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David Barron

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Thursday, 15 March 2007
My Top Ten Heavy Metal Rock Songs
Mood:  loud
  1. You Give Love A Bad Name/Bon Jovi
  2. You Shook Me All Night Long/AC/DC
  3. Come On Feel The Noise/Quiet Riot
  4. We're Not Going To Take It Anymore/Twisted Sister
  5. Bad To The Bone/George Thorogood
  6. Sweet Child Of Mine/Guns And Roses
  7. Angel Of Harlem/U2
  8. I Want To Break Free/Queen
  9. Black Dog/Led Zeppelin
  10. Rock And Roll All Night/Kiss

I like high quality energy songs. These are my favourites from my head banging collection.

The above list is linked to decent YouTube videos of the performers.


Posted by qualteam at 10:45 PM EDT
Wednesday, 14 March 2007
American Idol, My Personal Favourite
Mood:  lyrical

To begin with, the girls are much better singers than the boys on this year's Idol.

My favourite guy, Sundance Head, was sent packing much too early. I really enjoyed his version of "Mustang Sally".

Three of the girls show a great deal of promise, Melinda Doolittle, Lakisha Jones and Jordin Sparks. Jordin has developed a smooth emotional delivery that is easy on the ears and eyes. Lakisha is a power vocalist in the same mode as Fantasia, but Melinda reminds me of a young Aretha Franklin. She has pose and a powerful rhythmic delivery that is well suited to R & B songs.

The only one, I find captivating is Melinda. She should become this year's American Idol.

 Aretha Franklin Sings "Think" From The Blues Brothers Movie

More On Melinda Dolittle


Posted by qualteam at 9:53 PM EDT
Sunday, 11 March 2007
Connecting Up To 50,000 Canadian Posties

It seems strange me that most of the debate on "The Tentative Agreement" is occurring on the "Cape Breton Local Forum".

I had to search out and find this forum because it seems to be the only CUPW forum in Canada.

Why isn't there a forum on the CUPW National Website?

The most obvious place for CUPW members to give feedback on contract issues would be on this site. Members could also vote on polls relating to concerns on CTI and other issues. A password could be given to ensure that each member only voted once. For those who don't use the internet, phone polls or mail polls could be used as well.

The NEB and local executives throughout the country should push to get the 50,000 membership involved with contract talks. Let's invite their participation with a user-friendly forum on the National website.

There used to be a forum on the CUPW Sudbury website, but that disappeared sometime ago.

What happened to the Sudbury posties? They probably retired.

The National CUPW Website

The Cape Breton Local Forum


Posted by qualteam at 10:49 PM EDT
Updated: Monday, 12 March 2007 5:23 PM EDT
Friday, 9 March 2007
Movie Review 114: 300 Spartans
Mood:  a-ok

The original movie that inspired Frank Miller's comic book and film, "300" stands up well today.

The emphasis of the story was on Spartan battle tactics and the heroism of 300 soldiers who fought valiantly against overwhelming odds.

Richard Egan played a cool, dedicated King Leonidas who sacrificed himself and his men to slow down the Persian hordes. "There was no retreat. There was no surrender."

The "Battle Of Thermopylae" was exciting to watch as a realistic moment of actual history. The only knock against the movie was that the battle scenes should have been bigger than they were.

Today, it might be classified as a docudrama. Three stars.

 Reviews Of 300_Spartans

The History Behind The Battle Of Thermopylae

 


Posted by qualteam at 10:31 PM EST
Updated: Friday, 9 March 2007 10:56 PM EST
Wednesday, 7 March 2007
Understanding The Corporate Team Incentive Better
  1. Regular full-time and part-time employees represented by CUPW are joining an existing incentive program.
  2. There is one CTI plan. Targets are national and the same for all eligible employees within the Corporation.
  3. 2006 targets are related to delivery performance, customer value index, employee engagement and financial performance.
  4. The incentive potential is the same for all regular employees represented by CUPW and it is set at three percent. This means a PO5 in Montreal will get the same percentage as a PO5 in Vancouver, a relief LC in Calgary or a relief LC in Halifax.
  5. An average annual payment would be in the range of $1,200 to $1,500.
  6. Payment of the incentive can still be made when targets are short of the 100% level and can be higher when targets are exceeded.
  7. For example, the 2006 preliminary results show the CTI will be paid out at 128.5%. If employees represented by CUPW had been participants, this would have meant a 3.86% payout(3% multiplied by 128.5%)
  8. CTI payouts are pensionable earnings.
  9. This incentive has been in place for some time for other unionized and management employees. Unionized participants include: PSAC/UPSE members, APOC members, CPAA members.

It should be noted that Canada Post did have an extra payout system which was given to retiring workers. This was the "Severance Package" which was discontinued in 2003. 

I've tried to bring back a similar type of severance/longevity pay based on a bonus system on profits and unused sick leave, but this hasn't happened. The closest we can get at this time is the Corporate Team Incentive(CTI).

Thousands of other companies have similar bonus programs. It's basically profit sharing. If a CUPW member doesn't want his CTI bonus, he/she can always give it to charity.

Other Company Bonus Programs In Canada


Posted by qualteam at 11:04 PM EST
Updated: Friday, 9 March 2007 11:03 PM EST
Tuesday, 6 March 2007
Arsenic And Old Lace: Movie Review 113
Mood:  a-ok

Frank Capra's hilarious dark comedy still stands up today. I found myself laughing at the same scenes as I did when I was a kid (I saw it orginally on TV in the 60s).

Gary Grant, Raymond Massey and Peter Lorre lead the cast in weird story about a family of nutcases, murderers and maniacs. Four stars and it's ok for preteens.

Reviews Of Arsenic And Old Lace

 


Posted by qualteam at 7:02 PM EST
Updated: Tuesday, 6 March 2007 7:05 PM EST
Sunday, 4 March 2007
The Debate Continues On The CUPW/Canada Post Tentative Agreement
Mood:  loud

Recently a Canada Post letter carrier left this message on one of my recent blog entries.

"The corporate team incentive plan (cti) means more work and less money for letter carriers. We may not see a nickel of the bonus,since canada post sets arbitrary profit and revenue targets in 4 different parts of their business! With this new contract overtime will be limited to 3 hours a week over a 20 day work period. Check the numbers brothers and sisters we're getting shafted."

"Arbitrary targets" was also a concern of my mine. I sent my concerns to Canada Post President, Moya Greene. Here's how she answered me: "Targets have to be reasonably achievable or the whole purpose of a bonus becomes meaningless".

"Reasonably Achievable Targets" have resulted in millions of dollars of bonus money to APOC supervisors. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.

Ms Greene has went on record with regards to profit and revenue targets. CUPW must hold her to her word.

An incentive program only provides an incentive if it actually pays out for real.

I believe in hard work and I believe that hard/smart work should be rewarded.

The debate on the tentative agreement continues on Cape Breton Local's website. Just about anybody who's anybody in CUPW is posting on this message board. Check it out.

The CUPW Debate On The Tentative Agreement


Posted by qualteam at 8:44 PM EST
Saturday, 3 March 2007
The Mythology Of Rock And Roll
Mood:  on fire

My two favourite rock and roll movies of all time are "Phantom Of The Paradise" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". In the "Phantom", there's a supernatural link to rock and roll and in "The Rocky Horror", there's an alien link.

It's like this music was a deep dark evil secret until some powerful force unleashed it on planet Earth.

Rock often tracks the romantic and sexual problems of teenagers. The positive and negative feelings of youth seem to become exaggerated in the present of this high energy music.

Rock and roll didn't start in the fifties. It started in our subconscious and stimulated not only memories of our happy childhoods, but memories of death and destruction (e.g. Heavy metal bands, punk, etc.).

I've written a great deal about "Rock and Roll" and it's beginning on another planet called "Graceworld". 

The Phantom Of The Paradise Video

The Rocky Horror Show Video

The Phantom Of The Paradise Reviewed

The Rocky Horror Picture Show Reviewed

More On Graceworld


Posted by qualteam at 11:19 PM EST
Updated: Saturday, 3 March 2007 11:34 PM EST
Friday, 2 March 2007
March Comes In Like A Lion


Yesterday, Brampton and the surrounding area were hit with a storm that produced scenes like the above. Over 60,000 residences in Ontario are without power because of it and many streets look like duck ponds.

Because we have only one car in our family, I took the bus home at 3:30 P.M. yesterday from the Post Office in Mississauga. I got home at 9:30 P.M. with my socks and shoes soaked.

Fortunately, these storms don't happen very often in the winter. Barrie, north of us and Buffalo south of us get much more snow.

In Newfoundland, it's common to have storms that drop 100 cm on a regular basis during the winter.

I'm glad we live in the Greater Toronto Area where we get changing weather every few days, but no hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes or tsunamis.

Lion And Lamb Weather


Posted by qualteam at 11:11 PM EST
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
Movie Review 112: The Departed

The Departed is Martin Scorsese at his self-indulgent best. The acting and the story was good, but the pacing and the scenes were drawn out too long. So much time was spent on character development and relationships, that the story slowed down and became difficult to follow.

The film could have been used at least 45 minutes of editing to speed it up.

This was Leonardo DiCaprio's best role yet and Jack Nicholson was great as the bad guy.

The ending was weak, unsatisfying and contrived. With me, this movie only rates two and half stars.

More Reviews Of "The Departed"


Posted by qualteam at 10:21 PM EST
Updated: Wednesday, 28 February 2007 10:26 PM EST

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