A brain is a terrible thing to waste

I finally had the last of my three (was it four?) appointments to figure out if something was broken in my head. It took a while because apparently, MRI machines are in demand and have long waiting lists. I had my MRI two weeks ago. Now THAT wasn't going to be a test I could sleep through. I didn't have a problem being wrapped up with padding and headgear, and then stored away in a small tunnel for 45 minutes. I didn't have a problem with the noise (all kinds, depending on the scan) since they gave me earplugs. But I was the first scan of the day and that room is kept really cold. Even with the warming blanket, I was soon starting to feel cold and was trying really hard NOT to move. Thank goodness I kept my sox on.

Today, I saw my friendly neurologist who said nothing was wrong. Stop the meds, but keep them in case, and stop frettin' about everything. OK doctor. So my brain is not broken, it just loses a bolt now and then. No problem.

I'm happy that's over.

I filed my income taxes last night (oh, around 11 p.m., what a slacker!) and once again, I am surprised by the nice return that comes my way. Numbers looked good, must be all the tuition I paid last year. I am also considered to be in school full-time because of the number of courses I am taking. You have to take 60% of the max load to be considered full-time. I took three courses on five last semester, that's 60%. More refund please! Too bad all this is going back to pay tuition again.

I am hoping to go climbing tomorrow, but I can't find my partner. She left a message about not being able to go at noon yesterday, I called her back, left a message Saturday night and another one Sunday afternoon. I also e-mailed her today. I hope everything's fine.

VP for four quarters

I spent the last three days at school for one of my intensive classes. It was a class on leadership in a high-pace, fast-changing environment. Instead of sitting everyone for a formal lecture, we were thrown in a simulation. On Wednesday night, the teacher explained the intent of the course but gave us little information as to what was going to happen in the next days. So Thursday morning, everyone was a bit nervous, not knowing what to expect. We had a rule book for the simulation with information about the processes we needed to follow and the different roles in the organization. The days were broken down in quarters, usually two or three per day. One quarter would last between 60 and 90 minutes. After each quarter, we would have 20 minutes of debriefing in small teams to look at how everyone handled their responsibilities and changes in the environment. Then, everyone would get an update on the performance of each company and changes that we would have to take into consideration for the next quarter.

During the first three quarters, I was a Plant Manager in one of our Divisions. Divisions were physically separated and without a travel pass (which you had to purchase), you could not walk to the other Divisions to get updates and exchange information. Everyone was learning the processes (and the extensive paperwork that needed to be completed). We spent three quarters (day 1) struggling to organize everything and did not manage to get a product out (products were solved anagrams or solved puzzles).

At the beginning of day 2, we thought we had everything figured out enough to start production, when the facilitators reorganized everyone in the company (the Board of Directors of each company was quite unhappy with the performance of the previous day!). After the reorg, I ended up in a VP position. VPs were basically coordinators, communicators, and responsible for the strategic direction of the company. We started the day with a meeting between the four VPs of our company, discussing goals for the next few quarters. The meeting was a challenge because we were surrounded by the rest of the company who were silent observers. Talk about pressure. We had 15 minutes to come up with a strategy and then 10 minutes for a town-hall presentation to the company.

I spent the next two days in the VP position and am very happy that we managed to pull the company from its downwards spiral and register a profit at the end of the simulation. We didn't manage to recover the initial investment, but we were on the right track.

I learned a few things about myself during this simulation. First, we were initially told that the reorg was completely random. However, when the simulation ended, a few facilitators told us that it wasn't so. Apparently, people were placed in their new position based on the following: they either complained about the work done by the person who was originally occupying the position and were getting a taste of their own medicine, or they were placed in a new position based on fit and capabilities demonstrated the previous day. I can't remember complaining ;) This meant that I was placed in the VP position because I demonstrated leadership. One student even told me that my only weakness was not to believe in my own skills and abilities.

Second, I realized that it would take a whole lot of pressure to make me crack. Even though we knew this was only a game, most people took it seriously, including myself. When the pressure was on, you could feel the stress increasing. After the simulation, I was told several times that people were impressed by how calm I would remain.

Finally, I learned that students in my Division thought that I was a credible leader. I would enter the room to give my team an update, everyone would stop what they were working on and listen. People were looking forward to telling me about their progress. We even had a recruiter from a competitor try to poach some of my employees but they all decided to stay with the company, even though they knew the competitor had a lot more money in the bank.

Overall, this was an extremely valuable experience, very empowering. A lecture would have never captured what the simulation has thought us. I'm also approaching the meeting with my boss tomorrow with a lot more confidence. We are reviewing the past nine months of work (since I started as a Program Manager). I don't think I've been doing a bad job so far, but this is the first time I am getting feedback.

Why do I feel the need to suddenly go out and play?

I've had such a nice weekend, but I'm pooped and stiff from all the exercise. As I am saying this, I just signed up for six weeks of beach volleyball at Urban Beach starting May 4. The series is called Train & Play and it's organized by Urban Rec. You get 1.5 hour of drills and technique, then 45 minutes of game time. What a perfect way to start the weekend!

I started Saturday early, someone was going up and down the walkway around 6:30. I had a quick breakfast, then headed over to MEC (again!!). I traded my Keen sandals for paddling booties (a lot cheaper), bought climbing shoes (not cheap) and a chalk bag. The shoes feel tight and a bit stiff right now, but they will stretch to the form of my feet, eventually. I was back home at 10, did a bit of cleaning, then headed out to Granville Island. I had an afternoon of kayaking planned with a group at Ecomarine. We were out in False Creek until 3:30, happily paddling around. There wasn't too much boat traffic in the Creek, so we didn't have to constantly wait for others to go by. It was cloudy for most of the trip, but the sun came out during the last hour. Nice!

Back from the trip, I stopped by the market and bought a few yummy treats for appies. I had friends coming over to my place around 8 for drinks, before we headed out clubbing. I prepared pieces of Bosc pear wrapped in prosciutto, smoked salmon on cucumber slices with sprigs of dill, Jarlsberg cheese on thin crisps with a drop of apricot marmalade, and a plate of cherry tomatoes and mixed olives. But, before entertaining everyone, I had to take a long nap to recover from the afternoon out.

We went out to Ginger 62, nothing fantastic to say about the evening. I was still tired, the music wasn't great and I'm starting to think that the bar scene is really boring me. I was in bed by two.

Today I went climbing with my new friend Sarah (who is a friend of one of my colleagues and took the climbing course with me last Monday). We hit Cliffhanger around noon, and managed to last until approximately 1:30. When you start climbing, your arms get tired really fast because you don't think to rest your weight on one leg or the other to take a break on the way up. After three or four climbs, we were both tired. We've been practicing on 5.6 and 5.7 runs (5.6 are the easiest runs at the gym, and you can go all the way up to 5.11). A run is identified by colored tape. While you're going up, you need to make sure you only use the grips and footholds that are of one color. I haven't been able to do one run cleanly, I always cheat around the end when I start getting tired and grab on to something from another run.

Back home around 2, I snacked and did some reading for a workshop starting in early May (yes, school is starting again, May to end of July).

I want to try a few things this Summer, to hopefully spend a lot more time outside. First, I signed up for volleyball on Friday nights. Then, I'm going to do my assisted capsize recovery course and sign up for a kayaking club in July and August. The Ecomarine location at English Bay has evening kayaking trips on Wednesday nights. A kayaking club just gets a bunch of people together to go paddling every week. I'd rather not set out by myself. And, I think that Sarah and I will sign up for a two-month pass at Cliffhanger (May-June). There's no point signing up for July and August, when you are unlikely to want to be indoors.

And between all this I will find time to study. Oh, and work, obviously ;)

Climbing is a lot of fun... but what's with the shoes?

I'm starting something new as part of my ongoing effort to discover sports that I enjoy doing and will hopefully keep up for a while. Yesterday after work, I made my way to the gym at Cliffhanger on West 1st. I signed up for an Intro to Climbing course with a friend of a colleague. For three hours, we learned about equipment, security, knots, belaying (that's what the person on the ground is doing while the other person is climbing), bouldering (practicing grabs by climbing sideways, basically moving across the wall only a few feet above ground), falling (yes, you learn to not be afraid to fall), and calls (how you exchange instructions between the belayer and the climber). The entire course was a lot of fun, we were a small group of five so the instructor gave everyone a lot of attention.

Lots of fun, except for the damn shoes. Apparently, the shoes have to be really tight if you want to get a good toe grab, but ouch! I think three hours in the shoes was a bit much.

When I returned home, as I was browsing through the MEC catalog before going to bed, it was great to look at the climbing gear and recognize what I had been using. Both Sarah (my colleague's friend) and I have a pass for one week of free climbing and we're planning to make use of it. Then, we'll probably look into investing in a two-month pass, to see if we really get into it. You don't have to buy any equipment early on, the gym rents you everything.

Today, although I was a bit sore (forearms and shoulders), I felt energized and even managed to visit the regular gym for a 30-minute run after work.

:-)

Recovering

I haven't been sick, or working out any harder than usual, but this afternoon, as I returned home, I feel like I just ran a half marathon. Minus the pain.

Let me start by saying this: I hate Metrotown. For those of you who don't live around here, Metrotown is a mall in Burnaby. A large, busy, bright mall with 470 stores. I didn't really intend to go there, but my cell phone was having problems, I couldn't get it to charge anymore. It was either not registering the charger, or warning me that is was "Unable to Charge". Then the battery died. I didn't want to take a chance and decided to bring it to the tech counter for Fido, on Kingsway in Burnaby. Now, that wouldn't be too far if you had a car, but by public transit, it's a longer trip.

I had originally thought I'd take the 99B-Line to Broadway station, but seeing how the traffic on Broadway was immobile (calling Cambie a bottleneck is an understatement), I took the 15 heading downtown and walked to the Stadium station.

It was easy enough to find the Fido shop and the problem was solved quickly. On my way back, I was going to avoid the mall all together and head directly for the SkyTrain, but then I remembered I needed some makeup from M.A.C and the Bay was right there. That's where I made the mistake of walking out of the Bay, through Metrotown, towards the station.

Let me say this again. I hate Metrotown. And Saturday was probably the worst time to be there. It was insanely busy and noisy. The recycled air did nothing to help. As I was walking past stores, all I could think of was how quickly I could get out of there. And how much the clothes in the stores looked exactly the same. Didn't matter which store I was passing by. All the same. I felt almost dizzy by the time I left the mall. The fresh air felt so good.

The trip back was more pleasant, I got out of the bus at Broadway and Main, then walked all the way to MEC. Now, here was another place that was busy, but it wasn't the same. People were quietly strolling around, checking out the new gear, trying on jackets and PFDs. I bought a pair of Keen sandals that are made for paddling and other water sports. I also bought a couple of t-shirts and a pair of pants that have a polar lining on the inside. Great for cold evenings when you go camping. I've been thinking of going with a few friends on the Victoria day long weekend.

MEC continues to impress me. The store has the largest selection of organic cotton clothing I've seen. They will contribute 1% of your purchase to environmental initiatives. When you buy shoes or boots, they will ask if you want to recycle the box (they return them to the manufacturer, I assume). And if you don't take a bag, they'll contribute an additional $0.05. Over a single purchase, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but over one year of purchases from all their members, it makes a big difference.

I walked back home from MEC, seeing how the bus was stuck in the Cambie bottleneck going West. I think I made it to Oak faster ;)

I was going to workout when I returned home, but that's not going to happen. Tomorrow morning.

At least I'll be in top shape

I was recently introduced to the world of Facebook and now I'm realizing there's a lot of people on that network. Facebook is an online tool that lets you connect with former coworkers and schoolmates. You can create a profile and add people to your list of friends. By browsing the list of friends of your friends, you often end up discovering you know the same people. And you add these people to your list of friends. I call this viral networking. Unfortunately, I think my former friends from high-school are unlikely to show up on Facebook. I entered the name of the school and it returned lots of hits, most of them graduates from 06-07. I graduated high-school in 1991. Wrong generation. Facebook is also in English only, as far as I can see. Although most of my friends were bilingual, I think some might prefer a site in French. I did manage to find a friend I took the half-marathon clinic with last year. She recently got married. It was nice to hear about it, I had no idea!

I'm signing up for a few activities to keep me busy on weekends and evenings. The goal is to get out, meet people, and do things I enjoy, like kayaking. Hopefully this is also going to help me meet single men in Vancouver. Bars are not the right scene when you want to date and online dating is entertaining at best but it feels slightly like shopping for people. People in Vancouver enjoy the outdoors and physical activity, I enjoy the outdoors (and physical activity, to some extent) and as the weather is getting nicer, now is the time to plan for outings. On April 21, I signed up for a morning kayaking session at Granville Island. Nothing like getting back in a boat and paddling around. Hopefully I can find someone who would enjoy meeting for short kayaking trips now and then. I took a course some time back and really enjoyed it.

Also, on April 19, I'm taking an Intro to Climbing course at Cliffhanger. This is an indoors climbing gym located downtown, not too far from where I work. One of my colleagues has a friend who wanted to learn how to climb but didn't have anyone to try this with. It's easier to start with a climbing partner, especially if you learn together and can manage to meet once or twice per week to practice. I've been interested in indoors climbing for a little while but never went ahead and booked a course. Even when the classes start in May, I can set one evening aside for climbing (I just have to replace a session at the gym).

Even if I don't meet Mr. Right, at least I'll be in shape. Cool.

Sore

I love long weekends, especially when I had completely forgotten about the extra day off. On Tuesday, I watched the hockey game (Vancouver-Calgary? "watch" is a very strong word, more like "glanced at") and had dinner with friends. Stephanie asked if I had any plans for the long weekend. My answer was "long weekend, what long weekend?" I knew Easter was coming up, but I didn't add it up to getting Friday off. Sometimes, I think that's a bit sad ;)

Friday was beautiful. Warm and sunny, almost 20 degrees outside. I went for a long run before lunch, well, long for my poor legs that hadn't hit the pavement in a little while. Breathing was fine, knees and calf muscles not as much. It also didn't help that I went for a long walk on West 4th in the afternoon. Boy do I feel sore. But I did find what I was looking for: a fabulous pair of jeans. Shopping for jeans is just as hard as shopping for shoes. It takes a while to find a perfect pair that fits AND looks good.

So, what are my long-weekend plans? Well, I originally planned to have Lara, Gerri and Charles over for dinner tonight, but Lara is too busy studying herbs and has a big exam on Tuesday. OK, I can understand the crunch of the end of the semester. Instead, Gerri and I (and maybe Charles, once the Montreal-Toronto game is over) are eating out, hopefully at Vij's (I say hopefully because the place is always busy and doesn't take reservations). Then, we'll pretty much go with the flow, maybe head over to Yaletown somewhere for drinks. Scott and a few friends also said they would give me a shout if they head out, we'll go meet them somewhere.

Sunday will be a day to catch up with some work (yeah, yeah, spare me the lecture) so I can avoid 10-hour days next week. Sunday night, I'm meeting Rafael for a live show downtown. Can't remember the venue, but it sounded promising.