What I Am Grateful for Today

Occasionally working overnight leads to fatigue. Fatigue tends to depress me. When I start to feel down, the greatest cure is thinking of things, people and experiences of the day that make my life full. My wife and bff Denise helped me learn that gratitude is the best medicine.

Here goes one of those exercises:

• AW Electric. Alphonso met today me at the house we're buying  to make some recommendations. He was genuine, knowledgeable and seemed to truly enjoy the process. I look forward to working with him.
• Green Bamboo Chinese. This delightful place has become a go to when we don't have time to cook. Their food is wonderful (Emily and I like the Singapore Chow Fun - it is fun; Denise likes the spring rolls). It's kind of funny reading some of the 'reviews' people post on sites like yelp and urban spoon because they describe a place I've never been. The folks at the Green Bamboo we know are quite friendly. Our food is always fresh and usually ready to pick up when we arrive. The prices are good. It is one of the things I will miss most when we move from Lawrenceville next month.
• Throwback Thursday fun on Facebook. Participated in this for the first time today, posting a photo of Denise and me on prom night, 1987. Seemed fitting as our prom was on May 22. I love the picture because it conjures memories of such a blissful time in our lives. It was fun seeing so many people respond to it.
• T.J. Stiles', The First Tycoon. Currently my iPod playlist for runs, housecleaning, driving, etc. It's a worthwhile  'read' just  because of its subject, Cornelius Vanderbilt - the original American Robber Baron who got rich operating steamboats and railroads between New York and Boston and then RICH transporting gold rushers to San Francisco. What makes this scholarly, well researched and extremely thick book especially likeable is Stiles' writing. I'm sure I look amusing running across the 40th Street Bridge chuckling to myself as the narrator reads Stiles' description of Vanderbilt assaulting a drunk passenger who refused to give up the Captain's (he wasn't the Commodore yet) seat. I don't read biographies in order to make judgments about their subjects. I read them because I love a good story. Vanderbilt lived one and Stiles wrote one.  He's also written a bio of Jesse James which is now on the list.
• Josh Harrison. This guy is quickly becoming my favorite Pittsburgh Pirate. I've been telling Denise he needs to be in the lineup every day.  Perhaps to the point of annoying her. Since being inserted in the leadoff spot he has been on fire and he busts it on every play. The Pirates are going to have to find a place for him next month when they bring up Gregory Polanco.

         This play Thursday night  against the Nationals is a prime example of why:

• Maple Bacon cupcakes from Grandview Bakery. Hello! What's not to love about this? A light, fluffy white cupcake with maple icing topped with a thick slab of bacon. When I ran home on my first break tonight to take out the boys  Denise and Em surprised me with this little morsel. Pop that bad boy in your mouth and it becomes one of those places where heaven and earth intersect. Yes please.
• What's better than a maple bacon cupcake from Grandview Bakery? The girls who picked this piece of yumminess up for me. They were as excited to tell me it was waiting for me on the kitchen counter as I was to taste it. No doubt these girls, along with Caleb and Courtney, make me the richest guy in the world.

Goodbye fleeting moment of blahness. Life is good.