#365Gratitude: The sky's the delimiter

A lot of times when I get a new technical challenge at work, I go through this multi-step process:

1. "Wow, I have no #$(*^&@# idea how to do that."
2. "Wait, I might have an idea for how to do that."
3. "No, what was I thinking, that was total crap."
4. "I should probably quit and get a job milking Yaks in Croatia."
5. "Wait a sec, what if I try...?"
6. "This looks like it might work!"
7. "Got it.  Next?!"

This time's been no exception.  I've been working out how to use a java library called DynamicReports to generate comma delimited files (CSV's) based on Grails services I had written previously.  I went from no idea whatsoever how to use it, to building a nice little prototype that works just perfectly.  Now to actually get the prototype code working in my actual production application.

I wonder how the weather is on Croatian dairy farms this time of year.  
 

Kidding, I'm kidding.  Mostly.

#365Gratitude: Figure 1: People Being Awesome

So not too long ago, Spacey and I started biglittlepodcast.slack.com, The Big Little Podcast Slack.  It's a sort of private messaging community for listeners to the Big Little Podcast, to hang out with us, and one another.

We've got around 40 members now, and more all the time.  I'm not sure exactly how it happened, but part of our little intentional community culture is a natural sort of inclusion-based behavior.

My little girl Valentalae is one of a few folks on the slack who are VI, visually impaired.  ("Fancy for 'blind', she would tell you.)  The slack allows folks to post silly pictures and animations, which folks do, fairly often.

Without fail, whenever someone posts a pic, one or more someone elses then come along after and in parentheses, post a caption describing the pic.  What's really neat is when a few different people do it, because as Vee puts it, she gets to see the different ways people see the same thing.

It's awesome.  It's kind.  It's naturally inclusive.  It's also sort of game even now.  People will rush to do the captioning, and when they're done, other folks will add slack "reactions" to the caption, showing their love and approval.

It's awesome.

It so knocked out Valentalae that she blogged about it, too.  Man, sometimes people are just so damn great.

#365Gratitude: Penny Lane

The other day I had the good fortune to catch up with my fellow Ghidrah head, my sister Pene.

I made a painting (sort of) out of an old photo of her.

I can't say this strongly enough.  I love Pene.  We're evergreen.  We've been closer in the past, but she's always there for me.  She loves me, and I love her.  

She has been dealing with some heavy shit, and I was just dealing with some of my own.  So, we got together to talk about it.  (Well, facebook chat about it, but whatevs, right?  Don't judge us!) We spent a good long chat talking to one another, and decided together that we want to get in on a "grow closer" phase again together.

I'm very, very lucky she's my sister.

#365Gratitude: A School Day on Mars

On Monday, I was lucky enough to get to work from home (because snowstorm).  Missy, who does a medical-type-job in a medical-type-place (a hospital) wasn't so lucky.  She's what's known as essential personnel.  (This is not a surprise, she's always been essential to me.)

Anyhow, my car was the only one dug out, and I decided I'd "take her to school".  Getting out of the development wasn't so bad, but driving around the neighborhood, dropping her off, getting gas, and trying to find breakfast was just weird.  There were mountains of snow everywhere. 

If you look really carefully, you can see my Wawa Grammaw in the window.

I tried to go to our local grocery store but it had a line of shopping carts blocking the entrance, a giant, weird sort of NOPE THANKS FOR COMING GO HOME sign.  I eventually wound up at a Wawa convenience store for gas and breakfast supplies.

On my way in, there was this guy by the door, and we just struck up a nice conversation.  He said, "hey, be careful out there." and I wished him the same.

I thanked the checkout clerk profusely, who was this very nice lady who looked like she was someone's Nana.  She told me, "You stay safe, honey."

I made sure to.

#365Gratitude: Unbusted keister and carster

Sunday morning I got out of North Carolina early, intending to get home to northern Virginia without incident.  It was a dicey thing, because even though North Carolina didn't have the INSANE amount of snow DC did, there was still plenty.

Enough that driving out the side neighborhoods by Michael & Maya's was... adventuresome.

I found my way to a gas station, and proceeded to hang onto my car while I filled it, so as to not fall on the ice and bust my keister.

Once I hit the main roads, they were remarkably clear.  I was great until I got about 15 miles away from my house, and hit a traffic snarl caused by an accident.

A truck swerved on the icy road and jumped up on the shoulder, stranding itself.  

So we sat.  And sat.  And sat.

Eventually I got past it, and made my way home, reasonably none the worse for wear.

Whew.