My oldest daughter Ainslie is getting married today. My family is incredibly happy for her and we all hope she and her husband Reg have a healthy and joyous life together.
A marriage, needless to say, is a time to celebrate the present and look ahead to the future with great expectations. In drafting my toast [...]
One Wedding and a Funeral
Might as Well Jump!
As Saturday approached I was definitely becoming more scared about my first parachute jump. It wasn’t helped by the video we had to watch prior to getting into the plane.
Made several decades ago, it was basically a non-stop disclaimer that made certain we all knew that if we died or got hurt we couldn’t sue [...]
Fear and Raving in Oregon
A few minutes after we pulled into a coffee shop on Highway 101 in Oregon after some light rain and twisty roads a crazy man approached us. This was on day three of our most recent bike trip, which had begun on June 30 in San Francisco. Within minutes the encounter escalated to a dangerous [...]
More From the Parachute Club
It’s just over a week to go and the Froese Forensic Parachuters are still ready to take a flying leap out of a plane for charity.
As I explained in a previous blog, a small group of us will be flying tandem with an experienced jumper on Saturday July 10. Although the thought of actually doing [...]
A Quiet Success
Working at a 911 Emergency Dispatch Center can be incredibly stressful. Many of the incoming calls concern traumatic events, such as horrific car accidents, medical emergencies or domestic abuse. “Listening to a woman screaming on the phone as her drunken husband is beating on her is hard to take,” one operator said.
The people handling the [...]
Leaving LAPD
It’s been a year since I stopped working on a fascinating assignment with the Los Angeles Police Department. This anniversary has had me thinking back on my experiences there.
In June 2001, following a lawsuit by the U.S. Justice Department that alleged the LAPD had been engaging in a pattern or practice of excessive force, false [...]
“Catch & Release” Management Style
The Wall Street Journal announced today that Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. agreed to sell Kroll for $1.13 billion to Altegrity Inc., an international screening and security solutions company.
It’s a move that Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comic strip, would love. He brilliantly displayed his understanding of top management in a cartoon where [...]
Car Dealership Fraud
I always enjoy the opportunity to help someone writing an article about fraud so when I received a call from a writer working on a story for Canadian Auto World I gladly agreed to talk with him.
He had chosen my name randomly from a speaker’s bureau at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario, where [...]
Make Us Jump Out of Planes
It seemed like a great idea when Ken first suggested it: take part in a charity event that terminates with a team of us from the office jumping out of an airplane.
Ken, who is very active in charitable work, recently made a convincing pitch that Leap of Faith was a great organization to support. It [...]
A Stressful Day in Court
The legal system does not move at the pace seen on television. All of us who come in contact with it are painfully aware of that reality. It is usually a slow and tedious process, save for a few moments of drama and conflict.
On the few occasions that require me to be in court, such [...]
