Remember when...

Just a quick note to draw your attention to something that has been really bothering me infrequently..

I went to McDonald's the other day to pick up some supper because I was running late from work for one reason or another.  I went in, ordered etc as per usual.  Then I watched as they scrambled to get the orders filled.  It wasn't really busy, but I had to wait alot longer than one would expect from a place like McDonalds.  There used to be these ads on TV where it showed how well the front-end of McDs was laid out so that everyone could move fast and get things done.  But now, with some of the stores renovations and lay-out, this is impossible...  All the burgers and fries etc are at one of the far sides of the cash registers so that, while pretty much everyone who goes to McDs orders some kind of burger, all the workers have to crowd around a tiny little area at the far side of the front end and wait to get their customer's order.  The rest of the front end is covered with things that not many people order.  I understand the logic of placement though: since everyone is coming to buy a burger, we don't need to show them the burgers... we want people to come and try our coffee, or our McFlurrys, or our apples, or muffins etc.  

So prime space behind the cash registers is filled with product that only the rare few purchase, and forces the cashiers to congregate at the tiny little area where the burgers etc are delivered from the people heating them up at the back.  It looks terrible to someone coming in when you see a line of people waiting to be served because the cashier has to literally leave the register to actually see if the previous order has been made yet...

Another flow-on from this product is that there ends up being (the other night) 3 different people putting your order in the bag.  Mistakes happen because of this.  It was like watching a highly disorganized group struggle to get you your food because the higher ups appear to be so far removed from the front end work of their company that they have effectively made a place that gets so many complaints from those in line waiting for their food that I now avoid McDs because of the wait and that I have to check to make sure that I get everything that I ordered... 

Burger King on the other hand...  I love them.  Great front-end layout, not more than 2 people fill  your order and they work together, and the wait is short.  I think that McDonalds really should take a page out of their book because they are losing business (at least mine).

I know.  I tackle the big issues eh?

A word on hockey

Well last night the vancouver Cunucks were eliminated from Stanley Cup contention.  I am truly sorry at this as I really would have liked to back a Canadian team for the cup.  Even though....

I am a Calgary Flames fan.   What I mean by the "Even though..." above, is that during the regular season, whenever Calgary lost a game, the Canucks fans seemed to have a field day slamming the Flames saying how much they sucked.  Pretty harshly too.  I think friendly rivalry is healthy, but man, the level of slamming was a bit harsh.  But what I would like to point out though, is that despite being in a slump at the end of the year, the Flames fell to the Blackhawks 4 games to 2.   Last night, the Canucks fell to the Blackhawks as well, oddly enough, 4 games to 2.  They were well fought games I will openly admit.  And this is not an I told you so, because I never said anything to that effect... As I said before, once the Flames fell, I really would have liked to have a Canadian team still in contention, although the Flames smashing would have likely increased etc etc... 

I just find it kind of funny that both the Flames and the Canucks fell to the same team in same number of games.  Ah well...  Maybe next year.

I wish...

I'm a simple man, with relatively simply wants and needs... healthy family, food on the table, and a roof over our head. But what I really wish right now is that I had something interesting to say. I've read somewhere that someone of note (who's name I never committed to memory as it was likely someone of note in their own mind) said that they really enjoyed talking to men over 30 as they had opinions and could carry on some sort of conversation.

...

I just thought that I would let that sink in... So here I am. A 32 year old male, haven't really written in months.. And I still have nothing to say.

I guess my opinions in a nutshell are that the economic ... "downturn" was an inevitable event when you have such extremes of wealth and poverty based on capitalistic greed. No. I'm not a communist, but I believe strongly that those in power (power being defined as elected officials) should act as PUBLIC SERVANTS who's sole desire is to serve the public's best interest, ie those who put them in their position of "power", with no regard for their current salaries and/or future pensions. Take Obama for instance. At present, he seems to be working for the greater good, which is why I think he's still so well liked. Unfortunately though, I have my doubts as to whether he will be able to effectively alter the situation as much as he hopes. He is still a newbie as far as politics are concerned. And while he'll do much to improve the global opinion, I don't think that he will be able to change the problems inherent in the system. You can't change the game by playing it (ie, change it from the inside). You play a new game.

Anywho... On to other topics not related to politics.

6 months of winter. What was the deal with that!! The first snow fall was in November, the last snow fall was like April. I thought that there was supposed to be 4 seasons, say.... 3 months each. So now that we have 6 months of winter, there is now 3 seasons left for 6 months, leaving 2 months for each season. I was really hopping for a nice summer, but we'll see.

I got my fishing gear all ready for fishing this season. Got my boy Alex a reel as well. Last year he had one of those fishing rods that launches the bobber and hook like a rocket launcher. It worked well, and he was able to catch some fish and everything... But he kept wanting to use my rod and reel... I couldn't let him cast mine like he wanted to. Something about a 5 year old throwing a nice rod and reel with a sharp hook attached to it near me. Call me paranoid but... And maybe he's ready for it this year. I guess we'll see soon enough!

I have missed the blog though. It's something that I have wanted to do for a long time, but I just haven't had any time. I've been pretty flat out at work with little time for spare anything. It's been going well though. I have more freedom to do what I want and follow roads that I want to follow. It's taken a while to get here, but I feel that it's going well. I would like it to go a bit faster, but I find that sometimes the analysis takes a bit longer than I would like to hope.

I should really go now, and I will try, I will try hard to write in you more ofter. I have wanted to write here around my one year anniversary back in Canada, for my kids birthdays, for my wedding anniversary in which we went to Montreal, and earlier today for no apparent reason.

Well, that's about all the crap that I can think to write about at this moment in time. So smile as you kiss that time good bye.

Cheers,
Mike