I’ve been visiting my friends at Las Nubes, the amazing eco-resort about thirty minutes north of where I live. The proprietor Filip D’Hulster is a renowned Belgian chef and one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. So of course I stayed for dinner and breakfast…

Back on the ranch things have been coming along quite well. The cottage was in pretty rough shape when I arrived and the land overgrown with overhead foliage. After a lot of chopping and clearing I was able to get a good look at what I have to work with.

To the left is the official ‘before’ pic. Three of the four walls were infested with termites and had to go. Fortunately the floor and roof are ok and only need minor repairs. So for the moment it’s very open concept haha.

I expect to have everything closed in by the end of the week!

Meantime the warehouse is busy with volunteers sorting gifts into age appropriate piles and trucks coming and going to shelters and agencies across the city. It's an amazing operation and an honour to be part of.

The mood was decidedly upbeat and the air charged with anticipation as the brass band warmed up their instruments and carolers competed with the helicopter overhead gathering shots of highly-caffeinated attendees (the coffee was free) and trucks filled with games, dolls and other goodies.

I have been involved with this project since the early spring, conceiving, developing and implementing the online donation strategy and infrastructure for all three partners.

While the project was at times challenging, it is extremely satisfying to see all the hard work begin to pay off as donors click their way towards our goal. As of 8 pm on day 1 we have registered 8,243 toys!

The invitation came about via Michael Suba at Continental Hair, a Transitions International Group member I have been working with this past year. Already the Gold Standard in Hair Replacement, Michael's commitment to create ongoing value for his customers gave me plenty of great references.

In addition to being generous hosts, the group clearly represented the best in the business and it was a pleasure to share my insights and methods for recognizing their best opportunities for growth and development.

In spite of an imposing mandate the solution we arrived at was relatively simple: By creating an online system of donation portals we can effectively lower the barrier to entry (donors contribute with a click of the mouse rather than having to go out, buy product and drop them off), eliminate shortfalls (online donations are essentially cash so the 'Army can buy what they need rather than be subjected to what people choose to drop off), this in turn creates efficiencies as purchasing in bulk saves significant dollars not to mention the fuel, labour and sorting costs associated with the pick up of donated items. Best of all we can easily engage employee groups and other partner networks with targeted emails that link directly to appropriate donation sites.

As of this posting both the front and back end systems have been developed and beta testing for The Salvation Army’s Railside Food & Toy Distribution Centre and CTV Toy Mountain portals have begun. Another version is being created for Toronto Area Ford dealers with all sites expected to be live November 25^th.

Last fall I made a series of radio spots for the Central Counties. We went through the usual scripting exercise and to help contextualize things and I recorded an example with myself as the announcer. I followed this up with several demo clips of voice-over professionals and the board made their choice. Once completed I presented the finished spots to the board and was shocked to hear that they liked the demo's I did better than the final production. Instead of giving approval they directed me to re-record the spots with myself as the announcer!

Doing as they pleased turned out to be pretty fun and the spots aired for a number of weeks. One of those days I was walking through Chinatown when I suddenly heard my voice being blasted into the street from a low-rent clothing store. Ever since then whenever I see a rack of cheap t-shirts I hear myself saying "In the Central Counties....". This spring I produced another series for them and once again got weirded out hearing myself on the radio.

More recently the band has given me the opportunity to get back to video, this time with myself as the client. Both of those clips are posted on my music page as well as on the 'Reel' page where you can find a variety of past work.

This puts me squarely in the food services industry for the next several months and I am excited to learn more about it.

Meantime life is good! Weekends on the houseboat (cottage in the city!) have been terrific and the band continues to grow an audience, especially in Latin countries, which is very cool. A tour is in order...

It's been a year since I last was there to see the construction on the main house 'El Ojo', The main house of Las Nubescompleted so it was very cool to see the rest of the property, gardens and cabins in full use. With the building phase over it was time for us to revisit Filip's vision for Las Nubes and make sure his core beliefs and principles are being represented in the business's operations and outreach.

From there I headed down to my old stomping grounds of Ojochal and Ventanas to check in with dear friends Manny and Kumari whom I used to live and work with. They own the local dive shop, liquor store and supermarket so there is always something going on however since they built a house up on the hill all I want to do is sit there and take it in.

Can you blame me? View south towards Panama from the hills of Ventanas

As usual Manny fed me fantastic meals and we deliberated why I am not living there after all this time, a discussion that has been going on now for almost twenty years.

Needless to say it didn't take long for the first week to end and I was soon on my way back to San Jose to pick up the band for a stint at the Gilded Iguana in Nosara followed by a showcase at the famous Jazz Cafe in Escazu.

On my way south I had seen signs for a new bungee jump. They were planted alongside the highway, six in total starting with a large number '5'. About half a kilometer further there was a 4 and then 3 and so on until a final sign said Bungee Jump Exit Here! Driving by I was able to see a freshly painted tower in the middle of a clearing and what looked like a wading pool in the drop zone. I had all but forgotten about it until the same 'countdown' signs appeared on my way back north. Expecting another peek through the trees I wondered if I might actually see someone in mid-flight. Like before the signs worked their way down from 5 to 1 however this time the 'Exit here' was planted directly in front of a graveyard. I laughed for miles.