Yes, today is the official 50th Anniversary of my Wife’s Parents, Keith and Roberta Rogers. I call them the ‘Outlaws’ but they are great people. Heck, they have put up with me for over 28 years already with their daughter. There was a mention of a dowry at one point, but I am still waiting on that. Something about Camels and sheep or something?!. Big party tonight and knowing the Italian side, lots of food!!

If you consider a couple committing to 50 years of marriage, that is truly something these days. I know all the years were not “wine and roses” and they truly had to work at personality differences and opposite opinions, but isn’t that what they said ” I do” to in the first place?

Good on them and may God richly bless them in the years to come.

Love from your Son in Law,

Larry

Well, the wonderful world of Telus Communications has done it again. I asked that my old business number be transfered to my partners who are now following up all the calls. This was requested on the 15th of June and I was told it would be 24 hours “...thank you sir and thank you for calling Telus”. Not done.

I called a week later once I was told they were not getting calls and I was told the Telus technical dudes forgot to put a “1” in front of the re-direct number to Alberta. “no problem sir, this is our technicians error and we will have this fixed within 24 hours…thank you for calling Telus and have a good day”

Fast forward to today. Still not done and and I went through 3 different departments to get this resolved and guess what I heard…” no problem sir, we will have this fixed within the next 24 hours and thank you for calling Telus and have a good day” Have a good day? Get serious!! I was on my cell phone for over 15 minutes and was put on hold at least 4 times. Whats up with these big Corporations? They spend millions of dollars on training people to be good listeners, resolve conflict and customer service, why not spend millions of dollars to integrate your Company communications so I don’t have to go through 3 departments to resolve one phone issue?

On top of all this, they charge me a 75 dollar fee for the priviledge of re-directing this number which was never done. For a fully integrated Company they sure are disjointed when it comes to each Department. I am guessing some top executive ‘learned’ how to run a Company in business school. Next time ask someone who has run a Company how to do it and maybe listen to those tapes you record when you say “this call maybe monitored for quality assurance”. Maybe then you can attempt to cut down on needless calls and customer frustration.

This is still going to be a great day,

Larry

Now that I am moving to Calgary, I really needed to trade in my rear wheel drive G35 six speed for a all wheel drive car as the roads in Calgary are brutal in the winter. Calgary is also famous for the threat of snow every month of the year. I went to my Infiniti Dealership to get my car serviced and decided to look at the new stuff.

I decided on a 2009 G37xS, 4 door sport. It has all wheel drive and and is an automatic so no more clutch for me! I think I will miss my cherry red G35 6 speed, but times change and circumstances dictate you adapt. The good news is that Dealers are very anxious to move cars so the deal was too good to pass up.

Below is a rear view of the car and the one above is me taking delivery at the Infiniti Dealership. If you come out to Calgary for a visit, I will take you for a ride.

I am leaving Friday for Calgary so will update on my first day on the job.

Kind Regards,

Larry

I just had the privilege of meeting Mayor candidate Alvin  Epp. I was introduced to Alvin through a business associate and was asked to help optimize Alvin’s new Mayoral Web Site. I wanted to meet with the team and get a feel for whether this is the kind of guy I can endorse. I was not disappointed.

As a local business person I am keenly interested in progress for our City and not stagnating with the ‘old guard’ mentallity that seems to exist right now.  In this time of financial recession, we need forward thinking, positive direction and leadership to help the “City in the Country” get to the next level.

I look forward to volunteering with the Epp Team and to assisting anyway I can. Here is a link to the official site www.alvinepp.com

Kind Regard s,

Larry J Clark

I am watching the National News on Global and off they go into bashing the Conservative Party and the Vice President candidate in the U.S.

Kevin Newman discussing financial irregularities alleged against the Conservatives (in front of the Courts right now) from the last Election where funds were supposed to be transferred to riding’s and then funneled back for TV ad’s. This was called a “transfer Scheme” by the reporter. Are they delusional? These are allegations only at this time and Global say’s it a ‘scheme’ by the Conservatives. Are they that far left and desperate that they take a chance at being sued? I guess so. I think the believe they can slant the news to get a Liberal Government elected by bashing the Conservatives. What ever happened to unbiased news reporting?

Then there was the Sarah Palin report that said she was the Vice President candidate in the U.S. and was a anti abortion supporter. What’s up with this? Is she not a Mom, Governor of Alaska, wife? ...Nope, she is a anti abortion supporter. Hey Global, aren’t abortion laws already legislated in Canada and the U.S.?  Yes they are.

This is nothing but a cheap emotional ploy to sway voters to their leftist agenda.  If anything, it cements my values and beliefs further to fight against this irresponsible broadcasting.

To your Future,

Larry J Clark

Today is a very sad day. We are grieving the loss of our family dog Sammy who we had to put down. You really don’t know how much attachment a pet can be, especially after having Sammy for 18 and a half years.

No amount of time prepared us for this. We saw him loose his eye sight, hearing and he needed help getting up on his bed (my family room couch) and was sleeping most of the day. He also started to loose his mental faculties and we knew it was time. I am thankful to God we had the time to say good bye with him today but he will be missed for awhile.

Here’s to you my little buddy…you were a blessing to us.

Larry

I get an overload of Credit Card offers in the mail and over the phone. I have been told it has something to do with your postal code address. Could also have to do with owning a business. Anyway, here’s my Capital One adventure.

I got a Capital One offer that said “hey Larry, your approved”...just go online and register. Sounded good and this was Capital One, you know, the “prime plus 0.9 offer on TV”. It also had a ‘paypass’ feature which would work well for me at Tim Horton’s for coffee. So, blindly I go online, a few quick questions..Presto! I’m approved. Cool. Oh, it wasn’t quite as cool as I thought.

I get a Capital One notice in the mail that lets me know my shiny new Gold Card is on the way and read the terms and conditions. Ok. Don’t normally read the fine print stuff but why not. Wanted to see my 0.9 rate. Yes, you are correct, the interest rate is 19 % plus and there is an annual fee over over 50 bucks. You have to be kidding! What happened to those commercials saying stay away from high interest rates. I guess that doesn’t include them. No problem, I will cancel when the card comes.

The cards come and I try and get into the customer service. No lie, 4 times I was in the system and was kicked out completely. This is after they asked me no less than 3 times per call for the card number and date of birth. I was persistent because I didn’t want to get stuck with this stupid card and finally got through. Guess what…they were questioning why I would be canceling such a great card. Duh…do you think the interest rate might have been too high and you gave a embarrassing credit limit of 1000 dollars and you have an annual fee? The guy said it would be a great way for me to re-establish my credit. Hey, didn’t you check my credit rating before you gave me the card? I have an excellent credit rating and work hard to keep it that way.

The lesson here is don’t be naive like me and have a weak “CC” moment. Read everything before they do a credit check (yes these count toward your credit scores and go on your bureau) and stay with one or two cards. I have a few business ones for obvious reasons and two personal ones…one for travel points and one for our floating line at the Bank. Would I recommend Capital one…maybe if they didn’t use 3rd party sales machines to market their cards (thus the high rate to pay these dudes) and if they GUARANTEED a .09 interest rate. P.S…if you go to their site it actually works out to be more like 5.5% or more.

To your financial future,

Larry

Below is a video taken from my son’s Wedding with Rebecca. It was a great day and we are very proud of them both.

Click on the Video Player below to watch Larry discuss his new Flip Video Camera.

I received a call from my Orthopedic Surgeons office stating that I have been “bumped” from my scheduled surgery this Wednesday until over a month from now. It seems the Hospital changed their allocated time for elective surgeries and I happened to be not that crucial, so next month I go.

Now I could rant and rave and be bummed but I chose to feel that at least I am next Month, not 18 months from now. They are going to take out my upper tibial plate (on top of my shin bone just below the knee) so I won’t have so much discomfort when I walk etc. It has been bothering me allot, especially when I golf and that just won’t do!

I think overall the Health system here is getting better and I have nothing but praise for the Doctors and Nurses I have been involved with. God Bless them as I could never do what they do everyday.

Kind Regards,

Larry