Visiting Friends in Miami

On January 19, 2026January 18, 2026 By Rick McIn friends, photos, travelLeave a comment

Tam and Les have been living in posh Brickell, Miami, for the past 4 years.

Densely populated already, many more high towers are under construction.

I’d been promising Tam for those 4 years I’d come visit. 😀 Finally made it.

Brickell is a financial / business district. Les walks to work.

Many call Miami the Capital of South America as there are so many Spanish speaking expats here.

Plenty of restaurants. Swanky bars. Shopping malls.

I love their funky lobby.

This was the grand opening of their residential tower shop. Gourmet Italian pastries.

One night Les treated for a fine Argentinian steak with Malbec wine.

They live on the 37th floor of a tower with ocean views. For fitness, I ran up and down 132 stories one day.

Even tougher, was doing YOGA with Tam. (Actually, I quite enjoyed those sessions.)

Hot tub night. And we had a pool day.

Tam and I toured the local beaches — though it was very cold and windy for Miami.

My last night Tam and I did a free Apple photography night walking tour. And learned a lot.

Thanks for hosting.

I have stayed in Miami before. But only on touristy South Beach.

My Berlin Koffer by Michèle Allaire-Rowan

On December 17, 2025December 14, 2025 By Rick McIn books, friends, travelLeave a comment

My Berlin Koffer – Blissful Memories (2025) is the 2nd of my friend Michèle’s series of lifetime retrospectives.

It’s available on Amazon.

Michèle reads the audio version.

Her first autobiography is Crossing Borders and Cultural Divides (published 2022) which ends 1975.

This book is focused on Michèle’s 10 years in West Berlin — one of the most unique and interesting cities of the world. She lived there 1976 to 1986. Moving only to marry her husband Garth.

If it wasn’t for Garth, she might still be living in Berlin. 😀

Formally controlled by the Western Allies (England, France, USA), West Berlin was surrounded by the Berlin Wall, built in 1961, and bleak East Germany.

German students going to school there could avoid military service. The counter-culture was artistic freedom and living life to the fullest. Nightclubs had no closing. A haven for hippies, punks, musicians (like David Bowie & Iggy Pop), Michèle, and her friends.

My Berlin Koffer is a time capsule of West Berlin between 1976 and 1986, a time when the city was literally an island of freedom in the middle of Eastern Europe, restricted by the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall.

After a few years of teaching in England and in France, Mimi is looking for a change in her life.

West Berlin in the 1970s offers affordable rents, a good university, part-time jobs, and an abundance of cultural events.

For a young, educated woman with plenty of room in her suitcase, the island of freedom seems to be the ideal place in which to settle.

It’s a long and winding road to learning German, studying for a master’s, and finding an interesting job, while enjoying cinema, theatre, music, art, as well as socializing with cosmopolitan friends and adapting to a new culture.

Will this extraordinary city which never sleeps enable Mimi to find what she wants and eventually fill her suitcase?

And if it ever overflows, will she ever be able to leave?

I’d been waiting for Michèle’s Berlin book because my first flight to Europe (1974, I believe) landed West Berlin. I recall that trip vividly. It was a really BIG deal for me. Checkpoint Charlie.

A Gymnastics tour organized by Hajo Elsholtz.

I’m wondering if German boyfriend Alex has a copy of this book. 😀

Visiting Vancouver Before Christmas

On December 15, 2025December 16, 2025 By Rick McIn food, friends, travel1 Comment

Returning from 4 months in Asia, I landed for 3 nights in Vancouver.

Ron and Kate hosting. As usual … 😀

Kate had organized a surprise birthday weekend celebration for Rocco.

I jumped out of a Lonsdale Quay coffee shop to surprise him and Maureen.

We enjoyed a meal at the lively JÄGERHOF restaurant near the Quay. Schnitzel, spaetzle, and bratwurst in a cozy, alpine-themed setting.

Though I was quite jet lagged, and just getting over a cold, we still packed the weekend with laughs, golf, great food, Christmas celebration, …

Ron played around with A.I. photo editing app Nano Banana. Some hilarious results.

December is BUSY month at Chez Shewchuk. All the important people have birthdays — AND Christmas, New Years.

Thanks to all.

Gourmet Dining – Seafood Tower in Singapore

On September 20, 2025September 26, 2025 By Rick McIn food, friends, gymnastics, travelLeave a comment

Dennis hosted dinner for myself, Cliff Parks, and friends at the Greenwood Fish Market in Sentosa.

He ordered a Seafood Tower for the table.

. … I’d never seen anything like it.

Fantastic.

The highlight for Cliff was his 1st raw oyster. A BIG one.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Lifebeat – the alternative friendship Newsletter 😀

On August 11, 2025August 7, 2025 By Rick McIn friends, humourLeave a comment

Well kids … there was a time before the internet when friends used something called a telephone to keep in touch. Once in a while we’d write letters. It’s true.

Ron and Kate took the time to put together friendship newsletters called The Calgary Redeye. They collected contributions from friends and put it together on a photocopied, stapled publication.

Out in Saskatoon, I decided to launch a goofy competitor to the Redeye. I called it Lifebeat.

Here’s the Christmas 1991 edition. 😀 The goal was to make friends laugh.

My 50th High School Reunion

On May 13, 2025June 17, 2025 By Rick McIn about Rick, education, friendsLeave a comment

Our thanks to the 2025 Viscount Bennett High School reunion organizers, Rod Peterson and Dayle Conlin.

They host a reunion in May each year at Schanks Sports Grill in Calgary.

It’s open to all Viscount grads, teachers, from any year — and any +1 who wants to come along and shoot the breeze with ol’ timers.

After 25 years or more, former classmates look familiar — but I usually couldn’t quickly come up with their names. 😀

I attended Viscount Bennett High School in Calgary, graduating 1975.

Due to the area’s ageing population and the opening of other high schools nearby, after only 30 years Viscount Bennett closed in 1985.

Ron, Brian and myself were organizers of the 2000 reunion which was hosted in the old school — at that time a continuing education institution.

The day before the 2025 reunion, I stopped by my ol’ school to check the state of demolition.

Sad. But change is inevitable.

I returned a student I.D. to our High School President, Greg Cole. He had dropped it in the time capsule, way back when.

Brenda Mikkelsen and Debbie Dalton made it.

Drinda Miller Rainville was there.

I was too busy chatting to take any photos.

Viscount Bennett High School 50th Reunion

On January 2, 2025January 2, 2025 By Rick McIn about Rick, education, friendsLeave a comment

Good news. There’s a concept of a plan for a 50th reunion.

Saturday, May 10, 2025

4.00 p.m. at Schanks Sports Grill, Calgary

I was one of the organizers of the VB High 25th anniversary in 2000. A lot of fun.

I was one of those kids who actually enjoyed High School. 😀

Viscount Bennett High School operated as a junior and high school from 1955 to 1985, closing due to low enrolment.

In 1995, Chinook Learning Services operated out of the building until the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) closed it permanently in 2018.

We had buried a time capsule in 1975. Dug it up in 2000. Then reburied some items.

BUT it was dug up during a facility renovation, the junk dumped on the sidewalk. Brian Mason picked it up. I still have some things in my basement.

In 1975, we had something called the “Grad Notebook“.

Handmade. Something we could pass around for kids to sign as a remembrance.

Here’s mine. I took a photo of each page. Did a little editing.

The Westgate Motor Inn Bar was demolished 2004.

The CREW of the 1975 Grad Film were Ian Baird, Ron Shewchuk, Brian Mason, Richard Englehardt, Dean Cave and myself.

Many in 1975 predicted recreational marijuana would be legal by 2000. BUT it wasn’t official until 2018.

Richard Englehardt and myself won the 1975 High School car rally when the REAL winners were disqualified for not wearing seatbelts.

Loraleigh Keashly was the smartest kid in school. She went on to finish multiple degrees and became a professor at Wayne State University. Certainly her comment was the most … accurate. 😀

Ron Shewchuk was already a writer and a bit of poet:

In ’00 we will meet

All older.

Some wiser

When I see this 25 years from

Now

I will probably realize

Au revoir.

What is art? 🎨

On November 28, 2024November 25, 2024 By Rick McIn Art and beauty, friends, videoLeave a comment

You know it when you see it?

Something that appeals to you artistically, I might consider garbage. And visa versa.

It’s subjective.

Certainly, anything I could easily recreate is NOT skillful. NOT art.

This is not art …

This is not art …

Voice of Fire by Barnett Newman.

It’s 2 cans of paint, 2 rollers, canvas, and less than an hour.

Almost everyone would agree that Van Gogh was an artistic genius.

Impressionism was an original step forward in generating emotion through art.

I’d argue that Warhol was another original step forward.

Picasso, another genius.

The artist friend I admire most is Mike Sissons. Great in many mediums including sculpture.

The artist to study in 2024 is a young guy from Mexico — Gawx.

He’s also the most skilled video editor on YouTube in my opinion. Something like Van Neistat, but even better.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

BEST Social Networks 2025

On November 17, 2024November 16, 2024 By Rick McIn blogs, ethics, Facebook, friends, gymnastics, hiking, human rights, internet, media, things getting worse, TwitterLeave a comment

For most people, Instagram and TikTok are the most entertaining. I don’t much look at either.

If you want to avoid POLITICS, Meta (Instagram, Facebook, Threads) has definitely reduced the emphasis on political arguments. In Canada, a bonus for using Facebook is that news links are banned.

I haven’t quit Twitter — surprisingly — as my own feeds focused on Gymnastics and Hiking are still good. If I click on Following and avoid For You, the stream is valuable. Of course I quickly block anything I don’t like.

I post today as many of the people online I trust and respect are migrating to Bluesky.

Looking more for VIDEO than anything else, these are the sites I use most:

YouTube Premium (paid no ads)
Facebook (no ads)
Twitter (no ads)

I hate advertising. Facebook doesn’t offer paid ad-free feeds, so I use ad blockers.

I hate Elon Musk and refuse to send him even one penny. So use ad blockers.

I use WhatsApp only for small group communication. It’s excellent. Messenger, as well, only for communication with very few people.

I’ll check Reddit once in a while if I’m looking for something specific.

Mastodon could be my favourite, but it’s not caught on with the people I want to follow.

LinkedIn should be best of all. But I’ve never seen much value for my purposes.

I never signed up for Snapchat. Hikers are mostly on Instagram. Gymnastics coaches mostly on Twitter.

I’ll try Bluesky. But I’m worried it will never grow big enough.

If desperate, I’ll create a browser bookmark folder and open all these social media sites simultaneously to check the latest news in Gymnastics and Hiking. OR … could I use an A.I. client to do that for me?

Brainstorming … 😀