I don’t eat at many Calgary restaurants these days, but I’d rate The Himalayan as my #1 favourite.
Category: product endorsements
Merrell SLIP ON Shoes
I’m into my 3rd pair of Merrell Moccasins. My day-to-day shoe.
I once ran a 10km race in these. They truly are comfortable and functional.
flying to the American S.W.
Canada is great. But the winter weather #sucks(™).
I’m off for a couple of weeks hiking. I’ve never visited New Mexico.
Kasha–Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument
I booked with Delta. The same seat on the same flight is priced differently depending on which Code Share partner you book with. WestJet #sucks(™).
Mom’s new TV
We got the Samsung 5202 58-inch 1080p LED TV
Yvonne fiddled with the settings until Mom declared which display she liked best.
Sadly the online TV Guide is still in low resolution.
On sale that costs CAD$833 including extended warranty.
luxury home in Bermuda
There are many.
Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas’ getaway, for example.
But if money is no object I’d recommend you purchase on Tucker’s Point near the Golf Course.
WestJet Christmas – Fort McMurray Strong
I have no love for WestJet in 2016.
But this new Christmas promotion is brilliant — Dr. Seuss would be impressed. 🙂
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
brilliant – the Hippo Roller
The Hippo Water Roller was developed in 1991 by two South Africans in response to the daily struggle of rural women and children across Africa to access safe, drinkable water.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I saw it on Mashable – 16 brilliant innovations tackling poverty around the world
I subscribed to the Washington Post
The Washington Post has been killing it in recent months. The best U.S. election coverage by far. Even better than Politico. Or the NY Times.
Like all print media the Washington Post are trying to find a way to survive while switching customers to digital.
I paid $9.99 for the first 6 months – digital edition. U.S. Amazon Prime members can get those same 6 months for free. They hope we get addicted to the service over that period … or forget to cancel the subscription. 🙂 Mine renews at $150 / year, more than I’m willing to pay.
It’s easy to bypass the Washington Post paywall if you don’t want to pay. But I’d like to support them.
No doubt the Washington Post will offer me a lower price when I go to cancel my subscription on April 12th, 2017.
I now subscribe to Economist magazine and the Washington Post. The only two old media companies getting cash from Rick McCharles. So far.
Shibumi by Trevanian (1979)
Keith introduced me to Trevanian. He quickly became one of my favourite authors. For some reason I decided to reread his 4th book, my favourite.
Trevanian was a pseudonym for Rodney William Whitaker.
Shibumi is set in the 1970s and details the struggle between the “Mother Company”, a conspiracy of energy companies that secretly controls much of the western world, and a highly skilled assassin, Nicholaï Hel. …
The novel begins with Hel, retired in his late fifties in a small castle overlooking a village of the Haute-Soule, in the mountainous Northern Basque Country. He is an honorary member of the local Basque population, and his best friend among them is Beñat Le Cagot, a truculent Basque nationalist and bard, with whom he shares an immense love for freedom and an addiction to spelunking. …
It’s a book of philosophy disguised as a James-Bond-like spy novel. I highly recommend it.
Travanian died in 2005 age-74.
Travanian’s daughter and literary executor, Alexandra Whitaker:
When it was first suggested to me that we should allow Trevanian’s characters from Shibumi to be used in a new novel written by someone else, I was not enthusiastic. …
Over the years many readers had expressed the hope that Trevanian would write another novel featuring Nicholai Hel, but he steadfastly refused, uninterested in covering the same ground twice. …
… Trevanian himself had not been against the idea when it was mooted to him some time before his death. While he had no desire to write about Nicholai Hel again himself, he was not hostile to the idea of Nicholai’s coming to life again — but only under certain conditions, of course. The character of Nicholai Hel — the aji of Nicholai Hel — must be respected, and the book must be of a quality that would not disappoint his readers.
The search for a writer began and led swiftly to Don Winslow, a talented thriller writer whose knowledge of the Orient, of military history and martial arts suited him admirably to the task. …
Satori (2012)
Sadly the only audio version is in German. Someday I may get around to reading the Kindle version.
Rick McCharles 