pool cues and bureaucracy

If anyone has any digital photos (even just one!) of the Urban Tapestry concert or the Library Boy performance at Conchord, I would really, really love to get a copy. Many thanks. :-)

---

Bureaucracy continues to hound me.

I've been trying to close the empty husk of a corporate account shell that used to be Inkspot for months now. Originally I had been told I could just ignore it, but found out that if I don't close it officially, I will continue to receive phonecalls and form requests from the Ministry of Finance for the rest of my days, even if the account is empty and non-active.

To close it, I had to first catch up on my tax filings with the Ministry of Finance. A different lawyer had originally told me I could ignore the forms that continued to come to me by snailmail; he was wrong.

Then I had to fax an official request to the Ministry of Finance for consent for voluntary dissolution of my company.





After about a month, I received two copies of the official consent as well as detailed instructions about how to complete the Articles of Dissolution Forms, with a deadline of 60 days. The letters of consent were pretty funny, in a tortuous sort of way...the tone was "Congratulations! We are pleased to let you know that we have decided to let you close your company, you lucky thing, you!!!"

Of course they didn't send me the forms; I had to look for those myself.
I checked Grand & Toy first, but they were out of the forms, recommended I call a place called Dye & Durham. Because the office is nearby, I went to the Dye & Durham offices on University Avenue and picked up the forms myself (cost $9.78).





I filled out the two Articles of Dissolution forms in duplicate as instructed, attached the official consent letters from the Ministry of Finance for voluntary dissolution as instructed.

Now I have to deliver these documents to the Companies Branch of the Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations, along with a fee of $25.

I could snailmail everything, of course, but my recent experiences have showed me that when possible, it's much better to bypass as many layers of bureaucracy as possible (i.e. I would have to trust to the fates that my letter would safely get through Canada Post, then reach the right person at the Ministry, be processed properly, then the receipt snailmailed back to my correct address). So instead, I'm going to opt to go to the office in person, get the appropriate paperwork examined and approved and stamped, go back home only when I have an Official Receipt clutched in my hot little fist.





I am going to do this fairly soon, carefully avoiding lunch hour. I tried calling the Ministry of Finance to find out their hours of operation, but got caught in an endless series of automated greeting service recordings that told me nothing.

IN THEORY, this last bureaucratic task should be the last in the tortuous Inkspot/Xlibris saga of my life.

Wish me luck.





Had a nice evening with Jeff. I made a shrimp and chicken creole recipe from Anne Lindsay's Lighthearted Cookbook that turned out pretty well (with leftovers for lunch today!) and then we went for an evening walk. We bought a travel version of Scrabble at a games store on Front Street, browsed a magazine shop in BCE place, then played Scrabble in comfy armchairs in a nearby coffeeshop for a while.

---

Today's Blatherpics:

On the way to the offices of Dye & Durham on University Avenue, I came across an odd-looking van parked in one of the regular parking spaces along the side of the street. There were several tourists gawking at it, taking pictures of it and of each other standing beside it.

The van was covered in little plastic figures, mostly bugs. I'm almost positive that it's the pool cue guy's car (I Blathered about him several years ago). The big clue: part of the elaborate sculpture on top of the van consisted of cut-up pool cues.

See Albino's van was like seeing an old friend, even though Jeff and I have only talked to the guy once.