Riders are pissed off. Employees are pissed off. Management is pissed off.  That’s nothing new.

But what *IS* new?  Riders (the customers) have finally found a way to be heard of their displeasure while “riding the rocket.”  The internet.  The glorious internet which is filled with nothing but public opinion, and can make or break any company/corporation through it’s public opinions.

And some dude thought it would be funny to post a photo of a TTC worker asleep at his booth one late night.

And the controversy that caused, is probably what lead the public to completely take advantage of the situation.  Management saw the photo, and said  a standard “We will look into this and necessary action will be taken.”  The union saw the photo, and pretty much called all the riders who quietly inched past this sleeping man theives and sinners for not making sure the employee was not in the middle of a medical emergency.

And it was probably this knee-jerk reaction of accusing the innocent, that caused the proverbial shit-storm. More photos of sleeping employees, videos of employees taking unauthorized breaks, being verbally abusive, whatever.  And the riders are going straight to the courts of public opinion to ask the world “What do you think of our transit system?”

While I do think the general public is at this point taking it too far with trying to catch TTC employees doing what they shouldn’t be doing, this is all stemming from riders who for years felt like no one paid any attention to their complaints, suddenly realizing there was now a way for someone, EVERYONE to hear what they have to say.

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Based on how long I want to be there (which probably will dictate how long Camera guy will be there) I basically figured out an easy-to-follow breakdown of times for workout and what calories will be burned to see what we’d most likely be doing when we get to the gym.  Based on some online calculator I found and promptly lost when I closed my browser…

20 minutes Cardio/Warm up (270 calories) Either Jogging on treadmill, Stair climber, or exercise bike.
30 minutes Weight-lifting (200 calories) Combination of machine & free weights, I selected “Moderate”
30 minutes swimming (350 calories) Again set at “Moderate” level.

Doing that 3 times a week (Monday + Wednesday with me & Friday with just his friends,) he would burn enough calories to lose just about 0.7lbs per week, and a weight-loss goal of 40lbs would take just about 57 weeks. This is based on another website that says you lose a pound when you create a deficit of 3500 calories.

Then I tried to figure out what my workout routine would have me at:

Monday – Warm-up/Weights/Swimming – 820 calories
Tuesday – Aerobic (I picked low-impact) 700 calories
Wednesday – Warm-up/Weights/Swimming – 820 calories
Thursday – Rest day
Friday – Aerobic (I picked low-impact) 700 calories
Saturday – Yoga – 600 calories
Sunday – Yoga – 600 calories

And I’m supposed to be able to lose 1.2lbs per week.  And my goal of losing around 50lbs would take me about 42 weeks.

Fingers crossed!

Today we’re going to try to go swimming for the first time. Scared. I’ve never been in a swimsuit in front of him before!

Oh, and the subject line? That online calculator also gave me an option to see how many calories I would burn during sex, and apparently it would take 7.5 hours to burn 3500 calories.  But I’m guessing that’s if you’re on top.  It would also take 19.5 hours of foreplay to burn 3500 calories. ZOMG.

At my work we sometimes send out e-mail blasts… or probably best known as spam. It’s not often, and it’s only towards people who at some point or another gave us their e-mail address.  We just sent one out this morning that was basically thanking everyone for signing up, and a reason for them to try our services.

Then I (and everyone on my team) received this reply:

I did not sign up. I unsubscribed. If I am not removed from your database by 5pm today I am calling the RCMP… find a better way to sell your crap.

Which obviously did nothing other than illicit laughter from me.

What is calling the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) going to do? Other than waste the time of the person answering the phone when someone else might need to call in a domestic violence call or a non-life-threatening-emergency call?

And how is this guy going to confirm we’ve removed him from our database by 5pm?  Which, even if we were in a call center, we don’t have to do by any specific time line.  My friends that work in call centers tell me when they get a request to be removed from a list, that gets noted on a form, that is handed in to be processed only when it’s filled, which could take days or possibly weeks.

Finally… I will admit I’m slightly insulted by him saying we sell crap.  I wouldn’t insult someone else’s products so blatantly. I might make constructive criticism remarks which are probably insulting, but at least point out certain flaws.

The end of it is… I think this guy is a jerk and think it would be hilarious to try & spam-bot their e-mail account to death.

P.S. ZING! My boss looked up when they registered for our mailing list, and e-mailed him back the confirmation to prove “Yes you did sign up.  No you have not yet unsubscribed.  Please do so here” Awesome.

Here’s what the rest of the month looked like for me:

• 01/24 – Yoga
• 01/25 – Nothing
• 01/26 – Body Combat
• 01/27 – 40 modified push ups
• 01/28 – Nothing (Needed sleep. Badly.)
• 01/29 – Nothing (Cold snap = worried about wet-hair freezing)
• 01/30 – Yoga (but brr! Studio was FREEZING)
• 01/31 – 40 modified push ups (slept in, skipped yoga)

So since before new years Camera guy was talking about joining his friend’s condo gym, that another friend had already joined up at. I’ve been somewhat nagging him to do so because we can both agree he’d be healthier and fitter and have more energy if he got some more physical activity into him.

It’s taken a month of pestering and fork-poking but he’s finally going to look into signing up today. And… I’m apparently going with him. I always said I would join with him though, after all, what this gym lacks in classes, they make up for by having a pool and hot tub! It’s an inexpensive model so I’m staying with my current gym as well (I go for the classes really) and I get camera guy as a project while he gets me as… his trainer(?!) Now there’s a scary thought.

I’m basically using this second gym for weights with other people, swimming and the hot tub(!). So with any aspect of me training Camera guy is pretty much him following my weights routine. And we go swimming and sit in a hot tub. He’ll need to figure out his own cardio, which will likely be when he has days off and can go with his friends.

I need to find my swimsuit now. Poops.

So starting today my schedule might end up looking something like…

• Monday – 2nd gym (weights & swimming) with Camera guy
• Tuesday – Body Combat at my gym
• Wednesday – 2nd gym (weights & swimming) with Camera guy(?)
• Thursday – Off or Unicycle club (I haven’t gone in FOREVER oops!)
• Friday – Body Attack at my gym and/or 2nd gym (weights & swimming) with Camera guy
• Saturday – Yoga at my gym
• Sunday – Yoga at my gym