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Friday, April 24, 2009  

NIGHT OWL FOCUS



The above comment comes from one of many Diggers who are discussing a study between "early birds" and "night owls". In short, the study revealed that night owls were more focused on a mental task 10.5 hours after waking compared to early birds who did the same task 10.5 hours after waking. Based on this, one could assume that night owls get more out of sleeping in and working late into the early morning compared to their early bird counterparts.

I quite enjoyed reading the other comments on Digg as it's always nice to know there are others out there like me. We're constantly forcing ourselves to go to sleep earlier than we want to because some external factor (school or work) prevents us getting into our preferred sleep schedule.

2 Comments

posted by Erwin | 12:27 AM

Thursday, April 23, 2009  

THE METRONOME

On my way home this evening on the bus there were two ladies in the two seats in front of me. There was nothing out of the ordinary in this situation and soon enough I found myself falling asleep. As I've written many times, napping on the bus is something I quite enjoy.

Anyways, near the end of my commute I woke up as I usually do. I noticed the lady near the window in front was awake but the lady next to her (closest to the aisle was asleep). Not only was she asleep, she had some crazy head movement. When people fall asleep while sitting I have noticed they usually either bob their heads forward and then snap back up or they sway from side to side. This particular lady was a side to side swayer and what a swayer she was. I'd never seen anything like it before. When she was leaning into the aisle, she was tilted over by nearly 45 degrees. If someone was coming down the aisle, there'd be no way they could get past her. When reversing her tilt, she was completely leaning into the poor woman to her left. Her head would be fully supported by the other woman's shoulder. The other lady was so polite about it too and didn't once push her back over.

What I don't get is that sleepyhead had a very high tolerance for not waking up due to head movement. In my experience, if I lean too far in any direction, I wake up and instinctively snap back into a more centered position. This lady didn't have any of that. So even though the bus would be travelling straight, I'd watch this woman lean way into the aisle, sway back to center for a few seconds, and then lean into the other woman like she was a comfortable pillow.

Go Ducks of Anaheim!

0 Comments

posted by Erwin | 12:04 AM

Wednesday, April 22, 2009  

A WORD OF CAUTION

Tonight the Vancouver Canucks defeated the St. Louis Blues by a score 3-2 in the first OT period of their game four playoff series. Having won the previous three games, the Canucks won the series and now advance to the second round and are also the first team to do so.

While I let out an initial "woooo" when Burrows slipped the biscuit between Mason's wickets, I was witness to much more celebration downtown by some other fans. Now if these fans' wishes were to only see the Canucks win just one round, then I'd say to them celebrate as much as you want. If their wishes are to see them win the whole championship, then I'd say the celebration is a bit too early. Not to be an old man and/or a party pooper but winning the first round of the NHL playoffs gets you nothing tangible. Except if you own the team, revenue from playoff home games are nearly pure profit. Returning to my point, no one gives you a trophy for winning the first round. There's at least twelve more games to be played before a real championship celebration can be had.

Last but not least, watch this video where a reporter interviews people who attended the game. Take note of several things. First, while I know the sample size is small, it appears that all Blues fans are white people. Yes, I know Vancouver is more multicultural than most cities but there have to hockey fans of other ethnicities in St. Louis. Second, look for the one Vancouver fan they interviewed. It appears he went to the game alone and not only that, he was wearing Canucks gear. I'm not sure if he got home safely. I hope he did.

1 Comments

posted by Erwin | 12:47 AM

Tuesday, April 21, 2009  

THE MOVE

I'm not sure if you remember but there was the unpleasantness in late January when Black Box suffered through some substantial layoffs. Costs were being cut in almost every way possible. One of the most painful cuts was the decision to abandon our fantastic home base in downtown Vancouver. To save money, we'd have to retreat to the wilds of Burnaby where we have the "compound" that is otherwise known as EA Canada.

We were initially told that the move wouldn't happen for months and that it would likely in the summer time. Well, we've now been told our move date. The whole move is happening in stages and for us, we'll be moving on the last weekend in May.

I would say about 99% of the people on my team would prefer to stay in downtown Vancouver. People have built their lives around working downtown. I would say people might have even made home purchases based on where we worked. Downtown for obvious reasons, kicks ass. It's the transportation hub for nearly all the transit services in the Lower Mainland. It's so easy to get downtown. It's also convenient for shopping, food, and entertainment. After work, you go outside and you're surrounded by everything. When you go outside of EAC, you got nothing. It's just a huge industrial park.

I feel most sorry for the downtown residents on my team. For months and years, they've lived a very urban lifestyle. They use walking in almost every aspect of their lives. They walk to work and they walk to shop. For some of them, they'll be riding transit for the first time since they've arrived in Vancouver.

We've got a little over a month before this all ends. I am, for one, going to do a farewell tour of my favourite restaurants for lunch.

Let this be the best month yet.

4 Comments

posted by Erwin | 12:12 AM

Monday, April 20, 2009  

TWITTER

At the risk of sounding like both a geek and a geezer, I will state that I've surfing for porn using the Internet longer than some of you have been alive. As such, I've seen a lot of web and Internet apps come and go in my time. Some have faded away into obscurity, others have found a strong base and are still with us now.

I hear these days a lot of you kids are using "Twitter". Some of you are fond of "Twittering". I know the use of Twitter was/is reaching critical mass when celebrities were starting to Twitter. Usually celebs aren't too good with technology, so if they're starting to do something, it sure must be both easy for them.

I for one doubt I'll ever sign up for an account. I just don't think I live an exciting enough life that I'd feel the need to update everyone on what I'm doing from nearly minute to minute. Even if I did have something to say, it would be stupid to think there would be people who actually wanted to know if I indeed decided to eat a chocolate bar after taking that dump at work. I sincerely do appreciate that you, my readers are loyal to this blog but it would be wrong of me to think you'd also want to know the fine minutiae of my everyday activities. Besides, isn't that what Facebook status updates are for? Aren't those the same thing?

Anyways, don't expect to see a Twitter account from me anytime soon.

0 Comments

posted by Erwin | 12:16 AM
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