Five years in Edmonton and running

I just returned this evening from a day trip up to Edmonton to pay a visit to the offices of our sister publication, Avenue Edmonton.

Upon my arrival, I was shown, on screen, the cover of the September issue, with the final touches being put in place, before it was shipped off to the printer later in the afternoon. On the cover, I noticed an icon that Susan, our Avenue Edmonton art director, had created indicating that the September issue was also the "5th Anniversary" issue.

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The Great Cover Debate

A kite.

That's what graces the cover of this month's issue of Avenue Calgary magazine.

Not a famous Calgarian. Not an outtake from our latest fashion shoot. In other words, nothing that would tip a reader's hat that they were reading a regular issue of Avenue magazine, save for the masthead splashed across the top of the cover.

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It's A Record Year for Canadian Wine Awards Entries

Avenue's sister publication, Wine Access, is this country's premier wine magazine. Once a year in the December/January issue it devotes itself to the burgeoning Canadian wine industry and the results of its Canadian Wine Awards.

These awards are now a decade old, and have become the "go to" awards when it comes to defining the best that Canadian wine has to offer.

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Welcome to Tacoma

On Wednesday, I’ll be heading to the Seattle-Tacoma region for my annual golf trip. I penned about last year's excursion in A Little Golf with 31 of my Closest Friends.

The trip is know as the RVPI (Rankine Versus Pogubila Invitational), after the last names of the two gentlemen, Dave and Frank, who started the tournament seven years ago.

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New site is ready to go

I'm three days late in writing this blog about our new Avenue web site, because we found a bug shortly after launch that didn't allow me to upload a new entry. Such, I'm discovering, is the world of web site launches.

When you launch a magazine, it's done. It's complete. It's printed, bound and delivered to your customer base. And then you move on to the next issue.

Local television coverage was painful

If you ever wondered why local television stations are struggling, look no further than the display they put on on Monday night.

At 9 p.m. on election night - in the midst of one of the most competitive municipal election nights in recent history, with over half the voting-age population casting ballots, and with our new Mayor Nahed Nenshi starting his surge towards the title he would eventually hold - not one, not two, not three, but all four of our local television stations were showing something else.

Back to YYC in more ways than one

Just got back from Disneyworld this past weekend and later this week, I'll provide a summary of the many things I witnessed over my 10 days in the Orlando area.

But I just wanted to put up a quick post today, as I received news that I've been selected to be one of the 100 people who will be attending this year's TEDxYYC event which will be held at the Grand Theatre on April 1st.

Off to Disney

I'm off to Disneyworld tomorrow.

It's one of the tougher assignments that I've assigned myself to. Produce about three stories for our sister publication, up!, the inflight magazine for WestJet, and treat my family to a holiday that will serve as a brief respite from the winter we're presently struggling though.

Getting Wired with Chris Anderson

It might come as a shock to most of you, as it did to me, but the editor-in-chief of Wired magazine doesn't think print is dead. Not only that, he doesn't think it will ever die.

My lunch with Arnold

I received an email this morning from an old university friend of mine now working for Cannacord Capital letting me know that he had an extra ticket (at $400 a pop) to the Arnold Schwarzenegger luncheon held at noon today over at the Telus Convention Centre. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance and a couple of hours later I found my jeans-and-sportscoat-ladden self surrounded by 2,000 or so blue and black suits of corporate Calgary.