How much importance do you place on brand names for clothing?

Of course, there're expensive brand names like Gucci, D&G, DKNY, Coach, LV, and BCBG and then there are the affordable brand names like Tommy Hilfiger, Aritzia, Nike, Timberland, Mexx, and Banana Republic.

Due to financial reasons, I don't bother looking at the high-end brands - besides that's not who I am. I'm disturbed to know that I do prefer buying SOME kind of brand name (no, not Zellers). But I breathe a sigh of relief by telling myself that I do for the right reasons. I go for brand names because of their quality and durability, with only secondary focus on showing off a logo or tag. Exceeding the cost threshold into the echelon of designer fashion, in my opinion, shifts the weight of reasoning further towards a glowing (figuratively) name stitched to the back of the collar and the entitlement to state "this shirt cost $250" without words.

Anyway, I'm a big fan of Nike and Mexx, mainly because I think they come out with some cool and different looks. But I only buy during sales, and then I go all out.

A quick count sees 17 Nike t-shirts, dri-fits, jackets, golf-shirts, sweaters, pants, shorts, and shoes in my wardrobe. Critize me if you want, but those poor underaged, underpaid kids in the Vietnam sure make good clothing. :)

I remember being in my early teens, maybe 12 or so, when I was given a cassette tape of N.W.A.'s "Straight Outta Compton" from my so-called friend at Chinese school. I call him my so-called friend because though we got along, I don't think I could be that close with a guy like him. He later got kicked out of our class because he swore at our teacher, saying "Go to hell you f****** b****!" as he stormed out of the classroom.

I digress. Listening to N.W.A. back then, for the protected and reserved little boy that I was, spawned feelings of rebellion and guilt. I mean, they were talking about fornication with prostitutes, drugs, and violence. What a horrible combination. Who knew that gangsta rap would turn as mainstream as the way it has.

I bring this up at this time because I came across this funny website explaining the meaning one of N.W.A.'s most popular songs to the layman.

As the "President" of our company's Fitness Club, I have a budget of 3000nt (roughly $120 CAD) each quarter to use how I see fit.

On the last day of 2005 Q3, I was scrambling to use up the last 200+ nt. So I picked up a book called "Weight Lifting Body-Building", featured in the photo to the left, from a bookstore. I actually think it's a pretty good book with illustrations of exercises that can be done at home or at the gym, though you probably couldn't tell from its cover.

First, they put this picture of a man whose idea of a workout is to slather oil over his body and to wear a gym towel around his waist. Then, they write "Strong and Healthy Muscle for 4 weeks", making this book sound more like a book on how to deteriorate muscle mass than to build it. This gives a person hope of shedding those wasteful pounds of muscle and go from brawn to scrawn in only 4 weeks. Back to the man in the picture, who looks like he's probably never worked out a day in his life, you realize the book MUST work. This man has neither strong nor healthy "muscle". And with this guy's alluring pose, if this book were sold online on Amazon.com, it would probably have a section that says:

Customers who bought Weight Lifting Body-Building also bought:

• Brokeback Mountain

In a relationship, is LOVE everything?

Comment. If not, what else MUST you have?

I recently read Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser, which was on the New York Times Bestseller list (probably a while back). This book talks about everything fast food, from its history in Anaheim, California, the growth and expansion of franchises, the hiring/firing/working/and union-prevention, the fries, the entire meat processing flow (from feedlots to slaughtering to patties), its marketing, its economic effects, its health effects, and political ties. An interesting read, for sure. But not really a life-changing one. What I did take out of it is that In-N-Out Burger is probably the best place, and the safest, to have a fast food meal; not to mention the best place to work if you are in the industry.

Fast Food Nation points a lot of fingers, and I don't blame it. Some fun facts... Statistically, the percentage of beef patties with E-Coli is high, due to the fact that there's feces in the burgers. There's actually beef in their fries (not in all countries). McDonald's Golden Arches are now the most recognizable symbol, knocking off Coca Cola.

I got the 2005 publication, but the book was first published in 2001. Certainly there have been quite a few changes in the industry since its original publication - and perhaps in part thanks to this book. A lot of book reviews and readers have said that they will never eat at McDonald's again. Not for me though. I don't eat fast food that often, but I'll still enjoy a meal at a fast food joint, because it's quick, inexpensive, and fairly tasty (I'm playing right into their hands, aren't I?). In fact, I just had a McChicken yesterday for lunch.

Meetings galor!

At least that's what a blog post title would have been 6 months ago. Well, today, it's just the opposite. I haven't had a meeting in 1 month. My next meeting is today at 2pm. My last meeting was March 6th at 11am - 12am. Today's meeting isn't even so much about work, but rather about measuring work. Most specifically, it is to discuss our "Integrated Performance Management and Development (IPMD)" performance measuring system, on which our bonuses will be based. So, really, it's been a long time since I've sat down in a meeting room to discuss work-related issues. What a productive month!

Pain.

I have a high tolerance of physical pain. After a good workout, or the first after a hiatus, the muscle soreness is not only tolerable, but welcomed. In jointlocks, it takes much more effort to make me tap out, once to the point where I probably injured my elbow from stubbornness. But there's one type of pain that takes me straight to my limit: gas pains.

I had a grueling experience just yesterday where I had a near mental shutdown from an excruciating torment deep behind my solarplexes. It completely stopped me from being able to do any work. During this kind of knee-weakening, back-arching pain, any burp, any flatulance means instant relief. The bigger the better, the more the merrier. There is no time when you find more pleasure in your bodily functions than when taken by gas pains. But the relief is always temporary, and gas pains often last a couple days. Fortunately, in these cases, I can find asylum in OTC drugs like Gascon and Gas-X.

Too busy at work to blog these days.
Work's been crazy, and then I've been playing more sports lately too.
So bare with me and I'll get something up soon.

Tell me about your day...

Every freakin' thing.

In my last post, I mentioned that I took that link off the Freakonomics blog. For the few who of your who might have made a home under a rock, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything is a best selling book written by economist Steven D. Levitt and author Stephen J. Dubner that I had the pleasure of reading last month. Freakonomics is a great little read that has no "main" focus, but speaks of a plethora of different topics, tying them all in from a economists perspective. Given that it's a best seller, there are reviews on the book all over the place - making little sense for me to write another one here.

From before reading the book until now, I've started doing some more regular reading of these authors' writing. Take a look at these places:
The Freakonomics Official Website
The Freakonomics New York Times Magazine Articles
The Freakonomics Authors' Blog
Steven D. Levitt's University of Chicago Website
Stephen J. Dubner's Official Website

I took this off the freakonomics blog...
Here's a neat website by Canadian Michelle Walters, FlapArt, from which you can buy fake book covers that will catch the eyes of people on buses, skytrains, and passerbys. A little pricy for what they are, but funny stuff.