Life as a learning experience

This is really funny ! The 'Winners' of the Wired News Saddest-Cubicle Contest

2007-12-22T13:00:00.000-08:00

The 'Winners' of the Saddest-Cubicle Contest

By Julie Sloane 11.02.07 12:00 AM http://www.wired.com/

The winner -- if you can call it winning -- of the Wired News saddest-cubicles contest is David Gunnells, an IT guy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His desk is penned in by heavily used filing cabinets in a windowless conference room, near a poorly ventilated bathroom and a microwave. The overhead light doesn't work -- his mother-in-law was so saddened by his cube that she gave him a lamp -- and the other side of the wall is a parking garage. Gunnells recalls a day when one co-worker reheated catfish in the microwave, while another used the bathroom and covered the smell with a stinky air freshener. Lovely.

Without further ado, check out the runners-up for most depressing work space at here: http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/multimedia/2007/11/gallery_saddest_cubic

GTD - Quick Reference Card

2007-12-21T14:23:00.000-08:00

Got a very nice pdf file - GTD - Quick Reference Card. It would look nice if printing it out with a color laserjet printer ! (You can double-click on it to make it larger.)

GTD Podcast - iPod Not Required

2007-12-21T14:00:00.001-08:00

Just found a good article re Getting things done (GTD) with links to some Podcasts:

http://www.plinthandchintz.com/mambo/content/view/338/25/

Actually you can easily download lots of interesting Podcast audio/videos even if you do not have an iPod. just go to apple.com, download and install iTune. Then you can start downloading lots of intersting audio and videos.

http://www.oculture.com is a good place to start. Enjoy!

Toastmasters Magazines and Speech Videos

2007-12-21T06:10:00.000-08:00

1. Just found that Toatmasters Magazines can be accessed at here:

http://www.toastmasters.org/ToastmastersMagazine/ToastmasterArchive.aspx

2. By search with key words like " Toastmasters Speech video" at live.com

Top videos of Toastmasters Speech video

http://search.live.com/video/results.aspx?q=Toastmaster+Speech+video&mkt=en-us&form=VDRE

3. toastmasters videos and podcasts
http://www.mefeedia.com/tags/toastmasters/

Spelling Mistakes ?

2007-12-20T23:28:00.000-08:00

Which is the correct spelling for the following words ?

1 ) acknowledgment or acknowledgement

2) judgment or judgement

3) catalog or catalogue

Got your answer ? Or confused ?

.
.

Here are some of the common American and British spellings that cause confusion and errors.

Some books I am reading these days

2007-12-19T13:16:00.000-08:00

Got some interesting books to read at here:

The Daily Drucker,

Jack Welch - Winning,

The Boston Consulting Group On Strategy,

The Top Consultant - Developing Your Skills for Greater Effectiveness.

David Allen - Getting Things Done. (Here are some of the author's podcast audios in mp3 format. http://www.davidco.com/podcast.php )

And also a very classic book: Anthony Robbins - Awaken the Giant Within, I borrowed Sam's copy and kept it with me for a long time! Thanks, Sam!

This book is really very cheap here - I got a copy at the price of Rs. 200 (= rmb 40.00).

I already got the audio version of this book - really feel very good to listen to it while reading it!

But since the book is cheaper, inevitably, it also weights much lighter than Sam's copy. But it is okay with me, since I need to carry it with me to go around the world.

When I came here, I think I simply cannot buy too many books coz I can only bring max. 10kg books back to China.

But now things are changed, I just had a colleague coming here from China - I think now I can bribe him to bring back some books for me!

Anyway, Hannibal once said ,"We will either find a way, or make one."

In India these days

2007-12-19T01:11:00.000-08:00

I am working in a project in India these days. Bought lots of English books here. It is cheaper to buy English books here than in US, EU or China. The following pic shows some of the books I bought.

Post some photos of our working place here.

Keeping a journal

2007-12-18T18:31:00.000-08:00

I am interested in reading and listening to all kinds of success books/articles. One of the great thinkers in this field is Jim Rohn. I listened to lots of his speech sessions and like them very much.

I visited his website (jimrohn.com) again today and found some very useful thoughts. His articles are all at here: http://www.jimrohn.com/articles.asp

I also received an e-letter from the site and now I am posting the most valuable part of the letter here:

Here's a little from Jim Rohn on keeping a journal the past 40+ years:

"Be a collector of good ideas, but don't trust your memory. The best collecting place for all of the ideas and information that comes your way is your journal."

"The reason why I spend so much money for my journals is to press me to find something valuable to put in them."

"There are three things to leave behind: your photographs, your library and your personal journals. These things are certainly going to be more valuable to future generations than your furniture!"

"Don't use your mind for a filing cabinet. Use your mind to work out problems and find answers; file away good ideas in your journal."

My first blog posting

2007-12-17T03:04:00.000-08:00

I just created my blog here. I am Thomas and from Shanghai, China.

The URL is: learningb4thinking.blogpost.com

What is the meaning of learningb4thinking ?

To put it simple, learningb4thinking = learning before thinking.

It is from what was said by Hsun Tzu, an ancient chinese Confucian philosopher 2k+ years ago:

" I once tried thinking for an entire day, but I found it less valuable than one moment of study. I once tried standing up on my toes to see far out in the distance, but I found that I could see much farther by climbing to a high place. "

(吾尝终日而思矣，不如须臾之所学也。吾尝跂而望矣，不如登高之博见也。 - 荀子 )

btw, if u got an audio version of one of his most famous articles 荀子劝学篇, pls share with me.

My lifelong passion is learning, leaning and thinking.

I love knowledge in all kinds of format such as books, essays, ebooks, aduibooks, blogs, lectures, speeches, etc. .... But only knowledge in 2 languages - Chinese and English, which are the only 2 languages I command.

I have a big passion in many areas of knowlege. To name some areas I have great interests:

History & Literature: Ancient Chinese Classics, Westen Classics, Ancient History, Modern History, (Auto)biography, Novels, etc.

Business: Business Strategies and Competition, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Project Management, Business Process, Biz Communication, Evangelism, Sales, Marketing, and Investment, etc.

Technology: New Technology and Trends, Computer Science and Programming, Innovation and product development, Invention and Patents, etc.