Daily: Reflect on 5 things for which I'm grateful.

1. A good night’s sleep.

2. Some good discussions yesterday about possible career directions.

3. Shade-grown organic dark-roasted coffee. (Now why can’t I find shade-grown, organic, fair-trade coffee?)

4. Fresh raspberries on my Grapenuts.

5. A copy of Sims 2 on its way here.

6. Alice and Kev, the homeless sims.

1. An updated computer operating more smoothly.

2. Work to do which will have great long-term payoffs.

3. Kisses over coffee.

4. A good night’s sleep.

5. Being able to take my daughter to school this morning, without kvetching, when she overslept and missed her bus.

1. Some great new minimalist jazz to listen to (Nik Bartsch’s Ronin).

2. Got to take my daughter to school for her first day as an upper class woman.

3. Attending a peer network meeting and helping to keep it flowing smoothly, making peace between egos and personalities.

4. Spending time helping a friend work through some of life’s difficulties (she’s had more than her share lately).

5. Picking my daughter up at her friend’s house and getting to hear about her day at school.

1. I’m grad (that would be grateful + glad) for breakfast & coffee with my dad this morning. The two of us had a really meaningful conversation about self-acceptance and forgiveness.

2. Movers are coming to move the bed out of my office to my daughter’s room, and her old furniture out of the house. I don’t have to lift anything, and two rooms will be more efficient and useful.

3. My dog hopped in the bed last night and snuggled against my back. The two of us were quite comfortable.

4. My wife and daughter are pleased with the paint job in our daughter’s room. I’m glad I got to please the two of them so much.

5. Our two cats are playing dominance games. It’s fun watching them try to one-up each other. They are beloved souls, Candle and Scamper.

As the moon wanes, life continues …

1. The perfect cup of coffee.

2. A very enthusiastic dog. I smile every time I see him bound up the stairs. It’s like he’s a kid going to Disneyland … and he’s just going upstairs. Today I shall practice his enthusiasm for all the tasks I have to do.

3. A computer tech job opening. I’ll apply later in the day.

4. Ideas for blogging 0 – a short series, a brief post, and another good Anger Word.

5. That I’m about to triple my computer’s memory, and thus overcome some of the problems that pop up. (Remember the days when a 1.5 GB hard disk was inconceivable? And here I am complaining about only having 1.5 GB of RAM!!! I’m grateful for the 4 GB sitting next to my computer.)

1. The walls are painted.

2. My G1 let’s me blog from the couch.

3. My mother’s tomato salad.

4. The friends I joined for celebration and worship.

5. Drum circles.

1. For ibuprofen

2. For a loyal dog who loves to go walking

3. For the fun we had last night watching Battlestar Galactica (we watched the finale from season 1 and the first disk of season 2)

4. That I’m going to spend the day painting my daughter’s room some cool colors. (And that she absolutely wouldn’t paint until she chose colors that I liked … which really touched me, but I made sure we got colors she liked).

5. The mellow complexity of Maragogype coffee drunk black (actually, more of a loamy brown). Maragogype beans are a mutation of arabica, and are much larger and less bitter.

1. I am grateful for my chiropractor — I feel so much better now than I have for the last few days.

2. My daughter was able to keep a little food down last night and slept soundly. Her fever has broken.

3. Miles Davis is gracing my morning — Kind of Blue, just loving the slow trumpet riffs over that leisurely bass line … I’m in auditory heaven.

4. My wife made some FINE coffee this morning, Trader Joe’s decaf Italian roast. I could use the caffeine, but this tastes so good!

5. My office chair is incredibly supportive. I’m comfortably settled in. I’m grateful to myself for investing in back support.

1. I’m grateful for Bittorrent, and the opportunity to revisit music from long ago.

2. I’m grateful for the feel-good, mellow flowing music of Chuck Mangione.

3. I’m grateful to know where the word “flugel horn” comes from (flugel is apparently the German word for wing or flank (in military terms) and a guy named Sax (inventor of the saxaphone) invented a larger “bugle” to call the flanks in to attack … the flugel horn)

4. I’m grateful for the clear, crisp air this morning (it’s warmer and cloudier now)

5. I’m grateful that my stomach upset subsided and I got a nice walk in with my dog.

1. A terrific and inspiring phone conversation with a friend in recovery.
2. A pain level significantly down from Friday.
3. “Godshot” of being at a meeting where I was clearly needed.
4. Speaker at a meeting last night with an entertaining story and a wonderful Irish accent.
5. Getting pushed to take a commitment allowing me to give-back.
6. A wonderful three-hour Chinese feast with the family.