You Are Pinot Gris

More hip than most, you spot trends before they even really get started. If something is new and unique, you know about it... and you've probably tried it. You have a good number of projects, interests, and relationships - but they are all fleeting. The world is so appealing and diverse, you can't help but seek variety. Deep down you are: A true flirt Your partying style: Exclusive. You only party with people you've personally selected. Your company is enjoyed best with: A big bowl of pasta

What Kind of Wine Are You?

Job Interviews

Well, I am back on the job market, so if any of you hear of any jobs leads, please let me know, and let the employer know I am more than willing to relocate.

In other news, I have become addicted to job interview tips videos on Youtube. I can't help it. My favourites are the ones by Don R. Varney like his video on making mistakes and leaving your last job. Varney is great because he shows people how to talk during an interview and he sits behind his desk in an interviewer-like seat. Super real time.

The second one I like is Brian Krueger's Tell Me About Yourself, which is pretty great. Actually, I really love ALL of the one's of this guy...he's like those really old infomercials you would show kids, like the ones in black and white about diseases, war, famine, etc. Love it. And he's got a lisp. It's fascinating, because it's on his 'ch' as well as his 's'. So when he uses the word 'choose' (which he does regularly) you really hear it. The best part is that they are all one minute long, super sound bite style, and he has like, 25 videos. I seriously sucked out TONS of time watching these.

Well, back to the job search.

Family Trip

Hey all, FINALLY got my camera to work. I don't know what I did, but it works now. As per usual, the technological reasons of things continues to evade me. On to the pictures!

My Uncle Dave drives the motorhome for the (first?) time and we eventually make it to White Swan Lake, Saskatchewan. It's a big puppy. Granpa kept telling Uncle Dave to turn up the air conditioning, and turn this knob and turn that. I slept most of the way up there. The beginning of many long sleeps that weekend. I slept an average of 11 hours a day. It. was. AMAZING.

My Aunt Jocelyn who made her 'see-no-evil-camera' face. Can you believe this? Anyways, Aunt J and I have never spent any time together whatsoever, and she came up to SK, and we just had a great time. She is such a great lady.

This is my grandpa, relaxing after a long hard day of, uh, relaxing. To be honest, he probably did the most work out of any of us because he walked everywhere, which was really good for him. He walked up and down steps, and we even carted him to the beach on the back of a quad. (This is pretty awesome because he's pretty weak on his one side now that he's had multiple strokes.) He told lots of dirty jokes, God bless him.

This is the Sasquatch. I mean, this is a UFO. Actually, it's that other mythical creature, my- older-brother-Tyler-at-a-family-event. It was like seeing a unicorn for a whole twenty-four hours! Terrific!

Here's Vita (my grandma) helping prepare a giant fish-fry. Wow, this time around we didn't do as much fishing, but I sure did as much eating of the fish. Holy mackarel.

Here is my Uncle Dave, looking relaxed. It was his cabin we all stayed at, (actually, Brennan, the 'Prince of Dubai' as dubbed by my Aunt J, slept in a private trailer in the back.) and we just had a blast there. I must say, it was kinda nice having my own little trailer like that. I think the comment of the day when my Uncle Dave asked me if it was ok if I slept not in a bedroom, but sort of by myself, I managed to muster a pretty nice red-neck accent as I replied, "Wuhl, I always wanted to live in a mot-ar-home, Uncle Dahve."

Aunt J made a scary face for the camera. We played quite a bit of crib over the weekend. I actually won a few games as well.

Now this is interesting, and sad. While tubing, my swimming shorts literally shredded down the side. Everyone had a good laugh, but personally, I was more happy it didn't split down the centre area. Whew. I'm sad I lost my favourite part of swim trunks though, they were super nice.

Here's my Dad and his girlfriend, Cheryl. Cheryl and I formed a PETA alliance over the weekend, saying that we would protect the fish by putting the wrong bait and lures on our fishing rod, and fishing off the wrong side of the boat. (Which basically meant we caught a lot less fish than everyone else, and just chatted.) Honestly, we would do PETA proud with all our catch and release tactics. Yup.

This is FINALLY the picture I wanted to get with just me and my Aunt J, but of coure, I wasn't smiling. Thanks for mis-operating my legacy style camera, Uncle Dave. Sigh.

Again, Aunt Jocelyn finds a way to mask herself. This time with a passport. Nice disguise, they'll never find you in customs.

I never knew my Aunt Jocelyn before, but I found I really grew to like her more and more as we got to know each other. She's a pretty fun individual, even if she does have 'rock star breakfasts' (she's about my uncle's age, and she parties like she's my age. She usually started drinking around mid-day.) and is a little crazy, but I think it's part of her being in PR, and that she's really seen the world, been through a lot of trying circumstances, like a lot of people in my family have. I really respect the Hansen side of the family (My Uncle Dave, Auntie J, Vita) because I think they've all been through a lot of hard things, and yet they seem to me to be the people I know most capable of loving people that matter in their lives. They're really positive people, even in the worst of circumstances. *Unlike me, captial hyper-stress-guy of the century and worrier extraordinaire* I learned a lot about seeing the positive in things and people over this weekend, and that's a life skill I can never take for granted.

Great weekend.

Lame

Well, I have a bunch of pictures I want to upload, but my camera isn't uploading them. This is frustrating. I think my older digital camera just became a 'legacy' item.

=( =( =(


Anyways, I have been up at the lake with the Campbell side of the family for about five days, which is why nothing has been posted here. I will post in the next little while, I am trying to get my bearings. Lots of things to do this week.

Corporate Life

This was taken from a personal blog of a writer Debbie Ridpath Odi. Cool times. Her writing struck me. And it was pretty funny.


Woodpile Philosophy: A Practical Application
By Debbie Ridpath Ohi


This originally appeared in my Blatherings. In June/2000, I sold my Web site to a company to the U.S. and moved to Philadelphia for six months as an employee. My experience there was enlightening, to say the least.
After the Internet craze meltdown, my husband and I spent a great deal of time at the cottage during our sabbatical. During that time, I realized that my entire experience in the corporate world could be compared in many ways to stacking firewood. In a practical application of this woodpile philosophy, I've summarized my corporate experience in the scenario below.


SUPERVISOR: Hi, I'm Steve. What are you doing?

ME: Your company told me to stack firewood. I'm getting pretty tired, though. They said I could hire some help. When will I be able to do that?

SUPERVISOR: Hiring freeze right now, sorry. Anyway, you're not stacking the firewood properly. Here let me show you how. Here, why not try it like -this-?

ME: Um, doesn't it hurt when you do that?

SUPERVISOR: Hey, it's just a suggestion. Anyway, I need a report about how you think we can improve the whole process on my desk by tomorrow. And please hurry! We want a big a pile as possible as fast as possible! We -know- you can do it.

[Next day.]

SUPERVISOR: Hi, I'm Ted. What are you doing?

ME: Stacking firewood. Where's Steve?

SUPERVISOR: He's been transferred to Ops. I was hired yesterday. Anyway, you're stacking firewood in the wrong place. It should be over there.

ME: Okay. Uh, listen...I'm getting really tired here. Can I get some help?

SUPERVISOR: Sure, I'll see what I can do. And can you get a report to me about how you think we can improve the whole process?

ME: I gave a copy to Steve already.

SUPERVISOR: Oh. Well, I haven't seen it. I'd like an updated version on my desk by the end of the day, thanks.

[Several hours pass.]

SUPERVISOR: Hi, I'm Pete. Ted was transferred to another project. I was hired yesterday. Anyway, turns out we've run out of matches so we can't use the firewood yet anyway. Slow down on the firewood stacking until we find more matches, ok?

ME: Um, okay. I haven't had a break in a while, by the way. When do you think I can get some help?

SUPERVISOR: Soon, very soon. Anyway, you were stacking the wood in the wrong place. You should be stacking it over there instead.

ME: That's where I -was- stacking firewood, but Ted told me to stack it in the new place.
SUPERVISOR: Ted was wrong. You'll have to move the wood.

ME: Um, okay. But I have to warn you that I'm REALLY exhausted here.

SUPERVISOR: Ok, I'll see what I can do. And can you get a report to me about how you think we can improve the whole process?

ME: I already gave updated copies to Ted and Steve, but I'll print out a copy for you, too.

[Ten minutes pass.]

SUPERVISOR: Hi, I'm Lance. Pete's been promoted. Anyway, I know you're overworked, so we're going to hire some help for you. This is Gomer; he's here to apply for the job. Can you interview him and give us your feedback?

ME: Sure.

SUPERVISOR: And could you speed up the firewood stacking? Some potential investors from across the lake are going to be visiting, so we need as big a pile as possible as soon as possible. Oh...and I'd like you come up with some ideas on how to improve the whole process.

ME: I already gave copies to Steve, Ted, and Pete.

LANCE: But I never got one. Print out a dozen copies for the team, ok? We can discuss this in our next weekly Team Motivational Meeting.
[An hour later, after Gomer leaves.]

ME: I don't think you should hire Gomer. He doesn't seem to know what firewood is.

LANCE: Thanks for your input. We definitely don't want to hire anyone you aren't comfortable working with. And can you get a report to me about how you think we can improve the whole process?

ME: I already gave you a copy.

LANCE: Are you sure? I don't remember. Anyway, print out out another copy for me.

[Next day]

LANCE: Great news! Gomer's been hired to help you.

ME: I'm confused. I had recommended he -not- be hired.

LANCE: Just give him a chance, okay? Anyway, here he is...

GOMER: Hi there! I'm really looking forward to working with you to move this project forward, going forward. I have all kinds of great ideas to help us think outside the box. Let me know what I can do to help you.

ME: Um, okay. You could start by helping carry some of this firewood.

GOMER: Sure, absolutely, no problemo. But first I have a two-hour lunch meeting with my buddy, Pete The Senior Manager Who Has Great Influence in This Company. We go back a long ways, you know, ha ha. By the way, Lance wants us to come up with a list of ways we can improve the process.

[Next week]

LANCE: So how's it going, guys?

GOMER: Just great. Lots of things are happening.

LANCE: Why does the woodpile look smaller?

ME: Gomer accidentally set fire to the woodpile yesterday.

GOMER: That wasn't my fault. You should have -told- me not to pour gasoline on the wood and toss on a burning cigarette.

LANCE: Ah, that's okay, Gomer. If we need something to burn in the fireplace, we can use this stack of old papers I found in a bottom drawer my office desk the other day.

ME: Those are my Process Report docs.

LANCE: Great, even better!

Snowman Mascot

I saw this on Youtube, this has to be the funniest Snowman I have ever seen.

In other news, I might have a new job soon. Details later.

Argh

I am having trouble sleeping again, so if you see me on the street corner, and I am making zombie-like noises, it's not your fault. And I don't want any brains. (Well, I do, but mine will return shortly, after this week, I'm positive.)

Postive. Eh heh.

Sigh.

Feminine Charm?

I read two very interesting articles about man-woman relations the other day, and I thought I would share. One view in an article called, "Where have all the men gone?" poses the idea that men have all disappeared, and in their places are all these boys-to-men characters. Men who want nothing but casual sex, and prefer nothing but getting off with as many women as possible. Should't it be possible, in the eyes of gender quality administration to have a career and be successful parents, approximately the same age? There are certainly no lack of women who want this sort of life, so why are men so uneager to accept it, and yet are so confused about what they actually do want? This leads the author to conclude that women are the solution, men are the problem; women want successful men, and can provide a certain level of happiness most of the messed-up men require. Women have all the traits that men desire, but men are simply non-commital animals, which means it's not the woman's fault she can't find a good man--they seem to have vanished into the ether. What happened to the picturesque family man?

The opposing view, written by a man, countered her argument with a very Darwinian idea. Namely, that most men that women tend to date when they are younger, are men in their 30s. Once women get older, they begin to hear the 'ticking of the clock' and try and find someone their own age to settle down with. However, all the men that women snub who are in their own age range around 20-27, have become sick of trying to fight for the attention of women their own age. It makes more sense, from a Darwinian perspective, to pick a younger bride/sex partner/LTR-BFF. Probably the most persuasive point the author makes is that men realize that as they get older, they are more sought after, rather than less. Younger men, however, often pine over women use them as floor mats. It makes sense, from this author's perspective, that men don't want to date the era of women that snubbed them.

Now, I must say, as a man, I tend to agree with the man who wrote the article, favoring his Darwinian ideals. Historically, it was very normal for women to get married to older men. People used to marry 14 year old girls to thirty-something men in the Middle Ages. In Rome, women married because they were the property of their fathers, and political marriage were the reason people got married, not for love. Therefore, marriage has a history of falling between people who are different ages, ethics of the practice aside. This seems to just be the rule of marriage; I can't think of many couples or married people I know who were born in the same year. As far as I can tell, it just doesn't happen regularly. We've been historically ingrained with the idea that women should marry/date/fall in love with older men. And people get married to people older or younger than them all the time.

Second, the real question comes as to what people believe marriage to be. The problem of today's society is that it encourages both men and women not to accept imperfections of any kind, to question authority in their life to try and denounce it's value (thanks modernism and deconstructionism, we love you and hate you), to embrace constant change, all the time. Divorce, remarry, have children, don't have children, etc. Men and women can have all the social problems they want, and there is no need to fix themselves, simply look for another person that makes for a better fitting shoe/wife/husband/etc.

Where religion fits into this makes a big difference on how people view marriage, it's hard to deny. If there is one thing that I think most religious people have, is the sense of commitment to a person, through all the things which are hard to bear, good life or bad life. People who get married who have not signed up for some kind of belief system often have few qualms about the rule of 'doing anything they want as long as nobody gets hurt.' But it seems people do get hurt.

Women who want the picturesque family man, raising kids, with the white picket fence is not an impossible dream, but it is made harder from a sadder social understanding of what is right, in terms of sexual ethics. Having sex before marriage is considered the norm. The problem with both these articles (with the first perhaps more than the second) is that they assume that there is nothing wrong with social mores as a whole, but only something wrong with man and women gender relations, in a socially neutral context of martini bars and high living. Neutral, my little black book, I say. The problem lies in morals, not in social relations of feminism versus
chauvinism. The morals of men and women are much, much different than they were even 10 years ago, and I have less fingers than I do friends with divorced parents.

The real question is not where have all the men gone; where have all the good men gone?

And that is a question worth asking.