And first I’ll tell you about my latest iPhone project, Colossal Short Stories Collection: a unique, unprecedented ebook app which just got released today on the AppStore. [iTunes link]. Colossal Short Stories Collection is a unique library in a single ebook app – getting together over 2222 short stories from almost 200 of the greatest literary classics ever.
And if you buy it NOW, you’ll benefit from the unique SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY SALE and you can get it for $0.99 instead of the list price $4.99!

You will never need to buy another short story book – Colossal Short Stories Collection only includes selected best authors and stories, so there is always a great short story waiting for you to discover, perfect for a quick 10-15 minutes read for the book work and the occasional reader alike!

• Official app page Colossal Short Stories Collection
• Don’t miss this amazing review by TUAW, the most popular Apple and iPhone blog in the world – 2222 short stories in your pocket with the Colossal Short Story Collection
• Don’t forget to buy this unique book NOW on iTunes and benefit from the 80% INITIAL DISCOUNT.

Learn to be in the here and now, and experience life as it’s happening, and appreciate the world for the beauty that it is, right now. Practice makes perfect with this crucial skill.

Maybe happiness isn’t something you should aim for. Maybe happiness isn’t something you need to work at.

Maybe happiness is just like sunglasses.

Happiness is a state of mind. You shouldn’t leave in the pursuit of happiness. Instead, happiness is all around you.

It’s in the simple things, in the delicious taste of a fresh fruit, in the silent peace of countryside evenings. In the flapping of a butterfly’s wings, in the curly smoke floating out of a cigarette, in the smile of your loved one, the voice of your kids. Reaching happiness is just a matter of changing your point of view: change the way you look at the world.

Instead of focusing at the future, desperately waiting for it, just focus on the present and the beauty it gives. Instead of craving for the past pleasures, enjoy the current ones.

What are you waiting for? Put on your happiness sunglasses and enjoy your holiday!

In my freshman year of college(Computer Science) I was just discovering the Internet and the vast information one could get from it. Those were the days of MsDOS, Windows 95 and Windows 98, and my geek hobby back then was to subscribe to e-zines of the underground computer virus geeks. I never learned to build a computer virus(it’s bad, evil and it turns you into a criminal) but, being young and restless, I enjoyed reading how one could conceive such software that resembled most to real life-forms – the smallest and code efficient possible, which could replicate, mutate and propagate around. Nothing much stuck with me from that wild age except for a broader understanding of computers, operating systems and assembly language and, completely unrelated, the tale of one of those virus developers.

The guy was stuck at some point trying to understand how to work around the limitations(security) of Windows 98; he had tried all ideas that came to mind, and was starting to get desperate and frustrated. Yet, at one moment, he decided to just lay back. Closed the monitor, closed his eyes. Tried to think of nothing. Quarter of hour later he was coding furiously and excited. His (memory quote) computer coding Zen had struck again.

Without naming it, I’ve been using this method since highschool; now, in my computer programmer existence, I use it more than ever. Whenever I’m facing a bug I can’t understand, whenever something eludes me no matter how hard I try or how much documentation I read, I will stop.

I breathe, I take a walk around the office, get some water from the watercooler. Chat with friends. When coming back to my computer, 10 minutes later, I close my eyes and try to think of nothing. Call it Zen meditation if you prefer; call it  yourKitKat moment.

I prefer to call it Seiza – the seated 1 minute meditation before martial arts training. Letting my mind free of all thoughts is just what we perceive on the outside; on the inside, our subconscious keeps working, freed from the outside stimuli and conscious noise.

More often than once, stepping back is all it takes to solve even the biggest problem.

[photo courtesy of Flickr]

Second of all, I’ve been a lying bastard in 2007 and have blogged extremely little over here, leaving all you faithful readers just hanging and desperately waiting for more insightful, funny, informative or simply original articles.

Third of all, given that this is the best time for New Year resolutions, here’s my question/story for all of you:

How much money would you want in order to NEVER WORK AGAIN?

Let’s pretend I’m a rich bastard that can give you a fixed amount of money, with only one condition: you MUST NEVER work again. Not even for charity, not even for your own freelance gig, not even to help your spouse around the house or to take gardening as a hobby. Would you agree to such a deal? If so, what would your price be?

If you’d never agree to this(as I, for instance), please think a bit about your reasons. I know mine, and I’ll disclose them although I might influence your silent answer:

I like too much doing stuff. I take the most excitement in actually doing something useful, and the feeling of meeting my job deadlines is too good to give up. This is also the reason most successful people have always a hard time quiting their jobs: work is fun and without it we’d be bored to death.

Think about it.

I’m a smart guy. Really. I graduated from top European universities, with impressive academic results, etc. The problem with smart guys is that they have too many choices. Knowing you performed pretty well in the college classes makes you confident you’ll do the same in real life. After all, there were so many courses I was clueless about, but aced them after just a couple of days of study, that any random field can become familiar after a thorough 2-3 days study.

But like any teenager growing up, once I graduated from college I was met with a handful of choices: start a career in software development, follow a PhD in one of the many Computer Science-related fields, or even start my own business. The problem with smart guys is that they get too confident. Any field seems accessible. Yes, unfortunately almost any field IS accessible. So the problem is… which path should YOU take? Most life choices are therefore reduced to decision problems: should I take this path or that other one?

It’s probably a problem of maturity – as we grow up, we must make more and more decisions. Almost unlimited choices make you waste more and more time trying to decide things. In my case, I wasted countless months trying to follow different paths: in the last year alone I tried around 6 different startup ideas, invested energy and time in developing products, only to later change my mind and pick some other paths.

So.. what can one do? Is there a solution to the countless decisions problem?

I guess there’s no unique answer. Or.. is it? For now, the most I can say is that one should try to become a more decided and confident person. Flip the coin if you have to, but make up your mind! Faster! Don’t know what bus to take? Flip the coin! After all, most of our life is governed by hazard, a bit of extra hazard can’t make it worse than it already is…

What about important, life-changing decisions? I can’t help you on this one. But you can help me: what do you do to make up your mind between several business ideas, life changing opportunities or other life paths?

Then I remembered an article I had read over here: people who smile get happier, even against their will. Our brain is so used to associating the feeling with the gesture that it actually works both ways.

Angry as I was, I forced myself to smile. And, against all odds, it worked: I instantly felt better. Like magic.

So, yes, here’s the magic tip – whenever you feel down, just SMILE! Doesn’t matter what you’re thinking of. Just smile.

That’s it. The single best happiness tip.

Enjoy

I lived in Paris and its suburbs since 2003 to 2006. No big surprise that I fell in love with it – I sincerely believe that it’s the most beautiful city in the world(though Prague, visited 2 years ago, isn’t bad either). Now, after having left France’s capital for more than a year, I’m returning there this week in a short 5-days trip with my girlfriend.

But please, shed no tear – it’s the perfect moment to write down what I missed most about this beautiful city, and start a blog tag game, named Your favorite city’s 5 best spots. While this is not necessarily a post on productivity or life improvement, it is about discovering the not-so-obvious beauties of your favorite city . So please feel free to join in!

The rules are classic – if you’re tagged you must join in, if you’re not but would want to, do it anyways, but also drop a comment below so we can keep the record: write the blog post about the best 5 places/things to do in your favorite city, link back to the blog who tagged you and, at your turn, tag three other blogs.

Me, being a stinkin’ cheater, I’m going to break the rules and share with you a 15 things to do in Paris, as in 3 times as much:

• 5 main tourist sights in Paris
• 5 romantic getaways in Paris
• 5 not-to-miss eating spots in Paris

5 main tourist sights in Paris:

1. walk the Champs Elysees
2. visit the Louvre
3. climb the Montmartre, taking pictures of the Sacre Coeur church
4. view Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower
5. visit the Notre Dame cathedral and eat sandwiches in the small park behind it

5 cheapest romantic getaways in Paris:

1. bateau-mouche sight-seeing on the Seine river
2. picnic in jardin Trocadero or Champ de Mars at the shadow of the Eiffel Tower
3. rollerskating and picnic on the Seine quays
4. slowly walking around the Marais quarter, stoping by the Musee Picasso and Maison Hugo
5. enjoying the street artists at fete de la musique and the Pompidous center

5 not-to-miss things to eat in Paris:

1. best icecream – Berthillon – ile Saint Louis
2. best chocolat chaud – La charlotte en Ile – ile Saint Louis
3. salade basquaise – Chez Gladines – Bute aux cailles (11eme)
4. best crêpe banane nutella – Saint Germain coin Saint Michel
5. fondue savoyarde – fondue fromage and fondue chocolat

+ as a bonus, if hunger strikes while you’re visiting the Latin Quarters – Quartier Latin, you should try “Le Gyros” – cheap junk food with cheap beer by the side

+ as an extra bonus, I love the Japanese raw sea-food in by the Passy place in the 16eme arrondissement “Comme les poissons”

I’m tagging in this simple tourist game the following : Sully from Lifelearningtoday, Dragos from eDragonu, Ben from the Instigator Blog and Scott from ScottHYoung. All you others, feel free to jump in the wagon. What’s your favorite city and why?