Is Reyn human?

And to think, I've been pronouncing it "Rain" in my head all this time. <shaking head>

Please forgive me.

What is this about Gus accusing you of not being human? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black....

But that's not fair. Gus actually was human...once.

No, problem, I forgive you..... You wouldn't be the only one. I had a manager at work doing that for awhile, until I started correcting him.

Then, there's the stupid neighbor who insists, after 10 years, of still calling me "Reynolds". Huh? Is he cross-eyed and seeing 2 of me? That drives me nuts. And then there are those who use that as a last name.

By the way, Eva, have you checked yourself in my A2K Avatar Collage? If this is new for you, go to the Original Art & Photography forum.

Feeling very human this morning........

<Reyn looks at calendar>

"Yup, 9 months to go before I retire from this lousy job!"

Hey Reyn,
I had a cousin name Reynold; we called him "Rennie".
I always thought it was an unusal name but it is good to have an unusual name in a usual world

Really! Well, I used to think that it was an usual name, but let me tell you a short tale.

Years ago, when I was going about my meter reading duties, I was reading the meters in this one apartment in Burnaby. Lo and behold, in this one building, for some darn reason, that were 3 (three!) residents with the name of "Reynold" in that building! I could not be believe my eyes! I guess just the right sequence of events came together at that moment and place in time.

....and I can't win a darn lottery!

lol
ah well...keep buying those lotto tix reyn!
Do you still work in Burnaby? You said you live in the Fraser Valley right? That would be a bit of a commute...oh but you only have a few more months left anyway

Naw, I worked out of the downtown Vancouver Hydro office a million years ago. My area included the west side of Vancouver and parts of Burnaby.

These days, I live in Abbotsford (work out of the Abby office), and I read the Aldergrove part of Langley. Wow, do I have stories to tell about my "adventures" there! A "pot grow" every other house or so!

My folks are in Burnaby. As a matter of fact I'll be there in June. I'll look forward to meeting Jer and any other A2Kers that wanna get together.

lol...grow ops are a big part of business are they not????
I am glad to be out of the Fraser Valley! When we move back home from Australia, we know that we will live in BC, just not sure where at the moment. One daughter lives in Abbotsford, the other lives in Courtenay. My oldest son is here in Australia with us at the mo but will be going back to Manning Park in June. The youngest son will stay in .au until June 2006.
Whatcha gonna do once you retire Reyn?

Well, I'll relax big time for at least..... a week...haha!

My plans were to get out of this meter reading racket. It's one dangerous game, let me tell you! Just a few weeks ago, I was bit on the right arm by a rottweiller. It really stunned me.. Fortunately, the pitbull that was behind it didn't come after me. Lucky I brought a clean pair of underwear with me. Didn't need stitches, but it bloody hurt. Healing up now, but will probably leave a scar. By the way, that place WAS a "grow op", too.

I always worry about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Did you know that the "Hell's Angel's" Motorcycle gang is behind all the big "grow ops"? They don't get their own hands dirty, of course. They hire others (mainly Vietmanese gangs) to do the actual grunt work.

And I could go on....

Anyway, I was digressing. Our townhouse will be paid off later this year, so the timing is perfect. Even though I have a private pension plan, we'll still have to be careful with our dough. My wife and I aren't the travelling types anyway. I have a nice photo collage hobby that I have lots of fun with. And of course there's this place..... :wink:

Sounds like getting outta the meter reading business is a good thing! And not a moment too soon! Do you guys carry pepper spray or anything like that?
I have been reading in the Province that upscale Coquitlam is the place for grow ops these days!
What do you reckon? Legalize the stuff? It is scary how big of an operation it is! Surely the Taxman wants a piece of that action???

Yes, Ay, I'm sure the taxman wants a piece of the action. But so does the godfather. In the USA, at least, there's the rub.

For 20-odd years, our fear was that "automatic meter reading" was going to be brought in. Hasn't happened so far. We're still cheaper. The company never wanted to spend the capital.

Nope, what's happened is that the Campbell government privatized parts of BC Hydro. The part that I was in was contracted out to a Bermuda-based company that calls itself Accenture Business Services. But I guess that's another story. I digress again.

We are not allowed to carry pepper spray. In fact, it's illegal to carry that. We are issued umbrellas with strong springs that open very quickly. They are not too bad. It works for your average smarly dog. You wouldn't want to be caught with just that with a pitbull, of course.

Where we know the situation, the customer has to be contacted ahead of time to arrange access. That's great if they are cooperative. In the situation that I was relating, it was the first time that I had come across the dogs. In fact, nobody even lived at the "house". The "customer" was obviously just there that day tending the crop when I came around. Wrong place at the wrong time situation.

Nope. Coquitlam may have some, but Surrey is still the place to beat. Plus, in Chilliwack, the trend is to house the crops in warehouses. Mega operations have been busted lately. The "mom and pop" ones tend to be more in houses. Although, there was a bust recently in a townhouse complex were many units were involved in the grow.

Well, I'm definitely not for legalization. It's a multi-billion dollar operation here in BC. There's a lot of hazards that I won't get into right now. Maybe if we carry on with this thread I'll tell you. I've seen the aftermaths of some of these ops.

No, the way to go, is where they're leaning towards now. They're enacting "proceeds of crime" legislation. Take away the money, the houses, the cars, etc, etc. Got to have capital to pull these capers off.

More tonight, if you're interested. Gotta go to work.....

Oh, and I agree with Merry A. Organized crime is into these ops big time!

Hi Reyn,

"No, the way to go, is where they're leaning towards now. They're enacting "proceeds of crime" legislation. Take away the money, the houses, the cars, etc, etc. Got to have capital to pull these capers off."

I only suggested legalization because I naively, for a brief moment, hoped that perhaps that would bring the whole thing above board. Of course I was naive to think that organized crime would then drop the whole thing because it would no longer be such a lucrative business.

I was unaware of the "proceeds of crime" legislation. I reckon that would be a bit of a deterrent but...isn't BC notorious for letting these kind of crims off with a slap on the wrist type penalty?

Thanks for the info on the bear spray (over here in Australia they call it "capsicum spray"); I didn't know it was illegal to carry that either! I used to do a lot of backpacking and everyone and their best friend had it out in the bush

Hope you had a good day at work with no further misadventures with big dogs or bad people!

Good evening, Ay! To start this post, I would like to copy a couple of articles to show you what's happening in the "pot grow"scene.

---------------------------

Huge grow op bust in Richmond townhouse complex
Mar, 31 2005 - 10:00 AM

VANCOUVER/CKNW(AM980) -- First Coquitlam, now Richmond.
Richmond RCMP have busted a multi-unit marijuana grow op in the 59 hundred block of Muir Drive.

They found 650 plants, and dismantled 22 residential grow operations from a 90 unit complex.

RCMP in Coquitlam recently had a similar bust at a townhouse complex there.

---------------------------

Hydro Grow Ops
Mar, 30 2005 - 11:00 PM

LANGLEY(CKNW/AM980) -- BC Hydro says privacy laws prevent it from alerting police to grow ops but there may be a way around that in the works.
Grow op homes use a lot more electricty than normal houses and so BC Hydro faces pressure to turn that information in to police.

BC Hydro Chief Risk Officer Chris O'Riley says that can't happen unless police make a specific request.

But O'Riley says the province is looking at a change which could look at Hydro shutting down power to grow ops.

He says "They're looking at changing the Safety Standards Act that would require utilities to provide information about high consumption households for safety inspection authorities"

A pilot project along similar lines is being conducted in Surrey and Abbotsford.

-------------------------------

Federal proceeds of crime legislation has been around for a few years. On one of my routes, some years back, there was a huge piece of property with 3 houses on it that was confiscated. That was tied up for a long time, and then, I presume, was auctioned off. BC really has no say in the matter, as the laws are enacted by federal lawmakers. Yes, many of the small growers are let off with not much more than a slap on the wrist.

As you can see by one of the items above, some are trying to put teeth in cracking down on these operations.

Some will say, "But these are harmless!". Nope. People get hurt, killed, shot, knifed, etc. Grave dangers exist when there are power bypasses. Many times fires are caused. Neighboring properties are at risk.

A not uncommon practice is for gangs to rip-off growers when it is time to harvest the crop. Sometimes these people get the wrong address and the wrong individuals are targeted. It's happened. And, if you rip-off the "Hell's Angel's" and they catch up to you, what do you think will happen? They are very well organized. The police have a difficult time keeping up to them. The H.A. have all the resources that they need. The police have the constraints of manpower and money shortages.

Bear spray is not illegal if used what it is intended for, but you better not be caught with it in the city! :wink:

Ay, have you seen this?

seen what Reyn?

My post HERE. I thought it might interest you. Hadn't seen a comment, so I figured you were not around.

Hi Reyn,
Yes, I did read your post and then when reading the Province saw an article in their relating to proceeds of crime.
Whatever it takes to curtail the criminals activities!