the pod bay door

:: I don’t know what any of that means – it has something to do with cycling. When you search your name on the web, interesting results appear – depending, of course, on how common or uncommon your name is. Many of my friends and colleagues have names that are common enough that when searched on the ‘net, return web sites and hits for many people with the same name. Best example: my Winnipeg friend, Mike Nichols. Search his name, and the results will take you to sites about the film director of the same name.

When search engines became popular, I searched my name, and discovered two others with the name, “Randy Reichardt“. One was an insurance broker in Arizona, the other a student in Iowa, whose name kept appearing in university soccer match results, and then in bicycle race results. I assumed it was the same person, and still do. For some time, I’d been aware of the Reichardt name in Iowa. The clothing store, Reichardt’s, has been in Des Moines for over 50 years. William J Reichardt was a politician in the state.

I searched my name tonight, and discovered a page I hadn’t seen before, with photographs of the members of the QCP (Quixote Racing Program, Des Moines IA), including Randy “Burly and Curly” Reichardt. It’s rather surreal to see a picture of someone who shares your name, when the name is not common. I wonder if he pronounces his last name as my family does: RYE-cart.

Weird, wacky stuff. Now if only I was in as good a shape as my namesake in Iowa…
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:: I’ve been in considerable pain for the past few days, upper body pain on my left side. No, it’s not heart-related. The symptoms suggest shingles, but there is no rash or reddened skin. It hurts to put on a shirt, or sit in my car, as the pain is on the left side of my back, as well as my front ribs on the same side. It’s annoying (duh) and maddening, because the doctor can’t really treat it as shingles, unless the rash or blisters appear. Also, constant pain is exhausting. I can focus, go to work, etc., but by supper-time, I’m worn out.

I leave for Nashville on Saturday, so I am predictably concerned, and very frustrated. I don’t want to go there, not knowing if whateverthehell I have will worsen. So I have to take it day to day.

:: Derryl sent a note about the availability of SCTV on DVD. This 5-disc set covers the first season of SCTV Network 90, which ran on NBC in the early 80s. I’ve added it to my wish list.

I loved SCTV, and wonder if the classic SCTV 30-minute episodes will ever be available on DVD. Those shows were produced in Toronto, and in 1980-81, in Edmonton. There is a good website devoted to SCTV here, which links to the official Second City web site, among others.

:: DDB is a worldwide advertising agency (206 offices in 96 countries). They seem to thrive and exist on ideas. Their web site is worth a look. Even better, check out the Canadian DDB site (you’ll need Flash). Launch the Canadian site, and watch the fat men in yellow pajamas. It’s fascinating. I think I’d like to work for them. The web site screams sense of humour, and freedom to create. From the “Careers” section of the Canadian site:

Do you have a lot of crappy ideas? If so, we’d like to hear from you. You see, we’ve found that really creative people tend to have lots of ideas – most of them lousy. And that’s okay. As Thomas Edison once said, “I’ve never failed. I’ve simply discovered 12,000 ideas that don’t work.” (Granted, 12,000 “boo-boo’s” seems a little high, but you get the point.)

Interested? Write to us at igottawork@ddbcanada.com and we can discuss acceptable rates of failure.

The work culture has its foundation in four freedoms: from fear, to fail, from chaos, and to be. Among the tenets of these freedoms:

• Management by intimidation has no place in an organization dedicated to nurturing creativity.
• It is the job of management to first point talented people in the right direction and then to judge their work. But if the approach to that work is responsible and intelligent, people must never be criticized for daring to fail.
• Each individual has a right to be treated with dignity, to be supported in his or her ambitions for higher achievement, and to be provided with a place where a career can grow in the direction of one’s own choosing. But beyond providing for professional growth, talent must be permitted to enjoy a life in which there is also time for laughter, and music, and love, and celebration, and the space to enjoy them.

Can I start tomorrow?

:: Bored? Need a jolt of wackiness? Watch Leonard Nimoy singing “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins”

:: Congratulations to my friend Darcy, who posted the 1000th comment on my site.

:: Super Size Me is playing in Edmonton, and I saw it yesterday. I haven’t consumed any fast food from McD’s, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, etc., for months, but after watching this movie, I wonder if I’ll ever do it again. (My one weakness is pizza from Papadopolous in Edmonton.) In the film, director Morgan Spurlock eats three meals a day at McDonald’s for 31 days, with three doctors, a nutritionist and an fitness counsellor monitoring his body weight, blood, cholesterol, caloric intake, etc.

Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock hit the road and interviewed experts in 20 U.S. cities, including Houston, the “Fattest City” in America. From Surgeon Generals to gym teachers, cooks to kids, lawmakers to legislators, these authorities shared their research, opinions and “gut feelings” on our ever-expanding girth.

During the journey, Spurlock also put his own body on the line, living on nothing but McDonald’s for an entire month with three simple rules:

1) No options: he could only eat what was available over the counter (water included!)
2) No supersizing unless offered
3) No excuses: he had to eat every item on the menu at least once

It’s compelling viewing, if a bit skewed – who would eat 93 straight meals from McDonald’s, or any fast food outlet? Also of interest: his girl friend is a vegan chef, and prepares a vegan detox diet for Spurlock, whihc helps him quickly restore his liver function and cholestrol level when his month-long Mac Attack is over.

:: Nashville is six days away, and I feel completely unprepared for the trip. I’m hoping to change that this afternoon by getting a few things in order.

Who are the quirkyalones? There are many definitions, but we’ll start with this one. Quirkyalones are romantics who resist the tyranny of coupledom. Whether by birth (womb quirkyalones) or through life experience (born-again quirkyalones), we are independent-thinking people who would prefer to be open to finding that magical click (and the myriad possibilities that life has to offer) rather than exist in a stifling or unsatisfying romantic relationship.

I remember reading about quirkyalones some time ago, and decided to visit the site tonight.The definition above is interesting to me, because I’ve always thought of myself as a hopeless romantic. I took the quiz to determine if I meet the qualifications of a quirkyalone. The results:

Your score was 121. Very quirkyalone: Relatives may give you quizzical looks, and so may friends, but you know in your heart of hearts that you are following your inner voice. Though you may not be romancing a single person, you are romancing the world. Celebrate your freedom on National Quirkyalone Day, February 14th!

I’m not sure that knowing I am romancing the world is much comfort.
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:: To feed my personal NYC obsession, I subscribe to Time Out New York. Although it arrives in my mailbox anywhere from 3-5 weeks after publication, I look forward to each issue. While its content keeps me up-to-date on All Things Pop Culture and All Things NYC, there are always well-written articles that pique my interest and result in further investigation on my part. In many cases, the articles are not necessarily NYC-centric either.

A recent example is the article, “Rush Hour on the Information Superhighway“, by Clive Thompson, which appeared in Issue No. 445 April 8–15, 2004.

A funny thing happened on the road to utopia. The Information Age promised greater efficiency, allowing us to explore new worlds online and enjoy more free time. Instead, we’re working longer hours and feeling more stressed as we drown in a tsunami of e-mail, blogs and Google searches. And nowhere is this pressure to stay connected more prevalent than in mediacentric New York.

Thompson succinctly addresses information bombardment and overload, focusing on four aspects: e-mail and spam, Google and googling, blogs, and TiVo (which, btw, isn’t available in Canada yet). As librarians and information specialists, we are bombarded with information from many sides every day. How do we deal with it? Often, we don’t – some, if not all of it flows over us like water off the back of a duck. We process a little of it. But being librarians, when we search for information we should know where and when to stop, and Thompson very correctly nails this in his discussion of searching:

That’s another conundrum of our age: New technologies seem only to amp up our desire for more. Consider Google. It is by all accounts an informational godsend. But since it offers hundreds of hits for even the most quixotic query, many people have no idea when to stop parsing the endless results, says Joseph Janes, chair of library and information science at the University of Washington’s Information School, who teaches a graduate seminar on the site and its impact on the culture. “It can make your life simpler, but it can also lead you down the path to perdition,” Janes adds. “You find things that point to things that point to things that point to things, and you wake up two hours later. Or maybe you’re looking for something that simply can’t be found on Google, and it takes you 45 minutes to figure that out.” Janes was trained as a librarian, and he says one thing librarians learn is when to stop: “We know when to declare victory—or to go home if the information just isn’t there.”

Consider that: knowing when to stop. It’s one of the many characteristics that define us as information and library professionals, and I think we should be proud of it.

BTW, the Time Out New York publishers and editors have quietly set a high standard for open access. They have uploaded the contents, except for listings of current events, of every issue since the magazine began publishing in 1995. New issues are archived online one month after publication. Issues can be browsed by date, and a search function is provided that allows keyword searching with the ability to restrict by section of the journal. As a good friend would say, totally brilliant. (NOTE: A slight variation of this post appears on Blogcritics.)

:: Thank you to everyone who wrote or commented about my increased heart rate. Subsequent to having an ECG on Thursday and visiting the doctor, I stopped drinking my Starbucks French Roast coffee. Within 24 hours, my heartbeat was down to the mid-80s. I just checked it again, and the reading was 76 bpm, which for me is remarkable.

Shannon sent a link to an article about high caffeine levels in coffee.

The biggest bang for your buck, with more than double the levels of caffeine compared to the lowest levels, were found in coffee from Starbucks and Second Cup.

Of course, at Starbucks, rarely do they serve French Roast over the counter – you have to buy it and make it yourself, which is what I do with it at work. The article does provide responses from the coffee companies, including Starbucks:

We emphasize that any absolute numbers reported on caffeine levels in Starbucks coffee do not reflect what a customer would receive in every cup of Starbucks coffee. There are many variables that contribute to caffeine content from cup to cup.

Regarding Starbucks regular drip coffees, customers can expect an average of 160 milligrams of caffeine per eight ounces.

The article notes that “Health Canada recommends no more than 400 milligrams of caffeine a day.” That said, if the data from Starbucks are correct, even drinking 1-1.5 cups of regular drip French Roast shouldn’t affect my heart rate. Or should it? In this case, it appears that a particular brand of coffee had an effect on me. On the plus side, the ECG revealed that my heart is in great shape, with no abnormal rhythms of any kind.

:: It is a long weekend in Canada, Victoria Day, and it’s been somewhat lazy. In no particular order, so far today I worked out, weeded a section of a filing cabinet (and fed my paper shredder a lot of paper!), cleaned up stuff in the background of my web site, cut the grass in the front and back yards, watered the small patches of dirt in which plant life can be found, loaned a copy of Time Out New York to someone who is leaving for NYC on Wednesday. I still want to clean one of my bathrooms today if I can find the energy, and add some decorative rock to the base of my little oak tree in my front yard. I also want to put up my backyard canopy, with the help of a neighbour. And go for coffee and read a bit. I am feeling lazy and overwhelmed with life – no different from any other day.

:: A federal election has been called in Canada for June 28, which also happens to be my birthday. At this point in my life, I find most politicians to be without many ethics or principles, if any. In my front yard is a sign supporting the local Liberal candidate. I doubt he’ll win, but I would never vote for the right wing. This time around, I don’t know if I will vote at all.

:: Two weeks from now, I’ll be in Nashville. Three weeks after I return, it’s off to Winnipeg and Newfoundland and then back to Winnipeg. A few weeks later, it’s September. Summer moves by too quickly. It’s isn’t fair.

:: The guy who came to my door on May 19, asking for $5 to refill his daugher’s inhaler, never returned the $5.