My mind is one big mess today. It has been an extremely busy two days with nothing but issues and so my brain is just screaming for a break. So it has gone on strike and there will be no insightful post tonight. Sorry folks – must obey the brain.
January 31, 2006
January 30, 2006
Yo Murphy – Take your laws and git!
Why is it that I can successfully move hundreds of low profile code changes into production without one little glitch but when I try to move code that lots of people are tracking everything goes wrong? I spent my day today chasing issue after issue with one of my projects. It needs to be ready for the users by Friday and I just want to get the damn thing completed so I can move on to the long list of other things I have to work on. Arugh!!!
[tags]Murphy’s Law [/tags]
January 29, 2006
Who do you compare yourself to?
In his book “The Paradox of Choice“, Bary Schwartz talks about what motivates our choices. He talks about how some people feel better about themselves and their choices by comparing themselves to those who are worse off and how some people find it motivating to compare themselves to people who are better off. So I have been thinking about which side I am on. Does knowing I have better things than some people make me content or am I motivated to acquire better things because some people have more than I do? I actually don’t think I fit into either category. I make my choices based more on comparisons I make with myself. When I was younger I didn’t think I would ever get to where I am today and so the simple fact that I have choices is satisfying to me. Whether other people have more or less isn’t really part of the equation. Like everyone, there are times when I am envious of something someone else has, but I certainly don’t link my personal satisfaction on it. There is nothing wrong with a little healthy envy but how happy you feel about your own choices should never be controlled by what others have or don’t have.
January 28, 2006
January 26, 2006
Only 4 hours sleep – YAWN!!
By the time Linda and I got to my house last night, got our first round of chatting out of the way and climbed into bed it was 2AM. By the time we fell asleep it was 2:30AM. At 6:30AM the phone woke us up. It was Linda’s husband calling to tell her that he was flying first class from London to Toronto – grrrrrrr! At 7:30AM my RIM started ringing. At 8AM the alarm went off. Both Linda and I decided that there was no way we were getting up so I reset it for 9. At 8:30AM my RIM started ringing again. At 9AM the alarm went off again and this time we had to get up. Needless to say – neither of us was particularly rested. It was a pretty good day though. I worked from home in the morning, had lunch with my Dad, went to the office and got some things done and then headed to Ajax for a family dinner. It was a long day but quite pleasant. Now I am off to bed to get some much needed rest.
January 25, 2006
Welcome home Linda!!
Linda is coming for a visit. I am so excited!! She was in Miami at a conference at the beginning of the week and she is stopping off in Toronto for a few days on her way back to London. She arrives at 11:30PM tonight. I have decided that I am going to surprise her at the airport. I figure if I meet her there, we can start our visit in the cab on the way back from the airport. Otherwise we may not be able to stop talking until the wee wee hours of the morning. And now I have to get ready to leave so that I get there in time. I don’t want to miss her and end up having to race her back to my house. I can’t wait to see her!
January 24, 2006
The anniversary of a new beginning
Sixteen years ago today I got a new family and started a new life. Sixteen years ago today I became a foster child. For many years this day brought with it a host of emotions but in the past few years the anniversary has passed without me even thinking about it. I am not sure what made me think about it today actually. I was checking the date and I realized it was the 24th. I spent a lot of my walk home today thinking about where I was 16 years ago and there is a part of me that can’t believe how far I have come. No matter what my challenges are today they are nothing in comparison to what I have already dealt with and I should really learn to keep my daily trials in perspective.
January 23, 2006
Is too much choice really a bad thing?
I just finished reading The Paradox of Choice. It was actually a pretty interesting book – although the author could definitely have presented his point in fewer pages. Bary Schwartz claims that the more choices we have the less happy we are with any choice we make. He believes that we feel a degree of loss and regret over the options we don’t choose and because we have so many choices there is more regret and therefore less happiness. Schwartz does recognize that having no choice is not good either but he thinks there is a point where the number of choices goes from healthy to unhealthy. Although I do agree with his thoughts about there being such a thing as too much choice, I am not willing to accept the notion that I will never be happy with the choices I make. I think the trick is to accept that although there are things out there that may appear to be better than what you have, you chose what was best for you. And as long as your decisions are educated ones, I see no reason why happiness would be impossible to achieve.
January 22, 2006
Notice: Brain on vacation
I have successfully kept my brain relatively turned off this weekend and I am not quite ready to turn it back on again. Unfortunately that means that I am currently without the ability to craft a suitable blog post for today. And at the moment my mental rest is more important than my blog content so I’ll have to make it up to y’all this week.
