June 2006 Archives

You know, everyone who's worked at an office has at one point either had their lunch stolen from the fridge -- or at least read the aggrieved All-Staff email of someone who has. But you never hear any more of it, because most kitchens lack the security cameras required for proof.

But finally, I've caught someone. On Thursday at the end of the day, I made a nice plate of pasta, salad and a little dessert left over from a giant client meeting, and put it in the fridge for lunch the next day. As it happens the cleaning people were there too, and I was encouraging them to take it home or whatever rather than throwing it in the garbage. However, the next day, the plate was gone. I was heartbroken, not to mention pissed off, as I'd planned to just grab it on my way to a conference call, and now had to scramble downstairs to buy myself something. However, I refrained from the email, as why bother?

However, I did meet one of the cleaning people on the elevator as I left that evening, and I mentioned it. She said, "Oh, that was Daniel" who is an account guy I work with. I couldn't believe it. I said, "Are you sure!?" and she said, "Yeah, I was kind of surprised, but he made a joke about it so I figured maybe you had said it was okay."

So now I'm looking at Daniel, and trying to figure out how to deal with it. Do I confront him, and tell him I thought it was a crummy thing to do? Maybe spread the story, until it gets back to him and embarrasses him? (Of course, then he'll come back to me and accuse me of malicious lies etc.) Or maybe wait until the next time there's leftovers, put some on a plate on his desk with an anonymous note: "Here are some leftovers I put aside for you. I'm hoping this means you won't go into the fridge and steal mine like you did last time."

Hm. Think, think...

So I bought some Alexander Keiths' beer the other day, as it was on sale and it's a pretty good brew at that price. As it happens, there's also a kind of "roll up the rim" type contest where you peel back the label to see if you've won anything. And indeed, I won $2 off a CD at HMV. Golly! But hey, I thought, it's better than nothing. Or at least, I did until I saw the condidtions.

Basically, you have to go to a fairly long URL (hmvonline.com/keiths/hmv-keiths-2.html -- what they couldn't make that shorter?) at the HMV site, then type in all your info to download a coupon which gives you $2 off a selection of -- wait for it -- 10 CDs. Seriously. And it's all Sony product, like The Trews, INXS, and Tool. Great. So I'm going to traipse up to HMV with my coupon and label and get two bucks off an overpriced CD of some big commercial band. Only a marketer would think this is a really great offer. Why bother? Far from winning my brand allegiance, this whole lame promo makes me think that Keiths kind of sucks.

I've been struggling with a chest wheeze issue for about 8 months or so now -- basically a kind of vibrating in my lungs that deteriorates into coughs and tightness, especially under stress or fatigue. So after going through the usual list of puffers (Symbicort, Advair, and now Spiriva), my doctor admitted he was stumped and has referred me to a respirologist. It took a week and a half to find out when my appointment was -- and only because I followed up -- and said appointment is August 22... Over two months away. Oy. Hope it's not serious, because it'll be worse by then. I'm employing the same strategy I did with my knee surgery a few years ago, which is calling the specialist's office to see if there are cancellations. (This is the good thing about living downtown, I'm only 20 minutes away from the office.)

As an aside, my doctor keeps asking me if I've ever been a smoker. My reply is, "No, never. However, I've been cycling almost daily in downtown Toronto for nearly 20 years now. That may be worse."

Well, it's official, the Porktrashers are going out west to spend a couple of days in the studio with producer Garth Richardson. Ah life is great. (His studio site is basically finished now, and came out quite well if I do say so.) So we've been getting together to rehearse and make sure we can crank through a bunch of songs. The plan is to go in, play live off the floor and get as many in the can as we can. Can can?

Anwyay, we're looking at around 12 tunes, and we've been recording the rehearsals to listen back to during the week. It's interesting to hear the songs this way, as you tend to hear them more as you would any other song (rather than your precious children), which makes their failings more apparent. And oh, they are myriad. Thank God it's a hobby.