Rodney Munro, VP Operations

Rodney Munro is a quiet man on the surface. Sometimes it can seem like he might not even speak English. Or that he might be speaking another language in his head. He pauses when you ask a question. Is he translating from his own private words into ours? What’s he saying to himself behind that peaceful smile? Whatever it is, there’s a lot going on in there, or as Rodney says, he does “have a lot of stuff in the old noggin”.

There’s another Rodney that’s more talkative. This is the Rodney that you might see late at night after a few rum and cokes, somewhere near a campfire. He’s an admirably well rounded person, living the good life in Nova Scotia. He’s a thinker, a family man, and a professional. I had a chance to explore some personal questions with him recently when we sat down in his office in Whycocomagh.

INTERVIEWER

Where did you grow up?

RODNEY

Whycocomagh. 

INTERVIEWER

Where’s that?

RODNEY

Where’s that? It’s in the middle of Cape Breton, central to everything, the brain center. Grew up just up the road on the old family farm. My parents got a lot off the farm from my father’s father and built a house there, so that’s where I grew up. That’s right across from the old farmstead and basically when I came back from university I managed to be able to be in a position to purchase the property, so that’s where I’m at now.

INTERVIEWER

 I didn’t realize until recently how much boat activity there used to be in the Bras d’Or Lake, like with the canal over in St. Peter’s and whatnot. In a way it was the center of everything.

RODNEY

Oh it was. The Marion came right into here and took the goods up from Sydney. I’m not sure how many passengers or whatever, but certainly Whycocomagh was bigger than Sydney back in the earlier days. And it was much more busy than it is today in terms of activity particularly around the waterfront. I’m a little bit younger than that myself. This is where the boat stopped and everything had to be shipped overland to different places. I know my grandparents would ship stuff over to the train in Orangedale from here and put stuff on the boats that would come off the train and vice versa. And then there’d be the truck inland to Mabou and Port Hood and Margaree and through that country. So it was the center I guess in terms of that. And still of course the Trans Canada goes through here and it’s still the head of the lake. There’s not much commercial traffic in terms of boating these days but it is a place where you can branch off to other areas of Cape Breton from here. It does have that history.

INTERVIEWER

I just got this [coffee] at the Farmer’s Daughter. It was the busiest I’ve ever seen it there.

RODNEY

Yeah it’s been busy here the last few weeks. There’s a lot going on. The festival was on a couple weeks ago. That’s when I really noticed how busy it was down around the intersection at Vi’s and Farmer’s. Just trying to get across the intersection there was a challenge. It’s busy on the weekend. 

INTERVIEWER

Well, here’s my first personal question, aside from the where you grew up beginning. Do you have a favorite time of day? Are you a morning person? Are you an evening person? Are you an afternoon nap person?

RODNEY

I’m an evening person. I relax more in the evening. I can stay up all night. Well, not all night but I’m a late night person too. That’s when I do my extra-curricular activities is in the evenings. That’s when I seem to enjoy things.

INTERVIEWER

Anything in particular recently that’s like a personal project?

RODNEY

I’ve been fairly active in terms of trying to improve my physical activity. Particularly since last December I’ve been fairly active in going to the gym and working out and trying to get in shape and just improve my overall health I guess. That’s been fun. I go over to Port Hawkesbury to the Y, so it’s a time consuming process to drive over there and back and get a workout in and while I’m there I probably do the groceries and do some errands and stuff like that. I do that three or four times a week. It’s usually three times during the week and once on the weekend. So that’s good. I enjoy my time alone actually. I enjoy the quiet. I don’t know a lot of people over there in the gym. It’s kind of nice! I kind of like my anonymity [laughs]. Everywhere else around here you’re running into people that you know and don’t get time to think, so, I like my time to think about stuff. That gives me a chance to do that too.

INTERVIEWER

Do you enjoy the drive?

RODNEY

I love driving. I love driving. My wife doesn’t like how much I love to drive. Or my kids. I could drive all day.

INTERVIEWER

Do you have a dream car?

RODNEY

A Corvette.

INTERVIEWER

Any particular color?

RODNEY

No that’s not really important at this point. I’ve seen various colors. As long as it’s a Corvette I don’t care! 

INTERVIEWER

So you don’t mind the drive so much to Port Hawkesbury then, just the time.

RODNEY

It takes up quite a bit of time, so, yeah. I like the gym there though. It’s got a good atmosphere. It’s a nice gym. It’s clean. It’s airy. It’s spacious.I do like that time to myself. It’s a big factor, but also an added bonus that I get that time to think and reflect and maybe even plan in my own mind what’s going on. I’m not a big planner on paper but I do have lots of stuff in the old noggin there. 

INTERVIEWER

I like driving with talk radio. Podcasts, interviews, that kind of stuff. Do you like driving in silence?

RODNEY

I probably could drive in silence and not notice it. My head is spinning all the time. I do though enjoy the odd topic if it’s of some kind of interest to me. I’m not quite sure if I can give you an example or not. I like to think of things that are going on separate of what’s being thrown at me from the radio or whatever. So it’s not really an educational type of think session. It’s more of a thinking through the logic of what I’ve learned on a daily basis and trying to apply that to what I want to accomplish. 

INTERVIEWER

Do you still have chores at the house when you get home?

RODNEY

I have chores continually at the house because I’m continually renovating the house.

INTERVIEWER

Do you enjoy that sort of thing?

RODNEY

I like the whole process. I do it from start to finish. Whether it’s the rough construction to the gyprocking to the crackfilling to the painting to the trim.There are certain things I don’t do because of their technical nature, like wiring. I do do some plumbing. But trying to stay away from that as well. Um. I also do dishes. I do laundry. I cook.

INTERVIEWER

Ironing?

RODNEY

I don’t do so much ironing, but I do grab the iron every now and then if I need to.

INTERVIEWER

Anything in your life that you’d like more time for?

RODNEY

I would like more time to do some traveling. 

INTERVIEWER

Anywhere in particular?

RODNEY

Traveling doesn’t really have any boundaries for me. I enjoy traveling to the next community and exploring. I think of myself a little bit as an explorer actually because I enjoy finding out new things about places. It doesn’t necessarily have to be places far away. If it’s of interest to me sure. But traveling can just be locally or it can be up the province or it can be out of province. I’m open to new experiences. 

INTERVIEWER

Great. Do you have a favorite TV show right now?

RODNEY

I do. “Suits.” Are you familiar with it?

INTERVIEWER

I have seen it on the Netflix selections but I don’t know anything about it. Just the cover with the “Suits” title.

RODNEY

That’s actually where I’ve seen it, on Netflix. I didn’t actually watch it on TV. I’m not sure why I started watching it. I think I heard on the radio a guy talking about “Suits” one day and how he got addicted to it and he was talking about what it was about and I said I must look at an episode and see and now I’m addicted to it. So, why do I like it? That’s a good question. It’s about lawyers. A law firm in particular. And there’s a lot of strategy involved in the show in terms of how they are able to win their cases I guess. It’s very strategic and it’s funny and I like strategy. I do like strategy, so it’s a learning experience. A lot of it is real world lingo. I believe it to be real in terms of the law. What is actually being read into the script and being done in the show. It’s pretty interesting. It’s also a little bit of thinking out of the box. Trying to come up to solutions to problems in a different way. It’s a pretty cool show.

INTERVIEWER

Did you ever at any point think about doing law yourself?

RODNEY

I did. Yeah. Thought about it, but wasn’t really prepared to go down that road. I had more interest in business. 

INTERVIEWER

Is it the analytical side of law or the arguing, the persuasive side that’s more interesting to you?

RODNEY

Probably more the analytical side of it and the strategy to it as opposed to the arguing. I’m not big into arguing with people. I guess if you’re a successful lawyer you do need that analytical side of it to bring out to win your arguments so I guess it all goes hand in hand in that sense. But I enjoy the strategy side of it I guess moreso. I’m not big into wanting to argue with anyone or negotiate. I don’t like negotiating with people. I’ve learned I have to do it, but I don’t like it. I guess it depends on the position you’re in in the negotiation. I would prefer to say here’s what I want. That’s my final offer. Take it or leave it. But in the real world things don’t work like that.

INTERVIEWER

Would you say that’s a weakness of yours?

RODNEY

I’ve kind of come to learn more about that and try to make it not so much of a weakness anymore. But it certainly would be a weakness if I wasn’t open to negotiating. I see that it has to be done. So. I don’t like it. But anyways.

INTERVIEWER

What about strengths? What would you say is your greatest strength?

RODNEY

That’s a tough one. We’ve sat down and we’ve done strengths and weaknesses and I mean hanging out here at A.A. Munro Insurance has given me the opportunity to explore my strengths and weaknesses quite a bit over the years. Twenty-four years. And I’d say a lot of those years have been at a management type level where we do get introduced to people like Frank Gallant and different other webinars and books and stuff that we’ve read or chatted about. So I think I’ve been able to explore that quite a bit and I do have a list of both strengths and weaknesses. It’s hard for me to narrow down what a major strength would be. I’d rank probably analytical up there with with “nice guy” type strength. I’d say those’d probably be the couple top ones. 

INTERVIEWER

Can we go back a little into childhood again?  Did you have any favorite game in your youth like baseball or crib or hockey or Monopoly?

RODNEY

Well in high school my favorite was volleyball. Still is. I coach the girls junior team here. There’s not much going on for adults around. There may be the odd beach volleyball tournament or something like that that’s going on during the summer. But volleyball does have a strong history in Inverness County. There’s a lot of people that still … once you play volleyball and especially if you play it at a fairly decent level you learn to appreciate that it’s such a fun sport and there’s some strategy to it and athleticism to it. It’s a great sport. And it’s a sport you can play for pretty much your whole life I guess. It’s not an impact sport like hockey or football or anything like that. It’s a good sport.

INTERVIEWER

When did you get into coaching?

RODNEY

My first year out of university. I came back here and they asked me if I wanted to coach the boys high school team I guess here at the time so I took it over from someone at that point and we actually won provincials that year. They had good coaching before that. It wasn’t due to my involvement or anything but certainly they were good kids and they had some good skills. After that it was basically starting over with a bunch of new kids in grade seven. I took them all the way through to grade twelve and we won provincials with that group of kids in grade eleven. We probably would have won again the next year but I asked them if they’d move up a level to double A because I wanted them to get more of a challenge out of it, especially there were a couple of kids on the team that were university calibre players. One did go on to university and play, so it was better for them to play at a better level and stuff. We actually went to provincials that year. We didn’t win but we were respectable, so it was worth it.

INTERVIEWER

Over twenty years with the coaching as well.

RODNEY

Not consecutively but I have been involved in coaching since 1990.

INTERVIEWER

What would you name the autobiography of your life? If you’re going to write a book about yourself …

RODNEY

That’s a question and a half!

INTERVIEWER

We’ll give you an easier one. What would you choose for a name if you had to go into witness protection?

RODNEY

John [laughs]. Everyone calls me John because that’s my brother’s name. And it’s a common name.

INTERVIEWER

Is there any kind of story that your brother or your family likes to tell about you that’s repeated at family gatherings?

RODNEY

That I was spoiled [laughs]. They just tell it to me. I don’t know if they repeat it to everyone else or not. They probably do! See there was an age difference there between myself and John and Anne. John is nine years older than me and my sister Anne, she’s thirteen years older than me so I really didn’t get to spend a lot of time with her growing up. She was off to university by the time I was in grade primary. And John was quite a bit older too so he had a different circle. The only thing I really remember fondly about John was beating him up in the living room, getting him on his knees and putting the headlock on him and making him whine.

INTERVIEWER

Making him whine?! He was nine years older!

RODNEY

Yeah but he was on his knees and I was fairly heavy and chunky.

INTERVIEWER

Oh [laughs]!

RODNEY

He didn’t have a chance on his knees. So that was fun.

INTERVIEWER

On the same topic of family or just in general, is there anything that embarrasses you? 

RODNEY

I’m easily embarrassed. Just naturally. I get embarrassed and turn red if someone pokes fun at me. Is there one thing? I can’t really think of one thing. Probably lots of things. Nothing stands out.

INTERVIEWER

What about one thing that you maybe learned last week? Anything interesting that you learned last week? Or over the weekend?

RODNEY

There was something I learned. What was it I learned. Oh yes. I learned that you don’t have to produce a liability card on a commercial trailer if you’re stopped by the police.

INTERVIEWER

How did you learn that?

RODNEY

I learned it from John yesterday actually, or no, the day before yesterday.  I’ve been in the business for quite a while and don’t deal with the commercial trucking or whatever so much but I learned that.

INTERVIEWER

Oh so if you’re driving you only have to show insurance for the truck.

RODNEY

For the truck. You do have to have insurance on the trailer, but you don’t have to produce a liability card for the trailer. I never knew that. It sounds kind of weird. But it was something I did not know. So that was cool. Aside from that, I can’t think I did anything too exciting other than my normal routine. I probably learned lots of things. I learned that through download you can only have 999 files with TAM. 

INTERVIEWER

You’re trying to download more than 999 files [laughs]?

RODNEY

Well, with eDocs these days we’re going to be jumping over that number someday. So unless there’s some changes in TAM or we move to another system then that will create some issues in my life or someone’s life for running downloads. So that’s something new that I learned. Pretty quiet otherwise the last week or two. That’s pretty boring eh?

INTERVIEWER

No no. It’s great. Relevant.

RODNEY

I guess you learn something new everyday but how much of it sticks out to you.

INTERVIEWER

What about … we’ve all over the past five or ten years had to learn to deal with smartphones and technology, cellular technology. How do you feel about smartphones? Pros? Cons? Timesaver or distraction?

RODNEY

I think overall I’d give them a positive rating. They’ve certainly allowed me more flexibility in my work because my smartphone is my phone number for work. So if I need to pop out of the office for anything then I get the call while I’m out of the office. And as long as it’s not at an inconvenient time it saves me the bother of trying to get back to someone. I hate calling people back. So I prefer that. And also it gets it done. Rather than having to listen to a voicemail and try and understand I can ask questions at that time to see what response needs to be made. Same with e-mails. I can get it off my plate without worrying about it over the holidays thinking I’ll have two hundred or three hundred e-mails that I gotta go through when I get back. I take it with me. And although in some circles that’s considered a bad thing, it certainly helps in my mind to keep organized I guess in terms of what’s going on and to stay up with what’s going on in case I need to get involved in something. Aside from that I enjoy the calendar thing. That keeps me organized. I can input stuff into the phone and it updates on my calendar at work so that’s convenient. And I can store some music on there which is nice to have when you’re driving along and you want to listen to something different or if you’re just not near a car and you want to listen to some kind of music or something. Doing some kind of renovation at home or something like that and you want to listen to music wherever you’re renovating. And you can search the internet if you need to find something out, if you want to answer a question quick and you don’t want it to dwell in your mind. Oh that’s bugging me — look it up on the internet. And you can check the weather. So it’s cool.

INTERVIEWER

Do you watch any movies on it?

RODNEY

No. It’s too small for that. When I watch a movie I like to sit back in a chair and put my feet up and watch it on a big screen. I don’t even like to watch it on a laptop. Generally I like to watch some of the reno shows and the travel shows. House buying. More looking at the design and stuff like that because that’s a lot of my interest too is design. And when I go traveling I’m looking at older buildings. I don’t like anything too fancy. I like it well proportioned. Simple design more than anything. I wouldn’t say architecture is my interest as much as design is. Fancy moldings and stuff like that is not my cup of tea. I’d rather something simple and proportioned. And cozy I guess. Something more real. So those are the kinds of shows I watch. I like good comedies. I don’t like anything too mushy.

INTERVIEWER

What about when the Olympics come around? Do you have a favorite event in either the Summer or Winter Olympics? Do you watch beach volleyball?

RODNEY

Not too much. Beach volleyball is not really my favorite volleyball sport. Indoor would be more strategic to me than beach volleyball. Beach volleyball has four players usually whereas indoor’s got six on each side so there are a lot more combinations of plays and stuff that can happen there than there would be in beach volleyball. So I’d say my favorite summer one would probably be the hundred meters. And my favorite winter, most people would suspect hockey. I enjoy the hockey but trying to think of what the winter ones are.

INTERVIEWER

Different ski jumps and skating races and basketball … 

RODNEY

Well summer would probably be my favorite. I like gymnastics. I like watching gymnastics because they’re super athletic. Super strong. And they do it with such finesse, what’s the word I’m looking for … so smooth in their delivery. I mean they’re performing some fantastic maneuvers there at high speed with a lot of strength. It’s pretty neat to watch. I mean, the ice skating itself, the jumps and stuff. It’s pretty neat stuff. They’re just right on the very edge. I don’t see that with some of the other sports like hockey. I mean they’re on edge and whatnot but it’s more of a rough sport. A grinding sport. The level of detail is not there as much as it is in something like the short program type thing for skating or maybe the gymnastics side of things. Maybe that’s the detail side of me coming out is appreciating that more.

INTERVIEWER

And seeing people on edge.

RODNEY

You’re definitely on edge there. One little slip and you’re done. So it’s a lot of pressure.

INTERVIEWER

You have a more palpable sense that this is the absolute best, like you can’t go any further than this or …

RODNEY

Yeah, like hockey, it goes across the ice this way, it goes across the ice that way. I’ve seen that all kinds of times so it’s not that detail, the fine detail that some of these other sports are. But that only comes around in the Olympics. You don’t see that much. Hockey you do see all year round so you get to expect that this is what they’re going to do this is where they’re going to move this is who they’re going to try to find to pass to and this goalie flops or this goalie’s a standup goalie, so it’s — there’s a lot of strategy there of course but I just don’t see it as having as much pressure and detail as some of these other sports have. You gotta respect the work that these other athletes have put into their routines for the big show. Whereas some of these others are, they play a game every night and it seems to be the same thing every night. They certainly work hard, you have to give that to them, but it’s just not the same.

INTERVIEWER

Have you ever met or been close to an Olympic athlete or a famous person or a well known politician or anyone like that? 

RODNEY

Oh yeah, yeah. Met Brian Mulroney and took a picture with his wife Mila and my wife at my wife’s graduation. Got a picture of them all together. Met some other sports people when I was younger. I remember Mike Bossy at a school thing in Halifax. I forget what that was, some hall of fame type thing up there for all the athletes in the schools. Or not all the athletes but certain athletes were picked from school to go to it. I can’t remember what they call that. They bring in sports athletes to a dinner and there’s usually one or two athletes that get to go to a dinner or anyways, I forget what it’s called but anyway Mike Bossy was there. Actually down in Nashville when we were there for work two years ago, for Applied, it’s bad I can’t think of his name. A quarterback spoke there and he was funny. His name will come to me. Terry Bradshaw. He was actually a really funny man. Trying to think if there’s anyone closer to home that I’ve seen around [pauses]. I’m not star struck. I’m not a star struck person. I respect what they’ve done in the past and what they’re doing now but I don’t idolize them. I’m not that kind of person so I wouldn’t unless, I can’t even think of who I might really idolize, but I certainly wouldn’t go a large distance just to see someone. But I certainly do admire what they’ve done. The experience that they’re getting through sports is pretty unique. The people they get to meet and the places they get to go and the life they live I guess. In a lot of respects it’s good and in a lot of respects it’s probably bad but nothing is what it’s made out to be. I know there are other athletes and politicians and business people. Tony Robbins. We were at one of his things in Halifax. I actually thought more of him listening to his tapes and reading his books than when we met him in the Metro Center. I kind of like people that are genuine. Not to say that he wasn’t, but it wasn’t the type of atmosphere, you didn’t get that feel for the guy. 

INTERVIEWER

What about moving away from sports and politics that kind of stuff, any language that you’d like to learn?

RODNEY

Yes. French and Spanish. 

INTERVIEWER

What’s behind the desire to learn those?

RODNEY

Just that we’re a bilingual country and I’d like to tour Quebec and be able to talk to people and understand what they’re saying and understand their culture better. It would be a benefit in the business world in some senses, depending on where I end up someday. And it’s not just a Canadian language but it’s more of a worldwide language like English so it’s spoken in other countries besides Canada. And probably very similarly with Spanish. It seems like more of a softer language. It’s very much spoken throughout the world as well. And I enjoy hearing people speak it. Seems nice. So yeah. And travel-wise too there’s certainly places where you can travel and it’d be of a benefit to have that.

INTERVIEWER

Any interest in South America in particular? There’s a lot of Spanish there.

RODNEY

More Europe. Europe would be my most sought after destination outside of North America  I guess. Although I’d like to go to South America too. I don’t know. There seems to be more  uniqueness in Europe than South America to me.

INTERVIEWER

When you are traveling, or just when you’re away from the house, do you have a go-to order at a restaurant? Do you always order a hamburger or always order a steak or always order a pasta? Always order the chicken wings?

RODNEY

No. I think I try to figure out where am I, and what is likely to be fresh, and what is likely to be known to be the specialty of these restaurants or whatever. And try to play it by that I guess. But certainly if I’m with someone else and I get a recommendation to lead me to decide to look at something else I’d probably try something else. But I’m not a risky person either. I’m not going to order the alligator or anything like that. Although I wouldn’t say that I’d never eat it but I’d like to know a little bit more about how it’s prepared or whatever I guess in those places or whatever joint I’m in. Not big on raw stuff. Had a bad experience with oysters one time so I stay away from raw oysters. Otherwise I did have sushi for the first time though probably a couple months back and I actually didn’t think I’d like it but I did. So I’m open. But if I have to go to something I’d probably go to a beef or something like that. Just to be safe if I don’t know what the other choices are all about.

INTERVIEWER

Did you have any experience raising cows when you were younger? There was the farm. Was it still a farm at that point?

RODNEY

There was still a little activity going on. There was a butcher shop that still butchered some animals, more on the pork side. It was pretty much over when I was of that age. But I do remember them butchering a pig one day and my uncle ran after me with the tail [laughs]. So that wasn’t a good experience!

INTERVIEWER

But you still eat pig.

RODNEY

I still eat pork yeah. But otherwise that’s all there is to that I guess.

INTERVIEWER

What about injuries? What’s the biggest injury you’ve ever had?

RODNEY

Never had a broken bone. I’ve rolled my ankle playing volleyball and it was a pretty good tear. And I wasn’t in a cast but I was in crutches for a while and pretty slowed up because of my ankle. Aside from that I was playing doubles badminton one day and I let the guy behind me take the birdie and I ducked and he came across with the racket and hit me right between the eyes and split it open. I got stitches for that. And aside from that, knock on wood, I’m fairly healthy in terms of injuries. I injured my shoulders playing hockey and stuff so I can’t really play hockey any more. But I am in the gym lifting weights and stuff so they’re in okay shape, my shoulders. These days, as long as I don’t do the hockey thing with banging I’m okay. So yeah, nothing too serious, just normal stuff growing up I guess.

INTERVIEWER

You were in Scouts growing up?

RODNEY

Yeah I liked it. It was very sports oriented, outdoor adventure and camping and exploring I guess. Yeah it was good. Nice hikes to Meat Cove. I remember being down at Seal Island. We did a camp down there and aside from that we did lots of sports. Floor hockey. We played other Boy Scouts troops. 

INTERVIEWER

Ever do any bungee jumping or anything like that?

RODNEY

No. Never been on a bungee jump.

INTERVIEWER

Sky diving?

RODNEY

No. Not yet.

INTERVIEWER

Hot air balloon?

RODNEY

No. Can’t say that I’m really keen to do any of those things [laughs]. Might do the bungee jumping thing. Can’t say I really want to jump out of a plane and take a chance that the shoot’s not going to pop. Not big on roller coasters. Not big on these things where they spin the hell out of ya and your lungs are over on the other side from where they should be! Or your stomach is [laughs]. Not quite sure what the point of all that is. So yeah. I’ll stay away from those things.

INTERVIEWER

What about dancing? What about the dance floor? Are you a good dancer?

RODNEY

Not at all [laughs]. My two left feet just don’t find my right foot I don’t think so, nah, not a dancer.

INTERVIEWER

Ok. A couple quick either/ors. You ready?

RODNEY

Yep!

INTERVIEWER

Beer or rum?

RODNEY

Rum.

INTERVIEWER

Spring or fall?

RODNEY

Spring.

INTERVIEWER

Lake or ocean?

RODNEY

[hesitates] Lake.

INTERVIEWER

Coffee or tea?

RODNEY

Coffee.

INTERVIEWER

Poker or Crazy 8s?

RODNEY

Poker.

INTERVIEWER

Cape Breton or mainland?

RODNEY

Cape Breton.

INTERVIEWER

[laughs] That last one was a throwaway. Ok, how about just some of the basics, two kids?

RODNEY

Yep.

INTERVIEWER

What’s happening these days in a nutshell with the kids?

RODNEY

Twelve and fourteen. Two girls. Enjoying sports. Enjoying school. Sports mostly. Enjoying the campground during the summer and that’s their life, having fun. And you know we’re chasing them around so it’s good. It’s all good. 

INTERVIEWER

Is your wife up to anything in particular these days? Any big projects? 

RODNEY

Well she’s a teacher so she’s pretty much full force from September to June. She enjoys camping in the summer too. So she’s in the campground with the kids and myself. She’s just trying to relax. There’s lots going on I guess with family and stuff visiting. People passing away and just trying to find time to relax I guess and to spend with the kids. She spends as much time as possible with the kids. 

INTERVIEWER

Sounds like you all enjoy camping. Is there another family hobby these days?

RODNEY

The big thing is sports. The kids are involved in everything there is in school, plus they both play on a girls hockey team in the winter. That starts in October and runs til April and it’s one night a week and Saturday and Sunday. We travel from Glace Bay to Debert or Pictou, either one. Every weekend somewhere. So that keeps us busy. Aside from that we’ve seen a few shows I guess. Musical shows out at Strathspey Place. And we try to get away when there aren’t sports going on just to Halifax or somewhere just get away type thing for a night or two.

INTERVIEWER

Anyone in the family have a favorite sports team?

RODNEY

We’re all Toronto Maple Leaf fans.

INTERVIEWER

Ok. So there’s a family team.

RODNEY

Yeah it’s kind of a family team. It goes back probably to my father and mother and my brother. Not so sure my sister has a favorite team. Her family does. Not necessarily Toronto, it’s Montreal or something like that. So they’re the dark horses. Aside from that I guess hockey’s the big one. Baseball, we’ve kind of converted ourselves to the Bluejays since they’ve come into the league. Probably was Boston before that. And we’re not big into basketball. We probably pay a little bit more attention these days because Toronto’s got a team. We’re not big into football. Probably none of us have a favorite team there. I guess we enjoy sports where the athletes you admire them for their skills and their personalities as well I guess. Probably don’t like someone if they’re not likeable, even though they may be great athletes athletically. But they need to be more well rounded. Some people like arrogant athletes for some reason. Not for me or I don’t think my family anyways.

INTERVIEWER

A big question to wrap up. I saved the big one for the end here. You ready? Do you have a personal philosophy? A tough one to answer on the spot. 

RODNEY

A philosophy …

INTERVIEWER

Or another way might be to ask, what’s a good piece of advice that you’ve received in your life?

RODNEY

I think I’ve always succeeded because of probably working hard, trying to figure out how things work and trying to be nice. I think that’s probably done me well. I’m reasonably successful. I’m not where I want to be in every way. But certainly if I think about my successes that’s what has done it for me. I can think back to sports, not the most talented person in the world by any stretch of the imagination but I worked hard. I tried to learn the strategies. Tried to learn my strengths and weaknesses. Tried to get along with people. And I didn’t always try to do things my way. Tried to see what other people’s thoughts were and incorporate that all together. And the same thing in the business world. You work hard, you look at the strategies, you try to be nice to people and you try to be accommodating as much as possible and you can be reasonably successful doing that as well. So a lot of people take sports analogies into business and in a lot of respects you can make those analogies. When I think about it I guess maybe that’s been my philosophy in terms of this world is to do all those things. And probably in my own personal life too. You can bring that across there too. Working hard at things and being nice and maybe not trying to be so strategic and everything when you’re dealing with personal stuff. But certainly there should be reasons for why you’re doing things. And you have to certainly be accommodating. Those are some of the big factors I guess.

INTERVIEWER

Great. You wrapped everything all together there. Great talking to you Rodney. Thanks.

RODNEY

Thank you!