John Speaks

News on Aviation and  Rural & Wilderness Canada

February 4th, 2009: "Rural Estate Year Starting Strong"

I remember in the eighties in a Real Estate Marketing seminar some Guru was talking about how Real Estate "Perceptions" and Real Estate "Realities" were never in sync. He was right then and he is right now. Simply put, people were buying properties and paying top dollar last summer thinking they were in a strong market when the Reality was, the market had already started on its way down. This year I think the opposite is happening. The market in some sectors will be firming up but people will hold off jumping in thinking that the market is still going down. So my Real Estate year is off to a great start and one mega deal I was involved with has already closed and it involved over 5000 acres. And there are several other deals in the works for properties that were listed at depressed prices last fall that are starting to look like bargains for closings this spring and summer
.
So if you are looking for anything in rural real estate form a 79,000 Floating home to the 5 million dollar Ranch check out my listings at www.canadianrealestatetv.com or give Sam or myself in my office a call . Prices are good and I think that in some sectors they may have bottomed out.

January 16/2009: "Two Brand New Prepaid Coffee Cash Cards"

Monday morning, December 29 was my first day back to work after the christmas break. The snow was still there, a slightly darker shade of white from two days of mild weather, but it would still have the morning Vancouver traffic in its grip. But that didn't matter to me because today was different. A little snow on the roads was not going to stop me from jumping out of bed grabbing a shower and tearing down the stairs to the parkade. I had purpose today that I didn't have before the Christmas break.Thats because, snug in my wallet, in a special slot right behind my Amex card I had something which I knew would change my life forever: two brand new shinny pre-paid cash cards from the finest coffee shops in Canada, Tim Hortons and Starbucks.

Before I had gotten out of bed that morning I had quietly prepared a plan. I would not indiscriminately go on a buying rampage. I would stagger my purchases between Tim's courtesy of my daughter Mary and Starbucks thanks to son David and his wife Karin. The plan was to limit my purchases to under $2.00 a day and make the cards last a few months.

It was raining softly as I eased the car out of the parkade and onto the wet black street in front of the Condo. I felt a strange new sense of entitlement with the thought of those two prepaid coffee cards. This was terrific because it would also speed up my life. No more fussing with change or entering my code into a debit card and waiting and waiting for the connection to go through. No sir, Now I would just stroll in hand the card over and voila! I would be on my way with coffee in hand.

Six minutes later I stopped at the Starbucks store On Granville. My hands were sweaty and I could feel my heart pounding as I strolled into the store trying to act nonchalantly. I was determined to have the medium size coffee and get the heck out. "That will be a Grandee coffee please" I heard my own voice like an out of body experience, "and I will also have the ham and egg breakfast sandwich". As God is my witness I had never even had one of these sandwiches before. This prepaid coffee charge card had taken over my free will.

I felt my knees staring to give out as I reached into my back pocket pulled out my wallet and then plucked the shiny new prepaid coffee card out and handed it to the clerk. I realized I had a smirk on my face as the Barista, thats what they call the coffee clerks in Starbucks, swiped the card and handed it back to me. So now what? Do I wait for it to clear? Do they hand me a receipt with a balance? This was all uncharted territory . "Sir! Sir! " I could here someone calling me as if in a dream. It was all happening too fast now. "Please step to one side and let the person behind order, your sandwich will be ready in a moment".

I stumbled out to the car with my sandwich and oversized coffee and I realized I had blown it . It had all been way too fast. I would have to learn to pace myself better. Next time I will take the card out of my wallet and have it in my hand before I order, I will immediately step aside as soon as the card was handed back and most of all I will wipe that smirk off my face that made me look like I am insane!

I am writing this at 2:00 AM, I cant sleep because I have been drinking coffee all day long Its been awful. I figure with the breakfast sandwiches, blueberry fritters, and honey glazed donuts that my tremendous sugar intake has made be borderline diabetic. I busted my $2.00 budget because I spent $48.56 [which is not all that bad as I skipped lunch and dinner].
Tomorrow will be easier though as I am down to just the one card now. The West Pender Tim Hortons store confiscated the card and told me not to come back after I yelled "What do you mean your're out of Blueberry?" I think I have about two days left on the Starbuck's prepaid cash card.

November 17/2008: "Three new aviation documentaries in the work!"

Steeping away from the grind of a weekly TV series has freed me up to concentrate on prime time documentaries and in 2009, three of the six productions will involve my favorite subject ..... aviation !

"Inside the Century of Flight" is a behind the scenes documentary of the 12 days in July 2009 when the country comes together to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of flight . This project is well underway and will be shot in July 2009.

"Canada 100 year of flying" is a historical look at 100 years of flying that looks at many of the untold stories of Canadian aviation ". Later in 2009 we will be filming "Aviation Tomorrow " an in depth look at the aviation industry as fossil fuels supplies dwindle .

Special thanks to all the sponsors and production people who are getting behind the productions. Broadcasters in Canada and the USA are getting on board with broadcasts in the fall of 2009 and the winter of 2010.