Focus on things that matter in life; aka golf balls!

I enjoyed reading this one, which I am about to share with you here. Enjoy!

When things in your life seem, almost too much to handle,
When 24 Hours in a day is not enough,
Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class
and had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly,
He picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
And proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students, if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured
them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open Areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively
filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor, as the laughter subsided,
'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.
The golf balls are the important things - family,
children, health, Friends, and Favorite passions –
Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, Your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car.

The sand is everything else --The small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first,' He continued,
there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that are important to you.

So...

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play With your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

'Take care of the golf balls first --
The things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled
'I'm glad you asked'.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,
There’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.'

♥

See you in 2 years friend

I was saddened last night knowing that my it was roommate's final day in Ottawa before he departs back home to Korea. He's been great company for the last few months while he was here; learned a lot from him and share many great moments together. We became more than only rommates, but friends.

Good friend; keep in touch and we'll see you back on Canadian soil in 2 years! Good luck and enjoy your time in Korean spending it with friends and family.

One Book Down, 11 More To Go, Samoyed... A Companion I Want!

This was a blog post that I was going to write on my jacksonlo.com blog, but I may still do so when I have a bit more free time. One of my goals of 2012 is the read 1 book per month until December. I'm 1/12th or 8.33333% of the way there... yay!

I finished Social Media Metrics by Jim Sterne. Jim is a speaker, author, and guru with it comes to analytics and social media. I was a very light read, in that it was consumed very easily and quickly. I know many of you reading here are probably into analytics or social media, but I know all of you have an analytical mind and are social, so that still counts :) If you have an interest in online measurement, this is a great book to start out in. The book is specifically on social media metrics; tracking and measuring social behaviour online. The book goes into depth with real-life examples that back up on the mere conceptual talk that may have come across from Googling "social media measurement".

I wrote a blog post on the CardinalPath.com blog talking about 5 KPI's that businesses should embrace in their online measurement when it comes to social media. It's a good and light read that I recommend checking out - if you are into it of course :)

Now moving down a tangent, today I came across a Samoyed on kijiji from an ad that my friend shared on Facebook. This dog is super cute, and somewhat resembles one that I want, a Chow Chow. They are also referred to as Bjelkier, Samoiedskaya Sobaka, and Nenetskaya Laika. Samoyed are from Northwest Russia and Western Siberia, and they are sometimes nickanemd Smiley or Sammy... I like Smiley more :)

While admiring the dog's photo on Kijiji, I did my own search and found this one. I pinned it to my Pinterest account and immediately got 2 repins and 1 like :) Such a cute dog, I think I want this one!

Source: google.ca via Jackson on Pinterest

And a video...

Try Out a Professional Massage - DONE!

Here's a quick one...

About 3 weeks ago, my microwave oven broke. Since then, I haven't microwaved anything in my unit. I found other methods of heating my food; cooking it in a frying pan and baking it in the oven (Kristy also suggested I could have steamed my food, and even using the rice cooker as an option while the rice cooks :) ).

So three weeks later, I made my way over to Future Shop and bought a microwave oven. 'There goes $200'. Someone is to come and install it tomorrow.

I went with a Samsung because I know they are a good brand, despite the fact that the one that broke is a Samsung as well (manufactured in 2005 - hopefully this new one lasts longer than 6 years). After I brought it home, I went to the gym to finish up my 3 day workout routine. I started with flat bench at 135x10, 155x10, 185x6... and that is where it hit me! This is probably the first major injury I've ever gotten (although it probably sounds minor to most athletes, but it's probably one of the most painful ones to live with). But that was 6 reps 185lbs on my own! Woo!

It felt like a pulled a muscle in my neck/should area, more so on the right side. My friend there told me to stretch it out as much as possible. So I did and I continued to do so throughout the rest of the day. By night time, the pain spread through my neck/left and right side of my shoulder, and also down my back.

In the morning, I was not able to get up. I was not able to toss and turn without enduring the pain, and the pain escalated like nothing I've felt before. I sent a note the night of to my boss to let him know that I may not be coming in tomorrow due to my injury. He said it was fine and that I should rest.

When I got up from my bed, I noticed my neck was really really stiff. I could barely turn my neck.

My boss had suggested that I go see a massage therapist, so I did. I did some searching around and found the Ottawa Professional Therapy Center. Getting a professional massage was actually one of my bucket list items :) who would have thought I would be able to complete a bucket list item on a sick day, ha! I took the one hour session for $85 (flat). It was very relaxing, but the purpose was really to heal my neck/shoulder and back area, and that's what the RMT did. She did a superb job. Now I will have something to 'benchmark' against whenever I decide to go again.

I must have dozed off two times during that session. I was on my chest for half of it, and my back the other half. She applied oil on my skin to help with the massage. There was very mellow music playing in the background and the lights were dim. The times where she applied pressure on the joints that I had been experiencing pain, it actually gave me the best feeling in the world. I guess that's how it is... but in a professional massage setting. If the pressure goes into your pain areas, it's a good thing. If it hurts, you know its working.

By the end, I got a bag of Epsom salt (also called Magnesium Sulphate). They are very small crystal like pebbles that you pour into your bath tub and helps with healing aches and pains. She recommended that I use this 2-3 days after the therapy, and to have a lot of water on hand to prevent dehydration. I'll have to remember that!

Hopefully by the end of this week the pain will have come and gone! Looking forward to getting back on the hills this weekend (20 cm of snow coming tomorrow!!).

Vancouver, Chronic Sinusitis, Cleaner Air!

Vacation booked! I will be travelling to Vancouver from April 6-18, spending a full week and 2 days with Kristy, then sticking around for another 2.5 days to work out of the Vancouver CP Office, yay! I hope to complete a number of my bucket list items for 2012 during this trip, hope all goes as planned.

My ticket came out to less than $500, roundtrip, after taxes and fees. WHAT!? Yeah, you read correctly. Somehow Kristy has a 6th sense to detect these deals that no others would know about unless talking to her. Hmmm... some sort of super power, what are you hiding from me!?

Here's proof:

One thing you don't know about me is that, for the longest time, probably about a year now... I've been reliant on my mouth to do most of the breathing (not my nose). Over the past couple of days, I realized that things have gotten worst and that it may be best to consult with a doctor to see what was up. I'm also experiencing a bit of hearing problems as well...

So yesterday I went to the doctors, dropped in at the Appletree across from my work. I have a friend who manages that location and she got me to skip the line and right into the room. Thank you friend, you know who you are! :) But the blunt truth was not so exciting to hear. I was diagnosed with Chronic Sinusitis, which is essentially an inflammation in the nasal area.

Reading up on it, it appears to be a common condition people experience (thank god!). About 24 million people in the US go through this. The cause is mainly due to dust, pollen and those sorts of things.

It all came together when the doctor told me this, as I was seeing symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, and reduced hearing abilities. Now lets hope when this goes away, that my 2 most important senses will lighten up and allow me to taste and hear better!

I also read up tonight that blowing your nose very hard is not good for your eardrums... DUH! So stop doing it Jackson! 'Ok'.

The doctor prescribed this dildo looking puffer. The puffer is actually covered with a case right now.

Today I popped over to Home Depot to look for an air purifier. I believe one of the reasons why I've developed this sinus condition is due to the 'dirty air' that's circulating my room (beware... BEWARE!!!). I hope this solves the problem.

I decided to go to Home Depot to buy it because no where was there a sale on air purifiers. Hm, that's not the only reason, they also had this awesome guide that taught me concisely how to buy the right air purifier for myself. I would advise reading it before going to buy. The product I bought was the Honeywell Tower Purifier with Permanent Filter. And here it is :)

Thanks for reading, until next time...

Project 365

I decided that I would start my photo project again... this time Project 365 via the iPhone! Last year I decided to take on a similar project with my SLR, but I found that task to be extremely difficult given that my device is extremely massive and heavy to carry around.

When I saw Kristy share her first photo of 2012 in the Photo365 app on the iPhone, I immediately jumped on it. I am sharing my photos on Facebook here. So follow along if you wish :) It's not to late to log your photos since January 1st... If you are serious and want to start a 365 project for yourself, go to the iTunes store and look for the Photo365 app <<-- click on this link to go there. Happy snapping and stitching! :)

Today I snapped one of the swag that my awesome company gave us; Cardinal Path laptop bag and the Visual Miscellaneum, an awesome infographic/data visualization book.