Five years ago I posted a list of things for which I was grateful.
I’m still grateful for all of the stuff that I was grateful for in 2009. What since then, though?
Here’s my list (mostly small items because the big ones are on the earlier list)…
- the two wonderful women in our house
- our healthy baby, born 2013
- that my former aviation students have enjoyed five more years of safe flying
- that my friends who fly have similarly kept themselves and their passengers safe
- a former co-worker who relocated to Boston and has become the best possible friend
- old friends who proved their durability during some trying times
- Mindy the Crippler, PC
- finding a new way to teach database programming that is fun for both students and teachers (see the January 2015 course announcement)
- the continued expansion of the Internet*
- practical tablet computers, notably the Apple iPad, which delight both children and adults
- smart phones big enough to serve as tablet computers
- Dropbox and Google Drive, which mean that I can almost always find everything that I need
- the new (2010) Art of the Americas wing at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, which keeps a favorite five-year-old of mine entertained
- Uber
- Sonos
- that we got to visit Antarctica (my report)
- Sony A6000 mirrorless camera system
(and its predecessor, the NEX-6)
*Internet success story: Contractor and plumber installed a new washer/dryer in the house. I am pretty sure that they didn’t read the instructions before test running it. When I opened up the washer after it had walked itself 1.5 feet across the floor due to being unbalanced I found the (ruined) manual inside, along with the hoses and some other little bits. I then went to the Samsung web site and found the manual, which said “remove the transit bolts before running or the machine will become unbalanced.”
What about readers? What are you all grateful for, beyond the basic friends, family, health, food, and shelter stuff?
Here are a few of mine, aside from friends, family and pets:
My induction stove, which is like magic.
The thingies in my kitchen that dispense almost boiling water and chilled water (both filtered).
That they were able to screw me back together almost good as new when I fell off my bike and totally broke my arm.
That you take the internet with you nowadays.
That modern cars are so reliable because of fuel injection and electronic ignition – in the old days, on a cold wet day like today you had about a 50/50 chance of your car starting.
Those enormous flat TV sets which are also like magic.
Cheap LED light bulbs – Home Depot is selling them for $2 around here (subsidized by the power co.)
The streaming music services – Pandora & Spotify
That nobody is interested in drafting my son so he can get killed in some Asian land war.
RE: Intenet success story.
When I was a kid, we lived behind an appliance store. Every so often I would go around with the two teenagers (yeah, teenagers, this was the 70’s) that delivered and installed appliances. They would always pull those transit plugs from the washers. My family moved. In preparation for the move, the appliance dealer helpfully got our appliances ready for the move. We get to the new house. The washer jumps all over the place. I walk in with the washer laying on it’s side and my dad looking at it. I’m eleven. I ask why is the washer laying on it’s side? My dad tells me it’s jumping all over the basement. I look into the washer from the bottom. I tell my dad, with authority, “Pull out those plastic plugs so the drum can float on the suspension. They are only there for transport.”
I’m now 54. That remains the only day that my dad thought I was smart.
I’m thankful for being able to learn how Sonos works on websites like this. The guys who sell the stuff in the stores can’t explain it.
I”m also thankful I can tell a stupid story on the internet late at night and no one knows who I am. (Well at least not my boss or my neighbors.)
Grateful for RSS, grateful for people (like you) who fill my RSS reader with interesting stories worth reading.
I’m thankful I’m not divorced and paying child support. (And this was not written tongue-in-cheek)
Hi Philip-
Do you have any feedback on the A6000 that you can share? I’ve been thinking about getting one myself.
Cheers
had to laugh as I did the same thing, it was WTF with heavy empahsis on the F, anyways a friend in the US Army (we lived overseas) told us exactly what to do. I guess the miltary had so many problems with this they required all contractors to bring the bolts back with them.
Mike: A6000 is mostly great, as was the NEX-6. However, sometimes it makes inexplicable focus errors. It supposedly has a super-fast AF system but if there are multiple images the first one often has nothing sharp in the scene at all. I am hoping that it is a firmware problem that will eventually get fixed. But right now even on the “green idiot” modes it seems willing to release the shutter with nothing in focus.
Hi Philip, I’ve always enjoyed your blog ever since I came across it after reading “Women in Science”.
This Thanksgiving has been pretty crappy since I’ve been sick with the flu, but there are things I am thankful for:
1) having an immune system
2) having the good fortune to be born in Argentina, but raised in the USA (they were doctors in Argentina and emigrated to the USA, and provided me a very secure and loving upbringing).
4) Having my education in Middlebury College (and paid for by my parents!) and working in Boston for a few years
5) Getting my PhD education for free in St Louis thanks to the USA.
6) having met and married my hot wife, 17 years together.
7) my two healthy children (twins, boy and girl)
8) living in Europe where I get 8 weeks vacation and good quality of life, good salary and some level of job security
Things I am not thankful for:
1) Filing 1040, FACTA, FUBAR, etc every year to the IRS
2) Filing taxes with Deutschland authorities.
3) Lack of food diversity in Deutschland
(Apart from family, friends, pets, neighbours, health etc. )
* Ultra fast Internet connections nearly everywhere
* An increasingly great Internet
* Excellent av systems around the house
* Wood burning stoves
* Skis
* A safe neighbourhood in a safe county in a safe country
* Not having to work every day
* English comedy, torrents of it
* Japanese food
* http://thephilosophersmail.com
Food diversity in Germany.