Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Technology: Different softwares used in different companies

I'm someone who's worked in many different places. I've stayed in one large company for a long time but I've earned my keep in a bunch of other smaller companies as well. While there are clearly objective differences between my longest stint and my shorter stints, there are some things that I've noticed that people tend to not bring up when they move around different jobs. Here are some of the few things I've noticed when it comes to the tools.

1. Outlook vs Gmail

The large company I stayed at lived and breathed Microsoft's Outlook. Smaller companies on the other hand used Gmail to work. Outlook is arguably more outdated but it's more systematized. Gmail is more at the forefront but that doesn't mean the company itself is ahead of the game, especially if everyone is just using their personal gmail accounts instead of the business package that Google offers.

2. Internet Explorer vs Google Chrome

My old large company made us work on Internet Explorer, despite all the comments and jokes about it being so slow online. It's the default browser we use to access web applications even though Google Chrome does a better job at it. I reckon it's because IE is less hassle on the digital infrastructure of the company.

3. Emails vs Workhub Apps

My old huge company didn't have any Workhub Apps. All the work was discussed through email. Younger and smaller companies opt to use workhub sort of apps like Podio to communicate and get work done. Podio wasn't the only workhub I used mind you. Transcription companies have their very own specialized WorkHub apps that deal with audio files.


That's about all that I can mention right now. Why did I bring this up? Because I worked at my old job for nearly 2 years now. I can't help but notice how much I miss using those "outdated" tools like IE and Outlook. Maybe they weren't so bad regardless of all the complaints online. Sure I'd agree with those memes if I tried to work on my laptop, but the IT team at my old company found a way to optimize the performance of all computers in the office so that they all work well in unison.

I guess I'm writing this short blog post just to say I took them for granted. Moral of the story is never take things for granted. Thank you for reading.

Monday, September 2, 2019

Fitness: Surprisingly Specific Analysis from Anytime Fitness' Free Consultation. Here's What I Learned

Just around July 26 -- that was a Friday -- Anytime Fitness representatives paid a visit to my old company's building as part of the company's Overall Health & Safety (OHS) campaign. Anytime Fitness offered free wellness consultations that I signed up for. The whole consultation doesn't take more than 20 minutes but there's a great deal to be learned in such a short time.

The InBody 270 isn't your average weighing scale.

The fast consultation is all thanks to Anytime Fitness' unique weighing scale that measures height, weight, blood pressure, and posture at the same time. It even prints your results for you. Once you've signed up at the booth, the representatives will put you on the scale and they'll tell you to follow the instructions on the screen. You'll be holding handle bars in both of your hands and you'll be raising them upwards, sideways, and below your waists. This whole process only takes 5 minutes. The rest of the consultation is the representative breaking down the results for you so that you understand the charts and graphs that the machine printed out. You can ask as many questions as you like.

Some of the special terms the representative will point out to you will be visceral fat and subcutaneous fat:

Visceral fat is the kind of fat that wraps around our internal organs.

Subcutaneous fat is the kind of fat that resides just underneath our skin.

Since Anytime Fitness is more concerned with improving our wellness instead of our sexiness, they'll tell us that it's important to reduce our visceral fat as much as possible. Because that's the kind of fat that contributes to most fitness-related illnesses like strokes and hypertension.

My results.

During my consultation, I was told that I had normal levels of fat and muscle all around my body. I'm doing a good job with my health goals. But I was also told I have the potential to put on more muscle. I was given a score of 78/100 which is already great apparently. Super muscular people can get scores above 100.

My girlfriend's results.


My girlfriend had different readings. While mine said I had normal levels of fat throughout my entire body, my girlfriend has a higher level of fat around her tummy area. It's okay I still love her anyways. She was also told that she has the potential to gain more muscle AND lose more body fat. She was given a score of 70/100

As long as you don't mind getting spammed by Anytime Fitness -- they'll inevitably do that once you sign up -- then I recommend getting one of Anytime Fitness' free consultations if ever they drop by your company grounds.