Thankfulness 2018: Week 20

Week 20 was the middle of May.  I think it was a regular work week.  Looking at the thankfulness log, I see lots of good things that I was thankful for.  However, I seem to remember it was a week of highs and lows.  Some good things happened, but there was also a fair bit of rain and some struggles with not feeling motivated.  But here's some of the good things that happened that week.

• My legs and back not hurting for the first time in weeks
• Someone making me smile
• Salvation
• Yoga stretches that targeted just the right spots
• Hearing messages I needed at Bible study
• Finishing something that had been looming over my head
• Being able to easily schedule an eye appointment
• Seeing someone express similar emotions to ones I'm feeling
• Having will power to eat more vegetables
• Processing a mountain of receipts
• Finding motivation to exercise

Oh, and I signed up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) for the first time.  A new adventure in vegetables.  I feel like a genuine hippie since it's even advertised to be organic.

AC: On

I turned on the AC today.  I endured the heat and humidity last night, but I decided I couldn't hack it tonight, especially since it rained this evening and made it super humid tonight.  I though this might have been one of my weaker efforts, but looking back on the log, it seems it's in the "average" range.  Definitely not my strongest showing, but not bad.

It has been in the 90's here the last two days.  Usually those kind of temperatures are reserved for July or August, but I guess not this year.  It's supposed to cool off tomorrow, but not quite in time to sleep comfortably tonight with only the windows open.

Have a good week!

Thankfulness 2018: Week 19

The thankfulness log summary from mid-May:

• Staying on track with eating healthy
• Ramen noodles
• Feeling like I accomplished something at work
• Feeling like I have space to breathe and think at work this week
• Finishing a good resume draft
• Yoga targeted almost exactly to my ailment
• Fun playing board games
• Mom (it was Mother's Day)

I didn't see Mom on Mother's Day, so here's a link to a previous year when I did see her on Mother's Day.

Spring was still in its full glory.  Lots of stuff blooming.

Thankfulness 2018: Week 18

I'm making progress on catching up.  The first week of May wasn't that long ago.  Here are the thankfulness highlights from that week.

• Nature's beauty
• Doing yard work in short sleeves
• A long hike in beautiful weather
• 80 degree weather
• Bright green color of spring
• Seeing the moon setting at the same time the sun was rising
• A day at work full of uninterrupted concentration
• Good advice on expressing emotions
• Lunch with my mentor
• An example of a good testimony
• Getting a clear message at GM
• Accepting an offer of help from an O'Reilly Auto Parts employee

A blooming magnolia - part of the beauty of spring.

A real snail mail letter is exciting, especially when it comes from your niece.

An encouraging quote seen on the fb.

Thankfulness 2018: Week 17

Week 17 was the end of April.  Looking at the thankfulness log, it was a good week.  If I remember correctly, Monday was a bit rough, but I see a theme in the data related to making progress.

• Making progress on a work problem - it was one that had been plaguing me for more than a month, and we finally got to the bottom of things and found the root cause.
• A challenge to focus on outside of work - this was related to a health challenge group that I joined on facebook.  It was a challenge in a good way, not a bad way.  It prompted me to try new things.
• Being outside doing yard work.
• Kayaking adventure
• Feeling like making jokes
• Comforting verses (James 5:11, I Peter 1:5-7,9)
• "Behold, we count them happy which endure.  Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy."
• "Who are kept by the power of god through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:"
• "Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls."

Spring sunset

Part of the health initiative - eat more vegetables!

Ready for a kayak adventure!  And quite an adventure it was.

Thankfulness 2018: Week 16

Week 16 - the middle and heading toward the end of April.  The robotics season was pretty much over, so I had more free time in the evening to catch up on things and enjoy relaxing a little bit more.  Here are some things I was thankful for that week:

• Laughing
• Inspiration to eat more vegetables
• Learning more about Bible translation
• Staying on an exercise schedule
• A friend to help give perspective
• A cute picture on Snapchat of my sister and my niece
• A day without commitments
• Ribs cooked in the crock pot

This image cracked me up.  This is the coat rack at work.  Do you think engineers are conservative people?  At least the ones who wear coats in April are.....

Gary returned and was looking to make his home under my front deck.  Nuh-uh buddy.  No way.

Still eating vegetables for lunch - with some protein.

Thankfulness 2018: Week 15

Week 15....the middle of April.  It was starting to feel like spring a little bit, and the week ended feeling more like winter again.  Oh, and there was state robotics.  Some things I was thankful for:

• Hearing birds chirp in the falling snow
• Feeling sassy one evening
• Feeling a sense of accomplishment
• Being part of a health challenge group
• Earplugs
• A three hour afternoon nap - it felt glorious.  It was the first time I had taken a real nap in more than three months.
• Hearing the prayers of others at meeting
• Feeling spoken to at GM

The health challenge group inspired sticking to a healthier lunch more often.

The robotics team's "pit" at the state competition.

There were 4 fields playing simultaneously at the state competition.  We were on the Dow field - it had a lot of chemistry (pun intended).  The field cheer was, "Who brings the wow?"  "Dow, Dow, Dow!!"

Thankfulness 2018: Week 14

The first week of April I went to the corny state for work that week.  The weekend was robotics.  It was a good change of pace from the grind back at the office to go to the manufacturing plant.  Some things to be thankful for:

• A business trip that incorporated having supper with Uncle Bex
• Eating well while being on expense report
• Complex problem solving
• Delicious breakfast with Mark, Marilyn, and Jessica
• Getting 8 hours of sleep
• Taking a nap
• Feeling like a part of a team
• Feeling desperate for God to speak

The height of fashion in manufacturing - steel toes that you strap on.

Things that make you go hmmmm......the first evening there was just one plastic Olive Garden bag sitting in the stairwell.  On the third night there were two.  Is someone hiding evidence of poor eating habits from a spouse?  Can they not stand the smell of garlic even though they just ate it?  And why not throw it away in the lobby instead of stashing it in the stairwell?  Or call housekeeping and ask them to come and get the trash?  Quite queer.

Ten Year Anniversary

As of Tuesday this week, Herman and I have been in a relationship for ten years.  That's a lot of commitment and working on keeping things maintained.  It includes a couple drives to ND, countless trips to the corny state and the cheesy state, and a few trips to da U.P., eh.

It's reaching the point where I probably need to start thinking about getting a new car, but it's tough to get motivated to do that when Herman still runs so well.  He had some brake issues earlier this year that almost precipitated some changes, but now he's back to humming along.

If they still made the Mazda6 5-door, I'd buy another one of those, but they don't make them.  And I don't think I can go back to a trunk that doesn't have a hatchback type door.  So that most likely means I'll either be buying a nerdy/crunchy hatchback or else a small crossover vehicle.

Some things on the potential list include a Mazda3 hatchback, the Mazda CX5, a Subaru Crosstrek....and probably some others.  Anybody out there have some additional suggestions?  No fancy imports like BMW, Audi, Porsche, or Lexus because I don't want to drive forever to get to a dealer.

Have a good Memorial Day weekend!

Thankfulness 2018: Week 13

Week 13......still back in March.  And the first day of April.  Monday of that week I was feeling very discouraged about life.  I opened my phone and had this snapchat from my brother.  It was just the message I needed at that time.  He probably won't ever truly understand how much his goofy and cheesy snapchats can brighten my day.

Some other highlights from the week were:

• Encouragement and care from friends
• Texts and snapchats from family
• A beautiful sunset
• Having time to think while on a long drive
• Brakes repaired on my car
• Mashed potatoes and gravy
• Special hymns found for the week
• Reading Deuteronomy 20 at lunch one day

A successful day of robotics

Getting some pork loin ground and into the freezer.  There was a good sale at the store that I couldn't resist.

Thankfulness 2018: Week 12

Looking at the log from mid-March, it appears that I spent the week focusing on getting stuff done at work and appreciating small blessings.  I may have still been in a bit of a fog from returning from New Zealand and trying to catch up.  A couple highlights from the thankfulness log were:

• A quiet afternoon of focused work
• Impromptu lunch with a friend
• A good morning greeting
• Eating breakfast with early morning sunshine
• Intense exercise
• Finishing my taxes
• Canned chicken and Ramen noodles
• Chocolate
• Finishing something and a feeling of accomplishment

This was the only picture I took that week.  I saw this in the grocery store and it amused me because sometimes we call Aunt Kiwi by the name Kumquat instead.

2018 - New Cubicle

It had been eighteen months since I moved to a new cubicle, so I suppose I was due for a move.  A person shouldn't collect too much junk.  After yet another reorganization at the end of January this year, my manager changed again, and I was asked to move my stuff across the hall closer to more of the other hardware engineers.  Of course everybody gives me a hard time about having too much stuff.  I don't know why they do that.

The old place all cleaned out.

I wasn't all that sad to leave the old place.  It was a long, hard, eighteen months there.  I learned some good lessons, but they were tough ones.  I traveled to China five times and can recognize Chinese when I hear it (although I can't understand the words - I can only recognize the cadence and tones).  I tried some exotic food including chicken feet.  My airline membership status on United was upgraded - yay for economy plus free upgrades!  You can get a lot of stuff done with drawing pictures and using Google translate.  I learned again the value of in-person interaction and the power of being the first to reach out and bridge a communication gap.  I learned about the the power of trust and teamwork and how detrimental it can be to lack trust and teamwork.  You can get a lot of stuff done really quick if you don't have high standards for long-lasting quality or safety.  I'm sure there are many other lessons I can't think of right at the moment, but that will do for now.

I gained a good friend from the hard times in the old place, but I'm happy to move on to a different chapter.  I've been in the new place now for almost two months.  The work hasn't changed a huge amount, but I am almost done transferring some of my duties over to someone else.  So far the new place is pretty good.  I get the morning sun on my face instead of getting to see the sun heading toward a sunset.  I like the people that sit next to me.  It feels less isolated.  So far it still involves 7:30 AM calls to India almost daily, but that's do-able compared to 6:30 AM calls and 9 PM and 10 PM calls.

Moved into the new cubicle.  There is a lot less space to post any person pictures, so I had to bring some home.

Thankfulness 2018: Week 11

Let's see.....week 11....the middle of March.  The week after I returned from vacation.  If I remember correctly, I was in the doldrums a little bit after returning from vacation because I was back to old clothes and porridge so to speak.  However, when I look at my thankfulness log, there are still lots of things for which to be thankful. And a lot of them involved people:

• Eating lunch with my mentor
• Talking to other women engineers
• The fun of a design review (I know, nerdy!)
• The symbolism of moving to a new desk at work (more on that in a different post)
• Edifying conversation
• A walk with a nature buff
• Laughing

Some nice, early spring scenery.

It's difficult to tell if this is a beaver or a muskrat.  That reminds me of a song.....but I digress.  Maybe it's a beaver since the tail is on top of the water.  This was part of the fun of the walk - learning all about beavers and how they make their lodges/dens/whatever you call them.

Sand hill cranes.

On the Lighter Side

Somebody posted this article on the FB the other day.  It explains various forms of government assuming you have two cows.  The final explanation about surrealism is the most amusing:  "You have two giraffes. The government makes you take harmonica lessons."

Sometimes that's almost like work.  A week or so ago my boss told me I would be on Project A for 40% of my time, and there would be an engineer from India assigned as well - maybe for 50% of his/her time.  I started doing some work on Friday and got to the point where I could use the help of the engineer from India, so to indicate this I e-mailed my boss and the boss in India and asked for the name of the engineer and exactly what percentage of his or her time he would be assigned.  The boss in India replied and said that I was assigned 100% to Project A, and his engineer from India was assigned 25%.  Huh?!?  Then my boss replied and said I was only assigned 40%.  So.......not sure what is going on, but it almost meets the surrealism criteria.

Thankfulness 2018: Week 10

I seem to be falling farther and farther behind on this thankfulness log.  Week 10......yeah.....that was the beginning of March - most of the week was spent in New Zealand on vacation.  Lots of things to be thankful for then.  And then the weekend at home after I returned from New Zealand - including a Saturday of robotics competition.

A few extra special things I was thankful for:

• Seeing awesome wildlife - New Zealand fur seals, kiwi birds, little blue penguins, and so much more.
• Awesome scenery (yes, still).  Lots of that in New Zealand.
• Meeting interesting people - including a couple hitchhikers and a couple that was in their 40's and already retired.  Thanks to the advice of Mr. Money Mustache.
• Fellowship in a foreign country
• People who are somebody's mother.  I used to have a co-worker that would say this whenever there was a lady doing something particularly nice and thoughtful for someone.  She would say, "You can tell she's somebody's mother."  I was thankful for some warm hospitality from "somebody's mother."
• Being home after two weeks away - that's a nice feeling to be home and sleep in your own bed.  Which made me think about some people who don't have a home of their own and how sometimes that would be hard.  But also how sometimes those people have the privilege to call lots of places "home".

And some pictures:

Scenery while kayaking in the Golden Bay / Abel Tasman park area.  We paddled through that little arch you can see.

A beach break while kayaking.

A gracious hostess (somebody's mother) and host.  One of the highlights of the trip.

The champagne pool at Wai-O-Tapu.  More beautiful scenery.

The fun of being silly.

A little blue penguin.

New Zealand fur seal.  More of the interesting wildlife.

Thankfulness 2018: Week 9

Things got busy after I returned from vacation, and now I've fallen terribly behind on the thankfulness log again.  Here's the log from Week 9, which was all spent vacationing in New Zealand.

Milford Sound and Mitre Peak - part of the breathtaking scenery.

Thankfulness highlights:

• Breathtaking views of nature
• A fun kayaking excursion
• Good hikes
• A close friendship that can survive some ups and downs and clearing of the air between us
• God's global family

All geared up for our Milford Sound kayaking excursion.  And an illustration of the friendship.

More awesome scenery - near Te Anau.

Part of the drive to Milford Sound with lots of scenery.

Having fun on a hike.  Yes, those are glaciers.

More from New Zealand on the next thankfulness log.

Thankfulness 2018: Week 8

Some work this week, and the start of a vacation to New Zealand!  Things I was thankful for:

• The camaraderie of a team
• My kindle
• An empty seat next to me on the plane
• A long, hot shower after two days of traveling.  Seriously, this is one of life's best pleasures.
• Learning interesting things about vineyards

And a few pictures:

Part of the team camaraderie - bagging the robot.

Learning about vineyards.  Each plant has a right and a left "arm", and each arm is pruned to have 5 shoots, and then each shoot is pruned to have 2 bunches, which results in about 20 bunches per plant.

In New Zealand near the home of the first commercial bungy jumping location.  Fun fact:  The people who "invented" bungy jumping got the idea from watching people from Vanuatu do something similar with vines.

Thankfulness 2018: Week 7

Again week 7 was another crazy week of chaos and uncertainty at work.  Some things for which I was thankful were:

• In love the Father veils the future
• Receiving a compliment on my work
• A quick greeting from a friend.  He stopped by my desk just to say "hi" and to tell me to keep encouraged.
• Waking with a hymn in my head
• A funny encounter at the grocery store
• The power of asking.  What was made obvious to me that week was the power of asking.  In our human relationships, there is power in asking for what we need or want.  Not in a whining way, but telling somebody what we need because other people aren't mind readers.  God is a mind reader, so we don't need to ask for things because he doesn't know.  But I think there are two things related to asking God that supply the power.  One is admitting to ourselves that we need something.  The second is humbling ourselves enough to ask for what we need.

Again, not a lot of pictures being taken this week.  But that will definitely change next week.

Focusing on something besides work - had a robotics practice event.  My team's robot is not the one in the picture.

Stopping to appreciate to sunset as I left work.

Thankfulness 2018: Week 6

I got kind of behind due to work being busy and taking a long vacation.  Week six happened in mid-February.  It was a chaotic week because of upheaval at work, but it had some highlights and things that I was thankful for.

• A strong reminder about what is important in life.  My cousin and his family had a house fire.  They got out of the house in time, but most of their possessions didn't.
• Doing yoga with my favorite instructor
• Making time to exercise
• Having a support network and having a long Friday evening conversation with a friend from work.

I only took one non-work-related photo that week, so here it is.

As I heard birds chirping while shoveling snow, I was reminded that spring is just around the corner!

Thankfulness 2018: Week 5

Week 5 was a wild ride.  There was a big round of lay-offs at work this week, which creates lots of turmoil and emotions.

• One thing the lay-offs did was help make me thankful for the care of others when they were interested to know if I still had a job, etc.  I think it also helps illustrate the capability of people to have compassion and show the real emotions of how much they like their co-workers.
• Someone gave me some leftovers for supper when my fridge was bare.
• One of my mentors gave me a very sincere compliment on my professional capabilities.  He also gave me some good advice and feedback.
• I went downtown Saturday evening and ate supper with one of my friends who was laid off.  We had a good conversation, we enjoyed the ice sculptures, and I ate some delicious bacon wrapped meatloaf on a bed of mashed potatoes.

It took multiple blocks of ice to make this one.  We estimated its weight at somewhere between 300 and 500 pounds.