Service, Food, and Fun

*UCM did both services at First Pres Bryan.  Travis did a good job with the sermon and incorporated children's books and movies, while keeping it short and concise.  It was actually easy to remember which is key for a sermon.  Power!  We all have Gods power to do his will and we should concentrate on developing and using it to better the world.

 

*Free food!  First Pres provided lunch for the college students after the services to thank us.  It was really nice how much they went out of their way to make us feel appreciated and welcome.  They even provided us with exam care packages with more food in it.  All the food they made was really good.  They had fruit salad with star fruit which I haven't had in a long time and love; mashed potatoes with cheese; green bean casserole; ham.

 

*Hanging out with friends.  We had pizza hut and frozen pizza and watched Snatch at Tara's place.  Everyone had considered getting together if they could get their work done in time, and it just so happened that most of us did so we got together for the evening.  It was fun and cheap.  I always enjoy the not eating out hangouts the most since we seem to get to chat more.  We chatted before the movie and afterwards since it ended at about 10:20.  That makes for a more fun hangout time.

Park Day

*PARK DAY!!  Approximately 15 people turned out for park day.  More than I originally expected when I started planning the event.  We got to play ultimate Frisbee which is one of my favorite sports.  It was a whole lot of fun and I think everyone had fun.

 

*Seeing park day pulled off successfully as an event I (with help from Tara, getting help is another positive) thought up, and planned.  This leading/planning thing isn't too hard now is it?

 

*Baking cookies.  I haven't baked anything other than muffins in a while and I had almost forgotten how much fun it is.  Of course now I need to not eat them all, but they're good.

Unexpectedly large turnouts

*Game Night!  We actually got a much bigger turnout for game night than I had expected!  It was a lot of fun and we played all 3 games I brought until 2 something in the morning.  The games were "Fact or crap", Imaginiff, and taboo.  We made it through almost all of the cards on one side.  Everyone had a lot of fun regardless of whether they won.  There were 10 or more people present at one time.

 

*Still discovering that the programming is easier than I think it is if I just sit down and do it...Maybe I can pull this off

 

*Getting a test back and finding out that while I didn't do as well as I expected or hoped, it was still the highest grade in the class and about 20 above average.

Enthusiasm builds

*Announcing Park Day at Aggie Supper and getting approximately 13 people who said they would be there.  Its exciting to have an idea to get everyone out and having fun playing Ultimate and to see people actually come along and join in. It is going to be a lot of fun and I continue to look forward to it.  Its nice to see other people as interested in it as I am.

 

*Waking up and feeling refreshed.  I didn't get 8 hours of sleep but for some reason that didn't matter.

 

*Getting a large amount of my coding done and realizing it isn't as difficult as it seems, I just really needed to apply myself to it and stop worrying about it.  James agreed to put off my CDR (Critical Design Review) for another day, though I'm sure he'll move it until at least Monday.  I'll be quite excited when I see my whole experiment work, and I can feel it getting closer each day.

Helping hands

*Having Andrew volunteer to get me an "orange and maroon support orange and maroon" t-shirt while he was waiting in line to pick up his and I could just pay him back.  It saved me a trip over to Rudder tower and a long wait in line.

 

*Getting to bed at a good time to be able to get enough sleep to wake up when my alarm went off the first time, then just laying in bed anyway through a snooze button or two because I can.

 

*James sat down with me for probably an hour or so to explain some code that he had given me which will make my programming much easier to do.  I've never programmed a microcontroller before and he is constantly willing to help me out and give me all the information I need.  I should just need to copy and paste and change some things now since he has helped so much.  He also rarely gets a decent amount of sleep, or food, but still helps out whenever I ask a question.  I never could get this done without his help.

Improvements

*Rock climbing!  Whether I am tired or energetic, rock climbing is always a blast.  On the last route when I was completely worn out, I convinced myself to jump and grab a hold.  Quite an improvement as I am not normally willing to take the risk.

 

*Running into another Hokie at the rock wall.  He transferred from VT this year and used to live in AJ but did not know anyone personally.  Its always nice to see a fellow Hokie because even if you don't know them at all you have a connection.

 

*Finishing most of the student evaluations in one day.  I successfully told both the negative and positive items to the students, which is normally difficult for someone like myself.  I got much better at it from last semester.

 

 

Productive but not exhausted

*Finishing the math/programming for two projects in the same day

 

*Not feeling exhausted after a 13.5hr work day

 

*Being ready for the next day

Looking Ahead

*Going to church.  This sounds like something that just happens on a weekly basis for a lot of people and wouldn't get entered into the positives a plenty list for most people, but I must say that this week was positive and I enjoyed being there.  I guess part of it for me is not feeling the pressure to go, and just wanting to go myself...Nobody looking over my shoulder and commenting regardless of whether I go.  This week, as usual somehow, the prayers seemed perfect for what I was thinking.  I wonder how that happens so often.

 

*Getting some of the fluff done for one of my projects without even having my notebook with me.  The mathematics which I have left never takes as long as the plot formation and saving which I completed.  Knowing that I knocked a little of my to-do list/book makes it easier to rest and sleep.

 

*Thinking about next weekend's UCM park day.  Oddly enough this event was not planned today nor happened today, but its still exciting to think about.  I'm glad I helped plan it.  I think it will be a lot of fun to spend an afternoon with friends playing Ultimate.  Sometimes just pausing from the daily activity to look ahead at something in the near future that we know will be fun is exactly what we need to lift up the whole day.

Time

*Remembering to post the positives every day for one full week now! I also realized that there were probably other influences than I had realized last Sunday when I started. If I had not started last Sunday I would definitely not have started Monday due to the VT tragedy. Having started made me feel like I really needed to continue, even when the day seemed horrible, and it definitely kept my spirits up noticeably this week. I never expected to see the benefits so soon!

*Sleeping in as long as I want

*Having time to get my hair cut, and feeling like it looks a lot better now. The stylist was very nice and we had a good conversation.

*Playing around with my computer, not games, but installing Linux inside windows just for fun to learn a little about Linux and because I can.

*Time was definitely abundant today with no rush to do anything in particular

SEI Presentations

*Watching my SEI give a good presentation which put our best face forward and made us look as impressive as possible.  I can help with the presentation a head of time, but when it comes to the actual, I have no more control, but they did well

 

*Having my SEI team win the poster competition, narrowly beating my old robotics team as the only other close competitor!  The reward was a $100 gift certificate for the team to a restaurant (chilis or another) so we can go as a team later in the semester to relax and wrap up the semester!

 

*Hanging around with friends like a normal Friday evening.  They are always good, regardless of what we do.

 

*Finishing some preliminary plans for our park day for UCM for next Saturday.  I've been wanting to do some outside large group activities like ultimate frisbee all semester and now I'll finally be able to.  Its pretty exciting

Maroon and Orange Aggie Supper

*Making maroon and orange ribbons for national maroon and orange day tomorrow and giving them out to my friends and co-workers

*Aggie supper was dedicated to Virginia Tech and Hokies everywhere. We wore maroon and orange and got our picture taken to send to the Presbyterian Campus Ministry at VT, so I had a chance to show my support for my Hokie brothers and sisters.

*Reading "We are Virginia Tech" by Nikki Giovanni to all the UCMers present

*Feeling like I did really well leaving a test, and being told later by someone at work that someone had told them I was ruining the curve in that class. I'd feel bad about that except that I'm sure the prof is going to discard my scores when deciding the curve since I am the only grad student in an undergrad class.

Solitude

*Hearing the birds and animals on the path by my apartment during a very leisurely stroll, and discovering that they put up a bunch of signs to tell me what different plants and animals are all along the path since I walked it last

*Taking the time to just simply relax by myself for the evening without worrying about what time it was, what anyone else was doing, or if anyone would be trying to contact me for any reason

*Finishing the assembly of the breadboard version of my circuit faster than expected and not frying any chips yet

*Still having a clean floor...this could be a new record

Prayer Vigil

*Having friends inform me about and accompany me to a candle prayer vigil for the Virginia Tech family, even on short notice

*Holding the vigil outside even though it had rained increadibly hard minutes earlier and candles kept going out, which only brought everyone closer together to relight and protect the flames

*Remembering that class had been cancelled for Wednesday

*Getting my electronic components in the the mail the day after ordering and being able to assemble most of the circuit without any help in a short period of time even though I haven't assembled a circuit in many years and never by myself

*Illuminating bright blue LEDs on a circuit I made myself

Shootings

Yesterday a set of horrific shootings took place at Virginia Tech, both in a dorm and in a classroom with the death toll at 33, and even more injured. Every hokie, past and present, has felt its effects and I will keep all those affected in my prayers. At this point I do not personally know any of the victims, but the road to recovery will be a long one.

They say every cloud has a silver lining, so I hope to point out a few things that may qualify as such
*Being suddenly in touch with friends I had not had the opportunity to speak with in days, months, or even years

*Feeling the love and support of all who know me both in Aggieland and around the country

*Finding out that the company I want to work for has a good chance of hiring someone starting in the summer

Inspirations

*Being inspired by a friend to start this list, and view life in a positive way

*This morning when I woke up, I was really eager to get to church. This was an average Sunday, but I felt God's presence more than usual when I woke up. It was a wonderful feeling, and it also inspired me to get started on this list and make today as great as possible

*Despite having a lot of work to do, I found time to relax, enjoy the amazing weather, and get some excercise

*A clean floor (next stop a clean desk!)

*Already having my taxes done, so I don't need to worry about them today

Getting Started

Tara has been listing three or more "daily wonderments" each day for a while now, which help to remind her of all the little blessings in life. The concept is simple and the benefits noticeable. Each thing may be small on its own but they add up to remind me of how good life really is, even when it may not seem that way. It has inspired me to try and start my own here and I hope to keep it up nearly every day.