February 20, 2010

Today, I am grateful for….

1. Having a clean apartment.
2. How much bigger the apartment looks now that it’s clean.
3. A usable office.
4. Three laptops.
5. Slowly pulling my life together.
6. Finding my SD card reader.
7. The pajamas Jessica’s mom got me for Christmas.
8. A web browser that doesn’t crash.
9. Sleeping in.
10. Having leftovers.
11. Bacaro’s new bar menu – can’t wait
12. A roaring fire.
13. The Food Network show, The Best Thing I Ever Ate.
14. Catching up on my finances.
15. Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook
16. Not worrying about running out of firewood
17. Finding about a new intriguing bar in KC a month before we head over there.
18. Not having to file FSA claims anymore
19. Roger Ebert for his Martin Scorsese book
20. This month’s Esquire
21. Direct Deposit
22. My stereo amplifier finally being fixed
23. Ikea office furniture
24. Eric Ripert’s diss of Rocco Dispirito
25. MS Office 2008 not pissing me off yet
26. Taking charge at work.
27. Not hearing the phone calls from work earlier today.
28. The ability to renew books online.
29. Finally getting the new FB to work the way I want it to
30. Things chugging along
31. Slowly figuring out what to give a shit about.
32. Finalizing plans for my trip up to Chicago next week.
33. DVR
34. Balvenie Double Wood.
35. Adam Carolla Carcast videos on motorator.com.
36. A rather free weekend that I can use to get shit done.
37. My PC still working well enough to use it for MS Money.
38. How quickly we forgot about our tough week at work.
39. Staying in all day and being productive.
40. Job security
41. A great part time job that gives me constant contact with creativity of the highest order
42. My new Macbook - I now believe the hype
43. Some semblance of financial security after some scary and lean years
44. Jessica - everyday I am surprised at how much we love each other
45. Not worrying about where my next meal is coming from
46. Facebook being an easy means to keep in touch with friends all over the world
47. How exciting this year is shaping out to being
48. How Jessica and I can’t seem to stay mad at each other for very long
49. Adam Carolla podcast
50. How much Jessica and I make each other laugh
51. Good natured schadenfreud induced laughter at the expense of an old friend.
52. Breathing
53. Any form of nuanced thinking
54. Active wear
55. Keeping my cynicism in check
56. Still not completely believing in the concept of being comfortable
57. The ability to have some fucked up and entertaining dreams – Two words - Time Travel.
58. Having a washer and dryer in our apartment
59. Mike Ross, the director of Krannert Center
60. Foreign languages
61. Life forcing me to multitask
62. Anthony Bourdain
63. The rush of positive thoughts and feelings I have every time I see Jessica
64. Tiki
65. My smart and talented friends old and new
66. My increasingly reliable intuition
67. My Brita filter especially on those days when Illinois Water decides to put WAY too much chlorine in it
68. The music playing in my head – 2 foot yard
69. Competent and dedicated coworkers at both of my jobs
70. How great I feel after riding my bike to work
71. This computer stand from Ikea
72. Jessica's cute faces
73. How Jessica can pick me up when all seems lost
74. How good of a listener Jessica can be
75. Google Wave
76. Clothes that fit me even though I’ve gained too much weight
77. Bill Simmons
78. No longer worrying if today will be the day our car will completely fall apart
79. My new Ted Baker glasses
80. The moktak that my mom sent me
81. The copy of the Korean Zen Buddhist prayer CD that my mom made me
82. How good cracking various joints feel
83. My new earmuffs that don’t mess up my hair
84. Jackson 5 version of "Who's Loving You"
85. The fact that my seasonal eczema is finally subsiding
86. Everything I have yet to learn
87. My passion for music slowly returning
88. Our Simmons Beautyrest
89. My cautious optimism
90. The bizarre yet surprisingly effective baby talk that Jessica and I have developed for communicating
91. Jessica's hourglass figure
92. Memories, good and bad
93. The pavlovian response Jessica induces in me when I hear her keys just before she opens the door when coming home from work
94. My desire to seek out the positive in my life
95. Sensodyne
96. Free floss from the dentist
97. My orthotics
98. Not having to worry too much about what to wear for work
99. Having hope
100. Completing my twelfth post

Object of my metta practice - myself

Reflection of the Day – Didn’t nearly get as much done as I had planned. I still got a lot done and am preparing myself for a crazy week. I'm starting to wonder whether I should move on to a new object of my metta meditation. I don't quite know yet. I'm going to focus my attention on where I stand with how happy I am these days, etc. This is a sign I guess that I need to start being more mindful. My meditation practice may need to be expanded somewhat.