September 14, 2024: why I'm spending 50% of my work hours on YouTube

Good Morning, YouTube has become a big part of what we're doing at Lakeview Aquatic Consultants in 2024, so I thought I'd share a little bit about the why & how. Prior to the Pandemic, my use of YouTube at work was limited to playlists I

September 6, 2024: all quiet on the Western Front

Happy Friday for those off work on Saturday & Sunday, and a big THANK YOU to those who work a different schedule to support evening & weekend aquatic/recreation staff. I heard a podcast recently that talked about September 1 (after Labour Day) as the second biggest "New Year&

August 30, 2024: news roundup

Good Morning, I fully realize this email is standing between you and a relaxing long weekend, so I'll keep it as brief as possible. ICYMI we have a developing aquatic/recreation infrastructure crisis. Many swimming pools were built to celebrate Canada's centennial (1967), and now we&

August 23, 2024: are swimming pool assaults increasing?

Friends, we had a technical glitch: last week's newsletter was not sent out as an email, but it was published to the site. Please click here if you'd like to read it. For the first time in over a decade, I decided to take a two

August 17, 2024: Lazar Dukic, CrossFit drowning fatality

Welcome back, or welcome if you are new here. These weekly emails are an opportunity for me to share what I'm reading and thinking about the aquatics industry after Bill C-18 shutdown sharing news on Facebook in Canada. Let's jump right in. CrossFit Games Suspended After

August 10, 2024: unpopular opinion, but there is NOT a lifeguard shortage

Good Morning, I've worked in the aquatics industry for how long - 20 years?! - and my mother is still taken in by clickbait instead of actually asking me what's going on. Here's a recent text message: TL;DR as I say in a

August 4, 2024: aquatics at the 2024 Paris Olympics

If you run an outdoor pool, hang in there: we are less than 30 days away from Labour Day and your reprieve from summer staff shortages. I don't know about you, but I have been on a steady diet of replaying Olympic Swimming narrated by Byron MacDonald (who

July 26, 2024: Jasper is burning

Friends, if you do not reside in Alberta, you might not have heard about the wild fires that devastated the Town of Jasper a few nights ago. At least one client, Maligne Lodge, burned to the ground according to unofficial footage that's come out via social media. Parks

July 21, 2024: glass in the pool is always a bad idea

This shouldn't be the kind of thing that is so rare it requires a celebration, but each month I check Health Enforcement Orders on the provincial website, and only a handful of Recreational Facilities (pools) in Alberta were ordered shut in the last few months! Non-critical violations are

July 9, 2024: free sunscreen solutions

With summer fully underway in the Northern Hemisphere, I just want to go on record as saying that this entire news roundup could be the dozens of fatal & non-fatal drownings showing up in my daily Google News Alerts. It's not that I don't care, but