Gratitude, Part 17 (Dec. 7-13, 2013)

  1. Snow tires for my bike
  2. Friendly bike store owner who installed snow tires at no extra charge
  3. Have not fallen off bike once since obtaining snow tires
  4. Eating pomelo
  5. Pomelo tea
  6. Seeing The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug with friends and colleagues from the Physics department (Dec. 14, 2013)
  7. Mike giving me a ride to the movie
  8. One of the students sharing his popcorn and almonds at the movie
  9. My wife's phone interview for a teaching position
  10. Learning about the differences between white-tailed deer and mule deer
  11. Our fourth anniversary (Dec. 12, 2013)
  12. Getting a great deal on a used computer and supporting a good cause at the same time
  13. The ability to have so many things delivered to our door
  14. Opportunity to travel to Japan in January
  15. Playing in my first band concert in several years
  16. Good conversation with Bob over Skype
  17. Having fun at the white elephant gift exchange
  18. Meeting Rafal's wife and children at the party
  19. Getting a geeky magnetic poetry kit in the gift exchange
  20. Lots of good food at the gift exchange
  21. Biking home with my wife from the gift exchange
  22. Successfully manually converting a proposal draft from Word to LaTex
  23. The Minnesota Public Radio online Christmas station

Total: 545

Gratitude, Part 16 (Nov. 30 - Dec. 6, 2013)

  1. Seeing the Society of Physics Students float in the Festival of Lights Parade

  2. Wishing my mother a happy birthday (Nov. 30, 2013)

  3. Good Beer & Bible discussion

  4. My questions served as effective prompts for discussion

  5. Meeting new people at church

  6. Apple Ginger hard cider

  7. Able to pick up keys early for drive to Sanford Lab 

  8. Safe drive to Sanford Lab (Dec. 2, 2013)

  9. Attending safety training with two colleagues

  10. Got to know my colleagues better during the tip

  11. Pizza Lab in Center City, SD

  12. Talking with two USD graduate students at Pizza Lab

  13. Signing the "buck" rogers sculpture at pizza lab

  14. Tour of the surface of Sanford Lab

  15. Safe drive back from Sanford

  16. Finished proceedings for conference and sent them to collaboration for comment (Dec. 6, 2013)

  17. Picked up our order of buffalo from Breadroot

  18. Placed order for salmon at Breadroot

  19. Placed order for poultry (including ducks) at Breadroot

  20. Good meeting to start drafting a proposal (Dec. 4, 2013)

  21. I am halfway to my goal for this list!

  22. Final project presentations by students in PHYS 733 (Dec. 5, 2013)

  23. Our friends were able to come to small group despite scheduling problems (Dec. 5, 2013)

  24. Opportunity to read messages from Dr. Lemut's colleagues aloud at his tribute (Dec. 5, 2013)

  25. Progress on getting colloquia series started next semester

  26. Student working on colloquia series next semester

  27. After some re-arragement of food, our new fridge is working well

  28. Despite the cold weather and bad roads, I was able to keep getting to work by a combination of bike and mass transit. 

  29. Learned more about using the Rapid City bus system

  30. Other than the cold, the weather is nice and sunny

  31. Making anniversary plans

Total: 522

Gratitude, Part 15 (Nov. 23 - 29, 2013)

  1. Getting our home office organized
  2. Significant unpacking progress from boxes in home office
  3. Received extension of deadline for proceedings
  4. Our new, energy-efficient refrigerator
  5. Our new chest freezer
  6. Finished cleaning our new refrigerator
  7. Received discount on our new refrigerator
  8. Playing internet radio station from our laptop through our iPod dock with good sound quality
  9. Someone attended the first church potluck we hosted (Nov. 24, 2013)
  10. Bought turkey and other ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner
  11. Physics Thanksgiving social
  12. Support and encouragement within the Physics Dept. and campus community after the tragic events of last Thursday (http://www.sdsmt.edu/News/Mines-President-Heather-Wilson-extends-condolences/)
  13. My wife made a beautiful memory book for Dr. Lemut
  14. Learning that I can still find God even when I seek him with imperfect motives
  15. Interesting and encouraging seminar on STEM education (Nov. 26, 2013)
  16. Gift of a constellation mug from my wife
  17. The friend who suggested the constellation mug to my wife
  18. Shopping at Main Street Market for the first time
  19. Coupon from Main Street Market
  20. Christmas candy
  21. Excellent birthday card for my mother
  22. All the parts for Phase I (and some of the parts for Phase II) of our Entertainment PC have arrived
  23. Good "town hall" meeting with fellow Project Church members (Nov. 24, 2013)
  24. Delicious chicken soup at town hall meeting
  25. My wife and I biked to church and to the town hall meeting
  26. Time off for the Thanksgiving holiday
  27. Our Thanksgiving turkey was (and still is) delicious after brining and spatchcocking
  28. We were able to host good friends for Thanksgiving dinner
  29. Our guests introduced us to the Jewish tradition of beginning the Sabbath with a Kiddish meal
  30. Our guests brought wonderful mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and brownies
  31. Great conversation with our friends that helped us get to better know each other
  32. Butternut squash baked with oil, parsley, and garlic
  33. Garlic rosemary bread from Breadroot
  34. Free range turkey

Total: 491

Gratitude, Part 14 (Nov. 16 - 22, 2013)

  1. Opportunity to help friends move from storage unit to their new house
  2. Help from other friends David and Anna in moving
  3. Ability to provide lunch for people helping
  4. Lunch also being a small birthday present for one of the people we helped move
  5. Laughs and good conversations during the move
  6. Creative solutions for appliances and furniture not fitting through doors
  7. Our friends being willing to help others in need after spending the day moving
  8. Learning how to make homemade potato chips
  9. Our food processor
  10. Our homemade potato chips turned out very well
  11. Thinking about what callouses in my life need to be removed
  12. Manheim Steamroller concert
  13. Beautiful moon out after the concert
  14. Welcoming a visitor to our church this morning (Nov. 17, 2013)
  15. The ability to edit misprints out of this list
  16. Able to safely ride home despite some of my bike clothes being locked in another building
  17. Fun trying to play my wife's clarinet
  18. Took my wife to a concert featuring a clarinet, piano, and vocalist
  19. Called my federal legislators to support a bill to combat human trafficking (Nov. 19, 2013)
  20. Good lunch and catching up with our pastor
  21. I knew what to order for my wife before she arrived
  22. Received free flu vaccination
  23. Useful tutorial for scanning events in NOvA
  24. Getting to know small group members better (Nov. 21, 2013)

Total: 457

Gratitude, Part 13 (Nov. 9 - 15, 2013)

  1. Able to help the Society of Physics Students with a donation of boxes
  2. My wife was able to turn of the water to a broken pipe outside
  3. The pipe is now fixed
  4. Veterans honored today (Nov. 11, 2013), especially my grandfathers (and step-grandfathers) Galen, Gordy, and Louie
  5. Meetings cancelled and thus more time to work today (Nov. 12, 2013)
  6. Three-day weekend
  7. Purchase of a powerful cordless drill
  8. Setting up several parts of our entertainment system, including the tuner and speakers
  9. Cat paw prints in the snow
  10. Stranger ringing our doorbell to ask if we wanted a cat
  11. Helping my wife cut her hair
  12. Peppermint tea
  13. Informative meeting with Director of ES&H
  14. Placing my first order with the GRE search service
  15. Cooking tacos with my wife
  16. Furniture shopping with my wife
  17. Keeping in touch with our friend Sam in Illinois
  18. Reading the Little House on the Prairie series with my wife
  19. My wife's grace under pressure during the broken pipe incident
  20. Finding a plumber able to fix the problem on short notice
  21. My wife brining my bike lights after I had forgotten to pack them
  22. My wife giving me a ride after she brought my bike lights
  23. My bike lights worked well enough for me to ride home and buy a surprise along the way
  24. Ordered new bike light
  25. New curry paste
  26. Good meetings with current and prospective students (Nov. 14, 2013)
  27. Lunch with a good friend via Skype
  28. Made decision about what to do with lab space
  29. Made important decision regarding a student's project

Total: 433

Gratitude, Part 12 (Nov. 2 - 8, 2013)

  1. Fellowship and fun at first small group meeting (Nov. 7, 2013)

  2. Great food my wife made for small group

  3. A friend's promotion

  4. A friend's generosity in bringing pizza to the small group meeting

  5. Fun playing Apples to Apples

  6. Getting to know our small group members a bit better

  7. Bamboo-themed room divider

  8. Cleaned up the living room to prepare for small group gatherings

  9. Homemade french fries

  10. Beer & Bible (Nov. 3, 2013)

  11. Finding a useable bicycle route to Buffalo Wild Wings

  12. The bartender at BWW letting me use their phone after my cell phone battery ran out

  13. Got more work done than I expected on Saturday (Nov. 2, 2013)

  14. Planting garlic

  15. Attending the live chat with scientists underground at the Homestake Mine

  16. Interviewing a Tiospaye scholar at their open house (Nov. 5, 2013)

  17. Door prize from the Tiospaye scholar open house

  18. Good conversation with a colleague and friend (Nov. 6, 2013)

  19. Unintentional but good lessons in computer programing and debugging in class (Nov. 8, 2013)

  20.  Friendly staff in the Music Office when I asked about my wife's lost tuner

  21. Good lunch with Jesse from church

  22. Interesting ideas in the physics colloquium

Total: 404

Gratitude, Part 11 (Oct. 26 - Nov. 1)

  1. The opportunity to help friends move in very trying circumstances (Oct. 26, 2013)
  2. People signing up for small groups this morning (Oct. 27, 2013)
  3. Forgiveness of my friends
  4. Helping people in need by clearing yard debris created by the blizzard
  5. Time to rest from all of the work this week and weekend
  6. Time to read and write to sort out some of my emotions
  7. My wife found her wedding ring, which had been lost for roughly a year (Nov. 1, 2013)!
  8. Good times at the Physics Dept. Halloween Social
  9. Good costumes at the Physics Dept. Halloween Social
  10. Good food at the Physics Dept. Halloween Social
  11. My wife's homemade spagetti squash
  12. My wife's homemade rice dish
  13. Ability to care for my wife when she is sick
  14. Successfully airing out our new mattress topper
  15. My wife's safe journey from Columbus to Minneapolis
  16. My wife's safe journey from Minneapolis to Rapid City
  17. Picking my wife up at the airport
  18. Being present in person at the announcement of the first LUX science results.
  19. Meeting interesting people at the announcement
  20. The governor's encouraging words at the announcement
  21. Learning about the Cultural Advisory Committee for the Sanford Lab
  22. Safe ride to and from the  LUX announcement
  23. Finished my lecture for the week earlier than I expected
  24. Interesting STEM education seminar (Oct. 29, 2013)
  25. My wife was able to join me at the seminar
  26. Noticing my improvement at band rehearsal (Oct. 30, 2013)

Total: 382