Always Chris

Follow Mary’s Example

I have a very good friend (who works for Hair Transplant Manchester, and I’m telling you, if you have a hair-related problem then she is the girl to speak to) and her name is Mary. Mary is one of those awesome people who has a one in a million smile, is a bit of a head-turner, and has a very tasteful home (as well as a cat which goes ballistic at any given opportunity; I am told she has a particular fondness for receipts for some reason…). Her home is full of stuff which I have never seen in anyone else’s, not ever. Why is Mary so cool? Well, one of those reasons has to be her telephone.

Instead of going out and buying a new-fangled digital phone when her phone broke ages ago, guess what she did? She went out and bought an old-fashioned one is what. One with a cable and one that weighed as much of four bags of sugar and everything! When you call Mary you get a vision in your mind of a pretty secretary answering her stylish antique phone. It makes you remember that technology isn’t everything, and there is a lot to be said for taste – something that appears to rapidly disappearing with every new ipod and techno gadget that is released in to the market.

I say down with new gadgets. Let us praise the gadgets of old! There’s nothing wrong with a bit of style people, and don’t you forget it!

Got A Friend?

Got a friend who is displaying worrying signs of Saved By The Bell style Geek Syndrome? (Google it if need be…I promise you won’t be dissapointed.) Haven’t we all. I have one particular friend who is a girl Geek. She is pretty, and charming, and has a sweet fringe that makes many a head turn. In other words she is exactly the kind of Geek that a man would want to marry. Why? Well because not only does she possess all the feminine charms of any non Geek female, she is also able to sort out any tech issues I may have at a speed which would have Bill Gates’s jaw dropping. And to be honest, as a male with the tech savviness of a really bored sloth, how could I not love that?

This article talks even more about Geeks and what they love even more than hanging out with other fellow Geeks: technology. You should take a look and who knows, maybe you’ll learn something.

I should also mention that the article (which belongs to Enigin, who are apparently masters of the Geek universe) talks a lot about Apple. A company that has, in modern times, evolved from a technological revolution in to almost a technological religion that reaches all four corners of the globe.

Who knows where Apple will stop in their quest for…well…even more world domination. One thing is for sure, although I am not a huge fan of new technology I have to confess that all those apps are pretty damn amazing!

What happened to our manners?

It’s funny how we tell our children to play nice and to try to get along with everyone. We tell them to say they are sorry and to share their toys with one another. Yet, we as adults do not do any of those things. There are so many adults who have forgotten common manners and courtesy. Not many adults are exuding morals or setting the right examples for children to learn from. When someone holds a door open for you it used to be that people would hurry to grab it so the person isn’t just standing there like a doorman. Now people just go through the door.

They do not say thank you or even try to hold it. Sometimes they are even rude enough to tell their ten kids to hurry up and come on through. Saying that you do not want to hold the door for them all day. But, if you let the door go and it hit a child you would have to be worried about someone trying to sue you instead of them just holding the door themselves. A while ago when you let someone over in traffic they would give you a courtesy wave to say thank you. Not anymore. Now if you get any type of wave it is not one that means thank you. Adults today are too entitled.

They think they should be let over. It is their right. They should have the door held. It is their right. People are so confused on the difference between rights and privileges. People are fighting wars so that we can have both yet, many are so diluted with empowerment that they forget that there are people in the world without any rights or privileges. We may need to get back to reality and realize that sometimes a simple thank you goes a long way. Come on people! We do not need Corporate training for this now do we?

Could our clothes help us cope with stress?

The answer is no. I’m not talking about retail therapy where stressed individuals (guys and girls alike) max out their credit cards after a bout of stress, which often results in the wardrobe being filled with colourful t-shirts and cheap beach dresses. Apparantly, the BBC had an article which reported that ’smart clothes'(everything in the future has smart preceeding it) can help monitor and control stress of the wearer with a number of functions.

These intelligent outfits have a number of gadgets in them which effectively help deal with stresses. These clothes have sensors which detect the temperature of the body, the emotional state and the heart rate. On receiving this data, the database will act appropriately to it, if the data sent to it shows that the wearer is under stress, music will play through the inbuilt speakers or images and videos through the display to calm the wearer down, reducing the stress and anxiety.

The clever invention was produced by Barbara Layne from Concordia University in Canada and Janis Jefferies from Goldsmiths College’s Digital Studios.

It would be great to have the stresses in your life removed with the help of your clothes. What if you’re in the office or at University and you have loads of assignments and feel stressed? The clothes will calm you down, play some calming music or a funny video to calm you down so you can cope with work a bit more. The ’smart clothes'have a place in our future, playing a part in reducing stress levels in the world.

Redemption Is Possible

I admit it: when I am walking down the street and I get stopped by someone working for Greenpeace or something like that, I do a very bad thing–instead of just saying “No, sorry, I don’t want to give you money” and walking away (cruel, but functional), I stand there and sort of listen and accidentally give the impression – as hope comes over them – that I might just be interested in paying a few pounds a month. Then, when they ask me if I am interested, I sort of start to walk away muttering some feeble excuse, and they look devastated. I know, it’s lame, it’s just that I never know how to tell them no–

With that in mind, the chance of me being interested in the following link was very high, and the likelihood of me doing anything about it was very low, of course.

Except this time I did do something about it. This time, in an effort to redeem myself, I went to my boss and said “you should really have a look at this–you might be able to save money on the electric in this place” (he’s always moaning about bills). And guess what happened? I shall tell you: a minor miracle is what! My boss got straight on the phone to the Enigin lot and sorted out a payment plan right there and then, just as described in the post.

My hope is that the money he saves he might give us as a Christmas bonus. We shall see if it works or not–