mike browne's blog » activity

My Experience and Shaw Tower Open House

Mike Browne — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 16:56:45 +0000

This week my long and arduous job search came to an end. I applied for a job with Shaw Cablesystems. I’ve been a customer for many years using their digital television and internet services. I have always had good experiences dealing with the company and its representatives so when I found out that Technical Service Representative (TSR) jobs were available there I pounced on the opportunity.

I received a link to the job by a friend. The link had an online questionnaire around my technical knowledge and an “apply now” button at the bottom. On the next page I set up my account for the Shaw careers database filling out all of my information and copied and pasted a plain text version of my resumé into the form provided.

On the same day I got a phone call about coming in to Shaw Tower for a screening interview with a Talent Supply Coordinator from the HR department after which I scheduled for back for a second interview the next day with two supervisors from the Technical Service department.

I had to bring my passport (which I seem to have lost on the way home) and my driver’s licence so a credit and criminal record check could be done on me.

After the second interview, which I thought went well, my interviewers told me that I should to wait for a call one way or the other.

The phone call with a job offer came a day later. It included an amazing benefits package that starts right away, not the least of which is an employee discount on the old cable bill. Nice! Every bit helps.

The whole hiring experience was extremely pleasant, professionally executed and efficient. At no time was I made to feel I was just a number.

The offices in Shaw Tower are beautiful and modern. The people I met were all friendly and accommodating. That’s a corporate culture I can get used to.

I start training on Monday. I am looking forward to this new adventure.

If you’re in Vancouver and might like a career at Shaw you can attend the Shaw Tower Open House tomorrow. Here are the details —

We have three questions for you:

Are you customer service driven?
Do you have a passion for sales?
Do you love technology and innovation?

If the answer is YES, then come to our open house and bring a friend!

Shaw Tower is opening its doors on Saturday, July 24th from 2 to 4 p.m. and we are looking for enthusiastic people to join our Customer Service and Technical Service teams.

There’s never been a better time to join the Shaw family as we continue to grow and expand our business.

So, if you know anyone who would be interested in applying, please pass along the information below.

Details

When: Saturday, July 24
Time: 2 to 4 p.m.
Where: Shaw Tower, 1067 West Cordova Street, Vancouver
Open Positions: Customer Service and Technical Service Representatives
What to bring: Your resume
What to expect: Be prepared to have an on-site interview with one of our Customer Care Supervisors

IMPORTANT: These jobs are all PART-TIME and only guarantee 20 hours per week. Our call centre operates 7 days a week from 7 AM – 11:30 PM. All candidates must be available to work anytime within these hours.

Granville Street Gong Show

Mike Browne — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 07:29:58 +0000

Carol, always pursuing the next great pin, and me on a quest for an official Vancouver 2010 mug a former teacher braved the crowds and traffic and headed downtown in to the Olympics related madness. It took over an hour to get to the parking spot Carol had for us in the building where she works. As soon as we walked out of the building onto Granville Street, this is what we saw:

There were buskers busking, clowns clowning and men in pink underpants putting on shows all along the usually traffic laden Granville Street in downtown Vancouver. There was a different type of traffic today. No cars. Just a mass of humanity aimlessly milling about watching the mass of humanity aimlessly milling about.

Here’s another shot:

I’ll do a post tomorrow about Carol’s pin mission and my quest for the mug. For more you can read Carol’s post about our day out and about.

I’m pooped, but what a load of fun.

Old Photo Album Scanning Project

Mike Browne — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:32:07 +0000

Our friend Mark picked up an old photo album at an estate sale that he went to last year. For some reason he gave it to us. It has been sitting in Carol’s office gathering more dust for the past months. After a visit from another creative friend last week I felt inspired to deal with it.

I have decided to scan the photos and postcards within to try and determine who the creator was, what their lives were like, where they traveled and perhaps learn a little bit. Oddly enough there are many pages with no photos or photos missing. I presume this is where the photos of people used to live as there are not many faces in this album. It sort of adds to the mystique.

So I have set up my special scanning station at the kitchen table for this undertaking.

This is the set up I am using to import the photos so I can share them. From left to right on the table are the photo album, MacBook Pro and a Brother MFC-210C scanner. On the chair is my assistant, Oscar Madison Bigglesworth Browne.

As of this writing I’m three pages in and have many, many more. I am uploading the scans to a Flickr set to share with folks and, maybe get more information about the photos as there is not a lot to go on other than the pictures themselves.

Here’s a Flickr slide show of the progress so far.

This is going to take a while.

Quit Now and Win Contest and My Story

Mike Browne — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:35:01 +0000

On January 18, 2010 it will be exactly 12 years since I quit smoking. It may not seem like a big deal to you, but to me, and my family, it’s a really big deal. I had tried to quit many times and always went back to it. I was smoking over a pack a day at the end and sometimes even go up in the middle of the night to smoke.

It certainly sucked being chained to something like that, but no more. I am grateful everyday that I don’t smoke anymore. I think that’s a part of what has helped me to stay stopped. I had plenty of my own reasons to quit smoking, health being the most obvious. But, I couldn’t quit for good until I decided that what I really wanted for me and no one else. Sorry Mom.

Anyway quitnow.ca, along with the BC Lung Association, is running a little contest that may give you that extra little push toward quitting yourself:

Quitting smoking is easier with support from on-line contest

November 23, 2009 – QuitNow & WIN, the contest that successfully convinced more than 7,000 British Columbians to sign up to quit smoking last year, is back.

The contest encourages smokers to turn to a buddy for encouragement, register online for support, and have the chance to win prizes totaling more than $20,000, provided by corporate sponsor McNeil Consumer Healthcare Canada.

“I had been thinking of giving up smoking for a while, and the contest was the push I needed,” said Justin Tournier, last year’s grand prize winner. “Cigarettes were no longer my companion, and I had to find new ways to deal with stress, boredom, social activities and habit. It was great to have a community of support to get past the rocky points and to learn new coping tactics. Once I had adapted to a new way of living, the need for cigarettes vanished. It’s been almost a year now since I quit and now, I wonder why I waited so long.”

“QuitNow & WIN had a very successful first year, and I am very excited that we can help more British Columbians go tobacco-free this year,” said Ida Chong, Minister of Healthy Living and Sport . “I am a big fan of this contest because everyone who participates in it is a winner. It provides great prize incentives for people to sign up, but the whole philosophy behind QuitNow & WIN is that participants help each other ‘cross the finish line’ and reach the first goal of going five weeks without using tobacco.”

QuitNow & WIN is an online contest that uses a combination of traditional and social media supports to help people quit smoking. Participants sign up with a ‘buddy’ who provides friendly encouragement. They can use QuitNow by Phone (1-877-455-2233), a free telephone-based counseling program available 24/7 in over 130 languages. They can sign up for supportive emails, text messages, Twitter “tweets” and Facebook updates. They can also join online support groups on www.quitnow.ca, an Internet based quit smoking service that offers individualized programs to participants – anytime and anyplace.

Organized by the BC Lung Association through grant fun

#Movember 30: Say Goodbye to the Mo’

Mike Browne — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 07:08:28 +0000

I have had enough of this itchy thing on my face. Just in time as today is the last day of Movember. Yes, the moustache comes off tomorrow. My upper lip will probably be a little chilly as it won’t be wearing a fur coat anymore.

All jokes aside, I am glad that I participated in Movember. I got to meet some really cool people and both Carol and I had tons of fun. Taking part gave me a reason to blog more on this site again as well.

I need to find another cause now. I’ve already been approached about one thing that I will definitely do a post or two about.

Anyway, here’s the last Movember video. It’s about something I will not be shaving in the morning.

Maybe I’ll do this again next year.

#Movember 28th: Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!

Mike Browne — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 06:59:22 +0000

Rather than see another boring-ass picture of me and my stupid moustache, seeing as today is the day the winner got chosen for the set of Movember cuff links from Arbitrage Clothing Inc., why not see a picture announcing who the prize goes to.

Chosen at random here he is:

It’s not the picture you sent me Marc, but this one from your website, marcmcpherson.ca, is much more amusing and truly captures the spirit of Movember. Marc wrote a great post, well worth reading, on his site about why he participates in Movember. Donate to Marc on his Movember page if you like.

As soon as Arbitrage gets those cuff links to me I will mail them off to you Marc. Congratulations!

A couple of honourable mentions

Stacey B, from Sacramento, CA for her wedding day mo’:

Aw! Isn’t that cute? That’s the spirit Stacey. Check out Stacey’s web site Pill’s Place.

Craig G. a.k.a. Uber Giles a.k.a. The Sailor:

I know. Yucky, right? You can also donate to the cause via Craig’s Movember page.

Thanks to everyone who participated. There were some great entries. I wish everyone could have gotten a prize. Hopefully I will have more prizes to dole out next year!

#Movember 26 and 27: The Mad Arab and Grinning Goof

Mike Browne — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 03:09:55 +0000

Last night was the Movember Gala Parté at the Fortune Sound Club in the Chinatown district of downtown Vancouver. We were frisked quit thoroughly on the way in. They made me feel like some sort of terrorist. Perhaps it was profiling of some sort.

Not every arab is a terrorist you know.

The ghutra (or keffiyeh) I was sporting is the real deal as Carol used to live in Saudi Arabia. I wish I had a thawb to go along with it to allow the boys to have some air. Good for the prostate.

Movember is going well for our team. Last night, thanks to LG Electronics, our Movember teammate John Biehler won a whopping $5000 to put toward the cause. Here’s a photo that Carol took of him with the novelty cheque.

Very Happy Gilmore. Way to go John. That’s fantastic!

The reason the picture didn’t get posted yesterday is because Carol fell asleep as soon as we got home. She was pooped, so two pictures today.

I start my new gig on Monday. I jumped through all the hoops I had to. I am pretty grinny today.

Here’s my favourite Mo’ wearing Muppet, Lew Zealand singing Goodnight Sardine:

Extremely lame, but that is exactly why I posted it.

More information and how to donate to Movember: Movember 2009 Info

#Movember 25th: Angry Billy Idol hockey moustache man

Mike Browne — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 05:58:42 +0000

Tonight the mo’ felt like snarling a bit. Billy Idol would be proud. If you’re too young to know who he is, that’s what google is for. I’ll wait.

The month is drawing to an end. Finally. I will soon be able to shave the mess off my face someone’s prostate may be saved from cancer and all will be right with the world again.

Tomorrow night is the Movember Vancouver Gala Parté. We’re going to party like it’s 1979! Here are the details:

Fortune Sound Club
147 East Pender
Vancouver
British Columbia V6C 2V6
November 26th
Start 8:00pm
End 2:00am
Judging: 10:00pm

If you want to buy tickets you can do so on movember.com. Come on along and watch people make fools of themselves. I’ll be the cool guy…

Speaking of off putting and angry men with hockey moustaches:

Yeesh. What is that, an ad for a prison hockey league?

More information and how to donate to Movember: Movember 2009 Info

Found Footage Festival: Sometimes bad is really quite good!

Mike Browne — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:31:01 +0000

While perusing the feeds of local websites that I have in my google reader (an easy way to get all of you content in one place) in the vancouverisawesome.com feed I came across a little blurb and video about an event on Monday December 7th at 7:30 pm at VIFC called The Found Film Festival:

The Found Footage Festival is a live comedy show featuring clips from videos found at thrift stores and garage sales across the country. This is a small sampling of some of the footage on display in Volume 4, coming to your city in 2009-2010.

If for some weird reason you can’t see the video go here to view it.

You guessed it. Carol and I have tickets already and will be there with bells on to see all the cheesy video goodness. You can buy tickets directly via this link at the VIFF.org site.

Looks like it will be a good time. If you’re unable to get to Vancouver, worry not, we are but one stop on the tour.

Still not convinced? We’ll send Pretty Boy Floyd along to talk you into it:

In this instructional video, entitled “Secrets of Pool Hustling,” professional pool shark Pretty Boy Floyd espouses his opinions on just about everything except pool hustling. More Pretty Boy Floyd is featured on the Found Footage Festival Vol. 3 DVD.

As well as bookmarking their website you can follow Found Film Festival on twitter, become a fan on Facebook or watch more videos on their YouTube channel.

See you there!

#Movember 24: Required for a career in law enforcement

Mike Browne — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:19:21 +0000

A lot of police officers have moustaches. I have not been asked whether or not I was a cop in a very long time, if you know what I mean. If you don’t I am not explaining.

Not all cops have moustaches, but a lot do. Carol’s sister is a cop, but doesn’t have a moustache (I would hope not). You can probably figure out why very easily. If you can’t I don’t want to talk to you.

In this brief scene displaying mixed up crazy backwards day in the world of law enforcement from Police Academy the two cops DO NOT have moustaches, but the other gentlemen in the scene do. Can you tell who’s who?:

When I was a kid I did not understand what was happening in that scene. I guess it’s OK to laugh at the homophobic cops in the scene. The look of sheer terror on their faces is hilarious.

I love that song and will buy the mp3 if anyone can find it. I want to use it as the ringtone for my iPhone. But alas, I think that version was just made for the film.

More information and how to donate to Movember: Movember 2009 Info