Beyond the Rhetoric

While the Burnaby Heights neighborhood (or Willingdon Heights, depending on who you ask) was historically known as an Italian part of town, it has since grown to become quite the multicultural place. The Italian heritage is still present with the cafes and butcher shops, to be sure, but the multicultural makeup of the area has certainly shifted.

Taking a walk down just a few blocks of Hastings Street, you’ll find everything from an East Indian restaurant to a French bistro. And then, wedged between Valley Bakery and a jewelry store is Turkish Donair. I didn’t think much of it as I walked past it several times, until one day I walked past during a lunch rush and saw the lineup out the door. I had to see what this place was all about.

The main part of the menu is quite simple. You choose between beef, chicken and lamb and then you choose between six different topping combinations. There are other items on the side menus, like a platter rather than a wrap, but these donairs are the real “meat” of the menu (bad pun intended).

Unlike some other donair places that pre-slice the meat and place them on warming trays, Turkish Donair sticks to its shawarma roots. All three meats stay on that slow-roasting spindle. Yes, a microwave is used to briefly warm the pita bread, but that’s mostly forgivable.

The donairs are available in small or large, with the latter coming at about a $2 premium. You can see the size difference in the image above. For lunch, most people will likely be satisfied with the small, but that’s your call.

This is the small Lebanese lamb. Along with the lamb, you get tomatoes, onion, lettuce, tabbouleh, hommous, and tzatziki. Hot sauce is optional; interestingly, Turkish Donair uses Sriracha sauce, which is more commonly associated with Vietnamese or Thai cuisine. The seasoning on the lamb was great, offering just the right “herby” flavour profile.

This is the large Hawaiian chicken. You get tomatoes, onion, lettuce, pineapple, and sweet sauce. The pineapple and sweet sauce really come through, working very well with the slightly burnt chicken. I feel the Hawaiian is best suited for chicken and the sweetness wouldn’t work quite as well with lamb or beef.

With prices starting at about five dollars, Turkish Donair offers an affordable and filling lunch that’ll have you coming back for more. Seating is quite minimal–there are about five tables, plus a small window-side counter–so you’ll likely get your donair to go… which is fine, since it’s conveniently wrapped up for on-the-go enjoyment.

I didn’t catch his name, but the owner-operator of Turkish Donair is almost as happy as Happy Brian from Happy Pho too. You might even say he is Brian’s Turkish cousin. He refers to people as “my friend” and even though it’s set up as a fast food establishment (he’s a one-man show), he’ll usually tell you to “go ahead and eat first. You pay me later.”

When it comes to many professions, it pays to have laser-like precision and focus. If you are a carpenter, it helps to know exactly what materials suit the job and the best way to utilize them. If you are an accountant, it helps to have a great understanding of the numbers and what they mean, rather than getting distracted with the history of Excel spreadsheets.

Creative jobs are different. From freelance writers to music composers, there’s something to be said about loosening that focus. The thing with creativity is that you never know where it may lead you, so what may start out as an inane idea could ultimately mature into your greatest work.

That’s why, in many ways, creativity is incompatible with common sense. It’s not logical to pursue what appears to be a random and useless thought. It would make more sense to pursue the idea that is already bearing fruit, but it is precisely by going down the less explored path, the less conventional path that you have the opportunity to discover something amazing.

From a business standpoint, certain decisions must be made. This is true. You will have to go down the more conventional paths quite often, because these are the ones that will pay the bills. And there is nothing wrong with doing this, but it is only when you embrace the chaos of holding a million ideas in your head at the same time that you can experience that lightbulb moment of pure inspiration. Sometimes, you just have to catch the beat and see where it leads you.

The embrace of chaos is the idea put forth by Malcolm Gladwell in the video embedded below. He is the author of such books as Blink and Outliers, both of which talk about success, but in entirely different ways. Perhaps it’s because he allowed himself to embrace the chaos of creativity that he was able to achieve what he has.

“The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided.”

Born Charles Dillon Stengel, Casey “The Old Professor” Stengel was a professional baseball player and manager with American Major League Baseball. Inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966, “Casey” is best known for his time in New York, managing both the Yankees and the Mets.

The quote above, then, comes from the context of managing a baseball club, but it could just as easily apply to any sort of professional organization. Casey Stengel knew that life was a matter of perspective and balance. No matter what you do, you’re going to have your fans and you’re going to have the folks who don’t like you as much. And then, you have the people on the fence.

While you could spend the time trying to convince those who “hate” you to think otherwise, you’ll likely get a better return by focusing on the people who haven’t yet decided on their opinion of you. The interesting thing is that by swaying these folks and hopefully forming a larger majority with the people who already like you, you may be in a better position to then persuade the naysayers to join your side.

For my part, running a freelance business of one is more about managing client preferences and managing my time, there is still management involved. I still have to manage my online reputation. I still have manage my relationship with my customers and colleagues. As much as you’d like to believe that what other people think of you doesn’t matter, it does, especially if you’re in business.

The corporate world has a lot in common with the world of politics in this regard. It may not be a popularity contest, per se, but it’s a heck of a lot easier to be a “good” manager when your staff likes and respects you.

Part of the challenge with language is that it is constantly evolving. What is deemed to be correct and acceptable one day could be cast aside for a different construction the next. To this day, the controversy surrounding the Oxford comma continues.

Also known as the serial comma, the Oxford comma is the comma placed before the conjunction that precedes the final item in a list of three or more items. Here is an example.

There are lions, tigers, and bears.

I’ve written about the power of the comma before and how the meaning of a sentence can change depending on whether or not you place a comma. In this instance, whether or not you include the comma between “tigers” and “and” really doesn’t affect the overall meaning. But what is correct?

The American flag is red, white and blue. OR

The American flag is red, white, and blue.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the writing community is torn on the issue. The Chicago Manual of Style and the American Medical Association, among others, state that the serial comma should be used when a “a conjunction joins the last two elements in a series.” On the other hand, the AP Stylebook and the New York Times stylebook say that the final serial comma should not be included.

For my part, I find myself using the Oxford comma more often than I choose to leave it out. This is more for clarity and to prevent ambiguity, but it is largely a stylistic thing too. It’s a matter of choice, just like how split infinitives may still get purists to cringe, but they are becoming increasingly acceptable.

In the case of the Oxford comma, there are specific instances where certain rules are to be followed–like if you are adhering to the MLA standard–but for average writers under average circumstances, its inclusion and its omission are both deemed correct.

I strongly believe that one of the best ways to spend your money is on international travel. You get the opportunity to experience new cultures, attempt new languages, and eat new food. It also means you get to absorb history, rather than simply reading about it in a book or watching a documentary on it on TV.

Last week, I gave you a quick tour of my Cancun resort room. As much as I enjoyed the all-inclusiveness, the real highlight of my trip was being able to visit some Ancient Mayan ruins. I took two trips: one to Chichen Itza and another to Tulum.

Chichen Itza and El Castillo

Chichen Itza is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World (stylized as the “New7Wonders of the World”), along with other great monuments like the Great Wall of China and Christ the Redeemer. While it is best known for El Castillo (the “pyramid” shown above), Chichen Itza really refers to the entire ancient city. This wasn’t really a city for average folk, though, reserved mostly for religious purposes and special occasions, as well as the high-ranking officials who would be involved in these events.

El Castillo wasn’t just for ornamental purposes either. It was aligned in such a way that the steps could be used as a calendar, specifically lining up with the sun a certain way to indicate the solstices and equinoxes. What’s more, you could stand in front of one of the staircases, clap your hands, and hear what sounded like a bird call echo back at you. We tried to capture this on video, but the audio didn’t quite work out.

Does that dome-like structure look familiar? That’s because this is an early observatory, used to gaze into the night sky and gain a better understanding of celestial bodies. The Mayans were very knowledgeable about our solar system and beyond, well before the advent of telescopes and more advanced technology.

El Gran Juego de Pelota

Also located in Chichen Itza is the Great Ball Court. While the exact rules of the game have been lost, it appears that you’d have two teams of seven and the goal was to get a ball through one of the hoops on the side.

According to one of the placards on the site:

This is the largest ball court in Mesoamerica. It is formed by a long wall on each side, with embedded rings or hoops carved with images of plumed serpents. The slightly sloping walls are decorated with scenes of the sacrifice of ball players.

Yes, the game proved fatal. If you look closely at the carving above, you’ll see one player kneeling on the right. He has been decapitated and blood is spewing from his neck. In the center is a circle with a skull and there are snakes (serpents) emerging from its mouth, possibly indicating the escape of the soul. On the left is an opposing player, holding the decapitated head.

Tulum

Whereas Chichen Itza is located in the middle of an inland jungle, Tulum is a seaside city. It’s fortified on one side with a rather substantial stone wall and it’s protected on the other side by steep sea cliffs. The beach is safe, because there is a barrier reef preventing ships from entering. The setting is incredibly picturesque. It also helps that the site isn’t overrun by merchants like Chichen Itza.

The relatively small beach at Tulum is rated as one of the most beautiful in the world and you can see why. Even though they are visiting a historic archaeological site, many tourists also don their bathing suits to take a dip in the water.

There are iguanas everywhere and they’ve all grown very accustomed to having people around. It is illegal to kill the iguanas there, but that doesn’t mean the local population doesn’t eat iguana; they simply chop off the tails, which the iguanas eventually grow back.

While I wish I had more time to simply relax on the beach at my Cancun resort, I have no regrets about taking these two day trips to visit the Maya ruins. This was one of the world’s greatest and most advanced civilizations, far ahead of their time.

The Mayan Calendar and the End of the World

Despite what Mel Gibson may lead you to believe, no, the world isn’t going to end in December 2012. The Mayan calendar ends on that date simply because they didn’t create a calendar for the next cycle; after all, the last major Mayan states weren’t overtaken until the late 17th century. They figured they had a few more hundred years before they’d have to make a new calendar.

Check out my Flickr photostream for more pictures from Cancun, Chichen Itza, Tulum, and the rest of my trip to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.