13/02: Karma in action
I love "My Name is Earl" the current sitcom on Channel 4. It's a simple concept - feelgood show that ends up well, good guys win and bad things happens to the bad guys - normally in the shape of his greedy cheating money-grubbing ex-wife Joy who wants to lay her grubby hands on his lottery winnings.
Anyway - a couple of things happened to me which strengthened my belief in the law of cause and effect - what you sow, you reap.
The parking ticket.
When I have to go into town (by town I mean central London), I normally drive to Stanmore station at the end of the Jubilee line to hop on a tube. It's only 10 minutes away, and I can choose to take the bus there but I've come to the conclusion that bus drivers are the spawn of devil (those along my route anyway). They do not follow any set timetable, they drive off when they see you coming, they drive in a manner that makes you want to empty your insides and are just Not Nice. Not all, mind you - but most.
Anyway back to the story. The car park at Stanmore station is a pay and display, and you pay a flat fee of £3 to park until midnight - regardless of what time you get there. When it's time for me to go, I normally pass my ticket onto the next person who had just come in to save them the money. I also normally pass my travelcard when I am done to someone else (although I am sure I'm not supposed to do that, as it encourages ticket touts).
Having done that quite a few times, I had given up the hope that it would come back to me... until a few weeks back when I was going into town in the evening to see Stephen (who if you remember, was visiting UK). You cannot imagine my delight when this nice young man came up to me and asked if I wanted his ticket as he was just leaving the car park.
That kept me in high spirits for quite awhile.
The XDA.
My brother has been asking me to get him an XDA si (new or second hand) from over here since it's a lot cheaper than back home in Malaysia, so I've been checking out eBay for some deals. I heard from Wassim that his boss was intending to sell his, so I asked him if I could buy it off him.
It was yes, no problem - but I didn't hear very much after that as he was extremely busy. Finally I gave up on the idea, and resumed my search on eBay.
Last Thursday, when I got back from Rotherham, Waz surprised me an XDA Exec - he said that John (his boss) managed to somehow get his old one upgraded to the latest model so I could have it. I was quite blown away, as I had not expected it (having given up hope that he would get around to it) and called him straight away to thank him. To my surprise, he did not want any payment at all because he said I was good karma.
What happened was that I got Waz the job at QMediaStream - John's company - where he proved to be a highly competent and professional choice. John said that he would never have found a person like that on his own, and would have cost him a bomb in recruitment fees if he had gone down that route.
I was quite speechless at this, as I have never seen generosity of this scale towards me from someone I only know in passing. As he refused any payment, I will be donating to his charity of choice - which I believe is the only way to keep the karma flowing around. My good fortune must be given onto someone else - so they can pay it forward too.
It was really a nice thing to happen, and I think that maybe we forget about karma in our daily life until something unexpected happens. I believe that I am an incredibly fortunate individual - having a wonderful family and life partner, but sometimes little niggles in life make me forget the big picture.
Life is what you make it, and I will remember to focus on the good stuff that is around me. But what a great reminder of the power of karma.
The XDA Exec - what he's getting instead.
Posted at 19:42 PM
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Anyway - a couple of things happened to me which strengthened my belief in the law of cause and effect - what you sow, you reap.
The parking ticket.
When I have to go into town (by town I mean central London), I normally drive to Stanmore station at the end of the Jubilee line to hop on a tube. It's only 10 minutes away, and I can choose to take the bus there but I've come to the conclusion that bus drivers are the spawn of devil (those along my route anyway). They do not follow any set timetable, they drive off when they see you coming, they drive in a manner that makes you want to empty your insides and are just Not Nice. Not all, mind you - but most.
Anyway back to the story. The car park at Stanmore station is a pay and display, and you pay a flat fee of £3 to park until midnight - regardless of what time you get there. When it's time for me to go, I normally pass my ticket onto the next person who had just come in to save them the money. I also normally pass my travelcard when I am done to someone else (although I am sure I'm not supposed to do that, as it encourages ticket touts).
Having done that quite a few times, I had given up the hope that it would come back to me... until a few weeks back when I was going into town in the evening to see Stephen (who if you remember, was visiting UK). You cannot imagine my delight when this nice young man came up to me and asked if I wanted his ticket as he was just leaving the car park.
That kept me in high spirits for quite awhile.
The XDA.
My brother has been asking me to get him an XDA si (new or second hand) from over here since it's a lot cheaper than back home in Malaysia, so I've been checking out eBay for some deals. I heard from Wassim that his boss was intending to sell his, so I asked him if I could buy it off him.It was yes, no problem - but I didn't hear very much after that as he was extremely busy. Finally I gave up on the idea, and resumed my search on eBay.
Last Thursday, when I got back from Rotherham, Waz surprised me an XDA Exec - he said that John (his boss) managed to somehow get his old one upgraded to the latest model so I could have it. I was quite blown away, as I had not expected it (having given up hope that he would get around to it) and called him straight away to thank him. To my surprise, he did not want any payment at all because he said I was good karma.
What happened was that I got Waz the job at QMediaStream - John's company - where he proved to be a highly competent and professional choice. John said that he would never have found a person like that on his own, and would have cost him a bomb in recruitment fees if he had gone down that route.
I was quite speechless at this, as I have never seen generosity of this scale towards me from someone I only know in passing. As he refused any payment, I will be donating to his charity of choice - which I believe is the only way to keep the karma flowing around. My good fortune must be given onto someone else - so they can pay it forward too.
It was really a nice thing to happen, and I think that maybe we forget about karma in our daily life until something unexpected happens. I believe that I am an incredibly fortunate individual - having a wonderful family and life partner, but sometimes little niggles in life make me forget the big picture.
Life is what you make it, and I will remember to focus on the good stuff that is around me. But what a great reminder of the power of karma.
The XDA Exec - what he's getting instead.
Posted at 19:42 PM
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My time woudl have been... umm... almost exactly the same as my run last year! 
. 1:17 with a 3 min detour for the loo about 10 seconds into the race.I had gone for a pee before the start and although I waited in the huuuuge queue at the portaloo, I got enticed away by promise of a public loo that has no queue way over the other side of trafalgar sq. So I went, and got lost, and got redirected by many well-meaning stewards and policemen.
Anyway ended up peeing in Charring Cross Station, but got lost on the way back - and asked... wait for it... Peter Mandelson the direction to Pall Mall! (That's where the Alzheimer's team were congregating for photo op). Can you
imagine it?? I couldn't remember his name but I knew he was a politician. Should have asked him some hard hitting questions about his gayness or something like that.ANYhoo. It was a most excellent race, I really enjoyed myself because the weather was beautiful - cloudy (i.e. not so hot) with a cool breeze. The atmosphere was amazing and crowd was just so encouraging. So many people were running for various charities, leukemia, dyspraxia, retts disease, multiple sclerosis, cancer, etc. It's just such an amazing feeling that the people there were either:
1. Running for their own fun
2. Running to raise awareness for a good cause
In any case, it was an exceptional day. I also ran with Mr Giraffe and Mr Moose which was quite funny. I saw Big Bird queueing for the portaloo but was wondering how the person would get out of their undiewear to pee!
We went to watch Kung Fu Hustle - which was a good rousing comedy. Ok am soo tired I am going to crash now.
Posted at 23:31 PM
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Whoever said raising money for charity is a doddle should ... have their nose hairs plucked and chilli stuffed up the nostrils.
It isn't easy. My second bout of charity run has not had the response I was hoping for, but that's probably because it's too close to my last run. Dad said people are probably tired of giving money to charity so often, and he's probably right. But it isn't doing much for my target dammit!
ANYway, have decided to put my services for the lucky winner (top 10 donors to the 10k run) - and resent an email to all my contacts -
1. Build blogsite for free
2. Help set up a very simple company website
3. Give you free consultation on how to use your computer better
4. Help you to find out the best use of technology in your business - how to set up invoicing system, do mail merge for marketing, etc.
5. Give free diagnoses of your IT set-up, and an overhaul (within reason and time limit) - cleaning it out, speeding it up, organizing your backups, files downloads and generally doing some damn good house keeping.
6. Wash your car(s)
7. Do your weeding/gardening
8. Do a house spring clean - sweep, mop, tidy, and clean
9. Cook an amazing curry dinner for 2 (or you can pick from my limited repertoire)
10. Do your windows (I hate doing windows - so this will be a big sacrifice on my part!)
11. ... And anything else within reason, budget, time frame and sanity.
I wonder how many takers I will get?
Posted at 18:16 PM
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It isn't easy. My second bout of charity run has not had the response I was hoping for, but that's probably because it's too close to my last run. Dad said people are probably tired of giving money to charity so often, and he's probably right. But it isn't doing much for my target dammit!
ANYway, have decided to put my services for the lucky winner (top 10 donors to the 10k run) - and resent an email to all my contacts -
1. Build blogsite for free
2. Help set up a very simple company website
3. Give you free consultation on how to use your computer better
4. Help you to find out the best use of technology in your business - how to set up invoicing system, do mail merge for marketing, etc.
5. Give free diagnoses of your IT set-up, and an overhaul (within reason and time limit) - cleaning it out, speeding it up, organizing your backups, files downloads and generally doing some damn good house keeping.6. Wash your car(s)
7. Do your weeding/gardening
8. Do a house spring clean - sweep, mop, tidy, and clean
9. Cook an amazing curry dinner for 2 (or you can pick from my limited repertoire)
10. Do your windows (I hate doing windows - so this will be a big sacrifice on my part!)
11. ... And anything else within reason, budget, time frame and sanity.
I wonder how many takers I will get?
Posted at 18:16 PM
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01/06: Passed!
Funds raised so far: £251. 31 more days to Run Day.
Today was a good day, didn't get around to blogging though. 4 hour exam - scored 728 (passing mark = 700). Phew. I was sooo relieved. I think I will give myself a week or so before doing the last one (to upgrade to MCSE 2000).
Then I had an interview in the afternoon - Pre-sales for a CRM/Billing company, a very young upstart, extremely ambitious and have already secured three high profile contracts, beating incumbents hands down. I was very impressed, but I don't think that energy/telephony thing lights my fire.
Am still waiting to hear from the CRM software company - cross my fingers that will come through ok. We didn't do much yesterday (which was Jeff's real bday) but had a good relaxing day driving around and window shopping. Oh yes, went to Tesco's in Watford to do a bit o shopping.
Jeff: mmm mmm do you smell that? *Krispy Kreme smell wafts about his nostrils*
Me: Didn't you jus tell me you were feeling fat and you haven't done any exercise in months other than moving your mouse about?
Jeff: It's my bday - why don't we get some and never have them forever more?
Me: Hmf. I doubt that will come to pass.
Jeff: (at the counter) So how much is half a dozen?
Guy behind counter: £5.50 for normal ones, £6.40 for assorted, but if you pay £7.95 you get a dozen (or something to that effect, the sugar has gone to my brain).
Me: umm we'll have six..
Jeff: hang on hang on.. what a waste of money, we'll have 12.
Me: What?? Mr Fatty??? Are you sure you want 12??
Apparently he did. We got 12, and I promptly turned around and handed them out to people standing behind us, with Jeff protesting loudly and attempting to get it back from me. Suffice to say I gave a total of 5 away, which meant that he didn't have that many to scoff.
Food Diary: Leftover takeaway and Too many doughnuts.
Posted at 23:14 PM
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We had a wonderful barbeque with our closest friends around us. What an absolutely fantastic evening - I just cannot begin to describe it. There's nothing out there that compares with the feeling of knowing that we have this close knit group who stayed together despite all of us taking different paths (we were all colleagues at the same company).
I've known all of them quite well, most having lodged with us at one time or another (one returning whilst he swaps full time work to part time as he completes his university degree). OK it's late now so I'm heading to bed.
Oooo an email telling me that Amanda Goldston has just donated £100 to my run. That just melted my heart - what an amazingly generous gesture. I exchanged messages with her on Ecademy to give her suggestions on how to writer her profile so that her bubbly personality came out more and met her once at the AWP Midlands Launch in Birmingham last month. I learnt a lot about her passions and her direction in life, and gave Amanda some good ideas for her business.
And she has returned the gesture a thousandfold. I really don't know what to say except the gratitude in my heart is so deep that it cannot be expressed. Thank you Amanda. From the bottom of my heart.
Health Diary: Breakfast/Lunch - instant noodles (ok it's rest day), Lunch/Tea - avocado on Sunny toast and for dinner - 1 sausage on a bun with lots of salad and 2 charred drumsticks (courtesy of Chef Jeff)
Posted at 23:58 PM
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I've known all of them quite well, most having lodged with us at one time or another (one returning whilst he swaps full time work to part time as he completes his university degree). OK it's late now so I'm heading to bed.
Oooo an email telling me that Amanda Goldston has just donated £100 to my run. That just melted my heart - what an amazingly generous gesture. I exchanged messages with her on Ecademy to give her suggestions on how to writer her profile so that her bubbly personality came out more and met her once at the AWP Midlands Launch in Birmingham last month. I learnt a lot about her passions and her direction in life, and gave Amanda some good ideas for her business.
And she has returned the gesture a thousandfold. I really don't know what to say except the gratitude in my heart is so deep that it cannot be expressed. Thank you Amanda. From the bottom of my heart.
Health Diary: Breakfast/Lunch - instant noodles (ok it's rest day), Lunch/Tea - avocado on Sunny toast and for dinner - 1 sausage on a bun with lots of salad and 2 charred drumsticks (courtesy of Chef Jeff)
Posted at 23:58 PM
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