Ryan J. Allen » office

Ryan Allen Endorses: Starbucks Corporation

Ryan J. Allen — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 19:26:55 +0000

When I was with Katy in London I would point out the Starbucks that was visible from every entrance to the Tube. When Evan, Matt, Kevin, and I are in Prague we would “Czech In” every morning to Starbucks in Wenceslas Square. Last winter Adam, Eric, and I would enjoy the occasional 7 a.m. Starbucks trip before work. I visited Jill many times at Starbucks, even sharing her excitement in having some of her photos on display there. A photo of Tiffany is on display in the very Starbucks that she so happily works at. Muis, Foran, Gilles, Misha, Gervais, Joel, and I will relieve our minds from the grip of work with the occasional trip to the Starbucks a mere 300 metres walk from the office. My first apartment was right over a Starbucks in Kingston.

Without argument, Starbucks has played a supporting role in my life. It is a place of warmth–literally and figuratively–warmed by coffee, friends, and love. The experience is nearly perfected, and is consistent across cities, countries, and continents. In those areas where Starbucks can improve they welcome ideas from customers and staff from around the world via mystarbucksidea.com.

The moment you walk into a Starbucks the contemporary music fills the air mixed with various conversations and the occasional sound of spray from the milk steamer. The cashiers are consistently welcoming and happy to take your order. Even when your drink has four modifiers the cashiers or expediters are happy to record and call-out your order.

This is the first step to your own hand-crafted beverage, made just the way you want. Behind the bar the magic happens as the barista mixes tea, syrup, espresso, milk, and/or spices to make exactly what you are waiting for. As the time passes you can find a seat, chat with a friend or fellow customer, or catch up on emails via your BlackBerry.

Is there a better moment then the one when the barista calls your drink to announce that it is ready at the bar? In the summer the cool feeling of a frappuccino or iced latte is refreshing; and in the winter, the warmth from a latte is overwhelmingly appreciated. A visit to the condiment station to dress up your drink a little more, or just cap it with a travel lid is the last step before you partake in the exact thing that you crave.

If you are enjoying your beverage “for here” the Starbucks experience continues, with comfortable seating and intimate table settings. You can sit alone and read the daily news, or sit comfortable as a group from 2 to 10. This is universally true, whether you’re in Ottawa, Kingston, Vancouver, Frankfurt, London, Karlsruhe, Munich, Prague, Madrid, or Zurich. Anywhere in the world you are welcome, and feel welcome.

The wonder of Starbucks doesn’t stop at the experience–just ask anyone who works there. Starbucks provides benefits to more of their employees, as well as higher wages when compared to others in the food service industry. The Corporation encourages employees to contribute to the long-term success of the company, and offers a stock purchasing program to provide extra incentive. I have heard people describe working at Starbucks as working with friends, even if you have gone into a store knowing nobody on staff.

And perhaps it is that work atmosphere that creates the welcoming atmosphere for customers. I have no doubt that every little thing contributes to the Starbucks experience which leads me to endorse Starbucks Corporation in its entirety.

Breakfast Blend

Ryan J. Allen — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 14:01:36 +0000

I’ve traded one bad habit for another.

I love Starbucks. I love the coffee, the consistency, the social-ness. I love a hand-crafted beverage, made to order, just for me. The company takes care of the employees, so you see the same ones. Even if I don’t know their names, I know the faces. I can go to a Starbucks in Kingston and still see a face or two I recognize.

The one downside to Starbucks is that it can be a bit expensive. It has positioned itself in the “affordable luxury” market which means that most people have to give up something to visit regularly. In my case, I would spend the same amount I pay for my motorcycle insurance each month just to visit Starbucks as often as I did. Now that I have a mortgage to pay, and a car payment, I can’t keep this up.

So I have been trying to curb my visits to Starbucks and I have done this by replacing trips with visits to the work coffee machine. I have never been one who needs coffee in the morning to get going, but I’m afraid I’m developing the habit. Sure, now it’s just coffee for the sake of getting up from my desk and drinking something, but tomorrow it may be more.

I usually have a Breakfast Blend coffee in the morning. If I go for a second coffee at lunch I’ll go for a Columbian. If I go for another coffee in the afternoon it’ll be decaf Columbian. I also find that I really enjoy a nice sweet, like chocolate covered almonds, with my coffee.

Cheaper, yes. Better? I don’t know.

Come On Everybody: Group Hug

Ryan J. Allen — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:52:19 +0000

Have you noticed that I haven’t written much lately? I promise that it’s not due to a lack of things to write about, nor is it due to a lack of time to write–I just don’t want to. I don’t want to write about the thing that I would have to write about: leaving Germany.

I just composed a farewell e-mail to say goodbye to those who I could personally say goodbye to before leaving. After I added everyone to the “to” field I realized that there were 60 names in this list and I thought it unfair for me to not write something here about my leaving. 60 people who have personally affected my life in the past year. 60 people that I can put more than just a face to–people whom I have relate experiences and emotions to. Surely you must understand how it can be hard to leave.

Last night I shipped my personal affects to Canada which turned out to be a long, time-consuming process. After spending well over an hour at the UPS warehouse I was received at the Mihut household where we ate a delicious beer can chicken, with potatoes and a salad, and then watched a couple of recently-aired TV shows. It was really relaxing, but sad for me at the same time. I definitely had the thoughts that I did not want to leave.

***

I started writing this post hours ago, but could not finish with the trip to the Asian restaurant, checking-in for the flight, saying goodbye, going for a final run, etc. Unfortunately now I don’t have time to reflect further, as I have to go and get ready for dinner, plus pack this evening. But let it be known that the people here are awesome and I will miss them dearly.

Update: Feel free to track me on flight AC839 tomorrow. No stalkers please. Thanks.

E-mail at Work

Ryan J. Allen — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:57:18 +0000

Do you get a lot of e-mail at work? I have some tips to make it a little better to deal with.

1. remove the priority column from your e-mail client. Some people like to send e-mail marked with a high priority. The majority of these people are assholes. My experience is that people use the priority flag as a passive-aggressive way for them to push their interests on you. After you remove this column you don’t even see that the message is of “high priority” so you treat it just the same as every other. It is a very calming way to handle e-mail.

2. move automated e-mails out of your inbox. Set up a filter to automatically move automated e-mails to folders other than your inbox. Messages such as a “spam block summary” or “software build completed” that are generated by a computer should be moved to a folder. If you wouldn’t normally read the message than you can also have the filter mark the message as read, so it doesn’t disrupt you with a new mail notification.

3. move messages that don’t address you specifically to their own folder. At work we are usually on a bunch of e-mail lists: all staff, division list, all Ottawa employees, etc. These lists tend to result in a lot of notification e-mails being sent to you that aren’t particularly important for whatever you are working on at that very moment–or maybe at all. Messages that don’t list you in the “To” or “Cc” fields explicitly can be automatically moved to a filtered inbox and marked read; just remember to check it once or twice a day.

I don’t get a thousand e-mails a day, but I do get enough that the aforementioned techniques make e-mail a lot more manageable for me. I have a few other mail filters but these cover move of the mail that I don’t want to read. And really, I’ll take any opportunity that I can to publicly call high priority e-mail senders out for what they really are.

A Short Cycling Trip

Ryan J. Allen — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:01:02 +0000

A couple of years ago I wrote a lot about milk. Now I feel like I am writing a lot about cycling. But never am i writing anything useful about cycling, just “I went cycling” or “I like cycling”.

I went cycling last night after work. We did a trip to Dobel, followed by a a trip through the course for my portion of the naked run set for Saturday. (This run is an 80 km relay, 4x 20 km, with my part being the last.) In the end we cut our tour short, which I thought was fine, though when I got home I noticed that we had still been out for 3 hours. So, 3 hours of cycling feels like a short trip now. Crazy.

I am really looking forward to drinking a glass of milk this morning.

I haven’t written much about work lately, but it has been very busy which makes things exciting. I’m quite pleased with that. Though I could do with fewer trips to Ulm. There is a possibility of one other trip just before the Alpencross, but I hope this will be it for July.

Ryan Report

Ryan J. Allen — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:03:59 +0000

Thursday, March 26, 2009.

It’s approximately 9 p.m. Less than one hour ago I was still at work. I’m hardcore like that.

The weather has been terrible all week. I think it has constantly rained. I am lucky I live on the first floor (second floor to you on the other side of the Atlantic), as I am less likely to suffer damages during a massive flood.

As a result of the terrible weather I have been incredibly inactive this week. I really wanted to start bicycling to work this week but don’t want to do so in the dark and damp. I did go for a short run today (7 km) but that’s it since the Sunday tour. I hope this weekend will be nicer.

Tomorrow I am going to a colleague’s for Linsen und Spätzle mit Saitenwürstchen. I am very excited for this. I will prepare some feta pate to bring along.

This weekend is the time change here in Europe. I am looking forward to this as well. I welcome more evening light.

I am moving offices at work. Well, actually, someone else is doing the actual moving but I will be going to a new place on Monday. Same address and phone number, just different building and office. Same floor number, so it’s not really an upgrade.

I have something like eight working days left before I am on vacation. Vacation is quite welcome now. And it will mark the beginning of my visitors to Europe. That’s pretty thrilling.

I’ve turned the heat down in my apartment. it now feels chilly in here. I should turn it up but I am hopeful that it is inviting the warmer weather.

I submitted all of my details for taxes to the KPMG International Executive Services team so that they can prepare my taxes in by two countries of residence of 2008. I have been learning a little bit about the differences in our tax systems and it is interesting. And all the same, really.

I enjoyed cucumber sandwiches just now. They were pretty delicious. Notice the plural.

Just Like Everybody Else

Ryan J. Allen — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:19:46 +0000

In Germany my office is…well, an office. The typical setup in Germany seems to be an office shared by 3-5 people; my office is a smaller one, so it is setup for two people, but I am the only one in here. There are certainly many great features to such a setup including: the convenient and comfortable host of guests, the quiet work environment, the ability to shut one’s door, and more. One of the useful and unapparent perks is that you can close the door to change before going for a run.

I just got back from an afternoon run (a short one: only 7 km) and was sitting here “cooling down” before going to the showers when I thought: I should have a private shower in my office. Then I thought that if I am someday an executive I may have a private shower in my office. But, if that does happen, I will explicitly use the employee shower to shower to show that I am Just Like Everybody Else.