Thanks, dammit!

Okay, so I won't regale you with a laundry list of icky stuff. Suffice it to say that I have not been feeling particularly grateful today. I've been cranky about a whole lot of stuff, and following the "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all" principle, I have been refraining from blogging today.

But, you know, that's not what the practice of maintaining this blog is about. It's not "don't say anything at all," but "If you don't have something nice to say, find something nice, no matter how small or seemingly trivial." And if I derail the Train of Toxic Thoughts long enough to look around, there's plenty of nice stuff out there.

I have been listening to some of my most beloved music today: Dvorak's New World Symphony, Mars and Mercury and Jupiter from Holst's The Planets, Holst's two suites for band, Rimsky-Korsakoff's Capriccio Espagnole, and a whole slew of overtures that I enjoy. Great music is definitely something to be thankful for.

I am also thankful that I had a selection of microwaveable meals in the freezer here at the office. it meant that I didn't have to go out in the chilly rain to pick up lunch... or starve, either.

I am thankful that I have three days off from work coming up - for a full five-day weekend.

I am thankful that I put the finishing touches on a major deliverable I've been working on - it's a forecasting tool with some automation built in, to allow managers in my company to compare budgeted, actual, and forecasted amounts for five or six different categories of revenue that we get on this project. This is only the first version, and there are several more enhancements I need to put into the next version, but there's a great feeling with coming to a conclusion with a product that you've built. I'm hoping for some good feedback on it - and not just "it's nice" but useful comments and questions that will help me add enhancements that will help people do their jobs.

So the prayer I offer today is this: when you are surrounded by ick, and the toxic thoughts won't stop wending their way through your mind, may you step back and notice something that makes you smile, no matter how fleeting.