Steve Burgess

Publishing and forestry. For anyone set on following a dual-career path, you couldn’t pick two more troubled industries. In a small meeting room in a downtown Vancouver office, Anne Giardini laughs. “It’s vertical integration!” she says.

The new SkyTrain to YVR is great news for most people. But whither the poor cabbie? The Canada Line is running. A train to the airport – it’s about time. I speak as someone who once, in a younger, more foolish...

The real gold in 2010 goes to those with a badge and a gun. Lots of people looking for work these days: new careers being sought, backup plans being concocted. Where are the next big opportunities? Here’s a tip: follow the money. That should lead you to a brief but lucrative career in Olympic security.

Penny wise or pound foolish? Pondering the question of false savings and financial symbolism. As travel season approaches, fond memories of past vacations come flooding back – such as the time I visited the wide-open countryside near Ernfold, Saskatchewan. This was...

What does the decline of Starbucks represent? And will The Blob strike back? “At least we’ve got it stopped.” “Yeah, as long as the Arctic stays cold.” – Earl Rowe and Steve McQueen in The Blob OOPS. IT MAY be time for a sequel to that 1958 horror movie in which a huge, unstoppable ooze is finally corralled and dropped near the North Pole. Poor old frozen Blobby will probably be wearing a Speedo and some suntan oil pretty soon.

What do STV and Hugo Chavez have in common? Everyone’s got a stimulus package these days. B.C.’s version seems to be ballot based. Last fall it was municipal and federal votes providing government-funded subsidies, and now the May 12 general provincial election looms, with its promise of rich harvests for those who toil in advertising, printing and property-rental fields, among others. It’s a wonder no one is running on a platform of full employment via monthly votes.

Travelling to Kathmandu: For many, Nepal's capital is a launch point to the Himalayas. But there's plenty in town to take your breath away too. It’s important I understand about the garbage. The garbage is not an everyday thing, the Hotel Shanker desk clerk assures me. There’s some kind of strike going on.

Everyone searches for happiness, but in different forms and different doses. There’s the cherished long-term happiness, achieved through satisfaction with one’s life and accomplishments. Then there is the short-term variety. Strategies vary. For British Columbians, the long-term sort can involve the identification of a goal and its ardent pursuit. The...

Poor, stupid Vancouver homeowners: you bought. A Steve Burgess taunt from across Vancouver's real estate chasm. Back when times were good, Rhonda Byrne made a killing with her uplifting book, The Secret. It’s all about the law of attraction. By wishing and believing, she wrote, you can make your dreams come true.

One morning last fall, I was checking my email. Not just any morning – it was the morning after the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States. There, in my inbox, a timely message: “Support Obama, buying from us.” Exactly how my forthcoming purchase would benefit the new...

It was a story no media outlet could resist. Apparently the National Do Not Call List had its own do-not-call list, and it included almost everybody. The federal government finally established a registry that would prevent telemarketers from contacting unwilling customers, and the public was eager to sign up. But...

Said Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all.” On the topic of gift cards, he had nothing. “Thus Christmas doth make morons of us all,” would be good. Or there’s always the one about a fool and his money. I recently bought a digital camera at London...