Winnipeg + blowout sales = pandemonium

Last Saturday, I attended the blowout sale at Royal Sports on Pembina Highway. I arrived with two friends, and we were 20 minutes early. To my surprise, we were confronted by a very long line quickly snaking its way around the building.

I asked an understandingly unimpressed employee, and he explained that people started showing up at 7 a.m. for this apparently-epic sale.

As we gradually made our way to the front of the line, I shamelessly eavesdropped on the conversation behind me. (As a CreComm who considered majoring in journalism, I have no problem admitting when I use the people around me for stories.) A couple – probably my age or younger – was complaining loudly and obnoxiously about the snail-like pace of the line. They were angrily watching people inside the sale tent pick up multiple boxes of shoes.

And I quote:

“Oh my god, that person has 10 boxes of shoes! Do you see that?! Put some down, you jerk. Leave some for the rest of us!”

I understand that everyone in line wanted to take advantage of the blowout sale. We would have all stayed home in bed if we weren’t serious about finding a great deal. But it was completely unnecessary for the pair behind me to start heckling people. I thought that Canadians are supposed to be polite, and these individuals were being very, very rude.

What clinched it for me was when the young woman behind me started yelling at a mother and her two children for trying to cut through the line. Both children had just come from soccer practice, and the mother wasn’t even trying to get into the building. All she wanted to do was ask her son - who was the employee manning the entrance – if he wanted coffee. The woman behind me started screaming bloody murder, and the mother quickly went away without taking her son’s coffee order.

I found nothing of quality in the sale, and went home empty-handed. As I exited Royal Sports, I saw the same couple who waited behind me in line waiting to pay for their purchases. The woman had four boxes of shoes clutched in her arms; the man had three. They were both still scowling at everyone around them, and looking simply miserable in general.

Blowout sales seem to make people go crazy in Winnipeg. I could write a book about the insanity I witnessed during Scratch & Save and 10% off days when I worked at RONA. Overall, I was slightly shocked and appalled by the behaviour of the people in line behind me. The unfortunate thing is that they weren’t the only ones who were behaving in this manner. There was many a disgruntled shopper searching for deals at Royal Sports last Saturday morning.

Rockin’ with Don Ross at The Park Theatre

One of the greatest things about Winnipeg is the fact that there are small, intimate, live music venues tucked away in the most unassuming corners of the city.

The Royal Albert Arms (simply referred to as “The Albert”) has been a live music venue for as long as I have been alive. The Burton Cummings Theatre (formerly The Walker) attracts many well-known musicians and a few famous acts too. There’s The Garrick, The Zoo, Shannon’s Irish Pub, and the list goes on, and on, and on. The Park Theatre (and Movie Cafe) is located on South Osborne Street near Jubilee, and it is one of the cutest places I have ever watched a show in.

Don Ross is Canadian (woohoo), and he comes to Winnipeg quite frequently. He was born in Montreal in 1960, and currently resides in Halifax. He’s a visiting Professor of Music at Dartmouth University, and also teaches students privately both in Halifax and around the world via the Internet.

Ross isn’t classically trained, but he is an absolutely phenomenal guitarist. There is no way I can clearly articulate his genius through words, so please check out the video clip below...



Fantastic, right? Occasionally, Ross tours with his wife, Brooke Miller. When we saw him last Thursday, it was just Ross and his guitar. He played for about two hours, and kept the audience transfixed on the stage the entire time. His presence and talent is awe-inspiring, and I recommend that everyone watches him perform at least once.

Here's another clip, just in case you want more. Ross is covering "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley. Enjoy!

iBooks by Apple Inc.

(Photo courtesy of iBooks web page.)

I love to read. There is something special about books, newspapers, and magazines that simply can’t be compared to watching television or roaming the Internet. I also love to read for free, and am thoroughly excited about the iBooks application (“app”) I discovered on the iTunes website.

As an assignment for public relations class, we were instructed to find an app that is both free and useful. After carefully searching through a laundry list of games, screen savers, and weight management calculators, I found iBooks.

This app has a number of great features, which are as follows:

• It provides users with a complimentary copy of the illustrated Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne (which I would actually read again if I owned a copy).
• It allows users to read free samples of any book on the iBookstore roster before purchasing the full text.
• It’s easy for users to personalize. Screen brightness, font sizes, backgrounds, text layouts, typography, bookmarks and individual notes are just some of the features that iBooks has included for users to play with.
• Favourite passages can be highlighted, and notes can be added to the margins. This is especially appealing to me, because I write all over my books.
• PDF documents can be added to iBooks. This is especially helpful for students who want to study notes or a textbook on the bus or in a restaurant, but don’t want to open their cumbersome binders.
• It also has the ability to speak the words on any given page. While this may not appeal to my age group specifically, I’m sure my grandma would love having a story read aloud to her.

So what does this mean to PR?

We are living in a technology-driven society, and new inventions such as the iPad, iPhone, and BlackBerry are making it increasingly easy for consumers to access whatever they want whenever they want. Checking a bank account balance can be done in seconds (using the TD Bank app), and a destination can be found with the touch of a few buttons (with the Google Maps app). Technology is only going to advance in the future, so it’s very important for everyone involved in the communications industry to understand exactly how to use it to their benefit.

Public relations professionals are responsible for the big picture. They must follow the trends, know what is in, and know how to reach audiences across many different channels. Not everyone in the world currently use apps. Not everyone currently owns an iPod, iPhone, or BlackBerry. But, the technological climate is shifting in that direction, and PR professionals must be prepared to utilize apps – and any other form of technology, for that matter – to get their message out.

Why does this app work?

iBooks is free to download, which will appeal to anyone who is interested in reading on their handheld device. It also offers a host of complimentary add-ons, which will only increase its allure. This app isn’t for everyone - because not all people are bookworms like me – but those who download it enjoy books enough to want to have the freedom to read whenever, wherever, and however they please.

Users do have to purchase some books, but there are many available for free. As I searched through the website, I discovered that the Guinness Book of World Records is free to download. So is Alice in Wonderland. Maybe not the books you were thinking of reading, but this is a clever marketing strategy. Offer something for free, and many people will go back to purchase more.

Well... I’m sold.

I plan to download the iBooks app immediately after finishing this post. My plan is to get as many free books as possible, and then I will start looking at the ones that are for purchase.
Maybe I’ll have my book available for purchase on iBooks one day. It’s a clever marketing strategy, and I bet writers who are featured on the site have increased success and publicity.

Kenaston bike path leaves too much to the imagination

I want to take a moment to discuss something that really bothered me this past weekend.

It was a beautiful long weekend, so Jeff and I decided to bike to my parents house and back. Normally, this is a trek that takes over an hour. To shorten our trip, we decided to use the almost-finished bike path that parallels Kenaston Boulevard in the south end of Winnipeg on our way home.

The path consisted of recently-packed gravel, which meant that it was fairly easy for Jeff and I to navigate our bikes down. We were doing well, and enjoying our exercise, until we reached the intersection at Waverly Street and Kenaston (Bishop Grandin Boulevard). If anyone doesn’t know the intersection I’m referring to, it is where the now-defunct Crampton’s Market used to be located.

One would assume that the bike path would extend to the intersection. No such luck. The gravel path suddenly veered off to one side, into a field. We continued along this route – considering that our only other option was to drive on the shoulder of the busy road – and found ourselves in a parking lot. The parking lot turned into a road, and the road led us away from the intersection. We emerged on Waverly Street, and had to bike down the shoulder, race across traffic, pull our bikes onto the centre median, and repeat the process.

To add to our already-mounting frustration, Jeff and I emerged sweating, cursing, and stressed out on the opposite side of the road only to discover the continuation of the bike path. It started just as abruptly as its predecessor had ended, and ran up a hill and out of sight. What I found interesting was the fact that this path was recently and beautifully paved.

The two sides of the bike path aren’t connected, and there is no pedestrian crosswalk or corridor in between. I understand that this part of the construction process might occur at the end of the project, but that just doesn’t work for me. People (like me) will use something like a bike path even if it isn’t nicely paved. There were a lot of tracks in the gravel when we biked down it, and I’m sure there are many people who used it after us. A crosswalk is a very important aspect of the process, and I believe it should have been built before construction on the bike path began.

I’m also interested to find out why the path doesn’t run all the way to the road. I’ll admit that the land around one corner of the road is quite wet and grassy. If it’s going to be finished SOON, I’ll let that point go. If not, I’ll resume my frustration. What’s the point of building a convenient bike path if it isn’t efficient?

Needless to say, I was bothered. I will be watching to see how this bike path is finished, and I hope that I won’t have to write another blog about it. If the path isn’t completed to my satisfaction, however, you can be very sure that you’ll hear about it immediately.

Commandeering iPad browser space at the Apple Store

I want to start by saying that I am not the most technologically-inclined person around. To me, getting a BlackBerry six months ago was a monumental milestone. I was joining the illustrious ranks of business professionals with high-tech communication tools, and it felt good.

Now, half a year later, I’m behind the times again. I feel like I am the kid sitting in the back of the room straining to hear what the teacher is saying. Everyone has an iPod Touch, an iPhone, and iPad, or all of the above. I thought my BlackBerry was cool. I must be missing something.

In an effort to get “with the times,” both my friend Ashton and I decided to purchase an iPod Touch. We went to Future Shop, bought all the fancy accessories, and left the store feeling both elated and highly intelligent. Before calling it a night, we opted to check out the Apple Store in Polo Park Shopping Centre.

The store was absolutely packed – which makes sense, I guess – and we shimmied our way through the mass of humanity with a sense of awe. iWhatever’s are definitely the most popular products on the market today, which only added to my sense of accomplishment regarding my brand new iPod Touch.

I found myself at one of the large table displays devoted to iPad’s, and picked one up with hesitation. I went to Chicago this past May, but avoided the Apple Store like the plague. The iPad had just come out at that time, and people couldn’t wait to get their hands on one. It honestly seemed like useless technology to me (not to mention the fact that I was annoyed by the name), and I wanted to have no part in its success.

But, for some reason, I found myself drawn to the iPad. Maybe it was because I had just purchased an Apple product, or maybe it was because they are so pretty. Either way, I was navigating through the applications and typing in URL’s before I realized what I was doing.

Ashton disappeared to survey the rest of the store, but I remained with my new best friend. I typed in the URL for my blog, and suddenly the banner for The Hope Files was displayed across the streamline screen. I really, really hate to admit it, but my blog looked fantastic on an iPad. Better than on a laptop, and certainly better than on the screen of a BlackBerry. In fact, my blog looked so good on an iPad that I opened the Internet and typed in the URL on every single iPad in the store. There’s nothing wrong with a little shameless self-promotion, right?

The moral of the story is that I want an iPad. I never thought I would jump on that particular bandwagon, but it actually has many practical uses. I still love my BlackBerry – and that won’t change – but I’ll concede that Apple products are more useful than I’ve credited them with being in the past.

Check out the Apple Store if you find yourself at Polo Park. If you go, be sure to check out how my blog looks on the screen of every single iPad on display.

Not just on one... every single one.

Watching winter approach

I have no idea where summer went.

The last months of my first year of CreComm flew by, and I desperately needed time away from school to regroup and regain my sanity. I love my classmates and my instructors, but the cabin was calling my name. I was lucky enough to spend four luxurious months writing, reading, relaxing, and thinking. I didn’t have to follow a schedule, and I didn’t have to answer to anyone but myself. It was beautiful, and I am lucky to have had such a wonderful summer.

Today, it’s September 3. The first week of my second year at Red River is already gone. As I walked to my bus stop this morning, I noticed the trees lining the street are beginning to lose their leaves. In no time, Winnipeg winter will rear its ugly head and everything will freeze. School will take off in earnest, and I’ll find myself immersed in the academic stylings of my instructors once again.

Time passes much too quickly. Before I know it, I will be graduating and facing the challenge of deciding what to do with the rest of my life. When the first signs of spring begin to show, I’ll be handing in my final assignments, wrapping up my IPP, and saying goodbye to a lot of amazing people. Naturally, many of our paths will cross again. But we won’t be together all day, every day, and that will be a serious adjustment.

I usually watch winter approach with anticipation. I think about Christmas, snowboarding, and the end of another school year. Not this time. Instead of counting down the days until completion, I’m trying to enjoy the time in between.

Life is too short to wish for the future when the present can be just as great.

Genre switch for John Grisham

The first John Grisham book I read was The Client. I quickly fell in love with his writing style, and consumed as many of his works as possible. A few days ago, I stumbled upon Playing for Pizza. It was published in 2007, and is a delightful departure from Grisham’s usual genre.

Playing for Pizza is the fictional story of Rick Dockery, a third-string quarterback for the NFL. After suddenly and unceremoniously being thrown into a championship game, he not only lost, but made a fool of himself and let his team down in the process. He was fired, abandoned by his friends, and almost forgotten by his agent. In an effort to flee the harsh tongues of sports critics and the destroyed patriotism of football fans, Dockery accepted a contract to lead the Parma Panthers in Italy.

I had never heard of North American football in Europe before reading this book, but an author’s note at the end assured me it does in fact exist. The following is small, and the teams are mostly comprised of local athletes who play for the love of the game and the promise of free pizza dinners.

In order to write Playing for Pizza, Grisham did research. He visited Parma, Italy, and met the Panthers (who are actually a real team). He watched a number of games, interviewed the players, and familiarized himself with how football is viewed in Italy. Grisham also got to know the city of Parma, which allowed him to write about it in a way that was both enticing and easy to understand. The majority of the story is set in Italy, so it’s important the content seems genuine.

Reading this book was very beneficial to me. I am currently writing my own book that can be best defined as historical fiction, which is more or less the genre of Playing for Pizza. Grisham took real places and events, and infused them with fictitious characters. The difference is that my characters are real, even though it was necessary to take liberties on some of their actions.

Here’s an interesting fact I learned while reading the book: the town Parma is where all of the real Parmesan cheese in the world is made.

Read the book. It's great.