Thankful Wednesday

[mdlbear]

Normally I'd be posting a Wishful Wednesday about now, but tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I'll be on the road most of the day, and I'm unlikely to find the time or energy to post. And I have a lot to be thankful for.

• First and always, Colleen: my lover, partner, dear friend, and wife of nearly 34 years (our anniversary party will be January 2nd; you're invited). (The rest of the items below are in no particular order.)
• Colleen's slow, unsteady, but definite and pretty amazing recovery.
• Her scooter, Rosebud. She learned to stand up in it yesterday, which gives her an extra couple of inches of reach in addition to being convenient and stable.
• My own health, which while not fantastic is good enough to keep me as functional as I need to be. My own gradual recovery from a lifetime of disthymia.
• My job -- great people to work with, interesting work, very understanding management, and good health insurance. Wow, am I grateful for health insurance this year.
• Our kids, who are growing up to be Good People in spite of all the mistakes we undoubtedly made in raising them.
• Our friends, hers, mine, and ours. Especially my sister-of-choice Naomi, my sister-out-law-of-choice Callie, and my sister-of-choice-in-law Marty. (Working out the details of the nomenclature is left as an exercise for the reader.) But also extending to all of you. I'm glad you're out there, even if all you do is leave me an encouraging comment now and then, or write the occasional post that lifts my spirits or makes me think.
• Music, especially when shared with friends.
• The filk community, which is mostly who I share music with.
• Powell's
• Safeway.com, which allows Colleen to do most of the grocery shopping all by herself.
• Backups. Not only mine, but the ones made at the Stanford AI Lab more than three decades ago, lovingly restored by BGB and on the web at SAILdart with all of my files not only from that era, but from my years at Carleton, copied from the original Hollerith cards in an honest-to-Turing monoliths-under-glass real computer center. With less compute power than my cell phone.
• Moore's Law.
• Good Drugs.
• Reconnecting with myself.

Comments

"Our kids, who are growing up to be good people..."

[chaoswolf]

Are you sure I am growing up to be a good person? egoldberg may have a point, that I am seeming to come up with anything job wise because I'm trying the same tactic over and over. I don't seem to be able to do anything right (from the looks of it). I am going crazy, feeling broke real fast, and having no luck with anything in regards to the job search. Every single interview I've had has turned into a dead end, and I feel like I've made so many mistakes. It doesn't seem like I'm getting anywhere, and I feel useless because I can't make ends meet worth a damn.

Are you sure I'm growing up to be a good person?

Re: "Our kids, who are growing up to be good people..."

[mdlbear]

Yes.

Being out of work is frustrating, but it isn't related to who _you_ are or whether you're a good person.

Re: "Our kids, who are growing up to be good people..."

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

You're a good person. You're also a young, inexperienced and unskilled job-hunter in an economy which demands mastery not merely of one's job skills but also and specifically of the skills of job-searching, which is an entirely different set unless your career path happens to be human resource advocacy. That has nothing to do with your being a good person.

Re: "Our kids, who are growing up to be good people..."

[mdlbear]

What she said.

Re: "Our kids, who are growing up to be good people..."

[phoenixpdx.livejournal.com]

I haven't met you (yet), but I will tell you this: I know lots of GOOD PEOPLE who are unemployed and struggling to find work and to make ends meet. I know enough crummy people who are working. The two axes are orthogonal. Who You Are is not about what you do, or how much money you make.

And I'm reasonably sure you do know that....but I repeated it just in case.

Many sympathies about the struggle with job hunting. I've got good job hunting skills and lots and lots of experience, and I still can't get one, either. Yet.

You'll get there. Your dad says you're good and so does pocketnaomi. That's good enough for me.

Re: "Our kids, who are growing up to be good people..."

[chaoswolf]

I love your icon. Can I haz?

Re: "Our kids, who are growing up to be good people..."

[phoenixpdx.livejournal.com]

Sure. But I have no clue how to get it to you? (not something I've tried to do in LJ...)

Re: "Our kids, who are growing up to be good people..."

[chaoswolf]

I clickie the icon, "save as" from the file menu (right click) and no problemo. hehehe.

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

And we're thankful for you as well, big brother.

*HUG*

[mdlbear]

*blush*

(((BIG HUG)))

[callibr8]

we're thankful for you as well, big brother

Yeah. What pocketnaomi said. :-)

[mdlbear]

And a (((BIG HUG))) for you, too.

[phoenixpdx.livejournal.com]

Wow...you worked at Stanford AI? My first hubby worked with Seymour Papert at the MIT AI labs. Fun stuff! I got to meet Seymour, and hang around the labs sometimes.

I did punch cards at MSU, and toggled in the PDP-11 boot codes at DEC.

I are old.....

[callibr8]

i'm pretty sure that mdlbear will be attending Conflikt, so you two will have a chance to meet there/then, if not before. :-)

[mdlbear]

I have about 5 years on you (unless your profile is lying to me), which puts you at the same vintage as my wife and my Martin O-15.

Not quite sure about this "getting old" stuff.

[shaddyr]

::hugs::

[mdlbear]

(((BIG HUG)))