Saturdays

I was clearing my mailbox when a friend sent me this. It made me realise that there's so much more to be done and so little time.

A Thousand Marbles
===================
The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings.
Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise,
or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either
way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.
few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the kitchen with a steaming cup
of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as
typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life
could only give you every once and a while.
I turned the volume up on my radio in order to listen to a Saturday
morning talk show. I heard an older sounding chap with a golden voice.
You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting
business himself.
He was talking about "a thousand marbles" to someone named "Tom."
I was intrigued and sat down to listen to what he had to say.
"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure
they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and
your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work
sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet.
Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital."
He continued, "Let me tell you something Tom, something that has helped
me keep a good perspective on my own priorities."
And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles."
"You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average
person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some
live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years."
"Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the
number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire
lifetime.
Now stick with me Tom, I'm getting to the important part."
"It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in
any detail", he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over
twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be
seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy."
"So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I
ended up having to visit three toy stores to round-up 1000 marbles.
I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container
right here in my workshop next to the radio. Every Saturday since then,
I have taken one marble out and thrown it away."
"I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the
really important things in life.
There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to
help get your priorities straight."
"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take
my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last
marble out of the container.
I figure if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a
little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more
time."
"It was nice to talk to you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your
loved ones, and I hope to meet you again someday.
Have a good morning!"
You could have heard a pin drop when he finished.
Even the show's moderator didn't have anything to say for a few moments.
I guess he gave us all a lot to think about.
I had planned to do some work that morning, then go to the gym.
Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss.
"C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast." "What brought
this on?" she asked with a smile. "Oh, nothing special, it's just been
a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can
we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles."
Author Unknown
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND AND MAY ALL YOUR SATURDAYS BE SPECIAL

Time to go get some marbles.

 
My First PDA !

I just inherited a Jornada 545 from my cousin :) Nifty little machine. 133Mhz proc 16 Mb Ram 16 bit color screen. The only thing i am missing is an ac adapter. So i had to pop down to SL and get me a cradle cum ac adapter that costs me 25 bucks. Bought a Ridata 128Mb CompactFlash RAM for 125 as well and not forgetting those screen protecters for another 36 bucks. That's a grand total of 186 bucks. Spent half the day entering my contacts.

Managed to clock 21km on my bike today. Gave my UO account away to a friend. Hopefully by doing so i can concentrate on things more important. Kinda sad having to give my account away since i have it for almost 4 years.

 
2002

I never made resolutions before since i know that i am not able to keep them as they can be quite unrealistic. But this year i am determined to set realistic resolutions and stick to them.My new year resolution for 2002 :

1. Smile more
2. Manage my time
3. Think before i act
4. Plan before taking any action

I returned from Japan not too long ago. Spent 10 days in the land of the rising sun. Not much sun as it was winter. Ever since coming back home, i have started to miss Japan. The people and it's culture are so different from our own and i feel we can take a few or maybe a lotta lessons in manners from them. I can cite many examples of courtesy and people going their way outta help a gaigin even when they don't speak much english. On the first day i was there, i had a hard time looking for my hotel in Shinjuku. Carrying a pack around town walking for an hour is not my ideal start of a holiday. I walked into this Virgin Records shop and tried my luck. Despite the language barrier, the guy in the shop figured i was looking for my hotel and started explaining that i was on the wrong side of town and had to walk back to where i started out and when he saw my duh look, he proceeded to draw a map for me using his huge map. Normally back home, my request for directions would have been brushed away by a curt i dunno and the guy will give you the look if you try to ask any further.Even buying things was a experience. Over here, the cashier expects you to fish out the cash in an instant and hardly a word of thanks is heard. But in Japan, the cashiers are so courteous, waiting patiently for me to fish out that 2 yen deep down in my pocket and handing over my purchase with 2 HANDS by a bow and word of thanks. These examples of coutesy are not only exhited by the large malls but also those small family run shops.

The only grouse i have against Japan is the standard of living. Everything is so damm expensive there. A normal lunch can cost me 7 bucks. Being a backpacker i had to eat Onigiri everyday throughout the trip and even those cost around $1.50 each. All in all i enjoyed my Japan trip and hope to return to Japan in summer soon.

Anyway Happy New Year and may you have a fruitful year to come.

Peace