In appreciation of the day…

In case you’ve missed it–there’s a lot of negative stuff and hate that goes through social media on the internet.  It’s easier to be negative and see problems that work towards solutions of any sort.    I won’t sit here in a glass house and tell you I am innocent either–I can be negative, I can get discouraged…especially if I am tired.

So I woke up today, had some breakfast, came in to the office early and decided to write this.  It dawns on me now that it is tradition (but happens less often now) at meal time to give thanks–whether that is secular thanks in honor of those gathered or faith-based, dedicating the meal to God, YHWH, Buddha, Allah, or Cthulhu.

I appreciated my day yesterday.

1. I woke up (being 50+ with a parent who died at 49, this is an immediate, decisive victory)

2. Line was too long at McD’s, so I went for breakfast to Taco Bell.  Their $1 breakfast scrambler bowl is really good.

3. Our athletic office was open–got to talk socially with our admin assistant.

4. The U.S. Marine Corps came and took my volleyball team through their Combat Fitness Test then discussed leadership with them.  I got to see some kids working hard.

5. Did I mention it was 75 with a cool breeze yesterday–on August 1?  #winning

6. My assistant bought lunch–went to Cracker Barrell and tried their Country Grilled Chicken House Salad–didn’t expect much, but it was quite tasty.

7. We only had one IMPACT-test failure.

8. The gear SNAFU is being straightened out–timely involvement of my AD helped out…always good when an AD will push to get things done ASAP.

9. First practice was rocky in a rusty, holy-crap-I’m-actually-a-college-athlete sort of way…but saw players trying to change, do what they were asked

10. We have a new trainer.  She’s on the ball.  That’s awesome as a coach when you don’t have to worry about support staff.  Kelsey has the athletes’ best interests/health at heart

11. Got to arrange a different exercise-specialist to come do our conditioning today.  I love that someone with a doctorate in this stuff just wants to help for the sake of being a good person.

12. Got the opportunity and took it to add another play-date to our schedule…a big-time NJCAA D1 school…ain’t the size of the dog, it’s the fight and #WFFNO.

13. Second practice went all right as well.  Got good questions again.  Still learning!!

14. Saw a ball cranked about 1,400mph get dug overhand cleanly which led to a crunching kill back the other way.  Best part was that everyone got excited–not by the kill, but BY THE DIG!!!! (That’s like getting excited by a strikeout on a 86mph changeup instead of the 98mph fastball)

15. Got to distribute anonymous letters from alumni to the athletes.  I don’t know what they will do with them.  I hope they appreciate the effort taken to write them…can’t lie either, I’m really curious what was said.

16. I had an alum write me a letter in addition–said I deserved one as well.  Caught me by surprise…I don’t like surprises usually but ones from the heart are always good.

17. Along with the note to be in #16, had a player say how excited they were to have the chance to play in college–and to play here for me.  It wasn’t solicited and it wasn’t a suck-up attempt, just enthusiasm for volleyball and the team.

18. Ordered pizza and it wound up wayyyyyyy late, so late the driver let me have it for free.

19. I found the time to do some writing on my next novel project.  If you like good stuff (shamelessssss plug), you should read The Five Days of Osan…get an appreciation for the Korean War.

20. I got to do some research for my current project–found old pictures of the building the State and War Departments shared back before World War Two.  Found out American Samoa had no cases of the Spanish Flu…and with that, also found an article suggesting it wasn’t the flu, but aspirin poisoning that killed a majority of the victims.

21. I talked with a couple people on Facebook I haven’t heard from in a while.

22. I talked on the phone with my friend, Dave.

23. Since I’m not at home, I got to talk with Julie.

24. I finished the day playing a new computer game (They are Billions) with no redeeming value other than fun.

Dang–24 good things.  I love the symmetry of that.