From one Rock to Another

We're over here in Newfoundland. Our friends Joan (that's Dr. Joan to you and me) and Susan visited us in Spain last Christmas. So we thought, in punishment, we'd impose ourselves on them.
I've never been to the East Coast of Canada before. It is, well, pretty awesome! St John's, at least the downtown, is very beautiful and full of great restaurants. What more could you ask for?! (Outside of downtown of course it just turns into another Canadian city with shopping malls and WalMarts).
And the music! If you like traditional music, surely St John's is one of the best places to see it. We stopped in for lunch to a place called Auntie Crae's and saw a 'Kitchen Party' (newfie-speak for a jam session). A bunch of local players, cranking out the tunes.
Ok, I am a tourist, and maybe some of these things are touristy, but, I am enjoying myself immensely.

As I write this I am sitting out in a cottage on Conception Bay, perilously close to the edge of the cliff. Waves are crashing into the rocks and it is awe-inspiring.

Write more soon!

Model Search 2007

Earlier this week I had the honour of being a judge at Model Search 2007, a modeling contest put on by Mark Montovio and Mount Productions.
Thankfully it wasn't as hot and humid as last year! It was actually a pleasant night, both weather-wise and the show.
Unfortunately, my choice didn't show on the night - I'll do a post on her later - but there were some good contestants.

The male winner, of course, could be none other than Adnan Laoudy. I've known Adnan for a while and he was in a short film I directed last year.


Female winner was Sascha McPhillips. Her photo didn't impress me, but in person she had great presence. Maybe she needs more photo time or something to bring that out on camera. She's not tall enough to be a pro model, but, I can definitely see her having some success in the local market (or perhaps acting) if she wanted it.


The runner up for females was Krisanne Alvez. This girl has a killer body, it has to be said. She didn't have the presence on stage that I would have liked, but she moved well. I think some training would bring her up to an amazing standard.



There were tears from the winners... not these winners (well, ok, Sascha had some!), but from some of the male winners. There was one guy, Nigel Usquieri, who I just couldn't make my mind up on. He was...odd! Odd is good, as you remember it (and hence I am talking about him and not others). But I just don't know if he is modelling material. But he did have something.

The show also included a couple of dance routines. One from Genyka Celecia - her first performance after a long injury. The other from a girl who's name I didn't catch (other than it was Tamara something) that was really amazing. Great choreography.

Anyway, thanks to Mark for the night.

Where NOT to shop

I do try and restrain myself from turning this blog into a negative rant about things, but, unfortunately I can't stop myself on this one!

My wife, Marcia, is a massage therapist (and she also runs Spanish Spirit Holidays a holistic holiday retreat). One of the things she does is make up custom blends of oils for her clients. To hand these out she needs a lot of little bottles.
We thought we'd found a good supplier in Primrose Aromatherapy in the UK. They claimed to have 50ml Amber bottles with dropper tops.
Now, the stuff Marcia sells HAS to be in glass (plastic gets corroded by the oils). So, I sent an email to Primrose:

From: Phil Smy
To: primrose_aromatherapy@yahoo.co.uk
Subject: bottle droppers

hi, I'm interested in buying your 50ml bottles with dropper 
caps (item amber11), but can you tell me if the droppers 
are glass or plastic?

The response:

Hi Phil
droppers are glass.
 
Lucinda McKee
Primrose Aromatherapy

So, I placed the order! Guess what, the droppers were plastic.
Then I was told this:

Do you mean the long glass pipettes with the little
rubber squeezable teats at the top? The tops I have sent 
you are universally known as droppers but the others as 
I have mentioned are called pipettes. 
If this is the case I'm sure we can sort something out. 
Have a look on the site in caps and atomisers at pipette 
droppers (cap 02) and let me know.
Dawn Hinsley
Primrose Aromatherapy

Oh... I see. It's MY fault. I called them droppers instead of pipette droppers. Ok. So I looked at her suggestion (cap02). They looked good, so, I thought I'd bite the bullet and order them even though they should have come included.
This is what I got from placing the order:

In order to make the business what I wanted it to 
be I am going to discontinue some of the lines. This, 
unfortunately, is going to be one of them. I will sell 
what I have but I will not replace these lines once 
they are depleted. 
The stock situation is that we have pipettes for the 25ml 
bottles (67mm length on the shaft) but none for the 
50ml bottles (90 mm drop on the inside of the bottle).

So even though she told me to buy them she doesn't have them!
So I asked for a refund. Guess what?

Your request for clarification from Lucinda McKee was for 
the material used in the droppers. You were advised that 
the droppers were glass. The previous owner used the 
description "dropper" for the seperately sold items 
with a rubber top and a GLASS shaft. In this case the 
description was correct.
 
When we took the business over we were unaware of the 
correspondence as attached below. Your order was for 
Amber11 with black caps and droppers, which we 
believe we fulfilled.
 
This being the case we are unwilling to have these items 
returned to us. I trust you will undersand this and we 
can move forward. 
 
Best Regards
 
Dawn Hinsley
Primrose Aromatherapy

So. To summarize:
I asked what they were made of. Was told glass. Got plastic. Asked for glass, tried to order, was told they weren't going to help me and because they consider there isn't a problem (of course not, they got the money!) they wouldn't offer a refund.

Great customer service!

Buyer beware if you order from here!!!!

New Game Coming

A while back I worked on the back-end of an interesting new online game. The game is part first person shooter and part money making! Basically, how well you play the game will determine how much money you win.
The public beta has just opened up, so why not go sign up.
I haven't played the game myself in months (since I ended the project) but it looks to be good.

Here's the link: Go To Kwari