Goodness52

"I'm not talking about a dating site. I'm talking about the whole experience of college and putting it online." Whether or not Mark Zuckerberg actually said that, I think The Social Network nicely captured the essence of social media in the age of Facebook. We have become socially fixated in much the same way we obsessed about sex in college. Okay, maybe it was good grades for you. For me, it was sex. Even though I'm technically an old dude now, I've glommed onto social media in ways I haven't even been fully aware of. Facebook is the grandaddy, but Twitter gets its fare share, along with Pinterest, LinkedIn and others. I didn't even realize that Strava was part of the picture, but when I think about how I post my runs and rides, share photos of my athletic adventures, give thumbs up and comments to others in my circle, it's clear that it's just like all the others. The only no-fly zone for me is Instagram, but only because I promised m...

"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society." I'm sure Mark Twain was thinking about women, too, when he offered his wit on the subject of clothing. So, in the week of International Women's Day, let's start by agreeing that this is a universal truth. Or is it? This week's resolution was part social experiment to see how differently I would feel, and how differently I would be treated, if I wore a tie every day of the week. For some people, this is no biggie. They dress up every day. But my job at Benevity is not like that. Hey, this is the software biz. If If I wear a tie to work, I will be the only one in a company of 500, and that includes a CEO who describes himself as a "recovering lawyer." If I wore a Sex Pistols t-shirt and pink bunny slippers, nobody would bat an eye. Put on a tie, and suddenly eyebrows are raised everywhere. I started counting the number of times co-workers said "Job interview?...

"I love coffee, I love tea. I love the java jive and it loves me." I'm begging you, Ink Spots, shut up. For a solid seven days, your 1940 blues tune has been ringing in my head. I've been hearing it every time I pass a Starbucks or look over at my co-workers cradling their coffees in front of them. Maybe you've already guessed it; my commitment this week was to go caffeine-free. I decided to go whole hog on the idea, which meant no morning coffee, no afternoon tea and no caffeinated sodas. I also picked a particularly challenging week to do it; at a Benevity client conference in Palm Springs, where silver-plated coffee urns waited outside every meeting room, where hundreds of attendees strolled the corridors with their paper cups, and where the heavenly smell of coffee filled every nook and cranny. In hindsight, I don't even know why I did this. If my 52-week journey is supposed to be about discovering myself through goodness, I'm not convinced t...

"Please Mr. Postman, look and see. Is there a letter in your bag for me?" The thrill of getting a letter in your mailbox was well understood by the Marvels when they wrote Please Mr. Postman in 1961. The Beatles loved it so much, they performed it regularly in The Cavern in the early 60s. More than a decade later, the Carpenters turned it into a #1 hit. But enough already with the music history. The point is, in this day of impersonal emails (which include the equally impersonal ecards) and 140-character tweets, people still experience a jolt of joy when they open a mailbox to discover something from a real live person inside. That's the feeling I was going for in my lucky seventh week of Goodness. Since it was Family Day week, I decided on a family-themed course of action. Every day, I would create an entirely fresh postcard using all the digital tools at my disposal, and send a card to a different family member. That would have mail zipping across Canada, and f...

"I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto: Anyone can cook. But I realize, only now do I truly understand what he meant." If a food snob like Ratatouille's Anton Ego can accept the humble kitchen hacks into his fold, I figured even I might stand a chance. So, during the week of Valentine's Day, I set myself the daunting task of cooking–or baking–something every day that I had never cooked or baked before. Now I'm not one of those guys who avoids the kitchen and leaves all the work to his spouse. It's just that, after 24 years of marriage, we've fallen into comfortable patterns. All things barbecuing are my domain. I'm generally the salad guy, occasionally a waffle-making dad, a frequent pizza topper and even an enthusiastic turkey carver. But most main courses are left to Val. And we rarely venture into the new or different. I imagine most families are like this; you get some safe favourites and repeat endlessly ov...

"After reading about the evils of drinking, I decided to give up reading." Henny Youngman was more than just the king of the one-liners; he was also keenly aware that abstinence does not make the heart grow fonder. For me, the idea of giving up my nightly tipple was absolutely loathsome, so naturally it became a must-do in my 52-week odyssey. I figured it would come sooner or later, so better to rip the bandaid off in Week 5 and get it over with. Naturally, I looked ahead in my schedule to see if there might be any "mandatory drinking" occasions. Other than a few work lunches and a weekend dinner party (which was thankfully snowed out) it looked clear. When I get home from work, the ritual goes pretty much the same. Seconds after my shoes are off, the bottle is losing its cork or cap or lid and the evening is under way. I'm not really a discerning drinker; I just like it all. A random sampling of my cabinet might reveal any spirit—gin, vodka, rum, bourbon,...

"A strange game. The only winning move is NOT to play. How about a nice game of chess?" When the WOPR computer spoke to Matthew Broderick's character in War Games, the "game" it was referring to was global thermonuclear war. Agreed, that game is unwinnable. But chess, hey, any fool can learn that one, right? It's what I've tricked myself into believing over the years, to the point of obsession. I play chess on my iPhone. I play chess on my desktop. I play chess when the last thing I should be doing is playing chess, against strangers from all over the world. When I lose a game, I immediately fire off a challenge to the next player, and on it goes. Now, this is from an admitted non-gamer. I tell myself that I'm not that guy in his basement with a PlayStation controller in his hand, sinking deeper and deeper into an overstuffed sofa. Then there's my other gaming diversion, a website called Sporcle, which bills itself as the world's large...