Bean Caught In the Act

When Is It Worth It...

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 02:56:00 +0000

Sometimes it is very easy to determine whether something is worth your time and effort or if you should just pass. Is this job worth the money? Is it the career I want? Will it get me the dream job that I've always wanted? Is this my dream job or is it just some horrible nightmare? What the he'll did I do in a past life to deserve this? =)

A job is a job, which could be a career or it could just be something you do to pass the time between the hours of 8 and 5. You go to work, do what needs to be done and collect a pay cheque every two weeks. Sometimes you work hard, stay late and feel like your drowning in paperwork, or in my case, line drawings on a computer. I suppose if I printed out every single piece of work that I did, I could literally be drowning too. Other times, you sit there staring at a screen, or three, and suddenly you realize that you have no idea how long you have been wandering off into nothing and it's lunch time. I think everyone has their own guilty pleasure...Facebook, Twitter, etc. It's amazing how many hours one can kill at work without actually doing any work.

So what makes it worth it?

The pay can always be better. The perks can always be larger and more enticing. There's always a better boss, better assistant and nicer coworkers. An office with a view, company car, increased vacation time...On the other hand, there are hundreds of companies with horrible management, terrible support, pitiful pay and lame coworkers.

I guess the real question is which company do you work for and what would it take for you to move on? Is the security of a pay cheque enough to keep you working in a sub-par environment? At what point do you wake up in the morning and just say to yourself, "It's just not worth it", then roll over and go back to sleep?

What is the breaking point?

Maybe it should be when you reach the point of asking yourself why you are there, every single morning at 8:15AM.

~Bean

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My New Best Friend.....

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 00:46:00 +0000

The wait was finally over.....
I bit the bullet and opened my wallet...
A whole lot of money came out...
And an iPad2 fell into my hands...

Awesome...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Being Original...is overrated...

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 05:42:00 +0000

What is original now?
It seems like everything 'new' is recycled from another lifetime.
Has it really all been done before? Sometimes I feel like it has.

What do you need to do to stand out? To be noticed?
What sets you apart from everyone else? What makes me different...special....

I think I feel a little less original every day...

Work's Influence on Life's Rituals....

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 02:12:00 +0000

I work, approximately, 10 hours a day, 5 days a week.
I still glance at emails on my Blackberry over the weekend because I hate walking into a shit-storm on Monday morning.
I tend to live out of a suitcase, bounce from airport to airport, and a nice home cooked meal rarely occurs more than once a week.
I carry two phones, two laptops and have essentially two of everything you would ever need in a toiletries bag, (one stays at home, the other never gets unpacked)
I almost always forget my bathing suit.
I hate checking a bag, so I never have shampoo, conditioner or body wash. I rely heavily on the hotel for this.

The one thing, aside from clothing, that I never forget to pack is this:

It's my pill box. Not filled with daily pills as the labels might imply. Instead I like to keep a decent supply of the following:

Advil - because headaches, especially migraines, are no fun
Calcium Pills - I think these are in here because at one time I thought I should be taking them.
Multivitamins - there is always someone on the plane who is sick and you're stuck sharing air with them.
Immodium - no one wants to be on the road with the runs
Robaxacet - we all know that plane rides are never comfortable and are killer on your back
Gravol - Some people take for nausea, I take them to help sleep on large time zone differences
More Advil - because you can never have too much...

When you are on the road as much as I am, you don't have time to find the nearest drug store. You don't have time because you're now working 14hr days and every meals comes from a drive thru.

This isn't my entire life, just a portion of it. But right now, I'm in a hotel, alone, and this is all I can think of writing about.

At a Loss for Words....

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 03:28:00 +0000

Some just don't know what to say and never say anything.
Some have too much to say and always say everything.
And some wait too long and their idea is hollow.

It no longer applies, the thought is gone and the point is moot.
If you always speak your mind, you're too opinionated and overbearing.
If you never get it out, you're too quiet and a pushover.
The Opinionated overbear the Stoic and force them into a deeper silence.

When will we get to the point where we listen as much as we speak?
Eliminate the oppression of the Outspoken and Liberate the Silent.

It's Okay To Be Away...

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 06:30:00 +0000

When I Fly Away,
It Won't Bother Me,
Because Going Away,
Means Coming Back To You....

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Within My Mind...

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 05:01:00 +0000

I have my best thoughts when I'm alone. Real epiphanies.
I usually forget them by the time someone comes around.
Which makes me think...maybe they are like trees that fall in the woods when no one is around, because life goes on as if they never really happened at all.
If you don't remember it, how can it change your life?

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Hush

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 05:56:00 +0000

It's not that I have nothing to say. I just don't have anything I want to say. That's an entirely different thing.

Some things are better left unsaid. Some things are better experiences than stories. One day I'll tell you my story and maybe you'll wish you were there. Or maybe you are here, unknowingly, and when the story is told you'll wonder where you've been.

Regardless, this is my story. When I'm ready and the chapter is done, maybe I'll tell you all about it.

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Today I Learned...

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 19:36:00 +0000

Today I learned that you are never alone and somewhere, at some time, someone else has gone through what you are going through.

Lean on your friends for all the insight and advice they can give on the darkest and brightest days...

Today I Learned...

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 20:20:00 +0000

This morning I opened the elevator to discover a man who had been trapped in there for 30 minutes.

Today I learned that the 7th floor really isn't that many flights of stairs.

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Today I Learned...

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 05:38:00 +0000

Today I learned that a banana is actually a berry. Strawberries, Blackberries and Raspberries are not berries, they are fruits. Cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, green beans are fruits, not vegetables. Actually, I knew about the tomatoes already, but someone should let the Grocer know he's got it all wrong!

Back to the Banana's though, I also learned the following:

The Cavendish is the kind of Banana found in grocery stores.
The Gros Michel was the original Banana of choice until it was almost wiped out completely by a fungus.
All bananas are genetically identical. Perfect clones, but susceptible to disease.
There are over 1,000 varieties of Bananas in the world but very few are palatable. When the Gros Michel was almost wiped out, the Cavendish was a perfect substitute. There is not substitute for the Cavendish.
A cluster of bananas is called a hand, and a single banana is called a finger.
Bananas are naturally radioactive due to the Potassium 40 they contain.
Over 100 Billion bananas are consumed annually.

There were some additional points, but these ones seemed the most interesting to me.

Today I Learned...

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 04:23:00 +0000

Today I learned that even on the dreariest of days, all it takes is a few good friends to turn it all around. The food and Vodka might have helped, but I'll credit the girls. You should never be too tired or busy to celebrate a friend, birthday or not!

Sitting in Gastown, enjoying my Friday...it doesn't get much better than this. The week is over, the office is closed and my glass is half full, not half empty. Sign me up for a refill....it's time to dance.

I might have had a few at this point...

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Today I Learned...

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Today I learned that the end of summer brings the end of baseball, the closing of patios and the beginning of the school year. It also brings fall. Autumn in Vancouver can be beautiful. Everything looks refreshed. Grass turns green again, the smoldering heat is gone and the leaves slowly start to change.

But the down side to all this beauty is the rain. By the end of October, we've long forgotten the long sunny days and glorious sunshine and have become re-accustomed to short days with dreary skies. It's really the first big rain of the season that kills me. Once the clouds set in and the first few drops hit the ground, every driver in Vancouver suddenly forgets the rules of the road and absolute mayhem breaks out all over the Lower Mainland, gridlock ensues. What used to be a 30 minute drive become a 45 minute commute and god help you if you have to go to the bathroom. People drive slow when they don't need to and speed when they shouldn't. It always seems like the busiest time of year for accidents, inconvenient construction (or deconstruction) and stupid people. Believe me, they are all over the place! Oh how I long for November....

All things considered, none of it is as bad as the first snowfall of the year. That causes mass panic for those not even on the road....

Today I Learned...

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 06:27:00 +0000

Today I learned that all referees are not jerks, some of them are actually on your side. The real jerks are the bullies on the ice that target the smallest players on the other team and take them out.

Two games back to back tonight. I am exhausted but looking forward to tomorrow because then it's only one more day until Friday.

Today I Learned...

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 05:20:00 +0000

Today I learned that it's almost impossible to get out of Costco under $200. There is always one more thing that you need, will make the perfect gift for someone, or would be good to have just in case. And of course, you can never have too much dish soap...

Today I Learned...

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 07:10:00 +0000

Sometimes, when it feels like one of those days that will be a mistake, Mother Nature gets on your side and brings you brilliant sunshine and calm waters.

Today I Learned...

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 05:58:00 +0000

Today I learned that you can forgive if what's at stake means enough to you. Things can be good again, but I don't know if they will ever be the same.

I also don't know about forgetting yet. Maybe that takes longer....or Alzheimer's.

Falling Apart...

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 01:31:00 +0000

Love...

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 01:30:00 +0000

That Was An Elbow In My Back...

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 04:45:00 +0000

I was recently in Thailand for work. Seriously, my job may not be the greatest, but I can't complain about the travel perks...

The group of us decided to go to a spa on the first day for a 90 minute massage. Things I've learned about a massage Thailand:

The price is fantastic, even in the fancier places.
Yes, it's normal for the masseuse to climb onto the table and straddle you.
A 80lb Thai woman can apply what seems to be 300lbs of pressure on your back.
Medium pressure is way harder than you think.
Even if you let them know it's too much pressure, they don't care.
You can never have too much work done on your feet.
I don't really like have my temples massaged...at all.
The anticipation of hot oil is worse than the hot oil itself.
90 minutes is much longer than you think, especially when you're in pain.
Yes, that is an elbow being dug into your shoulder blade and no, it's not over yet.

Definitely an experience to be had, but next time I'm checking the box that says light pressure.

~Bean

And Suddenly It's Fall Again...

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 04:54:00 +0000

Last spring I got rid of my truck and now own my first car.....

Now that Fall has arrived, I miss my rear window wiper more than anything....

~Bean

Amazing deals...

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:19:00 +0000

I love Groupon. It makes me buy things I didn't know I wanted or needed, simply because it's such a good deal.

http://www.groupon.com/

Check it out.....sign up and just wait for the deals to roll in!

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:58:00 +0000

"Loneliness does not come from being alone, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important."

~ Carl Jung

It All Happened So Fast...

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 21:19:00 +0000

It's my mother's birthday today.
She's 60 years young.
I am 30 years old.

I am the exact same age she was when I was born.Turning 30 didn't make me feel old. My mother turning 60 did. I guess 'old' isn't the right word. I think it made me feel like I fell off my life plan. Knowing where she was at this time in her life and comparing that to where I am, I feel a little bit behind. And by a little bit, I mean a lot. At 30 years old, my mother was married, had 2 children, owned a house, had a career, a dog and a cat. She was with the man of her dreams and now that I had come along, she also had the child of her dreams. =) From what I understand, she didn't have the dog of her dreams, but life ain't perfect.

Me: Not married (single, in fact), no kids, I don't own a house and I don't have a dog or cat. I live with a dog and a cat, but they aren't mine. I own a car, I have a career and that's about where the similarities end. So now you can see where I feel little bit behind. I wonder where all the time went and how long have I been aimless floating through time. I think everyone gets lost at some point, it just takes some of us a little longer to be found. I don't know if I am found yet, but this sudden realization is certainly encouragement to hurry up and get found. We'll see how that works out.

On a happier note, I was searching for a special 60th birthday gift and kept coming across really strange ones. People have weird ideas around the word "special".

Here are a few of my favourites:
First item was this lovely door ornament. You lay it across the bottom of the door to keep out draughts. I'm guessing this appeals to old people as they are always concerned about draughts. I also learned that "draught" is the proper spelling, not 'draft'. I mostly included this piece as one of my favourites because it was educational and weird.

Next was a set of "Wobbly Wine Glasses". Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't people generally steer clear of 'wobbly' stemware? I would think it would be one of the last things you would want to have off balance and full of red wine. I think these all failed quality control as normal wine glasses and now the company has found a way to market them as novelty stemware. I applaud their efforts.

Last, but not least....quite possibly the best gift on the website...The Singing Bird Clock. Mother, if you are reading this, you almost got this as your present. Just imagine it, a bird chirping, in your kitchen, every 15 minutes. I was curious about the choice of bird used....was it a chickadee? a finch? perhaps a crow? One could only be so lucky to receive such a wonderful gift...

Then I remembered that I already bought her a gift when I was in Hong Kong last.....maybe for Christmas, Mom...

~Bean

Breaking Into Summer and Vodka...

noreply@blogger.com (Bean) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 22:33:00 +0000

Even I will admit how late this post is. What can I say? I'm a busy person. Just ask all the people who try and make plans with me....it's next to impossible...

So I started the summer with a camping trip. For those of you who know me, camping has never been at the top of my list of fun things to do. In all honesty, it's never even made the list. Whenever I think of camping, I imagine how unpleasant it would be, no electricity, flushing toilets, comfy beds and the bugs. And then, of course, there's the Blair Witch. Nobody wants to run into that in the middle of the night.

I had been asked to join a friend and her family on their annual vacation to Ross Lake. After much debate, I decided to take the plunge and go. What's the worse that could happen? The lake runs across the BC/Washington border, somewhere around Hope. We were planning on fishing, so I had to buy two licenses, 1 for the US and 1 for Canada. While I may seem cheap in other aspects of life, I will always spend money on fishing licenses. =)

We drove up on a Wednesday night after work. I actually missed a hockey game, but I got over it. It took us about 3 hours to get there, the last part of the drive was along a gravel road. The more I hang out with Helen, the more interesting things I learn about her. At this time, I learned that she has almost no fear behind the wheel and thinks that 85km/hr on loose gravel is slow. Surprisingly, we made it there unscathed...

The first night was pretty mellow, dinner, drinks and campfires. Seeing as I was a bit apprehensive still about this whole camping thing, I decided to sleep in the car. At the very least that would protect me from bears and drunks. Almost froze to death in the middle of the night....I questioned whether it was summer at this point. I got up ridiculously early the next morning, it was probably around 5AM, but that was purely for survival. I had to get up and get a fire going in order to defrost. It was July 1st, first day of fishing on the lake. Eventually everyone else got up and so began the fishing competition. It wasn't really a competition, but if it was, I totally won. I caught 11 fish that day, only a few were keepers, but it's quantity, not quality, that matters in my books.

After I won the fishing derby , we hung around the campsite, mostly drinking. I vaguely remember specific details of the camping trip beyond this point. I do remember almost always having a drink in my hand. And yes, everyone else was drinking too. In fact, everyone else started at 7AM with booze in their coffee, where I didn't start until at least after lunch. At one point I remember whittling sticks with a ridiculously sharp knife, which just goes to show that drunk people, combined with other drunk people with knives, can be volatile combination. Hope was only an hour away...

On the Saturday, three of us decided to hike up to Hozomeen Lake, which sounded like a great idea when you look at pictures, see below:The trail is just under 7km each way. On the way up, it seemed like a pretty decent hike. Mild inclines, relatively clear trails. We got to the top feeling rather proud of ourselves. The way back down was a bit of a different story. The first bit seemed fine, I was even racing with the dog at certain parts, but after the 3rd KM, it was like the energy was sucked right out of my body. I always thought downhill was the easy part, apparently I was wrong. By the time we got back to the camp, my feet were killing me and I was exhausted. Actually, we were all exhausted. For some reason, we had forgotten that before the trail even starts, there's a 2km stretch along a gravel road. At the end of the day, we had hiked close to 17km. Not much else happened that day, some people went swimming. I was not part of that group. The temperature of the water was perfect, if you're a trout who enjoys glacier fed waters. I gave up my days of polar bear swimming many years ago and have no plans on revisiting.

After much more fishing and drinking, the camping trip was over and it was time to head back to the real world. I have discovered that I love camping, especially the fishing and will definitely be doing more of it.

Here's a list of things I've learned about camping:

There is no Blair Witch at Ross Lake
Some outhouses are not as horrible as you think
Corn Beef hash tastes better when cooked on a propane stove and served on a paper plate
It's never too early to wake up someone to go fishing
The water is always colder than it looks
Don't put chocolate bars in the cooler
You can live without your cellphone for up to 4 days
Don't walk by the fire when you have been drinking
It doesn't matter how old you are, catching frogs is always fun
And finally, Vodka tastes good in anything...

One day I may post pictures, but don't hold your breath....

~ Bean