2017 Thankfulness: Week 42

Thankfulness from last week.  For the rest of the weeks this year, I'm also going to try to include a picture from the week to highlight one of the good things from the week.

Sunday

• Unplanned lunch invitation
• Exercising hard
• Sleeping in (relative to the work week).  Don't worry, I didn't sleep in so much that I missed meeting.

Monday

• Releasing files for a prototype build
• A few minutes walking in sunshine
• An e-mail from a friend

Tuesday

• Bright green grass on a sunny fall day
• Challenging yoga class
• Mixing up my order from "the usual" at lunch time

Wednesday

• Clear evening sky full of stars
• Leaving work before 10:30 PM
• Gospel meeting

Thursday

• Time for a long bike ride AND a leisurely supper in the evening
• A friend to help diagnose a water leak problem
• New pavement on the road by my house

Friday

• Spending a minute breathing in the fall air
• Tickling the ivories for a few minutes
• Feeling like I accomplished something this week

Saturday

• A day dedicated to fun
• Doing something with my brother and niece
• Warm temperatures in late fall

2017 Thankfulness: Week 41

Here's the thankfulness log from two weeks ago.  That week at work was really rough.  I got yelled at for "communicating in the wrong way" and was working to get an under-performing engineer to deliver some things to me for my project so we could release software on schedule.  I was at work a couple different nights until 11:00 PM or midnight.

When I read through my thankfulness log, it's interesting the different perspective that comes through.  I think sometimes keeping this log helps me sleep better.  I usually write the three things for the day right before I go to sleep, and I think it often keeps me from "nursing and rehearsing" the bad things of the day.

Sunday

• State parks with hiking close to my house
• Help from people in my meeting
• A low key day

Monday

• A verbal "thank you" for doing a small thing
• Lunch outside on the patio
• Clear blue sky

Tuesday

• Someone who went the 2nd mile for me to fix a leak
• Lunch with a mentor
• Writing therapy

Wednesday

• Extra Bible reading time
• Feeling of working as a team
• Early morning Bible verse reminder

Thursday

• It's almost Friday
• At least partially keeping my cool
• People who challenge me to grow

Friday

• Leaving work before 6:00 PM
• Time at work without scheduled meetings
• Having time to play the piano

Saturday

• Lazy Saturday morning and afternoon
• Guests who bring food
• Playing board games with my cousins

2017 Thankfulness: Week 40

Thankfulness from this past week.  Overall it was a good week with lots of little things for which to be thankful.

Sunday

• The luxury of a nap
• Sleeping well during the night
• The spunk and spirit of a dear sister worker

Monday

• Holidays in China and India
• A breathtaking sunset
• Knowing the Lord

Tuesday

• No evening conference calls
• Feeling cheerful
• Feeling stretched after yoga

Wednesday

• Computer refresh forcing me to leave early from work
• Lunch invitation
• Massage at the chiropractor

Thursday

• A long lunch
• Extra long massage
• An afternoon without meetings

Friday

• Supper with a friend
• A decent work week
• Less mucus

Saturday

• A day without any scheduled commitments
• Organizing things around home
• Weather nicer than forcasted and including sunshine

Kayaking at Sunrise and other Weekend Things

Last weekend one of the guys from my meets was interested in doing a sunrise paddle.  He said he had always wanted to be on the water at dawn, so that's what we aimed for.  We missed by 15 or 20 minutes.  Well, we were at the boat launch by sunrise but not quite on the water by then.

Fellow paddler on the Kzoo River.

It was more of a float than a paddle, but it was still good.  We saw lots of blue heron and several eagles.  We saw 3 or 4 immature bald eagles and at least 2 mature ones.  They gave us a little bit of a show when they flew over us together and were squabbling a little bit with each other.

Immature bald eagle.

Mature bald eagle - you probably recognize it.  :-)

After the paddling, we also did some gun shooting.  I'm not super into that, but it's fun to do every once in a while.  I got to shoot a 1911 pistol, a lever action rifle, and an AR15.  The lever action rifle had enough kick it made my shoulder sore after 15 or 20 rounds.  When I added it up, I shot about 114 rounds.

A few examples of my shot groupings.  The holes on the paper plates, not all those holes in other places.

On Sunday we had a potluck after union meets to say farewell to one of our older sista woikas before she heads down to Kentucky to labor there.  I'll miss her quick wit and down-to-earth approach.  It's always sad to see them go, but of course you love different ones that come too.

ND 'Vention Weekend

Life is kind of crazy busy most of this year, so I feel like I haven't been posting much about general life other than the thankfulness posts.  Now that most of my family shares at least one form of social media, I'm not sure I really need to maintain my updates.  But sometimes I still like to, just as a reference for later when things come up.

Rather than feel overwhelmed by all the unposted stuff, I'll just try to do some occasional recent stuff and get to the backlog if it ever seems possible.

Here's what I did a week or so ago.  I drove to the corny state where I met Uncle Bex along the interstate, and then we headed for ND for 'vention.  It had been quite a while since Uncle Bex and I took a road trip together, so that was enjoyable.

I also realized I don't have key chains from several states I travel through regularly, so this is my reminder to buy them.  IN, IL, IA, WI, MN.

There were some memorable moments:

1. Due to miscommunication, we locked the keys in the car along with both our cell phones. Hence no pictures of that fiasco.
2. Uncle Bex has now become Uncle Grandma Bex.  Because that's how the three year old brain works.
3. Seeing some good friends like Weeds and Alley Cat and having some good in-depth discussions with them.  It's good to have some friends who share life stages with you.
4. Seeing lots of extended family.  Uncle Bex asked how many people there I was related to.  I suppose it might be somewhere around 25%.  I didn't do any counting or math to confirm this number.
5. I brought Bill a bicycle because my neighbor sells used ones for cheap and she didn't have one.  She was super excited about that.
6. Seeing my parents and one of my sisters and her family
7. Road trip in-depth spiritual conversations
8. The beauty of the prairie
9. The beauty of prairie wetlands
10. Seeing other people I'm not related to that I don't share a "life stage" with that somehow have a special place in my heart.  Sometimes the reason isn't big, which illustrates how small things can make a big impact.  For example:

• Warren - He worked at the same company and building I worked at the summer after my college sophomore year.  We're both engineers and I went to college with two of his sons.  Every time I go back there we always manage to have at least one conversation.
• Bill - He's just a funny, friendly guy who always tries to recruit me to move back to ND and work for his company.
• Renee - When I was in high school, she was one of those adults who would say "Hi" to me and made me feel like she saw me as a person.

To finish it off, here are a few pictures:

Iowa prairie on the drive to ND.

My nephew "Pasta".  He's just learning to walk.

Bill with her new bike.  Because it was raining, she took it for a spin in Pops's garage Sunday morning in her pajamas with her meeting shoes.  One must dress appropriately for the occasion, you know?

The North Dakota prairie.  Looks totally different from the Iowa prairie.

A North Dakota version of cornhole.

I got this precious thank-you in the mail this week from Bill.

2017 Thankfulness: Week 39

I was home this weekend, so I can make a timely post on my thankfulness from the past week.  It's hard to believe we're already at the end of September!

Sunday

• People who like in-depth conversations
• Good final reminders
• Seeing family

Monday

• Honest talk with a friend
• Long drive with thinking time
• Reading my bible at supper time

Tuesday

• Late September day that feels like August
• After work kayak excursion
• Going to bed

Wednesday

• Going to bed early-ish
• Nyquil
• Kleenexes

Thursday

• A friend to help me with a car drop-off
• My project getting some priority
• Only one day left in the work week

Friday

• Bright, crisp fall days
• Connecting with people from work
• An evening walk with a beautiful sunset

Saturday

• Seeing a clear sky of stars early in the morning
• Sunrise kayaking excursion
• Still feeling peace about a decision