The So-Called Random Inspection

If it's so random to do searches on people at the airport for weapons, then why is it a coincidence that every time I'm at the airport I'm searched?

We arrived at Oakland Airport for our flight to Maui at around 8:45, with our flight leaving at 9:35. Being a veteran when it comes to flying, I figured coming late would not be a problem with the new technology of E-Check-Ins. You walk to a terminal, enter your information in, tell how much luggage you want to check-in, tags are printed behind the counter, you give your luggage, and you're on your way.

Upon our arrival for ATA, there was a huge line going around the corner, something quite unexpected. As I got into line the guy in front of me asks "Are you flying to Maui?" Another veteran flyer, he was also surprised of the long line. With some inspection of the departure screen, I see that 3 other flights are leaving at the same time!

Fortunately, a woman went through and did a final call for flights to Maui. Apparently there was indeed two terminals that you can do an E-Check-in, however the people in line were not using e-check-in but rather with the person in front. With the way they place the computers, you wouldn't know they were there unless you finally made it to the front of the line.

After we checked in our luggage we made our way to the security checkpoint. Dumping everything I had in the plastic bins I was ready to walk through the metal detector right after my mom. The sign says everyone has to take their shoes off and send them into the x-ray machine.

The metal detector went off on my mom. The security guy did a quick with his detector stick and tells my mom "You have to take your shoes off ma'am."

My mom, not paying attention, forgot to take her shoes off. As a result, she earned herself a free ticket to the inspection box. The security informs her to walk through the left path (rather than the right, where you can pick up your gear) and wait there.

I don't think my mom understood what he was saying, because she went through the left side, back tracked, and went back to the right side.

Through the whole commotion of her walking to where we were (as I was putting up my gear), security comes up to me and says "I'm sorry sir you're going to have to leave your things here for a bit." They decided to put ALL THREE OF US through the inspection box.

Frick, why are we being told to go in for inspection AFTER we were oked to go on through? "Damnit mom" I was thinking to myself, I think security figured we were organizing a hand off of explosives or something so rather be unsafe, they decided to inspect all of us.

I wasn't happy, downright annoyed that I went through the random inspection AGAIN. This was just one of the many trips where I was inspected.

I didn't have to listen to the security's instructions because it's happened so many times already: Lift one leg, lift other leg, stand up with arms straight out, arms down to sides, and then you're okay to go.

Our items were then released. "Thank you for cooperating" the guy who searched me said as he walked passed me. Did I have a choice?

Office Romance (Reversed)

"Well Jimmy, that was a great advice on how to pursue that office hottie, but what if you're on the receiving end and want this person away like a big zit on my back that I can't seem to reach?" I'm glad you asked faithful blog reader!

Now that we've talked about the offensive end of the much talked-about office romance, what if you're on the receiving/defensive end?

What if Mr. Pencil-Pusher wants to pursue a relationship with you and you're not interested? What if you WANT Mr. Pencil-Pusher to sharpen his pencil in your pencil sharpener? Ah hah, let's cover that next.

If you want Mr. Pencil-Pusher, read no further. Simply hang your sign that says "Magic Mountain Open" or "Disneyland Open" and he'll be over so fast you won't even have time to change your mind. However if you plan to open up Sea World in the rear, don't tell anyone...especially me...because that's just nasty.

If you're a guy and you already have the office hottie after you, why are you even reading this? You don't even have to work at it you lucky bastard. Go open up Space Mountain and give her a ride...but make sure you tell me how it went okay?

Typically, the ones on the receiving end are women in a male dominant work-place. Occasionally you'll get a male on the receiving end however, unless they bear some sort of resemblance to anyone on the top beautiful people in the magazine "People", guys typically only receive butt slaps and high-fives from other guys.

How it Starts
So it's your first day at work, you're excited and pumped up. Other than your performance being judged when you first start a new job, your looks will also be judged. Will you be the new office hottie or the next office clown? Unless your face looks like it was hit by a sledgehammer or you smell like sweaty feet, someone's going to think you're cute.

Guys will ultimately become excited over the new produce that has entered their office. Most will undoubtedly want to squeeze the cantaloups to see how fresh they are, or even want to marry the woman. Marry even before they said hello? Ridiculous? No way!

Now if you have not read the previous blog on "Swearing - The Key Success for Women" from June 16 2006, I recommend you go back to that now. Although Dilbert's method of success is extreme it is the most effective in warding off the many boys wanting to camp out in your tent or park their car in your garage.

If you're a nicey (and most women are niceys) what are you to do without hurting them?

I Have A Boyfriend
Unless you're been living underneath a rock, or the ocean, telling a man that you have a boyfriend isn't going to stop his advances. Somewhere between the sentence "I have..." and "...boyfriend" a man will probably interpret that as:

"I have a boyfriend but he's really not that great of a boyfriend...but you must be sooo much better than him."

Men will think they are better than others in the oddest of ways. You will get men that believe that:

1. They're somehow better than your hubby, even though they've never met him and have nothing to compare to.
2. You'll somehow break up with your hubby, especially when they show you how great of a poker player they are.
3. They make more money than your hubby, signifying that they must be a better provider.
4. They're really attractive, based on the amount of money they make.

Unless you have a rock the size of your boyfriend's fist on your finger, it's likely the boy will continue his advances until he gets the words "no" in the form of a sexual harrassment lawsuit.

If you don't have a boyfriend and aren't really interested in Mr. Pocket-Protector, simply tell them that you don't date coworkers, and unless it's on company time you don't do anything with coworkers. For those stuck in the lunch zone, an easy method is to say you brought your own meal (you *did* make your lunch didn't you?) or you only have time for a 10 minute lunch because the boss wants something ASAP.

I have A Husband
Even if you have a ring the size of my head, guys will see you as the horny married woman that can't get enough of sex (from their husband). They believe that they can get a free pass to Magic Mountain, so much that they'll stop at nothing to get that golden ticket.

So you've established that you're hitched and they still don't have a clue. What strategies do you have to ward off this annoying menace?

Boyfriend Dropping
No, not leave the man of your life, but rather "name drop" the word "boyfriend" in your sentences. Every chance you get you put the word "boyfriend" in your conversation with them:

"My boyfriend and I went to the market."
"My boyfriend and I stayed at home."
"My boyfriend and I had roast beef."
"My boyfriend and I had no roast beef."
"My boyfriend is so good in bed he made me scream, moan, and cry...all at the same time."

The point is, let the fool know that you're boyfriend is your life. You eat, you sleep, heck you go to the bathroom with him every moment you have. Once he realizes that you absolutely have no time for anyone else, he'll back off.

Picture Perfect
If name dropping doesn't work, have you considered having a picture of you and your boyfriend up? Instead of putting a picture frame of you and him *inside* your cubicle, why not blow up a bigger picture of you and him and put it *outside* your cubicle? The first thing any advancer will see is you and your hubby making out with your hand down his pants. No boyfriend? I'm sure you have a picture of someone that is a man (that isn't your dad) somewhere. "Oh have you seen a picture of my boyfriend?" Then shove the picture in his face. Yeah...that's right.

A good idea is to have picture of you and your boyfriend that has a story behind it. A picture of you and him with the Yosemites as a backdrop shows that you travel with your boyfriend and you actually have something in common with him. A picture of Paris or something shows that you two can be together for long periods of time with no worries.

Out of Options?
So you've tried everything at this point and you're simply out of ideas on what to do next. If the previous advice do not work the best thing is to somehow have your boyfriend in the same room as them. Whether it's the special visit from the hubby at work-day or perhaps, to the extreme, invite the guy to dinner but make no mention that your boyfriend will be there. As for your boyfriend, you can just tell him that you want to take this coworker of yours because you feel sorry that he has no people skills.

The idea is to put a face behind the boyfriend/husband. When a guy has a face, voice, and habits to match with the word "boyfriend" that you keep bringing up, it's very likely he'll back up. Yes it will be difficult to orchestrate but it's the most effective.

What if you don't have a boyfriend/husband and you want to this guy off you? You're best action is to continue telling him "No, i'm not interested" Whether it's lunch, dinner, party, etc. Do not complicate things by rewording your phrase to things such as:

"I can't because..."
"I'd like to but..."
"I have plans."
"I'm doing ____ already."

A man, although a caveman sometimes, need a straight simple answer. If they continue with "C'mon, just one drink" or whatever, just stick to your guns and repeat the words "I'm not interested." You can add sorry to the sentence, but are you *really* sorry for saying no?

Office Romance

50% of all office relationships lead to marriage, however 50% of all office relationships do not work. Which would you prefer?

Do you have an office hottie, be it your boss or that pocket-protected engineer in the next cubicle, that you've been aching to put something in their inbox that wasn't an email? What should you do without coming off like the office tramp?

No one can really help being attracted to someone of the opposite sex, even if it's a fellow employee however there are certain things you should do that will keep things clean and fun.

Waiting
Rather than pounce on that ass like it was your first Thanksgiving meal, wait about 3 months before you actually make a move on them. For about the first three months all eyes are on you, in performance wise and work ethics. Do you really want to look like the office tramp before you even make your first paycheck? I think not. Also, by waiting three months you can really see if they're worthy for a date. Perhaps that nose-picking that they do has grown on you by three months, who knows.

Your Approach
Now that you've waited a long three months, it's time to show some interest. Pass by their cubicle before you leave for the day for a quick chat, and if things look promising, make it a regular event. Eventually that regular event could to turn to "hey do you want to catch a bite to eat tomorrow" or "...after work" or even "How about we go make some babies behind the company recycling dumpster?" No? Okay fine.

The Long-Run
So you're office escapade has grown from weekly luncheon to nightly rompin', should you keep things separate between work and pleasure, or let everyone know that you're banging that person like a nail being hammered into the ground? Yeah? You like that analogy?

You should always keep your work and personal affairs separate from one another. not only that, but your fellow employees do not need to know what's going on (unless you're messing around with some other coworker's hubby).

This also includes:

1. No sex in the broom closet,
2. No sex in the copy room,
3. No sex in the conference room at the very end of the hall,
4. No sex on the boss' desk after hours,
5. No coed showers in the company shower rooms, and
6. No special visits to the basement file storeroom.

Nooners are okay, especially if they're behind the company recycling dumpster (Nooners is defined as sex during your lunchtime, typically in the backseat of someone's car under a shaded tree).

Working @ Canesta

So I'm still delayed from working at my employer, MEC Dynamics, which means another week or two of contract/temp work. After having two days off, I got the opportunity to work on a project for Canesta.

Canesta, for those who don't know, is a fairly large company that designs and manufactures cameras. Their products are sensory cameras, which means, for example, their cameras will be used in mobile phones where it can see you type on a virtual keyboard or, currently, in cars such as BMW that senses how close a car is on front of you (and allows the card to adjust it's speed).

My experience was able to land me a contract job with them because of my database experience. I was requested to create and build a heirarchy that links all of the parts to flowchart that hyperlinks basically. For a job that was expected to be done in 2-3 days was done in a matter of hours by me.

The result was positive, as my supervisor was so impressed (and also probably not so impressed with my poorly assembled sandwich I brought for lunch) that he said he's going to take me out to lunch on Thursday!

With a company this big also means that they have a pretty workable budget. I've already logged in two extra overtime hours and it's been okayed by HR! I couldn't even do that at MEC!

Work life here is also pretty nice with a company that has money. Their kitchen is always stocked with cannisters of nuts, chocolate, fish cheddar chips, soda, lots. I was told to help myself to the food also!

It's also interesting, being now it's 7:06, that there's people STILL working in here. People seem to work round the clock here, perhaps they don't have a whole lot to do outside of work? The only reason why I'm still here is because I can use the extra hours and also the project I have, I know, would not be done if I didn't finish another chunk. TOmorrow's chunk of information will be taking a huge part of my day.

I ended up getting lost in the maze of cubicles, very much like a mouse in a maze. I was walking from making copies and was so lost in thought that I ended up making a wrong turn, and end up being lost. Not wanting to ask directions, I tried to make my way back to my cubicle. Eventually I did, but until I found that most of the cubicles were empty. One could play hide and seek here!

The White Suit Effect

I didn't think I could pull off wearing a whole white outfit, but I did!

Last Tueday I had to go to Agenda to meet up with Rodney regarding some information but before I did I had to decide on an outfit to wear. My girlfriend had bought me a really nice White cotton blazer that was thick, the second blazer I have that is white. The first one I had matches the thin fabric of my white pants but was ruined after I wore it just once at Carribean Gardens months ago (wine stains from an unknown person).

I had just bought a pair of really nice white pants from Gap for $10.00 over the weekend. Although I could probably pull off wearing a pair red undies or something I decided to wear a pair of white undies just in case someone flashes a light at my crotch, seeing through the thin fabric.

I wore these two things together, with a dark blue button down shirt, and a pair of white/brown Pumas, and I was all set to go.

Upon my arrival at the club I could already tell people were looking at the outfit. Whether or not the man worked with the outfit I do not know however after my meeting I had many people look at me down. There was a girl standing at the bar sipping on something and as I passed by she turned my way and looked me up and down. Quite an interesting feeling!

I felt a bit uncomfortable in my outfit believe it or not. Thoughts of jealous guys dumping red wine on my outfit kept passing through my head.

Eventually I left the club, untouched by wine and such. I even had a guy looked me up and down when I came over to Ruby while a guy was hitting on her! After looking me up and down:

"Who's this guy? You're bodyguard?" he asks.
"Yeah, he's my bodyguard!" Ruby responds.

A bodyguard that wears a full white outfit? I'd be scared to get it dirty if I *were* a bodyguard.

The Watch: A Man's Everyday Accessory

When a woman wants to accessorize, they'll put on some earrings, perhaps a necklace, and the rest goes from there. FOr men, the one accessory that every man wears (excluding rings, earrings, and piercings) is a watch.

Although many would argue that a watch is only necessary to tell time, a watch is a piece of jewelry for a man. For some, one piece of jewelry is enough whereas for others a piece of jewelry should compliment the outfit and so you cannot just have one.

The man that treats his time keeper as an accessory will no doubt understand that there is a connection between the color and texture of his shoes, belt, and watch.

The color between the belt and watch supercedes the band color of the watch; that means that you can have brown shoes/belt but have a metal banded watch.

The band of the watch should match the color and texture of the shoes. WHich means if you have a pair of black shoes, your watch should have a band that is black or metal. As for for the texture, match smooth shoes with a smooth band and textures shoes with textured watch bands.

Likewise, the belt should also match the shoes.

The more casual the attire, the bigger the watch dial can be. Which means if a man goes to a tuxedo event, his watch band should not only match the glossiness and blackness of his shoe, but the dial should be fairly conservatively small.

Metal watches are great because they go with pretty much everything however the rule of the dial size is still relevant.

A man's watch collection is built over time, and meant to be passed down to his sons, as tradition (from what I've read). A watch once passed, also has a history to it.

The first watch I ever got, during high school, was from K-Mart which was a $40.00 ironman triathlon watch. After that, I first understood the concept of building my watch collection in 1998.

My second watch was a titanium Seiko that cost me $500.00 in 1998. I still have the watch and just changed the battery this year. I bought it during a time when I was able to afford lavish objects.

My third watch was a gift from my friend Chin, black textured band with gold colored dial, meant for very formal occasions. It has a quarter carat diamond as it's 12 o'clock time. It was bought for me during a time when realized we'd be friends for a long time.

My fourth watch was a textured, black banded Kenneth Cole watch from Ross for $45.00. It's the only watch where I've switched the battery on my own. It was bought during a time when I figured out what being a man really is.

My fith was a smooth brown banded Kenneth COle watch, purchased because I had a bunch of brown shoes with no watch to go with them. Around $45.00 and also from Ross. I bought this because I was in my first relationship where I wanted to dress well for my girlfriend.

My 6th watch was a simple, plastic banded, watch for $30.00 that I purchased to upgrade from my Ironman. It runs on solar and I purchased it during my "i'm broke" phase.

My 7th, and recent watch, is also a Kenneth Cole watch for $55.00 at Ross. It's a stainless steel watch with a large dial and black face. I purchased this so that I can just wear my Seiko watch for salsa dancing and needed a metal watch that would go with everything. I bought this watch with the money made from J Smooth Salsa last weekend, the first time I've paid myself since I started teaching in summer of 2002.

Although watches tell the time as the day goes, the watches themselves are timeless and can hold a great story of history to them.

Although the Ironman watch was purchased out of necessity to tell time, I gave that watch to my friend Rex the day before he left for the Middle East in 2005. He needed a rugged watch for the war ahead and didn't have time to buy one. And thus, The watch continues it's history-building life.

The Truth about Pharmaceutical Reps

Sales is considered the most difficult career path to be on with many sales reps burning out around 5 years (if they do not make it to the upper successful track). As a person that has over 10 years of sales experience I can relate and understand what it can do to your soul.

Let's not mistake inside and outside sales. Inside sales typically depend on people coming to you, spending most of your time indoors if you will, whereas outside sales involves you actually going out and creating business relations between yourself and any companies you can get your feet to.

The pharmaceutical indudstry makes money off of the hurt, sick, and/or dying. It's a fair conclusion because if no one was hurt, or sick, or close to dying, there is no business for those in the pharmaceutical industry.

One can argue that the industry makes leaps and bounds to develop drugs that aid people, and that there's always a new drug because they're always developing a new "upgrade" that is more potent or efficient than the last version.

But this blog isn't about the industry but rather the reps that go out and inform the clinics and hospitals of their new drug.

Sales reps are just sales people. Their goal is to sell and move market shares towards their company. To clarify consider this, every single Pharm company in the world contributes to the world's drugs 100 î.cummlative. So each company has a certain percentage; for example if we have 2 companies in the world it would be 50/50, four companies would be 25/25/25/25, etc.

By moving market shares, you bring more business to your company but less to some other company. It doesn't matter which company you are taking money away from, as long as you're raking it in you're good.

Also, sales reps have goals that must show growth each year or quarter. That means if you made $200 bucks the same time last year you're supposed to making more than that today. If you really think about it, the only way to go is up unless you want the boot.

Sales reps are good at selling but very poor at understanding. When a new product comes out the sales rep is educated/lectured by a person that feeds them *only* positive attributes of the drug. They briefly go over side effects but focus is on making the product glow with perks.

Even if the information was wrong, the sales rep will use that information to buzz along to each company and attempt to "wow" the doctor(s) on how great their product is and how they should prescribe it to their patients.

What many sales reps do is that they sell based on someone information that was fed to them, not on their own intuition. However, they recited and pracice so much before heading into the field that they pretty much *learn* to *believe* what they know. Sales reps are told that they must believe in their product before they can sell it.

Unless the news make TV news, the cases where a drug kills or hurts a person will not make headlines unless it was something that the news industry thought it was interesting enough. How many times do you remember hearing that a drug caused someome to be infertile, dead, or worse off? This then leads to the question, why wasn't death or infertility listed as a side effect?

Many drugs go through much testing before it can be confirmed what all the side effects were however some of the results to some of these tests are thrown out, for reasons such as it was submitted late, accidently misplaced or lost, or had some sort of anomaly that made the test result to be thrown out. The most troubling is if the number is small; for example out of 1,000 patients 3 people died. The number is so low that it doesn't register as data that needs to be accepted. Also, some drugs do not show any side effects until years later. Sometimes, data may be thrown out because it looks too unordinary to be correct.

The result of overlooking these side effects can be life changing:

Fentanyl: Following it's release in January 2005, Fentanyl (a painkiller) resulted in over 130 deaths before it was linked and detected. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060615/METRO/606150398

Vioxx: The famous Scandal that involved the company, Merck, purposely burying the negative evidence and was linked to possibly 27,000 heart attacks since it's release. http://www.newstarget.com/002155.html and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6192603/

It's important to understand that prescribed drugs do not treat diseases, they only cover the symptoms. Can you really prove that a drug cured your disease...especially when it suddenly reappears some time later?"

back when I was constantly coughing a couple of months back, the coughing was persistent for at least a week. So I go in to see my physician and after answering a bunch of questions he says he's not quite sure what it could be...if it's just a cold or strep. So he prescribes me some antibiotics just on the safe side and see him back on MOnday if the "symptoms" persist.

They do and so I return. Since he's realized that it can't be a strep, he says that I probably caught two different cold viruses, one after another. So he says he wants to prescribe me a cough syrup that is better than the over-the-counter stuff. I declined, annoyed that doctors go by educated guesses based on the symptoms they learned in college. I told him I'll buy my own cough syrup that's cheaper. He says that that might not solve my problem. Needless to say, after a week or two my coughing went away.

One might say that it's not the sales rep's responsibility for drug safety and all they're doing is selling and carrying however wouldn't you say that the sales reps, with their hype techniques and their sure confidence behind the product, are purposely lying  to get their product purchased?

Additional reading: http://www.newstarget.com/009278.html