Finally Some Warm Weather

This week has to be the nicest week in terms of weather we've had since the ugliness I term winter. The skies have been beautiful and the sun's warmth is always welcomed in this corner. This week has been kind of a whirlwind for me. I had a great long weekend. However, I think I tried to do too much, as I was exhausted all day at work on Tuesday. I did slug it out though and hit the sack a bit early that night as a reward. Work has been insane. For those of you who don't know, I work for a market research and consulting company in the pharmaceutical industry. It seems that the pharma industry is meant to be for my sister and I. I've just started out my career there and my sister has been in the industry for I think about eight years now. Anyways, my company can be extremely fast paced most of the time. Okay, well all of the time and this week was no different. In a way it's awesome because quite frankly the time flies. I've been with my company for just over a year now and it really just seems like I started there a month ago. But I'm learning lots and developing myself each and every day, and that's all I want right now in my life.

As hinted at, I'm in that learning and discovery phase of my life in terms of my career and personal development. I try to do different things to keep my life interesting outside of work. For example, I found myself kind of wanting to do more after a year out of university. Now I didn't want to go back to school, but I just needed some 'extra-curricular' activities going on. I'm the type of person who likes multiple tasks on my plate. I may complain about this sometimes, but I still love it and wouldn't want to have my life any other way! So then I thought about community involvement. And then I thought about getting involved with my undergrad school, the University of Toronto. That was the one thing I always wanted to eventually do, so what better time to start right? Just after the new year I got involved with the alumni department at UTM (Mississauga campus), and in particular the Management Alumni Society. Basically this society just got off the ground last year and I'm trying to help build it and hopefully take it to the next level. So I volunteered to be the Interim President because the former President, one of my friends from undergrad, has just too much going on with law school right now. So my mandate for the remainder of this academic year was to help coordinate a year-end event for existing management alumni, which is in the works! I'm contemplating continuing in this position for the next year or so. I'd really like to be a part of building this network for the benefit of existing and prospective alumni year after year. I think there's no better feeling then that of accomplishment.

But there's other volunteer stuff I'd like to do to. Maybe coach a kid's soccer team this summer. I'm definitely considering hanging out on the streets downtown Toronto on Christmas Eve and giving out food to the homeless. I read about an individual in the Toronto Star last Christmas who did this and it really inspired me to join in their efforts. I figure what's a couple hundred bucks to me around that time. I can take that money and buy a bunch of pizza for people who need it and hopefully put a smile on their face for an evening. I'm surrounded by endless amounts of food and drinks every Christmas, and I never really sit there and think how lucky I am to have that. Not that I don't appreciate it or take it for granted, but it's kind of unconscious behaviour I think. We always take without processing circumstances. That's just how we're hard-wired in my opinion. I think, and you can put in your two sense if you wish, that all human beings are naturally self-interested individuals. We kind of have to be to ensure our own well-being. I don't think that this is universal across all individuals and cultures, but I think in general it's a close description of the average person and what motivates them. But I totally think it's possible and compatible to be self-interested and selfless at the same time. I think there's plenty of room for both of these sentiments in our lives. It's all up to what you do with your time and the type of life you want to lead.

Wow, I started off talking about the weather and ended up talking about feeding the homeless. You gotta love blogging! This is what it's all about. Alright, time to get some shut eye. I have to give a presentation to a client tomorrow so I need to be all perky and fun in the morning. I'll probably continue reading the book beside my bed until I fall asleep. FYI- I'm reading Leaving Microsoft to Change the World by John Wood. It's basically about how John's life took a transformation after trekking in the Himalayas. He discovered how much thirst the Nepali children had for books and how underprivileged they were. John wants to change all this and help out any way he can to educate the children of our world. I like reading books like that because they're inspirational and they provide a blueprint of what is possible.