Family

EconomicsFamilyLife ExperienceTechnology

It Was Fifty Years Ago Today…

Posted on by Ray MacDonald

When you’re 70 it’s hard to imagine what life was like when you were 20. As David Crosby said famously – if you remember the 60s you probably weren’t there.

In 1967 I was in my 2nd/3rd years of my university undergraduate degree. For the summer I worked on a construction gang poring concrete for bridges on Highway 401 east of Kingston. And I listened to music. Lots of it.

The Summer of Love marked the convergence of a lot of trends in music – rock became mainstream, the stereo LP took over from the 45 (at least for me it did.) AM top 40 ruled the airways but FM underground broadcasting was a growing trend. And over it all was Psychedelia – pot, LSD and rock n roll.

Let’s go back and look at some seminal LPs from 1967. I owned some of them (they are in bad shape today.) I repurchased a few as digital remasters on CD. And they are available in all their streaming glory on Spotify right now.

Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles

If there is one LP everybody who was young in 1967 would remember – well, this is it. Sergeant Pepper marked the evolution of the world’s most famous rock band from popsters to serious musicians. We often hear of other groups who made their “Sgt. Pepper” LP – like Beach Boys (Pet Sounds), the Stones (Beggars Banquet) or even U2 (Joshua Tree) – but the Beatles did it first.

SP was also one of the first “concept albums” – it introduced the fictional Lonely Hearts Club Band, Billy Shears, and Ringo as front and center vocalist. It was designed to be played start to finish. It featured the Mellotron and all sorts of novel recording effects. It’s a masterpiece.

My personal favorite cut – “A Day in the Life.” This one isn’t for beginners though. You need to warm up by listening to “A Little Help from My Friends” and “Lovely Rita.”

Buffalo Springfield – Again

Buffalo Springfield are arguably more popular now then they were in 1967. At the time they had made a couple of LPs and they were in the process of self-destruction – you know the story. These days BS are more famous as the starting point for Stills and Young, plus Richie Furay who went on to Poco and the country rock scene.

Buffalo Springfield as a group didn’t do much on this album – it’s largely individual solo efforts by Steven Stills and Neil Young, backed up by a bevy of their musical friends and the great LA studio musicians known as the Wrecking Crew. What’s notable is how psychedelia was creeping into the Buffalo Springfield straight ahead folk-rock. It’s well worth a listen for history’s sake.

My favorite cut – Young’s “Mr. Soul” – a minor hit in the summer of ’67. Neil still plays it in concert. Dark and powerful.

Disraeli Gears – Cream

Now we’re talking. This LP was playing everywhere I went on campus back in ’67. Every one of my artsy friends had it, and a few of my more serious science buddies.

Named after a mispronunciation of the gears on a 10- speed bike, Disraeli Gears was the ultimate underground LP. It got limited airplay on prime time AM but it was a staple of late night underground shows and FM rock.

Baker, Clapton and Bruce feuded all the time but they really had their musical act together here. Pure psychedelia – it sounds as great today as when it was recorded. Clapton’s guitar licks sound rather mainstream today but they were a revolution in 1967.

My favorite cut – I bet you thought I would say “Sunshine of your Love,” but no. “Tales of Brave Ulysses” is the one I always liked best. Still do. Listen to Bruce’s powerful bass and vocals, Clapton’s wah wah artistry, and Baker’s drumming that ties it all together.

Insight Out – The Association

Gotta put one in here for the progressive rock/ easy listening fans – and in 1967 nobody personified that any better than The Association. This six man group was ostensibly a standalone band, but on their studio albums they did the vocals and most of the background music was provided by the fabulous Wrecking Crew. Hal Blaine of the Crew played drums on something like 40 #1 pop hits – amazing!

Anyway this album is a great listen – wonderful harmonies, great arrangements and flawless instrumentation. And some great radio hits. Get the remastered version if you can. It never sounded as good as it does today.

My favorite cut – “Windy” without a doubt. Heard it so many times in the Summer of Love.

Surrealistic Pillow – Jefferson Airplane

Gracie Slick is 77 now – but she was something else in 1967. When Gracie joined Mary Balin on lead vocals the Airplane really took off.

In fact when they did concerts, the guys in the band would warm up the audience without Gracie. Then she’s make a grand entrance right through the crowd, and get up there and sing “White Rabbit.” Left the audience breathless.

As the Beatles were to UK Psychedelia, the Airplane was to the West Coast pop scene. Surrealistic Pillow is the best of the best. Maybe it hasn’t aged as well as Sgt. Pepper but that is because a lot of the Airplane sound has become a ’60s cliche – so identified with the boomers as to lose its power. But try it again in the remastered CD or on Spotify. It’s still where it’s at when it comes to Psychedelic Rock American Style.

My favorite cut – there are a couple of dynamite hits here, but I personally like “She has Funny Cars” – with its Bo Diddley beat and Balin/Slick duet.

The Doors – Debut Album

I wasn’t a big Beatles fan back in ’67 – they grew on me. But The Doors blew me away from the first time I heard them on the radio. Maybe it was because each of them was a great performer in his own right:

  • John Densmore – steady as she goes with the sticks.
  • Robbie Krieger – classically trained, slow hands, master of the blues riff or the power chord.
  • Ray Manzarek – in my view the best keyboard player in rock.
  • And what can you say about The Lizard King – artist, poet, anarchist and primal scream.

The Doors never had a bass player – Manzarek did the honors on stage with key bass – but a number of pros filled in the studio. Larry Knechtel helped out on this album.

They were such a tight ensemble, probably because they had spent so much time as a bar band before they hit the big time. Only Densmore and Krieger are still with us now. But The Doors were everything I loved about 60s rock. Still love them and they live on today on every classic rock station I know.

My favorite cuts – got two here – the rollicking, upbeat “20th Century Fox” and Morrison’s Oedipal masterwork “The End.” Ridiculous and sublime.

So there you go. Maybe you remember the 60s, and you were there. I certainly was, even if it was Fifty Years Ago.

 

 

 

 

 

EconomicsFamilyLife ExperienceTechnology

The Long and Winding Road

Posted on by Ray MacDonald

 

This past week I received the first payout from my Registered Retirement Income Fund. It marks the end of a 44 year history of accumulation and marks the decumulation and taxpaying phase of my personal pension savings. It’s the end of a long and winding road to be sure.

A RRIF is what you get when at age 71 or earlier you transform your RRSP to pay out regular annual payments. An RRSP is Canada’s equivalent of a US 401(k) or UK SIPP. I got started with an RRSP as early as 1973 – when I was 26. The “other” private retirement instrument – TFSA – wouldn’t exist for another 45 years, so it was never a part of my retirement plan.

An RRSP is tax deferred – you deduct your contributions during your working life and hopefully pay less taxes when you take out the income in your 70s. The taxman is still hanging around though waiting to get a cut of your income.

Today we see a lot of criticism of Millennials as being financially illiterate, economically challenged and risk averse. But looking back at what I knew then and the mistakes I made, I can hardly claim any better knowledge. For example:

  • I started out my RRSP by setting up an endowment insurance policy (gah!) and later on converting it to some brain-dead mutual funds which I eventually sold.
  • I did not stay long enough with any employer in my early years to get vested in a good Defined Benefit plan. Mind you it wasn’t like today when 2 years is enough to “vest” the employer contributions. In fact one of my employers didn’t even deduct anything for pension plans – and as a result I got nothing. At least a couple of the other companies gave me back my contributions with interest.
    One would think I didn’t lose anything with the employer who “funded” the pension plan for me – but I lost valuable headroom in my RRSP that I never got back – as a result I contributed less than I would have liked.
  • When I had to invest my own returned pension money in an RRSP I went to the bank and bought bond funds at a time when interest rates had started to climb and the value of the funds fell. No advice back in those days, or at least I didn’t pay attention if there was.
  • Eventually in my mid 30s I got a financial advisor and my RRSP was somewhat straightened out. However I didn’t listen to him all the time and at least once gave in to emotion and converted all my equity assets to fixed income for a while. Eventually I came to my senses before it was too late.
  • My advisor was a pretty good guy but looking back on it I am not sure every decision he made was in my best interests and that his interests were secondary.
  • I never consolidated my retirement and non-retirement savings with the same financial advisor so I missed out on some holistic tax structuring that could have been done.
  • Fortunately for me I did get a job with Unilever and had close to 20 years in a decent Defined Benefit pension scheme. My RRSP grew over that time – I was careful to maximize my contribution every year – and during my retirement years I didn’t collapse it to a RRIF until this year. But at the end of the day I probably could have done better if I had been smarter.

Today I would likely use a robo-advisor and start off maximizing my TFSA. And no insurance thank you.

In spite of all my stupidity, my RRIF can provide us with some useful inflation protection and possible chronic health insurance as we get into our dotage. So at the end of the long and winding road I’m glad I did something positive with what I knew at the time. Hindsight is sure 20/20 though.

 

 

FamilyLife Experience

Dear Mr. President

Posted on by Ray MacDonald

 

Your Inauguration day in 2009 was historic in more ways than one.

 

It was also the birthday of my grandson and first grandchild.

As Teddy celebrates his 8th birthday and as you leave office, I would like to thank you for your service to the United States and to the world.

Your presence in the White House has always exemplified the hopes I had and continue to have for Teddy – and for that matter all people of good will.

  • The hope that he will grow up in a world where peace and love drive out fear and hatred.
  • The hope that all people may have the right to decent health care without catastrophic loss.
  • The hope that there may be continuing understanding and co-operation between our two countries – that we may trade with and visit each other in freedom.
  • The hope that family life will continue to be the cornerstone of our respective countries’ well being.
  • The hope that honesty and decency will still count for something as Teddy becomes a man.

I’m not sure the way ahead is as clear for me as it was in 2009. Maybe I’ll need to lean a bit more on Merton’s Prayer of Trust.

Be that as it may, it has been a privilege to watch Teddy grow up during your time in office, and to have followed your progress as American President.

I know this is a tiny corner of the Internet in a small town in a neighboring country, so you’ll likely never get the chance to read this – but thanks again and God bless you anyway.

EconomicsFamilyHobbiesLife ExperienceTechnology

Good China

Posted on by Ray MacDonald

Probably there’s nothing in this modern world that labels you as quaint, eccentric, old school, a dinosaur – nothing quite as much as admitting you are a collector of fine china. That in fact you have a set of “good” china. Alas, we do.

We started back around 1975 – that was the time I got some money back from a Thrift Investment Plan I had to cash in when I left General Foods. We thought we’d start on a set of good china, and so we went to Birks in Pointe-Claire and got our starter four place setting of Royal Worcester Evesham.

Evesham was an old style pattern back then but we liked the fruit and veggies on the plates and the gold trim. We asked for pieces for Christmas and birthdays, put in a bit more of our own cash over the years. Now we have a 12 place setting with a bunch of baking and serving dishes. Even have some egg coddlers (don’t ask.)

And does this “good china” get used? Well – not much. The gold trim precludes heating the dishes in a microwave, and we are a bit queasy about dumping everything into the dishwasher.

This past Christmas we had a large family gathering and the good stuff stayed in the cupboard again. We used our everyday plates and cups and for extras we also have a complete set of 1980 vintage Johnson Brothers crockery that is dishwasher safe. Maria picked it up for a song at the charity shop where she works.

As a guess I’d be surprised if you could get 20% of what we paid for our Evesham set in an auction. Folks just do not set out good china, or entertain at home with it nowadays. Our daughter says she likes it so maybe it’ll be a reluctant heirloom for her in the not so far distant future.

Now everyday china – that’s a whole ‘nother thing. Sarah would take this stuff in a heartbeat – but that won’t happen any time soon.

This robust set of Royal Doulton Mayfair Lambethware is something we started to collect after I went to work at Lipton in the mid 80s. It replaced a couple of cheap Japanese stoneware sets that I ended up taking into the lab to use in product showings. It’s probably not worth much either but it gets used and abused everyday. After more than 30 years it’s still going strong

The classic Evesham pattern is still produced by Royal Worcester’s parent company and I believe in one of the last operating potteries in the UK. The Royal Doulton Lambethware is out of production but again you can pick up used pieces on the cheap if you need to replace anything.

And besides these three sets of English china we have a complete set of German crockery that Maria’s parents bought for her before we got married. And that doesn’t even count a bunch of Paragon teacups and Gibson teapots and Royal Doulton figurines that hang around our place. Dinosaurs and proud of it.

 

 

FamilyLife ExperiencePets

Afternoon Nap

Posted on by Ray MacDonald

 

Let’s face it – at the end of the day Mr. Oates is Maria’s cat. He loves her best.

He and I have our moments though. A key one every day is our afternoon nap.

Oates waits until he hears me pull down the blind in the bedroom. Then he rushes in meowing and hops on the bed.

He waits until I get an old comfy blanket unfolded, and as soon as I lie down and cover myself up he picks out a cozy spot just behind my knees. He’s a hot water bottle in a furry ginger tabby costume – not bad in these wintry afternoons. And so we doze off.

A catnap with an actual cat. Who could have imagined the luxury of it all?

 

EconomicsFamilyLife ExperienceTechnologyTravel

Job…Profession…Vocation

Posted on by Ray MacDonald

Soren Kierkegaard famously said that life must be lived forward but understood backward. And there’s no better place to do that than in a person’s working career. I can look back close to 48 years now – more if you include my work in high school and university summer jobs.

Work in my dad’s store or as an office boy or construction laborer – those were jobs. Getting my degree and a couple of qualifying years enabled my profession as a chemist  and food technologist. I suppose there were days when my work life seemed like a Vocation – like the interview at Queen’s in 1968 that got me started at General Foods Research. My whole life seemed to turn in that one hour when I talked to Keith Torrie.

I think the whole concept of how you label your career is tied up in our old pal Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. A job gives you the basic necessities – or at least it used to. Having a profession – even though it might not be a doctor or lawyer type with social and individual responsibility – gives some status and sense of belonging. And a Vocation brings out the self-actualization and self-giving parts of a working life.

When I felt I was making a difference in the lives of my customers – internal or external – that’s when I had a Vocation. When I used my math and science skills to create a new product it was certainly a profession. But when I had to deal with corporate politics, dumb projects, Theory X based performance management – well… that was a job. All part of the same career. Towards the end there was always more job than Vocation – so I got out as early as I could.

BTW this lovely little pilot plant above was in Baltimore and I had quite a few professional moments working there. It became a victim of corporate re-organization shortly before I retired. The plant it was located in is closed today as well. Jobs, professions, Vocations – all gonzo.

After 12 years of retirement about all I have left now is some elements of professional skill and the concept of Vocation. I use that concept to try and keep my friends out of computer trouble. And of course there’s the ongoing Vocation of Grandpa. I get plenty of opportunities to practice that. Saved the best for last.

FamilyHobbiesLife Experience

Pantomime

Posted on by Ray MacDonald

I went to a pantomime today – first one in close to 30 years.

Before you get the wrong idea this pantomime wasn’t one that Marcel Marceau or Charlie Chaplin would star in – one with no words and lots of expressive gestures. No indeed.

This was a British pantomime – the kind you see at Christmas time. It’s sort of a fractured children’s story – a fairy tale or a favorite yarn turned on its head. The one we saw was called “The Blizzard of Oz.”

At least one man plays a woman’s part. The hero is usually female. There is one really nasty villain and a couple of monsters running around that only the audience can see.

Music is a mashup of rock and roll and Broadway tunes that everyone knows. The jokes are corny and a lot of politicians come to grief. Audience participation is a must – everything from cheering the hero, booing the villain, warning the players when a monster appears, or even kids going on stage to take shots with plastic hockey sticks while the villain tries to play goalie using a broom – and fails. It’s a blast – especially if you take an 8 and 6 year old along. (The three year old was a little scared of Wanda the evil witch.)

I got into this crazy experience back when I worked at Lipton Bramalea. The factory had a kids Christmas party and before the presents were handed out there was a performance of Peter Pan or Aladdin or whatever by the Peel Panto Players. We had so much fun we ended up going to a bunch of real professional pantos in Toronto – with Ross Petty, Karen Kain, Fred Penner and all sorts of kid pleasing performers.

Then Sarah grew up. But she didn’t forget – so off we went to see an Ottawa based panto with the grandkids. And even after 30 years it’s still great fun.

 

EconomicsFamilyHobbiesLife ExperienceTechnology

Spotify

Posted on by Ray MacDonald

 

Do you remember the very first bit of recorded music that was “yours?” That you paid for out of your allowance and could play when you wanted? This was it for me – 1958 I believe.

The McGuires were probably in their 30s by then – as I recall one of them dated a mobster. But they were a sweet looking and sounding group. My mom loved them too. I guess my heavy rock days were some time in the future.

And how did I play “Sugar in the Morning, Sugar in the Evening”…etc? On a punishing, skip-prone portable record player that my parents owned and my grandfather used from time to time to play his Vernon Dalhart and Chuckwagon Gang 78s. (You can look them up.) Click, pop and skip – the sounds of my youth.

Later on I graduated to my own grind it out record player – I think it was an Arvin or Silvertone. At that point I went on to mono LP 33 1/3 RPM vinyl. From there I moved to stereo LPs, reel to reel tape, cassette tape, CDs, MP3s and finally some 60 years later to Spotify.

And after decades of pop-click, tape and cassette recording, CD duplication, MP3 ripping and encoding and countless players, audio components, recorders, boom boxes, computers,Walkman units, iPods I have gotten to the point where there’s nothing at all except the cloud image of music.

Right now I’m listening to Atlanta Rhythm Section’s “Imaginary Lover” – a song I have never owned in any form but quite like – the digital concierge in Spotify chose it for me based on other digital choices I made personally.

If you haven’t run across Spotify it’s a multiplatform music streaming program. It works on PCs, Macs and Linux, iPads, Android and iOS smartphones, Roku boxes – you name it. It’s free if you don’t mind the ads and costs less than a CD per month if you want to go full on music. You can search for music you want – there are about 30 Million titles available so you won’t be disappointed.

At home I play Spotify music on my desktop units, I stream it to my TV with Roku and I plug a mini-cable into my stereo receiver and let my Android tablet be the music machine. I suppose if I had a smartphone I could get Spotify anywhere.

The best thing of all about Spotify? It’s brought back the unadulterated boomer pleasure of listening to a whole “concept album” from start to finish. If you want to experience “Disraeli Gears,” “Every Good Boy Deserves Favour,” “Beggars Banquet,” or “Pet Sounds” in all their remastered glory they are there for you.

And it’s not just boomers. My Gen-X son-in-law listens to Spotify at work and he’s working his way through Rolling Stone’s top 100 albums of all time. It’s hard to imagine him listening to “Music from Big Pink” or “Highway 61 Revisited” but he’s learning something.

I have to admit that – although I’m not a playlist sort of guy – I do like the one put together for me by the digital concierge that Spotify features. It hasn’t guessed wrong yet today – everything from James Taylor to Steely Dan to J. Geils to .38 Special. With 30 million choices I guess it can’t go wrong.

Spotify – give it a try. It’s too good to be wasted on the young.

FamilyLife Experience

Three Score and Ten

Posted on by Ray MacDonald

 

Having done a retrospective on Canada maybe I could do one on myself – having reached the magic age of 70. My memories don’t go back that far of course but I’ll do my best.

10 Years Ago – 2007

In 2007 it seemed to be a time of moving. We were established in Almonte by then but Maria was busy getting her mother resettled in the suburbs from downtown Kingston. Her sister Flo was by this time a resident of St. Mary’s of the Lake Hospital and Maria spent a lot of time away in Kingston. Sarah and Dave were moving too – into their home in Blackburn Hamlet.

We did manage to get away in the fall to do a cruise of the Mediterranean – only to return to one of the most brutal winters we can remember.

20 Years Ago – 1997

Sarah was in her first year at Guelph and her parents were adjusting to the empty nest. We went on a March break holiday to the UK without her and it was different. Sarah did her own UK holiday with her Aunt Flo later that year. The three of us managed a weekend in Nashville and a trip to the Grand Old Opry in the summer.

30 Years Ago – 1987

We were living in Georgetown, Sarah was in Grade 4 and I was working at Lipton by then. In March 1987 we had the first of many March break holidays – this one was a fly and drive tour of Texas. in the summer we had a similar fly / drive tour of Nova Scotia.

40 Years Ago – 1977

Living in Quebec and I was working at Standard Brands’ factory in LaSalle. On March 18 (the anniversary of my father’s death) I learned that I was going to be a father myself.

That summer we took our little travel trailer on a tour of Vermont and Connecticut. We discovered the joy of Litchfield CT on that tour.

Sarah was born in October. And so we became a family of 3.

50 Years Ago – 1967

Ah, the Summer of Love. My mother and sister went out to L.A.  – by train! – to visit our cousins. I stayed home to shovel concrete and save money to go back to university. I was half way through at that point – broke and discouraged. But I made it to graduation a couple of years later.

In that summer I listened to rock radio a lot and discovered psychedelia for the first time. This group particularly impressed me – especially their lead singer and their keyboard virtuoso. Both are sadly no longer with us. Was it really that long ago?

60 Years Ago – 1957

I was in grade 6 at Deseronto Public School – the last year of the rambling two storey Victorian structure that was replaced by a brand new Leave it to Beaver style building later that year.

To those Trump fans who seem to want to bring this era back – it wasn’t really that great – trust me. Mono music, black and white TV, no air travel to speak of – just small time, small town living. Elvis was still in the building though you didn’t hear much of him on the radio – maybe a couple of hours before supper on an old tube unit to do your homework by. My mother liked Eddie Fisher and Tony Bennett.

70 Years Ago – 1947

I was there – see picture above – but no memories of it, sorry. 1947 was the start of the baby boom so a lot of us are around that don’t remember it.

Three score and ten. Lots of memories. I remember when my Uncle Rocky said he could remember back 50 years – man he seemed old. Now I can go back nearly 70. Go figure.

 

 

EconomicsFamilyLife ExperienceTravel

Wrapping Up the Old Year

Posted on by Ray MacDonald

Back in the days when I was still gainfully employed, this time between Christmas and New Year’s Day was one of my favorite periods. I always took the week off, and after the mandatory Christmas hubbub it was nice for the three of us to get away for a few days to a hotel with an indoor pool.

We generally went across the border to Niagara Falls, New York. We could get there easily, it was never all that busy down near the American Falls, we could enjoy the light show just as well on the American side and there were always those outlet malls to visit. When we started, there was one right at the Rainbow Bridge but that mall couldn’t compete with the larger one out on Military Road. The Rainbow Mall closed around 2000.

That week off was great because I never looked forward to the New Year for various reasons:

  • All the taxes for Canada Pension and Employment Insurance returned so my paycheck went down in the New Year.
  • If there were any personnel re-engineering moves (i.e. people got fired) these inevitably happened when we returned after the holidays. Nobody lost a job at Christmas, but in the New Year…watch out!
  • After New Year’s Day was always the time when some newfangled HR initiative would get started. Pardon me if I’m cynical, but all that Performance Management stuff was just another Theory X (command and control) scheme inflicted on the workforce. I never saw anything positive in it or out of it.

No matter. In the brief week between Christmas and New Year’s we had a great family time – even I enjoyed it and you know how much I look forward to outlet malls.

Today we’d likely head down to Syracuse – but that time has passed. Sarah has her own family to entertain and as for Maria and me – well….

After Christmas 2004 this whole vacation week became moot because when I finished work on December 20, 2004 I knew I wasn’t going back in January. It’s nice to wind down after Dec 25 but the HR initiatives, organizational re-engineering and payroll taxes are far in my rear view mirror. And that suits me just fine.

 

 

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