Posts Tagged ‘thanks’

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Thanksgiving: some things I’m thankful for

November 21, 2012

This morning I only needed to wave my fingers like a composer to be sung awake. My husband is the best. He deserves more than this one point but I'll tell him more specifics later (in person).

I'm not in the ICU, it was a terrible way to spend Thanksgiving. In fact, I'm very healthy. Maybe that is a better bullet point to be appreciated.

I've met all of the goals I had as a child. That has been terrifying me lately but still something to spend a moment thinking how amazing that is and how grateful I am that I'm here. I just need new goals. Maybe next year I'll be appreciative of them.

I have a job that I usually like (and that I'm good at) even if I'm a bit bored with the mechanics right now. I know it will get better and I have the freedom (if not quite the gumption yet) to change what I want to change.

This evening, I'm getting my toes painted with little pictures while hanging out with a good friend. There are lots of little pieces in there that I'm thankful for but let's keep it wrapped up as a bigger pedicure metaphor.

Plenty to eat and warm. I know how very lucky I am. Also, hot showers fits under this point. As does cold champagne. And the utter ridiculousness of stores devoted to cupcakes.

Hiking at Wilder ranch, on the beach and the cliffs above the beach, on T-day will be 70F and clear as a bell. Not to mention completely empty. Except for me, him, and a few friends.

Cephlapods.

 

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Missed work

May 17, 2012

When my husband occasionally declares it is going to be an Internet-free weekend, I know this means he’ll be asking me for all the news and weather and general ‘net hijinks. I don’t participate in the disconnecting. I like to believe it is because I’m not as addicted to the web.

When we go on vacation, I usually monitor email from my phone. Working for myself, it is fairly important that I don’t piss off clients. Even if they know I’m out of the office, their problems are (of course) super high priority. (My eyes rolled just typing that.) But I will admit that I like to feel needed.

I remember in 1999, when I worked at HP, having it be almost noon and I hadn’t gotten any email. It was surprising. I’d gotten a lot of work done but at some point started to wonder if something was broken. I checked my Ethernet cable (remember those? someday no one will believe us that they even existed), I surfed the web to make sure it was still there. But everything worked. I wailed in my cubicle that no one loved me. After lunch, there were several messages waiting and I felt much better.

This is an enduring and ingrained feeling. Getting a ton of email while I’m out of the office indicates a lack of preparedness on my part. But getting one or two? Well, that’s just love.

On my recent extended vacation, I monitored my email, ignoring lists and focusing on the few things addressed to me. It boiled down to two job inquiries, a dozen emails from friends trying to set up lunches or checking on my progress, and about a half dozen work things almost all starting with “if you have a minute, could you tell me how to…”.

I didn’t miss email while I was gone. And if I had, the hundreds of emails that I didn’t read would have cured that (lists mostly but they usually have a kernel of something I need or I’d unsubscribe).

However, while I didn’t fully realized it until I got going again, I missed working. I missed fixing things. I missed typing a line in and seeing if it made things better. I missed the puzzle of figuring out which steps are important and which are voodoo. I missed finding ways of explaining complex ideas in a simple matter so the team could discuss them more easily. I missed getting things done.

This is what I’m good at. I’m glad to be back.

 

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Thanks for the questions

April 7, 2012

Most of the studies on “how to be happy” stress the importance of gratitude: being thankful for what you have instead of always chasing after greener grass and rainbows.

There is a blog called thxthxthx. Leah Dieterich writes thank you notes, often to unexpected people and things. That link goes to the post that is most relevant to our trip (and probably my favorite so far). Here is the text for anyone who didn’t follow the link.

Dear people who tell me to slow down,
Even though you’re telling, you’re also essentially asking why I’m trying to rush the journey, and why I think where I’m going is more important than where I am. These are good questions.
Best, Leah

I’m going to need to remember this because I have to admit, I’d like to go fast and get there, preferably via the optimal path. And, heck, ideally using a transporter. But we are going to drive. All the way across the country…

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