Barber Shop

I went and got my haircut today. It was getting out of control. But now it feels cool, refreshing, and aerodynamic. I can run faster now. I don't think I've ever really changed my style. It has evolved from the late '80s bowl haircut, to the mid '90s mushroom undercut, and now in the millenium it's just blended towards the top and kept short for my spikes. I know some people have hair dressers whom they have gone to for years. I tried that, but I'm too lazy to make appointments so I just go wherever is convenient. If I'm in a mall thinking I need a haircut, I'll just look at the directory and find one.

I think the one thing I don't like about getting a haircut is the chit chat. It's just meaningless talk about the weather and stuff. I'd rather not chat at all and just get my haircut, but some hair dressers insist on pouring out their life story. I find some new customers talk a lot too. Sometimes I analyze their conversations and think to myself, are they just talking to fill up the akward silences or do they really want to chat? My method is to keep it silent and go into my dream like state thinking about life until the hair dresser asks me if I want gel in my hair.

I usually take a shower after I get my haircut because no matter how you blow dry your hair or wipe it with a towel, the hair bits never completely go away. It's like getting sand out of your clothes after a day at the beach. Sand is just everywhere.

Peace.

DVD Collection

I've been gathering quite a few DVDs over the past couple of years and decided to post what I have. I know of one guy who has over 300 DVDs. That's crazy and maybe I'll become crazy over DVDs too. But soon DVDs will become the VHS of this century as new technology called Blu-ray comes out. A Blu-ray disc can hold 100 GB of data as opposed to current DVDs that hold about 4.7 GB of information. The reason for the larger capacity is that they can store movies at High Definition which has more picture clarity than a DVD.

The List:

The Animatrix
Apollo 13
Back to the Future I, II, and III
Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries
The Best of Will Ferrell
The Body
Bourne Identity
Bourne Supremacy
Collateral
Coldplay Live 2003
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
Enter the Dragon
The Fast and the Furious
Ghost in the Shell
Gladiator
Heat
Independence Day
Kate & Leopold
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Matrix
The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix Revolutions
The Matrix Experience
Michael Jordan to the Max
Minority Report
The Rundown
Rush Hour
Saving Private Ryan
Signs
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars: Bonus Material
Step into Liquid
The Terminator
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (My favourite movie of all time)
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
True Lies

Mass Deliciousness

I took some friends out for Korean food over the weekend. Stefanie, has tried Korean BBQ before, but Julianne hasn't. They both loved it as much as I did. Good times with friends.


Jules, on the left, and Stef, on the right.


Mmm...Korean BBQ beef, chicken, prawns, and other goodies.

Peace.

Corporation = Person = Psychopath?

psychopath n. A person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggresive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behaviour without empathy or remorse.

I rented a film called The Corporation and found it to be thought provoking, funny, insightful, and chilling. The film takes an in-depth psychological examination of the business corporation organizational model through various case studies. It examines the corporation as a person who's seen as a destructive psychopath without a conscience.

In one scene, they showed protestors visiting the former Chairman of Royal Dutch Shell's house. He came out and spoke to them about the environment, oppressive regime, and other concerns that he himself shared with the protestors. The protestors said it wasn't him, but the Shell corporation. He found the biggest difference between him and them is that he could make a contribution to change whereas they had nothing. I'm glad the film showed that executives are real people with real concerns.

The corporation is out there for one thing only and that is making the most profit. Investors don't care who the CEO is, as long as the company makes money. After the 9/11 attacks in New York, trade investors who bought gold would have first thought how much is gold up. As a result, clients who were in gold doubled their money. The attacks were a blessing in disguise. As devastating and heart breaking the 9/11 attacks were, the financial payoff was huge. It is a sad reality.

Another case study showed how corporations target children. Marketing companies have found that nagging was the key to turning profit. They would target children through television ads to make them want to buy a product. Parents would eventually give in to their childrens' wants. By starting young, corporations will have them when they're adults as consumers.

It's chilling how a company like Coca-Cola could reap profits during the second world war by inventing Fanta Orange as the coke of Nazi Germany when Coke had a falling out. While millions died, Coca-Cola was able to continue making money.

The film showed the Kathy Lee and sweat shop issue and how her public appearances actually exposed the issue to millions of Americans who now know of the problem. It actually made the Gap corporation install regulations for monitoring worker conditions and salaries which was a positive result. It's crazy to think that everything I own was pretty much made by some form of cheap labour.

I find in my own core meetings with my job at FedEx Kinko's that it's our duty to turn as much profit as possible. My manager talked about how we need to increase efficiency and land sales so that investors in the FedEx corporation can invest in FedEx Kinko's Canada. Apparently, Kinko's has never made money in Canada since it began operations in the late 80's. There is big pressure from the head office in Toronto for us to perform.

I feel like a slave serving my master (FedEx) and I have complained in the past of how frustrated I was with the company. But God continually shows me that I need to work as if I'm working unto Him, that my work be excellent. I'm reminded of why the Bible spoke of slaves serving their masters with diligence. I now see the connection as I serve my corporate master :) There will be better things to come.

I can see why it's such a big deal with the G8 and the Summit of Americas meetings involving free trade. I don't think I would want to be a protestor. I'd want to be directly involved in the business community to be effective. My goal is to learn and understand business and somehow apply it to benefit others so that I may glorify God. The path I take will be an interesting one for sure.

Peace.

Keane at the QE

Tonight, I came back from a wonderful show put on by Keane at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. They are a piano driven band from Sussex, England who's music embraces such raw emotion with real, relatable lyrics. Tom Chaplin sung with such beauty that it just penetrated through the music. His vocal range is amazing. Tim Rice-Oxley was astounding with the keys. Richard Hughes pounded the drums to a fanastic beat. I wondered how the concert would be guitarless, but with three pianos, drums, and programmed beats, they totally rocked! The ambience was excellent with colourful lighting, strobes, smoke, and video displays. They played most of the songs from their new album "Hopes and Fears" and a couple of older and new tracks. Tom is a lot of fun and made the show interactive by having us sing along with him. With the song "Somewhere Only We Know" he stopped in the middle of it and had us sing the rest while the band played before taking over with his voice. In between songs, one girl got up on stage and hugged Tom, while the security guards quickly whisked her away. He was a bit caught off guard, but said he was flattered.

This band has so much potential to grow and make it big in North America. They're already quite a success in the UK. Keane put on an incredible show and I definitely want to see them live again.

Peace.

Slackers

I've been getting quite frustrated at work lately. Aside from the work being stressful, the work ethic of some people just sucks. We've had a lot of team members coming in late and management has been aware of the problem. It has been addressed with team members signing an agreement of being on time, but the tardiness still persists. There are some team members I notice that avoid work like a plague. One person in particular will come in late, take a few smoke breaks, take long lunches, do some paper work that has no greater purpose, hide in his office, avoid the front counter if he can, and will drive to pick things up. This guy is one of my assistant managers. Crazy eh? I've brought this to the attention of my manager, and he knows it's been going on. There is another guy who does production that I feel doesn't respect me as a Project Manager. When I ask him to get something done, he tells me to do it or makes a silly face. Man, the crap I deal with and the little respect and pay I get. I work like a freakin' dog there.

But you know on a positive note, my work has taught me a lot of things about people, management, business, technology, and the many types of paper. I've also had some good spiritual conversations. For these things, I am grateful. What keeps me going is that it's only a few more months until I head back to school in the fall. And also I am better off than most people in the world who work long hours for pay that is barely enough for their basic needs. For this, I am blessed to be where I am.

Peace.