Thankfulness 2018: Week 3

Top three thankfulness highlights from the third week of January were:

• The excitement of problem solving.  I think that day it was related to robotics, but it's possible it was related to work as well.  In fact, there were several items related to robotics this week.  Getting a circuit working, in general having fun, etc.
• Celebrating small victories.  That was the theme of one of my fellow robotics mentors that week.  It's always a good reminder for us engineer types because every day of every year at work involves making small victories but not always seeing the final product for months and years.  So you have to celebrate the small things to keep going to achieve the bigger things.  If you don't celebrate small victories, you end up down in a pit only being able to see the problems and you get discouraged.
• Exercising.  It was Week 2 of T-25 Beta.  I was thankful I have the physical capability to exercise, and thankful to have the self-discipline to be doing it.  And I also went to yoga on Saturday where one of my favorite yoga instructors was teaching.

The pictures I took this week didn't have a high variety, so here are a couple scenery pictures from the week.  The benefit of really cold weather is there are some beautiful, clear skies.

Thankfulness 2018: Week 2

A couple highlights from the Week 2 thankfulness list:

1. Seeing a gorgeous sunset.  In fact, I saw 2 or 3 of them this week and stopped to take a moment as I left work to stand on the steps and appreciate them.
2. Feeling excited for the upcoming weekend.  It's not that I haven't looked forward to some other travel and visits that happened in the last several months, but for the first time in a long time I was feeling truly excited about the upcoming weekend.  Maybe the cloud of feeling overworked is lifting slightly.  After all, I only worked 49.5 hours for the week.
3. A day full of laughter.  A couple friends that I saw this past weekend know how to tell a good, entertaining story. And I guess they have a similar enough sense of humor that I think lots of their jokes are funny. Overall my birthday was a great day full of friends and laughter.

One of the gorgeous sunsets.  That's the nice thing about temperatures near zero.

Good friends and a great weekend.

Thankfulness 2018: Week 1

Here's what I've decided to do for thankfulness in 2018.  I'm still keeping my daily log, but for the week I'll just highlight a couple special ones along with maybe a picture or two with a little more in-depth explanation instead of just a bullet-ed list.

Some special thanks from Week 1:

1. Watching a full moon rise.  This one was exceptional for some reason.  As it came above the horizon it was almost like a harvest moon on the first of January.  It was really big and an orange color.  The very cold temperatures probably helped it look extra clear.
2. Inspirational reading.  Not every single leadership book that I read is completely revolutionary, but I like to read one now and then for the spark of inspiration and the reminder that we can be better than we are right now.
3. A good conversation with my mentor at work.  He gives some good advice and also challenges me when needed.

From Stephen Covey's "The 8th Habit" on finding your voice.  I love my kindle for reading when I'm traveling because it's less space and weight in your backpack, but there's also something special about a real book that you can mark up and flip through randomly if you like.  This seemed like good advice as long as you also check in with God on what you plan to be doing.  Maybe that's part of #4 on those questions.

2017 Thankfulness: Week 52

I did it!  Fifty-two full weeks of logging my thankfulness.  Overall I would say it was a good project, and it's a habit that I plan to continue.  As I said one other time, I think it helped improve my attitude and helped me sleep better.  This year was a tough one, and I would say this habit helped me to endure.  There was the occasional day here and there where I forgot and had to do a make-up log the next day, but I think at least 95% of the time I actually did log the thankfulness at the end of each day.  Even on the days when you get to the end of the day and feel like nothing much good happened that day - that is was the same old boring routine, finding something to be thankful for helps to change that perspective.

I don't think I'll publish the log for the next year as I think that would start to get tedious for me and my reader.  Or should I say readers.  There might be 2 or 3 of you.  I think I'll do a weekly thankfulness post, but it won't be the same format and might be more simple so I can spend some of my blogging time writing about other stuff.

Here it is, the final thankfulness log of 2017.

Sunday

• Fellowship with extended family
• Playing board games with family
• Delicious potluck

Monday

• Loving family
• Time spent together with family
• Big homemade meal

Tuesday

• Getting some exercise
• A warm house in subzero temperatures
• Spending time with nieces and a nephew

Wednesday

• A nice talk with my mom
• People who make me laugh heartily
• Peace and quiet

Thursday

• Seeing extended family
• Playing an enjoyable board game
• Not throwing up

Friday

• Feeling partially in better health
• Interesting reading
• Family braving the elements and getting me tea while I sit in the car

Saturday

• Extra time with family
• Living for eternal things
• The feeling of crisp cold air freezing the inside of your nose (-20 F!).  There is something special about that unique feeling.

Sunday

• Beauty of the sunrise
• Seeing sundogs
• New Year's Eve spent with friends playing games

I think this could be described as "stark" beauty.  I know some of you think this scenery is boring, but it's beautiful to me.

Playing an old favorite board game.

If you played along with this exercise at home and made you own thankfulness list, I hope you found it as helpful as I did.

2017 Thankfulness: Week 51

Thankfulness from the week before Christmas:

Sunday

• A well-timed text from a friend
• A day at home without an agenda
• The privilege of prayer

Monday

• Birds chirping
• Sunshine and warmth
• Good reminders

Tuesday

• Feeling in better spirits
• Healthy eating
• Teamwork

Wednesday

• Beef brisket
• Good bible study despite the capter being difficult
• Cleaning service

Thursday

• Lunch not eaten at my desk
• Upcoming long break from work
• Days will start getting longer

Friday

• Time to read a book
• Splurging on supper (eating dessert)
• A cleaner desk at work

Saturday

• A quiet reading nook in the airport
• A meal voucher
• Arriving at Mom and Dad's house

Airport entertainment that helped pass the time during flight delays.

The airport was recently remodeled, and they now have these nice reading nooks.