Gratitude, Part 6 (Sep. 21-27)

  1. The wind was at my back for most of the ride in this morning (Sep. 23, 2013)
  2. Helped my wife cut her hair
  3. Finished first part of shelf lining project for her
  4. God gives second chances (see Jonah 3:1-3)
  5. "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." - Ephesians 1:7-10
  6. After our can opener broke, I was able to use a generic "Swiss" army knife to open a can of black olives.
  7. We helped initiate at potluck for Project Church on Sep. 22, 2013.
  8. The rain missed us at the potluck, and we only got a few drops riding home.
  9. Good food and good time with new friends at the potluck
  10. Hannah's great salsa
  11. Christine's meringues
  12. Sharing our chili
  13. Carrying the chili in my bike bag without spilling it
  14. Achieved inbox zero again briefly today (Sep. 23, 2013)
  15. Homemade spelt pizza crust
  16. Baking our own homemade pizza
  17. "Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." - Lamentations 3:22-23
  18. Remembered to start the dishwasher this morning.
  19. Realized that I had forgotten my helmet in time to turn around and retrieve it.
  20. Found the bike lights
  21. Finished unpacking and cleaning my office.
  22. My office phone has arrived
  23. Explored two floors of the Devereaux Library on campus that I had not entered before
  24. Found a textbook for a class I am teaching at Devereaux
  25. Helped my wife pack for her trip to a friend's wedding.
  26. Rapid City has an airport
  27. Enjoyable meeting with Dr. Hamilton
  28. Enjoyable colloquium from Dr. Hamilton
  29. Successfully dropped my wife off at the airport (Sep. 27, 2013)
  30. Our director complemented the tubas at the most recent band rehearsal
  31. My wife's safe journey from Rapid City to Minneapolis
  32. My wife's safe journey from Minneapolis to Pittsburgh

Total: 215

Gratitude, Part 5 (Sep. 14-20)

  1. Transported my office boxes from home into my office
  2. Encouraging and challenging message about not being defined by my past at Project Church
  3. Good deal on fried chicken at Safeway
  4. Organic bananas on sale at Safeway
  5. Potluck with fellow PC members
  6. Getting to know the hostess of the potluck before everyone else arrived
  7. Good driving directions from the hostess
  8. Started unpacking boxes in my office
  9. Second monitor ordered
  10. I was able to return library materials on my bike.
  11. Sharing the stories of how we met and our first date with our hostess
  12. Organic squash on sale at Safeway
  13. Achieved true inbox zero today (Sep. 17, 2013)
  14. Bison chili that my wife made
  15. Opportunity to review my first paper for a journal
  16. Interlibrary loans at SDSM&T
  17. Dishwasher
  18. Refrigerator
  19. Electricity
  20. All of the books in my office are now unpacked.
  21. Hanging file folders for my desk
  22. Found my ethernet adapter
  23. Water heater
  24. Two bathrooms in our house
  25. Multitude of ways to communicate with my wife when we are apart
  26. Having a good reason to open my undergraduate quantum mechanics book (discussion with a student)
  27. Free frozen yogurt with the band at Cherry Berry (Sep. 18, 2013)
  28. Ride to Cherry Berry from one of my fellow tuba players
  29. We got to know two band members better during the ride.
  30. I learned about how I might teach well in the future
  31. Group picture with part of the band
  32. Delicious blueberry "breakfast bread" my wife made
  33. My wife discovered our dishwasher's front panels are reversible, allowing us to choose between two different colors (beige and black)
  34. Woke up without needing my alarm this morning (Sep. 19, 2013)
  35. Rode over Star Village Hill for the first time this morning (Sep. 20, 2013)
  36. First night in our newly painted bedroom (Sep. 20, 2013).

Total:183

Gratitude, Part 4 (Sep. 7-13)

  1. Rain for our squash plant from the storm on Sep. 9, 2013
  2. Safely riding home though the storm on my bicycle
  3. Gift of a very effective and efficient shoe dryer from my parents
  4. The diligence and presence of mind to dry of my bike after getting home
  5. Encouraging pedestrian who liked my bike lights
  6. Encouraging pedestrian who said "Ride Safe." as I was riding home though the storm
  7. Safe drive to Ft. Collins for LBNE collaboration meeting
  8. Travel funds to attend the meeting
  9. All of the opportunities presented by joining the LBNE collaboration
  10. The ability to walk a mile in the rain with no serious side-effects
  11. Good dinner at a restaurant (Larkburger) committed to sustainability and natural food (Sep. 10, 2013)
  12. Beautiful vistas and skies on the drive from Rapid City to Ft. Collins, CO (Sep. 10, 2013)
  13. Visiting two states for the first time (Wyoming and Colorado)
  14. Help from someone attending a different meeting to find the first meeting room for the LBNE meeting
  15. Reconnecting with colleagues from my days as a graduate student on BaBar
  16. Meeting new colleagues on LBNE
  17. Eating chicken and waffles for the first time
  18.  NOvA DOE proposal submitted
  19. LBNE DOE proposal submitted
  20. Successfully ironing my shirt for today (Sep. 12, 2013)
  21. Streaming television online
  22. Participating in my first Institutional Board Meeting
  23. Our political system is far less violent that those of ancient Israel and Judah (e.g. II Chronicles 21:4, 22:10-12, 23:15)
  24. First coat of paint in our bedroom walls.
  25. Finished painting our bedroom ceiling
  26. Availability of zero-VOC paint in town
  27. Our ability to afford it  zero-VOC paint
  28. I was able to help my wife get a drawer unstuck in our bedroom.
  29. Helpful hotel staff in Ft. Collins
  30. Good food at collaboration banquet
  31. Noodles & Company near hotel
  32. Collaboration Meeting ended early
  33. Delicious instant Thai noodle Soup (beef flavor)
  34. My wife's homemade chicken Thai curry
  35. Internet radio, specifically WNIU
  36. Radio stations from four different states on the drive back from Ft. Collins
  37. A route around the flooding from the LBNE meeting to home (Sep. 13, 2013)
  38. Interview with a fellow tuba player on the radio
  39. Driving safely through the rain (Sep. 13, 2013)
  40. Driving safely through the fog at night (Sep. 13, 2013)
  41. Safe arrival back in Rapid City (Sep. 13, 2013)
  42. The outpost of food and gas that is Lusk, WY
  43. Wyoming has passive solar and geothermal rest areas!

  44. Whole Foods Market in Ft. Collins

(Total: 147)

Gratitude, Part 3 (Week of Aug. 31, 2013)

  1. CF bulb stopped light in utility room from flickering
  2. Warm blankets at night
  3. BBQ with pastor and members of a church in town
  4. "I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.  I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him." - Ecclesiastes 3:12-14
  5. A table for meals
  6. Discussing colors for paint of rooms in our new house.
  7. Settling on primary color for the living room
  8. Settling on primary color for our bedroom
  9. Ease of installing new shower head
  10. Ease of uninstalling new shower head after it didn't work as we had hoped
  11. Ease of re-installing old shower head
  12. Meeting another neighbor (Norma)
  13. A wife who encourages me to seek God, follow him more fully, and accept his grace
  14. Found a USB flash drive that I didn't realize I had lost
  15. Farmers Market corn on the cob for lunch
  16. Bike Rack near my office
  17. My wife created a clever and effect way to dispatch some unwelcome ants from my office.
  18. God gave me the creativity to develop four projects for a class in less than a day
  19. The cookies in the Faculty Lounge are good
  20. The cookies in the Faculty Lounge are only 25¢
  21. Meeting other faculty members in the Faculty Lounge
  22. The opportunity to hear my U.S. Senator speak and interact with some of his constituents at a Town Hall meeting on campus
  23. IJM Chennai: Eight-Year Trial Ends with Justice, Sex Trafficking Survivors Moving Forward http://www.ijm.org/news/ijm-chennai-eight-year-trial-ends-justice-sex-trafficking-survivors-moving-forward
  24. Autumn Nights in downtown Rapid City with my wife, complete with gyros, ribs and funnel cake (Aug. 6, 2013).
  25. Meeting new neighbors (Calvin & Melissa, Ben)
  26. Finished proofreading LBNE proposal
  27. Gave my first partial lecture as a professor!
  28. Met the other Prof. Corwin at SDSM&T
  29. New desk in my office
  30. My wife bought our first paint for the new house today (Sep. 6, 2013)
  31. Encountered a prayer walk as it was passing the EE/Physics building (Sep. 5, 2013)
  32. "The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." -Philipians 4:5-6
  33. Arrival of new shop vac.

(Total: 103)

Gratitude, Part 2 (Week of Aug. 24, 2013)

  1. Able to sleep in on Sunday after the neighbor's dogs kept us up with their barking.
  2. I have the physical ability to ride by bicycle to work
  3. Our new home's proximity to my work and downtown
  4. I have a safe route on which I can bike to work
  5. Better understanding of two problems that were hindering my work with my new laptop
  6. My new work laptop
  7. Working around the dogs barking and being able to sleep through the night (Aug. 25-26, 2013)
  8. Key to the mailroom and microwave room
  9. LaTeX is now working on my work laptop
  10. SSH to Fermilab (kerberos) is now working on my work laptop
  11. I have he opportunity to view videos on Why Particle Physics Matters by others who were selected instead of me to be in the contest, and I can learn from them how to be abetter presenter myself.
  12. First band rehearsal of the semester.  I played better than I expected considering I haven't touched a tuba in almost five years
  13. Getting to know fellow tuba players in the band (Dallas, Justin, and Jason)
  14. Being able to play in the same band as my bride again.
  15. Biking home from rehearsal together
  16. We saw two cats on the way home (one siamese kitten and one adult orange tabby)
  17. Friendly technician from Information & Technology Services
  18. I can now print from my work laptop.
  19. I can now access the SDSM&T shared drives from my work laptop.
  20. Finally got LBNE DOE proposal narrative to save.
  21. Neighbors took barking dogs in last night (Aug. 26-27, 2013).
  22. My wife wrote a beautiful thank you note to the neighbors
  23. Alarm failure resulted in nice morning conversation
  24. Alarm failure did not result in being late for anything
  25. E-mail from first prospective Ph.D. advisee
  26. "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
to him who alone does great wonders,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;
to him who by understanding made the heavens,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;" - Psalm 136:1-5

  27. Meeting with first prospective Ph.D. advisee
  28. Short phone meeting this morning (Aug. 29)
  29. Multiple responses on my request to NOvA for PHYS 733 projects
  30. Alarm worked this morning
  31. Learned the name of one of the janitors who cleans the EE/Physics building (Alan)
  32. Energy saving motion sensor in my office
  33. Shelter from the rain and hail
  34. Cover for my bike
  35. Extra time for working on proposals today
  36. My wife's discovery of another Asian supermarket
  37. My wife's discovery of a Steelers Bar in Rapid City

(Total: 70)