TEERA 2.0: Vancouver Sun

Yesterday I joined other Vancouver shoppers in the boxing day frenzy. I didn't have anything particular in mind for this year so I decided to just be a good boyfriend and accompanying my girlfirend for her shopping. Since I didn't have to compete with others hunting for bargains I spotted a few interesting patterns in couple shopping.

The navigation

If it's couples shopping, it's usually the ladies who take the lead and guys follow.

The order

I got to the mall in late afternoon and found that most of the guys already got their goods (from the bags and things inside) while the ladies still continued hunting. May be it's because the things we'd like to buy or it's the way we buy things are different or a little bit of both that I don't know.

Browsing

I for one, have the habit of checking out the store online catalog before going to the store. So before I go to the mall, I'd know the price and the specs of what I want (yes, I do this for my clothing too, not just tech toys). I believe that most guys share this same habit as I.

From what I see, the ladies tend get the information from window shopping and physically get their hands on the items. As a result, it's always big fitting room line ups for ladies at clothing stores. The only line up there is at BestBuy or FutureShop are only at the cashier; dominated by men.

Scavenging strategy

Well, from my observation, since the guys already know what they want before they hit the store, the strategy is like get there, find the items, and get out. As for the ladies, no strategy is necessary. This image should illustrate what I mean

Last Friday I had a very bad food poisoning that ended up sending me to the hospital. Well..to be honest I can't recall what I ate on Thursday but I believe it was a KFC chicken burger. The pain was so much that it made me sprang up in the middle of the night. After that I kept on throwing up till dawn when my girlfriend woke up and went out to get some medicine for me.

She got me a cherry-flavor Peptobismal and a pack of anti-neusea pills. Well, it got better after that but again I was sick for the rest of the day. Then as soon as I thought I got better, the pain was intensified on Friday night. So this time we drove down to the hospital at 4AM. I was in the hospital for about 4 hours. The doctor said that I had a severe gastric ulcer and prescribed me some medicine.

I was recovering I thought it was over for the weekend and I wouldn't be getting near any KFC for a good half year. On Sunday I drove up to the campus to return a book. I parked my car RIGHT BESIDE the security office (where campus security and patrols hang out) and walked up to the library. It did'nt take longer than 20 minutes when I came back to my car and found out that some body scratched it both side from back to front.

 

I immediately went into the security office and reported what happened. Well, it turned out that they couldn't help much. There's tall tree covering the spot where I parked the car, so the surveillance couldn't get a shot of the scene. If not bad enough, a big security guy was trying to deny that this is anyone's doing. He told me that it's hard to believe anyone could have done this since it's beside the security office. The office had all its blinder closed, so hell yeah, anyone CAN do it even if it's parked right in front of the place.

Oh well, it's been a tough week before Christmas. I only wish it's over for this year and better for the next year to come.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
 

I spent most of my time last weekend preparing my next presentation and enjoying the beautiful summer sunshine. There's a nice big recreational park across the street from my place. So, on a sunny days I usually pick up a few good books, grab a cup of Latte, get a good grassy spot in the park, and immerse myself there. For relaxing reads I recommend:

Wikinomics, How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything: Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams

The Perfect Thing, How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness: Steven Levy 

The Universe in a Single Atom, The Convergence of Science and Spirituality: Dalai Lama

Simple Web Sites, Organizing Content-rich Web Sites into Simple Structures: Stefan Mumaw