Champagne!

What do you get Sandy and I for our birthday? Well I didn't expect a $400 bottle of Dom Perignon Champagne and chocolate covered strawberries.

We received a knock on your hotel room door and room service had a special delivery courtesy of our fantastic friends at The Sustainable Group.

Thanks David and Brant for an incredible surprise. It really means a lot. So much so, that I Paid it Forward and let Kirsti and Sandy drink it while they were getting pedicures. You should have seen their eyes when I strolled in with the bottle of Dom Champagne and people touching your toes, I guess that's a girls dream come true.

Cheers

Calvin

Talk about an upgrade!

Tomorrow is both Sandy's and my birthday. (Yeah, same day!!) - Can you believe we were upgraded by the conference coordinating manager to a top floor ocean view king suite! THANK YOU Deborah! xoxox

This room was unbelievable. It actually was more like an apartment with two balconies, a living room, 2 bathrooms, 4 TVs, an iMAC computer and a corner view of the beautiful turquoise ocean. Yeah, I could live there every day (if room service wasn't so expensive.)

Cheers,
Calvin

CSI Miami!

If you are a long time reader of my blog then you'll know that each June one of our suppliers hosts a huge VIP event for it's top customers. This year was no exception, and 4 of us were invited all expenses paid to Miami for what turned out to be a once in a life time event.

Darrin, Kirsti, Sandy and I had the tough job of representing Costless Express at the event so we flew out on Saturday the 18th on the red eye thru Toronto. Over 4000 attendees converged on the Fontainebleau resort http://www.fontainebleau.com/ for a week of seminars, parties and a huge trade show.

The Fontainbleau has a rich history dating back to the 1920's and was the cornerstone for the development of South Beach. Today the resort is still considered "Ground Zero" for the hippest experience in SOBE. Recently the resort went thru a "Billion" dollar renovation, and it is incredible.

Here is a quick bio on Bleau Bar - our new favourite watering hole in the hotel.

The legendary Fontainebleau Miami Beach is the resort where James Bond and Goldfinger played a game of gin rummy, where Frank and The Rat Pack played and where Elvis was really in the building. This iconic playground to the stars is back and more alluring than ever. Through the 1950s and 1960s, Fontainebleau was the place to be and seemed to host the who's who in entertainment, including Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, Judy Garland, Milton Berle, Jerry Lewis, Marlene Dietrich, Debbie Reynolds and many others. Bleau Bar in the lobby level has been long regarded as the meeting place of the stars. Offering classic favorites and new world libations, Bleau Bar is part of a master mixologist's cocktail universe like no other on Miami Beach.

The trip has so many great moments I'll break things up into several entries.
Cheers,


Calvin

Happy 30th anniversary to Post-It Notes!

June 15th is the 30th anniversary of the 3M Post-It note! And here's a cute animated video on YouTube to celebrate.



Of course we carry 3m Post It Notes... our favorites are the recycled ones!

Miracle Weekend 2010

It's that time again - Miracle Weekend at BC Children's Hospital.

2010 has been a special year for me as I stepped into the role of Vice Chair for the Retail Wholesale Council. For 2011, I will be stepping up again as Chair, so watching Shawn Loftus — our current Chair this weekend — feels like a bit of training for when it's my turn.

Shawn sharing his wisdom:

Shawn has been an incredible chair over the past few years and he has led a great team of supporters in creating this year's incredible record donation of $4,600,000. An amazing increase over last years total of $3,900,856.

Later in the evening, some of our council members will be sitting on the Miracle Maker Panel and "Dialing For Dollars." My shift is 9:30pm to 11pm and this is my 3rd year. Last year we dressed up in costume (makes for good TV and good donations) and I was dressed as ZORRO, the masked fund raiser. This year I opted for a suit, since sick kids is a serious business.

Here we are as a group marching over to the Studios -

Getting ready for the Miracle Maker Phone Panel:

And of course we can't forget Sunny Bear!

Thanks to all the Costless Express staff, vendors, associates and customers who donated to my fund raising page. Together we raised $7363.00, with more donations still coming in.

Have a great day!

Calvin

We're in Business In Vancouver!

Check out this great article in Business in Vancouver! They've interviewed Calvin about the local office supply business, single sourcing, and our Price Spider technology. (Great photo of Calvin, too!)

Costless Express is Climate Smart!

Costless Express is one of the many BC businesses that have learned how to measure, reduce and offset their carbon footprint through Climate Smart.

Climate Smart is a program run by Ecotrust Canada to show small- to medium-sized businesses how to be more efficient and reduce their carbon footprint. Check out their Alumni page to see what other BC businesses (Besides Costless Express and Frogfile) have participated in the program!

For more information about the Climate Smart program, visit http://www.climatesmartbusiness.com.