Continue reading »]]> Yeeeeah…September has been a budgetary failure for me. There are many reasons why this is the case, but in simple terms there are more fixed and semi-fixed costs that I have to take care of, and I haven’t yet reduced my variable costs to compensate. I’m not made of money; I shouldn’t act like I am. Anyway, I have decided that October will be a well-budgeted month. No surprises, I hope. No feeling sorry for myself.

Continue reading »]]> Lesson: when coming back from grocery shopping make sure that you put anything frozen into the freezer right away. I left some ice cream bars out in the open for a few hours. When I realized it I put the box in the freezer to re-firm. Unfortunately the result was little bags of lumpen chocolate and dairy products. What a waste, eh?

Continue reading »]]> I’ve been sitting on the couch, listening to the radio, and drinking tea while trying to figure out what to write about. I’ve got a heavy blanket covering my shoulders and a new Running Room jacket on. It finally clicked that I should write about this jacket. So, first a little background on the new jacket. One of the perks of being a Running Room clinic instructor is the ability to take advantage of the employee discount. It’s actually a really good perk if you’re in need of new gear. Thing is, it really only lasts as long as the clinic. Soon after the clinic ends the powers that be take that discount away. It’s understandable. Well, since my clinic ended recently I decided to head in to store and take load up on some gear. In particular I wanted to buy a new jacket.

Most of my running jackets are from the Resolution Run races that take place each New Year. I have four of these–there are new designs each year. They’re good jackets, but they’re also rather ubiquitous. As well, three of those four jackets are actually size XL. These days, even though the jackets are usable they’re kind of baggy. In race situations, when I look at the some of the photos that sports photographers get of me while wearing these jackets I just look large or odd. In summary, I figured it was time for me to get something somewhat more fitted to my new size. Makes sense. Buying clothing in smaller sizes seems to be a common theme lately, no?

I went in on Tuesday night prior to my clinic’s get together. I originally wanted to find something that wasn’t Running Room branded, but there weren’t that many options readily available. The store manager pointed me out to some other jackets and a black one caught my eye. He picked out a size medium which ended up fitting me rather well. I spoke to another runner who I see often in store. He said the jacket worked. He also pointed out the discount rack as a place to find jackets. He did a quick search and immediately found a blue jacket in a medium. Truth be told, if it came down to a choice between the blue and black jacket, I would have gone with the blank. Thing is, when we checked the tag, the jacket was marked down to $20. With my employee discount, the jacket came to $10. At that price it made sense to get both. Crazy. So now I have two new jackets for use during the spring running season. Nice. I’m totally ready for better race photos.

Continue reading »]]> You know Moores is having a buy one, get one sale on suits, shirts, ties, etc? I ended up getting a pinstriped charcoal suit, and a dark grey one-button suit. With the shirts, ties, and a pair of shoes the whole things came out to a bit over $800. I was kind of expecting to pay that much anyway for a new suit, but the fact that I got a second suit out of the deal is pretty sweet. I ended up saving about $650 or so.

See, I suppose I could have gone the custom route, but I’m at a point where I kind of need a suit sooner rather than later. The last time I bought a suit was back in 2006. And surely, that suit no longer fits me. When I went in store, after the salesman measured me he had me try on something in a size 40. Immediately, the jacket fit me quite nicely. The shoulder width was perfect. The fit was really good; I had no reservations about how it looked. That’s a first. Back then, I always felt like the jackets seemed far too big, but I didn’t really have a choice. Due to my size I had to opt for bigger, and things never really fit right. This time: bang on. The salesperson said that I’m lucky to be in a state where having something off-the-rack works. Maybe the only issue is that the pants are ever so slightly snug. They’re about half an inch smaller than my waist size, but I’m still able to breathe. Maybe I can manage to lose an inch off the waist before the suits have to be used. I don’t know. We’ll see.

Why do I need a suit sooner rather than later? Not going to talk about it openly (yet), but, I suppose the answer is obvious. I’ll report more if and when something happens. Umm…yeah.

Read between the lines, eh?

Continue reading »]]> Really, how hard is it to find a signature cologne? Back when I visited Arizona I ended up getting a bottle of Acqua di Gio. It’s served me well. Over time though I’ve come to learn just how ubiquitous the scent is. I smell it pretty frequently as I’m going about my business. Sometimes some random person walks by and immediately my mind registers the scent: “Oh hell, he’s wearing it too.” I suppose I don’t mind too much. I mean, that means the scent is popular and has gained a following. All the same, my vain mind kept yelling at me that I didn’t want to be just a part of the crowd. So somewhere in the back of my mind I’ve been searching for a replacement scent for a while.

Today, on a whim I stopped by Sephora to check out the colognes. Ultimately I narrowed my options to Jean Paul Gaultier – Le Male, and L’Eau d’Issey Miyake Pour L’Homme Intense. Both seemed pretty nice. They were close. I did end up liking Le Male slightly better, but I thought that if I opted for that one I’d have the same issues with ubiquity. Ultimately I purchased Issey Miyake. It’s not the established one but the newer “Intense” version. I do like it, but I still need to go through a breaking in period with it. Hopefully I won’t get tired of it. Maybe I can get to a point where people begin to associate the smell with me. Yes…we’ll see.

Continue reading »]]> After work I had about an hour and a half to burn through, so I spent my time wandering Queen St. W and poking around at the Eaton Centre. Being that it’s two days before Christmas, indeed the crowds were sizable. I didn’t get the sense of desperation or urgency that I figured might permeate the space. No, instead it felt like everyone was just going around doing business as usual. I popped into a couple of stores, but the lineups were far too long. I was content to just look around like and feel the energy of the crowd. Over at the Apple Store I took a good look at the iPod Nanos on display. Over at Sephora I sprayed a couple of men’s colognes on sticks, trying to figure out which I might want to buy for myself after the holiday. Yeah, more than anything I was basically there to people watch without gawking. Does that make me odd? In other scenarios I’d be perfectly happy just lounging around on my couch. Given a choice though, I think at this point in my life I’d be out walking around looking at stuff. It’s not that home is uncomfortable, but I’m basically on my own. Don’t get me wrong. I’m the type of person that needs to retreat and isolate myself in this sanctuary to recharge and re-centre myself. I think I just have a lot of energy to burn.

Continue reading »]]> I’m reminded of that cell phone commercial that used to be on TV describing the lifespan of a person’s relationship with his or her cell phone. First there’s that phase where the new phone is perhaps the best thing in the whole wide world. At this point the consumer is absolutely enamoured with the phone. In a few years, by the end of the contract, the phone is no longer the latest and greatest thing. All of the love that the person had is turned into general hate. At the end of the commercial the woman with the old phone just throws it into a lake. Well, with the cell phone that I picked up in March 2008 I could relate. You know, it was an awesome phone. I kind of feel like it still is. In about a year or two from when I purchased it, the camera stopped functioning properly. I cursed the many times when I wanted to take a picture of something but simply couldn’t. At some point I took to tweeting things via text. I regretted the fact that I couldn’t see any responses up until I got home or to another computer. I eventually got mildly jealous of people I hung out with that had a smartphone and could do things like have Twitter conversations or do quick research online. All of these things aren’t necessarily deal breakers on their own, but eventually in time I just wanted a change.

For months I just patiently waited for my contract to run down so that I could take advantage of any huge discounts on a new phone. For the longest time I wanted the Motorola Milestone because I wanted a phone with a full-on QWERTY keyboard. I wasn’t a big fan of soft keyboards. In my mind I always thought they were just inaccurate or too fiddly to work with. Soon, news of the Milestone 2 was coming out and I thought that I wanted to wait for that thing. I counted out any of the iPhones because somehow I figured that they were far too trendy for my self-image. Silly, I know. I didn’t want a Blackberry either because I felt that they were slowly losing popularity. I also associated them far too much with work. Now, one of my running friends was talking about how she picked up the new HTC Desire and how she was enjoying it. I asked about the lack of a hard keyboard and she told me that it wasn’t an issue. Then, I figured that the lack of hard keyboard hasn’t prevented the iPhone from becoming really popular. In the end I decided to go after the HTC Desire.

At the point where I started looking for that particular phone, it was actually out of stock at all TELUS stores. Apparently it was so popular that there was just no longer available until HTC sent out new units. Luckily my running friend’s husband worked at a TELUS store and kept me updated. Last Thursday, when I heard that the store would have five new units in stock, I went over to the mall and waited for things to arrive. Yeah, it was a little bit obsessive to pounce on the thing like that, but I didn’t want to miss out. Well, the early bird caught the worm and now I have the new phone. I’ve been playing around with it for a week, and I’m really happy with it. I have a feeling things will change in a few years, but for now I’m enjoying this phone honeymoon period.

Continue reading »]]> This was probably on a whim, but I stopped by a store that I never would have stepped into and purchased one of those doorway pull up bar things. You always see ads for those three-month fitness programs on TV (you know the ones I’m talking about). One in particular seems to make use of pull ups as part of the program. After poking around online and reading about the benefits of pull ups I decided that I wanted to give pull ups a shot myself. Heh. I was under no illusions that I’d even be able to do one. I mean, my upper body strength isn’t all that great. I didn’t want to get a bar that would have to be mounted permanently anywhere, so I specifically went for the one that I can stash away when not in use. After a bit of a messy assembly experience I hanged the thing on my door frame, grabbed on, got my feet off the ground, and pulled as hard as I could. I think I managed to raise myself an inch but that was all I could muster. Well, hey, at least I’m in the majority. It’s probably safe to say that the majority of people can’t do one either.

Instead of being disappointed, I took to YouTube to look up how various people do assisted or beginner’s pull ups. One of the more popular methods is to use a chair to alleviate some of the body weight. The point is not to use the legs to push the body up to meet the bar; you’re still supposed to use the arms to pull yourself up to the bar. From what I read, it’s the easiest (HA!) way to build up the strength to the point where you’re can do at least one unassisted. So, I took a nearby stepping stool and propped it under the bar. I got myself into position and pulled myself up. Yes, absolutely, assisted pull ups are much easier. Though, I wonder, is the support making them far too easy? I don’t know. Anyway, after seeing where my abilities were, I’ve decided to make it a small goal of mine to get to the point where I no longer need assistance to do a pull up. Might take a long while, but if I have a persistence and patience I’ll be able to do it.

I think.