Monthly Archives: August 2021

Smooth rocks and glass

“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.”

― Lao Tzu

This seems to be a time of strong dichotomies, where people hold to their principles and biases. The response to opposing sides runs along two lines, harsh or sarcastic. I would argue that sarcasm is just another form of harsh. In both cases, there is no attempt to win over the other side, merely to call it stupid, or to make fun of it. Neither is an attempt to convince because it is believed that it is too late, that people are too set in their ways.

But compassion, though appearing to be soft, is strong. Authentically caring may seem yielding, but it is strong. “Be like water“. This is not a time to win points, to be louder, to be right in such a way that you only want to prove someone else to be wrong. It is a time to be soft, caring, and kind. To show genuine concern for others. This will not work for everyone, but it will be far more effective than being harsh or sarcastic.

The tides will ebb and flow, and the sharp edges of rocks and glass will slowly be rounded.

Afternoon naps

Just woke up from a long afternoon nap. I feel great. I know I’ll be up for hours now. I think my body would respond well to living in a country that did siestas. I love staying up late. I love waking up early. I love taking afternoon naps.

Last night I went to sleep around midnight. I was up at 5:30am to do a Zoom call with my uncle in Ontario, and then I had this wonderful afternoon nap. It was a perfect day already and I have hours of awake time still to go. When I retire, I can see this being a regular routine for me. My day will include both watching sun rises and sunsets, and snoozing after lunch. That’s a perfect schedule for me… too bad I can’t make it work before retirement. 😀

Audio Book before the movie

I started listening to Dune by Frank Herbert today. It’s a 21 hour audiobook, but I had a long drive planned and have listened to over 4 hours already. I wanted a science fiction, and heard that I new movie version is coming out. I never saw the first version.

Two thoughts:

1. I consider listening to a book equivalent to reading it. I’ve listened to so many books in the last 3 years that I would never have read, had I needed to actually read them. I look at a screen too much and my eyes fatigue really fast. I also get lost in the effort of reading and mindlessly read pages without comprehending how the words fit together. However, despite losing the plot occasionally as my mind drifts with an audiobook, I am actually able to stick with the auditory story for long periods without interruption.

2. If I see a movie of a book, I struggle to enjoy the book afterwards. However, even if a movie doesn’t stay true to a book, I can enjoy both if I read/listen to the book first. The best example of this is Lord of the Rings, where the movie visuals exceeded my imagination. For a movie that truly followed the book, check out Holes by Louis Sachar. The movie is so much like the book, I probably would enjoy these both even in the reverse order I just suggested.

I’m already looking forward to the movie as I listen to Dune. The audio version is brilliant, with a good mix of both narration and dialogue by different readers… it’s not just a reading, it’s a performance, and I hope to hear a lot more books that use this method of going to more than one reader. It’s very entertaining.

Fire and rain

Today on highway 5 my daughter and I saw a plane drop fire retardant (red coloured) water on the hill closest to the highway. There were multiple spots along the closest ridge and hill to our right where we could see smouldering trees. Then we headed into a section of highway where we couldn’t distinguish smoke from fog, and a light misty rain covered our windshield.

We are used to rain in BC, but it has been much too dry and the fires have been out of control. Seeing one of the fires so close to the highway followed by raindrops made me realize how little control we m have over nature. Many fires in BC are not contained, they are forcing evacuations, and endangering lives. It’s one thing to deal with the inconvenience of smoke from a distant fire and yet another to face the flames.

With so many fires burning in BC, it’s a joy to see some rain, and I find myself hoping for much more of it.

Your priorities are not your priority

I’m listening to ‘The One Thing‘ by Gary Keller and this concept hit me over the head.

For years, there was no plural for the word priority. This makes sense. If you have more than one priority the multiple things on your list are no longer your ONE priority.

I was talking to a colleague today, (we are holidaying at the same campground), on our morning walk we discussed how some days our jobs are such that the 3-5 things we started the day wanting to prioritize remain undone at the end of our day. Other people’s priorities (and problems) get in the way of our own daily accomplishments.

Keller states, “Purpose without priority is powerless.”

Priority, not priorities.

If I were to start my day planning and scheduling to accomplish my one priority, what would that look like? How successful would I be, compared to trying to divide my day between the many things on my ‘To Do’ list? Yes, those things still need to get done, but are all of them a, or my, priority? If I had a daily focus on my one priority for the day, would that change my sense of purpose on those days when things generally get in the way of what I intend to do?

Will the daily act of determining my one priority change my ability to plan and execute?

What’s my one priority for today?

Summer stuffed

It doesn’t matter how much I try to take care of myself, I over-eat on holidays. Just had a whole pizza for lunch (my wife and daughter shared one), and now, a few hours later, I’ve bbq’d dinner and rather than eating, I just want to nap. But I will eat, and I probably won’t listen to my body and stop when I’m full.

I’ve bbq’d my wife’s awesome honey garlic chicken recipe, and I’ve cooked soaked corn in the husk on my grill. It’s all too good not to eat. To follow this up, my daughter and I are having steak for breakfast tomorrow. It was going to be for dinner, plans changed, and it would be a waste not to eat them.

Yes, I’m on holidays, but I’ve got to get off this gluttonous path that I’m on… after breakfast tomorrow… maybe.

Fishing in a dinghy

The water on Lake Okanagan was nice and smooth this morning. So, after another early hike, I decided to hop into our tiny inflatable dinghy and do a bit of fishing. This is a somewhat comical experience. The dinghy is barely big enough for me. The small oars get in the way of casting. I’ve got a small backpack with my fishing gear, my flip flops for the rocky beach landing, and my phone in a waterproof case with a strap around my neck.

It’s not easy to cast, and trolling is tough because I can’t keep a consistent speed or direction. I did end up trolling for most of the hour I went out. I used a jig and a float so that my inconsistent paddling would help the jig move sporadically, without sinking to the weedy shore.

I didn’t catch anything. I didn’t expect to. I watched an osprey dive for a fish, it too was unsuccessful. Still, I went for a little fishing trip this morning and I might go out again tomorrow.

Upon returning I did the hike again with my wife and daughter. Then I made pancakes and bacon on our outdoor stove. I have to say that starting my day this way is really making me feel like I’m recharging my batteries this holiday break. Dinghy fishing may not be an ideal way to catch fish, but it makes for a pretty idyllic holiday.

External motivation

I usually use an app by Under Armour called Map My Ride to track hikes, walks, and rides, but a few days ago I went on a ride with my brother-in-law and forgot to start the app, and he shared the ride with me on the Strava app. Since my oldest daughter uses this as well, and goes in some awesome hikes, I thought I’d make the switch.

When I looked at the app afterwards I noticed that I had an Achievement given to me for the trip.

Looking further, I was 7th overall on this portion of the hike.

I love the competitive sharing aspect of apps like this. I’m totally motivated to improve my standing. While I’m pretty sure Kelsey is safe at the top, I’m gunning for a spot above Shane, Dave, and Lisa.

I’ll share my progress below over the next few days.

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Ok, so for the run above, I crushed this segment time! However, in full transparency, yesterday I did the whole trail in 23:23 and got 6th, then did the trail later with my wife and kid and figured out where this segment is. Then today I walked the 149 steps and steep incline before the segment and even with this fast pace, my total route was done in 26:01… in other words, I ‘saved myself’ just for this one section. Now that I’ve done this, the motivation to do better is gone. I’ll end my updates here and try to beat my full route time of 23:23 next time.

What did we forget?

My wife and I have a game we play when we go on camping trips. We always forget something and we see how quickly we can figure it out. Today it was coffee mugs. We’ll use the provided mugs in the trailer we rented. We arrived at the campground and started to unpack, and then my daughter realized she left her bathing suite. So my wife and daughter are on their way to Walmart, and I’m headed for a hike with my buddy once he finishes dinner.

It doesn’t matter how many times we travel, how many things we have packed in advance, there’s always something we leave behind… and since we make it a game, it doesn’t bother us at all.

Procrastinating workouts

It took me hours to get myself working out today. Everything was an excuse, or a delay. Now that I’ve done it, I feel great (physically).

This is why I like morning workouts before work, there is a deadline I have to meet, and so I meet it. On holidays, it suddenly becomes something to put off until later. The problem now is that I’m heading back into a smokey location, and won’t have the convenience of my home gym. I also won’t have my bike. So I’ll need to figure out a routine that doesn’t involve me breathing heavily in smokey air. I might have to resort to hikes, walks, and a regimen of sit-ups and push-ups… and schedule these so that I actually do them.

I feel so unproductive, even after getting my workout done, when I spend half the day thinking about and delaying my workout, even if I get other things done in the process. So, this is my ‘out loud’ commitment to do better. And to be specific, doing better means setting a time for my workout, then sticking to it!