click here to watch the video

A recent survey showed that on average, Facebook users clicks the ‘like’ button at least 6 times a day.  That’s a lot of ‘likes’ if you think about the total number of people on Facebook.  Nowadays, the once ‘liked’ can easily be forgotten or disregarded.  Things that are ‘cool’ don’t stay that way for very long.  The art of discovery has changed.  We find something that interests us, we click a button that notifies hundreds of our ‘friends’ within our social network that we ‘like’ it.  But, when too many people like something, it can also become quite unlikeable.

I just stumbled upon a European fashion retailer that displays Facebook ‘likes on actual articles of clothing that they sell in-store.  C&A enables customers to rate an article of clothing which tells shoppers which items are the most popular. This is supposedly a good thing which helps insecure shoppers, offering them a second opinion.  I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want to do is buy a jacket that I know 10,000 other guys think is ‘cool’.  I can hear the conversation now, “Hey man – nice jacket”  I dunno – would seeing a high ‘like’ count help you decide to purchase an article of clothing?

Our winter gives us about one hour of sunshine every two weeks. Hibernation is the only way through the dark, cold, wet, miserable November to March tunnel. Last year I spent those dregs locked in a basement building a stupidly detailed scale model of a Second World War fighter plane. This winter it’s been obsessive guitar practice. (I am still total crap). Those are my examples; I’m guessing yours contain an equally anti-social hobby, loaded PVR, fatty foods and napping. If we have anything in common you too have forgotten how to carry on a proper conversation.

That ends next Tuesday. Because March 20^th is the first day of spring. It is the day more worthy of celebration than any other. Period. Christmas? We shop, eat, drink and pile up debt and if you miss a Charlie Brown Christmas, forget why.  On Feb 14 we celebrate love and chocolate and remembering to make a dinner reservation. We celebrate birthdays and anniversaries and Easter Bunnies. We celebrate every form of New Year with resolutions, more excess and regret. Really, there is only one date on the calendar that does something worth actually celebrating. THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING. The day that marks the end of the season that sucks.  Even the skiing’s better after that date. But the first day of spring is grossly overlooked and under-celebrated. We’re changing that. Why not? It’s our namesake.

On that hallowed day we’ll raise money for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank in the best and weirdest way we know, by jumping up and down on pogo sticks in public.  More on that later.

And yeah, there’s an element of self promotion, after all what good holiday goes without commercial content? Besides, it also happens to be our little company’s birthday and as we enter our 7^th year, we’re ready to make this day happen for everybody.

We worked on the names: Like: Solstice Day (too new age). Vernal Equinox Day (too literal) Spring Day (too self-serving) 3:20 (too stoner) Unwinter (meh) Blossom Day (really? really?) and landed on BOINK DAY.

It’s Boink Day because: That’s the sound that springs make in all better quality cartoons.  Boink because we’re all rebounding from the depression of winter. Boink Day because it has a nice ring to it. And spring is a time for fertility and reproduction and new life. Or for you “delete browser history” types, sex, or boinking if you will.

Every great day of celebration has its own rituals. There are rules. Rules such as giving, good will, and weird physical activities.  Here are those that belong to Boink Day.

1)   Giving: raise money for the local food bank. This time of year there is a real need.

2)   Goodwill: see above

3)   Weird physical activity:  Get on a pogo stick and for every bounce (boink) Spring (we) give 10 cents to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. Last time we raised/donated over $6,000.

See you there and Merry Boink Day.  I will now compose a Boink Day Carol in its honour.

WHAT:       BOINK DAY

WHEN:       TUESDAY MARCH 20, 2012 6:30 AM TO 7:00 PM

WHERE:     NORTH SIDE VANCOUVER ART GALLERY PLAZA

WHY:         RAISE MONEY FOR THE FOOD BANK, CELEBRATE THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING, DO SOMETHING WEIRD.

WHO:        YOU

It was a snowy Friday morning in Vancouver. The weather alone should have tipped me off that I was in for an unusual day. As I entered the Spring office and walked past the straw wall, airplane wing table, and Dan’s hair gel, everything seemed relatively normal. It was upon entering the kitchen that I realized why today was different. You see, the Spring kitchen is usually a happy place filled with grilled sandwiches, stinky lunches and a dedicated (albeit mediocre) dishwasher. On this day however, the kitchen was decidedly somber as one of the light bulbs had burnt out. Most people wouldn’t really bat an eye if they saw something like this at work. “Someone else will fix it,” they might say, but in my case I AM that someone else.

I’ve worn a lot of hats as an account services intern at Spring: coffee acquisition technician, pogo stick tester, VP telephone answering services – SW office regional division, account coordinator and so on. But electrician, NEVER. I’m not a scientist (THANKS Mom & Dad) but my understanding of changing light bulbs is that it involves voltage and electricity and other things that aren’t good for your brain. This situation was dangerous. Alas, the light bulb needed changing, so as the heroic intern my destiny was set.

Armed with only my nimble fingers and a step ladder that looked like it came from the set of “There will Be Blood,” I proceeded to tango with a needlessly complicated light fixture (THANKS Yaletown) for the better part of an hour. When all was said and done, I was shockingly (see what I did there?) still alive and the kitchen was awash in a warm halogen glow. Mission accomplished.

In conclusion, I’d like to thank:  gravity, Amir (for turning off the lights while I was changing them), and Spring for giving me the opportunity to change the light bulb…  and also work with a bunch of awesome people to accomplish some really great things. I’ve been an account intern for less than 2 months but the things I’ve learned have turned me on to a great career path and I couldn’t be more fortunate than to be here.  And hey, if all else fails, I’m going to get really good at changing light bulbs.

Update: The adjacent light bulb has now burnt out; such is the life of the Spring intern.

Exhibit A: Confused Intern

First thing we saw was The MET of course:

Though to my utter disappointment the one painting I wanted to see more than any other, Madame X, was not being shown because the American wing in which it hangs was under construction. I had to content myself with a different Sarjent and a side of Giovanni Boldini. As a treat I ran into a Jenny Saville painting which was astounding. I had no idea her paintings were so large.

A Sarjent and Jenny Saville

The Moma

As usual the Moma left me scratching my head more then it inspired, though parts of their more permanent collections certainly did the trick.

The design portion is a case and point of this. Seeing the simple sketch Milton Glaser did years ago turn into the symbol that it is today reminded me of why I’m in this business. Never before have I seen a museum focus an entire show to type and its influences.

Glaser and History of Digitized Type

Monet

The Frick

The Frick was great, but seeing as it’s a permanent collection and hasn’t changed since I had been there last, I wasn’t too excited to go. Did you know they have a bottom floor with a show that rotates? Me neither.

Anyway, this gallery at the moment was showing the work of Pablo Picasso. Picasso is somebody I have never really taken too seriously before. But seeing as I had about an hour to waste, I was intent on figuring it out. And yes, I realized why his work is so good. Though it did take seeing the work he had done when he was 15 to get it. Now next time I see a violin blown apart into a million abstract brush strokes, I’ll be able to think about the work he did to get to that point and appreciate it.

Society of Illustrators

This was probably the most inspiring part of the trip. To be in the same room as so many famous paintings was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.

We started off by eating lunch underneath the Norman Rockwell you see below. Then we were given a tour all the way up to the top floor where they keep the entire collection. Up there we got to pass around ridiculously expensive paintings as if they’re were, well, not ridiculously expensive. Quite unnerving…

Rockwell

Fuerza Bruta

All I can say is this was probably the greatest show I’ve ever seen. Just watch the video and you’ll see why.

Fuerza Bruta

Pencil Factory

Just a group of guys working out of a studio in Brooklyn with disciplines that range from illustration, to design, to motion graphics. Pretty cool and laid back space.

Pencil Factory Studio in Brooklyn and a WIP by Sam Weber

And some other stuff I did!

Found some Vancouver pride in NYC

Bought a bit too much

Drank way too much and went to the Museum of Natural History

All that being said it was a great trip. New York always is. I can’t wait to go again and I’ll be hoping, wishing, praying for the day I can say I work at Spring Manhattan.

Shon.

It’s not every day that you walk into a room full of funny people simultaneously working on interesting projects and playing with toy helicopters, Shake Weights, or guitars. Unless you work (or intern) at Spring.

For anyone potentially looking to intern in account services, here are five reasons why I think you should do it.

1. Spring is an ad agency that is willing to take risks. This means that they will take risks on interns (for which I am ever grateful.) This means that you won’t spend every waking hour having to clean, take out the garbage, get coffees, or kiss feet. You also get do to things such as help with events, attend client meetings, create documents, and take brisk strolls through the brick footpaths of Yaletown as you go on bank runs.
2. Spring has done some really cool stuff which you can see for yourself on the website. You should be here for the next big thing. Whatever it is, it will be incredible.
3. Spring is funny. Everyone says funny things, shares funny videos, has funny posters. There is no lack of humour here. Even when it’s my turn to be the butt of the jokes, I still think they are funny.
4. Spring is in Yaletown, the land of Range Rovers and creative people. It’s right by the Canada Line, perfect for transit-using interns. It’s right by the water. Very pretty. It is generally just a nice place to be, and has an abundance of sushi and coffee.
5. Inside Spring there are not only some of the coolest people, but also trees, a straw covered wall, mussels, and an airplane wing. This is all true.

The last three months of being an account services intern have been a blast. If you’re lucky enough to be the next one, take advantage of everything you can, and laugh a little.

It was back in 2007 that I landed in Vancouver and headed straight to Whistler as most Aussies do. As you can imagine it took a while for my accent to properly convert to what it is today; a mish mash of Canadian and Aussie slang. It’s a language and culture that I have named ‘Canaussie’. Yes, it’s an official language now.

Everytime I call my parents back home in Sydney, I hear them shudder with how much my accent has changed. But who do i have to thank for this? My house mates (roomates) who continually mocked my pronounciation of ‘wart-ah’ to ‘wart -er’? My wonderful Albertan fiance who says he loves my Aussie-isms, though i think he’s secretly teaching me new Canadian words every day? I blame both!
Plus, of course, the kids in the Spring creative room that laugh when I use words like Sticky tape and Eskie.

So to help me stay Australian, and to teach you Canadians a thing or two, heres some translated words to help you guys out for anytime you might bump into one of us Roo-boxin’, Shrimp-barby’n, Koala-huggin’, upside down folk.

Oh and it’s not a Koala-Bear!

Everyday while on Facebook…. well every other day while on Facebook, I try to watch a GoPro clip. If you haven’t heard of a GoPro by now, where the hell have you been? I’d say it was about 2 years ago when my totally insane, skydiving, base jumping brother in law introduced me to the worlds smallest and most durable HD camera.

Last year, while at Future Shop, I decided to be a Hero. I purchased the camera along with LCD screen, head mount gear and all it’s sticky pads and began to shoot. I shot while boarding in Whistler, kayaking in Pt Roberts, riding the motorbike down ‘The Drive’ and I recently shot even more video on my latest vacation to Amsterdam and Italy about 3 months ago. I must have had about 50hrs of HD footage. It’s so tiny and easy to use. I managed to cut a video which you can watch below – but be warned, it’s a lengthy 14 minutes long ( which is short considering I was recording for what felt like 3 weeks straight )

Amsterdam to Italy from James Filbry on Vimeo.

This camera ( now available as the Hero2 and 3D Hero ) not only shoots 1080p HD while doing just about anything from surfing to rock climbing, but you can easily set it up to do hires time-lapse shots that range from 2 – 60 second intervals. I’m sure some of you are like ya, ya old news, but I still get excited when I wake up in the morning, see the mountains covered with snow and think about shooting my next snowboarding adventure. Have any of you shot with it and if so – where’s your vid?

I just had a little surf around my iTunes collection and indeed, I found a Nickelback Song. It comes off a compilation disc distributed by the highly regarded UK Music Magazine “Q”.  The name of the disc is “best tracks of 2002. Seems like pretty credible praise.

It is always fashionable to thrash something.  Yet I cringe whenever someone makes a disparaging remark about Nickelback. In the faux sophisticated sphere of planet “creative professional” this happens a lot.

As Chad Kroeger must be tired of saying by now, you can all eff off. Sure I’m not a fan, but would you all please just think of something to hate that you actually hate? Going after a bunch of musicians who have slept in damp vans, starved and been shitkicked all over every small town in the land is just ignorant. They came out of the music business meat grinder to get a song on air and found success. They’re good Canadian boys.  I will now stand and produce a short round of applause…there, that felt good.

Nickelback wasn’t manufactured. They wrote their own stuff, they’re not fashion models with a producer. They‘re honest. We don’t have to like their music but we really have no right to beat on them.

Nickelback hate is an example of what I have just decided to brand as UTR  – Unimaginative Trendy Rejection. It’s OK to hate things, but not because the cool kids try to define themselves by hating something. We see a lot of this in hipster culture. Rejection of everything that isn’t completely alternative and brand new is no way to improve the world. In fact, those people seem like a much richer target to send our bile toward than the composers of When we Stand Together.

I say let’s put our hate energy into good things.  Let’s hate gas companies that collude on pricing on a minute-by-minute basis. Let’s hate the Groupons that force-commoditize the efforts of small business people. Let’s hate people who steal. Let’s hate things worth hating.  Why? Because anger is the energy for change. Point it in the proper direction and good comes of it. I will now post this classic example of positive hate that we loved a few years back.

So here’s what I beg of all of you. The next time you say you hate something ask yourself this, “Am I rejecting something that is truly negative and could use change? Or, am I just doing it to try to be cool?”

Love,

Rob

I feel uniquely qualified to comment on the upcoming everybody-should-get-a-ribbon sulkfest at Commodore Lanes.

You see, I’ve been going to the Lotus Awards since it proudly held the record for the single biggest alcohol consumption night of the year at the Hyatt Ballroom.  Back then Wasserman and Cousins were the Staples and Grais of what was a pun and budget showcase of 80’s advertising brilliance.  They were my heroes.

Before long international judges were invited to deliberate on the city’s talent pool and we were amazed by the work of our local girls and boys. During both eras I never won so much as a door prize. Why?

This is why. It was the big agencies and their category blanketing.  It was the cozy relationships with the snob elite judging community. It was fake clients and fake ads. It was pornographic spots run at midnight in William’s Lake. It was pro-bono that smaller competitors couldn’t afford to get in the game with. It was calling in favours from well-paid suppliers. It was teams assigned to win awards while cash cow clients footed the bill.

Then (finally!) one year I won something. And my theories went down the crapper. This is what I learned. Like rock and roll, oil painting, filmmaking and all corners of art both commercial and non, you win when you get good. And you only get good when you work your guts out and fail repeatedly. The people who win at Lotus bloody well deserve it because they work very hard and have total commitment to their craft. Yes they have training, mentoring, education and support – so do ballet dancers. But like them, they have the hours of dedication and the long lists of failures and disappointments to show for it.

But as for you Lotus occupiers, you’re not just hurting yourselves, you are undermining what those dedicated talents are working hard for.  It’s like organizing a second Olympics for those who didn’t train hard enough or I’m sorry, didn’t have the talent to make the big show.  But what’s worse, you’re creating a false truth; that earned recognition is worthless.

For a little shop, Spring has had some good Lotus years. I haven’t the foggiest how we did this year but I do know one thing. If we didn’t win, it’s my fault.

For those of you “occupying Lotus” I suggest you give yourselves a very frank self-examination of the disciplines catalogued a few paragraphs above. Once you’ve done so, if you feel you’ve truly laboured at all of those things, then hold your head high while you occupy. If not, when winners win, losers should learn.

Love

Rob Schlyecher

Creative Director

SPRING

PS: No Spring is NOT represented on the Lotus committee.

We May Seem Hockey-Mad But It’s All We’ve Got.

If you get the idea that Canadians spend their summers in frantic enjoyment, you’re right. Canadian summer is a movie’s third act. Where warmer climates get warm sunny skies from as early as all-the-time to early March, we are a country of Julys and Augusts. To Canadians, the movie of our summer must be set up, acted on and resolved in one action packed reel of screen time.

This of course is followed by a winter of short wet and frozen days and long black nights without so much as a sniff of campfire or moonlit water skiing session. Yet like kids sent to bed at 6 pm we are still filled with energy. Sadly all we can look forward to are a few adventurous, cringingly expensive winter weekends and the odd midweek trip to artificially lit time-killing activities.

When the short film that is our summer comes to an end we are forced off the screen and into the audience. When that happens the screen is filled with one thing: Hockey.

Some may say we are a hockey-mad country.  I say we’re actually remarkably reserved about it.  Left with no where and no thing to expend our prodigious energy upon, only with one real sport remains. One where at least some of our own sons fight for the honour of our city in brightly coloured uniforms on brightly lit ice in front of people who have actually gone out into the godforsaken winter’s night to do something exciting, to do an activity!

Take any other slice of population. Give them two months of summer and 10 of winter. Give them too few cultural or population centres to increase the feasibility of other major league sports, cultural attractions or artificial summer pleasure domes. Blot out their local programming behind shinier, economies of scale produced foreign (US) TV shows.  Leave their the local media with nothing much else to talk about but hockey. Now, see how they do. In that particular version of doppelganger planet, I guarantee that local hockey players would be chosen by the populace on a regular basis for the position of dictator.

We cheer, yell; paint our bodies and from time to time our mentally and emotionally challenged set a police car on fire. Given the lack of other choices on offer during our deep chasm of winter, I call that remarkably civilized.

When you throw up your mouth often gets kind of watery in a bad way. That’s what I mean in this headline.

There’s a guy trying to get a job at Spring right now.  He started by sending me a big fat brown paper envelope with “must open” or some other “call to action” scrawled on the cover. Inside the package lay a ream of hard sell direct response copy samples along with a piece that appeared to be lifted out of a “For Dummies” book on how to create better – no wait – more sell-y-er copy. It was broken into steps so your dim-witted writer here could digest it in chewable hunks.

This guy sends me an email every few days  – the latest entitled “The Copywriting Offer So Sweet It Tickles Your Tongue.” Several, “Free Guaranteed Offers” have also appeared in his emails. Sigh.

He’s told me a lot about myself that I didn’t know. I didn’t know it because it was a pile of very smelly and totally false assumptions.  But here’s what I’ve learned about him:

1)   He doesn’t want to show us any of what we’re always looking for – talent. Instead he’s chosen to demonstrate his knowledge of what every hack on the planet has shoved down our collective throats since the prehistoric cave painters got a client.

2)   He doesn’t know what we do or who we are – if he did he would see that: a) Who he is showing himself to to be, and b) what he is doing, isn’t c)

what we do. d) Or want. e) Ever.

3)   He hasn’t got a clue about our culture or what make us tick.

In short, here’s a guy who wants to sell himself, in this case as a copywriter but has no interest in his buyer.  Look, people always want to buy things.  But they want what they want, know that and maybe you’re a fit. I’m sure somebody somewhere would find this guy to be a perfect fit. Just not us. The broader point is (sorry, taking awhile to get to it, maybe I should take a tip from old whatshisname and underline it)…here we go…question is, is your product or brand something that your coveted customer isn’t really interested in? Think about it. Like him, you must do research and stop staring at your assumptive navel for answers

By the way, I’m not in the tiniest bit concerned whether this guy will read this. He clearly isn’t interested.

And while we’re on the subject of copywriters, we’re looking for a talented intern that we can hopefully turn into a Springer. Please send your applications to the attention of this writer.

Rob

A few years ago I was lamenting to a good friend the fact that a lot of nice-sized client business that seemed to fit Spring to a tee were going to other agencies that weren’t (as I saw) as innovative or new media savvy or even as good as Spring. I stated that we were perfect for everybody. He reminded me that as much as I loved my own brand, my potential customers likely saw Spring in an altogether different way.  Too new, too small, too wacky and more to the point, too career-risky for a VP Marketing when compared to more established agencies with longer track records and a reassuring stable of nice conservative clients. I disagreed of course. I liked the view from where my head was at.

We’re older now, have a pretty good track record, nice stack of awards, case studies etc…oh crap here I go again.

Fact is, almost every organization suffers from a superiority complex. We all come by it honestly.  We work at morale by creating cultures that contain ingredients like pride, fighting spirit, personal bonds and really good staff parties. We sell our products by pointing out their superior features. We find ourselves interesting. We feel great. We like the view.

Before long our organizations, our brands, are like the guy at the party who only talks about himself. We stop seeing what our customers see – our faults and our lack of difference – the root of indifference.

Customers experience head-up-assers through the self-congratulatory bullshit spouted about how great the ointments, toilet paper,

forklifts or services are that they sell. They don’t care. If you’re not entertaining them, telling them something that they find somewhat fascinating, making them laugh or in short, paying your way for their time, you’re wasting it. Do you like your time wasted?  Didn’t think so.

Your consumers want what they want and that’s it.  Your level of affection for your own brand is often the opposite of their point of view. So remove your head – here’s a few pointers on how:

1. Find someone who will tell you the truth and listen to them. Stop saying “yeah but” to outside critics, consumer feedback and research and do something constructive with it.
2. Stop saying “yeah right” to the professional aggree-ers sycophants and cheerleaders around you and take a customers viewpoint.
3. Are you different? Or better? If you don’t have a real point of difference or crystal clear consumer benefit in your product you aren’t different of better. I’ve heard this one many times, “we have great people.”  Good for you, unless that sets you clearly apart in the experience of your customer, your head is, well you get it. Nice view though huh?
4. Are we saying different?  If a (truthful and meaningful in the customer experience) point of difference or consumer benefit isn’t clearly exploited in your communication you aren’t communicating anything. Clean up your act.
5. This is perhaps unexpected here but get someone (us) to rewrite your mission statement so it isn’t a head swallowing self congratulatory unmemorable paragraph with the words “excellence” “strive” “consistently” “partners” or “people” in it. Then go use it as a real signpost to your business. Ours is one word. It’s easy to remember that way.
6. Try this exercise. How would I put me out of business?  A nice exercise on looking at yourself objectively from the outside and seeing your weaknesses in your customers as reflected in the mirror of a competitor.
7. Park your ego.  No really. Park it. The truth won’t set you free; it’ll save your life.

Now that you can see the real view you can set the right course.  You’re welcome.

Rob

Two Januarys ago, my friend Craig Beere (plug: proprietor of the excellent Beer Timber Works in North Van) and I realized that we were both too fat and too liverish to face ourselves in the mirror.

After some whining, denial and finger pointing we came up with an extremely effective plan. We agreed on a cleanse/diet that I had obtained from a local naturopath. I’ll list that below in more detail but in short, it called for no sugars, no gluten and (insert comedic sad trumpet here) no alcoholic beverages.

Most diets fail they say. As men lacking in any discernible willpower, we needed an incentive.  This is what we came up with. Each of us wrote the other a cheque for $1000. If either one of us broke the diet in the month of January, the other guy cashed his cheque.

We weighed in on December 31 cried a little and got started. By February 1 Craig and I had lost 20 and 15 pounds respectively, had enjoyed a combined total of 10 hangover-free Sunday mornings and came to realize that drunk people are not glib and witty, they’re drunk. What’s more my blood pressure went from around 135 over 95 to 110 over 70. The diet works like a damn.

On a more serious note, with a father who died of heart disease at 53 and my Mom lost to pancreatic cancer at 55 I have some pretty strong reasons to take better care. Their ages loom before me and I plan on surpassing them by at least a few decades. I follow a pretty healthy lifestyle. It’s just good to go fundamentalist sometimes.

So here I sit writing this with my gut creeping over my belt and a manly chest beginning to turn to a matronly shadow over the keyboard. I can feel the vague pulsing of my last hangover from Sunday night – oh the shame. It is time to declare a month away from that which maketh me fat and the booze that makes me ummm what was that word again? Stupid.

Sadly, Craig and I both tried this again last January but agreed to a cease-diet after three extremely depressing first days of January.

Here’s where you come in. Craig can’t make it this year – he’s doing business in Hawaii this month so who can blame the guy.

Now I look to you – if anyone is reading this, to supply me with incentive. I need suggestions as to what to do with $1000 worth of incentive. But I already have a suggestion – I should donate it to a cause I hate. Hmmm. The Tea Party? Sarah Palin’s Election Fund?

Help me out here.

The Sobertober Diet:

1. 4000mg Vitamin C daily

2. 4 litres of water a day

3. Eat six times a day

4. No alcoholic beverages

5. But don’t eat:

* Anything with Gluten

* Anything with any kid of sugar incl: dried fruit and all the obvious ones plus aspartame

* White rice

* Tropical fruit

* Peanuts (weird huh?)

If I don’t stick to points 4 and 5 my thousand bucks goes to something. Probably something I hate.

I am also accepting side bets.

Flabby Hug,

Rob

When I first started thinking about what I wanted to do for my Spring Act of Kindness this year, the answer almost came instantly to mind. Give to the BC SPCA. Of course! I love what the BC SPCA does and what they stand for.

Just in case you don’t know – the BC SPCA has a mission to promote the welfare of all animals. This means they provide second chances to those animals who are homeless, injured or even abused. They are a strong non-profit organization that provides care to more than 34,000 animals each year. They are funded primarily by public donations and have gotten to where they are now with the help of over 4000 volunteers who donate time, experience and know-how.

When I first called the Burnaby BC SPCA location, I wanted to get a sense of what kind of items they were looking for. Of course, the BC SPCA is always looking for monetary donations, but also blankets, towels and toys are great items to donate. In fact, these items can be essential to a cat’s or dog’s happiness as they help the animal deal with the stress and depression of living in a shelter which makes a big difference as, they say, “happier” animals are more likely to be adopted.

So I rounded up and cleaned a bunch of old blankets and dug out some toys (luckily I had a squeaky dog toy among many cat toys at home) and made a donation to the BC SPCA.

Where Springers weigh in on their favourite days of the summer that started soggy and ended spectacularly.

RICHARD | Epic wine tasting w Suzi, dusk summer BBQ my back yard, w 1989 Penfolds Grange, often #1 wine in world + steak, incredible experience

JANETTE | A Saturday with friends at Trout Lake Farmers Market then baking the best ever Lemon Herb Chicken with roasted veggies from our purchases.

MANDY | Pitch’n’putt’n in the hot sun, followed by relaxing on the patio with a great dinner and a delicious bottle of white – with Dan of course.

MATT | Hiking around waterfalls with Janine outside Portland before eating and drinking our way through the city with Voodoo Donuts for dessert.

JEFF | Waking up in a cozy treetop lodge as the sun burned off the morning Tofino fog, surfing in the afternoon, capped with an amazing steak dinner.

NORRIE | Boating in the sun w/ friends topped w/ spotting dolphins on our way home! Watching them follow us and play around = unforgettable!

JEREMY| Drinking cold beer at the Gorge watching some amazing musicians perform at Sasquatch Music Fest.

BEN | Cruising in the boat with Addison and Erika to Bedwell. Beers on a buddies yacht in the sun followed by an epic birthday party that night.

TREVOR | Getting lost in the forest on Cypress Mountain for a day and making it out alive.

SHON | Watching the Decemberists perform at Sasquatch while a gigantic thunderstorm broke out on the horizon behind them.

EMILY | The day that running 16k from Ambleside Park to the Peak of Grouse in the rain in the Seek the Peak Relay stopped hurting.

ROB | A day with friends in Amsterdam, biking to dinner with family and long lost relatives, then to a quiet canal side bar for a nightcap with Myshael.