The Burrard Street Blog

Phil is an investment expert who was speaking about how individuals can invest to make great returns. I really enjoyed his presentation because he reiterated a lot of ideas I am familiar with and have preached to family and friends who generally choose not to believe me.

The basic ideas:

•  Money managers make over 800 billion in commissions each year, so they have a vested interest in managing your money and maintaining control of the markets
• The most popular mutual funds results mirror the S&P 500 but charge fees
• You should focus on about 5 stocks
• Technology and freedom of information has given the individual investor power they never had before
• 85% of the market is controlled by fund managers, but because of their size they need to move very slowly when entering or exiting a position, so the individual investor can spot trends and profit because they can move so quickly
• He was a follower of the Buffet school of investing
• Rate of return is not = to risk. Its like if you drive your car it is not risky, but your 11 year old driving would be. More knowledge and skill = greater rates of return.

I ended up buying a package that included training and use of some investor tools. Ironically I have no money free to play with in the markets right now, but you know me I’m obsessed with learning and seminars and every bit of knowledge I can get my hands on. As I free up some money and start testing it out I will keep everyone updated about the results.

Here are some quotes I thought I’d share from the speakers I saw today:

“It’s not a black thing, it’s not a white thing, it’s a green thing”
-Christopher Gardner

“For $25,000 I’ll listen to him tell all the Ni$%^ he wanted. I was laughing all the way to the bank”
-Christopher Gardner

“When the CFO and the Chair of the Board are selling, its probably a good indicator of what to do!”
-Phil Town

“It was a small misunderstanding…..I had to go to jail”
-Martha Stuart

“If you don’t give appropriate attention to what has your attention it will take more than it deserves”
-David Allen

“The more something is on your mind, the less is probably getting done about it”
-David Allen

“95% of the time when you have the time and energy to do something you don’t have the time and energy to think about what you need to do”
-David Allen

“Life has been made too confusing, too complicated…Laugh, move, dance”
-Loretta LaRouche

“If you want to make god laugh, tell him your plans”
-Quincy Jones

“Live everyday like its your last, one day you’ll be right”
-Quincy Jones

“Copy the 10 people you admire most….once you walk in their shoes and gain confidence your own personality can come through”
-Quincy Jones

“When people doubt me I’ve practiced my response….Right, we will see”
-Quincy Jones

“Not one drop of my self-worth depends on your acceptance of me”
-Quincy Jones

“Dan, you have some amazing rhythm, don’t let it go to waste. One day you’re going to be a star”
-Quincy Jones

“When life gets to be too much, stop and let your soul catch up. Listen to a great song”
-Quincy Jones

“Tell someone you love them. Call, write, email or text an old friend. Tell someone you miss them.”
-Quincy Jones

“I played 1000 games where I didn’t have to be great, just better than the other guy”
-Andre Agassi

“Focus on getting one day better, not two, and build momentum each day”
-Andre Agassi

“Eat an elephant one bite at a time”
-Andre Agassi

“If this is co complicated for you, let me make it simple, if you see the ball move and hit it”
-Andre’s Coach during The French Open Finals

Thats all for tonight. Look forward to more indepth articles on each of the speakers over the next few weeks.

Dan.

Today I attended a Power Within speaking event at GM Place and so far have been very impressed by what I have seen (It is the intermission right now, so I decided to take the time to write down all my thoughts on the speakers before they float away). To benefit those who attended, and those who didn’t, I will review, recap and explore the ideas presented by each speaker. I will keep it to one article per speaker and while I will likely write all 8-9 articles today while the ideas are fresh I will edit and publish them every few days as to not overwhelm the reader and keep the ideas fresh in my mind.

Sorry about the lack of updates, things have been busy and I just haven’t had the time to write anything of sufficient quality to be worth my wonderful reader’s time. I’m currently reading an excellent book by

Peter Legge whom I recently saw speak at The Vancouver Club. The book is “Make Your Life A Masterpiece.” I thought I would share a great story he found and put in his book that emphasises the importance of simple effective communication. Reading it I actually brought myself to tears laughing. Enjoy

Dear Maid,

Please do not leave any more of those little bars of soap in my bathroom since I have brought my own bath-sized Dial. Please remove the six unopened little bars from the shelf under the medicine chest and another three in the shower soap dish. They are in my way.

Thank you,
S. Berman

Dear Room 635,

I am not your regular maid. She will be back tomorrow, Thursday, from her day off. I took the 3 hotel soaps out of the shower soap dish as you requested. The 6 bars on your shelf I took out of your way and put on top of your Kleenex dispenser in case you should change your mind. This leaves only the 3 bars I left today which my instructions from the management is to leave 3 soaps daily. I hope this is satisfactory.

Kathy, Relief Maid

Dear Maid - I hope you are my regular maid.

Apparently Kathy did not tell you about my note to her concerning the little bars of soap. When I got back to my room this evening I found you had added 3 little Camays to the shelf under my medicine cabinet. I am going to be here in the hotel for two weeks and have brought my own bath-size Dial so I won’t need those 6 little Camays which are on the shelf. They are in my way when shaving, brushing teeth, etc. Please remove them.

S. Berman

Dear Mr. Berman,

My day off was last Wed. so the relief maid left 3 hotel soaps which we are instructed by the management. I took the 6 soaps which were in your way on the shelf and put them in the soap dish where your Dial was. I put the Dial in the medicine cabinet for your convenience. I didn’t remove the 3 complimentary soaps which are always placed inside the medicine cabinet for all new check-ins and which you did not object to when you checked in last Monday. Please let me know if I can of further assistance.

Your regular maid,
Dotty

Dear Mr. Berman,

The assistant manager, Mr. Kensedder, informed me this morning that you called him last evening and said you were unhappy with your maid service. I have assigned a new girl to your room. I hope you will accept my apologies for any past inconvenience. If you have any future complaints please contact me so I can give it my personal attention. Call extension 1108 between 8AM and 5PM.Thank you.

Elaine Carmen
Housekeeper

Dear Miss Carmen,

It is impossible to contact you by phone since I leave the hotel for business at 7:45 AM and don’t get back before 5:30 or 6PM. That’s the reason I called Mr. Kensedder last night. You were already off duty. I only asked Mr. Kensedder if he could do anything about those little bars of soap. The new maid you assigned me must have thought I was a new check-in today, since she left another 3 bars of hotel soap in my medicine cabinet along with her regular delivery of 3 bars on the bath-room shelf. In just 5 days here I have accumulated 24 little bars of soap. Why are you doing this to me?

S. Berman

Dear Mr. Berman,

Your maid, Kathy, has been instructed to stop delivering soap to your room and remove the extra soaps. If I can be of further assistance, please call extension 1108 between 8AM and 5PM.Thank you,

Elaine Carmen,
Housekeeper

Dear Mr. Kensedder,

My bath-size Dial is missing. Every bar of soap was taken from my room including my own bath-size Dial. I came in late last night and had to call the bellhop to bring me 4 little Cashmere Bouquets.

S. Berman

Dear Mr. Berman,

I have informed our housekeeper, Elaine Carmen, of your soap problem. I cannot understand why there was no soap in your room since our maids are instructed to leave 3 bars of soap each time they service a room. The situation will be rectified immediately. Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience.

Martin L. Kensedder
Assistant Manager

Dear Mrs. Carmen,

Who the hell left 54 little bars of Camay in my room? I came in last night and found 54 little bars of soap. I don’t want 54 little bars of Camay. I want my one damn bar of bath-size Dial. Do you realize I have 54 bars of soap in here. All I want is my bath size Dial. Please give me back my bath-size Dial.

S. Berman

Dear Mr. Berman,

You complained of too much soap in your room so I had them removed. Then you complained to Mr. Kensedder that all your soap was missing so I personally returned them. The 24 Camays which had been taken and the 3 Camays you are supposed to receive daily. I don’t know anything about the 4 Cashmere Bouquets. Obviously your maid, Kathy, did not know I had returned your soaps so she also brought 24 Camays plus the 3 daily Camays. I don’t know where you got the idea this hotel issues bath-size Dial. I was able to locate some bath-size Ivory which I left in your room.

Elaine Carmen
Housekeeper

Dear Mrs. Carmen,

Just a short note to bring you up-to-date on my latest soap inventory. As of today I possess:
On the shelf under medicine cabinet - 18 Camay in four stacks of 4 and one stack of 2.
On the Kleenex dispenser - 11 Camay in two stacks of 4 and one stack of 3.
On the bedroom dresser - one stack of 3 Cashmere Bouquet,
One stack of 4 hotel-size Ivory, and 8 Camay in two stacks of 4.
Inside the medicine cabinet - 14 Camay in three stacks of 4 and one stack of 2.
In the shower soap dish - 6 Camay, very moist.
On the northeast corner of tub - 1 Cashmere Bouquet, slightly used.
On the northwest corner of tub - 6 Camays in two stacks of 3.

Please ask Kathy when she services my room to make sure the stacks are neatly piled and dusted. Also, please advise her that stacks of more than 4 have a tendency to tip. May I suggest that my bedroom window sill is not in use and will make an excellent spot for future soap deliveries. One more item, I have purchased another bar of bath-sized Dial which I am keeping in the hotel vault in order to avoid further misunderstandings.

S. Berman

Dan Johnston.

I apologize for the lack of updates the last few days. As many of you know I’m on the market for a new place downtown to call home, and well it has become very time consuming. The good news is all the hours spent shopping have become inspiration for a series of articles for the upcoming week. I’m going to take a closer look at what I consider the most important aspects of a downtown pad, starting with views on Monday. I’m looking forward to hearing lots of feedback on what drops your jaw and makes you say “Wow, I’ll take it.”

 Until Monday,

Dan Johnston.