tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93097152024-03-07T12:23:57.090-06:00Swirling Planet TimesComments and Discussion on Renewable Energy, Clean Technology, Politics and Public Policy (from a Progressive perspective), Triathlon, Salsa Dancing, Music, Art, Hollywood and Theater. I don't try to make each post perfect. I publish first drafts and tehn may get back to cleaning things up later. Hopefully, the first draft is clear enough for you to get the idea. Add comments if you'd like clarity on anything I mention.Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.comBlogger257125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-40599631347937494102008-10-12T17:34:00.007-05:002008-10-12T18:09:48.428-05:00Photos from SeattleI went on a bike ride today around Lake Union. The lake is about 200 yards from our apartment and is surrounded by houseboats, yacht moorings, and industrial/commercial facilities. There is a ton of activity on the lake all the time including sailboats, kayaks, yachats (power and sailing), float plane taxis, fishing boats, barges, and other vessels. It's amazing that people don't more collisions! Here are some photos from that ride. The photos are taken with my iPhone so the quality isn't great but it provides the scene. <br /><br />First a quick map to provide some orientation:<br /><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=105573942549367224617.000459162c5c3988f883c&ll=47.638617,-122.331991&spn=0.028974,0.090981&z=14">Click for Map</a><br /><br />First set is taken from Lakeview Avenue on the south east side of the lake. <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1xbzoVeuwWQbsx98Sw-oO9RXJNPdya-UBYxU-9JrZYJMSJRXTXJ6BqJ9fltcDwtOLClcGTJJHWblHBIdpWTgfA4j8HOL_UxN1E6_kLLIk84hdim4IiXtjV_qRenK1ppY4P8lu/s1600-h/IMG_0010.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1xbzoVeuwWQbsx98Sw-oO9RXJNPdya-UBYxU-9JrZYJMSJRXTXJ6BqJ9fltcDwtOLClcGTJJHWblHBIdpWTgfA4j8HOL_UxN1E6_kLLIk84hdim4IiXtjV_qRenK1ppY4P8lu/s400/IMG_0010.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256400845360109490" border="0" /></a>Looking north north west. <br /></div> <br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIXyl2zfSlEH8E1_CEfua72cCUvGcqaLdVqcT2HqEg1U3HIZYKY4YzehUphyphenhyphenwV-BWu77GXhUTOjwI6k1sYsv0MZV6ybgjDSxGIWctLlROlKMEMaHtVXHTeGgKNrsUUUxy-MSQd/s1600-h/IMG_0011.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIXyl2zfSlEH8E1_CEfua72cCUvGcqaLdVqcT2HqEg1U3HIZYKY4YzehUphyphenhyphenwV-BWu77GXhUTOjwI6k1sYsv0MZV6ybgjDSxGIWctLlROlKMEMaHtVXHTeGgKNrsUUUxy-MSQd/s400/IMG_0011.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256401093013569362" border="0" /></a>Looking west north west. Queen Anne hill in the background<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8nO8ZZ-Q-nz5aDfiJyytQg53sr_WfBud5MshuU5FZ3YjOslWLaHhznWb7BBMygrMZFdA6dsZHAeVgv65_FAGoXCdnnZmEBcc62NK00qakd__kR_lLvvrRIsGPzqPBZb0DuU_G/s1600-h/IMG_0012.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8nO8ZZ-Q-nz5aDfiJyytQg53sr_WfBud5MshuU5FZ3YjOslWLaHhznWb7BBMygrMZFdA6dsZHAeVgv65_FAGoXCdnnZmEBcc62NK00qakd__kR_lLvvrRIsGPzqPBZb0DuU_G/s400/IMG_0012.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256401613495575186" border="0" /></a>Looking West. Queen Anne Hill in background.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiG35-t6cmgyt1Qk_areFkK5n79t6yuOZtqO3lmUm6zK5d-J9MTAmDi92qGzD-v-Vltlt5CylBMduIc7UuqfofizdOoEtT_KLU6r8CY2ydGA0i_eRKBLeCftBt5979J6ZknQvk/s1600-h/IMG_0013.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiG35-t6cmgyt1Qk_areFkK5n79t6yuOZtqO3lmUm6zK5d-J9MTAmDi92qGzD-v-Vltlt5CylBMduIc7UuqfofizdOoEtT_KLU6r8CY2ydGA0i_eRKBLeCftBt5979J6ZknQvk/s400/IMG_0013.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256401619084580034" border="0" /></a>Looking west south west. </div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_AebCc7EN4nvtSF3sQ2Y06ichC4AFs95qiAFNiKSRTUKFFl22HfK03cIhKTj78QWyhzDOXlXgPMDFpBsJ2yvdyvfEEyzSszDZkrlrv4aw9k3jk8sr-8D7hRtDGEeor2Oy0VBf/s1600-h/IMG_0014.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_AebCc7EN4nvtSF3sQ2Y06ichC4AFs95qiAFNiKSRTUKFFl22HfK03cIhKTj78QWyhzDOXlXgPMDFpBsJ2yvdyvfEEyzSszDZkrlrv4aw9k3jk8sr-8D7hRtDGEeor2Oy0VBf/s400/IMG_0014.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256401625998921330" border="0" /></a>Looking south west. Space Needle and Seattle Center in Background.<br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvEZNx5ms1w-Ah2lyg1WWJ5Npu7J1QH9A8ktUNpp6fGgTjejdnYbactMltZQSUJXbBD6q3lVpLmkIUh5KIw4fMXPFrLVo4TVVSDzMmnIbUBOBpWaofsYHozHL9zCK4yHtdPKq_/s1600-h/IMG_0015.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvEZNx5ms1w-Ah2lyg1WWJ5Npu7J1QH9A8ktUNpp6fGgTjejdnYbactMltZQSUJXbBD6q3lVpLmkIUh5KIw4fMXPFrLVo4TVVSDzMmnIbUBOBpWaofsYHozHL9zCK4yHtdPKq_/s400/IMG_0015.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256401629671961058" border="0" /></a>Looking South. Downtown in background. </div><br />And the second set is take from Gas Works Park on the north side of the lake.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhliBoFx-yXYTXQh6rNuUdf-cZ2vR5vwF9ki6OsRq1_9LZihUgcVl6-dnKR61zwDkECh6ONwpU9gH0u7lWsSMYXVqptL0Jwu6vvHEKlsxP4gg0W5h85mmPbVniFA29iVQbGAPll/s1600-h/IMG_0016.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhliBoFx-yXYTXQh6rNuUdf-cZ2vR5vwF9ki6OsRq1_9LZihUgcVl6-dnKR61zwDkECh6ONwpU9gH0u7lWsSMYXVqptL0Jwu6vvHEKlsxP4gg0W5h85mmPbVniFA29iVQbGAPll/s400/IMG_0016.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256401627149644658" border="0" /></a><br />This first shot is an attempt to find out apartment. Probably hidden behind a tree from this angle, but we would be somewhere in that shot.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxywR_3aQpGvO8HQ8DZrsbwRcz12AvJBmMsVabszCvCRHWmhhodDAkRtPGrKq9ffTejNyJXVnGzD0IZoCOfTqJFCZgBIxXDxswHpVivVarx7sibM37MBNYKW1HDehnl3ZrqtLh/s1600-h/IMG_0017.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxywR_3aQpGvO8HQ8DZrsbwRcz12AvJBmMsVabszCvCRHWmhhodDAkRtPGrKq9ffTejNyJXVnGzD0IZoCOfTqJFCZgBIxXDxswHpVivVarx7sibM37MBNYKW1HDehnl3ZrqtLh/s400/IMG_0017.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256401830284630338" border="0" /></a>Looking west. Queen Anne hill in background.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe32pdD4E6t5prlYsnk7SXwUAFp9c-Ke_0HeeoRSI9miTp0di6vAoRWUZ3nBzI06VvcJtJrJPJOEf-gWOzUt9ogq69EJIdsjbD3G0fC_D-lyNgJbVtwkL3voCsoxFCvCJaUUUD/s1600-h/IMG_0018.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe32pdD4E6t5prlYsnk7SXwUAFp9c-Ke_0HeeoRSI9miTp0di6vAoRWUZ3nBzI06VvcJtJrJPJOEf-gWOzUt9ogq69EJIdsjbD3G0fC_D-lyNgJbVtwkL3voCsoxFCvCJaUUUD/s400/IMG_0018.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256401831718646466" border="0" /></a>Looking south west. Queen Anne hill and Seattle Fire Department fire boat. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD7b3tnij2jRZ3SWKA_w8hfbXe4JyjiZMCwlpz_5kAddJ_J_fG07x-ACijHfv_5GWlkbwrHwQFZD4YtdMil_tb9PPaGxQkS8ErLH0uGWenj0lte3CYePf_9sTgoGBSRgBff9N6/s1600-h/IMG_0019.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD7b3tnij2jRZ3SWKA_w8hfbXe4JyjiZMCwlpz_5kAddJ_J_fG07x-ACijHfv_5GWlkbwrHwQFZD4YtdMil_tb9PPaGxQkS8ErLH0uGWenj0lte3CYePf_9sTgoGBSRgBff9N6/s400/IMG_0019.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256401830966920626" border="0" /></a>Looking South. Fireboat, Space Needle and Downtown.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPGQLabG9wQI_Fleww6sFzohPE2U_VBN9IM9ZX05gS7E0lkRFRWHJWeIAI8-bKQHOe45ShiUyyvxsw_sxWmIqE2HNJZz1x5SBB-P15dOZC2fL15MXrLxXWpu7BFFZJ4W5cdcbH/s1600-h/IMG_0020.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPGQLabG9wQI_Fleww6sFzohPE2U_VBN9IM9ZX05gS7E0lkRFRWHJWeIAI8-bKQHOe45ShiUyyvxsw_sxWmIqE2HNJZz1x5SBB-P15dOZC2fL15MXrLxXWpu7BFFZJ4W5cdcbH/s400/IMG_0020.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256401829275287202" border="0" /></a>Looking Southeast. Downtown and the edge of Capitol Hill.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlwsgIWyoA5NOUjjrtojzZxBO-Iz20KCxZJqRC_YdObiqCZLWvb2P-4l0hqKRDcVbo1XObAU-gyZrL2LTGcp75yEQ77X0ZsMAFSIA2y1gIojGUUiB3PMZdhP-Zm9VxU_f-1e7f/s1600-h/IMG_0021.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlwsgIWyoA5NOUjjrtojzZxBO-Iz20KCxZJqRC_YdObiqCZLWvb2P-4l0hqKRDcVbo1XObAU-gyZrL2LTGcp75yEQ77X0ZsMAFSIA2y1gIojGUUiB3PMZdhP-Zm9VxU_f-1e7f/s400/IMG_0021.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256401901597335026" border="0" /></a>Looking East Southeast. Capitol Hill.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBCB0lXAmawbOuuU9SAvGGLDuR7auOnqIpxP2rtSkW-KwwuXiqFTCGNCKEo-uvKHkkmt-JkDb1oSYZ-92hRns1keh1CJemIF_ZwP44t6Y7kLIavu7QaJ8V7BizeCJh3Cg-0yxc/s1600-h/IMG_0021.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBCB0lXAmawbOuuU9SAvGGLDuR7auOnqIpxP2rtSkW-KwwuXiqFTCGNCKEo-uvKHkkmt-JkDb1oSYZ-92hRns1keh1CJemIF_ZwP44t6Y7kLIavu7QaJ8V7BizeCJh3Cg-0yxc/s400/IMG_0021.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256401828724512786" border="0" /></a>Looking East. Capitol Hill and East Lake. <br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDp7xe6DGgHDxJa42C-hxlOmSNCUbvtGg2qxyurokV61TN8p3grvIkC7Cgqv7BziVYMDckjBiT9s3k3FdLe9UcEXzVvbzUDsP1R_zBFtaTZj_uJ5oTkolY2kXL5C29RJMDRNnk/s1600-h/IMG_0022.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDp7xe6DGgHDxJa42C-hxlOmSNCUbvtGg2qxyurokV61TN8p3grvIkC7Cgqv7BziVYMDckjBiT9s3k3FdLe9UcEXzVvbzUDsP1R_zBFtaTZj_uJ5oTkolY2kXL5C29RJMDRNnk/s400/IMG_0022.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256401905906883122" border="0" /></a><br />Looking East NorthEast. East Lake (the shot of our apartment is pointing a little further to the north than this shot.)<br /></div>Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-46492418023719130662008-09-08T08:58:00.002-05:002008-09-08T09:01:37.791-05:00Gratitude-A-Day September 8, 2008Today, I'm grateful for the internet. I'm sitting here in our hotel room this morning on our trip west and able to connect with the world, catch up on work, do some work and find weather and road reports all so easily. It's really pretty amazing and easy!Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-78472578242279447242008-09-07T22:35:00.001-05:002008-09-07T22:37:03.323-05:00Gratitude-A-Day September 7, 2008Today, I'm grateful for expansive views! The drive through South Dakota today was surprisingly beautiful. We saw some incredible colors in the Badlands (pictures to be posted soon!) and the fields of wheat and grass were beautiful in their color.Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-33122688076729102612008-09-05T08:36:00.004-05:002008-09-06T09:25:34.265-05:00Gratitude-A-Day September 6, 2008Today, I'm grateful for freedom. Yesterday, I wrote about my feelings of sadness in moving further away from family in Minneapolis and said I would write today about the reasons for moving. This post is going to be a simplified version of these feelings but I hope to be able to dive into this topic in greater detail in the future.<br /><ul><li>I've lived in Minneapolis (SouthWest Minneapolis specifically) my whole life - except for 8 semesters in college (Beloit, WI). I want to experience living in a different setting. Different in terms of attitude, natural landscape, history, culture. Moving to Des Moines, Chicago, Kansas City, Madison, or St Cloud would feel very much like Minneapolis. Different to me would be west coast, east coast or another country. The deep south would be different but isn't appealing to me. Seattle is different.<br /></li><li>When I went to college I was amazed what it was like to suddenly be in a place where all of the people around me were new. No one had preconcieved notions of who I was. This created an opportunity to define myself anew and shed habits and social conditioning I carried from earlier in my life. I see moving to a new city (although some people already know me in Seattle) as another opportunity to define myself with a relatively clean slate. I figure that I'll have 2-4 of these opportunities in life and I want to make the most of this one.<br /></li><li>I want to find out what it takes to create "home" in a new location. I'm excited to figure out all of the simple things - where is the grocery store/post office/corner store; what are the local radio and TV stations, what do people talk about at the bus stop. I'm also excited to learn the vibe of a new community - how does the city wake up in the morning; what are the pressures the community feels; what vision does the city share for the future. And, what does it take for me to feel at home in a new place?<br /></li><li>I've always lived close to my immediate family. This is the flip side to my post yesterday - I want to experience how it feels to be removed from my family and loved ones. What does it feel like to be a long way away when they are sick/hurting and celebrating/joyous. This might sound crazy but it's something I'm interested in experiencing.<br /></li><li>In addition to moving to a new place I'm also starting a new chapter in my career. By founding Gottschalk Technologies, Inc I'm going to be learning and growing as a business person and professional in ways I can't begin to imagine. I feel that by combining this new buisness venture with living in a new community will provide the right kind of stimulus and freedom to break new ground and learn as quickly as possible. I feel kind of stale in Minneapolis in terms of my professional growth. When I'm in Seattle I feel fresh and new.<br /></li><li>I've gotten to know Minnesota and the surrounding communities VERY well in the time I've lived here. For the last few years I've found myself yearning to have a new home base to explore from. Living in Seattle will provide a fantastic opportunity to explore and see and experince new places and things on a daily/weekly basis. This includes neighborhoods, restaurants, theaters, clubs, museums, day trips, bike routes, races, weekend trips, backpacking, the ocean, the parks and a whole bunch of other things. </li></ul>I'm also VERY interested to hear from the rest of you about your experiences moving to a new location or how it feels to anticipate an upcoming move. Please share your thoughts, feelings and experiences in comments!Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-50290034593505354132008-09-05T07:37:00.003-05:002008-09-05T08:36:12.269-05:00Gratitude-A-Day September 5, 2008Today, I'm grateful for family. On the eve of the next step in our move to Seattle I'm very aware of my feelings of sadness about being further away from my now larger family in Minneapolis. We made our decision to move several months ago (tomorrow I'll write more about my reasons for that decision) and, at that time, I knew there would be a day that such feelings would be present and strong. But, like feelings surrounding all transitions in life, I've come to learn that given a bit of time I'll adjust to the new situation and feel strong, connected and happy. I'm looking forward to the next chance to give everyone a big hug and catch up in person. I know we'll stay in touch before then and the quality of time together will be that much more valuable, special and memorable.Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-78258467684886683412008-09-04T09:29:00.002-05:002008-09-04T09:35:54.902-05:00Gratitude-A-Day September 4, 2008Today, I'm grateful for friends. I had breakfast with a good friend this morning and the conversation we had was invigorating and refreshing. We are both going through a lot of change in our lives right now and were able to listen to and hear each other in a way that was uniquely valuable.Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-36168960930001169462008-09-03T08:54:00.002-05:002008-09-03T09:03:36.261-05:00Gratitude-A-Day September 3, 2008Today, I'm grateful for great sleeping weather. Yesterday the weather dried out and cooled off. We got out our blankets for the first time since May and it was nice to snuggle in a warm bed on the first cool evening of late summer.Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-12649500760521028582008-09-02T07:50:00.002-05:002008-09-02T07:54:46.211-05:00Gratitude-A-Day September 2, 2008Today, I'm grateful for rain. It's gotten really muggy here in Minneapolis on the first two days of September and the air quality has gotten pretty bad as well. See the <a href="http://aqi.pca.state.mn.us/hourly/">Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Air Quality website</a> for the current air quality readings which this morning were sitting about about 90. A pressure front is supposed to come through town later this morning and bring rain with it lowering the dew point and cleaning up the air. It'll be a nice change tomorrow!Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-33009899180176622432008-09-01T10:46:00.002-05:002008-09-01T10:50:49.815-05:00Gratitude-A-Day September 1, 2008First day of September always feels like the first day of fall to me. To mark this passing of time I've decided to restart the Gratitude-A-Day posts that I was doing over a year ago. So...<br /><br />Today, I'm grateful for libraries. I'm trying to save money these days as we are in the process of moving to Seattle and the library has turned out to be a great way to save a few $. When I hear of a book that is of interest to me I just go to my library's web site and request the item. Sometimes it's available right away, other times it takes months. I kind of like it when it takes time because it feels like a gift when I get the email saying "the book you reserved is ready to be picked up...". And then I get to review the book in greater detail before deciding if it's a Buy, Skim and Return, Return right away. This way I only end up owning the books I really want and get to see a lot more content without spending the $.Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-27911500508096459132007-03-26T22:00:00.000-05:002007-03-26T07:45:29.279-05:00Gratitude-A-Day March 26, 2007Today, I'm grateful for the internet. In the last 24 hours I've had a couple of experiences that have demonstrated the power of the internet to make something that would have been very difficult or clumsy into a simple task. I really can't imagine how day-to-day life would work<br />without it.Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-68552591409627776712007-03-23T17:45:00.000-05:002007-03-23T22:00:10.194-05:00Gratitude-A-Day March 23, 2007Today, I'm grateful for the return of the birds in the spring. I was struck by the sound of their songs this morning when I walked out the door. There presence makes the morning so much more dynamic. A month ago it was the sound of cold snow under foot. I like the change.Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-59299966477397404572007-03-20T10:19:00.000-05:002007-03-20T17:44:41.549-05:00Gratitude-A-Day March 20, 2007Today, I'm grateful for having fun at work. The last few days at work have been a real pleasure which isn't always the case. It's not the case often enough that it stands out when it is this way.Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-47165462052509666722007-03-17T14:16:00.000-05:002007-03-17T10:19:17.842-05:00Gratitude-A-Day March 17, 2007Today, I'm grateful for already knowing how to solve a computer problem that has resurfaced. A couple of weeks ago my windows XP laptop wouldn't start up after upgrading some software. I spent 3 days and some very stressful time trying to fix it. I eventually figured out the solution. This morning the problem is back. But this time I know the fix. The second time through these things is so much easier and I've grateful for that right now.Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-72330913038980483872007-03-14T16:28:00.000-05:002007-03-14T14:16:45.447-05:00Gratitude-A-Day March 14, 2007Today, I'm grateful for the arrival of spring. OK, I know it's supposed to snow again tomorrow but it was so nice yesterday to have temps in the mid 60s. It's been a long time since I've felt that kind of sunshine on my skin as I didn't take a vacation this winter.Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-81608060420057419032007-03-05T07:43:00.000-06:002007-03-05T16:28:39.673-06:00Gratitude-A-Day March 5, 2007Today, I'm grateful for the early morning hours. I got up a bit earlier this morning to start my day and week and it's feels good. I love those early morning hours when my thinking is clear and the world seems fresh and full of possibility.Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-90595457294097943122007-03-02T17:41:00.000-06:002007-03-02T07:43:26.073-06:00Gratitude-A-Day March 2, 2007Today, I'm grateful for flexibility. I had a meeting yesterday at 4 PM that got rescheduled to this morning at 6:30 AM. I was able to attend from home, using an online meeting, and it went great. Usually I don't like these kinds of early morning things but today I was grateful that the technology available allowed the flexibility in planning and execution.Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-78147766564841527132007-02-27T12:59:00.000-06:002007-02-27T17:41:03.494-06:00Gratitude-A-Day Feb 27, 2007Today, I'm grateful for my family. We had a fun family gathering on Sunday evening for dinner and to celebrate my Dad's birthday. It was a lot of fun and a good reminder of how much I appreciate them.Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-48725387703525239142007-02-24T08:35:00.000-06:002007-02-24T12:59:49.056-06:00Gratitude-A-Day Feb 24, 2007Today, I'm grateful for the anticipation of a big snow storm. We're supposed to be getting whopper of a storm in the Twin Cities this weekend and it's been fun to watch people scurry around in preparation. Now we just need the storm!Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-43364173041322163842007-02-21T11:37:00.000-06:002007-02-21T08:34:16.951-06:00Gratitude-A-Day Feb 21, 2007Today, I'm grateful for the touch of spring weather we've had the last couple of days. After the deep freeze of the last month 40 degrees and sunny feels so great!Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-10051823204644889562007-02-18T08:54:00.000-06:002007-02-18T11:37:50.097-06:00Gratitude-A-Day Feb 18, 2007Today, I'm grateful for patience and the internet. On Thursday afternoon a laptop I use for work crashed and I didn't discover the severity of the problem until Friday AM. I spent most of Friday afternoon trying to recover the system, most of Friday night stressing about my lack of success and what I would have to do, most of Saturday rearranging my life so that I could work on this problem and start to figure out what I would do if I couldn't recover the computer, and then Sunday morning I fixed it! <br /><br />Without patience and very generous people on the internet I wouldn't have been able to accomplish this task. I'm very grateful for all of these people even most of them will never even know that the information they shared was what I needed.Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-88489342433338527812007-02-15T08:52:00.000-06:002007-02-15T08:54:33.830-06:00Gratitude-A-Day Feb 15, 2007Today, I'm grateful for making change in my life. A couple of days ago I woke up in a bad mood. I realized what was behind that mood - frustration with myself for not following through on commitments I've made - and have put a plan into action to change. It feels good to understand the source of these feelings, create a plan and start working the plan.Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-9972775722756120562007-02-12T09:08:00.000-06:002007-02-05T09:08:55.781-06:00Gratitude-A-Day Feb 12, 2007Today, I'm grateful for having the opportunity to improve my mode. I've woken up in a bad mood today. This is pretty unusual for me and makes it all the more powerful. What I'm grateful for right now is that I know I'm the one that has the power to change my current mind state and I'm glad that power is mine and that I'm not dependent on someone else to make it all better.Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-78571645807936904272007-02-05T11:21:00.000-06:002007-02-05T09:08:27.215-06:00Gratitude-A-Day Feb 5, 2007Today, I'm grateful for a warm home. This cold snap we've been having reminds me of how dependent I am on technology such as indoor heating and, heating fuel/natural gas and double pane windows.Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-33421606983614580502007-02-03T07:05:00.000-06:002007-02-03T11:20:08.732-06:00Gratitude-A-Day Feb 3, 2007I'm changing my strategy for my Gratitude-A-Day posts. I've decided to change my priorities a bit and although this exercise doesn't take a lot of time each day it's adding to my cumulative stress. So, I'm going to post a Gratitude-A-Day every 3-4 days rather than every day.Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9309715.post-52458722977712528542007-02-02T10:39:00.000-06:002007-02-02T10:40:17.881-06:00Abundance and ScarcityWhen resources (whatever resources are involved in the discussion – can be people, food, time, money, natural resources, territory, prestige, pride, …) are abundant there is less pressure on the parties involved in determining a course of action and therefore opportunities for compromise and “win-win” solutions are more readily available. When resources are scarce it is less likely that “true win-win” solutions are easily agreed upon. Often one or more parties feels like they are getting short-changed in these situations and they will “fight back” in some way or another.Bart Gottschalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01340294551139838665noreply@blogger.com1