Deleting Those Ipsum Dolors

the-wood

Last month when we were in Canmore, we researched a few places that we wanted to go eat at. One of the places we looked up online, but didn’t end up going to, was called The Wood. The above screen shot was taken from their site. Notice anything? Unless The Wood is catering to the uber-elite Latin-reading crowd, what they did was launch their Web site without replacing the Latin placeholder text with real text. Putting in Latin text is an old page layout trick, but you’re never supposed to go to “print” on the Web with it. Talk about not having an eye for detail… 😉

News Stories on Concrete Equities Protest

On Monday, June the 1st, over 200 investors who gave their money to Concrete Equities took to the street to protest what the company has done. I wasn’t able to be a part of it, but I applaud all those who were there fighting for our collective investments. Today, June 4th, Concrete Equities is being challenged in court by the lawyer representing the investors. We’ll see what happens – my understanding is that even though three of the five groups of limited partners have legally voted out Concrete Equities and put a new General Partner in their place, Concrete Equities is refusing to accept the results of the vote and turn over the required control.

Here’s a round-up of some of the media coverage the protest received, and some photos from people who were there.

dave-jones-piggybank-concrete-equities-protest

“A commercial investment dispute spilled onto a downtown street yesterday as more than 200 investors protested in front of the head office of the company at the centre of the dispute.”
Calgary Metro News Story

dave-jones-piggybank-concrete-equities-protest2

“The trouble started in March when Concrete Equites, as general partner, asked the limited partners to sell all of their real estate to a new company in exchange for company shares. The limited partners didn’t bite and they say they then ousted concrete as general partner in 3 of the 5 partnerships but Concrete did not cede control and instead filed papers in bankruptcy court asking that a receiver be appointed. Now investors can only watch as this drama plays out in court.”
CTV News Story

dave-jones-piggybank-concrete-equities-protest3

“A group of disgruntled investors will head to court this week in a bid to regain control of their properties from Concrete Equities, a Calgary-based commercial real estate fund. More than 200 people protested outside the company’s offices Monday, demanding three years’ worth of financial statements related to the ownership of five buildings downtown that were placed under receivership earlier this spring….Mitrovic said the properties, which include the SNC Lavalin building downtown, were intentionally placed under bankruptcy protection in a desperate bid to prevent the installation of a new general partner in accordance with a series of votes that won the overwhelming approval of investors.”
Calgary Herald Story

A few more pictures of the protest after the break. Continue reading News Stories on Concrete Equities Protest

Concrete Equities Admits To Breaching Alberta Securities Laws

Well check this out – looks like I should have been checking up on Concrete Equities late last year:

“CALGARY, Dec. 23 /CNW/ – The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) has concluded a settlement with Concrete Equities Executive Club Inc. regarding allegations that it breached Alberta securities laws. As of June 2, 2008, Concrete Equities Executive Club promoted and sold Class B shares to 18 Alberta investors, raising $1,620,000. Concrete Equities Executive Club admitted it breached Alberta securities laws when it engaged in an illegal distribution by distributing its Class B shares to 13 of these investors without a prospectus and without being registered to trade in them. Concrete Equities Executive Club paid $80,000 to settle the allegations and $2,000 toward investigation costs. In addition, Concrete Equities Executive Club has offered to recind and refund all investors who purchased its Class B shares and has undertaken to refund the investments of the 13 unqualified Alberta investors.”

A word to all investors: always do research on the companies you invest with, and the people who run them. Especially the people who run them!

UPDATE: I found a CTV News story on this.

Kimbo Slice On the Next Season of The Ultimate Fighter

“Kimbo Slice, the controversial heavyweight who in 2008 headlined the most-viewed mixed martial arts card in history, will be one of 16 contestants on the forthcoming season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s reality TV series. Dana White, the UFC’s outspoken president, has repeatedly mocked Slice for his lack of fighting ability. Slice, whose real name is Kevin Ferguson, became a cult figure by competing in street fights that were posted on YouTube. Slice’s “bouts” drew tens of millions of views and led him to turn professional.”  – Yahoo Sports

Oh man…is he even going to make it through the first week without starting a fight and getting kicked out of the house? And Dana White is right, the guy may be scary in a parking lot, but in the ring he seems to lack skills at, well, everything. This will sure be interesting to watch! [shout out toVinny for the tip]

Our New 2009 GMC Acadia

There she is, our new 2009 GMC Acadia. A few people have been asking about what it looks like, partially because the Acadia is only in its third year, so I thought I’d post a pictures of it. We did a huge amount of research before selecting this vehicle, so at some point I’ll do a write-up about that process. Our short list consisted of the Subaru Tribeca, the Mazda CX-9, and the GMC Acadia. We purchased it from Northland Pontiac Buick GMC, and our salesperson – who was excellent to deal with – was Dave Sommerfeld. It was a near-perfect buying experience, one that I’ll write about later. The Acadia was our final selection from the three vehicles, and here she is…

gmc-acadia-2009-jason-dunnn-01
Ruby red – isn’t she pretty?


gmc-acadia-2009-jason-dunnn-01
Keiko had to come check out the new car – she’ll be travelling in it of course…

gmc-acadia-2009-jason-dunnn-01
I never saw myself owning a GMC vehicle, or an SUV for that matter, but here we are…

gmc-acadia-2009-jason-dunnn-01
We’ll be keeping the Mazda Protege 5 – and selling the Mini Cooper – but I thought it was funny to see how much bigger the Acadia is than the Protege…and the Protege is our “big” car compared to the Mini Cooper.

gmc-acadia-2009-jason-dunnn-01
We took the mid-level package and did almost every upgrade. This car had every option we wanted on it except for the 110 volt power – the car with that feature was in Saskatchewan, and the dealer there refused to send it our way unless our dealer here would send them a truck…and with the GMC truck factory not churning out any new trucks until August, that wasn’t going to happen. So we ended up getting one from Edmonton that lacked the 110 volt power, but had a trailer tow package (which we didn’t care about very much, but the next owner might).

gmc-acadia-2009-jason-dunnn-01
We got the all-wheel drive version. Dig the quad-exhaust…I think that looks cool!

gmc-acadia-2009-jason-dunnn-01
She’s a big beast! I call her the Land Tank. We’re breaking form and not getting a vanity plate.

gmc-acadia-2009-jason-dunnn-01
The inside is furnished nicely. Not quite as high-end as the twin model from Buick, but who wants wood paneling anyway? Not us. Definitely a technologically advanced vehicle – and pairing the audio system to my smartphone over Bluetooth was shocking easy to do. Yes, something involving Bluetooth that was easy. Who knew such a thing was possible!

gmc-acadia-2009-jason-dunnn-01
That’s my Zune 120 connected to the auxillary audio input – the only Zune big enough to hold our entire music collection at once. I’m glad it has that input, but I’m very disappointed with GMC for putting it in such a stupid place – having it inside the console, and having the cigarette lighter inside the console to provide power, or better yet a USB port, is the right way to do it. As it stands now, I’m looking for a Zune cigarette power adaptor that will charge the Zune and hold it aloft…I’ve seen one for the iPod like that, but I have to find one for the Zune.

Limited Partners Fight for control of Concrete Equities Investments

This press release was sent out by the group of volunteers who are leading the charge on reclaiming our properties from Concrete Equities.

Limited Partners Fight for control of Concrete Equities Investments

Calgary, Alberta Canada, June 1st, 2009 – The ten member Steering Committee and supporting Limited Partners of five (05) commercial investment properties in the Calgary area met today to raise awareness to potential investors to business practices being conducted by Concrete Equities.

The group of investors represent a minimum individual investment ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 and are comprised of individuals from several demographics, including pensioners and people that rely on the distributions from the investments for their income. The net portfolio is valued at approximately $300 million CDN. Continue reading Limited Partners Fight for control of Concrete Equities Investments