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Free Antiques Appraisal Day in Burlington, ON

Antiques have fired Alex Moshtagh’s imagination from as far back as he can remember.
 
Alex says, “Anytime I would pass by an antique store I would have to go in and look around. So much history, where did they come from, what’s the history of the item?”

Along with his father and brother, in 1992 he started the family Antiques & Appraisal business in Toronto, and 
Alex relocated the store to Burlington last year, where he is currently the proprietor of ‘Treasure Antiques’. 

Bring in your items for a free verbal appraisal by Alex on Saturday June 22, 2024 at the Burlington Central Library! 

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Jen & Van Hansen present..
The ANTIQUES APPRAISAL SHOW
💬 Starring Alex Moshtagh

🗓️ Sun Sept 22, 2024
🕙 1 - 4 pm
📍 2331 New Street
📚 Burlington Central Library | Centennial Hall
🎟️ Tickets are Limited!
☑️ Registration Required
🚫 No books, military items, or arms
 🍴Accepting non-perishable food items for Burlington Food Bank

Jen & Van Hansen
Real Estate Brokers
Apex Results Realty Inc.

Say hello..
📱 416-729-7294 
✉️ hello@hansenhouse.ca

move forward with more™

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19 Panabaker St., Cambridge, ON—For Sale

Stately Victorian Exterior with Modern Interior Finishes

✨For Sale✨
📍19 Panabaker St., Cambridge
4 🛏  | 2 🛁 
🏡 Detached Freehold

💰$999,999

☑️ Old Hespeler Community
☑️ Renovated Century Home
☑️ Kitchen Island / Stone Countertops
☑️ Stainless Steel Appliances
☑️ 4-Season Sunroom w/ Gas Fireplace
☑️ Garden Doors Open to Backyard Deck
☑️ Lush Landscaping
☑️ Inground Heated Saltwater Pool
☑️ Walk to Shops & Restaurants
☑️ Minutes to 401

Say hello..
📱 (416) 729-7294 
✉️ hello@hansenhouse.ca

move forward with more™

PHOTO GALLERY

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Free Antiques Appraisal Day in Burlington, ON

Antiques have fired Alex Moshtagh’s imagination from as far back as he can remember.
 
Alex says, “Anytime I would pass by an antique store I would have to go in and look around. So much history, where did they come from, what’s the history of the item?”

Along with his father and brother, in 1992 he started the family Antiques & Appraisal business in Toronto, and 
Alex relocated the store to Burlington last year, where he is currently the proprietor of ‘Treasure Antiques’. 

Bring in your items for a free verbal appraisal by Alex on Saturday June 22, 2024 at the Burlington Central Library! 



Jen & Van Hansen present..
The Free ANTIQUES APPRAISAL SHOW
💬 Starring Alex Moshtagh

🗓️ Sat Jun 22
🕙 10 am -1 pm
📍2331 New St
📚Burlington Central Library | Centennial Hall

🎟️ Tickets are Limited!
☑️ Registration Required - in Advance or at the Door
🚫 No books, military items, or arms

Jen & Van Hansen
Real Estate Brokers
Apex Results Realty Inc.

Say hello..
📱 416-729-7294 
✉️ hello@hansenhouse.ca

move forward with more™

photo by Peter McCusker

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Someone Who's Cool—Trans-Canada Highwaymen

The Trans-Canada Highwaymen (TCH) is a super group (your words, not mine) consisting of Moe Berg (The Pursuit of Happiness), Chris Murphy (Sloan), Craig Northey (Odds) and Steven Page (ex-Barenaked Ladies). Four guys who have know each other for (ahem) decades now all of whom have written songs that have contributed to Canadian culture. 

They started playing shows together as TCH in 2017. At the shows, each take turns singing their own hit songs and whoever is not singing lead becomes the backing band for whoever is singing. With all four bringing their A material, it's a set list full of bangers.

Everyone who has seen the show has been knocked out. Audiences get the opportunity to hear a set list full of Can-Rock Classics and it also gives Moe, Chris, Craig and Steven an opportunity to hang out together, laugh their heads off and put that energy into the TCH live shows. 

The emphasis of the TCH live show will be the songs these guys have written. You'll hear Moe sing "I'm an Adult Now, "Hard to Laugh" and "She's So Young." You'll hear Chris sing "Underwhelmed," The Other Man" and "The Rest of My Life." You'll hear Craig sing "It Falls Apart," Someone Who's Cool" and "Make You Mad." You'll hear Steven sing "The Old Apartment," "Jane" and "Brian Wilson”—BPAC Presents Trans-Canada Highwaymen

Jen & Van enjoyed the TCH show at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre. 

Set List

It's All Been Done
Someone Who's Cool
Hard to Laugh
Lovin' You Ain't Easy
Theme from TCH
It Falls Apart
Jane
Pretty Lady
Underwhelmed
Tonight is a Wonderful Time to Fall in Love
Undun
She's So Young
The Other Man
The Old Apartment
Make You Mad
Brian Wilson

The Trans-Canada Highwaymen’s explosive hits vol. 1 features your favourite songs of the 60’s & 70’s sung by your favourite artists of the 80’s & 90’s.. TODAY! Available on CD or Vinyl LP.

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The AutoShow—Now and Then

The Canadian International AutoShow (CIAS) opened its doors to the largest crowd ever in its 51-year history on Friday, February 16, 2024. With exhibits, displays, attractions, and an indoor EV test track rounding out 650,000 square feet of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC), there is also a new outdoor test track.

And for the test drives you can sign up, register, pick your time and then come back within a 15-minute window, so you have more time for browsing.

Canadian Premiers

This year more than 30 vehicles will be seen for the first time in Canada, several of which are also making their North American debut. 

The new Porsche 911 GT3 RS

Jason Campbell, General Manager of the AutoShow says, “We take pride at the Canadian International AutoShow to bring consumers interesting and unique vehicles alongside a showcase of the newest and latest production models that will be in the market in the coming years.”

Celebrating the automobile since 1974, CIAS started out as the Toronto Auto Show, at the International Centre near the airport in Mississauga.

International Centre, Hall 1

Bright Lights, Big Cities

I have fond memories of attending that first show with my Dad, Arne Hansen and exploring the vast brightly illuminated indoor expanse while taking in a seemingly endless review of shiny new cars on the 100,000 square foot show floor.

Back then, the former Toronto (now Trillium) Automotive Dealers Association (TADA), welcomed 85,000 visitors, a humble beginning compared to the 350,000 visitors per year that the CIAS has achieved in more recent years.

Dad was an automotive mechanic at Kennedy Ford in Oakville. In those days I had a Hot Wheels 24-car Super Rally Case that was never far from reach.

New Collector’s Edition Hot Wheels 1965-68 Nissan Silvia (CSP311)

While I was still in public school, my Dad hung up his coveralls and commuted to Teachers College for a year in Toronto, while my Mom took an office job at an automotive dealership in Oakville.

Dad did some substitute teaching at high schools before going back into the automotive industry as a Technical Training Instructor at AMC Jeep Renault, where he gave courses to mechanics from the dealerships on how to service the latest models.

Dad arranged for a car for his colleague Claude Roucher, an instructor from Renault Paris when he was here for a few weeks working at the local HQ.

They got on well, and in the end Mr. Roucher invited our family to visit his in Paris. We did, and got to see the L’Atelier Renault, the international showcase of the Renault brand with new and historic models on display.    

L'Atelier Renault, international brand showcase in Paris

When Chrysler bought out Renault’s share in AMC, the merged operations become the new Jeep-Eagle division of Chrysler in 1987, and Dad stayed on as Technical Training Manager. 

On the summer break from business school, I worked at the assembly plant in Brampton on the Jeep Wrangler chassis line, then trim & final. The next summer I worked the Chrysler parts warehouse in Mississauga. 

By 1986 the AutoShow had outgrown the International Centre, and it moved to its current location at the MTCC.

“To the south there was nothing because Bremner didn’t exist, and the Rogers Centre didn’t exist,” said Tom Tonks, former GM. “The most important thing was that there was Union Station, the GO train and the TTC subways, as well as all that parking.” 

From 1991 to 1998 the Rogers Centre (Sky Dome) was included as part of the venue, as it was again from 2001 to 2008.

Rogers Centre, formerly the Sky Dome

Dad and I continued to attend the AutoShow in Toronto, as well as in Detroit at Cobo Hall, until the mid-90s.

After a long absence from the show, my good friend Frank—a former automotive mechanic who has retired from an Audi dealership—convinced me to go to the show in 2020.

We also attended when the show returned last year but were surprised to see that several of our favourite brands were nowhere to be found on the show floor.

So the 2023 show was a sized-down event with only 28 brands in attendance. But for this year, the show has bounced back to its pre-pandemic footprint, and with 44 automotive brands now on display.

Unfortunately, there are still several prominent brands missing in action this year including Audi, Honda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, and Volkswagen. Compared to last year however, the expanded footprint, with 50% more manufacturers, is a big improvement.

AutoShow 2024 on Day 4

When I arrive at the AutoShow, I do so with a curated personal portfolio of favourite brands in mind that I make a point to see, and that list has evolved over the years.

Currently I would look for Aston Martin, Dodge Ram, Jeep, (Honda), Hyundai, Kia, (Mercedes), Porsche, Subaru, Toyota, and Volvo. 

“We're really excited about being able to provide a much broader experience for our consumers,” says CIAS GM Jason Campbell.

“That was the one challenge we had last year was a lot of consumers were coming, expecting to see everybody, and we didn't have everyone. But we've got a much better selection this year”.

Campbell is hoping that in the next year or two CIAS will be able to get back to where they were pre-pandemic, to have the fullest experience of all of the big consumer brands on the show floor.

Tesla Cybertruck

The theme of this years show is THE RevOLUTION. Clearly positioned as the car of the future, there is no doubt that the electric vehicle has reached an unprecedented popularity.

Back to the Future

The EV first appeared 200 years ago, their initial debut being in the form of crude carriages sans the horses, but by the 1890s more practical EVs became commercially available. Since then, EVs have traveled a long and winding road to get to where they are today.

As with the rollout of any complex technology, under the hood there will always be a plethora of shifting and sometimes competing factors at play, which can be broadly framed by political, economic, social, tech, legal, and environmental. 

Specific to the adoption of EVs, some of these factors include demographic, cost, charging infrastructure, and performance. Others involve incentives,  restrictions, and charging infrastructure. Fleet charging and logistical support, and power grid development will be increasingly important. Not to mention the innovation curve and demand for batteries. 

Some of the exciting features at this year’s AutoShow include Electric City, Canada’s Largest Indoor EV Test Track, the Little Car Company, Grand Touring Automobiles, Pfaff Auto Group, Auto Exotica, Camp Jeep, and Cobble Beach Classics. 

The AutoShow is the ideal place to begin the car-shopping journey by checking out vehicle options in an experiential setting, connecting with product experts, and getting an up-close look at the car, and having a seat. 

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Story by Van Hansen. Header photo by Van Hansen, 1964 GTO on display 2020 AutoShow

2024 CANADIAN PREMIERS

CONCEPT CARS

HOT WHEELS

GRAND TOURING AUTOMOBILES

THE LITTLE CAR COMPANY

ELECTRIC CITY



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Royal Succession—Denmark’s Change of the Guard

Denmark has a new monarch. King Frederik X ascended to the head of state on Sunday when his mother, Queen Margrethe II abdicated in a private meeting.

In Danish style the pomp and circumstance was kept to a minimum, even as more than one hundred thousand royal subjects turned out to celebrate in the capital city of Copenhagen.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen proclaimed King Frederik X to a sea of people from the balcony of Christiansborg Palace, the house of Danish Parliament.

Proclamation of King Frederik X by PM Mette Frederiksen

HM the King with the Prime Minister on the Balcony. Foto: Sine Tidsvilde | Statsministeriet

“Each queen and each king is a link in a more than thousand-year-old chain,” the Prime Minister said. “When one steps back, the next is ready.”

King Frederick (55) raised a white gloved hand, waving to acknowledge the cheering crowd, and wiped away a tear. In a speech, he praised his mother, saying she would “Always be remembered as an extraordinary ruler.”

And for himself he said that “My hope is to become a unifying king of tomorrow. It is a task I have been approaching all my life.”

His Majesty King Frederik André Henrik Christian, Count of Monpezat is the son of HM Queen Margrethe II and HM Prince Henrik of Denmark (d. 2018). 

Per Morten Abrahamsen ©

Queen Margrethe II had become the longest-serving living monarch in Europe, reigning for 52 years. Considering her prodigious popularity, the announcement of plans to abdicate in her New Year’s Eve address came as a shock. Citing back surgery and other ailments the Queen (83) shared that “Time takes its toll.”  

King Frederik and his wife Queen Mary (51) shared a kiss on the balcony before leaving  Christiansborg in a horse-drawn carriage enroute to their residence at Amalienborg Palace.

Built in 1750 in the rococo style, the waterfront palace complex consists of four noble buildings surrounding an octagonal court.

The changing of the guards at Amalienborg Palace is a popular tourist attraction in Copenhagen. Every day at 1130, the Royal Life Guards march from the nearby barracks to the Palace to relieve the on-duty guard company.

Where Frederik met Mary

Sports fan Frederik met his future wife Mary Elizabeth Donaldson in a Pub at the Slip Inn—a Mexican-themed beer garden on King Street Wharf in Sydney. When they were introduced, Mary did not realize that Frederik was a crown prince. He was in Australia attending the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Mary grew up in Australia, and was working as a sales director for a real estate company, and had a background as an advertising executive. She has a Bachelor of Commerce and Law (BCom/ LLB) from the University of Tasmania, where her father had been a professor and Dean.

They soon entered into a long-distance relationship, with Frederik making several discrete visits to Australia.

Mary moved to Denmark in 2001, they were engaged in 2003, and married on 14 May 2004 at Copenhagen Cathedral. They have 4 children: Crown Prince Christian (18), Princess Isabella (16), and twins Prince Vincent (13), and Princess Josephine (13).

The Royal Danish Crown (of Christian V), Kongehuset©

Political Science & the Modern Monarchy

The Kingdom of Denmark is the realm over which the monarchy is head of state. It is comprised of the kingdom’s territory in continental Europe and the autonomous regions of the Faroe Islands and Greenland. 

Danes overwhelming support the head of their constitutional monarchy. As such, King Frederik is now responsible for approving each new law passed by Danish parliament—while legislative powers have been in the hands of elected officials ever since the framework for democracy was enshrined in the Danish Constitution of 1849.

Christiansborg Palace, the Seat of Danish Parliament. Foto: Johannes Jansson©

The parliament of Denmark is called the Folketing, and the system of governance is a parliamentary democracy. There are 16 parties in parliament; since 1909 no party has had enough representatives to govern on its own. Instead, parties form a coalition government with the leader of one of the stronger parties becoming prime minister; national elections are on a four year cycle.

After an election, the new coalition of governing parties presents a government for the monarch’s approval, after which he will appoint the new government.

On Monday, as Frederik’s first day of work in his new role as King he was back at Cristiansborg Palace to attend Pariliament.

School Days

Crown Prince Frederik with other prospective political science students at Aarhus University in August, 1989. Foto: Dan Jakobsen, Aarhus Stiftstidende

Frederik been had enrolled at Aarhus University in 1989 with the intent to take a few courses as his mom had done. By Christmas he resolved to complete his degree.

“I have a lot of good memories from my time at Aarhus University,” said Frederik. “It was an inspiring refuge for me. I clearly remember my first day at school—there was a sense of anticipation, an appetite and curiosity to start a new chapter in life.”

Ultimately his education included a year at Harvard, and by 1995 he had earned his Master of Science degree in political science, as the first Danish royal to earn a university degree.

Having said that, Queen Margrethe II studied Philosophy, Archaeology, and Political Science at Aarhus, and other universities in Denmark and across Europe including Cambridge, the Sorbonne, and London School of Economics.

“No one is born a leader… or perhaps almost no one,” said Frederik in 2018 after cutting the ribbon inaugurating the Crown Prince Frederik Center for Public Leadership, whose raison d'être is to conduct international research at the frontier of knowledge to be applied in and by public organizations.

Royal Flag with Coat of Arms, Kongehuset©

Guard Duty

Danish Armed Forces uphold the sovereignty of Denmark, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, and maintain readiness in the event of national crises. Denmark has a longstanding tradition of international cooperation and operations in the trouble spots of the world.

Frederick began his extensive military service in the Danish Army’s Queen’s Life Guard Regiment in 1986, becoming a platoon commander in the Royal Danish Hussar Guard Regiment before transferring to the army reserve.

He qualified in Fromandskørpset, the Danish Navy Frogman special operations unit, completing the gruelling 9-months of initial training in spite of the notoriously high attrition rate.

Once commissioned in the naval reserve, Frederik enrolled in flight school. He qualified as an air force pilot, and entered the air force reserve in 2000.

He was a staff officer at Denmark’s Defence Command, and senior lecturer with the Institute for Strategy at the Royal Danish Defence College in 2003.

Frederick has also served as a diplomat as a member of Denmark’s mission at the UN, and first secretary of the  Danish embassy in Paris—in addition to Danish, Frederik speaks English, French, and German.

After 38 years of military service, and in concert with the succession, King Frederik X was appointed to the highest ranks as Admiral of the Navy, and General of the Army and Air Force, his dress uniform festooned with medals and the breast stars of the Order of the Elephant, and the Grand Commander Cross.  

Konge Longe Leve. God Save the King.  

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Story by Van Hansen. Header photo: Keld Navntoft, Kongehuset© 

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Disney's Radical Vision for the City of Tomorrow

The Epcot theme park that was eventually built diverged from Walt Disney’s plans for his ‘community of tomorrow.’ Story by Alex Krieger, Harvard University

Since Epcot’s inception, millions of tourists have descended upon the theme park famous for its Spaceship Earth geodesic sphere and its celebration of international cultures.

But the version of Epcot visitors encounter at Disney World – which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2021 – is hardly what Walt Disney imagined.

Colorful projection mapping on a model of Mission Space from a recent trip to Walt Disney World.

In 1966, Disney announced his intention to build Epcot, an acronym for “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.” It was to be no mere theme park but, as Disney put it, “the creation of a living blueprint for the future” unlike “anyplace else in the world” – an entire new city built from scratch.

Disney died later that year; his vision was scaled down, and then scrapped altogether. But when I was writing my book on urban idealism in America, I was drawn to this planned community.

Since the arrival of the first colonists, Americans have experimented with new patterns of settlement. Imagining new kinds of places to live is an American tradition, and Disney was an eager participant.

A City of the Future

EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival (2020)

A captivating 25-minute film produced by Walt Disney Enterprises remains the best window into Walt’s vision.

In it, Disney – speaking kindly and slowly, as if to a group of children – detailed what would become of the 27,400 acres, or 43 square miles, of central Florida that he had acquired.

Echoing the rhetoric of American pioneers, he noted how the abundance of land was the key. Here he would achieve all that could not be done at Disneyland, his first theme park in Anaheim, California, that opened in 1955 and had since been encroached upon by rapid suburban development. He proudly pointed out that the land on which Disney World would be built was twice the size of the island of Manhattan and five times larger than Disneyland’s Magic Kingdom.

Walt Disney announces his ambitious vision for Disney World and Epcot.

Among the remarkable components of Disney’s Epcot would be a community of 20,000 residents living in neighborhoods that would double as a showcase of industrial and civic ingenuity – a running experiment in planning, building design, management and governance. There would be a 1,000-acre office park for developing new technologies, and when, say, an innovation in refrigerator design would be developed, every household in Epcot would be the first to receive and test the product before it was released for the rest of the world.

This map shows the 1966 plans for Epcot (orange) in relation to the contemporary situation (blue) at Walt Disney World Resort

Map showing 1966 plans for Epcot (orange) in relation to the contemporary situation (blue) at Walt Disney World® | image courtesy Lommes CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED

An airport would enable anyone to fly directly to Disney World, while a “vacation land” would provide resort accommodations for visitors. A central arrival complex included a 30-story hotel and convention center, with the downtown featuring a weather-protected zone of themed shops.

Epcot’s more modest wage-earners would be able to live nearby in a ring of high-rise apartment buildings. And there would be a park belt and recreational zone surrounding this downtown area, separating the low-density, cul-de-sac neighborhoods beyond that would house the majority of residents. There would be no unemployment, and it was not to be a retirement community.

“I don’t believe there is a challenge anywhere in the world that’s more important to people everywhere than finding solutions to the problems of our cities,” Disney said.

‘New Towns’ Abound

During the 1960s, the aspiration of building anew was much in the air.

Americans were becoming increasingly concerned about the well-being of the nation’s cities. And they were unsatisfied with the effort – and, especially, the consequences – of urban renewal.

They felt insecure in the face of growing urban poverty, unrest and crime, and frustrated about increasing traffic congestion. Families continued to move to the suburbs, but planners, opinion leaders and even ordinary citizens raised concerns about consuming so much land for low-density development.

Sprawl as a pejorative term for poorly planned development was gaining currency as a fledgling environmental movement emerged. In his popular 1960s ballad “Little Boxes,” Pete Seeger sang of “Little boxes on the hillside / Little boxes made of ticky tacky” to criticize the uniform suburban and exurban tracts of housing rippling out from America’s cities.

A hope emerged that building new towns might be an alternative for unlovely and unloved city neighborhoods and for soulless peripheral subdivisions.

Self-described “town founders,” most of them wealthy businesspeople with ideals dependent on real estate success, led America’s New Towns movement. As Disney was preparing for his Epcot presentation, the Irvine Company was already deep into the process of developing the holdings of the old Irvine Ranch into the model town of Irvine, California. Today, Irvine boasts nearly 300,000 residents.

Cows graze on hill overlooking suburban development.

Irvine, Calif., was built on a ranch. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

Meanwhile, real estate entrepreneur Robert E. Simon sold New York’s Carnegie Hall and, with his earnings, bought 6,700 acres of farmland outside of Washington so he could create Reston, Virginia. Fifty miles away, shopping center developer James Rouse started planning Columbia, Maryland. And oil industry investor George P. Mitchell, keeping an eye on the successes and setbacks of Rouse and Simon, would soon take advantage of a new federal funding program and embark on establishing The Woodlands, near Houston, which today has a population of over 100,000 people.

These new towns hoped to incorporate the liveliness and diversity of cities while retaining the intimacy of neighborhoods and other charms associated with small towns.

Disney’s Dream Today

Glass Pyramids of the Imagination! Pavilion at EPCOT in Lake of Bays, FLA

Disney, however, didn’t want to simply spruce up existing suburbs.

He wanted to upend preexisting notions of how a city could be built and run. And for all of its utopian promise, the genius of Disney’s Epcot was that it all seemed doable, an agglomeration of elements commonly found in any modern metropolitan area, but fused into a singular vision and managed by a single authority.

An important innovation was the banishing of the automobile. A vast underground system was designed to enable cars to arrive, park or buzz under the city without being seen. A separate underground layer would accommodate trucks and service functions. Residents and visitors would traverse the entire 12-mile length of Disney World and all of its attractions on a high-speed monorail, far more extensive than anything achieved at Disneyland.

In the car-crazed America of the 1960s, this was a truly radical idea.

Given Walt Disney’s legendary tenacity, it would have been fascinating to witness how far his vision would have advanced. After his death, some sought to fulfill his plans. But when urged by a Disney designer to carry through on Walt’s broader civic-minded vision, Walt’s brother Roy, who had taken the reins of the company, answered, “Walt is dead.”

Today, Disney’s utopian spirit is alive and well. You see it in former Walmart executive Marc Lore’s ambitions to build a 5-million-person city called “Telosa” in a U.S. desert and Blockchains LLC’s proposal for a self-governing “smart city” in Nevada.

But more often, you’ll see efforts that tap into the nostalgia of a bucolic past. The Disney Corporation did, in fact, develop a town during the 1990s on one of its Florida landholdings.

Seal of Celebration, FLA

Dubbed “Celebration,” it was initially heralded as an exemplar of the turn-of-the century movement called New Urbanism, which sought to design suburbs in ways that conjured up the small American town: walkable neighborhoods, a town center, a range of housing choices and less dependence on cars.

However, Celebration has no monorail or underground transport networks, no hubs of technological innovation or policies like universal employment.

That sort of city of tomorrow, it seems, will have to wait.

Alex Krieger is Research Professor in Practice of Urban Design at Harvard University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Burlington Named Top Livable City

I was proud to see that my hometown of Burlington ranks as the top livable city in Ontario, and the 5th in Canada in a new study published in the Globe & Mail. 

“Looking for the perfect place to call home is a profoundly personal journey influenced by countless factors,” writes Mahima Singh and Chen Wang.

To complete their data-driven analysis, the Globe's 2023 Edition of Canada’s Most Livable Cities ranking selected 10 categories—Amenities, Climate, Community, Demographics, Economy, Education, Health Care, Housing, Safety, and Transportation.

In addition to overall rankings for the top 100 of 439 communities, the scores are also broken down by category

Source of Data: Environics Analytics, Environment & Climate Change Canada, and CMHC

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McMaster Graduates Ranked Among the Most Employable in the World

McMaster graduates continue to rank among the world’s most employable, according to a key ranking from Times Higher Education.  McMaster ranked 85th in the world and 5th in Canada in this year’s Global Employability Ranking. "Our graduates have earned a global reputation for the creativity and collaborative spirit they bring to the workforce,” says McMaster President and Vice-chancellor David Farrar.  

“The employability ranking reflects our commitment to fostering the type of innovative thinking and critical problem-solving skills graduates need to excel in their professional lives.”  

The Global Employability Ranking surveys managers and recruiters from top companies across the world responsible for recruiting over 800,000 graduates in the past year. This year, more than 100,000 votes were cast by over 11,500 people across 44 countries. 

This article was first published in Daily News. Read the original article here.

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The Flying Officer

IN UNTIL THE END

Story by Van Hansen, as published in the Nov / Dec 2011 issue of Canadian Aviator 

Matt Kennedy, RAF

The “target for tonight” was proving proving to be no such thing. Inside the hut that served as the sergeants' mess, pilot Matt Kennedy's Royal Air Force (RAF) crew stared at the briefing board in disbelief. A briefing at 11:30 hours could mean only one thing. The next day, April 5, 1945 they would fly their first daylight operation (op).

RAF 205 Group operated their B-24 Liberators from Southern Italy primarily at night, unescorted, with each aircraft navigating to the target individually. Kennedy's crew was part of 40 Squadron, which together with 104 Squadron made up 236 Wing at Foggia Main.

From the other side of the airfield, B-17s of the 15th U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) flew missions against the same targets, but in formation, during the day, escorted by P-38 Lightning and P-51 Mustang fighters.

Waves of B-24 Liberators of 15th AAF fly through bursting flak over the oil refinery target area in Ploesti, Romania

"I never liked that aircraft, because it was a bit of lumbering beast. Most of our Liberators had a faired-in nose because we didn't need a front turret at night, but George had the front guns so it was a bit heavier and slower," says Kennedy.

The ground crew was ready with the boosters. Kennedy and Engineer Dave Bremner did a cockpit check, then started No. 3 engine first, the starboard inner as it ran the hydraulics.

While the B-24 had dual flight controls, the RAF operated with only one pilot, with the engineer in the right seat. Kennedy had taught his engineer, navigator, and bomb aimer how to land.

Bomb aimer Maurice Harmes checked the racks carrying two 1,000 pound, and ten 500 pound bombs, with fuse wires in place.

The heavy bomber rumbled forward on the airfield that was built out of well-rolled local soft rock and topped with pierced steel planking. Lifting off at 13:45, and leaving the squalor of filthy Foggia behind, Kennedy executed a turn to port, heading out toward the sea. With the 15 planes from 40 Squadron, there were about 100 bombers on the op, a maximum effort for the group.

As usual, Harmes was bugging Wireless Operator Jim "Mitch" Mitchell to get some music on. Mitch tuned in to American Forces Station Bari, and Tommy Dorsey's Orchestra filled the headsets.

Some smoke flares were dropped and rear-gunner Stan Mansfield lined up his turret to measure the drift, passing the information on to navigator Cyril King.

The music stopped abruptly as Mitch was having trouble with the intercom.

Half an hour from the target, Harmes left his waist gun position and started forward on the narrow catwalk which ran over the fuselage keel beam through the bomb bay. His lifejacket snagged on a bomb rack. It inflated and trapped him there. The bomb-bay doors opened and Harmes could see all the way down. Finally the doors closed again. Mitch had been testing them. Spotting Harmes, Mitch rushed over to help.

On approach to the target the crew was happy to see the USAAF P-51s providing fighter cover. Twelve anti-aircraft batteries made for medium flak, with greasy black puffs of smoke filling the air. They spotted a Liberator from another wing leaving the target below them with its port inner engine on fire. Each of the wings was assigned a different bombing height, with 236 Wing and G for George at 10,500 feet.

The Monfalcone Shipyards take a pounding from B-24s

Over the target, Harmes was in position on his stomach peering through the bomb site. But to give direction to Kennedy with the intercom out, he would raise his right leg for turning to starboard, left for port, and both for straight and level. King stood on his navigation desk and with his hands relayed Harmes' signals to Kennedy through the astrodome.

Aiming point was the jetty and after the bombs were away Kennedy held straight and level for 30 seconds so they could take a target photo, timed for impact. Turning 180 degrees, Kennedy put them on a heading for home. The flight back was uneventful, and they landed at 1728.

At the briefing they found that their signals had worked because they had the best target photo, which was used to plot the bombing results for the squadron.

"As a crew we got very close, and we probably knew one other crew fairly well, but you really didn't want to know the rest in case they didn't come back one night," Kennedy says. "At the time I was 20 years old, and we were all about the same age.

As far as we were concerned, you never thought about the danger. In fact it was like an adventure. You always figured it was going to happen to the other guy. Now that I'm older of course I realize how stupid that was," says Kennedy.

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

With world tensions escalating, the U.S Army Air Corps (USAAC) was looking for a second manufacturer for the Boeing B-17 bomber. Consolidated Aircraft Corporation was approached in 1938, but offered instead to develop a new, more advanced bomber. The first aircraft, XB-24, made a successful flight in December, 1939.

The B-24's "Davis wing" offered a high aspect ratio (long length of the wing compared with the chord or breadth), with greatly reduced drag over then-current designs. This gave the B-24 higher fuel efficiency and longer range. Its two adjoining bomb-bays were each as large as the B-17's single bay. New innovations included roll-up bomb bay doors and tricycle landing gear used for the first time on a large aircraft.

For all the advantages of the new design, it was less stable than the B-17 and more difficult to fly.

The only aircraft able to provide cover for convoys in the mid-Atlantic, the B-24 is credited with many U-boat kills. Other roles included reconnaissance, tanker, cargo, and personnel transport.

B-24s were built by Consolidated at plants in San Diego and Fort Worth, by Douglas at Tulsa, North American in Dallas, and Ford near Detroit.

From 1940 through September 1945 more than 19,000 were built making it the most produced heavy bomber, and most produced multi-engine aircraft to date. Of these 2,100 served with the RAF, and 1,200 with the RCAF.

In August, 1943 all five plants switched over to the B-24J, which was the variant made in the largest numbers, and which the RAF called the Liberator B.VI.

"With the Lancaster and all the British planes, they took a bomb bay, put wings and engines on it, then as an afterthought they stuck the crew positions on," says Liberator Pilot Matt Kennedy. "On the Liberator, you go up on the flight deck, there's a carpet on the floor, the seats are really nice and comfortable, and there's bulletproof steel on the back. The American design provided more crew comfort."

B-24 Cockpit

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In-flight hazards both in training and then on ops, other than those presented by the enemy included several engine failures, and a lightning strike. Putting a large number of bombers over the target at one time in an attempt to overwhelm the defenses created its own problems and during ops the entire crew had to be constantly on the lookout to avoid collision or being bombed from above. "We would be flying over the target and you look up and there would be a plane above you," says Kennedy.

On the night of April 25, 1945 Kennedy's crew participated in what turned out to be the last RAF bombing op of the war, a marshalling yard near Salzburg, Germany.

On the way back from a re-supply mission to the British Army on May 7 they heard on the radio that the war in Europe was over. At that time they believed they would have to take their bombing ops to the Far East. Given the option to convert to Lancasters or transfer to 70 Squadron, staying on Liberators, the crew transferred on January 10, 1946. By the end of March they were told that 70 Squadron was being disbanded and the crews were being split up.

"This was an emotional time. We had bonded as a crew, relying on each individual to keep us all safe from harm," Kennedy says.

For a few months, Kennedy flew with East African Headquarters Communication Flight in Nairobi, Kenya flying the Hudson VI, which had been converted from bomber to transport.

At the rank of Warrant Officer, Kennedy was released from service on August 7, 1946, and said his goodbyes. After arriving home he rejoined the Edinburgh City Police, ultimately reaching the position of Acting Sergeant in the Criminal Investigation Bureau.

Kennedy got to fly again in 1955 when he was commissioned as a Flying Officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force Reserve after immigrating to Canada. On a cross-country trip from Hamilton, Ontario in a DHC-1 Chipmunk, Kennedy got too close to the American side, and was intercepted by two USAF F-86 Sabres. Coming along-side, they gave him long scrutiny, saluted, and then peeled away.

He flew about 20 hours each summer from 1955-57 until the Diefenbaker government did away with the Arrow fighter and also his flying program. Kennedy's most recent flying was in 2006, in a Stearman biplane in Palomar, California. 

L-R

THE MAKING OF A CREW

Pilot Matt Kennedy had been a police clerk in Edinburgh, Scotland when he volunteered with the RAF.

On October 28, 1944, he reported to no. 76 Operational Training Unit (OTU) where members of the air crew trades assembled in a drill area and the order was given to crew up.

The first person to join Kennedy's crew was Jim Mitchell, wireless operator. "He was Scottish, I was glad to meet him," says Kennedy. They met another Scot, flight engineer Dave Bremner, who had been an apprentice at Leith docks in Kennedy's hometown.

The boys then got talking to bomb-aimer Maurice Harmes, the most colorful character to join the crew. Kennedy says, "Maury was a real ladies man. With slicked-back hair and sporting an Errol Flynn moustache." 

Harmes asked if air gunners Stan and Charlie Mansfield could join them. The first thing that Kennedy noticed about the Mansfields, other than the fact they were identical twins, was that they were small, the ideal size for gunners.

The last one to join them at the OTU was navigator Cyril King, from Luton, outside of London. "King was a quiet, bookish type, and a real gentleman," says Kennedy. Ron Tarrant was added to the crew later as a waist gunner.

"In spite of the haphazard way crewing was done, we ended up with a happy, efficient crew who got along well with each other," says Kennedy.

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Matt and his wife Sheila settled in the Bronte East neighbourhood of Oakville, ON and raised five children. Matt worked as a manager at the Ford Motor Company, for 35 years until his retirement.

He also volunteered for many years in various roles including Commander, Search Master, and Quartermaster at the Town of Oakville Water-Air Rescue Force a unit of the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary.

The Kennedy's were married for 63 years, when Sheila passed away on September 10, 2016.

Matt was born on Christmas Day, and he passed away on Valentine's Day, 2017 at the age of 93.

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Matt Kennedy at Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum
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Let's talk Wills & Estates with Amanda Groves

Amanda Groves hung out her shingle on Dundas Street in Waterdown, ON four years ago. As a lawyer, she had already gained extensive experience working for a few years at other firms in Southern Ontario specializing in wills and estates. 

Today at Groves Law she continues to practice in this area as well as real estate, corporate and commercial law. 

Van Hansen interviewed Ms. Groves in her office.

Hansen: I saw you posted a couple of weeks ago “Awake and watching the CBC coverage” (of the Coronation). 

Groves: Yes, oh my God, I woke up at four o’clock in the morning to see that. My mother-in-law is born in England, she didn't even wake up to watch it. Yeah, that was a long day. 

Hansen: And your Twitter profile shows that you are “Obsessed with the news. All of it. All the time…”

Groves: My favourite thing about Twitter is that you can follow individual reporters. So anytime there is a really big case in Ontario, you’ll have them live tweeting from the courtroom, as it’s happening. 

I will follow say four different journalists, and each will have a slightly different point of view on what the judge is saying. So it’s like an eyes on the ground perspective of what’s going on. 

Hansen: How did you get your start in law? 

Groves: Well, as a child I did well in school and I liked reading and I liked thinking and it was just a career that I kind of thought, gee, what can I learn if I stay in school for awhile?

And the nice thing about law is you can take anything in your undergrad as long as you do well enough and get into law school.

So I took history as an undergrad because I like learning about history and I'm glad that it worked out that I got into law school because I did not have a backup plan.

Western University

Hansen: What do you like best about your career now?

Groves: I really like the people the best. You meet a lot of different people, you see a lot of different scenarios that they are in and it's like having little peeks into their lives and learning what is important to them and what they value—so you can help them.

Hansen: I have some questions about wills and estates. The first is when should someone update their will?

Groves: I generally recommend people taking a look at their wills every five years—or if a major life event happens.

And if a client is not sure they can come in and we can determine whether or not they need to make changes at that point.

Wills don't expire they don't void out automatically so it's not like it's going to disappear on you. However, your will may not say what you want it to say now.

Consider if your executor is still people you talk to. Are your beneficiaries still in the same proportions you wanted the inheritance to go to? If you have a major life event, if you get married, maybe you have grandchildren, you want to put them in your will.

Those are examples of times where you might want to just take a look to make sure that it's still meeting your needs.

Hansen: In what situation would somebody need more than one will?

Groves: While most people have one will, there are circumstances where you might want to have multiple wills.

Now sometimes couples will ask if they can have joint wills. There is no such thing as joint wills; husband and wife for example each get their own wills.

Multiple wills is a probate (tax) savings tool. The probate fee is about 1.5% of the estate. When you have what’s called a non-probatable asset, it’s a way to potentially pay less probate fee to the court.

So if you have a certain type of asset like privately held shares, or say an artwork collection that you know will never require probate to be able to pass it on to the next generation—if you have a secondary will, you can put non-probatable assets into it, so if you have to probate the first will, you don’t have to include the value of those non-probatable assets in that secondary will.

So it’s really just a (tax) savings tool which is the number one reason why most of the time people would need multiple wills. 

Scrabble board with words Interview Lawyer Amanda Groves Wills & Estates

Hansen: In the event that someone wishes to exclude a family member from their will, is there anything they need to do to ensure their wish is realized?

Groves: It always depends on the circumstances. So number one, if you are an adult that does not have any dependents, most of the time you can do what you want with your money.

Now if you have dependents for example minor children, or if you have a married spouse and you exclude your dependents from your will and the will is challenged the dependents would likely prevail, even if you are estranged or going through a separation—you have to leave them the equivalent of what they would be entitled to under a separation agreement.

If you had a non-dependent family member, say an adult child or sibling, parent, or someone who is not reliant on you for funds that you wished to exclude you can leave them out of your will, then it’s just a question of making sure you put yourself into a defensible position.

So sometimes what people will do is they will just leave that person out of their will, so they will draft it tightly, you know, I leave everything to child A and child B and then outside of the will we put a provision in another document that says, you know, I have deliberately not put child C in my will for reasons that are known to me or for, you know, estrangement or whatever language the client is comfortable putting in.

Another method is something called a forfeiture clause. So for example if you leave child A and child B the majority of your estate, but maybe leave a smaller amount, say $50,000 to child C, and then at the same time put a clause in your will that says forfeiture, which means that if any individual who inherited under your will argues your will, then they lose their inheritance. So therefore, child C, she has the option of either saying, okay, I take my $50,000 and run, or I take my $50,000, try to argue this in court, knowing if I lose I don't get my $50,000 anymore.

So this is an encouragement for them not to bring a claim there. 

Hansen: What does it mean to designate a power of attorney?

Groves: There are two types of powers of attorney (POA)—one is the power of attorney for personal care, which is the healthcare decision maker, and one is the continuing general power of attorney, which is your financial decision maker. 

Hansen: For POAs, how is timing an issue with regards to someone’s (legal) capacity?  

Groves: You have to have the capacity to be able to sign both those POA documents.

The person signing a document for the financial power of attorney, that's a higher capacity level than the healthcare power of attorney. However, there still is a level for both of those, and it's important to have those done while somebody has capacity to make them.

The number one reason is that if an individual loses capacity during their lifetime and they can't make financial decisions anymore, then there's no automatic person to take over those appointments.

What happens in that case is the public guardian and trustee (PGT), takes over that person's life. At that point if you wanted to step in place of the PGT to make decisions if your family member had lost capacity and the PGT took over, then you have to make an application to the PGT to be able to become the substitute decision maker (SDM) in place of the public guardian and trustee. That process is going to take months if not a year and it's going to be expensive.

And you would have to pay for a bond which is going to cost probably a couple thousand dollars if not a couple hundred dollars every single month that you're acting in place of that person.

On the other side if you do not have a health care decision maker the only way to be able to be appointed as an SDM for health care is to apply to the court to become appointed as a guardian of that person. So again, that is an expensive procedure and it's going to take a lot of time as well.

So if you just have the POAs set up ahead of time, then you already have the control of who your substitute decision makers will be. 

Hansen: What are some things to keep in mind when selecting your POA?

Groves: When it comes to the powers of attorney, I always recommend that you think of somebody who would be good for your money when it comes to the financial decision maker and someone who's going to be good for health care when it comes to the personal care decision maker. And it doesn't have to be the same person and you can also have multiple people, right?

So sometimes if you know you want to name your spouse first up and you have two kids as a second up decision maker, as long as your two kids get along you can name both of those guys to be your backup decision makers.

On the other hand, if your two children do not get along, you being in some kind of financial or emotional or health care crisis is not the time that they are suddenly going to be able to agree and make decisions for you.

You need to take a look at what your family dynamics are and pick the best people who are going to be able to advocate for you financially wise and advocate for you health care wise. 

Hansen: What is important to you outside of your work?

Groves: Outside of work I have really good friends, and my family is important. They live close by so we still do like Sunday dinner at my mom's house with my sisters and their spouses and their children. 

And my spouse, my animals, we have a dog and two kittens in my house. My husband and I are really into hiking. We have a little cottage and we like to go up there in the Summer and just kind of enjoy the outside time as much as we can and get as much fresh air as we can too.

Amanda Groves JD with diplomas on the wall

Amanda Groves, JD

- Please note this story has been edited for length and clarity and is for information purposes only.     Always seek independent legal advice -

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Jen & Van Hansen are Real Estate Brokers at the boutique brokerage Apex Results Realty Inc. serving Halton | Hamilton, and surrounding areas. Say hello.. move forward with more™


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Authentic Trevor Noah

Trevor Noah talks about Authenticity in this exclusive excerpt from his keynote at Canada’s largest Real Estate Conference & Trade Show, TRREB REALTOR® QUEST on May 18, 2023 at the Congress Centre in Toronto.

In Trevor’s intimate and compelling conversation he shares his expertise in communicating effectively with individuals, and how to make connections that resonate with others. 

Trevor Noah is a Comedian, Emmy-award winning Host of The Daily Show, and Author. 

Cheryl Hickey, ET Canada Co-Host, Host of Family Home Overhaul on HGTV, is the keynote moderator. 

Van Hansen attended ‘A Conversation with Trevor Noah’, and shares with you the ‘Authentic Trevor Noah’ video, plus an abridged transcript of the presentation.

TRANSCRIPT

Cheryl Hickey: On social media or on your stand-up tours you're so authentic. Here. He's incredibly authentic.

And... yeah. It can be really difficult in a world that is trying to keep up and the trends are changing in your world that's happening.

Trevor Noah: Right.

Cheryl Hickey: What are some key things that you think people could take away with to stay true to themselves and to stay on their path?

Trevor Noah: I think authenticity always has to be juxtaposed with context

You are never going to be your most authentic self with everyone nor should you be. I don't believe in that.

You know people like be yourself in the office! Hold on.

Figure out who yourself is. Figure out who your office is. See which parts of you match. That's good. 

I've met many people who are too authentic in the office. They need to relax. 

I think authenticity is context based. 

Okay. You know. You are most authentic or should be with yourself.

And then as those concentric circles go outward there's different types of authenticity.

So you'll a different type of authentic with your partner or your spouse.

You'll be another type of authentic with your kids. You'll be another type of authentic with your family, with your friends, with your colleagues, with people you live in the same town with, city, country, world.

But I don't think you're just trying to just be you all the time with everyone without context.

I think that makes people you know, it's why people are a**holes a lot of the time?

Genuinely, because they just go like "Well that's what it is". Yeah, you didn't need to say that. 

"Oh well I just wanted be authentic." Yeah you were authentically not nice. That's what you were.

It's like you didn't need to say that in that moment. You know?

So, you know, if you're going to be one of those people who did well, "I just tell it like it is".

Oh then I'll tell you like it is you're not liked in most places. And you're not actually achieving the thing that you're trying achieve. 

And it's not to be liked but it is to try and find some sort of cohesive way way of being authentic. You know?

So I think in every space I'm trying to be as authentic as I need to be. It doesn't mean that you're being fake.

You're acknowledging that you're existing in a space with other people. You know?

Like I listen to music the way I listen to it, but when I'm in a different space I might be cognizant of the fact that somebody's close to me and so I'll turn the music down to a certain level.

Or I'll turn it... because I understand that you're here. It doesn't mean that I'm not being authentic. It just means that I'm acknowledging my authenticity might brush up against yours.

You know the way I would drive my car if there was nobody on the road? It's very different to how I drive when the rest of you are there with me.

You know because I acknowledge, I'm like this is not my authentic driving.

I don't drive at like a speed limit. The lines mean nothing to me!

Are you kidding me? If I was alone on the road, I would just be cruising. I would go backwards sometimes.

Trevor Noah Quote "Authenticity always has to be juxtaposed with context", text on image of setting sun

Cheryl Hickey: But nobody says that by the way. Because it's very cool right now, and you all know this. It's very cool to be your authentic self. But I think you talking about...

Trevor Noah: That's ridiculous! Who says this?

Cheryl Hickey: Everybody! But nobody says, I think it's the first time would you agree, in a long time that someone's like, you need to be aware of your surroundings?

Trevor Noah: Yes.

Cheryl Hickey: I don't think people say that Trevor; they don't.

Trevor Noah: You are existing in relation to others. If you're on a desert island, you're stranded like Tom Hanks, then you can be friends with a volleyball.

Do it, go crazy, have a good time. Because that is the situation you're in. That is authentic. You know?

But once you are in a space with other people it changes. You know? 

There are cultural norms you have to be aware of, depending on the space you're in, depending on the place you're in. And it doesn't mean don't be authentic. It means find your spaces where you can. 

And what happens over time, I'm sure you know this, when you work in office with people as you get to know them and that's why I'm saying context is important.

As you get to know them you start to reveal layers of yourselfand they do the same thing and that is natural. That is what we do as human beings. You know you don't just start off like that. 

Have you ever met like a dog that's been rescued? Like if you go to a pound or you go to any place with a shelter, right?

You'll meet an animal. Most of them are shy. Most of them are afraid, you can feel this in them.

And then you start showing them love, you start caring for them and all of a sudden that dog starts jumping on you and it starts barking and it starts running around.

It's like, yeah that's the same dog. It's not that it's not authentic. It was authentically afraid and now it is authentically happy and enjoying the love that you're showing it. 

Both are true. When people say be your authentic self, it's like which part of my authentic self?

Sometimes I'm nervous, sometimes I'm scared. Sometimes I'm grumpy, that is authentically me.

So I'm just gonna come in the office kicking trash cans. "Shut up!" That's authentic. "I'm having a shitty day. Welcome to real Trev".

No, no. Deal with your shit at home. Understand that in this space your authenticity is affecting other people.

Or if you know the people well in the office, and they know you well, then you can connect. I'm having a tough day... It's context. You should have enough EQ to understand the context.

How long have you known people? What is your position in relation to them.

You know how many bosses I've met who'll be like, "Yeah Trevor, I always tell jokes in the office, and it goes well".

I'm like, no you're the boss. Relax.

"How do I bring more humour into the office?" You don't, you're the boss.

Alright, because when you're a boss, you work in a different context to other people.

Understand your position in relation to them. Understand that they may be afraid of you. Understand that they don't know if they can voice their true opinion. Understand that. And the context builds over time.

And I think you have to have a certain amount of emotional intelligence to process that, but that's what living in a society is all about.

But try and be yourself in as many places as you can, try and grow. And I think that's what building a relationship and communicating is all about.

But please, save your authentic self for the situations that deserve it.

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Jen & Van Hansen are Real Estate Brokers at the boutique brokerage Apex Results Realty Inc. serving Halton | Hamilton, and surrounding areas. Say hello.. move forward with more™

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