39) The Martha Rules

"The Martha Rules" by Martha Stewart somewhat echos what i gathered from 斗叔.
According to Martha, here are the 10 essentials for acheieving success in the business (market place) world:
1) Passion - doing something that you love
2) Focus - concentrate on ideas (things) that make the world better
3) Get wide range of lens - expand your vision through support & learning network
4) Me.inc concept - serve by thinking like a customer, share your knowledge to customers
5) Promote as an expert - fully know your product and tell the story well
6) Quality - create a frugal culture but never sacrifice quality
7) Build an A Team - seek talented & energetic employees and find good advisors/partners
8) Cut the inperfect pie into wedges - gather the good and abandon the bad when facing challenges. Stay in Control & never panic.
9) Take Risks, not chances - a well-calculated business risk is an investment
10) Make it beautiful - empower your customers by willing to innovate so that customer's lives are easier, more meaningful & more beautiful.

I believe it is something we should incoporate into our daily lives (even in our serving roles at church).

~cC

37) Consume less, live more

11th Hour, a new documentary movie like "An Inconvient Truth", will be out next week presented by Leonardo DiCarpio. It examines the human relationship with earth from its earliest glimmers of innovation, to the challenges humaity faces in the present, to the possibilities of the future. Here's the trailer:



Reflection: I wish there are christians (may be famous ones) who speaks up what good things christians are voting "for" (i.e. environmentalism), so we are not potrayed as always "against" things....need to keep praying.

~cC

36) 斗叔的宏觀 - paradigm shift

In today's marketplace, a lot of people are earning a passive income. These are employees or self-employed people whose wealth only make up 10% of world's wealth. Those who are poor continues to be poor and those who are wealthy becomes more wealthy. For those who are in the middle, their professional skills are in the risk of being disposed because unlike the boomer ages, their job is not life guaranteed. So how do we approach this changing world so we are not stressed out?

One of the keys is to make "Money work for you" instead of "working for money" by investing something that will grow itself in a few or 10 years. It can be physical, mental, emotional and spiritual things that you can invest. Another key is to maintain life balance by managing and making wise choices. Also, one will need to learn how to take breaks to rest (Matthew 11:28) and take small steps to transform oneself (Romans 12:1-2).

I especially like 斗叔's Federer analogy of "Move in Balance" where he points out the key of Federer's success in tennis is knowing the:
- basis of power, control, endurance, timing, recovery & good vision
- core skill to keep empowering & enjoying
- key to make the game look easy
- links between the physical, mental, emotional & spiritual

Finally, i love 斗叔 because he's like a sponge who absorbs great ideas and re-interpret the ideas into his christian faith that works for today's world (note: he deletes anything that's bad against his core christian moral values). He's never bias and willing to listen to anyone because he thinks anyone has something he can learn from. This is an attitude Ros had pointed out to me and i love to learn from.

~cC

35) 溏心金句

溏心風暴 is the best drama i have seen in ages from TVB. The casting chemistry and the plot is outstanding. The story gave me a lot of reminders i.e. how to maintain an authentic community and how to treasure your love ones. It also gave me new inspiration especially from the key verses like:

耳聽三分假，眼看未為真。

有口也是和，無口也是禾，大家要和和氣氣。

甜的吃，苦的吃，酸的也要吃！

And i love the character of 得得地 (Roy thinks it's impossible to find such person in HK). All I know is his willing to sacrifice and bringing joy to people is what we Christians should live out day to day. How i wish there are more chapters to see coz it's so entertaining! And I've spread this addictiveness to Roy who didn't want to watch but changed his mind after seeing a glimpse of the last chapter.

~cC
P.S. 金句 originated from TVB

34) Electronics Recycling

Starting in August 2007, an electronic recycling program will be available to all BC residents for free. You can check out the collected site at Encorp.

33) Little Ant & Dec

Came across this funny Britian show where 2 kids interviewing celebrities. What i like about it is how they make jokes as light & easy (back to basics) and it's not really teasing people in a bad way like Jan lamb. Here's one clip with Victoria Beckham.

32) Painter

In Velvet Elvis, Rob Bell describes christian followers as painters who need to keep painting & reforming the way Christian faith is defined, lived and explained. The following will explain more about this analogy.

Here's what often happens: Somebody comes along who has a fresh perspective on the Christian faith. People are inspired. A movement starts. Faith that was stale and dying is now alive. But then the pioneer of the movement (the painter) dies and the followers stop exploring. Eventually, the painting is no longer relevant. It doesn't fit. It's outdated. It doesn't have anything to say to the world they live in every day.

So, the challenge of the art is to take what was great about the previous paintings and incoporate that into new paintings. And in the process, make something beautiful - for today

~cC

31) Daily Preparedness Kit

Are you well prepared for for Lord's 2nd coming? Here's what Ann Spangler shared we can do from her book Praying the Names of Jesus. I thought the 2nd one should be reworded so it doesn't sound too funny...hmm...

1. Repent daily (Matthew 3:2).
2. Get caught serving (Matthew 25:14-30).
3. Be quick to forgive (Matthew 18:23-32).
4. Never let the sun go down on your anger (Ephesians 4:25-27).
5. Pray always (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
6. Give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
7. Be generous to the poor (Luke 12:33-34).
8. Remeber, no matter what, that God is faithful (1 Corinthians 10:12-13).
9. Link your life with other believers (1 Corinthians 12:12-27).

~cC

30) Proper education

Saw this from Green TV music video channel...a message of your involvement to help diminish global warming and I love the remix of Pink Floyd's classic "Another Brick in the Wall".

29) Leadership III

There are those that know not and know not they know not;
they are fools - shun them.

There are those that know not and know they know not;
they are simple - teach them.

There are those who know and know not they know;
they are asleep - awaken them.

There are those that know and know that they know;
they are wise - follow them.

~ Salomon Ibn Gabirol

"Leadership is essentially about constantly embracing #2 so we can consistently move toward #4." ~ Dr. Ron Martoia

28) Journey

it's a long long journey
till i find my way home to you (Jesus)
many days i've spent
drifting on through empty shores
wondering what's my purpose
wondering how to make me strong
i know i will falter i know i will cry
i know you'll be standing by my side

Tis a lovely song i heard from my favourite DJ Vani sing by 張韶涵 (a Taiwanese pop singer). It is written by Corrinne May (a singsong writer in Singapore) .

Although Jesus name was not mentioned literally but the end it talks about how Jesus had paid the price for us on Calvary. I really love this song and i cry almost every time i hear the lyrics because it really express how i feel ...a long spiritual journey.



~cC
P.S. The melody resembles Angels by Sarah McLachlan, doesn't it?

27) Exposure

Exposure is what R & I lack of and something we coined a lot these days. Exposure to different environment, people, culture, experience..etc.

And this is one of my focus as i leave GIS and begin my new journey in life

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. ~ Matthew 5:14-16

~cC

26) Conflicts

Not sure why school never teachs conflict resolution. I think this is an important life skills. If handling well, it encourages more communication & understanding and the breakthrough will allow improvements. Why avoiding or fear of conflicts?

~cC

25) LOL

I used to laugh so easily (those were the days when i laughed so hard that i need to bend and roll on the floor)...but don't know why i cannot do that anymore.

Here's a silly funny clip that nearly crack me up....hopefully it's not too disturbing hehe!



~cC

24) St. Patrick's Breastplate

I've been learning prayers authored by various people the past month including: The Lord's prayer, Prayer of Jabez and St. Patrick's Breastplate.

St. Patrick's Breastplate is a famous 4th-century prayer written in Latin by St. Patrick who was inspired by Ephesians 6:11 where Paul mentions putting on the "whole armor of God" to stay strong against devil. Here's one translated simplified version:

Christ be beside me, Christ be before me,
Christ be behind me, King of my heart;
Christ be within me, Christ be below me,
Christ be above me, never to part.

Christ on my right hand, Christ on my left hand,
Christ all around me, shield in the strife;
Christ in my sleeping, Christ in my sitting,
Christ in my rising, light of my life.

Christ be beside me, Christ be before me,
Christ be behind me, King of my heart;
Christ be within me, Christ be below me,
Christ be above me, never to part.

I like this prayer because I can replace "me" with "church" or anyone who need God's protection.

~cC

23) Eco-coffins

HK officials are trying to promote the use of eco-coffins made of corrugated carboard since HK is running out of burial space. The eco-coffins save time and energy, as well as reducing toxic gas emissions during the cremation process....

I really want to hear how the HK officials will sell this item since HK people don't have any eco-sense plus most are quite traditional who want to live & die in luxury (華麗) (they'll prefer classic wood). If they have to sell this, they probably need to give people the option of selecting their own designs...just like cellphone's faceplate ....

See Original Article Link

22) 耳王十四一心

I've recently learnt a new game from 森美小儀 and it's called 耳王十四一心 (= 聽) and it's just a game trying to mimic different activities using your voice (For example, beep beep beep DUDE....breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe....YEAH!). Today i found a game champion which is a Lyrebird capable of mimicking human-related sounds (i.e. carmera shutting lens...see below) just amazing!



~cC
P.S. the answer for my example is swimming hurdle.

21) Dream Job

Here's a clip showing Google's work environment and it has won this year's best companies to work for. It has free amenties, food & clinic, integrating many day to day necessities to work. You can dress really casual (i.e. slippers) & bring your pets. It seems to be a work utopia, really enhancing productivity & team spirit...but do one really want to live at work?



Hmm...i know some church do have some facilities like Google but wouldn't it be nice to have all

~cC

20) 超低能 , 勁搞笑

Cantonese is really funny with many local slanks but sometimes I find it irritating when someone says slanks like "痴線", "白痴", "痴痴地", "低B" in every situation...and most of the time in a negatively way (my sister is one of those and she says it in many situation including fighting with me, people driving stupidly in front, people in her ways)...to me, it's kind of sad coz the more we use these slangs the more i realize we're loosing vocabulary and fewer 文才 people. However, if we can use these slangs in a positively way, it might help us see things differently

here's a funny clip from Jan Lamb's comedy show....i know there's copyright issue but i cannot help linking this coz really really funny....however, he's joking again by making fun of people (is this the only way to make people laugh?!?)

19) Amazing Grace

I always love old hymns with new arrangement. Here's a piece done by Chris Tomlin & Louie Giglio (writer of I am not but I know I AM) and Chris just added a new chorus (just 3 simple chords G A Em?have to verify this). It is a song for the new film Amazing Grace and it's titled "Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)". I really love it because the original hymn is one of my favourite hymns plus it's the most easiest song to learn as a guitar beginner (just 3 chords D G A & Roy can play really well!).

here's a live version showing the lyrics:



Here's another MTV version and surprisingly Chris Tomlin looks a bit like Beckham haha:



Here's a show where Chris Tomlin teaches how to play the chords for the chorus:


~cC