office - space - CALGARY / Mark Kolke, Lease Negotiator - Office Specialist

+ Bank of Canada interest rate announcement tomorrow; significant reduction expected

+ Calgary Flames defeated San Jose to send their series to a 7th deciding game

+ crude oil prices @ 5:15AM MDT as quoted by Bloomberg.com ; Nymex Crude Future US$116.65/barrel, Dated Brent Spot US$113.44/'barrel, WTI Cushing Spot US$116.69 (Friday close)/barrel; prices rose last week on news of supply disruptions in Nigeria; also, reduced US inventories & OPEC rejected calls from the U.K. and Japan to boost output

+ Earth Day tomorrow

+ Grey Wolf Inc. & Basic Energy Services Inc. agreed to combination; will operate as Grey Wolf

+ in New Orleans today the three Amigos (Harper, Bush & Calderon) will meet to discuss border issues, so they say, but the real issue is how NAFTA can be kept intact with discussions about harmonizing standards in the face of US presidential campaign rhetoric calling for NAFTA to be scrapped or re- written . . stay tuned

+ OPEC officials say there is no shortage of oil in the market, that record prices are a product of speculators speculating & a weak US dollar

+ PGA Tour's Verizon Heritage Tournament played at the Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head Island, S.C., with a 15-under 269, won by Boo Weekley for the 2nd year in a row; first place paid US$990,000

+ Arsenal Energy Inc. closed $4,787,058 equity financing

+ Best Energy Services Inc. closed US$13.566 million equity financing

+ Deep Down Inc. agreed to acquire Flotation Technologies Inc.

+ Direct Energy agreed to acquire Canadian based oil & gas assets of TransGlobe Energy Corporation

+ EPCOR Utilities Inc. closed $375 million debt financing

+ National Oilwell Varco Inc. closed new US$3billion debt financing

+ Peak Energy Services Trust agreed to sell its cased hole wireline division to Canadian Sub-Surface Energy Services Corp.

+ Stratic Energy Corporation closed US$150 million debt financing

+ Terra Energy Corp. agreed to sell its NE British Columbia assets for $67,100,000.00

+ The Thomson Corporation completed its takeover of Reuters; will operate at Thomson Reuters

+ U.S. recession watch: Citigroup Inc . hurt by more than US$16 billion of write-downs and costs related to credit losses, reported US$5.11 billion 1st qtr. loss, cutting another 9,000 jobs; led by Nevada, California & Florida, home foreclosure filings surged 57% in the 12 month-period ended in March & bank repossessions soared 129% from a year ago; National City Corp., Ohio's largest bank, getting US$6 billion capital infusion from Corsair Capital LLC led group to help the company cope with subprime loan losses; Bank of America Corp. announced 77% 1st qtr. drop in profit; Merrill Lynch & Co. took US$6.5 billion in write-downs, reported quarterly loss of US$2 billion, laid off 2,900

+ Al Westman, founder & Chairman @ Jayman Homes, died

+ Carl Kirst to Sr. Research Analyst, Equity Research Group @ BMO Capital Markets

+ Graham Senst to Managing Director @ KingSett Canadian Real Estate Income Fund LP

+ Harry Nichols Jr. to VP Human Resources @ CVR Energy Inc.

+ James O'Connor to General Counsel @ Winstar Resources Ltd.

+ Jerrad Blanchard to Controller @ Winstar Resources Ltd.

+ John McIntyre to CFO @ Marksmen Resources Ltd.

+ Keval Khanna to Director Residential Property @ TransGlobe Property Management

+ Mark Quartermain to Pres. @ Energy North America (US) LP & Shell Energy North America (Canada) Inc.

+ Memet Kont to COO @ Calvalley Petroleum Inc.

+ Mike Kennedy to Manager, Public Consultation @Gecko Management Consultants (2002) Corp.

+ Peter Devenis to Partner @ Gecko Management Consultants (2002) Corp.

+ Stephen Massel to CFO @ Burntsand Inc.

Apr. 22; Alberta Budget Speech, Alberta Legislature, Edmonton

Apr. 29; 14th Annual Vancouver Real Estate Forum; Hyatt Regency Hotel, Vancouver, info/registration: http://www.mmpiwest.com/realestateforumsw est/vanc ouver/

Apr. 29-30; Buildex Edmonton; Shaw Conference Center, Edmonton, info/registration: http://www.buildexedmonton.com/

May 3; Safe Haven Foundation - Street of Dreams Gala, Calgary Hyatt Regency Hotel; info/tickets/sponsorship: sara@safehavenfoundation.ca

May 8; Turning Points Non-Gala Dinner, The Westin, Calgary, in aid of the Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter; info/tickets: http://www.calgarywomensshelter.com

June 10 - 12; Global Petroleum Show, Stampede Park, Calgary, info/register: http://www.petroleumshow.com/globalpetroleum/page. cfm/Link=12/t=m/goSection=8

July 7-9 ; 34th G8 Summit, Tokyo, Japan

Apr. 22;

• Canadian National Railway Company, Annual Meeting of Shareholders, Chicago
• Encana Corporation, Annual and Special Meeting, Toronto
• Husky Energy, Annual Meeting of Shareholders, Calgary
• TransAlta Corporation, Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders, Edmonton

April 24;

• Suncor Energy Inc., Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders, Calgary
• Tanganyika Oil Company Ltd., Annual General Meeting, Calgary

May 29, The 15th Annual "IFMA OPEN" , IFMA Calgary Chapter , Calgary Elks Lodge & Golf Club, info/register: info@ifmacalgary.org

May 29-30, 9th Annual AMBA/MLAA Spring Golf Classic, Mortgage Loans Association of Alberta (Edmonton Chapter) & the Alberta Mortgage Brokers' Assn., Industry Night and Golf Tournament; proceeds to Habitat for Humanity, The Links, Spruce Grove; info/registration: james.robertson@firstnational.ca

June 9; Global Petroleum Show Charity Golf Tournament in support of the Werklund Foundation; Valley Ridge Golf Course, Calgary; info/register: http://www.petroleumshow.com/globalpetroleum/page. cfm/Link=39/t=m/goSection=22

June 10; Heart & Stroke 2008 Golf Classic Tournament, Lynx Ridge Golf Club, info/registration: tgruszecki@hsf.ab.ca

June 12; 6th Annual Coast Hotels & Resorts Golf Classic , Westwood Plateau Golf & Country Club, Coquitlam, BC; in support of Coast Athletic Assistance Program; info/register: m.hope@coasthotels.com

July 2; 6th Annual Calgary Chamber of Commerce/TELUS Play with the Presidents Golf Classic, Heritage Pointe Golf Club, DeWinton; sponsorships still available. Contact Ron Peters at 750-0400 or rpeters@calgarychamber.com

July 14; 8th Annual Ronald McDonald House Southern Alberta Charity Golf Classic, Silvertip Resort, Canmore; Lawson Projects is the Presenting Sponsor; info/registration: lorne@lawsonprojects.com or colleen@rmhsouthernalberta.org

August 15; University of Lethbridge Alumni Association - Calgary Chapter 7th Annual Alumni & Friends Golf Tournament, Shaw-nee Slopes, Calgary; info/registration: kfilbert@shaw.ca

note: if you are sponsoring / supporting a charity tournament in the Calgary area in 2008 we are happy to list them early here; just send your tournament data and contact information to: research@maxcomm.ca

+ PLANDFLEX CORPORATION will develop and or acquire commercial and institutional properties: Public Private Partnerships (P3), development for governments, NGOs, school boards, hospital boards, municipalities etc., build-to-suit developments for strong credit tenants location focus is smaller & major communities in Western Canada. Inquiries and/or property offerings to:

• PLANDFLEX CORPORATION
• Attn: Mark Kolke, President
• Suite 1000, 888 - 3rd Street SW
• Calgary, AB T2P 5C5
• Phone: 403-444-6939
• e-mail: mark.kolke@maxcomm.ca

+ Alberta Investment Management Corp. (AIMCo) consortium of investors agree to acquire Puget Energy; a $7.4-billion takeover of Washington state's biggest power & gas utility

+ Suncor Energy & the Province of Alberta signed an agreement for construction & maintenance of an interchange that will improve traffic flow & safety on Highway 63; Suncor will pay for/construct a $55 million interchange, to be built about 25 km. north of Fort McMurray; once complete, ownership will transfer to the Province

+ TransCanada Corporation issued a press release explaining the issues around the start-up of reactors at Bruce Power; I read it six times & could not make sense of it at all; Hal, maybe you should hire me to write for you because it was less clear than mud. The good thing was that I didn't waste any paper printing it off because I could tell the best way to save the environment was delete the whole thing which is sad really, when you consider the project is doing such great benefit for the environment - too bad your messaging read like something a politician would write when trying to obscure or deflect, because it said nothing (I'm an intelligent guy) any informed person could decipher. Your corporate communication is usually much better.

+ Earth Day tomorrow April 22nd

• for leasing/purchasing assistance, contact: Mark Kolke
• email: mark.kolke@office-space- calgary.com
• http://office-space-calgary.com

NEW DOWNTOWN COER OPPORTUNITY:

• Office Suite, 30th Floor Petro-Canada West Tower
• 1,400 sq. ft. o space, fully contained & furnished suite within a business centre
• 3 window offices & 2 open-plan areas
• available June 1
• e-mail for further details: mark.kolke@office-space- calgary.com

NEW BELTLINE OPPORTUNITY:

• sublease space in the Beltline, 340-12 Avenue SW
• 1662 sq. ft., 4 Private offices, board room; great suite
• available May 1
• sublease term to August 30, 2011
• 'market sublease rate'
• e-mail for further details: mark.kolke@office-space- calgary.com

Mark Kolke lists properties For Judicial Sale on behalf of lenders engaged in foreclosure actions to realize on security for recovery of defaulted mortgage loans. He operates this website to aid in the marketing of these properties and to host the listings of other agents marketing properties offered by way of Judicial Sale

"Madness is to think of too many things in succession too fast, or of one thing too exclusively." - Voltaire

"'But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked. 'Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat. 'We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.' 'How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice. 'You must be," said the Cat. 'or you wouldn't have come here.'" - Lewis Carroll

"Love that is not madness is not love." - Pedro Calderon de la Barca

"Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change." - unknown

"I am interested in madness. I believe it is the biggest thing in the human race, and the most constant. How do you take away from a man his madness without also taking away his identity?" - William Saroyan

"Now you understand the Oriental passion for tea," said Japhy. "Remember that book I told you about the first sip is joy, the second is gladness, the third is serenity, the fourth is madness, the fifth is ecstasy." - Jack Kerouac

"It's not the time or who it's spent with, the trick is to think like mad, and imagine madness so no one knows the moments when I think I'm quite mad - or completely bonkers, to imagine what I imagine, to live this charmed lucky life. I fantasize about idleness, but not long, I can't do idle well, or wild. Instead I work at dreams and dream at work and write and work some more so one day I can just write and write and write some more." - Mark Kolke

"Efficiency is concerned with doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things." - Peter Drucker

"Trouble is bad to get into but fun to get out of. If you're in trouble, eighty percent of the time there's a way out. If you can see the ball, you can probably hit it; and if you can hit it, you can move it; and if you can move it, you might be able to knock it in the hole. At least it's fun to try." - Arnold Palmer

"Being a Scotsman, I am naturally opposed to water in its undiluted state." - Dr, Alistair Mackenzie

"What's the point of washing off your ball when teeing off on a water hole?" - Bruce Lansky

Her Diary: We played golf together today. On the way home conversation wasn't flowing so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed but he kept quiet and aloof. I asked him what was wrong. He said nothing. I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset. He said it had nothing to do with me and not to worry. When we got home I felt as if I had lost him, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there watching the golf channel. He seemed distant and absent. Finally, I decided to go to bed, about ten minutes later he came to bed. To my surprise, he responded to my caress and we made love, but I still felt that he was distracted and his thoughts were somewhere else. After I took my makeup off, I decided to confront him with the situation but he had fallen asleep. I started crying and cried until I too fell asleep. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster. - - - His Diary: Awful day at the golf course today! Shot a 94 - can't putt worth a damn! Shot a 94 - can't putt worth a damn! Got lucky though.

Innovative strategies, inspiring work plans and cutting- edge initiatives; we are writers, editors and business communicators who help you frame your message right the first time, on time.

www.frameyourmessage.com is our website - featuring information on services, writer credentials - writing, speaking, coaching -

We have established a presence in Houston, Los Angeles and Maui - staffing up in each market with well credentialed writers in those markets with subject area expertise and availability. Our work is 99% English content for audiences in Canada, US, UK, Australia:

• oil & gas, energy
• environment
• education
• real estate, development, residential & commercial
• health care
• hotels, tourism, hospitality

MaxComm Communications

Houston | Los Angeles | Maui | Calgary |

Toll Free: 800-252-4294

Mark Kolke writes a daily column (posted at http://markmusing.com ) Musings, after his morning walk. To subscribe (free) to receive his daily musings, write to mark@markmusing.com Musings are e-mailed daily to subscribers and are posted/archived on his blog http://markismusing.blogspot.com & on his Musing site:

+ our objective is to feature information and links to articles which provide insights, ideas and services to help our readers access useful resources to help employees at all levels build on their skills.

+ the Toastmasters program offers an opportunity to improve professional skills; public speaking, leadership training, confidence building - a great way to give your career a boost as you climb the ladder. Toastmasters International - 210,000 members in 90 countries; 65 Toastmasters clubs in Calgary. Toastmasters offer a supportive environment, networking opportunities & a proven program to help people overcome their worst fear - public speaking.

+ Singles and Friends Toastmasters, offers a 'singles only' format - opportunity for socializing & speaking; meets every Wed. @ 7 PM. Info: http://singlesnfriends.freetoasthost.info next meeting April 23

+ MVP Advanced Toastmasters Club, meets @ 7 PM, 2nd & 4th Thursday of the month @ Fluor facility in south Calgary; a club for experienced Toastmasters wishing to hone their skills in a place where the bar is set high; contact club President for further info: Mark.Kolke@frameyourmessage.com or Gerda.Timm@Fluor.com .. next meeting April 24, 7PM http://mvpadvanced.freetoasthost.net

FACILITYCalgary, a MaxComm Communications publication, e-published every Monday. Subscription is free. To subscribe, write to: facilitycalgary@maxcomm.ca

+ a big waytogo to Dr. Samuel Weiss from the U of C; he won the biggest medal short of a Nobel Prize (the 2008 Gairdner International Award) for his work toward brain-cell regeneration using our own stem cells; wow, WOW . . no word yet on whether this will work on New Democrats or Liberals . . but seriously, WOW & congratulations

+ it must be time for spring fever or an election in Ottawa; either way the silliness of Elections Canada, RCMP & the Conservative Party waging war of press releases over whether or not the party overspent in the last election or reported it accurately is so bizarre, especially in the shadow of the Liberal sponsorship scandal boggles my mind; much adoo about do do, do do do do, do do do do . . stay tuned

+ get green, think green, talk green - it only takes a day, one day each year; Earth Day has been around since earth shoes were about walking uphill (perhaps the metaphor still fits); it seems perverse that we have token efforts by organizations & governments to paint themselves green each year on Earth Day & the rest of the year to pay lip-service to environmental issues; record oil prices are a sad milestone to observe on Earth Day this year. Here's a thought; examine how much space you are taking up on this earth & take 1 step to reduce the following: the space you occupy, the energy you burn, the amount you waste . . OK, that's 3 things but you get my point, don't you?

+ Ed Stelmach's throne speech did one thing, above all others, that signals to me that we are in good shape - it doesn't contain dozens of new legislative initiatives which indicates to me that he doesn't think he can fix everything with a new law; it contains one thing, above all others, that signals to me that they don't get it - yet another 'reform healthcare' initiative which sounds so much deck-chair-shuffling . .