All the king's horses, all the king's men, and well, the kings, cram into a little meeting room.
*One of my designs flashes up on Powerpoint*
CEO: What the hell is this?
Marketing Director, coming to the rescue: This is a device to blah blah blah. We believe that it will be a good add on to differentiate ourselves....
CEO(interrupting): You mean, like the So&So Product that XYZ made back in like 1985?
Marketing Director, R&D Director, and Me in unison: Really?
CEO: Uh, yeah.
Monday, April 21, 2008
4/20
So I'm out on a bike ride yesterday out by the lake and around mile 40 just east of Wayzata, I'm coasting down a hill toward a red light. I'm slowing down, a little winded from going up the other side. All of a sudden, I take a huge lungfull of potsmoke.
WTF? you're obviously asking. I would have been more surprised, but this has actually happened before.
I look to my left and, lo & behold, a ridiculous sky-blue Geo Tracker has pulled up next to me, windows down with two early-twenty-somethings giggling like hatters.
As they pass me, I notice the huge Dave Matthews Band sticker across the rear window. Figures....you do have to be to pretty high to appreciate the crap he's been putting out in the last 5 years.
WTF? you're obviously asking. I would have been more surprised, but this has actually happened before.
I look to my left and, lo & behold, a ridiculous sky-blue Geo Tracker has pulled up next to me, windows down with two early-twenty-somethings giggling like hatters.
As they pass me, I notice the huge Dave Matthews Band sticker across the rear window. Figures....you do have to be to pretty high to appreciate the crap he's been putting out in the last 5 years.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Mission Accomplished.
This morning I found some Nicotine patches at the bottom of my drawer.
They expired in April of 2005.
They expired in April of 2005.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Ugh...Not more of this Shit.
I feel like my commentary below has a very pugnacious Bill O'Reilly-esque tone, which makes me feel really uneasy, given that Bill O'Reilly is a mouthpiece for some of the most detestable people on the planet, and is a d-bag of global proportion.
Recently, I saw that there is a new local women's(only) triathlon put on by the YWCA. This is in addition to the Irongirl races, a nationwide set of women only runs, duathlons, and tris. (IronGirl specifically supports the Ullman Cancer Fund for Young Adults.) As far as I can tell, there is no charitable pursuit for the YWCA race other than the fact it will probably profit the YWCA and it's race directors.
Let me set things straight right away. I am wholly in support of gender equality. I am in full support of breast cancer research & research for other forms of female gender specific diseases that these races benefit. You will meet few men who defend reproductive rights more fiercely.
Believe me, as hormone-saturated 20-something male, I have a vested interest to save the tata's.
On to the commentary......
The YWCA's mantra is "Eliminating Racism, Empowering Women." Huh. Interesting. You're going to do that by widening the gender gap??
I understand that women feel the need for celebration of your womanhood, but please....do that with your ya-ya sisterhood-type peer group. Having a womens-only race gives makes me feel like this is Augusta National Golf course on the opposite side of the scale. I don't support such Men's only clubs, and I should expect some serious outrage if I organized a men's only triathlon.
Along a similar line, I understand the Curves for Women model, that some women feel intimidated being around other fit people or even sketchy Bill O'Reilly types at the gym. But this case is different--in order to compete in your ~2.5 hour triathlon, you're going to need to spend at least 20 times that training.....at the beach, the pool, on the road/bikepath/spin class, and the running trail/public sidewalks/gym treadmill, etc. To be succinct--you're going to have to try damn hard in order to pull all of that off in a man-free environment.
You're going to empower women by placing them in a women only environment? I simply fail to see the logic. So much for the empowerment. Who's going to witness all this power? If a tree falls in the woods but nobody is around to hear, does it make a sound? Get my drift? This all sounds to me like preaching to the choir, beating a dead horse, spinning tires, and (tee hee)running in circles.
By all means, HAVE a race to support YWCA's causes. I don't care if you make every man & woman wear pink spandex....as long as EVERYONE is allowed to participate.
In all honesty, I personally wouldn't give a shit if there was one unisex bathroom in all public places. Although I do appreciate the short lines, I would see this as a step towards gender equality. All women reading this are saying, "Uh, YUCK!" in utter revulsion----to which I reply, "DOUBLE STANDARD!" You want equality but still insist on playing the "separate but equal" game. The courts ruled that separation does not equal equality among races, and I believe the same holds true for gender. Until then, I'll appreciate the extra 15% pay.
Recently, I saw that there is a new local women's(only) triathlon put on by the YWCA. This is in addition to the Irongirl races, a nationwide set of women only runs, duathlons, and tris. (IronGirl specifically supports the Ullman Cancer Fund for Young Adults.) As far as I can tell, there is no charitable pursuit for the YWCA race other than the fact it will probably profit the YWCA and it's race directors.
Let me set things straight right away. I am wholly in support of gender equality. I am in full support of breast cancer research & research for other forms of female gender specific diseases that these races benefit. You will meet few men who defend reproductive rights more fiercely.
Believe me, as hormone-saturated 20-something male, I have a vested interest to save the tata's.
On to the commentary......
The YWCA's mantra is "Eliminating Racism, Empowering Women." Huh. Interesting. You're going to do that by widening the gender gap??
I understand that women feel the need for celebration of your womanhood, but please....do that with your ya-ya sisterhood-type peer group. Having a womens-only race gives makes me feel like this is Augusta National Golf course on the opposite side of the scale. I don't support such Men's only clubs, and I should expect some serious outrage if I organized a men's only triathlon.
Along a similar line, I understand the Curves for Women model, that some women feel intimidated being around other fit people or even sketchy Bill O'Reilly types at the gym. But this case is different--in order to compete in your ~2.5 hour triathlon, you're going to need to spend at least 20 times that training.....at the beach, the pool, on the road/bikepath/spin class, and the running trail/public sidewalks/gym treadmill, etc. To be succinct--you're going to have to try damn hard in order to pull all of that off in a man-free environment.
You're going to empower women by placing them in a women only environment? I simply fail to see the logic. So much for the empowerment. Who's going to witness all this power? If a tree falls in the woods but nobody is around to hear, does it make a sound? Get my drift? This all sounds to me like preaching to the choir, beating a dead horse, spinning tires, and (tee hee)running in circles.
By all means, HAVE a race to support YWCA's causes. I don't care if you make every man & woman wear pink spandex....as long as EVERYONE is allowed to participate.
In all honesty, I personally wouldn't give a shit if there was one unisex bathroom in all public places. Although I do appreciate the short lines, I would see this as a step towards gender equality. All women reading this are saying, "Uh, YUCK!" in utter revulsion----to which I reply, "DOUBLE STANDARD!" You want equality but still insist on playing the "separate but equal" game. The courts ruled that separation does not equal equality among races, and I believe the same holds true for gender. Until then, I'll appreciate the extra 15% pay.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Prolific couple weeks
Work has been pretty exciting in the last few weeks.
Our patent attorney has on his desk at least 5 different concepts that I've either conceived, designed, or both.
I really feel like I'm discovering & fostering some hidden talents, and it turns out that having a creative mind in an engineering office can make you useful.
I really feel like I'm finding my place at my company, I feel more valuable, I'm enjoying work more, and I feel like a well-defined career path is becoming more & more apparent.
Our patent attorney has on his desk at least 5 different concepts that I've either conceived, designed, or both.
I really feel like I'm discovering & fostering some hidden talents, and it turns out that having a creative mind in an engineering office can make you useful.
I really feel like I'm finding my place at my company, I feel more valuable, I'm enjoying work more, and I feel like a well-defined career path is becoming more & more apparent.
Base Training is over
Yesterday, after a long 2 hour bike followed by a 30 minute treadmill run, base training officially concluded for the first half of my tri season.
Today, I felt a little stiff, and in lieu of an hour run with some pickups, I did some lifting. To warm up however, I hopped on the treadmill, and after getting the blood moving, I "pushed on the throttle" a bit, and took the treadmill up fast.
It felt good. Even more encouraging was how effortless the speed I was at, ~8.5mph, felt. That's way faster than last year's best pace.
I thought all that base stuff was a waste of time, but maybe that guy who wrote Triathlete's Training Bible knows what he's talking about. We'll see, I guess.
I hope he's right, because I really don't want all those miles I ran around town at a ridiculously slow pace to be a waste of time.
Today, I felt a little stiff, and in lieu of an hour run with some pickups, I did some lifting. To warm up however, I hopped on the treadmill, and after getting the blood moving, I "pushed on the throttle" a bit, and took the treadmill up fast.
It felt good. Even more encouraging was how effortless the speed I was at, ~8.5mph, felt. That's way faster than last year's best pace.
I thought all that base stuff was a waste of time, but maybe that guy who wrote Triathlete's Training Bible knows what he's talking about. We'll see, I guess.
I hope he's right, because I really don't want all those miles I ran around town at a ridiculously slow pace to be a waste of time.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
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