Dear Ottawa Smokers…

by

Dear Ottawa Smokers,

Marijuana is legal in Canada as of yesterday. That means there’s about to be a new thing that is legal to smoke.

As someone who has health issues with cigarette, cigar, cigarillo, vape, and marijuana smoke, I thought I’d take this time to remind Ottawa smokers of the laws, since some cigarette and vape smokers don’t seem to remember them.

Laws

  1. You can’t smoke in public places including parks, play structures, bars, restaurants, and patios. This includes Concert halls and festival grounds.
  2. You can’t smoke within 9 metres of province or city owned building entrance.
  3. You can’t smoke on public transit, transit property, or transit stops.
  4. You can’t smoke near or in schools. This includes post-secondary.
  5. You can’t smoke in hospitals and on hospital grounds.

Okay now that we’ve gone over the laws, I hope everyone will follow them and of course medical marijuana will have different rules and regulations.

Rules and laws are great, but as a person with severe allergies and scent sensitivities can I also ask that you do some of the following?

Courtesy

  1. Please smoke so the wind doesn’t blow it back on you. The smell is worse than body odour and shit combined, and will make me start coughing. No one wants to smell old Tobacco, pot, etc in the workplace or bus.
  2. Don’t smoke outside of restaurants or businesses. I want to get some groceries not cough up a lung.
  3. Go to a smoking area and smoke there. Don’t walk and smoke.
  4. If you HAVE to smoke and walk, please pay attention to the people around you. If there’s a parent and child around, or someone coughing, or on oxygen… make sure you’re not sending your smoke towards them.

 

Thank you to all the smokers that follow the laws and are courteous. I realize it’s a small minority that gives you all a bad name.

Éric

Game of Thrones Legacy Project

by

Game of Thrones fans might already be experiencing withdrawal, as the final season is set to be aired in 2019. The end of Westeros? Well, not completely.

The Game of Thrones Legacy Project has been officially announced! (You don’t know how hard it was to find the official press release. SO many articles citing it without actually linking to it!)

As early as 2019 (potentially), you’ll be able to visit Winterfell, Castle Black, and Kings Landing in person, not just through your TV screen. Northern Ireland will be the host of these locations, along with Linen Mill Studios, and will be preserving them for years to come.

Game of Thrones set in Northern Ireland. Image from tourismni.com

As if Northern Ireland wasn’t already a great place to visit, now there’s a fandom element to it? Sign me up.

Are you interested in travelling to Northern Ireland? Jen has retired from working as a travel agent. Hope you’ve enjoyed Fandom Travel . 

Can-Con Post con review 2018

by

Hello My Imaginary Friends,

I’m still recovering from the awesomness that was Can-Con. I really need to plan taking time off after.

Most of my weekend was spent at the table selling stuff and giving away coffee samples. It’s great to hear and see the joy coffee brings some people. For those that didn’t like coffee I sent them 3 tables down to the fantastic Heart Tea Heart.

I was on one panel about heroism in Star Wars and it was a great discussion. The panelists were inteligent, well spoken, and made great points. (I rambled and agreed a lot.)

Other than that I loved the opportunity to talk coffee and books with all the fantastic attendees. The organizers and venue are always fantastic. Thank you and I look forward to next year!

I’m drained… enjoy these pictures of the Child Dragon.

Later Days,

Éric

Keith and Lance

by

Keith (@incaseyouart) and Lance (@Gilove2dance) dance to Keone and Mari’s routine “Could” by Elderbrook. The TARDIS makes a special appearance.

Inspiration for the coplays from a fanfiction called Shut Up and Dance With Me by wittyy_name on AO3 with art by wolfpainters on Tumblr. Please note, you must be over 18 to read this.

Can-Con 2018 – October 12-14

by

The Conference on Canadian Content in Speculative Arts and Literature, or just Can-Con, is one of my favourite conventions. It has the best people and panels.

October 12-14, 2018
Sheraton Hotel,  Downtown Ottawa
150 Albert St, Ottawa, ON K1P 5G2

Eric Desmarais Author, JenEric Coffee, JenEric Designs, and toddler Dragon will be there for the entire weekend.

The dealer’s room is free to the public so come say hi, get some books, and coffee.

I, Eric, will be one panel this year: Star Wars, Heroism and Society Friday at 4pm in Salon C. Come by and laugh at a Trekkie trying to talk Star Wars.

Hope to see you there!

Éric

Blush: Sex Ed Consultation in Ontario

by

Hello parents and educators!

Protest sign from a rally in Toronto July 19, 2018. Image from toronto.ctvnews.ca

Were you aware that Ontario has started their consultation of parents? I wasn’t. The first part (the open consultation) closes on December 15, 2018. Here is information from their website:

We’re consulting with parents across the province to address concerns and get feedback in several areas of the education system.
Feedback from these consultations will help shape decisions in the following areas:

  1. Improving student performance in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)
  2. Preparing students with needed job skills, such as skilled trades and coding
  3. Improving provincial standardized testing
  4. Ensuring students graduate with important life skills, including financial literacy
  5. Managing the use of technology in classrooms, such as cell phones
  6. Building a new age-appropriate Health and Physical Education curriculum that includes subjects like mental health, sexual health education and the legalization of cannabis
  7. Developing the first-ever Parents’ Bill of Rights

The online survey will be “coming soon”. I’ll be sure to write another post about that when it happens.

The third part is the telephone town hall. Dates and registration details TBA.

As my daughter is not yet school-age, I’m worried that they won’t take my feedback seriously. I don’t like that they asked the question about the age of the child at all. The sex ed curriculum affects us all.

We’re relying on you, parents of school-age children. Help shape our future!

If you’re enjoying the Blush blogs, consider learning more with Blush: The Card Game from Renaissance Press.

Why We Don’t Offer Brewed Coffee Part 2

by

Hello Coffee Lovers!

Two months ago I wrote: Why We Don’t Offer Brewed Coffee.

After having multiple discussions with people, I realized I forgot a few points.

Any schlub could go out and buy a cheap single cup coffee machine and a giant box of terrible coffee pods and sell it for $3. This fulfills the need to sell coffee and creates income. I won’t do it for 2 reasons: Quality and Reputation

Quality

We at JenEric Coffee pride ourselves on the quality of our beans, roast, and flavours. If you don’t like our coffee, it’s because of personal taste and not a deficiency in our quality. When I go to an event I expect that either the venue is selling crap coffee, or there is no coffee. When there is a coffee vendor I expect that they take a modicum of pride in what they do and have decent coffee. (Of course school and community events don’t count in this.)

If we do something, I want to do it right and legally, with all required permits and inspections.

Reputation

When you sell something you, as a small business, are judged on that. So if you have one thing that is of excellent quality and another that is horrible, you’ll be judged on the latter. You can’t, in the long run, rely on first time buyers. You need to make sure that your clients want more of what you’re selling. At this point, JenEric Coffee sells more to repeat clients than new ones, and that’s a wonderful thing. Passionate, dedicated fans are the backbone to a successful business.

If we started doing things in half-measures and didn’t take pride in our quality, we’d start losing those people.

 

I hope this helps clear up and add to my previous post.

Thank you for reading and for loving our coffee!

Éric