Kyle Thomas

The Website of Kyle Thomas (KyleWith)

No Caffeine For Me!

'Caffeine Weapon' photo (c) 2009, Nick Webb - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/I’d really like to know how caffeine works for some people because it doesn’t work for me.

Lately I have been going at things hard. I’m out of bed at 6am, at work by 7am, putting in 8ish hours there and then onto another project, then comes some downtime with dinner and then I get a second wind and back to working on something until 12am ish. 

It is basically a go go go mentality for the entire time and very little of my energy has to do with caffeine.

I have seen coworkers come into the office and need that cup of coffee and need that caffeine boost before human interaction but I have no idea what that is like.

Lately I have tried to drink coffee in an attempt to improve my alertness in the morning but the fact of the matter is it does nothing. Whether I drink a cup or two of coffee does nothing for me. That being said first thing in the morning is my time to excel, I’m already high energy at that time. 

Where I’m not is from about 12:30pm – 3:30pm, that is when I start to slow down before my second wind. I blame this on working 8 hours straight in an office through. I don’t go get the fresh air I should.

At the end of the day I do drink a diet pepsi or two, which I’m sure has some level of caffeine in it. But again I could drink one seconds before going to sleep and it wouldn’t effect me in the least.

So how I keep operating for 17-18ish hours a day I don’t know.

Don’t Quote It

I’m a little annoyed about the constant quote streams coming from some people.
Believing that this does not in fact make them wiser people, I see it as fluff so we might buy into you.

Personally I’m more of a STFU and do it type of person. The only person that is really going to inspire me, is me and the outcome I make for myself.

Now I do have mad props for these people that are being quoted, Disney, Einstein, Doc. Those guys were geniuses but they got to where they did by just doing shit. They made several mistakes along the way, and that is where most of the quotes come from, but they eventually succeeded.

So to those who like seeing those quotes, here is mine: “stop what you are doing and go do something productive.” To those who feel the need to post them constantly, go make your own. That’ll gain you more klout.

Fire, Finally

I was posting the progress on Instagram (@kyle_with follow me!) as I built the fireplace in my backyard but now it is complete.

Having always wanted a fireplace in the house I lived in I saw my new residents in downtown Yellowknife the perfect opportunity. You can’t just have a fire in your backyard though. We may be accustom to the bush life up here in the north but there are still rules one must follow when in city limits.

Firstly I researched it and land on this page on the City of Yellowknife website, which gives you a downloadable document of the requirements of fireplaces. I then had to ensure my backyard was fit for the pit by measuring it all out.

Once I had found the place that was evenly away from anything combustable and the power lines I started to dig down. I dug aways down and then filled the area with sand.

For constructing the pit I purchased 14 interlocking bricks from the local hardware store and a grate to cover it. 7 blocks made a ring and the first ring was half into the sand making a strong base and the next ring contained it all.

Having constructed the pit I needed to get the guys from the Fire Hall to inspect it to ensure it safety, which took another 4 days as I had to (which I found out after 3 days) get the property manager to sign off on the pit. Finally this afternoon they came by and I was good to go.

Now here I sit perched feet away from the fire in a blissful state. Enjoying the outdoors, the summer and the fire.

Who is coming over to roast marshmallows?

Building up to biking the trails

Yellowknife has been having some ridiculously nice weather lately and fingers crossed it doesn’t end.

I have been biking into work steadily for about three weeks now with much joy. When I started my time to get from my house to my office, which is about 3.80kms, took me 13 minutes. As of lately my time has gotten down to between 10-11 minutes with my fastest time being 9 minutes 11 seconds.

My legs have been getting stronger and I am noticing that I’m not panting as much when I finish the ride. It is becoming more enjoyable than anything else. That being said I got my first taste of the rocks again today and it wasn’t even that far.

As I was riding home I took a quick detour up the start of the hiking trail around Frame Lake. Simple rocky surface up a small hill. It nearly killed me climbing. The bike did well bouncing off one rock to the next but my legs were not prepared to deal with gravity. I ended up stalling and falling off a couple times. It was pathetic but I’m not giving up. This is just the start.

The bike I am riding is a Specialized Chamber Pro 29er and has been supplied by the awesome people of in Grande Prairie. They have been very kind to me and their service is amazing. Go Like their and you’ll see what I mean.

I’m tired of crappy customer service

I worked customer service for many years and I was good at it. Sure I did the job because I wanted money but people need to learn that customer service is about providing the “customer” with a “service” and efficiently, which is what I did. My goal was and will always be to make sure the customer gets what they asked for and are satisfied with it.

Apparently this mentality is rare among people and it makes me sick. I have always toyed with actually posting about my bad experiences because I don’t want to seem like a negative person but today I have two examples of bad customer service to share with you.

The first event happened to a friend of mine who was trying to make a reservation at a restaurant. She wanted to make a reservation for so many people, which was fine, but when making the reservation the manager of the establishment informed her that if anyone did not show up she would be charged for that missing seat. And maybe this is the policy of the restaurant but the manner in which he dealt with the situation upon the second response was not, in my mind, a very thought out move. Either you can read the full story here.

The second event of lack of customer service comes from my local Quizno’s and if you know where I live then you know the one I’m talking about. There was a time when you could go into that Quizno’s and walk out with a good sandwich but not anymore and I like Quizno’s sandwiches.

After having to poke my head into the back storage room to get someones attention I was finally helped and I got the same sandwich I have got there for 7 years. A Prime Rib and Peppercorn. After getting my sandwich without as much as a thank-you from the staff I thought my sandwich felt lite. Sure enough when I opened it up there was barely any meat on the thing. Having gotten these for years I know there should have been more. The sad thing is this has been the case since a new owner took over. I don’t know if the staff just don’t know any better or if this is a cost saving way to make more money. Regardless I’m not happy.

You know I can look past most crappy customer service and I understand the strain on employers to keep good people but somewhere along the way people need to buck up and do better.