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Oakville Beaver Weekend Sunday March 18, 2001 T h e O a k v il l e B e a v e r Ian Oliver, Publisher Nei Oliver, Associate Publisher Norman Alexander. Editor Kelly Montague, Advertising Director Steve Crazier, Circulation Director Ten Casas, OfficeManager Mark Dlls, ProductionManager Riziero Vertolli, Photography Director Metroland Printing, PubSshing & Distributing Ltd., indudes: -^ax/Pickering News Advertiser, AJiston Herald/Courier, Barrie Advance, BarryS Bay This Week, Botton Enterprise, Brampton Guardian, Burfngton Post, Burlington Shopping News, City Parent, Collingwood/Vtesaga Connection, East 'ibrk Minor, B in Advocate/Country Routes, Etobicoke Guarcian, Ramborough Rost, Georgetewn Independent/Acton Ree Press, Huronia Business Tmes, Kingston This Week, Lindsay This Week, Markham Ecnomist & Sun, Midland/Penetanguishine Mirror, Milton Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora Era-Banner, Northumberland News, North 'ibrk Minor, Oakville Beaver, Oakville Shopping News, Oldtimers Hockey News, Orillia Today, Oshawa/Whrtby/Qarington Port Pen-y This Week, Owen Sound Tribune, Peterborough This Week, Picton County Guide, Richmond Hill/ThomhillA^ughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror, StouffvillevUxbridge Tribune, Forever 'rbung, City of 'ibrk Guarcian RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: Y w ym ga ...M 'f e r f f lg r iZ .... f c " S 'S # k JiwqlE B e II Fup kI T V A U C T IO N o ? 0a S (9ah>iUe <^4warSs TORBUSINESS EXCELLENCE 4 6 7 S p e e rs Rd., O akville O n t L 6 K 3 S 4 8 4 5 - 3 8 2 4 Fax: 3 3 7 -5 5 6 7 C irculation: 8 4 5 - 9 7 4 2 * E ditorials B u s y b u s in e s s For years, Canadians had the distinction of being labeled the most talkative people on earth. That statistic was based on amount of time spent using the telephone. But like most things relating to telecommunications, that statistic now means noth ing. We have now become a completely `wired' society both in that field and some might aigue, psychologically. Communications consultant Ian Angus told a Sheridan College last week that the explosive growth in the industry has been good news for consumers but not so good news for many companies. One look at the recent performance of North American stock markets verifies that fact. With consumers having such a wide range of choices for their communications needs, price wars have erupted and costs have been driven down by that competition. Stories about young entrepreneurs starting e-businesses with little more than a computer and a phone line and then becoming multi-million dollar companies, drove like-minded people into the same businesses. So now there's a glut of supply and not enough consumers to make many of these firms profitable. The most telling evidence of a telecommunications industry shakedown, accord ing to Angus, has been the evaporation of capital for high-tech companies to expand. Where once e-entrepreneurs could find easy money for just about any project, now investors are thinking twice before putting down their cash on such speculative ven tures. All of this has produced a few huge players with the rest struggling for the remaining market share. What has resulted is a blur in the telecommunications industry. Oakville Hydro has fibre optic lines as does Bell, then there are cable companies like COGECO that tout their internet speed. All of elements have come together in the ultimate telecom munications combine known as Can West Global that combines not only electronic media but also newspaper holdings - a completely integrated communications firm. And to think it all started with Alexander Graham Bell's invention to speed com munications. We think he'd be proud of the developments but not surprised. T h e r e 's I'm not suggesting anything as organized or sinister as a conspira cy. However, lately it's suspicious ly seemed as though our children have decided to pool all of their considerable resources in a con certed effort to drive mommy and daddy crazy. Round the bend. Over the edge. Hey, wait! Maybe, I am suggesting a conspiracy. We didn't go away on March Break. And when we heard that some 90,000 people had elbowed through Pearson International Airport on the opening weekend of the annual spring fling, we were glad we'd decided against spend ing all our Nasdaq dollars on a southern sojourn. Honestly, despite n o e s c a p e fr o m th is is la n d no apparent reason. Our five-yearold daughter, for instance, has decided to spend her March Break learning how to spell every single word ever coined. I know how you spell this, she says. How do you spell that? she asks. I can spell everything, she announces. It's like living on Sesame Street. "S chnoogleheim er," I say. "Spell schnoogleheimer," Which keeps her occupied and quiet for five minutes before she returns to say that her b ro thers insist schnoogleheimer is not a real word and that I should be challenged to use it in a sentence. "Spelling words all day," I say, "gives me a real schnoogleheimer." And for the next 30 minutes I'm left cursing the phonics system as our little Spelling Bee sounds out "Schnoogleheimer." Then, there's the boys. When th e y 're not busy helping our daughter uncover my deceit, they're busy watching Survivor episodes -- old and new, over and over. And when they finally break from Survivor on television, they play the Survivor them e song (dow nloaded from m oribund Napster and burned onto a CD) on the stereo. Arghhh! Maybe, it's a conspiracy. Maybe not. But it's certainly enough to make my wife and I wish they'd vote us off this crazy island! the ongoing and interm inable nuclear winter, we are experienc ing, we didn't feel any unscratchable urge to get away. We'd just had a short, snappy family holiday, with an extended sortie planned for the summer and some down time on the homefront sounded appealing. On the first night of the Break, we were awakened at precisely 2 a.m. by a voice that sounded like Jam es Earl Jones doing Darth Vader and announcing: "Robot Time Is 2 a.m.!" Bolting upright in bed, heart thum ping, it slowly dawned on me that the voice had not come from The Dark Side but, rather, from my son's room. Specifically, from his robot alarm clock. I went back to sleep, only to be rousted one hour later: "Robot Time Is 3 a.m." Now, you'd think at this point I'd have gotten out of bed and ripped Mr. Robot out of the wall. But I didn't because com mon sense is lost at night. So, every hour on the hour, we were m ade very aw are of... Robot Time... Next night, same thing. That's right. Over the course of a busy day, we all forgot about Mr. Robot Clock's apparent nocturnal mal function. Finally, after the 2 and 3 o'clock announcements, I got up and ripped Mr. Robot's dusty cord clear out o f the socket. All of which didn't matter in the least. Mr. Robot has some kind of (evil) memory. He continued announcing the hours, on the hour, until dawn at which time he was unceremoni ously relocated. In the garage. Mr. Robot pretty much set the tone for the week. I mean, things have been going off all week for P u d By Steve Nease SPEED'THE I ONL-YDOIM U M ifs 5 n ' I A fl/ b u t i'm ' SJAY IN YOUR WHATPIP YOUI NEVERTAKE LANbPoNT LEARN, dtp ? ) DRIVING ISSoNSl RJUOWTDoOOSE FROM YOUR ^ v MOTHER, W ATCH THE C R O S S , , WALK YOU 'RE SL0UOIItJ6 AGAIN