Gratitude-A-Day Dec 31, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for fun. Simple as that.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 30, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for self awareness and the opportunity for reflection. This last week has been emotionally exhausting and I'm planning to spend some time today reflecting on the source of these feelings.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 29, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for productive days. I got a lot accomplished yesterday and that pile of work that was looming yesterday feels much more manageable today.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 28, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for self-determination - at least to some extent. I have a pile of work I'm facing and I'm glad that I have the opportunity to determine how to approach it rather than having it dictated to me how I should do things.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 27, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for generosity from others. Generosity helps to soften my perception of the sharp edges that can, at times, seem to dominate the world.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 26, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for having an opportunity to be gracious. I'm not going to explain the details about this but it feels good and I know is the right thing to do.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 25, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for being alive. This sounds a little simple to my ear but it's how I'm feeling this morning.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 24, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for wonderful friends. I've been around a number of people that a really care for over the last week and I feel fortunate to have such a wonderful group of people around me. For me this is the holiday spirit.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 23, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for rhymes. I like word play, though I'm not very good at it. I just heard the song "Bullet" by Rhymefest and realized I was grateful for the wordplay in songs and poetry.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 22, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for my physical therapist and the gift she has given me this holiday season of being able to ride, run and hopefully race - really race - again next season. This is such a big thing - it's hard for me to contain my excitement!

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 21, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for the inspiration and motivation that comes from having something new emerge in my life.

Altar Boyz

A couple of weeks ago I alluded to receiving an offer for free tickets to a show. The show was last night and it was Altar Boyz. It's a spoof on boy bands (think NSYNC, or the Backstreet Boys) as well as the trend in evangelical churches toward the inclusion of pop music and youth culture in their salvation campaigns.

I'm not a theater reviewer, a huge fan of boy bands or a deep well of knowledge about saving souls but here are a couple of thoughts:

• The singing was great. I guess I was a bit surprised by the quality of the performances. At times they really drew me in and I could feel the power of their performance.
  
• Of the five guys on stage Mark stole the show. His "attention to detail" came through in everything he did and provided never ending entertainment. Abraham's character kept growing throughout the performance and came in a close second to Mark who started off strong and finished just as strong.
  
• The dancing and choreography was excellent. As an amateur dancer I was fascinated by some of their hip-hop moves.
  
• Best song of the show - "Something About You" If you see the show you'll understand what I'm talking about!
  
• The show left a lot of room for interpretation. Was this a spoof or was it a subtle way to save more souls? I'd be really interested to know how other people respond to it. Did it offend you? Make you laugh? Make you think about going to check out a mega church some day soon?
  
• There were some really funny moments. This is a show to talk about after you leave the theater and laugh at some of the jokes again a second or third time. If you decide to go make sure to go with great company, I know that put a shine on the experience for me.
  

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 20, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for sleep. I'm getting off to a groggy start to the day but I'm sure I'll perk up soon. The grogginess makes me really appreciate my soft warm bed and I'm already looking forward to crawling back into it this evening.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 19, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for darkness. I was awake for a bit last night around 2:30 AM and it was very dark. Not quite complete darkness but by keeping my eyes closed it seemed that way. I really enjoyed this time as it forced me to tune into my other senses and experience them without the visual filter. This isn't the only time I've had this sort of experience - just the most recent.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 18, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for kind people. I had a really nice experience last night and it was the result of the kindness of a number of people.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 17, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for my neighborhood. I love all the different energy that exists just within a few blocks of home. I went to a couple of different areas of the city recently and it allowed me to realize how great my neighborhood is.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 16, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for having a family that is open to exploring new ideas.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 15, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for self-determination. Sure, in many ways the concept of self-determination is a fallacy as we're all dependent on our communities, but every day I'm discovering new ways to determine my own life course that I hadn't know were possible.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 14, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for gift giving. I tend to be a bit of a humbug when it comes to giving holiday gifts. This year I'm exploring a different approach to this holiday tradition and I'm grateful for the opportunity to play in this way.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 13, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for great storytelling. This time it's inspired by the film The Fountain. This film reached deep inside of me. Here is another article in Wired Magazine about the movie.
I tend to agree with the some of the comments about this movie that you will either love it or hate it - no middle ground. Problem is that I don't know if I love it but I know that I loved experiencing it. Not sure that makes sense but it's what the film did to me.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 12, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for the spell of warm weather we're having in mid-December. I've gotten out for a couple of nice bike rides in the last couple of days which is pretty amazing for Minnesota at this time of year.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 11, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for synchronicity in my work life.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 10, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for the combination of patience and learning. These go together in a special way. It's very difficult for me to rush real learning. Some people seem to be specialized at cramming (for a test, project at work, learning a new skill) but that just doesn't work for me. A little bit every day really adds up to something special for me.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 9, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for being able to sleep in. I was up late last night and slept in longer than I think I have for years.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 8, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for sunny winter days. The crisp sunshine puts a smile on my face.

I need to admit that this morning when I was trying to figure out what to write for the Gratitude-A-Day post I drew a complete blank. Over the two months I've been doing this activity today is the first time that has happened. It was an empty and discouraging feeling to not feel grateful for anything. A couple of hours later that changed but it was still a powerful experience.

A Must Read For Anyone Interested in Innovation

I picked this one up from Joel Splosky's Reddit page. If you're interested in innovation, particularly within large companies, this is a must read.

Engineering Management Hacks: "Extraordinary contempt and defiance beyond the normal call of engineering duty"

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 7, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for my new physical therapist. My knee has been bothering me for about 1.5 years and I believe that this new person I'm working with might be getting me on the right track to a solution. This is a huge emotional lift to feel like I might be able to get back on the bike, x-country skis, and maybe even running again.

Or maybe...

I just realized that the blogger swag might not be for this blog. I contribute to a couple of other community blogs and maybe it's for one of those. I'll probably never know for sure so I'm just going to pretend that it's for this one.

An Important Milestone In The Life of a Blogger

I guess I've reached some sort of level of exposure through this blog as I received my first offer for blogger swag yesterday. Here is a short excerpt of the email that I received:

I am the marketing director for ______, producer of the hit off-broadway show ________. _____ is a fan of your blog and would love for you to come see ____________ in Minneapolis at the __________ Theatre.

I'm not going to tell who this was from yet but watch for an honest review of the event on these pages in the near future.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 6, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for music. Specifically, music that has the power to evoke emotions. Last night while I was ending my day I listened to one of my favorite classical pieces - Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3. This music seems to always take me through a range of emotions and I'm always amazed by the dynamics of the piano. I've seen this concerto performed live one time and it was amazing to watch the pianist's fingers fly across the keyboard. Each time I hear it now I imagine sitting stage right so I can see these fingers at work.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 5, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for the healing touch effect of close embrace dance position in Argentine Tango.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 4, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for the environmental leadership that seems to keep coming out of Wal-Mart. Yes, you read that correctly, Wal-Mart. Read this to find out more about what I'm talking about. Each time a new bit of news comes out of Bentonville on this subject it gets a little more impressive.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 3, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for courage. Courage is expressed by people in so many ways most of which are never acknowledged by anyone else. So here is one big blanket Thank You to anyone who has silently shown courage to do what they believe is right.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 2, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for my dad. We had a great conversation over breakfast this morning and I'm thankful that he is my father.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 1, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for radio with soul and passion. I'm speaking of The Current from Minnesota Public Radio.