Staycation

I used to use a lot of my time to just stay home and chill out. It was a product of a lot of work travel. Since I moved and have reduced my work travel, I have have been using a lot of my time to go places, both near and far. Well, this last week I took the week off and just hung out. 

I had very little on the schedule. The only thing I had to do was convince a doctor I had never met before that I was still healthy enough to fly airplanes. As it turns out, I am. I did a few things that you would expect, such as laundry and grocery shopping. I went to the gym three times, as I do most weeks. I saw a couple of movies and liked them both.

What I did with most of my off time is sleep. 

I knew I was getting a bit tired but I had no idea how bad it had become. Getting tired is a slow and insidious thing. It doesn't happen overnight and each day you really aren't any worse than the day before. Over the long haul, you can get pretty tired and that's what happened to me.

On Friday I woke up refreshed. I looked at myself in the mirror as I brushed my teeth and noticed I looked much more refreshed. I have also noticed my mind is much sharper. I am thinking like I can.

I've always been a guy who will grind himself down. I feel I have to get things done or take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves. It's a good way to live. It makes life worth living. The drawback is you can get really tired if you are not paying attention. 

It was great to get caught up on some sleep. I feel I can take anything on. The alarm is set and I will take on anything that pops up, all because I took a staycation.

Room Service

I stay in a lot of hotel rooms, it comes with travelling regularly. Most rooms are better or worse. They have a great bed or a lumpy mattress. The TV can be too small. Most of this really doesn't matter and most are comparable. There is one thing that is lacking in almost every hotel.

There is nowhere to plug in your devices.

There may be one plug in on the lamp. There is almost never a plug in near the bed that is not being used. 

If you are providing free wi-fi, what do you expect us to use it on.

Nearly everyone travels with a cell phone and some other devices. Business travellers often have a lot of equipment and use it in their hotel room.  If you don't have anywhere to plug in, you are not serving the needs of today's traveller.

Thankfully, this can be easily rectified.

All it takes is a power bar on the desk in the room.  It should have enough plugs to power up your phone while you use your laptop and maybe charge your iPod. If you buy them in bulk, you probably will get a decent model for under $10. If it's there to be used it will be and quickly pay for itself. This luxury is so uncommon, word of mouth would quickly drive business up.  Companies would see you as a location of choice. It would be an improvement, that would be noticed, for very little cost.

We have all been there. We have all been crawling behind the bed or the chair, looking for a place to plug in. The problem is only multiplied by the number of people in the room.

So, if you run a hotel, take note and give the modern traveller a place to plug in.

Olympic

After two weeks, the Olympic games in London have come to an end. I didn't comment on them as they happened but as a package there is a lot that can be said.

As always there were winners and losers. There were people who tried to cheat and were caught. There were people who didn't mean to cheat but were disqualified. The officials made some calls that had people shaking their heads.

There were some amazing moments.

Usain Bolt revved up the big engine and won three gold medals.

Michael Phelps won enough medals to become the most decorated Olympian ever.

Ian Miller competed in his 10th Olympic games. His Olympic campaign has lasted longer than my career will probably last. That is incredible focus and dedication.

The Canadian women's soccer team won a bronze and it was celebrated.

Records were broken and so were hearts.

Some people did their best and it wasn't good enough, at least they know they couldn't have been better on that day.

There was controversy in Badminton. Some players were trying to lose so they could face easier opponents. That may speak to a problem with the tournament structure. However, this is the Olympics. It only comes once every four years and you don't know if you are ever going to make it back. I can't imagine being the person who looks back and says, I didn't do the best I could. That would haunt me.

I like the idea of the Olympics. It brings the world together and makes the world watch. It makes you proud of your country. You get the highest and the lowest. It is a human drama that may or may not go as expected.

I didn't go to London. I may go to Rio. You never know what the future may bring but i'm sure the Olympics will be full of excitement.

Music at Work

Normally I can't listen to music at work. It's not important why but for a couple of months I am once again able to enjoy soothing and motivating melodies as I go about my duties. There was a time I always had music going. It helps to motivate me and keep the day rolling.


I find when you get deep into your work and really start to get productive the music keeps you going. The music gets deep into your soul and stimulates creativity. More is completed with better ideas when the music is playing. I miss it when I can't listen and that is the norm since I moved to Ottawa. I don't expect it to be silent for the rest of my working days but there will be a time it will be quiet again.


When it gets too quiet, I can hear the lights hum and the click of keyboards. It gets painful. It's stifling to creativity and slows my production. It makes me less motivated to go to the office. However, when the tunes are going, I can seem to find a better solution. I can seem to get it done sooner and I can seem to be more pleasant in the workplace. To me, that's all upside.


The Tragically Hip wrote a song about music at work and when I hear it while I sit at my desk, everything just seems right.

Penn State

The NCAA handed down the punishment today. For me, it doesn't really matter what the NCAA says. For me Pennsylvania State University committed the worst foul you can commit. They looked the other way when a youth was being harmed. It doesn't matter when or how or why. It only matters that they did.


From what we seem to know is the senior leadership believed they had to cover it up to protect the image of the school.


I don't know what was said in the discussions that lead to the decision to not act on the information they had. University presidents, athletic directors, and head football coaches can be persuasive people who tend to impose their will on others to get things done. Unfortunately in this case, whoever was the most influential, had the wrong idea. They may have feared for losing their jobs because this happened on their watch. They were right because they chose not to act and lost their jobs because of it.


When the first incident happened it was an act of an individual. By not acting on the information the school made it a Penn State issue. Once they knew all they had to do was call the police. When the story broke all they had to do is to hold a press conference and say they called the police because of information that became available. That would have shown the school did not condone the activities of an individual and will act if something like this happens. That would have been the right answer.


Any organization that deals with youth has a fiduciary responsibility to protect the young people. The difficult part is until someone does something wrong there is no reason to believe they are not a stand-up person. However, once they cause harm, they must be held to task. That's where this student fell down.


A lot of bad decisions can be forgiven, I'm not sure this one can.

Vegans and Vegetarians are Awesome

I eat meat. I eat quite a bit of meat and I like expensive cuts of meat. This is why I like people who choose to not eat meat so much.

I have a Commerce degree, in Marketing. I went to school to try and end up on the right side of the supply and demand equation. Everyone who doesn't eat meat pushes the overall demand down so it should move the price down.

Fresh food moves quickly thought the supply chain. It has to to remain fresh. Since it moves quickly, the front end can react quickly to demand or lack there of. Unfortunately for them and fortunately for consumers, the margin on food is very low so you need to move a large volume to cover your overhead. That's where we win. Day after day and week after week slaughterhouses and processing facilities run at capacity irregardless of demand. So the more people who choose to not eat meat the more is available and the price will drop.

That's why I don't try to encourage people who don't eat meat to try it.

I realize it may be a bit cold and calculating but if it means my ribeye is a buck cheaper, I'll take it.

If you love meat, eat it. If you don't, that's fine, you are helping me too.

Hipsters

Hipsters are annoying. There I said it. They don't care what others think of them and they don't notice how they affect others.


To make my point we are going to need some context. I walk down Rideau Street in Ottawa to get to work and back. They just started construction along part of Rideau Street. This includes a fence that runs along the sidewalk to keep the construction in and the non-construction out. It's a good idea but it has made the already narrow sidewalk really narrow. It's only about two people wide. 


As I was walking home from the gym I caught up to three hipsters who were walking very slowly and talking about comic books. I don't care about the comic books but they were walking two-abreast. The odd man out was pushing his bike and routinely turning around and walking backwards to see his hipster friends. He was so self-absorbed that he did not notice the group of people they were holding up by walking so slowly. It should not take five minutes to get from the Second Cup to The Beer Store, but it did.


I don't care if you want to walk slowly and talk loudly but let others by if you are. To put it in language a hipster may understand, "Dude, you're harshing my mellow." It upset my post workout bliss.


There is a lot about hipsters that I could rant about by most of it doesn't change my life at all so it really doesn't matter. What does matter is when people are so inconsiderate that they impact others. Try to not be that guy. Be aware of the world around you. Not only will you make others lives better, you will enjoy yours more. I'm not perfect but I try to be polite and considerate of how others want to live.