UNPACKING THE Success OF OTTAWA MOVING LOGISTICS

Moving. The very word instills a deepseated sense of dread in the souls of homeowners and renters. There’s one person, though, immune to that sensation. She loves the prospect of relocation so much, she’s dedicated her professional life to it:

Rosie Rowe, owner/CEO of Ottawa Moving Logistics.

Over the early part of her life, long before she decided upon making the art of packing and transporting a career, Rowe moved over 18 times. Born in Pembroke, she found herself in such diverse places as Cold Lake, Alberta, and Kingston, Ontario. But when she came to Ottawa, she knew she’d found a place she wanted to stay. “I love it here!” she announces. “The city has a small-town feel but it’s always growing.” One of the symptoms of that growth is its effect on the population, creating a crowded real estate realm of new homeowners, aging downsizers, first-time condo buyers, serial office switchers, and people in need of storage space. For anybody in the moving business, that’s paradise! omlogistics.ca

After fifteen years of running other peoples’ businesses, Rowe was growing restless. Reading the geographic fluency of the Ottawa market, the entrepreneurial Rowe recognized a niche. Could her reputation as a helpful hand whenever a friend was trading living arrangements be the basis of a second career? “My former partner and I were listening to a friend expressing a serious lack of quality relocation service providers in the Ottawa area. We saw an opportunity and we jumped on it. We picked the name, Ottawa Moving Logistics (referred to as OML), then, followed all the steps to start a business. I resigned from my job, dove headfirst into OML, and haven’t looked back.”

A one-stop shop for small and large residential and commercial relocations, OML has dedicated specialists for both branches. The company, which serves Ottawa, the surrounding areas, and other locations across Ontario and Quebec, offers free in-home or in-office estimates, then manages the entire move. For its commercial clients, OML takes care of all decommissioning, dismantling, and installation. As for storage, the company’s spacious warehouse is fully secured, temperature controlled, and monitored 24/7 via CCTV with direct connection to first responders.

OML lists its core values as integrity, ethics, respect, transparency, and commitment—but there’s another point of pride: its owner. OML is one of few female-founded and fronted moving companies in the country. “I did have to establish myself in the past, being in a male-dominated industry,” reflects Rowe. “I focused on building connections and learning from some of the best in the business. Since then, I have not felt many challenges, other than day-today business challenges.”

And even those, she and her hardworking staff of thirty meet with aplomb. As proof, there’s OML’s long list of institutional distinctions, including accreditations with the Better Business Bureau, the Canadian Association of Movers, and the Canadian Business Review Board. Earlier this year, OML earned Faces Magazine’s Peoples’ Choice Award for Best Office Moving Company.

But what really propels the packing of the boxes, the rolling of the trucks, and the unloading of the furniture is Rowe’s enthusiasm for a life convention most consider a necessary evil. “I love moving,” she reiterates. “I enjoy everything about it: the planning, the packing, the unpacking, the setup. I love the many hats I have to wear managing this business. There is never a dull day.”

Of all of the moves Rowe has spearheaded, the career move to head her own company has truly been the greatest.

House of Madness is an Ottawa-based blog for horror enthusiasts that offers recommendations, critiques and reviews of horror-related content, including movies, books, TV shows, and even some video games. In no particular order, here are their top 10 recommendations for those looking for a thrill.

“Sinister” (2012)

When this movie dropped, I thought it looked promising, but would most likely fall short, because although it had a modest budget of $3,000,000, it also had a big name star (Ethan Hawke), and a lot of the time in horror, this just doesn’t gel.

However, I was delightfully wrong in this instance. “Sinister’s” combination of creepy found footage along with the disturbing overall atmosphere of the house make it an uncomfortable joy to watch.

3. “The Changeling” (1980)

Shout out to one mister George C. Scott who took his acting chops normally reserved for higher brow projects, and gave us what I believe to be his finest performance (sorry Mr. Scrooge). This is what a haunted house movie should look like.

(1997)

I don’t care if some would rather classify this as more of a sci-fi than a horror, but when the two

4. “Paranormal Activity” (2007)

Yeah, yeah, that’s two found footage flicks already. I don’t care where the footage on my screen is found, as long as it delivers the scares, which this does in spades.

“The Blair Witch Project” (1999)

The hype of whether this film was ‘real’ or not when it first released is what intrigued people to flock to the theatres initially, but it was no fluke that it was a global success story. With a mere $60,000 budget, it grossed nearly $250,000,000 worldwide, and earned every single penny. are combined, it makes for claustrophobic chaos. Laurence Fishburne has never been better than he was in this film, and it’s an absolutely horrifying galactic classic.

Another sci-fi horror classic that’s light on the science, and high on the tension. It doesn’t take long for the feelings of paranoia to sink in, and once they do, we’re in for a full throttle ride to Terror Town. I hold this movie in such high regard not only because it has Kurt Russell and Keith David in it, but also for the reason that after 40 years, it still holds up and can scare with the best of them.

Going back and remembering all the great horrors of old, it’s easy to overlook and not give new horror a chance. This movie isn’t even an hour long (57 minutes to be exact), but after tricking you into thinking it’s going to be about annoying teenagers for the duration, it pulls the rug out and shows its real tentacles, and teenagers

“The Shining” (1980)

Going back and remembering all the great horrors of old, it’s easy to overlook and not give new horror a chance. This movie isn’t even an hour long (57 minutes to be exact), but after tricking you into thinking.

(annoying or not) meet different fates which would leave a mortician covering his or her eyes.

Although I thought they did a fantastic job, and I really enjoyed the American remake, on this list I’m talking about the Hideo Nakata version from Japan. This movie brings a level of terror you’re not going to experience without the help of a 3-D movie starring your angry spouse, so definitely keep your baseball bat reserved for vengeful ghosts close by.

“IT” (2017)

Like many, I’ve read the book and seen the 1990 made for TV version, but I was none too ready for what I witnessed on the big screen this time. Tim Curry’s performance in the original was magnificent and hats off to him, but Bill Skarsgard accepted the role, embraced it, covered it with evil sauce, and cooked it to perfection. Pennywise has, and will continue to scar many’s perception of clowns, which is bad news for birthday parties, but great news for horror fans.