to us all, the Mecca of Rock and Roll. And, as a Stones visit to Ottawa holds the same frequency as a Haley's Comet sighting or a Papal tour, you bet it holds importance. After all...

...this could be the last time
This could be the last time
Maybe the last time
I don’t know. oh no......

You don't even have to be a fan of the band. All you have to do is witness its path of disruption.

Forecast for tomorrow: More damage from the cross-fire hurricane. The Stones are still to be spotted around town for the next few days. Updates when warranted.