Stephen Kennedy's Rants

Archive for the ‘Rants’ Category

In case of any of the parents that I coached last year are reading this blog, I wanted to let you know that I made decision as to where I will be registering Breanna and Jaxin for soccer this season. You won’t see me on the sidelines for a Titan’s team this year.

I found the decision was very difficult. Both McKenzie United and Titans were advertising like crazy in the community and I checked out both web sites before I made my decision.

If you don’t know the story of the whole mess this is what has happened over the last couple of years.

Our kids were always registered in the McKenzie United club; they played there for several years. A few years ago there was an issue between MU and the McKenzie Lake Community Association that actual got very ugly and had lawyers involved. Then for outdoor soccer last year a new Club stated advertising. Titans Soccer as it turned out was the merger between McKenzie United and Rockies Soccer from the MIdnapore Area. They were forming a larger soccer club. I registered the kids in that program because it looked promising. As usual I ended up coaching both Breanna ‘s U10 Girls C team in the CMSA and Jaxin’s U6 team in the community intramural league. Titan’s had an excellent program with the backing of National Sports Development , but there was a technical panel made up for Titans of both MU and Rockies volunteers. Everything seemed to be fine and we finished the season out, but I had registered my girl’s team in the fall cup so we had a few games in September. Around that time I started seeing signs advertising indoor soccer for MU! There were a few issues I started to hear about in June and July and our U10 Coordinator left mid season. Now it was getting clear. It looked that the MU folks didn’t like the direction that Titans was going with NSD and left and restarted the MU Club.

Since the kids are too busy over the winter with other activities I wasn’t involved with indoor soccer at all.

Come the spring and the signs had gone up for outdoor registration. Again there were MU signs and Titans signs. As I indicated earlier I checked both of the websites out and saw who the coordinators were. I called Titans’ office at NSD and asked to speak to Shawna my last coordinator. Apparently she was no longer there. I then looked up both coordinators and sent them off emails why I should register my kids with their programs. The MU coordinator got back to me shortly indicating that he was out of town but that the kids would have fun with any program but that he would call me upon my return. Titans’ coordinator also got back to me saying that they would like to have me there and that my email would be forwarded to the President of the club to respond to more. I believe that this was on a Tuesday.

Sunday rolled around and I received a call from the MU coordinator and he explained some of the happenings and how their program was being run by volunteers for the kids and was staying away from the almost business model of the Titans and the NSD program. To date I have still not yet heard from the president of Titans.

Another factor in my decision was looking at the fields that were listed by Titans for practices and home games. Virtually all of the fields listed are on the other side of the river for us and I really don’t want to have to deal with traffic getting over the river. MU has said that they are not sure what fields they will have but a majority of them will be east of the bow river.

So the kids are registered with MU and as usual I have volunteered to coach for either or both teams.

I guess we will have to see if my decision was right at the end of the year. After attending the first evaluation for U10 girls, I see that there were none of the girls that I coached last year. While it doesn’t mean that they were not registered and there are none, they just weren’t there. At least with Calgary Minor Soccer there are no boundaries for the city. Any player can play for any community with the need for a release. If things don’t go over well this season, I can always register Breanna with Celtic or Titans next year.

To those girls (and U6s) that coached last year, if we don’t see you this season, best wishes and good luck with your programs. I think that what could have been a very good program got ruined by adults behaving badly!

Stephen

I am sitting here in Vancouver Airport waiting for a flight. Usually when I travel on business I always try to find the latest flight I might need. For example I am booked to return to Calgary on the 7:30 flight today. Fortunately or (unfortunately), we finished our work up early today (1:30PM) so I have loads of time to kill. Flying with Westjet is great as when I checked in I asked if there was room on the 4 PM flight. They told me there was loads of room and for 20.00 + GST I could fly standby. If I don’t get on that flight there are 2 more before my scheduled departure. Compared to trying to change an Air Canada flight this is way cheaper. I don’t have to pay a change fee or a ticket differential fee. I might have paid the 20.00 and not get on but unless 20 or 30 people decide they are flying to Calgary on that flight I should be fine.

Westjet’s flexibility is just another reason why I try to fly them whenever I can. In addition I didn’t have to stand in line to make the change and it was all done very quickly.

An Update… I was able to get on the 4:00 pm flight and was home 3.5 hours earlier than expected. Even my 1 piece of checked luggage made it aboard!

Stephen

Seen the TV commercials lately for Air Canada? How you can fly your way? Here’s a little scenario that you might find interesting and I actually stumbled upon (I read the fine print).

I recently had a ticket purchased for me to fly Air Canada for a day trip. When asked, I said no luggage as I didn’t think I would have any. When the ticket came the no luggage option was selected and the buyer saved 5.00. The day before I was set to go I decided that I would have one of my distributers send an order to me in Vancouver while I was there and I would bring it back with me (1 box weighing 10 lbs). This way I would get it faster and shipping shouldn’t be as much.

When I did my web check and actually read the terms and conditions of the Tango fare, I was surprised to see that if I changed my mind and decided to use baggage check , I would have to pay 50.00 each way! So for saving 5 bucks and changing your mind you get penalized big.

Hmmm, think I’ll stick with Westjet. Where I can take two bags and still carry 60lbs more than AC (70lbs per bag vs 40 fr AC unless your First Class then it is 50)!

Another thing with the Tango ticket… If you miss your plane you lose your money! No refunds no changes. Again this is a case of buyer beware!

Stephen

If you are planning to take a cruise with one of the cruise lines that departs from Galveston, beware of transportation issues, especially if you arrive at Bush Intercontinental! There is no easy (or inexpensive) way to get from Houston to Galveston! So far the best option I have been able to come up with was to book a hotel near IAH and then rent a car from Enterprise and frdrop iot off in Galveston (additional 40.00 fee)! Still much cheaper than what the cruise line offered us and wil probably work better tool Unfortunately the Cruise company we booked through was unfamiliar with the area. They found us a great package but the Hotel was at Hobby airport and required a 60.00 USD (approx) cab ride from IAH to the Hotel!

After having hotel reservations screwed up on a business trip a couple of months ago, I always double check everything well in advance now!