The Important Things In Life

Recently I have been worrying a lot about signing up for classes and making sure I can graduate from college in four years and I've found that I spend so much time worrying that other things get pushed aside and I become even more stressed out about falling being on my homework and other things. I read this story (posted below) and it made me feel better and I realized I need to stop worrying so much and everything will work out in the end.

A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items on the table in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, about 2 inches in diameter.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “Yes.”

“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things – your family, your partner, your health, your children – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter – like your job, your house, your car.

The sand is everything else. The small stuff.”

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued “there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.

Take care of the rocks first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

Podcasts

My EDT400 class is technology in education and we have learned a couple different tools that would be useful in a classroom. We have learned about wikis, podcasts, google documents, and google groups among a few other things. Over spring break my younger brother was working on homework and I decided to bug him and find out what he was doing. For his skills class everyone had to make a podcast about shark attacks and how to survive them. I thought it was pretty cool that he learned how to make a podcast and that everyone shared their podcasts in the class. His was pretty cool because he added music from the movie inception (dream is collapsing) to the background of it so there was a grand finale at the end that fit perfect with his podcast.

Piracy

Currently I'm taking HTY 103 which is United States history 1 and I had been debating wether to go to class friday morning before vacation. On one hand I really wanted to leave campus and get home before the storm hit Orono or got further north and I could of left around 9am if I didn't attend class, but on the other hand I would of had no idea what he had talked about in class and wouldn't have gotten any notes for that class, which is not good. So I decided I couldn't miss that class and we ended up talking about piracy and the war of 1812. Then the other day I stumble upon an interesting article about piracy today and what is going on in todays politics and the start of the article talked about some of the stuff we covered in class. Its funny because I never thought some of my classes would really make a difference in my day to day life but it was nice getting to read the article and be like "yea I knew that"

Anyways if you would like to read the article its here at the New York Times online titled Somali Piracy is larger issue after Hostage Deaths (published Feb 26).

Snow Storm

Can I just say this is the most snow I've seen in a really long time? We have had so much snow this winter its unbelievable! The storm on Friday was ridiculous, 6-10 inches on snow and sleet on the day that we are supposed to leave for vacation?!?! Okay so the dorm stay open until saturday at 9am instead of 5pm friday but the dining halls all closed early and it was like a blizzard out and we had to walk across campus in the snow to get food. I honestly think that classes on friday should of been canceled, I mean some classes were for some people but all of them should of been canceled in my opinion. Some people have to drive a ways to get home, like people that live out of state or just plain far away. I personally hate being outside when its snowing out, and windy out, and just plain cold, and during the week I never get up before 9 so it was a bigger hassle for me to leave saturday morning, not to mention the lack of coordination of my group going home saturday had.

Anyways enough about all that, on saturday when I got home I helped my mom and brothers shovel outside. My mom and older brother were shoveling off the roof and there was like 3-4 feet of snow up there! They dumped it all into the driveway in front of our garage and then me and my little brother were shoveling it off the driveway into the grass area... well let me tell you it was not so fun. Shoveling sucks. I feel bad for anyone that doesn't have a snowblower or plow and a very long driveway. Honestly I think people with snowblowers and plows should just go around and see if neighbors need any help. I feel like not many people do this anymore. Anyways I'm so thankful to our neighbor who helped plow our driveway after the big storm, and I'm so thankful that another neighbor came by and helped use his snowblower to move the snow in the driveway from the roof out of the way that was blocking the garage. I'm so sore from shoveling and can only imagine how much longer it would of taken if no one had helped us out and how much sorer I would of been.