Saturday, December 7, 2024

BIG Chuckle

Masks? Hell, no!

Remember the 1970s? Okay, maybe you are too young. How about the 1980s? 1990s? Early 2000s? I ask because back in the 1970s, or any one of the decades to follow, starting in the fall, and continuing into winter, a lot of people got colds. Some got the flu. I remember one difficult week in November of 2014 when both of my sons were home for five days straight, refusing homemade carrot soup at the...

Is it remote work or (not) remotely working?

Now that Zoom – the company that started it all – has folded its hand on the remote-work gamble, requiring its employees to return to the office, it feels like the party is over. We are three years into the work-from-home experiment thrust upon us by government-imposed lockdowns, and you would think from the posts dominating my social media feed that the work-life balance has never been better. “No more commuting!” “More time with my kids!” “Look at...

The moving story of woman versus machine

At 3 p.m. on June 30, my phone rang. Driving east on Highway 401 from Burlington to Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, and now somewhere west of Kingston, I was on a five-and-a-half-hour ride in the middle of a heat wave to pick up a U-Haul van, leave my own car in the parking lot overnight, and continue another hour to Montreal to help my son get through every Quebec renter’s nightmare; Quebec Moving Day. Deciding...

Naked in the desert

You know you have left your vacation planning late when the only accommodation available is a nudist colony. “Okay,” my sister, Heather, sighed into the phone. “I might have something for our first night.” Heather and I had just spent 20 soul-crushing minutes trying to find separate nights’ accommodation for an epic road trip that would start in Vegas, tour five of California’s national parks, and end back on the Vegas Strip a week later. We...

Top 10 Signs You Are Working with the Wrong Realtor

Many prospective and current homeowners are familiar with the best qualities of real estate agents – for example, physically attractive and fun. However, I think it is more important to identify bad realtors so you can avoid working with them. Therefore, I spent dozens of minutes researching and compiling the Top 10 Signs You Are Working with the Wrong Realtor: (Out of respect for our more sensitive readers, I will alternate pronouns between all of the genders.)   She...

Pouring cold water on latest health craze

Millions of people around the world are following the lead of Wim Hof, also known as the Iceman, in subjecting their bodies to extreme cold with intent to shock their bodies into better health. Well, I say Bah Hofbug! Cool your jets for a moment while I pour cold water on your every Wim. Did you know that the aforementioned Dutch dude has an identical brother who does not torture himself in ice and cold water, and has been found...

April Fool’s Day is officially no fun at all

April Fool's Day used to be so much fun. I would dream up schemes the night before, set an early alarm, then execute pranks on unsuspecting family members and friends. Switching the salt and sugar at home was an early classic. "Abducting" my basketball teammate as he leaned against an unlocked driver-side door while parked with a mutual friend was one of my favourites. Being a father of seven children made for infinite material as each became...

BIG Boastfest belies my modest manner

One of our BIG Media Ltd. members recently told me that I need to brag more. It was the first time I had ever heard anyone say such a thing. I want to respect privacy, but I will give you a hint and see if you can guess the name of the person who gave me this sound advice: The name of a particular Michael Jackson song pretty much gives it away. The first five people...

Please forgive my 7 Deadly Journalistic Sins

Bless me, readers, for I have sinned. My last confession was 40 years ago. It has indeed been a while since my parents hauled me off to the St. James Catholic Church confessional to be absolved of all sins. Back then, the most malicious misdeeds were riding my bicycle past dark and teasing my sister. I have upped my game considerably over the last four decades. I find myself back in the confessional today for compelling reasons....

Open letter to Google regarding Bill C-18

Dear Google, I totally get why you are testing out blocking Canadian news content from your mighty search engine in response to Bill C-18. But I have a sweet deal for you. At BIG-Media.ca, we have arguably the most accurate, spin-free news coverage, and we don't want your money ... so, how about you block all news agencies except BIG Media Ltd. It is a privilege to have our content shared on your search engine. It allows us...