Time to Get A Raise!

I was reading this article on Yahoo! and I knew I just had to say something about it, especially due to recent observations at an on-site gig I had for work. I won't go into everything in the article because I think it's an interesting piece to read for yourself, but I'll touch on a couple things.

First off, I went to a Chicago company this week to do an on-site video gig for work. (I obviously am not going to give details since what we do is 100% top secret and confidential...not really.) The is my second time we've visited this company, and the first time I was there a co-worker and I both commented on how fit and attractive 90% of the employees are.

We wondered: "Are there health/fitness incentives at this business?" "Do they only hire beautiful people?" "All they do is sit on the phone all day, why does it matter how attractive the employees are?"

We were baffled at what we saw. But after reading this article, maybe this company knew a thing or two about who to hire and why.

Fit, attractive people tend to be more confident than overweight, self-conscious people. FACT. Being healthy boosts mental function. FACT. In shape people are usually in a better mood. FACT

So why wouldn't a company want to hire people like this? It makes perfect sense! And it makes sense that if someone were to go from "flab to fab" while employed at a company, that their productivity and attitude would increase, thus possibly earning them a raise.

Not that I'm complaining concerned about how much I'm currently making (especially since my amazing wife just landed a great job of her own - so proud of her!), but if getting to the gym and losing some weight magically makes the numbers on my paycheck higher, than I think it's worth trying!

What do you think? Do you think that this supposed link between fitness and salary is legit? Or even better, have you been a beneficiary of this study as a result of your fitness?

My New Gig

So most people have something in mind that they would call their "dream job." When I was little I was inspired by Jurassic Park to be an archaeologist. After I grew out of that dream a couple years ago, I decided that being a cameraman at sporting events was the greatest thing ever. I've seen tons and tons of montages (a la "One Shining Moment") that gave me goosebumps and made me think to myself, "I'd love to be behind that camera getting those shots."

Sure, I've grabbed a camera and shot some games at Trinity - soccer, basketball, volleyball and even intramural kickball - but I've never really gotten paid to do it. Recently I contacted The Patch - a web of local, online newspapers - to see if they had any room for someone to cover Trinity sports. They said they weren't interested in covering Trinity, but countered with asking me if I wanted to help with local, high school sports shooting video and writing articles. I agreed!

To date, I have four games under my belt - two baseball games, a softball game and even a water polo game! While I'm only filming the games to get highlights for a 2-minute video recap, I'm still really enjoying going out to games and creating a rapport with coaches and fans. Here's one of the games I shot: