Post 2456 - Follow Up Radio News

Hi. Welcome to New Year's Eve 2013.

In the last hour I was speaking to JC Douglas. He has asked me to make a couple of corrections to my report last evening about his new job.

1. He will NOT be a 911 supervisor. He is being trained to be a 911 dispatcher.
2. He is NOT leaving radio. I did mention that he will be voice tracking radio shows going forward, including today's drive show on The Wave. MBS has installed a studio in his basement that will enable him to record and produce radio shows from his home. I will go on record and report an interest in seeing this device, JC.

An old friend contacted him a couple of years ago and learned that this friend had become a 911 dispatcher. Intrigued, JC asked this friend to let him know if any future opportunities presented themselves. Two years later, almost exactly at the time he got the job at The Wave, the stars aligned in a way that happens all the time in real life but would be considered a cheat, a form of deus ex machina in a fictional context: an opportunity to apply to become a 911 dispatcher was there. He decided to try his luck.

If you believe in fate, then know this: JC was one of two candidates out of 252 to be selected for this training opportunity. Long odds, and he made them. He is hoping to put 10 years or so into this and see how close that gets him to retirement. He fully intends to make this new gig work for him. I am not a betting Bevboy (a Betboy?), but if I were, I'd put odds on him to kick arse in this position.

On a personal note, I am happy for JC. He deserves happiness, which sounds like a dumb thing to say because nearly everybody deserves happiness, but I mean it. He really does. He is one of the good guys. He has always without fail been kind to me even before I started this blog, and I can't and won't forget his many kindnesses to me. I hope this new gig works for him. And I am also happy that  I can still tune in to a radio station and listen to him, albeit via Memorex, I hope for a long time to come.

Now, we can have a bit of fun speculating who might permanently become the new Drive person at The Wave. There are some excellent candidates out there who are at loose ends. If Robert Pace wants to open up his wallet, shoo away the moths that fly out, and throw some money into the mix, then perhaps one of these folks can be tempted to throw his hat in the ring.

I hope he decides to back up the truck. And that the truck was not made by Tonka.

See you tomorrow. And Happy New Year.

Bevboy

Post 2455 - Radio News

Well, it's official now. Which is to say that Frank Magazine has broken the news, even though they got it from me in the first place.

JC Douglas, former PD at Q104 until 4 months ago, is no longer the drive home guy at The Wave in Halifax. He is taking training to become a 911 supervisor. His on air shifts at the Wave will henceforth be voicetracked.

It is a little sad that someone who has been synonymous with radio in Halifax for pushing 30 years, should nearly walk away from the medium and begin a new career. I am not privy to his motivations and never will be. I can only wonder from afar just what happened and why, and whether something happened to him over the last year or two to have soured his feelings about the medium. I don't know. Don't ask me. Ask him.

I was poised to break the news here when I first heard it more than 10 days ago. I was not asked to keep my source's name private, so I can tell you it was Rick Howe who told me. However, JC phoned me and asked me not to reveal this information, and I honoured this request. I am not a news source in any way that would past muster with anybody. I am just a guy with a blog who writes about radio stuff when he doesn't write about his cat or what he had for supper that evening. I have 4.7 readers. Because I was asked to keep it private, I did not write that Christina Fitzgerald was leaving Live 105 and heading to Radio 965 ("Radio Nine Six Live?") even though she had resigned from Evanov and her boyfriend who worked at Rogers was telling folks there that she was leaving. If I am asked not to write about something pending an embargo on the announcement or to avoid embarrassment or people getting into trouble at their work or whatever, then I go along with their wishes. Period. You have no idea how many juicy anecdotes about high flying GM's, PD's, and owners with expensive cuff links I have erased from interviews over the years. Sigh. Even when I correctly guessed who the person was who kept his/her job at Q104 in 1995 at the expense of  Stan Carew's, I could not reveal it. It must officially remain a secret. Double sigh. And since that person in question is also no longer in radio, I wonder why it must remain a secret. Triple sigh.

Anyway, my very best, as always, to JC Douglas. He is embarking on what he hopes will be a very interesting new career, and I wish him every success in this endeavour. And if it doesn't pan out, then the radio world will love to have him back full-time.

You guys have a good night.

Bevboy

Post 2454 - Quickly Noted

Not much to write about this evening. Spent time today watching some R-rated comedies ("Hangover III" and "We're the Millers"). Patricia made a delicious turkey-based dinner.

I had to mention that, a mere 3 days after beginning it, my mother has read "The Virgin Cure" from cover to cover. Started Boxing Day.  Finished today. Remarkable achievement for anyone, let alone someone who's 81 years old. I have never seen someone blossom so much since she moved out of the house (which she still misses and keeps stuff in) and into an assisted living facility. Her meals are covered. 24x7 medical care. Cable tv and phone. And all the time that she wants to read. She has already chosen her next book to read. It is the story about the life in Kentville and nearby Camp Aldershot during World War II. Because it is DND property, I have never set foot on the property and am very unlikely to do so. I bought the book about 10 days ago when I was killing some time at a used book store in the South End of Halifax whilst Patricia was shopping downtown. It occurred to me that Mom may want to read it, and I was right. That makes one in a row. I have a few dozen books about local history; I think I will gradually lend them to her to read. In a couple of years, I may end up having to lend her my porn Viking fiction in order to feed her voracious reading appetite.

We're all looking forward to the storm over night. Some folks in New Brunswick (for my American readers, all 1.3 of you, that is a neighbouring province in Canada) still don't have power after a week; it is even worse in Toronto. Now, there is another impending storm that will threaten power connections to those people and a host of others. I have been so lucky here not to have lost power. To the best of my knowledge, it is the same situation at my mother's. Fingers crossed. I'd cross my toes, but I read somewhere they'd just stay that way. That would make it difficult to walk around, and would cause embarrassing questions from people at my work.

Time for a shower and undergo the process to enhance the beauty of my hair. You understand.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 2453 - Check, Please!

Let's see, here. Saturday night? Check!

A rum and eggnog under my belt? Check!

Spent several hours watching season two of "American Horror Story"? Check!

Downstairs in my home office with Newbie? Check!

About to watch some episodes of a show about a pandemic that's killed 90% of the world's population? Check!

Happy that I've hired a teenager down the street to shovel my driveway and clean off my car during the Winter, thus saving me the bother? Check!

Possibly slept too much last night and overslept today? Check!

Wondering how my 4.7 readers are faring this weekend, and what they're doing, and what they're wearing? Check!

Marvelling over how my mother has read more than half of "The Virgin Cure" by Ami McKay in less than 48 hours? Check, and double check!

Wondering what I will do tomorrow, after another long Winter's nap? Check.

Wondering how things are in the Valley this evening? Check!

Asking for your "checks", as a comment on this post or a comment on my Facebook or a response on Twitter? Check!

See you tomorrow? Check!

Bevboy? Check!

Post 2452 - Friday

Hi. First of all, I'm sorry I didn't write on Thursday. I wasn't feeling well. I pretty much slept the entire day away, getting up only to watch a movie and eat something, before crawling back to bed. Not much to write about.

We returned to work this morning. Pretty quiet day at work. Not much to write about.

After work I went in search of a special patch cable  that I could use to connect a digital coax cable (which is apparently just the video/yellow/rca cable to a pair of computer speakers. The cable would run from a coax-out connection on the back of the new HDTV to said speakers. Didn't work. Don't know why. For the short-to-medium term, the red and white rca jacks on the back of the cable box will run to said speakers. That works perfectly, and Patricia is pleased with the sound the now 4 speakers make. A very inexpensive solution. I just got rid of a 5.1 stereo system because it was too much hassle to maintain and it was very unusual for all 6 of the speakers to fire up at once. I replaced that system with a 2.1 computer speaker system that produces pretty good sound, and now there is a similar set up upstairs in the living room where Patricia will spend a goodly percentage of the winter months.

The weekend is here. It is one of those funny weeks where there were 2.5 holidays in the middle, so after one day back, it's the weekend again. Next week, of course, I work Monday and Tuesday, have January 1st off, and then return for 2 more days before yet another weekend.  I figure by June I'll get used to writing "2014" on cheques. I can state this because I probably won't write a cheque until June.

With few exceptions, the only cheques I've written in the last 18 months were to pay for and be reimbursed for, a monthly expense for my mother's home. Since she's moved out, she no longer requires that service. Otherwise, I was writing cheques for a 6/49 lottery pool I'd been in for the better part of 20 years. For reasons that I don't understand, that pool folded a couple of months ago, so I have even less reason to write cheques.

Newbie is on the bookshelf by my left shoulder, cleaning himself, preening himself even, probably in anticipation of whatever foul desires he wishes to foist upon me. I keep telling myself to be brave, but that is often easier said than done.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 2451 - Christmas 2013

Hey, 4.7. How are you doing?

Merry Christmas!

I am back in the city after a whirlwind trip to the Valley for the day. The day started off poorly. I misplaced the blankety-blank keys to the house down there, so I ended up calling my sister to get her to open the place for us. Most of the presents were there, so we needed to get there, scoop them up and high tail it to my mother's room.

People seemed to like the presents I gave out. Patricia is still going on about the TV. In 30 minutes we will watch the Dr. Who Christmas Special to see how they get around having another doctor regeneration when in fact they are already at the 13th Doctor and can't go any further. Some of you care. And now we get to watch it on a much better television than we did on the 50th anniversary special last month.

We all had Christmas dinner at my younger sister's. After we'd eaten, my niece got her new dslr camera and tripod out and began taking pictures of various configurations of the family. It just underscored to me how much we still miss our father, and my mother, her husband. This was our 4th Christmas without him, and it still feels weird to get a present "just" from my mother, and not "Mom and Dad".

I've long since moved away from expecting him to walk into the living room and say hello, or to sneak a taste of the Christmas turkey before everyone else had had a chance to chow down thereon. But it seems... somehow a cheat not to have him with us. I wish I had taken a few minutes today to visit his grave. Perhaps this weekend.

We returned to the city around supper time and I have spent the last couple hours down here in the home office farting around on a day when one should do so.

We are off on Thursday and are back to work on Friday, before having two more days off. We return to work on Monday the 30th and the 31st before another day off and then working two more days. I am grateful to have a BlackBerry to keep track of all that stuff for me.

Newbie is eyeing me with that look of his. I think he must be in heat. TMI?

Time to go upstairs and warm up the TV to see Doctor Who.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 2450 - Christmas Tie 2013, Day Seventeen

Phew!

We have hit the end of the line.

This is the last day of the sixth annual Bevboy's Christmas Tie Extravaganza.

I'm pretty sure we have had more entries in this year's extravaganza than in other years, a full 17 entries in fact.

I had two entries today. The first one is with my director Natalie Quaintance. It was taken at our work just as we were heading out for the day. You can now guess where we work.

The next pictures were taken at the home of the lovely and talented former HRM councillor Dawn Sloane. We decided it'd be funny/pathetic for me to hold a piece of mistletoe over my head and see what happened.  As you can see, Dawn took the bait. And, who could blame her? I'm so handsome, you see.

That's it for this year's extravaganza. Once again I do not know if I will do this again or not. I have got a lot more notice this year than in other year's, including a nice mention in Frank Magazine last week. It's all good.

Off to the Valley for a day or so. Will write something on Christmas day.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 2549 – Christmas Tie 2013, Day Sixteen

And, hello, ladies and gentlemen, to the penultimate edition of the sixth annual Bevboy’s Christmas Tie Extravaganza!

Today’s tie snaps were taken in the studios of Energy 103. My new friend Brad Legere contacted me and told me that he would be honoured to pose for Christmas tie pictures with me.

I still don’t quite get it. I am honoured that anybody at all would agree to pose with me for pics. For people to approach little old me surprises me.

Of course, you can imagine my surprise last week when someone in BC posed with a sign that stated “Bevboy’s Blog! Are YOU one of the 4.7?” I should download that and put it up on the blog.

Anyway, Brad told me some of his career highlights and told me that he had been a reader of the blog for nearly 3 years now. I was flattered to say the least.

Afterward I got some pics of Brad pretending to be on the air before went over to the Live 105 studios where I got some pics of Chris Pottie’s pretending to be on the air. I will use those pictures in future interviews in which these guys are mentioned. I probably have the largest collection of radio personality pictures of anyone in the province at the very least.
 
Tomorrow is the final day in this process, and I’ll bet you can’t wait for it to be over. Tomorrow’s pictures will be taken with a good friend I haven’t seen lately. I look forward to seeing her again tomorrow.

Brad, thanks for your time, buddy. Keep in touch.

See you tomorrow, me hearties.

Bevboy

Post 2548 - Sunday

Well, here I am. Sunday night, pushing 9:30. And I am back in Halifax.

I drove up during the height of the freezing rain event today, leaving my mother's around 1:30. I promised myself, Patricia, and Newbie that I would return to my mother's should the weather force me to do so.

The car was fishtailing on the 101. I guess it never occurred to anyone to salt the roads in King's County. By the Hant's County border, literally, the road began to clear up, because there had been a plow not long before that had dumped all manner of sodium chloride on the road. At the East Hant's border, the roads were clearer again. By the time I reached the HRM border, the roads were slick but no worse than they are after a decent rain.

I got home around 3:30, nearly 2 hours after I'd left the Valley. I had decided to deliver the main Christmas present to the household today. I got a big screen HD tv. It's 32 inch 720p. I hope to get a larger one for downstairs in the next month or so. Time to join the 21st century. As I write this, Patricia is upstairs watching "Wallace and Grommit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit" on said television.

There is not much else to report. Newbie is once again in the small cardboard box on the top of the desk, folded up like origami. I have to return to work in the morning to prepare for the final (and booked!) Christmas tie pictures of 2013. And we will be back at my mother's this time Tuesday evening in preparation for the holidays. The 25th is in the middle of the week this year, and I don't have the vacation days to spare, so I will be back to work on Friday the 27th. Oh, boy.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 2547 - Saturday

Saturday evening. Newbie's all over me like a cheap (cat) suit.

Big storm for tomorrow. I should drive back this evening but I don't feel like it. Will either drive back Sunday evening or pull a Patricia and drive up beastly early Monday morning. Am I a dummy or something?

Rhetorical question. No need to answer.

See you tomorrow.

From Bevboy's BlackBerry to Bevboy's Blog!

Post 2546 - Friday

Here in the Valley. Friday night. Turning in soon.

Newbie is chilling and so am I.

See you tomorrow. Busy day!

From Bevboy's BlackBerry to Bevboy's Blog!

Post 2545 – Christmas Tie 2013, Day Fifteen

We are in the home stretch, ladies and gentlemen.

Today I was back yet again to the studios of News 94.7.

I noted with great pleasure that the stockings were hung carefully, potentially in hope that St. Nicholas soon would show up.

And.. here I am with Scott Simpson. He is the afternoon news anchor at the station, and has been there since they went on the air in 2005. I am trying to think of anyone else who’s been there since day one, and I am unable to do so.

 

    

Scott has Rob Ford stories to tell. He used to cover Toronto city council and would observe Rob Ford go off the deep end time and time again. I’d pay to see that, actually.

Thanks for your time, Scott. Have fun filling in for Rick Howe next week!

And, here I am with morning news anchor Dan Ahlstrand.I sent him a friend request some time ago, and never heard back from him. Am I bitter? Some questions are best left unanswered, my friends

And, that’s it for this week. I am off on Friday and back to work Monday for the final two entries in the Sixth Annual Bevboy’s Christmas Tie Extravaganza!

See you tomorrow with other content!

Bevboy

Post 2544 – Christmas Tie 2013, Day Fourteen

Long day. Not over yet. Looking forward to driving home in a snowstorm. Clenched balls, anyone?

Today’s pictures were taken in the studios of News 95.7 in Halifax. I am standing with the talented and lovely Rick Howe, who survived the layoffs last month and continues to do his show five days a week. I really miss his history pieces, though. Please bring them back.

My original person for Thursday has canceled, so I am out of sorts for a Christmas tie picture for tomorrow. Help!

 

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 2543 - Hello

Hello, folks.  How are you this evening?

I am writing a special introductory blog post because the issue of Frank Magazine that comes out on December 18th, and already available digitally, contains a very nice mention of this here blog. The url is specified and the blog is described as "wildly entertaining". Ha! Good one, there.

This was all a way for Frank to make nice with me after taking a couple of pictures from the blog and dropping them into articles about local radio. You see, I am known as a radio geek. I follow the medium in near-microscopic detail. I pay attention to who is at which station.  When the news of the big layoffs at Rogers was about to take place last month, I was the one who broke the news because a source contacted me first, and I was able to pass that along, beating out Frank, beating out Allnovascotia.com, and I think even beating out "On the Air in Atlantic Canada" on Facebook.

I am probably best known for the in-depth interviews with local radio personalities. It is my conceit that the radio folks can trust me and can tell me whatever they want without fear of my twisting it out of shape or taking things out of context. I'm not even comfortable using pull quotes for that reason.

I have my own youtube channel. I host all the videos featuring greetings from the various radio folks I have interviewed over the years. Go ahead and check them out.

I am most of the way through my sixth year of the Bevboy's Christmas  Tie Extravaganza. Every working day in December I get my picture taken in a different part of the city with a different Christmas-themed tie. I have had my picture taken atop Halifax city hall (which is now closed to nearly everybody), in the same prison cells in city hall that Houdini escaped from 100 years ago, and in dozens and dozens of other places and with many other people. This year's theme is "people", and I mostly pose with my radio friends.

I have also written several series over the years. I guess the best received one was the "year in review" series, in which I discuss the things that have happened to me in my long and boring life. I have also had the "things in Halifax that don't make sense" series, and stuff about the early Bevboy.  The latest series is just called "reminiscing", in which I comment and ask about various things I have seen and heard in my life.

I have no children, but have a cat named Newbie, and have been engaged to the same woman longer than many marriages have lasted. I have an aversion to housework. I am left-handed, and wonder why I have lived so long because of a form of clumsiness that is often fatal.

I have been a member of Toastmasters for 22 years now. It is a public speaking organization. I took a couple improvisational acting courses 10 years ago.

If you have just chanced on this blog because of the Frank piece, then welcome aboard. I hope you stick around for a while. Please drop me a line via a comment on any post, by sending me an email here, by replying to any tweet that advertises a blog post, or by replying to either my personal Facebook or the Bevboy's Blog fan page also on Facebook. I love to hear from you. Especially if you have something nice to say and spell words correctly.

Keep reading. Even after 6 years, I still feel as though I'm just getting started.

See you tomorrow. Another radio picture with a guy who doesn't show his face very much.

Bevboy

Post 2542 – Christmas Tie 2013, Day Thirteen

Day 13, already. What will happen next?

This year, I am in danger of running out of ties. I thought that I might have enough to go around, but that may not be the case. Fingers crossed.

Today’s pictures were taken at the Live 105 studio in downtown Halifax. Like I have been several times already. Are they getting tired of me? I hope not. I’ve heard a rumour that they will be setting up a work station for me.

I am here with the lovely and talented Floyd, part of the morning show of that fine radio station. Jeff is off for a little while and will be back in the new year.

Floyd has been a good friend to me and the blog, going back to her days with Cub Carson on the morning show. In fact, the folks at Live 105 have always been nice to me. I appreciate that very much.

 

I don’t have anyone booked for the rest of the week, nor for Monday and Tuesday of next week. I will beat the bushes and find some subjects to pose with me before day’s end. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 2541 – Christmas Tie 2013, Day Twelve

 

Welcome to day 12, folks!

Today’s pictures were taken in the offices of Frank Magazine in downtown Halifax. You will recall that in the past issue they used a couple of pictures from this here blog without my attribution.  All is forgiven, especially since I can now reveal that the new issue, out later on this week, features a nice little mention of the blog and me and the url of this blog.

I am posing with my new frie  nd Andrew Douglas. He is the main editor of Frank, which other than a booboo or two, has always been fair to me.

 

We stepped out to lunch to the new Cajun place in the downtown. The fact that I am here to write about it tells me that the place wasn’t that bad, although I think Andrew and Patricia liked their lunches more than I did. My chicken, if it was Cajun-spiced, didn’t get much of it. But, hey, everyone thinks that I write crap about every restaurant I go to, so I think I shall say no more.

Tomorrow: back to the radio.

See you then.

Bevboy

Post 2540 - Reminiscing, Part Two

Welcome to Sunday evening, boys and girls.

I didn't have to go out today. A young man down the street cleaned out my driveway, and did not have to clean off my car because the rain had already done so. Money very well spent.

I will be jumping in the shower shortly, but before I do that, I want to have the second part of my "reminiscing" series. Remember that this is the series in which I discuss stuff that happened from when I was very young in the hope of getting questions raised by those things, answered. The first entry in this series, last month, got quite a bit of discussion on my Facebook. I hope this segment does, too.

I was in the Valley this past weekend, to take care of a few things. Because of the storm we were warned about ad nauseum, I returned earlier than I would have liked. Had I been able to remain as long as I had wanted to, I almost certainly would have driven my car around Starr's Point, an area that runs off the main street of Port Williams at a street called the Starr's Point Road, until such road becomes Church Street. And don't ask me why a "road" becomes a "street". One was supposed to run north to south; and the other, east to west. It  means silly things like this happen, where one item becomes another just because the direction of the road/street/whatever changes.

The area's called Starr's Point, I like to think, for two reasons. First of all, the Starr family was very well known a hundred and more years ago, and lived in that area. Secondly, and perhaps fittingly, the road has such sharp turns and twists that one can imagine them as points on a star. The Starr's Point Cemetery remains to this day and has many people in the Starr family buried there. It is still in use as well; Harold Legge, he of Legge Transport, is buried there, for example.

As I drive past Prescott House, right around the point where the road becomes Church Street, I look down the road at that intersection and wonder if the people who live in the house 2 or 3 houses in from Church Street, know that a man took his life in that house some 35 years ago. I wonder if they know that a man killed himself with his hunting rifle in the kitchen while his daughter and her friend were playing upstairs.  And I wonder, as well, if anyone reading this knows the circumstances behind this man's death? My father certainly remembered the incident. I could probably ask my mother about it. But does anyone here reading this remember who this man was, and what caused him to be so distraught that he would elect to do what he did?

Many of you know that I went to senior high school, Grades 10-12, at Cornwallis District High School in Canning. I graduated in 1982. No point in lying about the year. But in... 1986, I believe it was, there was a standoff in the Canning area. A young man, a few years my senior I guess, was holed up in his home with a gun, and terrorised the community until a resolution was reached. I am being circumspect here because I do not recall how it all shook down, nor all that happened that summer. I am pretty sure it was resolved peacefully, but will not swear to it. Who was this guy?  What happened to him? Why did he decide to start a standoff? What became of him?

And, lastly for this time, how come Debbie Eaton didn't go out with me? I practically hired a plane to fly over her house and have it pull a sign behind it professing my love for her. Nothing. I never recovered from that. Sob!

Can anyone answer my fine questions? Help a  Bevboy out.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 2539 - Christmas Tie 2013, Day Eleven

Here is my second blog post of the day, with Saturday's Christmas Tie contribution.  You feel lucky yet? Well, do you, punk?

I visited my mother this morning at her nursing home. She dispatched me to go shopping for her as if she were the Wicked Witch of the West and I were one of her flying monkeys dispatched to cause Dorothy and the others some problems.

While out shopping I ran into my friend Ken Pineo, one of the subjects of yesterday's Christmas tie pictures. He bought a Canada toque, so I did, too.

Hours later, I returned, dropped off the purchases on her bed, and slumped in her guest chair, nearly narcoleptic with exhaustion. Before I fell asleep in that chair I asked her to pose with me for a Christmas tie picture in the nursing home's dining room. I got one of the nurses to capture the embarrassing moment.

Understand something. Moving to the nursing home earlier this year is one of the best things to happen to my mother in many years. She is healthier than she has been in a very long time, although she's had a cold this weekend and didn't want to go out shopping with me as a result. She is physically engaged, mentally stimulated, and doesn't have to worry about preparing meals any more. She reads at a rate that would impress an English professor and has expanded her reading into areas that have surprised me. She likes the New Yorker these days. I must try to find some issues of The Economist for her to peruse so that she can have discussions about global economics with Ben Bernanke or Timothy Geithner. They could probably learn a thing or two from a woman who had to run a household on a very limited budget for several decades.

Anyway, I wanted to convey to you this improvement in her life by arm wrestling with her. I was going to let her win and not put up any kind of fight at all. But she grabbed my arm and pushed against it with hers with unexpected force. I am barely acting in these pictures!

Phew! I was almost glad to get away from her.

I returned to the house and had to recover from my ordeal. Early in the evening I drove back to the city, and here I am, typing away at 10:30 at night. Newbie is above me, keeping my cable modem warm. I will probably fall asleep in the recroom whilst watching something on the media player.

Major storm a coming. The next door neighbour's son, who will be shovelling the drive way, is my new best friend.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 2538 - Christmas Tie 2013, Day Ten

I am back in the city after a day and a half in the Valley. Yes, it is as cold there as it is in Halifax. Maybe even more so.

I had my picture taken in two different places with two different people on Friday.

The first time was early in the afternoon at with the lovely and talented writer Jodi DeLong. She is best known for writing about gardening from a Nova Scotian perspective, but writes about a wide variety. I particularly enjoy her monthly Canning Newsletter, 8 pages of goodness about that fine village where I attended high school decades ago. In recent years, the villages has taken a decidedly artistic bent, with a  yoga studio, a pottery place, and a place that sells lots of items that artists would use. There has been continued talk of a wine bar opening up there. I try to drive through Canning every visit to the Valley but didn't this time as my visit was cut short.

Jodi told me a really funny story that has a Canning slant. There is a store there called "Lee's Shop", run by a young man who has mental challenges. Jodi wrote a story about him and the shop and CAPRE, The Community Association of People for Real Enterprise, an organization to help people with mental challenges. Here is their website. The story was submitted to Reader's Digest, but the editor refused to accept the story because the business was not profit-driven. She then submitted the story to Saltscapes, which she also freelances for. The story was so popular that Reader's Digest bought the reprint rights! Jodi ended up being paid twice for the story, once by the people who had rejected it in the first place. I hope she got paid a bit extra for the irony.

Jodi is laid up recovering from a recent operation, so that is why she is reclining so comfortably whilst I stand over her as if I were Bela Lugosi about to slake his thirst.

A couple of hours later, I met my good friend and one of the 4.7 Ken Pineo, at the Just Us! in Wolfville. We ended up talking for more than two hours about various things; I do not see him enough. More on that a bit later.

As we wound down our discussion, I approached a young lady and asked her to take a couple pictures of us, and these are the results. You'll note that I changed ties before I met with Ken.

Jodi, Ken, thank you for your precious time on Friday. I am honoured to be able to be in  your presence.

Keep reading. There is another blog post coming up shortly!

Bevboy

Post 2537 – Christmas Tie 2013, Day Nine

I think we’re at the point where Evanov could put me on the payroll. I have been there so much lately getting my picture taken with so many of the jocks, that getting monetized seems appropriate. And I am not done visiting there.

 

This time, I visited my new friend Colin McKay, who is the current morning show host on Energy 103. Turns out we are both computer geeks. We talked about the computers we have owned over the years, in a wistful manner, and turned our attention to the latest operating systems. Was I getting hard? No comment. Let’s just say I was nearly 3 minutes late getting back to work.

Turns out that Colin has followed my blog for sometime, to the point where he is arguably one of the 4.7. It may please you to know that I am developing a set of rules to make it clear to all just what constitutes being one of my 4.7, by the way. If you have any suggestions to aid me in this regard, please let me know.

Colin, as you can see in the pictures, brought in a tie.It was black-based like mine. You will be pleased to know that I did not call him ahead of time to make sure we were both wearing black-based ties. It was just some kind of interest mind-meld, a simpatico experience that usually only develops among people who have known each other for a very long period of time. Or in the case of Colin and me.

Am I rambling?    Sorry. Long day at work.

I am off on Friday. But, fear not,effendi. I will still be producing blog posts,and still getting my picture taken in different environments over the next couple of days. I think you will like these pictures, taken in a more casual environment not having much to do with radio.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 2536 – Christmas Tie 2013, Day Eight

Welcome to day eight of the sixth annual Bevboy’s Christmas Tie Extravaganza, ladies and gentlemen.

We had a potluck lunch at work today. Afterward, I waddled to my car and after rubbing lard all over my torso, managed to squeeze behind the steering wheel. As long as I only took shallow breaths I could handle driving the short distance to the Energy 103 studios on Cogswell Street.

Once again, they’re doing that damned construction work on Cogswell, but this time I was prepared for it, so I parked once again in front of the police station and hired a guy to convey my carcass up the hill to the radio station.

Once there, the lovely and talented Michelle led me into the Energy 103 studios. The lovely and talented (do you notice a trend among the women at the Evanov stations in Halifax?) Amy Chabot was waiting for me. As you can see, she didn’t dress up at all for me, which was an extreme disappointment. She could have combed her hair or something. Frig.

Just kidding. Amy was very gracious with her time, posing with me as if standing next to me didn’t make her want to wretch, which was reassuring to my psyche.

  

After the Christmas tie pics had been snapped, she posed for another half dozen or so pictures, which I will use to drop into future interviews in which her name is mentioned. After all, we have to give Frank Magazine something else to “borrow” from my blog, don’t we?

Amy, thank you for your time. It was a great pleasure to meet you. I hope that our paths cross again, and soon.

See you tomorrow. My Christmas tie picture will be taken with the lovely and talented… guy who works in Halifax radio!

Bevboy

Post 2535 – Christmas Tie 2013, Day Seven

Welcome to day 7, folks.

Two sets of pictures again today. The first set was taken at the C100 studios around 9 o’clock this morning. I am there with Brad, Moya, and Peter. Thank you for your time, folks.

 

Brad is shy, isn’t he? Hard to draw him out.’

They had a really good book this time, folks. They’re number one in 25-54, a very highly desired demographic. It was fun talking about radio stuff with them, thinking that I am some kind of expert or something.

Upon returning to work, my friend, and one of the 4.7, Marcel, was there to re-image my work computer. He posed with me as well because, well, he felt it was the right thing to do. He is a fan, and is also friends with Friday’s subject, Courtney Amirault of Live 105.

   

It has been a long, short day so far. I will be spending the balance of the day re-installing all the applications lost when the old hard drive was removed and the new one was installed and re-imaged. Fun times.

Day 8 tomorrow. I have a subject for Wednesday and one for Thursday. Friday is still available. Anyone reading this, interested?

As well, when I am in the Valley this weekend, you can expect a couple of bonus Christmas tie pictures. I don’t usually do the Christmas tie thing on weekends, but it has proved to be so popular this year that I had to make this exception.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 2534 – Christmas Tie 2013, Day Six

 

Welcome to day six!

A special bonus today. Someone at my work left me a Secret Santa gift. Upon opening said gift, it was, of course, a tie. A nice, blue Christmas tie.

In addition to this, I visited the lovely and talented Stephanie Wall at Lite 92.9 just now. She was dared by a listener to wear a different Christmas outfit every day in the month of December. I thought it would be cool for the two of us to pose together, and she readily agreed to this.

These pictures were taken in the Lite 92.9 studios. I promise!

 

My thanks to Stephanie Wall for her time, enthusiasm, and for running her fingers through my hair, creating that slightly mussed up look.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 2533 - Sunday

Over the years I've often written about Newbie and his interest in a small cardboard box, flaps removed, that he enjoys sleeping in.

Here he is, in it.

The day will come when he will no longer fit in it and I will have to buy him a cat bed.

But it'd be a waste of money.

He'd only sleep in the box the bed came in.

See you tomorrow for day 6 of the Sixth Annual Bevboy's Christmas Tie Extravaganza.

From Bevboy's BlackBerry to Bevboy's Blog!

Post 2532 - Saturday

After a long day binge watching "Sons Of Anarchy", Newbie curled up on me and started cleaning himself.

He's got a huge tongue, doesn't he?

See you tomorrow.

From Bevboy's BlackBerry to Bevboy's Blog!

Post 2531 – Christmas Tie 2013, Day Five

 

It’s the end of the first week, folks. Booyah! Only another couple of weeks in this year’s Christmas Tie Extravaganza!

 

These pics were taken in the last hour or so, once again at the Live 105 studios on Cogswell Street in Halifax. I was actually about 2 minutes late, not knowing about the construction work there. I had to drive around the block to find a parking space, and ended up right in front of the police department. Never felt so safe in my life.

I am posing for 10 different shots with the lovely, talented and terribly shy Courtney Amirault. She goes by “Courtney A” on the air, and I have now outed her by revealing her last name. (If I had a moustache, I would be twirling it now.) She reads the blog all the time, so she is one of my 4.7 acolytes. It is always a pleasure to get out there and meet my adoring fans.I had wondered who the person reading the blog in Medicine Hat was, and now I know.

I really had to draw Courtney out of her shell. You can tell in the pictures. Her retiring self is such that I was worried that I might get not anything usable. With great effort and tremendous patience, I managed to get her to relax and pose with me.

Normally I only put up a couple of pictures from any given “shoot”, but I put all of them up on my Facebook earlier, and I am choosing to do the same here. All the Christmas tie pictures are here, but I am holding back a few other shots that I will drop in to future interviews where she is mentioned. And, yes, she has agreed to an interview for early in the new year.

Which reminds me to finish transcribing the Mike Cranston interview from many months ago. Soon! Very soon!

Courtney, thank you for your time. You were a pleasure to meet, and I look forward to sitting down with you and finding out about your career and professional plans.

One thing I forgot to ask Courtney about. She’s from the Pubnicos. There is a guy from Lower East Pubnico who’s a regular guest on Information Morning. His name is Laurent d’Entremont. He apparently drives a really old car, but when he’s on Info Morning, he always finishes his talk by telling a joke. They’re really not that funny, but he tells them with such verve and enthusiasm that he ends up winning us over. I wonder if Courtney knows him, or knows of him? I ask because he is apparently a big Hank Snow fan and has stories to tell about him.

The Christmas ties will resume on Monday. But fear not, effendi. There will still be fresh Bevboy’s Blog content all weekend. I can’t let my 4.7 readers down.

 

 

See you then.

 

Bevboy