All good things come to an end, and so does this blog.
I've realized that as good as the blog has been good when I started (again), I want to branch off to more ideas and topics of interest. I invite you to join me as I write down thoughts that interest me and what I consider to be worth mentioning.
I'm merely moving my blog, so I will continue to post related topics that pertain to this blog's theme, but I will also expand to discuss other things. Some will include movies, social media, and milkshakes.
SO just go to my new blog and follow me!
Monday, January 3, 2011
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Before 24
Before 24, I think my favourite show was CSI. I even remember what the first episode of the series I watched was (for both shows, actually!). I suppose this is further evidence of the primary effect - that you always remember your first.
Recently I read a bog post by Jon Acuff sharing his "40 before 40 list" and was inspired to come up with some of my own goals I'd like to achieve before my 24th birthday. If you want to know who's funnier than me, this guy is it. The following list is made up of some goals. The italics are items borrowed from Jon's list that I like for myself.
So, in no particular order, my 24 before 24:
1. Go Swing Dancing.
2. Go Rock Climbing.
3. Read 50 of BBC's 100 books list that I haven't read already.
4. Have dinner with my grandparents in their home.
5. Learn how to make sushi.
6. Take a picture from up the CN Tower.
7. Teach someone guitar.
What about you? What are some "30 before 30" or "50 before 50" goals you would like to achieve? I never dabbled with a bucket list (if you read the entries from that link in order, it's pretty funny), but maybe I'll reevaluate when I reach a quarter of a century.
Recently I read a bog post by Jon Acuff sharing his "40 before 40 list" and was inspired to come up with some of my own goals I'd like to achieve before my 24th birthday. If you want to know who's funnier than me, this guy is it. The following list is made up of some goals. The italics are items borrowed from Jon's list that I like for myself.
So, in no particular order, my 24 before 24:
1. Go Swing Dancing.
2. Go Rock Climbing.
3. Read 50 of BBC's 100 books list that I haven't read already.
4. Have dinner with my grandparents in their home.
5. Learn how to make sushi.
6. Take a picture from up the CN Tower.
7. Teach someone guitar.
8. Go ziplining.
9. Own a lobster.
10. Spend an increasing amount of time with God and a decreasing amount of time with distractions.
12. Listen to more classical music.
13. Be an extra in a movie.
14. Stay up-to-date with social media-related news.
15. Have a group of guys who love me enough to tell me when I’m being an idiot.
16. Complete a successful business plan.
17. Visit the Maritimes.
18. Go surfing.
19. Go to a live theatre.
20. Discover a creative way to get to know my neighbours.
21. Help someone else achieve their goal.
22. Host a dinner party.
23. Run a half marathon.
24. Be influential in the creation of a vlog.
What about you? What are some "30 before 30" or "50 before 50" goals you would like to achieve? I never dabbled with a bucket list (if you read the entries from that link in order, it's pretty funny), but maybe I'll reevaluate when I reach a quarter of a century.
What’s something you want to do?
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Remembering Others
During my time out in BC I helped out with a leadership seminar happening in downtown Vancouver. The speaker was a young man who, after working in advertising for a few companies, started his own advertising firm. I found him to be a very charismatic speaker, engaging and motivational. He had many insights in the world of advertising to share, including some personal stories of his own journey that he shared with the audience.
One such story he shared was about a time his office was holding silent auctions for a charity cause. One of the prizes up for bid was one hour spent with the president of the company, in which the president can do whatever you wanted for one hour. To give a bit of context, this is a company with hundreds of employees, and by the sounds of it the president wasn't the type of guy you can just strike up a conversation with at the water cooler. The speaker went on to say that no one was bidding for the president's time, so he puts in the base amount... and he won.
So the big thing now became, "what are you going to make him do??" The president was such a busy guy, that they scheduled their meeting in two weeks. So in those two weeks, the speaker said, he was bombarded by colleagues and managers asking him what he was going to get the president to do.
"Are you going to make him clean your shoes?"
"Will you parade him around the office in an elf suit?"
"I will give you $100 to tell me what you're going to do!"
I'm impressed how well he was able to keep quiet. Even one of the top executives came to him, ordered him to say what he had planned to do, and he didn't say a word. If memory serves me correctly, the president himself came to him and asked what he had planned, and he still didn't say.
Finally the day arrived, and the speaker says he went to the president's office with a box in his hand. By now everyone knew something was going to happen, they just didn't know what. They surround him, asking what is in the box. Still he refused to say.
"Alright, let's do this," says the president of the company, "you have one hour. What do you want me to do?" The speaker smiles at him, opens the box, and pulls out a list of names. Below each name was their title, achievements, and phone numbers. The speaker tells him, "these are people whom I have worked with on various projects during the time I have been employed here, and there is something that they have contributed. I want you to pick up this phone on your desk and call each one, thanking them for the great work they did." So for that hour the president called every name on that list. When he was finished the speaker said, "there is one more number I want you to call." It was a floral shop. The president had flowers delivered to both of their wives, on his own bill.
His story was a humbling reminder that so many times we think 'what is the best way for me to get ahead', and we rarely stop to think of those around us. Or those around them. What a selfless thought, to even think about telling his boss's boss's boss to send his wife some flowers.
It's an encouragement to us all, to not treat the people in our lives as means to an end. This speaker was really fantastic, and I'd be honoured to ever have an opportunity to work alongside someone with his kind of mindset.
One such story he shared was about a time his office was holding silent auctions for a charity cause. One of the prizes up for bid was one hour spent with the president of the company, in which the president can do whatever you wanted for one hour. To give a bit of context, this is a company with hundreds of employees, and by the sounds of it the president wasn't the type of guy you can just strike up a conversation with at the water cooler. The speaker went on to say that no one was bidding for the president's time, so he puts in the base amount... and he won.
So the big thing now became, "what are you going to make him do??" The president was such a busy guy, that they scheduled their meeting in two weeks. So in those two weeks, the speaker said, he was bombarded by colleagues and managers asking him what he was going to get the president to do.
"Are you going to make him clean your shoes?"
"Will you parade him around the office in an elf suit?"
"I will give you $100 to tell me what you're going to do!"
I'm impressed how well he was able to keep quiet. Even one of the top executives came to him, ordered him to say what he had planned to do, and he didn't say a word. If memory serves me correctly, the president himself came to him and asked what he had planned, and he still didn't say.
Finally the day arrived, and the speaker says he went to the president's office with a box in his hand. By now everyone knew something was going to happen, they just didn't know what. They surround him, asking what is in the box. Still he refused to say.
"Alright, let's do this," says the president of the company, "you have one hour. What do you want me to do?" The speaker smiles at him, opens the box, and pulls out a list of names. Below each name was their title, achievements, and phone numbers. The speaker tells him, "these are people whom I have worked with on various projects during the time I have been employed here, and there is something that they have contributed. I want you to pick up this phone on your desk and call each one, thanking them for the great work they did." So for that hour the president called every name on that list. When he was finished the speaker said, "there is one more number I want you to call." It was a floral shop. The president had flowers delivered to both of their wives, on his own bill.
His story was a humbling reminder that so many times we think 'what is the best way for me to get ahead', and we rarely stop to think of those around us. Or those around them. What a selfless thought, to even think about telling his boss's boss's boss to send his wife some flowers.
It's an encouragement to us all, to not treat the people in our lives as means to an end. This speaker was really fantastic, and I'd be honoured to ever have an opportunity to work alongside someone with his kind of mindset.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Themed Weddings
Lately been thinking that I know more people who are getting engaged than I thought I did, directly or indirectly. Someone set a date for the 24th of September, and I told her that's a great day to get married. She asked me why and I tell her that I wanted to plan my wedding day on the 24th, because I am a huge fan of the show. Now I know that a wedding day boils down to availability, etc, but I think the number should be significant. After all, you're going to have to remember it for the rest of your life!
I've shared with some people first date ideas, proposal ideas. I even have a few bachelor party ideas that is totes worth listening to for a laugh (so if you need ideas gentlemen, talk to me!)
This here is my version of a very fictitious 24-themed wedding. . .
The officiant will be none other than Kiefer Sutherland (of course) and the bride will walk down with the theme song playing in the background, in a pinstriped wedding suit-dress. Fashion designers, get on that, it's "gonna be a thing."
The wedding party will all be wearing earpieces, whispering things like "affirmative" or "delta bravo, roger" into their sleeve in response to everything Kiefer says. THEN . . . The windows of the building all get smashed by armed men who have rappelled themselves into the building, seeking revenge because I'm a secret agent that infiltrated their group in the past and put many of their colleagues behind bars. And then a few more enter the front doors and barricade them so no one can get out.
What am I doing when this ruckus is going down? I'm pulling out my desert eagle that I keep strapped to me leg at all times, and returning some fire and using the pews for protection. And the wife-to-be gives a look of pure rage, as she busts out a 12-gauge shotgun and starts blasting away in the direction of the wedding crashers.
I don't remember how it played out from there, as the groomsmen have a role in securing a perimeter, but as this is all part of the theme, everyone except some of the guests are in on it. We used rubber bullets so no one was really put in harms way.
Ultimately this all goes down within exactly one hour, and we keep a giant digital clock at the front that sounds really annoying after the first few ticks.
I've shared with some people first date ideas, proposal ideas. I even have a few bachelor party ideas that is totes worth listening to for a laugh (so if you need ideas gentlemen, talk to me!)
This here is my version of a very fictitious 24-themed wedding. . .
The officiant will be none other than Kiefer Sutherland (of course) and the bride will walk down with the theme song playing in the background, in a pinstriped wedding suit-dress. Fashion designers, get on that, it's "gonna be a thing."
The wedding party will all be wearing earpieces, whispering things like "affirmative" or "delta bravo, roger" into their sleeve in response to everything Kiefer says. THEN . . . The windows of the building all get smashed by armed men who have rappelled themselves into the building, seeking revenge because I'm a secret agent that infiltrated their group in the past and put many of their colleagues behind bars. And then a few more enter the front doors and barricade them so no one can get out.
What am I doing when this ruckus is going down? I'm pulling out my desert eagle that I keep strapped to me leg at all times, and returning some fire and using the pews for protection. And the wife-to-be gives a look of pure rage, as she busts out a 12-gauge shotgun and starts blasting away in the direction of the wedding crashers.
I don't remember how it played out from there, as the groomsmen have a role in securing a perimeter, but as this is all part of the theme, everyone except some of the guests are in on it. We used rubber bullets so no one was really put in harms way.
Ultimately this all goes down within exactly one hour, and we keep a giant digital clock at the front that sounds really annoying after the first few ticks.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
on stamina
A good friend of mine is a musician in a worship band. Recently he shared with me that the worship leader would strum a little at the end of a song, trying to push the limits of a song when there are no more notes on the page. This seemed to be a concept that the rest of the team was challenged with at first, because once the song is done, naturally the playing is done. What the leader wanted was for the band to develop the ability to continue playing when the sheet music is done. It's this act of stamina that impressed my friend, and me when he told me.
This principle of stamina was applied later during a prayer evening at church where we had a very informal night of encouragement with each other. What was brought up was the idea that when we get into a habit of praying regularly, consistently, we enable ourselves to go for longer periods of time. How can someone who spends little to no time praying expect to pray for an hour?
I really like how this principle of stamina can be applied to anything in life, and particularly to things of spiritual worth. I thought of using the phrase "prayer takes practice", but as a friend pointed out to me it may suggest that "practice makes perfect", and therefore there is a state where you can achieve perfect prayer. Instead I prefer to call it "training". Stamina builds as we continue to train, because through training we don't meet a level of perfection - but we are better today than we were yesterday.
Considering this principle gave me a fresh perspective on pushing the limits of what we do and why we do it. The motivation can begin with passion, but it's our stamina that helps keep us pursuing those passions with such zeal.
I really like how this principle of stamina can be applied to anything in life, and particularly to things of spiritual worth. I thought of using the phrase "prayer takes practice", but as a friend pointed out to me it may suggest that "practice makes perfect", and therefore there is a state where you can achieve perfect prayer. Instead I prefer to call it "training". Stamina builds as we continue to train, because through training we don't meet a level of perfection - but we are better today than we were yesterday.
Considering this principle gave me a fresh perspective on pushing the limits of what we do and why we do it. The motivation can begin with passion, but it's our stamina that helps keep us pursuing those passions with such zeal.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Night Walks
I'm a fan of night walks. It's a great time to be out and reflect or just to enjoy the silence. Yeah, the silence just might do it. What a feeling to be enthralled to nature's surroundings.
A conversation I had with someone included what to do when a dude happens to be walking slightly behind a woman at night, so as to not give her the creeps. I'm going to share an experience here about the opposite.
So one night I'm taking my usual route, and pause at the park where there are bleachers I sit on. Looking up imagining that the blinking airplane lights are stars, I just take in the cool weather and the silence. Silence, until I hear footsteps behind me. I turn around and see a woman coming up the same path I took (the bleachers are also next to a bunch of trees, so it is difficult to see). I realized that she didn't know I was there when she stopped all of a sudden and stood absolutely still. I'm thinking to myself, does she know I'm here? I'm too far to say "hello" and too close to continue sitting there as if no one else is there. So I get up and just walk away. But then... the strangest thing begins to happen. The woman turns around and begins following me. I thought perhaps it's just a coincidence, that as I leave she leaves too. But I look behind and she is staring right at me as she keeps walking. It was weird. Finally there was a point where we ended up walking different paths, but that took a while.
So not everyone experiences that, I get it. Where we ended in our conversation is to try and cross the street to signal to her that you (dude) are not trying to give her the creeps. Another is just walk faster to pass her. This has a tendency to backfire if you are significantly far enough behind, that speed walking may actually raise cause of alarm.
To summarize, go for walks if you get the chance to. I know it's December and it's snowing and cold and yuck, but it's actually cool and pleasant and tranquil. Enjoy the snowflakes, just dress warmly.
A conversation I had with someone included what to do when a dude happens to be walking slightly behind a woman at night, so as to not give her the creeps. I'm going to share an experience here about the opposite.
So one night I'm taking my usual route, and pause at the park where there are bleachers I sit on. Looking up imagining that the blinking airplane lights are stars, I just take in the cool weather and the silence. Silence, until I hear footsteps behind me. I turn around and see a woman coming up the same path I took (the bleachers are also next to a bunch of trees, so it is difficult to see). I realized that she didn't know I was there when she stopped all of a sudden and stood absolutely still. I'm thinking to myself, does she know I'm here? I'm too far to say "hello" and too close to continue sitting there as if no one else is there. So I get up and just walk away. But then... the strangest thing begins to happen. The woman turns around and begins following me. I thought perhaps it's just a coincidence, that as I leave she leaves too. But I look behind and she is staring right at me as she keeps walking. It was weird. Finally there was a point where we ended up walking different paths, but that took a while.
So not everyone experiences that, I get it. Where we ended in our conversation is to try and cross the street to signal to her that you (dude) are not trying to give her the creeps. Another is just walk faster to pass her. This has a tendency to backfire if you are significantly far enough behind, that speed walking may actually raise cause of alarm.
To summarize, go for walks if you get the chance to. I know it's December and it's snowing and cold and yuck, but it's actually cool and pleasant and tranquil. Enjoy the snowflakes, just dress warmly.
Monday, November 29, 2010
On Purpose
Before this summer I had only bought two dvds for myself in my life. Up in the Air is one of them. I don't know why I love this movie so much, it had quickly become a movie I recommend to people all. the. time. If you haven't seen the movie then stop reading this and just go out and rent it (or call me and I'll watch it with you!).
There's just something about this character that's so unique from every other story you've probably ever seen. He's living an empty life that everyone can see except for him. Moreover, here is a man who thinks he has life figured out; He knows and has what he wants, he's complete. We feel sad for this guy. We like this guy, we root for this guy, we want to see him happy. It's interesting to note how many times he references the moon, stars, orbiting space. In forty years our planet may be over-populated, and yet we still feel isolated.
Where do you find your sense of purpose? One of the characters says his kids are his purpose. That's admirable, but what happens when they turn eighteen and move out? Some think that it's marriage that will make you happy, when you find the right one. Tell that to Alex.
One thing I do like about this movie is that it is not by any definition a "chick-flick". Does the movie end happily? No. But we can't say the same for Ryan's story. Unlike in a movie where the couple end up together and experience euphoric bliss that may never again be attained, we know that it can only get better for Ryan now.
Someone commented that I enjoy this movie because it's all about relationships, which is interesting because that's not at all what the first half of the movie is about. It starts off about a downsizing firm and then transitions into this honest look at the mechanics of forming connections. I think sometimes the realities of life overshadow the illusions of love. What I saw was a man who for a moment let his guard down to experience not only an emotion to another person, but as a result experienced a fundamental shift in the way he lived. Can there be something this powerful? I believe there is.
What is your sense of purpose?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)