Red bull on the roads or how friendship can be destroyed by business

 

Well, I'm finally back from Quebec City. It's about 05:15 AM, I'm just finishing formatting some photos and finishing this post. In this post, I cover driving while tired, friendship and business, some Big Brother and a lot of photos.

Now, before I start getting into things, I just wanted to mention that all photos in this post are mine. I am trying to gather enough interesting photos so that I won't have to use that many photos from around the net and flickr. I will still feature some, as usual. I have been taking a lot of photos over the last few weeks. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I've taken 1000 photos this week. I took the picture above when I started my drive to Montreal from Quebec at around 22:00PM Saturday night.

 

This collage that you see right underneath is the lot of good photos taken during the St-Jean-Baptiste Fête on Friday, the 23rd of June 2006. You can get a good idea of the size of the crowds by checking out this photo and this one. Check out the whole set if you want. This series is like like my nightshoot series, they concentrate on the effects of lights on the night than actual buildings, people and places. The rest of the photos in this post are taken in the Dagobert, one of the oldest clubs in Quebec. The Hacker, a German electro DJ, best known for his collaborations with Miss Kittin, was playing a set last Thursday, the 22nd of June 2006. I wasn't supposed to go out, but I just went since my friend Dave was going to meet friends that we had in common.

 

 

 

The one thing I hate about having a Subie WRX STI is that all the young kids try their best to drive or get me to drive like a maniac. They see the big spoiler, think of the Fast and the Furious and try to race me really fast in their stupid cars. This weekend, there was a Focus SVT with a modified exhaust, a Kia Rio, a Mustang and a Civic. The thing these kids don’t realize is that when you have a fast car, it isn’t your only goal in life to be the fastest thing on the road. It’s just that you enjoy driving and appreciate fast vehicles. Most of the time, I drive very safe. From time to time, I might accelerate suddenly and pass somebody, but nothing crazy. I’ve never gotten a speeding ticket, even if I have driven my car past 220KPH. I am very smart when it comes to speed. I have driven a lot in a lot of different cars and when I have to drive more than an hour, I take it slow. I put the cruise control on at 120KPH, sit back and relax and listen to some music or the news on CBC.

 

Nothing is more annoying when kids come back really fast, get level with you and try to egg you on to drive faster. It’s stupid and dangerous. Normally I just let them drive by. From time to time, I might put the STI in 5^th gear and take-off at 200KPH just to get rid of them. Driving fast for long periods of time is very stressful and makes you even more tired.

 

I have a few tips for those of you afraid to nod off during long drives.

 

1) Try to drive with a friend. Nothing makes time go by more quickly than a lively discussion with a friend

2) Drink smart drinks. I prefer smart drinks, like Red Bull, Hype and Monster to give me a boost. I rarely drink many, but one or two are best to give you that boost of energy and caffeine that you need on long drives.

3) Eat sweets. If you want to stay awake, eat a candy bar or some sweet and sour candies. They are tart and awake you right away.

4) Keep the cabin cool. A few times, I’ve put on the air con, I’ve put on gloves because the cabin was so frigid. But cold keeps you awake. Warmth makes you drowsy and sleepy.

5) Keep the music loud. Listening to Enya, Enigma, or Jewel isn’t the way to go when you are trying to keep awake. Try some with lots of beat and fast. From heavy metal to techno, nothing keeps you awake like a pounding bass

6) If all fails, give yourself a few hard slaps in the face. Nothing wakes you up like pain. I’ve also done the pinching of the armpit. That is excruciating, but wakes you up in a jiffy.

7) If you are still drowsy after all this, stop and take a catnap or hand over the wheel to someone else. Nothing is worth getting killed for. Sometimes 30-45 minutes is enough to refresh you for the next leg of the drive.

 

 

Business with friends

 

I have learned a lesson recently, never mix friends with business. Business partners and clients can become friends, but friends and business aren’t always the best. I am not talking about joint business ventures. Nothing makes business worse than emotion and with friends, emotions are always involved. I have also come to realize that not all friends are as knowledgeable as you would like them to be. You yourself are an expert in your field. Don’t expect your friends to remember what you have said a year ago whilst you were conducting business. And if your friends can be influenced by others, your expertise might be challenged. If a challenge isn’t met right away, it festers and can destroy your arguments. Customer relations are complicated enough, without compromising friendships.

 

In the future, I might tape or record sessions with friends who wish to do business, because nothing wrecks a friendship more when one party thinks they have been had in a transaction. Clients are fickle in my business. There is a lot of competition and in my field of business, there are a lot of liars. I pride myself on being honest and on having integrity on all my transactions. When push comes to shove and emotions flare, the result is never good.

 

Keep business and friends separate if possible. If not, have ironclad defenses in place in case something happens later on.

 

 

Counterpoint

 

Then again, there are friends, great friends, the best of friends with whom business is a breeze. Trust is present and never compromised; these friends know you inside and out and respect your opinion in matters. They consulted others but prefer to throw business your way. I guess the problems with business and friends are the fact that some friends are just acquaintances. This is easy to determine. How many times have you talked with your “friend” in a month? Have you IM your friend, exchanged emails, talked on Skype, spoken to them? If you have talked to them every week, every few days, a few times a month. If you spend months and months without talking or corresponding with them, if they don’t call you and you don’t call them, they are acquaintances not friends.

 

 

Acquaintances know you, but not that well. They might be inclined to do business with you but they might also go and get other advice and chose to do business with other people. Some form of trust is there, but nothing real and remarkable. Everything is on the surface. There is nothing deep and meaningful about the relationship. Just saying hi and talking a bit with them doesn’t make them your friends.

 

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

 

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

 

I bet you think that you have a lot of friends. But do you really? How many people do you really consider as friends? For people who move around a lot, not that many. Even for myself, I have stayed 20 years in the same province and I can count on my two hands the number of true friends I have.

 

Friendship is a special relationship. It is mutable and it evolves. You might be the best of friends one day and not talk to each other the next day. I find this is a good way to tell acquaintances from friends. Friends are for life, in my experience. I have known most of my best friends for years. I have made new friends, but I stay with a core group of people. Some of which I have known for as long as 20 years. Friendships are forged easily when you are younger. They tend to break after moving.

 

 

The Montreal Grand Prix brings at least 100 millions in revenue to businesses in the city.

 

 

In Big Brother Uk, Lisa got evicted last Friday. I missed most of the action but I am catching up on it right now. The housemates passed the majorettes task. Lea and Nikki are getting paranoid about Pete. Since Pete is not going to shag either of them in the house or out, they have got their panties tied in a knot about this fact. 5 intruders will be entering the adjacent 2nd Big Brother Uk house next week. The vote next week is to select the current housemate who will be joining them. In a bold move to bolster housemates, the BBUK producers are going about it in a major way.

 

It was reported that Grace and George were caught snogging in London. Now that's breaking news!

 

In Big Brother Australia, Rob was evicted. Claire won the Friday Night Games and Lauren was one of the 3 new intruders evicted today. Like the previous years, the BBAU housemates decided to evict the intruders one after the other.

 

 

 

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