april 2023

a fish in a pond

layoffs

My company laid off some employees a couple of weeks ago. This technically happened in May, but it's in this month’s newsletter since it's been on my mind.

Everyone has been telling me that talking about this is a terrible idea. So the following is a completely unrelated story I wrote about some fish in a pond.

I live in a pond with many other fish. I like swimming around with them. We have fun and do things together.

One day, many of the fish left our pond. Fish that I’ve known for a while.

I feel worried because I don’t understand why some fish had to go.

I feel sad because many of the fish who left were a lot like me.

I miss the fish who had so much knowledge left to share.

But I’m thankful for the fish who stayed. I’m grateful I am still in this pond.

Years later, I meet a magical octopus who turns me into a real boy and I live happily ever after on land.

The end.

a conversation with a pilot

This month, I traveled to Toronto for work.

On my flight back, I flew from Toronto to Calgary to Edmonton and finally to Victoria. I’m not sure why I chose to do this. It was a huge pain.

One positive though, I got to sit next to a WestJet pilot on my flight from Calgary to Edmonton. I proceeded to badger him with questions for the entire flight. Here’s what I learned:

• The plane engines that hang under the wings are interchangeable. When a new engine comes out, they just bolt it in. So your plane can be old as hell but have brand new engines.

• Boeing and Airbus have diametrically opposing views on flight controls. Boeing is all analogue; they put the pilot in charge. Airbus is all software and auto-pilot. Apparently pilots prefer the Boeings (WestJet is all Boeings).

• Putting your phone in airplane mode is apparently irrelevant. This pilot was trying to Google something before, during and after takeoff.

a pilot's job

Another topic that came up during our conversation was unions. Specifically, the WestJet's pilots' union which is planning to go on strike in May.

Sidenote: The theme of strikes was present in various places this month. Namely the PSAC strike and the writer’s strike in Hollywood.

Clearly, unions have value in many contexts but this is especially true for pilots. As I've learned, a pilot's job mobility is quite restricted.

If you’re a journalist or construction worker or lawyer, the skills and certifications you learn to do your job are quite transferrable. In Canada, if you pass the bar or get a license to operate an excavator, you can use those skills and certifications in similar jobs all over the country.

A pilot’s commercial license (type rating) is only valid for a specific plane model. And each airline has its own procedures, safety protocols and policies that requires training. And there aren’t that many airlines. Which means it's super difficult to switch jobs.

Say you've spent 5 years working as a pilot for the Boeing 737 at WestJet. Over that time, your hourly rate has gone from $65 to $120. But now management announces that your hourly rate is going down by 30%.

What do you do? You need to look for another airline that is hiring pilots to fly Boeing 737s. And assuming you get hired, you need to complete their specific training and start at the bottom of the chain.

All this rigamarole is mostly due to government regulation.

Which is good! We only want competent people to fly planes. There should definitely be a bunch of rules around that.

But it also sucks! Because a pilot has significantly less mobility between firms/airlines.

So when your airline doesn’t want to increase your wage inline with US pilots, it’s not easy to just leave and go somewhere else. Thus, a strike.

grindset

This month I ran a 10k race, organized by the Times Columnist in Victoria.

I usually run at 5:45min/km or 5:30 if I'm feeling good. So to run 10 kilometers, I was looking to finish under 55 minutes (5:30 x 10 km).

Weirdly, I ended up finishing in 50 minutes and 47 seconds. So about 5:05 pace on average. This was unexpected.

It served as an indication to me that this whole running thing is so mental. My physical ability did not change on race day. Like my legs didn’t suddenly get stronger. But my mentality certainly changed and that lead to real results.

Does this give more validity to David Goggins and the “grindset” people?? Perhaps.

Here is a picture of me and Elvis running.

My goal is to make it under 50 minutes next time.

I made this loaf of bread

Anyways, see you next month. Also AI part 2 is coming soon. I have not forgotten about it. It’s just very complicated (who knew?).

fun links

• this ableton music lesson

• this online synth radio station

• about the hollywood strike

• this beautiful pocket recorder

• Hanlon’s razor

• the google io keynote recap

• the chair