Monthly Archives: February 2012

Pi’s Guide to How To Survive Work Trips (And why they suck)

Posted by pius729 on

I travel for work quite a bit. This past week, I was in Las Vegas, Nevada for the Healthcare Information Management and Security Show (HIMSS) with over 25,000 attendees and 460 software, healthcare and security vendors from all around the world. Three weeks ago, I was in Palm Springs, California for my company’s Global Sales Meeting, and a month before this, I was in Los Angeles and San Diego, California for a week to meet with my customers.

I remember my very first business trip in 2004, when I worked for Canon Business Solutions. It was the first time I’d been sent away on my own by my company for training in Toronto for two weeks. I remember my first morning, suited up, sitting in the hotel restaurant having the continental breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages and croissants, reading the morning paper with my suitcase beside me. The road warrior, it was awesome.

I would like to say that there have only been a handful of memorable moments in my life that I would consider monumental. I’ve known people who think that every event from the mundane to the exciting are life memories, and perhaps rightfully so it might be true for them, but for myself there is something to be said about only having only a few events that I remember that make those moments special, near to heart and life changing. After all, having too much of something cheapens it doesn’t it?

I remember that moment as if it were yesterday, because at that moment, I’d felt like I’d made it, achieved my goal and was king of the world. To explain, I’ll need to rewind back a few years, when I was in elementary school. As a young chap all of 9 years old, I knew I wanted to go to SFU Business school and be a business man. I didn’t know what kind of business, just one where I drove to my downtown highrise corner office in a nice car, with my suitcase in shotgun, and me in a suit. I pictured leading boardroom meetings to a bunch of suits, talking all sorts of business. I’m not sure where I got this vision, since no one in my family was corporate. And also because I was 9.

Fast forward to today, 8 years after my first business trip and I have to say, travelling for work sucks. Like, it really blows. You couldn’t pay me to have a continental breakfast anymore. Seriously, they’re like powdered eggs and there’s never enough ketchup. Here are my reasons and how to survive a work trip.

1. You eat alone – When I was growing up, my parents always made my sister and I eat at the dinner table as a family. It was the one time of the day where we sat and talked and shared what went on. It definitely brought us closer together and it’s a tradition I’m going to keep with my future family. I can tell you that having room service with the TV on sucks. Even better yet, trying to eat airport food while waiting for your flight (Like I literally just did 15 minutes ago before writing this.)

How to survive it: Convince your boss to let a colleague come with you. Or make friends with other lonely travelling business people. I’ve met some pretty cool people with cool stories from all over through the years.

2. There’s no time for touristy stuff – I’ve been to SoCal 7 times now in the past 2 years for work. Did I get to go party or check out the beaches? Nope. I was just in Vegas (I’m actually still here, waiting for my flight) and I didn’t do anything other than meet with clients. You really don’t have time to do anything else other than work. It’s not good business to go to your 9am meeting hung over reeking like goose. And after your last meeting at 5pm, I go back to my hotel and prepare for the next days meetings, answer emails, put out fires and order room service.

How to survive it: Have your clients take you out. Get them smashed and if they reek like goose the next day too, it’s even playing grounds and your boss can’t fire you. Or just take a vacation and go back to do the touristy stuff

3. Airports – who has two thumbs and hates the commute?? This guy!! (Points at me with my two thumbs) Line up to check in. Line up go to though security. Take off my belt, shoes, laptop out of bag. No liquids, nothing over 100ml, oh, bags too heavy? Throw some shit away. Bag doesn’t fit in overhead? Gotta check it. Sitting in the middle between two people? One of them is fat and the other stinks? You land. Line up to go through customs. Line up to get bag. Nuff said.

How to survive it: Learn to teleport. Or get rich enough to charter your own flight. Either way, you’re not travelling for work anymore.

4. Ironing – They lied when they told me those dress shirts were wrinkle free. Where are they now when they’re wrinkled as hell?? I suck at ironing. It takes me like 20 minutes to iron ONE shirt.

How to survive it: Bring your mom with you.

There are, of course with everything in life, the silver lining and it’s there if you look hard enough.

1. Free trip!

2. Escape the rain of home for a few days.

3. The people you meet

4. Time to write and read

5. …

There are more, but I just heard my flight being called to board, so I’m ending it here before I get stuck here for another night. Then you guys will have to read about that. (OH yeah! That’s another reason work trips suck. Delayed flights.)

Do you travel for work? Tell me your pros/cons about it too, I’d love to hear what other people experience.

Perfect Imperfection, Just the Way it’s Supposed To Be

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It seems like everywhere you look these days, there’s something telling you that you need to be better, that you need to be smarter, thinner, wittier. There are endless self-improvement books to make more money, improve relationships and ways to find yourself, to find inner peace or to inject yourself with motivation so that you can-do. There are fitness classes focused around making yourself stronger, ones focused on how to eat, how to think and how to love. We are becoming transfixed on the idea that self-improvement leads to self fulfillment. And sometimes, it’s not the case. In actuality, if you do it for the wrong reasons, it can be just as detrimental as being materialistic and always wanting more, always fueling your ego and never feeling fulfilled, never content or happy for more than just a moment. Like sand, it slips away as soon as you hold onto it.

The will and desire to grow beyond what we have already mastered is one of the great human drives. Without it we wouldn’t have philosophy, spiritual practices, science or technology. – Main Shirp

While my own bookshelves contains many fix books, self improvement guides and coaching bibles, it is important to investigate our motives for having this desire. Too often that desire stems from the belief there is something wrong with us, that we are not complete. You can go see a therapist for years and pour your heart and mind out, and all that you’ll have at the end is a folder the size of your head describing what you’ve said; fears and dreams, thoughts and emotions, but nothing in it really holds true to who you are, nothing you put down on a sheet of paper can ever truly describe You. But we still try to attempt that one-sheet of self-description, so that maybe if we can truly describe who we are on paper, we can root out the problem and fix it.

Self-improvement feeds on our insecurities. If only I were this, if only I could do that, looked like this, then, and only then I would be confident and accept who I truly am. These crippling self judgments we make fuel addictions, loneliness, eating problems and perfectionism. In turn we combat these symptoms with the newest Band-Aid solution, another self-help program. But that never gets us any closer to the root of the problem.

The reasonable man adapts to the world. The Unreasonable man makes the world adapt to him. Therefore, all progress in the world relies on the Unreasonable Man. –George Bernard Shaw

Hating parts of the self is a symptom of a sick society. We all have parts of ourselves that we despise and we as a culture, can’t help but to focus on those parts. There is always something that can be improved on, whether be it physical or mental, spiritual or emotional. But are we focused on improving and bettering ourselves for ourselves? Or are we doing it to be accepted and to blend in with the crowd in our attention-deficit-disordered society where fame is fleeting and there’s always something newer, better, shinier that comes along? There will always be better, and there will always be worse. To constantly and always be looking for either is not a healthy way to live.

My life has been full of terrible misfortunes, most of which never happened. -Mark Twain

Nothing is ever good enough. And while these self improvement tactics work like temporary barriers that protect our fragile egos, they eventually wear out. You wake up without make-up and you don’t like what you see. And as long as the solution is simply putting make-up back on, you are cutting the weed but not the root. Without true and real self-acceptance, the dissatisfaction will grow back. You don’t see that you are already amazing and that change is optional, not mandatory.

If we would stop being so harsh on ourselves and show some compassion for our own mistakes and imperfections, we would be more at ease and improve in areas that are truly beneficial instead attempting to live up to an illusion. The majority of flaws that you see in yourself is virtually invisible to anyone else. Mostly because they are not focused on your flaws as much as you are, but also because the flaws you think are flaws in your eyes aren’t even issues in theirs. So who are you really improving for?

Once you accept the fact that you’re not perfect, then you develop some confidence. -Rosalynn Carter

Pay it Forward

Posted by pius729 on

The other day I was parked on Thurlow and Alberni on a beautiful Saturday Vancouver afternoon. The sun was shining bright and high and people were all out enjoying the brisk, chilly day. We all know how often these spots of sun come around to Vancouver in the winter so it was nice to get a break from the dreary greyness that envelops our city every day between the months of September to April. I usually walk on such a nice day, but I’d just dropped off a friend and was craving some ramen to cure the massive hangover from Friday night.

I parked on the street, dumped 50 cents in to park for 14 minutes and ran across the street to Benkei and ordered the usual Akoani ramen with an extra egg. (mmm…) As I’m crossing the street with my alcohol drowned brain day dreaming of the warm and wholesome hangover remedy ramen that I would inhale in about 10 minutes, I saw a parking attendant writing a ticket at my machine.

ME: ‘Scuse me, are you writing a ticket for this car? (points to my car)
HIM: Yup. I sure am. (head down, still punching away at his mobile ticketing gadget)
ME: Oh man, I put 15 minutes in there. I didn’t think it was that long I took to get take out. (points to my food)
HIM: Reds flashing, so it’s been longer than 4 minutes that it expired. (points to the machine)
ME: Aw man. I’m sorry, I didn’t think it would take this long. (Gave up already, didn’t have the energy or brain power to argue with a parking dude over $35.)
HIM: (turns to me and looks at me for the first time) Tell ya what. I’m on a coffee kick cuz I just had my first cup and the suns out. I’ll give you a warning if you pay the time you went over.
ME: Really? Yeah I can do that!
HIM: You also have to do something SUPER nice for a total stranger today. I won’t know if you do or not, obviously, but you’ll know!
ME: Oh man, For sure I will!

I thanked the guy and put in a toonie into the machine, giving the next person who parked there some free time. We chatted for a bit more and I got into my car and took off. He handed me a ticket with ‘Warning’ printed on it and I magneted it to my fridge as a reminder.

Eating the ramen at home later tasted amazing. Not only had I gotten out of a parking ticket, but now I have an amazing story to tell, and one that revitalizes my faith in humanity and the niceness of some people out there. If we can all go out there and do one nice thing for a total stranger today, the world would be a nicer place with happier people and one day karma will pay you a visit.

Quick side story: My 2004 Suzuki GSX-r 600 motorcycle was stolen outside my office one day. I worked in Yaletown and when I got off work, I walked out to the parking spot and she was gone. Stolen in broad daylight in a busy area. I touched the space it was supposed to be occupying (maybe it’d turned invisible?), I’d walked around the block a few times (maybe I’d parked it somewhere other than where I parked everyday?) and finally gave in to the fact that I’d been ripped off, and with no ICBC theft insurance either, so it was simply just…gone. It was a sad, sad walk home with my helmet clutched in my hand. FOUR years later, after I’d gone through 2 other bikes, I got a call from the police. They’d found my original bike and it was in great condition. Apparently the thief had gotten arrested for possession of a handgun without a license and when they raided his Chilliwack house, found a barrage of other stolen goods. He’d put 300km’s on my bike and added a new taillight mod to it too. BONUS!! It’s funny how karma works sometimes. He was charged and jailed and I now had 2 bikes.

I’m sure everybody has one of many ‘lucky’ stories to tell. Where somehow, sometimes, things just go your way. I’ve been taught to appreciate everything that happens, that sometimes lucky is just luck, but sometimes its karma’s reward. Think of the times where good things have happened to you, and the next time something happens, do one nice thing for a total stranger and pay it forward. *

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Always do good things and expect nothing in return. If you deserve it, Life will find a way to hit you back, in this life or the next.

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(*disclaimer: when something bad happens to you, the same rules do not apply. Don’t go out there and do one bad thing to a total stranger. hahaha)