2012 is a coming!

The new year is just around the corner and I’m really not too sure where the old one disappeared to! I just checked the date of my last post and it was the middle of October . . . hum, not too sure how that happened. I don’t even have a good excuse or a good story to tell.

Image from CommentsYard.com

At this time of year, most people are re-capping the past year, however I’m not going to do that. If you really want to see what happened, go click on the previous post button or use my archives. There are a fair number of posts there! Everyone is also preparing their resolutions for 2012. I guess I can get in on that one. Mind, they aren’t going to be anything exciting this year.

1) Run 10 km (at a time, not over all total for the year)

2) Read at least one book a month

Yep, not very exciting. Hopefully they are both doable. I’ll try to remember to check in every now and then, but I’m not making any promises, you’ve seen how well I do with remembering to blog.

Welcome to 2012 and I hope everyone has a very prosperous year.

Motivation in the Workforce

Yesterday one of my friends posted this video on her Facebook.  I really didn’t know what it was about, but she seemed to think it was something worthwhile.  Being as she is one of those friends whose judment I trust, I watched it.  Wow, I am so glad she shared it.  This video, and the corresponding talk, was fascinating. 

I personally feel that all CEO’s should watch this, and actually listen to what it is telling us.  I can only imagine how much more inspired most people would be if they worked in places that put these proven ideas into practice.  I’m not going to lie, if I had the opportunity to work for such a company, I’d jump on it.  Don’t get me wrong, the one I work for is great in so many regards, but everyone and everything can always improve!

I hope you find this as interesting as I did.  Oh yeah, and if you’re a CEO, an owner, a manager, heck anyone who manages staff pay attention to this one, and if you can put it into action where you work, I highly recommend it!

Five Minute Friday: Ordinary

It’s not Friday, nor is it my usual Sunday, but today seems like a good day for a Five Minute Friday post.  I know I missed the last couple of weeks, it seems like sometimes life just gets away from me.  That said, I’m back (in a sing-song sort of voice!).

Thanks again to Lisa-Jo, AKA The Gypsy Mama, for coming up with this great idea.  Now if only I can remember to do it each and every week, and maybe on a Friday one time too!  Just a reminder, this is how the whole Five Minute Friday thing works:

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Go all out encouraging the writer who linked up before you.

This week, we’re writing on Ordinary.  Okay, ready, set…GO!

Ordinary, wow, where to even begin.  My life is ordinary, and yet, I guess in its own way it is not.  My friends are ordinary, but again, not.  My cats are…okay, one is most certainly not.  My world, without a doubt.  I don’t think I do much that is not ordinary, and I kind of like it that way.  See, this way, when I do that one things that is extraordinary, it’s going to blow everyone away.  Sure, some people think that being a Guide leader is anything but ordinary, but really hundreds, nay, thousands of women are Guide Leaders, and that’s just in Canada. 

I babysit, maybe some people think that is.  Nope, just kind of pathetic that at 29 I’m still babysitting part-time. 

You know what.  I like that my life is ordinary.  It means that I’m living a real life, with real people.  There are real thoughts, real hopes and real dreams.  I have real shortcoming, and real faults.  Being Ordinary really isn’t all that ordinary.  I think in its own way it is a very special way of living.  You’re saying, I am happy and willing to be just me.  Not who someone else wants me to be, but who I am at this very moment. 

Being ordinary, and living an ordinary life is what makes me the person that i am.  You know what, I kind of like who I am.  What about you, are you ordinary and happy, or are you someone “special” and hidden from yourself?

Scotland Part 9 – Stirling

** For Glasgow posts please check parts 1, parts 2, parts 3 and parts 4 of my trip!**

**For Edinburgh posts please check part 5,  part 6, and part 7 of my trip**

**For the Highlands please check part 8 of my trip**

Welcome to the final day of my Scottish adventure, the town and castle of Stirling.  Also the home to the Wallace Monument, however I only got to see that from afar.  This was on of those times where I realized that November was not the best time to go, after all the sun sets WAY too early.  If I’d gone in June I could have walked over to the monument and still have had daylight.  Oh well, it’s just one more reason for me to go back.

The town of Stirling is about half way between Glasgow and Edinburgh, therefore a quick train ride away.  As I’d already taken a chance to figure out the trains in Glasgow when heading to Edinburgh, it was a no-brainer to stick with them.  Besides, trains are far more comfortable than buses and if travelling on the off hours, really not much more expensive.  Thirty minutes after hopping on my East bound train I arrived in Stirling and set off.  I wandered all through Old Stirling on my way up to the castle, even stumbling upon a great comic shop which had Doctor Who stuff, including action figures of the tenth doctor, my personal favorite 🙂

Right Stirling.  As I was saying Old Stirling was great, lots to look at, many old buildings, an incredible hostel (don’t I wish I’d stayed there!), several things to read on my hike up the hill, and the piece de resistance, Stirling Castle.  It’s been mentioned before that I have a thing for old abandoned buildings, well, I also have a thing for old building in general.  Castles being one of the best!  There are so many things to look at, so many stories to imagine and hear, so many images that pop into your head as you explore.  Yep, I love castles.  Stirling was no exception to the rule, I wandered around for about and hour, and then joined a tour.  There were so many little nuggets of info that I won’t bore you with, because they just aren’t the same if you’re not there! 

From Stirling Castle I was able to look out over the Scottish Country side and see the Wallace Monument.  With the fall colors and the setting sun it made for a resplendent image.  Boy am I glad I got to at least see it.  Hopefully next time I can actually visit it. 

As the sun set, I slowly made my way back down through Old Stirling to the more modern looking parts.  Here I wandered into a Marks & Spencer where I picked up a Canadian Maple smoothie (I thought that was kind of cool) and some sort of salad for supper.  Just outside of M&S I ran into a guy canvassing for some charity and we struck up a conversation.  He was very interested to here what I thought of his country and wanted to now about Canada as he was planning a trip over to BC in the next year.  I told him I didn’t know much about BC, but I could tell him about Ontario and the East Coast.  After about 20 minutes I headed off and he got back to work canvassing.  Meeting random strangers and bonding over something is one of the best parts of travelling 🙂

Well, we have made it through all the highlights of my whirlwind tour of Scotland.  I am still planning on more post, just to highlight some of my favorite pictures that didn’t make it into all fo these posts.  There won’t be much writing, but I have heard that a picture is worth a thousand words!

Life after death?

I’ll be the first to admit that I have no intentions of departing this work anytime soon.  That said, I’m a realist and understand that while I hope it doesn’t happen anytime soon, it still could.  I don’t tend to think about my mortality much, heck I don’t even really think of the mortality of those near and dear to me.  However, every now and then there is something relating to death that you just can’t ignore.

This time is was simply an article that one of my Facebook friends posted.  It wasn’t morbid, it wasn’t foreboding, really it’s wasn’t anything even remotely negative.  In reality it was something the exact opposite.  It was something hopeful, something full of life and re-birth.  It was an urn unlike any urn I’d ever heard of before.  It was a Poetree.

An urn that turns into a tree with a simple memorial plaque.  I love it.

As I said, I don’t plan on leaving this world anytime soon, but if I must (lets hope not!), I totally want this to be my final resting place.