The Squamidian Report – Dec. 10 / 16
 
Issue #759

Including:
The Ontarion

Hi All,

Well this is a bummer, I got weathered out and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I was going to be playing in the lodge up at the gondola this past Wednesday and was looking forward to it because the last time I was going to play there was weathered out as well. At that time it was a howling raging west coast rain storm, the kind we'd been having all fall. This time, like I just said, not a cloud in the sky, the sun was shining brightly. But, an Arctic Outflow system had set up and the cold north winds were blasting out the valleys. There is an upper limit to the wind speed for safe operation of the lift and we were well past that point. Oh well. Under those conditions it would have been way too cold up there for my guitar and my old fingers.

Like many parts of the country, the west coast had some winter this week. You may have heard that Vancouver got hit with snow and ice and like most people in other parts of the country, you may have chuckled to yourself about those inept west coast drivers and how it only takes one or two snowflakes to instill total panic. On some levels you may be right but in all fairness, parts of Vancouver and the North Shore got up to 8 inches of heavy wet snow and most don't realize just how hilly those areas are. That wet snow turns to white ice the moment it is driven on and the streets in the city were treacherous. That was  Monday, and up our way there wasn't so much as a snowflake. Just some real heavy frost and black ice. The approaching Arctic Outflow had met the warm wet Pacific front right over the coast, blasting the mainland around the GVA and parts of Vancouver Island with a good dumping. That same Outflow had pushed the Pacific air out the Sound and up our way there was barley a snowflake to be seen. So, by Tuesday everywhere on or near the coast was being blasted by very cold, dry winds under a clear blue sky. The Outflow's howling winds persisted until and including Thursday so for three days the gondola could not run. And that is frustrating, when the sun finally came out after two months of endless rain, the temperatures plummeted and the winds picked up to gail force, forcing them to close for safety reasons.

Here's something I noticed years ago about weather forecasts and its proved to be pretty darn close to how things actually work out. When a change in weather is forecast, regardless of what that change is, if the change happens when it is expected, the forecast tends to be fairly accurate. However, if the change happens later, or if the forecasters start to back off the timing of an event, the forecasted condition will be lesser or weaker, or not happen at all. If on the other hand, the forecasted condition arrives ahead of the expected timing, the condition will be stronger, hotter, colder, more rain or snow or whatever was the expected condition. You can test this yourself. Just pay attention to your local forecast and then pay attention to the timing and condition of the actual event. When it comes to weather nothing works out perfect but you'll find this tends to work out most of the time. And if you want a good chuckle, check the Weather Networks 14 day long range forecast for your area, then check that same forecast again the next day. You'd be surprised how often and how totally that long range look is completely re-written to something totally different than it started out as. And, if you keep checking that long range forecast for days on end (and assuming you are not under a stationary high that won't and can't move) you will find it continues to keep changing to the point that one wonders why they even bother.

Now this was almost predictable, the Vancouver and area forecast for Thursday and into Friday was for a bigger snowstorm than the one on Monday. To that end the Vancouver Global news decided to give the expected storm extra coverage. They brought in all of their meteorologists, extra traffic reporters and so on with the intention of keeping the public fully informed of the dire situation. The city of Vancouver and the surrounding cities all spent the day before preparing their roads for the worst, and mustered every plow they could find to be able to say on top of it. Now, remember the paragraph you just read, the one above this one? You do? Ok, get this, that storm didn't move in until Friday morning. Guess what, all those TV personalities sitting in the news room to report on the storm had to chatter away about next to nothing. Kind of silly.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT

Hello my fellow Squamidians!

With Christmas in the air, it’s of course getting colder and very soon snowier as well. We’ve been having a wisp of the white stuff over the past week or two but nothing worth worrying about. I guess it’ll come soon enough and will likely give me something more to write about. We’ve been out a couple of times shopping not only for Christmas presents but for the weekly grocery needs as well and the colder temps are most certainly noticeable! Today we happened to head up to the new COSTCO store in Waterloo and if you haven’t been there, I’m sure you’ll find it a much different experience than visiting the one on Sportsworld Dr. When you walk into what I call the “old” Costco there is a nice flow to the way all shoppers make the circuit around the isles of that store to do their shopping. The flow of shoppers tends to move in a counter clockwise direction. When you enter the old store, the entrance door is the door on the right as you approach the store. From making entry into the store you simply continue up the main isle and keep to your right. You can walk back and forth viewing isles containing major household goods on your right or simply keep walking straight to the back of the store on the main isle. This is the direction most of the customers take and it leads you back to the bakery and produce sections. As you hit the back isle you simply make a left turn and walk across the rear of the store viewing the baked goods, then the produce and then as you approach the end of the far side of the store to the next left turn you will find the meat on your right.

Simple eh? Once past the meat counters, you turn to your left and pass the dairy counters and from there you walk down the far wall of the store viewing the reach-in coolers and freezers that contain a large selection of foodstuffs that form isles to your left. You can walk back and forth on these isles shopping for your weekly groceries as you progress from one isle to the next until reaching the front of the store once again where you can either choose to check out or you can cross to the isles in the centre of the store that contain mostly clothing and books and a couple of isles of snack foods. Once you’ve passed through the sections that interest you, you can then choose to check out and head for home! Sounds simple doesn’t it? After all, what could be simpler than walking with the crowd in a counter clockwise direction while keeping to you right just, as one would while driving their vehicle on a public roadway?

Well, I guess we may just be used to shopping at the old store but to me and anyone I’ve talked to about it, the NEW Costco on Erb St in Waterloo is a totally confusing monstrosity! It is in fact the largest Costco store in Canada and I think by making it so, the Costco Company has made a booboo. When you enter the new store, you do so on your left. With everyone used to entering on the right side at the old one, I find that half of the patrons entering the new one are doing so against the flow of the patrons leaving the store. This causes a constant confusion at the doors of the store and consequently has people glaring and swearing at each other before they even get inside the store. Entering on the left also starts everyone off in the wrong direction of flow from what they’re used to. Almost everyone that enters immediately stops about 20 feet into the store to try to get his or her bearings. Of course this causes another back up of empty carts and is another source of irritation. What you have once again is customers with even grumpier attitudes, oh joy! The layout of this new store is not at all like the old store and automatically puts a wrench into the ebb and flow of the consumer train. We found that people were not adhering to the rules of the road that make traffic move smoothly on city streets and are an obviously useful method for keeping the flow going in any store or supermarket. I guess with the confusion of the mixed up design of this new Costco people are continually changing direction to try to find what they are looking for and this makes for somewhat of a “smash up derby” style of shopping! The layout of the new store is so mixed up that there really isn’t much of a common sense roadmap to follow! It’s every shopper for him or herself! It would make more sense to repeat the established layout of the common Costco in each new store the company opens. When you have a winning setup in business, don’t mess with success!

I guess after the first six months of shopping repeatedly at the new store, people will become more used to the layout and it will be less confusing but for now, it’s more like a chess game played at high speed!

There is one aspect of the new Costco that I do like and that’s the fact that they have a gas bar at one end of the parking lot. Their gas is constantly priced at considerably less than every other station around KW. I priced gas at several stations as we drove through town during our shopping excursion today and most of the regular gas was priced at 106.9 and the price at Costco Gas Bar was 96.9c / liter. When you’re looking at a 60-liter fill up, that makes for a $6.00 saving! I don’t know about you but I would gladly burn $2.00 worth the gas to save $6.00 or more when I need a fill up.

The new Costco is on the extreme western outskirts of Waterloo and is essentially built in an open field with no surrounding protection from the snow and wind of this upcoming and almost here winter! The wind blows predominantly from the west and is a howling frostbite masterpiece at most times on the Costco lot! I damned near froze my hands and ears off today in the 5 minutes it took to gas up the Jeep! I know, I know, why didn’t I have a touque and gloves on while pumping gas? Trust me, next time I will do just that while saving my $6.00! LOL! I’ve learned my lesson today while standing in the middle of what is essentially a farmer’s field! As long as Costco has their fuel priced that much lower than everyone else around, they will have my business. The one catch is that you must be a Costco member to buy your gas there but that’s ok with me. I was a member for many years at the “old store” that didn’t have the advantage of lower priced gas and I had to pay for a membership there as well! Life goes on and Costco keeps on making millions! They can afford to give their customers a break on the price of a liter of gas!

That’s about it for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now … Greg

PS: Something To Think About>
Don’t interfere with somethin’ that ain’t botherin’ you none!
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Have a good one..
the doug
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