During my 5 years back in Canada, I have been faithful to one beer brand – King Pilsener. King was a microbrewery in Nobleton (next to King City, north of Toronto) that had a very simple idea: Buy the best equipment and ingredients from the Czech Republic, and make a pilsener as good as or better than Czechvar, Pilsner […]
When I moved back to Canada in 2010, I had a new commuting challenge: to regularly travel 220 return kilometres, from west Toronto to Waterloo, ON. For my wife and two kids, I needed comfortable seating and trunk space too. Since I would be parking on the street in my more urban-than-suburban neighbourhood, I didn’t want to get […]
Nearing the end of weekend trip to Montreal with some old friends, the three guys left were having a lazy Sunday at a pool (billiards) bar a few hours ahead of our 7:45pm flight. Just before 2pm we get simultaneous emails from Porter Airlines with this message: IMPORTANT – Flight Change Notification Porter Airlines […]
I haven’t been to IMAX since I was a kid, at one of the original IMAX theatres in Toronto (Ontario Place). I therefore delayed this post until I had a proper 2011 experience. I went to the IMAX version of Contagion at the downtown AMC theatre in Toronto. After two minutes in the theatre, I […]
Hello again world. It’s been a crazy couple of months, culminating in my realization that Canada doesn’t actually have that many companies that think they need a helpful brand strategy guy like me. I’ve decided to take Interbrand’s list of the top 25 Canadian brands, and count down some basic brand-brain impressions, things I like, […]
born in 1649, Fiskars Ruukki, Finland. On my frequent business trips to Helsinki, visits to the Stockmann department store would spruce up the occasional boring evening. I remember regularly browsing the hardware department, noticing some very impressive orange and black coloured tools, but always hesitating to purchase. They weren’t too expensive, just beautiful and sturdy […]
We’ve moved into our new home with 2 showers, and I did the thing everybody on HGTV gets excited about. Each shower area has a rain shower and a hand shower – 4 shower heads in total. I bought 3 shower heads in North America. I ordered the one below from Speakman. Speakman is an […]
I walked into a Best Buy store in Toronto a few weeks ago, and asked a sales assistant: “How do I get all of the main US stations (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, PBS) and the main Canadian ones for free, in HD?” He told me you couldn’t. The only way to view High Definition television […]
Sports bars can save you money. Here’s the calculation: Most normal people who like sports probably really only watch about 5 full games of football / soccer / hockey a month. Those same people have a super expensive cable package to watch those games at home – between $80 and $120. Compare that to: Go […]
And reasons I love it. I actually consume it twice a week. I’m a user. It reminds me of breakfasts with my cousins in Greece. I have memories of it. When my kids have been extra good, I give them some. It gives me super-dad status. The logo hasn’t changed in 35 years; […]