Goal for May – Begin a Habit of a good Morning Routine. This is something I’ve had little to do with since the mission, although it’s a good idea. I would really like to start waking up earlier and getting a jump start on my day. In fact, “would like” is not as strong a phrasing as I’m going for here: ‘I am going to wake up at 6, eat breakfast, do some quick exercises, and be to work by 7:30′ (and home just after 4:30 if I can rip myself away from my great co-workers).

I’ve debated whether to share this and be held accountable or be on my own. But I need all the help I can get and if I feel responsible to others to do this then I’ll hold myself to it. The more people I can tell the better, even if those people don’t really care now, they will. :)  I need all the help I can get, and now is a great time of year for this goal as well. The sun is now rising at 6:25 (civil twilight is 5:55) and by the end of the month the sunrise will be just before 6AM! Daylight Savings is great, eh?

I believe this goal will be a good building block for other habits. As I said, it’s something I’ve wanted for a long time but now I’m making a concerted effort and pledging it to you guys, as Leo Babauta suggests in ZenHabits.  Talking with Carina yesterday we thought it would be great if we could go without any sleep, or just little naps. How productive could we be?! Assuming, of course, there wasn’t a need to sleep and weren’t constantly fighting off the Sandman.  This will be satisfying enough for now.

Photo courtesy of wickenden

Where is the Yellow Sea? What is it made of? The answer may be surprising.

We were talking to Frank about some goals he had, including swim in the 7 seas. We weren’t sure if the Yellow Sea was included. According to Wikipedia, and the first line is the most important here: “The Yellow Sea is the name given to the northern part of the East China Sea, which is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean because it is made of pee.”

And as we all know about Wikipedia…

Great Clips…SportClips? A haircut’s a haircut, right? I say yes. But there are some other factors that go into retaining my business. Maybe not just a haircut…

I just got my haircut at Great Clips, stepping out of my usual routine of going to SportClips, which I’ve got to probably 6 out of the last 7 times, not counting the times Shea cut my hair at OrangeSoda (Company subsidized haircuts baby!). I don’t go to SportClips because I’m a sporty guy. Those that know me will attest to this. I go there because I have a great experience, they reward me right for refering friends, and they have pretty darn good coupons. Oh! And the MVP is great! This time I needed something a little closer to the office — and Great Clips is just up the street.

I was pleased that no one was there in this no appointment franchise, which SportClips is too. That means I could use the rest of my lunch hour for this post. Since I’ve never been I jumped through the hoops of giving my information and they had a new hire, so the person helping me was running her through that as well.

We had a surprising discussion (because most companies won’t bother to ask) about why I was coming here. I told her that usually go to SportClips, since she knew I’d not been to Great Clips before. She jokingly laughed saying “They don’t know what their doing”, to which I just smiled knowingly. I let her know I almost didn’t come here because I really don’t like their TV commercials and that it was purely a matter of location. She acknowledged they were cheesy and as she’s saying this I’m noticing that their decor fits very much into their commercials, kind of cheesy…and generic. But with a name like “Great Clips”, how much more generic can you get?

I told her what I wanted: ’2 on the bottom, 3 on the sides, 1 1/2″ on top, blended and textured.’ Jana at SportClips helped me with that one. We had a generic discussion about this and that and I’m not much of a chit-chatty person but participated as much as social decency demanded. The whole time I was looking at the decor — sailboat sails separating the stations, advertisments for PBS Kids Sprout, and an “updated 80′s” feel is the best overall vibe I can succintly explain. At the end there were people lined up waiting for a haircut and I felt like she may have rushed a bit. I pointed out just a couple places to fix (I really not that picky). Then she asked, “Have we converted you?”… While I was sizing up my experience during the cut I hadn’t necessarily thought about that, so it caught me off-guard. I just smiled and said “We’ll see.” It was just easier than explaining to this new employee, whom I discovered through the course of our conversation obviously loves Great Clips, that I’d be going to SportClips next time.

On my cold and windy scooter ride back to the office I thought about this some more. I would guess that the training of hair stylists (or barbers, or salonists, or hair school girls, or whatever you call them) is very similar. And while I’m not sure what kind of company training Great Clips or SportClips does with it’s employees to ensure a consistent experience I am fairly convinced therein lies the difference.

Why I like SportClips better:

• They will style my hair with a recommended product. I don’t use a lot on my hair because I don’t want to buy something and not like it, so this is appreciated
• Refer-a-Friend! Both you and your friend get a free MVP! Why don’t more places do that?
• Convenient locations, unless you’re at work… Fiona can shop and whatever because their usually in fairly populated strip mall/big box areas from what I can tell.
• Conditioner instead of water to wet the hair. Same result, but moisturizes hair and I don’t have to be sprayed in the face.
• TVs while you get your hair cut, what’s not to like about that?
• The MVP…sometimes it’s just worth the extra money…

Great Clips and SportClips are both quickly growing franchises. Great Clips has over 1000 locations (since 1982), SportClips has over 500 (since 1993).

Overall Great Clips Verdict:
How does it look? Pretty good/like a haircut.
How does it feel? Could be better.

Coming home from my brother’s bagpipe concert at Provo’s Library (great job Matthew!) we saw the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile, of all the things. Although Kaisa was up past her bedtime we thought it was important enough to ketchup to the big dog. She may not have this opportunity again! We want Kaisa to grow up a well-rounded individual and good parents don’t pass up cultural icons…And we wanted to see it too!

Companies go to great lengths to get publicity and this is a great example. I wonder what would make a good OrangeSodamobile…? More pictures after the jump. Continue reading →

I like daylight savings. I woke up at a little after 5:00 this morning and read blogs/news, ate breakfast, etc. But DST isn’t as friendly to everyone. Fiona was still in bed when I left for work at 7:20-ish (the old 6:20, or is it 8:20?)…Hopefully Kaisa will adjust well. She went to bed early on Saturday **6:30!** so I could go to Fiona’s concert (great solo/duet Babe!) and she only took a short nap yesterday. Anyway — Overall I really like daylight savings — Not so much the lost hour of sleep, or going to work in the dark, or the overall grogginess of society, but because it means to me that spring is almost here! Well, at least it did…

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