Back in business
Well, it's high time to write a thing or two. Honestly, if you're reading this, it's a little depressing that you've kept checking all this time to see if I've posted anything. But, still, I am truly grateful! Your diligence will, hopefully, be worth it.
So, I ran ten kilometers without stopping the other day (see: new years resolutions 2009!). Took me 59 minutes, which puts my goal of running the TC10k (coming up in 12 days) in under an hour within reach. It's no guarantee though, because that 59-minute run very nearly killed me. I'm changing my goal to 'under 55 minutes', just to keep things interesting.
You know, it's good to spend as much time combating your natural weaknesses as you do enhancing your natural strengths. My natural weakness (among many), as far as it seems, is endurance. Every time I practice and work on endurance, it is grueling, painful, difficult, and never does it come easy. So here we are; after months, and I mean months, of consistent running, biking, hiking, and even rowing, I can slog out 10 kilometers at what most runners would consider to be a slow-to-moderate jogging pace. To me though, it's a real accomplishment.
All this running has made me think about the concept of 'wanting it'. You know, how the olympic announcers always attribute a neck-and-neck marathon or cross-country skiing or triathlon win to one guy "wanting it just a litle bit more"? It's a bit insulting, don't you think? Maybe the guy in second place wanted it way more, and the winner just didn't have to try as hard. In fact, for all we know, the guy who came in dead last might have wanted it the most, and might have tried harder than anybody else in the field. Sometimes you'll see Michael Phelps cruising his way to victory in qualification matches, "saving his energy", against guys who look like they're being tailed by great white sharks they're swimming so hard. In the end, physical competitions are only really as fair as our bodies are similarly endowed.
Anyway, the boost of confidence I've received thanks to this little feat, and the general shape I've gotten into for it, also may have contributed to the job I just landed, serving at a classy patio restaurant right down in Victoria's Inner Harbour, over the summer. This job was sought after, and I finally got the offer after two interviews, and a cruel selection process that seems to have distilled 4 or 5 servers from a pool of at least 25. The first interview was group-style. I was the lone male among nine female candidates and two female managers. Not one was less than a 7.5, if we're to be frank about it. I was given a minute to "sell myself," and my experience as a debater, trying to keep cool back in the old days while being watched by hot girls in private school skirts, came in handy. The second "short list" interview was detailed and thorough, lasting 45 minutes and peppered with serious personality and experience questions. It was like trying to land a job as a fricking supreme court justice. All this, I thought, so I can hand out salads and run credit cards. All this, I thought, so I can get in once again on the pointless racket that is our cultural custom of tipping servers 15 cents on the dollar when the check comes.
The nice thing about Korea was, there was no sales tax and no tipping, anywhere. The price you see is the price you get, end of story. And they didn't fart around adding .49 or .99 to everything either. I really hate when stores do that, adjusting the price or offering little buy-two-get-one-free deals, or screwing around with payments or cash back or interest rates or limited-time sales. It's cold manipulation, masqued as a favour to the customer, and I don't appreciate it. Stop taking advantage of our innate weaknesses with logic and payoff structures. It hurts society, it really does.
So, at Wal Mart the other week, the girl at the till asked me for my postal code as she was ringing my stuff through. "Why?" I asked. "Well, we ask everybody... Wal Mart just wants to know for some reason." I thought about it for a moment, since she clearly had no idea what it was for, and told her my guess. I said they collect postal codes and match them to the purchasing habits. What people, in what neighbourhoods, by any given kind of product? How many people from any given neighbourhood go to Wal Mart, and how often? Can you see the postal code map that wal-mart could populate with detailed consumer data, not unlike a population/demographic map? They could map out entire countries, target underutilized communities, learn exactly where to place new stores, market certain products to certain areas, and even predict household income and debt levels using a statistical combination of real estate prices and purchasing habits. I bet if you had the postal code of a regular wal mart shopper, and all their recipts, you could approximate their age, marital and parental status, even mortgage payments and debt. Just think how deep that rabbit hole could really go...
I was holding up the line by this point. The cashier had this dull, useless stare, indicating vague interest, even attraction, but also passivity and boredom. She looked like the chick in Twilight always does, whatever her name is.
It's a scary world this way. Most people just give their postal code without even thinking, because we're geared (especially in Canada) to answer positively and politely to questions that are asked positively and politely.
Oh, and one other thing. You all know how Thrifty's stopped doing plastic bags, right? It's such a good thing they did for the environment, and pretty forward-thinking that they took the step when none of their competitors are doing it. So, credit to Thriftys for their environmental consciousness!........
But, wait, hold on just a second. Don't we all have to buy kitchen catchers now? I know I do, because I used to use grocery bags for the kitchen garbage can. And we also have to buy cloth reusable bags to go shopping now, right? So let me get this straight, Thrifty's stopped giving away bags for free, in exchange for making people buy two new kinds of bags they never had to buy before, from its stores? And in the name of environmentalism? That's some bold shit right there.
It feels good to write again. Thanks for the read.
So, I ran ten kilometers without stopping the other day (see: new years resolutions 2009!). Took me 59 minutes, which puts my goal of running the TC10k (coming up in 12 days) in under an hour within reach. It's no guarantee though, because that 59-minute run very nearly killed me. I'm changing my goal to 'under 55 minutes', just to keep things interesting.
You know, it's good to spend as much time combating your natural weaknesses as you do enhancing your natural strengths. My natural weakness (among many), as far as it seems, is endurance. Every time I practice and work on endurance, it is grueling, painful, difficult, and never does it come easy. So here we are; after months, and I mean months, of consistent running, biking, hiking, and even rowing, I can slog out 10 kilometers at what most runners would consider to be a slow-to-moderate jogging pace. To me though, it's a real accomplishment.
All this running has made me think about the concept of 'wanting it'. You know, how the olympic announcers always attribute a neck-and-neck marathon or cross-country skiing or triathlon win to one guy "wanting it just a litle bit more"? It's a bit insulting, don't you think? Maybe the guy in second place wanted it way more, and the winner just didn't have to try as hard. In fact, for all we know, the guy who came in dead last might have wanted it the most, and might have tried harder than anybody else in the field. Sometimes you'll see Michael Phelps cruising his way to victory in qualification matches, "saving his energy", against guys who look like they're being tailed by great white sharks they're swimming so hard. In the end, physical competitions are only really as fair as our bodies are similarly endowed.
Anyway, the boost of confidence I've received thanks to this little feat, and the general shape I've gotten into for it, also may have contributed to the job I just landed, serving at a classy patio restaurant right down in Victoria's Inner Harbour, over the summer. This job was sought after, and I finally got the offer after two interviews, and a cruel selection process that seems to have distilled 4 or 5 servers from a pool of at least 25. The first interview was group-style. I was the lone male among nine female candidates and two female managers. Not one was less than a 7.5, if we're to be frank about it. I was given a minute to "sell myself," and my experience as a debater, trying to keep cool back in the old days while being watched by hot girls in private school skirts, came in handy. The second "short list" interview was detailed and thorough, lasting 45 minutes and peppered with serious personality and experience questions. It was like trying to land a job as a fricking supreme court justice. All this, I thought, so I can hand out salads and run credit cards. All this, I thought, so I can get in once again on the pointless racket that is our cultural custom of tipping servers 15 cents on the dollar when the check comes.
The nice thing about Korea was, there was no sales tax and no tipping, anywhere. The price you see is the price you get, end of story. And they didn't fart around adding .49 or .99 to everything either. I really hate when stores do that, adjusting the price or offering little buy-two-get-one-free deals, or screwing around with payments or cash back or interest rates or limited-time sales. It's cold manipulation, masqued as a favour to the customer, and I don't appreciate it. Stop taking advantage of our innate weaknesses with logic and payoff structures. It hurts society, it really does.
So, at Wal Mart the other week, the girl at the till asked me for my postal code as she was ringing my stuff through. "Why?" I asked. "Well, we ask everybody... Wal Mart just wants to know for some reason." I thought about it for a moment, since she clearly had no idea what it was for, and told her my guess. I said they collect postal codes and match them to the purchasing habits. What people, in what neighbourhoods, by any given kind of product? How many people from any given neighbourhood go to Wal Mart, and how often? Can you see the postal code map that wal-mart could populate with detailed consumer data, not unlike a population/demographic map? They could map out entire countries, target underutilized communities, learn exactly where to place new stores, market certain products to certain areas, and even predict household income and debt levels using a statistical combination of real estate prices and purchasing habits. I bet if you had the postal code of a regular wal mart shopper, and all their recipts, you could approximate their age, marital and parental status, even mortgage payments and debt. Just think how deep that rabbit hole could really go...
I was holding up the line by this point. The cashier had this dull, useless stare, indicating vague interest, even attraction, but also passivity and boredom. She looked like the chick in Twilight always does, whatever her name is.
It's a scary world this way. Most people just give their postal code without even thinking, because we're geared (especially in Canada) to answer positively and politely to questions that are asked positively and politely.
Oh, and one other thing. You all know how Thrifty's stopped doing plastic bags, right? It's such a good thing they did for the environment, and pretty forward-thinking that they took the step when none of their competitors are doing it. So, credit to Thriftys for their environmental consciousness!........
But, wait, hold on just a second. Don't we all have to buy kitchen catchers now? I know I do, because I used to use grocery bags for the kitchen garbage can. And we also have to buy cloth reusable bags to go shopping now, right? So let me get this straight, Thrifty's stopped giving away bags for free, in exchange for making people buy two new kinds of bags they never had to buy before, from its stores? And in the name of environmentalism? That's some bold shit right there.
It feels good to write again. Thanks for the read.
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