Grateful Blog

Today I’m grateful that:

• I started the morning off by receiving a compliment at the neighborhood store where I sometimes stop to get my caffeine fix on the way to work. I was told, “Holy cow … You are beautiful!” It matters not that it came from a man who may have been homeless and/or under the influence of an illegal substance. A compliment is a compliment.
• A very productive morning, with a meeting that went just about as good as I could have possibly hoped for, despite my preparations for the exact opposite. Or maybe because of my preparations for the exact opposite?
• I’m trying hard to find a silver lining in the fact that my productive morning was a bit waylaid by my extremely unproductive afternoon of commuting home “early” to avoid traffic, then being unable to find my SecurID token, so trekking all the way back to the office only to then find the token in the very depths of a pocket of my bag. So, I spent an additional two hours in the car for absolutely no reason. Digging deep here … The positive is that I had a lot of time to listen to some good music that I haven’t heard in awhile. And plenty of time to think about the lyrics, and come up with my own interpretations. The one below from Sting is kind of all right.

• “Waylaid” is a pretty awesome word, and I’m happy I got to use it in a sentence, even if by using it correctly it wasn’t the most fun way to use the word.

Today I’m grateful for a host of random but worthy things, including:

• I had a great day at work. It’s so satisfying to see people get excited about what an online community can do, even when (maybe especially when) it started as an uphill battle.
• There is train wreck TV like The Bachelorette to make me laugh out loud and feel better about my past dating history. Guys like Kasey and the Weatherman make my worst/weirdest dating experience seem like a harmless, wonderful walk in the park amidst rainbows and butterflies.
• There is quality TV like “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” to make me laugh out loud without feeling ashamed to admit it in public settings (see previous bullet point). Actually, given the mostly evil nature of the comedy on the show, maybe I should feel ashamed. But I don’t. Oh well. Below is a very tame (But still hilarious) example of the genius:
• My father sends me e-mails like this one, with the comment, “There is more than one thing very wrong with the tag line for this Bill Brett photo” accompanying this photo.
• Love is in the air! So happy that B.J. (brother of my brother-in-law, if you follow, and all-around great person) is engaged to Grace. What great news!

Today I’m grateful that:

• Despite taking the wrong train to the airport and then encountering obscenely long lines at the ticket counter and the security checkpoints, I somehow made it onto my flight home.
• I survived a very busy, demanding week working at RSA Conference, with long days and nights but good work and good people!

I’ve been quiet on here for the past couple of months, not because I’ve had nothing to be grateful for — quite the contrary, as always. It’s just that I’ve been very busy in work and non-work life … so I guess I’ll start there. I’m grateful that:

• Work has kept me busy in a good way recently!
• Chad started a new job a couple of weeks ago, being the (much) less boozy and adulterous version of Don Draper. I am immensely proud of him! I knew when he decided to stop working for himself as he had for the previous 10 months or so that he would have his pick of new jobs, and I think he picked a great one. Oh yea, and they offer health insurance! Holla!
• As always, I’m grateful for book club. (That’s for you, Rach.)

Today I’m grateful for:

• A good, silly joke from my Aunt Ellen. I can always count on her for one of those.  Here is today’s:
  A teacher asks her class of 3rd graders to use the word “fascinate” in a sentence. She calls on a small boy sitting in the front row.
  “I saw an air show. And it was very fascinating.”
  “Good, but I wanted you to use the word ‘fascinate,’ not ‘fascinating.’” She then calls on a girl sitting off to the left.
  “I saw some monkeys. They were very fascinating.”
  “Good, but I wanted you to use the world ‘fascinate,’ not ‘fascinating.’”
  Billy’s hand shoots up into the air and she calls on him.
  “Teacher, teacher! I got one!”
  “Go ahead, Billy.”
  “My sister’s shirt has ten buttons, but her tits are so big she can only fascinate.”
• Two good, peaceful visits with my grandmothers at their new homes at the assisted living center. And that I dressed appropriately for the balmy temps in that place (86 degrees!).
• Interesting work to dive into it. I miss it!