In addition to loving my wife unconditionally, I've made a personal commitment to re-connect with my friends and family. Sure, there's my nucleus that I'm in touch with on a regular basis, which I will continue to do. It's those whom I was once close to, hung out with, drank with, smoked with, worked with, went to school with, didn't get invited to the wedding (with?), lost touch with, still in my phonebook (with?), etc.

I'm not usually the one to wait for someone else to initiate, therefore it's not an issue for me that these very people that I've not communicated with have considered getting back in touch with me. Furthermore, in my past two years of working in an environment that consisted mainly of networking and socializing, it's really made me more aware of the importance of continually surrounding myself with people - you just never know when you might need them. Even to share ideas, war-stories, trials, tribulations - communicating can never hinder, you will always learn something.

If you knew me a few years back, when social networking was becoming all the rage, you would know that I was a serious hypocrite about Facebook and Friendster. When I first heard about these sites, I downright REFUSED to participate. That lasted until I started working for the Burnaby Board of Trade. Through encounters with avid users of these and other tools, and them sharing with me the benefits they saw for their own lives and businesses, that's when I re-explored the sites - and I was hooked.

But it was only in these encounters with people, was I able to see the other side of the coin. Had I not met them, who knows what direction my life would be headed?

Lifelong learning (academic is optional) should be paramount to everyone's lives. The more people you meet in your life, the more you learn - how hard is that? Oh, and it's fun too!

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