Tamara Arishenkoff

So, I got back into the Lower Mainland just over a week ago and came home with two workout-related injuries that have been plaguing me for weeks. On Thursday, I decided to tackle the Grouse Grind with a few buds from my old workplace figuring that it could go either way for me. Let’s just say I would have most likely made my first-attempt goal of one hour 10 minutes had it not been for my aching heel! One hour and forty minutes later, me and Fehrms made it to the top. He was awesome enough to hang with me while I had to stop and wince in pain several times, but this is a challenge that I definitely want to continue doing. I figure I should wait a bit to let the foot heal some more, and definitely will tackle it in the wee hours of the morning. Way too many people up there after work for my liking, although it’s a blast seeing everyone do the mosquito dance in the rainforest on the way up and at the top.

I parked in the Economy Lot at the airport for my last trip to Calgary and had to walk a good distance to get to the terminal building. A very nice walk and just what the doctor ordered for me since my exercise regime had been pathetic that past week with the onset of a nasty cold (which I took to Calgary with me - lovely).

As I was walking down the covered walkway, at the very end I saw a Pay Phone and immediately said to myself outloud “Does anyone even use pay phones anymore?” I mean, I see little kids with cell phones now, and have also seen my share of Hobos with cell phones as well. Yep, riding around town on their 10-speed bikes, hi-vis vest, bags of cans and bottles with their cell phone glued to their ear. What could they possibly be talking about? The great bottle stash they found, a Hobo gathering taking place, or maybe they keep a neighborhood watch to warn each other when “5-0″ is around. I am not even entirely sure what it costs to use a Pay Phone these days. Bueller? Bueller? I can barely carry enough change for parking meters, never mind if I had to constantly plug money into a Pay Phone. One day I am going to pack a lunch, stake out a phone booth and see what kind of action it sees.

Okay, I am now just over the month and half mark on my new “self employed” journey, and the first thing I have learned is the pain of waiting 45 days to be paid. Once the cheques start rolling in, things start to settle down and you can actually begin to pay yourself on a regular basis in the manner to which one becomes accustomed. That being said, billing on a monthly basis is for the dogs, but a way of life it seems when you work on contract.

November is shaping up to finish on a high note with a signing of my first client in Calgary. The full details of the contract have yet to be worked out, but its is an amazing client with a ton of possibilities and all the makings of a long-term working relationship. Goal is to finalize by December 1st and nab an additional small contract as well to head into 2009. At a time when I could use some people, I can’t afford people. I’ve always wanted to have some people…maybe 2009 will be the year.

So I am at the Vancouver airport heading out to Calgary to see D and the kids which makes this for my second flight this month. The last flight was the Disneyland trip which goes out of the International terminal, so this story seems weird to me.

On the Disneyland trip and today, I was pulled aside by security to have my stuff and person examined. I was a random pick heading to LAX where they searched my stuff, took swabs of my bags, and patted me down (no - there was no rubber glove up the yoo-hoo for the strip search). Today as I headed through security, the barely-speaks-English Asian security person wants to search my purse. I politely told her that this is really starting to border on harrassment. She then mumbled something totally incomprehensible to me (even after asking for her to repeat herself) and I moved on. Seems my car/house keys and the measuring tape I carry are major threats to National Security somehow.

I more than anyone can appreciate that they need to do a good job to ensure we all travel safely. However, where does one draw the line? Maybe we need to get more powerful airport security scanners so there is no question what is going through that thing. What about that really cool one they had on the Arnold Swartzie movie where they all goe up to Mars or whatever…what the heck was the name of that movie? Anyway, people walked right through the scanner where all you could see was their seleton, so you know you won’t be able to hide anything there. Okay, so the large doses of radiation might be an issue, but seriously, if you are going through a human X-Ray machine on Mars, chances are you have other things to worry about.

Let me start by saying that I am not a huge Kid Rock fan, but “All Summer Long” is one of those tunes that gets into your head, more so I think because of the “Sweet Home Alabama” theme behind it. That is a song that can take you back to so many memories of the days of yore; really, Yore is a real period in time, trust me.

So I decide that I want this song for my workout playlist on my iPod, and head over to iTunes to download it. I mean, every artist is on iTunes, right? WRONG! Seems that Kid Rock wants folks to re-live the nostalgia that he felt as a young lad trotting off to the record store to pick up the latest album of his fave band. I have boxes of CD’s that I paid crazy money for back in the day, only to be disappointed like many to find there were only a couple of good songs. Well to this I said “nay nay”, and I used my trusty Torrent to get the song for free. Now, as a self-employed person, would you not rather have been paid something for your hard work versus getting a big, fat goose egg? If 1 million folks download that tune for .99cents, Kid would have made $80,000.00 in addition to all the dough from the full album sales. I think AC/DC should do the same thing, then maybe I wouldn’t have had to spend $250 on concert tickets or continue to find ways to nab the tunes from a shady place. I have no issue paying .99 cents for a song I really like, so I say hail to iTunes and to those that opt out, just remember how fast 8 cents can add up in the online world.

So yesterday I am heading to a meeting for my BC Children’s Hospital Foundation committee meeting at EA Sports (which I might add is the coolest place on earth!), and found myself at the perpetual muppet show that is the 4-way stop. Is this a concept that is missing from the driver’s ed programs these days? I have been driving for - gulp - 23 years now, and the situation never seems to improve no matter how much hope I hold out. Granted, the Lower Mainland is not renowned for its driving expertise, but it seems that normally good, intelligent drivers totally lose it when faced with the 4-way stop. Here is the fundamental rule to follow at a 4-way stop:

The first vehicle to arrive at a complete stop is the first vehicle allowed to leave the stop sign.

Much of the stress that is introduced into our driving day can be greatly reduced if we all get on the same page. Next time you find yourself panicking at a 4-way stop, take a deep breath and follow the simple rule.

Apple unveiled the new iPod Nano today, and I wonder if there is something disturbing about the fact that this news makes me tingle with glee. It has been two years since I purchased my totally pimp 17″ MacBook Pro, and did the unthinkable by running…ahem…Windows on it for most of that time. Before you call for the lynch mob to tar and feather me, let’s just be clear that I had to do so for my work. After dealing with Boot Camp and then running a VM (Virtual Machine), the typical Windows frustrations drove me to take regular swigs from the whiskey stash in my filing cabinet until I finally had enough. After a successful Windows exorcism, I am now happily living in a total MAC world (yes, I am runnning Office for MAC, but that is a necessary evil). I have everything I need (with one exception) and could not be happier.

People like me should not have access to the Apple Store or be given a credit card with which to make unnecessary purchases of Apple gadgets. Or are they unnecessary? I have a perfectly good iPod Nano (2nd generation) and don’t NEED a new one - BUT - I WANT a new one. Now is the time to be strong and look to my inner resolve and willpower and just say NO. I am the perfect example of the type of consumer the all-mighty Apple marketing machine is targeting. The one who thrives on the latest gadgets and gizmos and loves living in the world of total Geekdom where I reign as Queen.

The old sayings of ” Good things come to those who wait”, or “Patience is a virtue” used to drive me up a wall. Don’t get me wrong - I have been known to be a very patient person, unless it involves something that I want right this very minute (not to be confused with impatient). No, I have learned of late that patience, no matter how prudent it may seem at the time, or how painful it may be to endure, is indeed what inevitably wins out in the end. The most profound examples of patience, it seems, always involve matters of the heart. Patience with a parent who gets sick, a lover who experiences challenging times, a dream that is finally about to come true, or a child who has been searching for their way home.

At the very core of patience is a love and desire so deep and consuming that it tests our nature and our character to the very core. Sometimes you just have to say “screw patience” and go out and grab what it is that you want, but in most cases, playing the waiting game is what is necessary to get to the brass ring. It is kind of funny that yesterday I wrote about Change and now am writing about Patience and did not clue in to how these two are so intertwined until just this very moment. I’m waiting for the V8 guy to pop out from around the corner and smack me in the forehead. You learn along the way when to push the limits of patience and when to hang back, and to me its the most delicate dance we can perform. Once you learn the steps, the possibilities become endless.

Since Saturday I feel like I have been sucked into the vortex of the past, finding myself in some twisted world of the present with a high dose of the 80’s thrown into the mix. Maybe I’m listening to way too much Jack FM these days, or it could be the digital station I also have on right now (blasting out some Billy Joel “We Didn’t Start the Fire”). Whatever cosmic forces are at work here, they are taking me back in time at every corner. KISS “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” on the way home got it all started for me. What a great song.

The past is currently an ever-present part of my here and now and my future, and I have to say its pretty amazing. What’s even more amazing is what happens when those two worlds collide. The true sense of self that you get allows for a level of personal introspection that one may not otherwise enjoy. I’m dating my Grade 7 boyfriend…if it all works out the way it should, it could be an Oprah moment for sure!

Have I mentioned I have never seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show? I’m thinking I may have one of these nights at my house and have some of the crazies over for some crazy fun.

There comes a time in every woman’s life when the realization truly hits that all things must change. This is a concept that I have fought for years - was never very good at “change”, even though much of the change in my life has been initiated by me. I guess the real aversion was to change inflicted upon me by others that I always fought like Rocky vs. the Russian. Another big change is right around the corner for me with the launch of my new business and the transition to self-employment. I can accept that I will never be someone’s employee ever again (knock on wood), and that I have more control over the course of my life than I have ever had, or felt I had, before. I am having an easier time accepting the fact that I will be 40 in exactly 4 months than I did accepting turning 30 (God, has it really been 10 years??). I guess all the thoughts about change are prompted by the turning of the seasons, even though summer was ever-present here today.

Yep, change to me is slowly going from what I once thought was a 4-letter word to something that I want to embrace. Forty is going to be my year, I can feel it, and have never looked so forward to a birthday since I can’t remember when. Wow, that number sounds really, really big - wasn’t I just 16 a few minutes ago? Glad my twenties are over and my thirties was so full of life experiences and lessons that I am so thankful for. The only way to move forward is to change, that much I have figured out. I have a renewed goal to change myself even more over the next month - bump up my fitness goals and gear up for October 1st and a new chapter in my life. When I think about it, the book has been pretty interesting so far and I can hardly wait to see what’s next.