Alexander’s the Greats last words: “Bury my body, do not build any monument, keep my hands outside so that the world knows the person who won the world had nothing in his hands when dying“.

There is very instructive incident involving the life of Alexander, the great Greek king. Alexander, after conquering many kingdoms, was returning home. On the way, he fell ill and it took him to his death bed. With death staring him in his face, Alexander realized how his conquests, his great army, his sharp sword and all his wealth were of no consequence.

He now longed to reach home to see his mother’s face and bid her his last adieu. But, he had to accept the fact that his sinking health would not permit him to reach his distant homeland. So, the mighty conqueror lay prostrate and pale, helplessly waiting to breathe his last. He called his generals and said, “I will depart from this world soon, I have three wishes, please carry them out without fail.” With tears flowing down their cheeks, the generals agreed to abide by their king’s last wishes.

“My first desire is that,” said Alexander, “My physicians alone must carry my coffin.” After a pause, he continued, “Secondly, I desire that when my coffin is being carried to the grave, the path leading to the graveyard be strewn with gold, silver and precious stones which I have collected in my treasury.

“The king felt exhausted after saying this. He took a minute’s rest and continued. “My third and last wish is that both my hands be kept dangling out of my coffin.”The people who had gathered there wondered at the king’s strange wishes. But no one dare bring the question to their lips.

Alexander’s favorite general kissed his hand and pressed them to his heart. “O king, we assure you that your wishes will all be fulfilled. But tell us why do you make such strange wishes?”

At this Alexander took a deep breath and said: “I would like the world to know of the three lessons I have just learnt. I want my physicians to carry my coffin because people should realize that no doctor can really cure any body. They are powerless and cannot save a person from the clutches of death. So let not people take life for granted.

The second wish of strewing gold, silver and other riches on the way to the graveyard is to tell People that not even a fraction of gold will come with me. I spent all my life earning riches but cannot take anything with me. Let people realize that it is a sheer waste of time to chase wealth.

And about my third wish of having my hands dangling out of the coffin, I wish people to know that I came empty handed into this world and empty handed I go out of this world.”

Alexander’s last words: “Bury my body, do not build any monument, keep my hands outside so that the world knows the person who won the world had nothing in his hands when dying“.

http://www.speakbindas.com/an-inspirational-story-of-alexander-the-great-as-his-last-words/
The see the article click above

This has been on top of attending the Wimbledon final on Sunday afternoon, which was just awesome. I saw Nadal give the boots to Berdych. What tradition, history and excitement. One of the top sporting events I have ever been to for sure.

One more day and night here, sample Berlin flair and off to Copenhagen for a couple days before my friend’s wedding in the country side. Will be an excellent end to the trip.

Will write again this week if I find the time. Cross your fingers for Germany to win (Unless you are Spanish!).

Happy Wednesday.

Two Salesforce colleagues after a productive day of customer meetings in Portland, ME head to J’s Lobster Shak, order almost everything on the menu, including three pounds of lobster (freshest I have had in years!). Currently overdosed on Lobster and Seafood in general. Muscles three days in a row in MA and ME. Looking forward to a big steak dinner in NYC this weekend to balance it all out. Good thing I have hit the gym or running trails 6 days in a row.

I went for a great run this morning after hitting the Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees game last night. That Fenway is a special little place, great vibe and character…and ball park franks, New England Clam Chowder, Pizza, Peanuts and popcorn. God! I feel lethargic just thinking about it. The thing is the morning of these two big days of feasting I have gone on 50 minute runs in the foresight and hope I could work off enough calories and drive the metabolism high enough to burn through the festivities. Unfortunately, on both cases I found the belly was pushing the boundaries of my jeans! So I walked home from the game last night (30 min) and made sure dinner tonight was early. In addition, I have been using one of my friend Yuri’s recommendations, and that is at the start of any meal (especially any fatty one) to eat veggies first, to get the coal fire burning in your stomach working a little faster.

I am about 10 minutes away from hitting the hay, and am feeling marginally ok. Every time, I eat a big meal late, I have a terrible sleep and find that something or someone is always chasing me (usually very fast ninjas) in my dreams and I wake up exhausted. Perhaps that is my subconscious trying to burn the big meal off on my behalf. I really wish they would stop though, I will just get up early in the morning and go for a run.

To conclude, what am I inferring. I am not sure, it could be the seafood party in my stomach talking here, but a few tricks that seem to work for me balancing diet, good eats, motivation and fun while I am on the road are:

When you have the chance to eat well, take it as you will have a feast in the near future that will take on many calories.
When you have a chance to exercise, even if you had planned a day off, do it anyways, because surely tomorrow and/or the next day you will not find time.
Eat the healthiest stuff on your plate first to fuel
Get your exercise in the morning to keep your metabolism high all day, great way to start the day with an innovative and energetic spirit
When you are starting to feel full, but not quite full yet, that is the time to stop eating, because food expands in your stomach. I always find this one hard. Your diagestive system takes 80% of your bodies energy to digest food (a big meal) if you eat lots and late and you WILL be chased by Ninjas in your dream.

That’s it…off to NYC tomorrow for a customer event and more food no doubt.

I was flying into NYC on a random Sunday evening on my way to Boston for work the next day. It was a warm and sunny day in Toronto, but when I got to NYC it was just one of those days, a perfect calm, subtle breeze with the city energy and skyline in the background. I have spent a far amount of time in the city in the last few years for work, but since I now spend more time in Boston, I appreciate the time more when I am there.

I had worked out the last few days and really thought this was going to be my day off. But with the sunlight now extending well past the dinner hour and me arriving prior, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go for a little tour of the city one of the best ways I know how…by foot (the other being rollerblades). As I unpacked and pulled out the running shoes, I thought of something to make the trip even better, I was going on a trek to make a purchase…if the store was still open. Sometimes I run a loop, x amount of time one way and same time back. It’s always enjoyable on the back stretch, knowing how much time/ground, you have to cover. In this case, I was going to a destination and would take a taxi back!

For the journey, I brought along an audio book with a little known author named Robin Sharma…and his new book, Leading without Title. I am half way done now and I recommend. Similar to his first book, the monk who sold his Ferrari, played out in a story. So I set out on my journey, I was actually now sure how long it would take to get to the upper east and fifth ave on foot, but it was a beautiful evening and I figured an hour give or take and a cab could take me the rest if I got tired. Keep in mind, in the summer I will run longer than that but didn’t to extend to much in the first few runs of the season and get shin splints.

Anyways, I arrived at my destination ahead of schedule, 5th ave, just down from the Trump tower. The store was open…I knew it was open, or I may have chosen a different route. In fact, it’s always open, which I think is cool.

I walked down the silver spiral staircase to the underground bunker of madness. I am sweaty, I am in full running gear, I am out of water, no one is sporting sporty wear, but I am just one of the masses and they did not care about what anyone else was doing, except getting in the way of their purchase. There were people everywhere, just like I had heard, the place was a buzz….it was a special weekend. I must say I am not usually one of the first to be on these days, sometimes a little after, but I am glad I was there for this one. It was a special unveiling, long awaited, long anticipated and people would not be held back. A couple friends of mine had already made it and were dually impressed with their purchase and fueling my fire to get one.

Ed greeted me with a warm smile and said he could help me pick the one I wanted. He was very professional and new all the right questions to ask. I had a “Modern family” moment at first swipe of the credit card when it came back declined, twice, and then minutes later a representative from my banks fraud department called me to ask whether I was trying to make a large purchase in NYC. I was, problem solved. When I lated called to ask them a few questions about what had triggered the alert since I travel to the north east often, they would let me know a $6,500 attempt on my card in a show store in the US three days ago had not. Apparently it was declined because the fraudulent online buyer did not know my three digit number on the back…so thats what those things are for. I digress. Cancelled the card post purchase. In short, after that small set back, within minutes I had a hot little unit in my hands, it was silver, it was colorful, people got up at 5am to get in line to get one and in the only store I know of open 24/7, 365 days a year, in the bunker under the glass cube off central park, I now owned the much anticipated…dun da duh….IPAD!

I gotta tell you, this thing is slick, its bad ass, it looks like it’s from the future. It was an adventure, I had a great time and took a cab home, feeling like I was 6 years old and my dad just bought me the new yellow bike I wanted when I was a kid. As with that one, my dad put on training wheels and I am going to need them for this. I have never owned an apple “device” larger than an iPod…and this thing has all the bells and whistles! This thing has a tonne of horse power, but as one of my local NYC friends can attest to, I don’t know how to use it yet! Or maybe it’s because they won’t release a lot of features until its launched in my country. So to end where I began, I will learn how to use this thing, I will get around Apple treating Canada like an ugly step child, not part of this continent and show you all how this mildly dangerous techno phobe, can harness the power of the IPAD!

-Steve Jobs quotes (American Entrepreneur Apple co-Founder, b.1955)

I just got back from a weekend trip to a sunny and warm destination. Had some fun and relaxation at the same time. Even when you can get away for just three days, it takes you out of the daily grind and lets your mind release.

A lot was packed into the weekend, even though the travel logistics were at a busy time of season (American Spring Break). I had a big layover in the burgeoning metropolis of Columbus, OH on the way back. It gave me some time to reflect and also talk to some locals at the airport lounge. Surprisingly the food at Wolfgang Pucks Express lounge was pretty good.

The conversations (travelers and staff) reminded me that there are millions of unique lives out there, all with interesting stories. Everyone is working to make ends meet or to provide for family and a little fun. Their job does not identify who people are, but is the chosen route to provide money to live a life or attain their dreams.

I met a few people this weekend making money in professions they truly love, and for where work does not always feel like work. The closer you can get to working in a profession that aligns with your passions and abilities, the further you get away from daily work.

For the rest of us, we’ll continue to make the money that allows us to play in as many adventures as possible.

So as mentioned I am heading on holidays for a few days to a sunny location. Will be golfing, sitting by the pool beer/cocktail in hand. I talked to a friend of mine who lives in the area and had not connected with him in awhile. The perspective he gave me was quite interesting and really made me wonder if I was living in the right city. Grass is always greener of course, but how long to you live in one city before you have it figured out and need to stretch your abilities and see what else this wonderful world has to offer. I am getting to that point, just like I was seven years ago when I left the igloo that is Edmonton and came East to the big smoke. It’s been an amazing seven years and would not trade it for anything.

I feel lucky to have friends living all over the world, learning through them about what the world has to offer. This is purely an exercise in connecting and the list would not have been this long five years ago, and maybe it’s the age we are at but here goes. I currently know friends living outside of Canada in:

New York City
Boston
Washington
Phoenix
San Francisco
Chicago
Louisville
New Hampshire
Miami
Georgia
New Mexico
Las Vegas

London
Melbourne
Sidney
Vietnam
Somewhere between Thailand and Singapore
Stockholm
Shanghai
Ireland
Helsinki
Norway
Tanzania
Denmark

Whats the point? Many of you will have as many or more, but could you not create a base for yourself in one of these cities of countries just by knowing one trustworthy person, and through them meeting many others and on your own creating a foundation….or just branching out and visiting some of these old or new friends to expand your horizon.

In closing, back to where we started. I feel like everyday and with every person I meet, I add a new color of crayon to my 64 pack…which I did have with the the sharpener when I was 10. Man I loved that thing. Probably only colored with 6 or 7 of those damn things and ran out of sky blue, silver, copper and gold pretty darn quick. Wasn’t using my full repetoire, but who does at that age….probably didn’t even color outside the lines…as I do now.

I have always been been a shade of blue, sometimes changes, but today (and it took me a few minutes of looking around my condo to come up with this so you best like it) Olympic Ocean Blue.

So what color are you? What colors/people/countries have you yet to discover and when are you getting started.

I am writing this from Wellington NZ and wanted to share the attached Blog entry for your site with some great photo’s. (Photos will be posted in the next week). Needless to say I am having a great adventure down here, I got to captain/grind an America’s Cup Yacht, white water rafted down a 7M waterfall, jumped out of an airplane from 15000 feet and completed the Tongariro mountain crossing which is the inspiration for the blog entry. Crossing to the south Island in a couple of days and should be heading back to Oz for a few weeks April 1 before heading back to Asia. Talk soon.

“There is no free lunch” V.S. “The best things in life are free”
by Mike Kamburis

This is an interesting paradox between both the first rule of Economics and this well used phrase. If there is nothing for free then how can one realize the best of what life has to offer?

The answer was revealed to me just the other day. Money had nothing to do with it (albeit an important tool) and that it’s satisfaction of a hard work, effort and accomplishment. This came into full realization as I was about halfway through New Zealand’s Tongariro crossing (20Km) having climbed about 6500 feet and staring at the summit of Mt Ngauruhoe (aka Mt Doom for those Lord of the Rings fans). It didn’t matter what I did last week, last year or what my plans where for tomorrow. This feeling was pure satisfaction. It didn’t cost a penny but I had to earn it.

This holds true for just about anything in life whether it’s a career goal, running a marathon, building a house, having great relationships (family, friends) or raising children. I propose a single expression to replace the paradox above:

“The best things in life are free, you just need to earn them”

I am sure everyone has had similar experiences; please share them with your comments….

http://www.4deserts.com/blogs/comptetior_blog_new.php?authorid=NzI4&blog=16

The Long Brutal Rewarding 73.4km Day
13-Mar-2010 08:52:20 AM [(GMT+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi]

Atacama Crossing (Chile) 2010
I just finished reading some emails and looked at my cyber neighbour Erica Terreblanche, a South African second in the women’s category. We both had the experience simultaneously of getting an intravenous dose of energy, love, and support. Never dismiss giving your support to a friend; you have no idea the impact it has. Thanks for taking some of your time to write a note.

At the end of 73.4km we ran into camp after I don’t know how many hours. Attrition was taking its toll; we lost half, 4 in our tent alone; only Rod from CA stumbled in 4 hours later. Lorrie Brophy, the amazing 78 year old was pulled out by the medical team, so was Charlotte Valentine. Clancy Johanssen, another tent mate, had been waiting and she doted on us as we arrived, nursing us, helping on each of our damaged toes, like a mother with her children. Both my hands seized up. I was looking at them like they didn’t belong to me and Clancy massaged my arms to bring life back to them. All week I had been working actively to focus on others (the girls had showed me how by their actions) to cultivate a different experience here. When Charlotte arrived I didn’t have anything in me to offer her. I looked at her from my corner of the tent, my eye got watery she was in so much pain, and I turned my head away to block the image. I did nothing. We all have our limits and I had reached mine.

The day started early at 730am to allow us to put as much mileage in as possible before the high sun. The first stage was in pure white salt hard flats, we were hopping from salt island to the next in a very irregular pace. The white, the puddles made me think it might look like Antarctica in the spring. It was spectacular; never seen anything like it. Ernie Votis took on the pacing while I got distracted and taking memorable pictures with a reborn camera; soaked the day before but willing to work on the long day. Our category has turned out to that of the Invalids. We had discussed playing D and protecting our lead; that outcome felt hollow. We chose to suffer, leave it out on the course and suffer, with pride to make the whole journey memorable. It worked.

The interesting about leadership is that you need followers to lead. We intermittently changed the pacer and everyone got a chance to pull from the front. Louie Santaguida found another gear and Ernie and I were grinning flocked behind him as he ran 2 meters in front of us for 90 minutes. Deep down, all of us needed to lead and it happened seamlessly.

After 30km or so we started climbing steadily and on the horizon, a massive sand dune was coming into view. I started wondering if we were going to have to climb. Asa we got closer, ant hills were on it and I started preparing mentally for the climb, knowing I would have to pull Louie up who had spent himself. We got to the bottom. Ernie looked back and needed the reward to run it up as he has endless gas in the tank. He went up; running the whole thing and in may ways having a personally defining moment. Louie and I zigzagged up, each turn I would stop and give him the water bottle. We would then lock hands, and I would help get him to the next turn. We got to the top and realized there was another one. Ernie and I changed roles and I ran up the last mound with my own “Rocky” moment at the top hyperventilating. It’s all I needed to replenish prior to a re-focus on the team. The terrain at the top of the hill was extraordinary, hard crusts of mud and clay, dramatic rock formations; again running on another planet. a km later was the reverse of the climb a 500ft drop, with a Check Point 3 at the bottom – the 42km mark. I got selfish and asked Ernie to go down and filmed me running all out at 60 degrees. Louie was in very bad shape by then, not holding his food, in acute pain.

We carried on for another 15km and found ways to amuse ourselves to pass the time. We decided to each do a lifeline telling each other our life story. After an hour of a detailed account of my life high and low points to my mates, Ernie put his iPod on. I felt cheated; I was only in 2001 at the time. I took the cue and changed the subject. Spent hearing me; they never did their lifelines.

About two hours later, as we carried on, we came upon needing to bring share how we felt about our respective experience on the race. We had a no holds barred conversation and stuff was said that can only happen when you no longer have inhibitions. It all came out. We realized we had somehow come together, but that our emotional suffering during the race was due to the fact we had unaligned expectations; one was here to win, one to finish, one out of guilt. It took us 5 days to reconcile our differences, make true peace with it. When you invest 6 months of time preparing and realize not all team members put the same priority on the event, it makes for a messy run in the Desert. That’s why many teams here imploded as is usually the case. Kudos to guys; we kept it together while working through our issues. Cleansing done, I was able to truly enjoy the last two hours of the race like they were the most glorious. We got to the last Check Point, breeze above 50km/hour tent blown off. Louie got the right foods and meds in him and found another gear to see us home. Sun was setting, we put our lights on and we canyoned down for 6km, in a sandy bottom. Stars came out, glow sticks led us in and every turned in the endless bottom was beautiful. I wished my family was here with me to walk it down.

We were fed out on a road leading to the camp. Mehmet Danis, who won the race here last year, had mentioned he had never seen such shiny stars low on the horizon; so much so it was hard to get your balance as the sky appears to go all the way down to your feet. We ran in the balance of the never ending stage and crossed together knowing we were the better team (this week), despite being handicapped to fourth based on the experience of the others.

The race turned out to be emotionally as opposed to physically draining for Ernie and I. For Louie, he suffered immensely physically and gifted us his best. He put his mid term health at risk – he will require surgery when he returns.

I leave the cyber tent now and will go put my dusty, disgusting running clothes on. I won “the worst toe in the tent” and I am not sure how my feet will get in the shoes. The camp looks like an infirmary. People hobbling, crying hugging… We have 10km to go as a community for a ceremonial finish. Real food is waiting for us. We could crawl and still win. We worked hard to put ourselves in this position; but I get a sense Ernie will want to run hard for honor’s sake. Run, walk, crawl, it will turn out to be a life defining week where the adversity quotient grew; thanks to sun, sand, wind, and friendship.

Epilogue to follow some time in the future.

Stefan

I am raising much needed funds for Nabs, which helps individuals in distress. Consider a pledge at www.running4nabs.com

You either already know what you want and don’t know how to get it. Or you don’t yet know what you want. Either way, the advice was make it up and make it happen!

Some may say the advice is a little cavalier, but when you look at life from a high level, there are those who make things happen and those that let them happen. So beyond the “make it up and make it happen” of course there are a lot of items that need to be considered. But at its basic level, if you don’t know what you want or what you like, no one else is going to be able to figure that out for you.

Advice that was shared with me awhile back, was to take inventory of the things that I have done, accomplished and truly enjoyed and note what it was that I really enjoyed or inspired me within those settings. What was a magic moment, so magical to you? How did it make you feel, what did it make you think, how did it make you act? Journaling some of these thoughts on a continual basis, right after the event occurs is a great way. You will start to notice some patterns coming around.

Make it happen. So how do you do that? The easiest way that has been shared with me is to go to other people who have done it? Want to run your own business, write a book, teach scuba lessons? You probably thought of that because you have seen others doing it. They were probably just like you not too long ago, and more than happy to share people that want to fall in their footsteps. One way for sure to not make it happen is…to do nothing. So do something, research, talk to people, share you interests and find other people in the world doing very cool things and living their life in the epicenter of happiness.

Have a great week.

So I am sitting in the Vancouver airport waiting to take the Red Eye home. Ugghhh. While I am waiting I have been talking with fellow Canadians on their experience at the Olympics and how significant it was for them. In addition, watching the 27 re runs of our Golden Olympic performance and golden goal is keeping me in a haze (from lack of sleep) and in good spirits.

The end of any Olympics for me is always a coming down party as I really enjoy watching them. Summer or Winter, always amazing. But this one has special meaning being in our country and being able to attend the celebration and sharing it with friends.

To cure the hangover, I have been journaling some of my brightest moments of the Olympics or if you will….my top ten. I only have time to share one before boarding my flight, but I will give you the best.

Number one for me an an instant Magical moment of my life is:

Watching Canada win the gold medal in men’s Olympic Ice Hockey, in Whistler Square with a 1,000 of my fellow countrymen and women, who I had never met, and yet were brothers and sisters in a common celebration. The game was followed by a live performance of Blue Rodeo (rocking Canadian Jerseys and swag) belting out their and other Canadian classics. The question will be asked, where were you when Sidney Crosby scored the golden goal?!?!

It was a 6 hour world class event, a 14 hour party and a coming down hangover of amazing memories for some time to come.

What were your favorite Olympic moments? There are so many to choose from, or maybe some very special or personal to you. What from these CANADIAN Olympic games have inspired you?