Blog

Making a speech. Have three main points. Putting up a blog. Have three sections. Writing a plan. Have three objectives. That’s how we put focus on the things that are important. Remember, threes rule!

It might make sense to live in a bubble

It’s official: the season of sickness has reared its ugly head in my family. I received a call from the elementary school today to inform me that I had a sick child who needed to be picked up. It’s not the worst thing the school could call me about, but it means the beginning of cold and flu season in our household.

I was in denial, really. Throughout the week, we had a few kids with coughs and even one with a fever the past weekend, but everyone has been hanging in there. My youngest son missed a day of school on Monday and the rest of the week has gone on pretty much as normal – until today.

Even with the strictest of hand-washing and the new rule of coughing into your arm (which my kids have adopted much quicker than I) some germ managed to sneak in. I must admit, I have been really bad about the new coughing rule. If Elmo can do it, you think I would be able to figure it out. You know what they say about old dogs and new tricks.

Rather than worry too much about learning a new way to cough or wonder whether I should get a flu shot, I’m going to do the best I can to wash my hands, remember to use my arm when I cough, and not panic when someone comes home from school feeling icky. After all, when I found out my son was at home lying on the couch watching a movie, being sick didn’t sound too bad.

Written by Mike McGillivray filed under: Blog - Life Oct 23 2009

Restaurant honeymoon

You might notice that I talk about food a lot, but I can’t help myself. Do you have a favorite restaurant, or one you’ve thought about going to? I do. The problem is this: each time I go, I begin to think it might not be the best choice. The prices are high and the food is beginning to taste, well, so-so. The honeymoon, it seems, is coming to an end.

The more I go, the less wonderful it becomes. I don’t know if it’s the food, or the employees, or the little changes I’ve begun to notice. Maybe it’s just me. It’s not that the restaurant is bad, it's just never as great as I remembered it.

And it doesn’t help that they keep changing the menu. Sometimes, it’s just the look of the menu that changes. Other times, menu items have disappeared or reappeared.

I even think the food has changed. This restaurant had really good fries. Fresh cut, I believe. They even had bags of potatoes visibly displayed to prove it. Now the bags are gone and so are the original fries. Instead, I’m guessing they’ve gone to pre-cut frozen fries, but I can’t say for sure.

I understand that every business has growing pains. Unfortunately, in the process of changing their ways to attract new customers, they’ve somehow managed to turn me away. It’s important to make change, be efficient and fresh, but do so carefully and not at the expense of customers who have already demonstrated their loyalty.

Written by Mike McGillivray filed under: Blog - Life Oct 09 2009