doin' the grind

Recently, officials in the North Shore have been warning people to be prepared when doin' the Grouse Grind, and encouraging people to not take small kids. Well this morning, on my (somewhat) regular Saturday morning Grouse Grind i watched the people a little more closely. First of all, it was pretty crowded..much like a slow moving line at an amusement park during some sections. Occasionally, I'd be trudging my way up with my head down for a few seconds, then look up to find my nose about 6 inches away from someone elses butt (i hope people don't eat beans before heading up!!). I passed several old folk doin the grind wearing nothing more than jeans, a t-shirt and loafers. They didn't look prepared, and they weren't carrying any water. One particular lady who was dressed as if she just came from the mall, was literally using the ropes on some steep section to pull her way up the trail. I also saw one lady, pulling her son by the hand....the boy looked no older than 5 years old! Interestingly enough, the people who looked the least prepared to go up were Asian...i don't know what that means....but that's what i noticed.

Anyways...despite the crowd, i managed to finish the grind in 52min 14sec. Oh, and the nice thing about doing the grind, is that you can enjoy most of the mountain-top activities for free (well, i did pay $5 for the download, but compare that to $27 for general admission at the base)!! So i took advantage, and took the Screaming Eagle gondola chair for a nice view of the city. If i had stuck around a little longer, i could have seen the Lumberjack Show and Grizzly exhibit for the Nth time. Oh well...maybe next Saturday.

Words to live by..

Got this from last week's church bulletin...

Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.
Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.
Eat a live toad in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day.
If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
If you lend someone $20, and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
Never buy a car you can't push.
Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you don't have a leg to stand on.
Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
The early worm gets eaten by the bird, so sleep late.
When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
Birthdays are good for you; the more you have, the longer you live.
You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
Don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened.
We could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors but they all have to learn to live in the same box.
A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.
Happiness comes through doors you didn't even know you left open.
Have an awesome day, and know that someone has thought about you today....

unorganized chaos

And so i've embarked on yet another attempt to bring some sense of organization to my life. I need a better system, a system to keep track of things to do at and outside of work, and ideas that just pop in my head. There has yet a day to pass where where I don't come up with something that i'd like to do, and I tell myself I need to write it down somewhere, but i don't. It's like saying i need to remind myself to remind myself, but i don't be cause i didn't have a way to remind myself in the first place. Argh. I wouldn't say that my life is so chaotic that i don't get anything done, i just know i could do more and maybe even save myself some money if i had a system. (heck, i was 1 week late in paying my property taxes!! i couldnt believe it!) So with that, i'm gonna take a look at David Allen's system. I've heard some good things about it, so its worth a try i suppose. Now let me make myself a reminder for that.... ;-)

I'm baaack....

rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. ;-) I just got back from a road trip through the Rockies and Calgary. Now its back to the daily grind.