23 Tuesday Nov 2021
Posted in Ted Talk
Tags
Cranberry Sauce, family, Friends, Gratitude, Happy, Holiday, pumpkin, Thanksgiving, Turkey
Here’s another Ted Talk with a Thanksgiving feel! I hope you enjoy these neat little facts about pumpkins. Have a great Tuesday!
Until next time…
Dave
18 Thursday Nov 2021
Posted in Thankful Thursdays
The folks got their COVID booster shots yesterday and today they are both sore. I’ll be getting mine when I am eligible. Friends of ours had an encounter with COVID recently. The husband was hospitalized and the wife tested positive as well. Both of them are vaccinated. Thank God they were vaccinated, or they may have joined many who have succumbed to this nasty thing.
My view on COVID is this: Each of us is an individual and we have the right to choose what is best for us. If we choose to get vaccinated, so be it. If we choose not to, that’s ok too.
The thing for me is that each individual has the freedom to do what is best for them, but whatever decision they make, they have to live with the consequences. My brother is the only one in our family that chose not to vaccinate. My sister’s boyfriend has also chosen not to get the vaccine. The consequences of these choices is that both have to get tested before they visit us. This is for our protection.
The point I am making here is that you cannot make a decision without consequences–good or bad. If you do not want to get vaccinated, then deal with the limitations on where you can work, where you can travel, and the risks associated with that decision.
Today, I am thankful I got vaccinated. I did not buy into all the conspiracy theories out there about being “chipped” and all the rest. I also continue to live the way we all lived in 2020. I realized during this time that going out to dinner or to a movie were nice, but not necessary. We can order in. We can stream most movies now online, even the ones that are in theaters, which are coming out more quickly than before. When I’m feeling particularly lazy, I even get my groceries delivered.
I hope all of you have a great Thursday!
Until next time…
Dave
16 Tuesday Nov 2021
Posted in Ted Talk
I figured since we are so close to Thanksgiving, this would be an appropriate video for those of you may not keep a Gratitude Journal or practice counting your blessings each day. It is a wondrous time of year!
A good friend of our family provided a quote that I’ve kept close to the chest since hearing it. He said, “When things go bad in your life, you have to remember that these things are not done to you, but for you.”
This quote is all about turning a sour note to a wondrous melody. Sure, we all have our relationship, financial, health, and other problems, but in the end there’s some lesson to be learned. We learn how strong we are. We learn how loving we are. We learn how resilient we are. I think we learn the most when times are tough. What a gift, right?
Gratitude is about looking at every situation with a sense of thankfulness. It’s being thankful for what we have, not what we do not have. It is realizing that we have all we need. Perhaps it isn’t all we want, but it is what we need.
I hope you enjoy this video.
Until next time…
Dave
09 Tuesday Nov 2021
Posted in Ted Talk
Tags
Focus on the Good, Gratitude, Humility, life-changing, TedEd, Thankfulness, You are enough, You have all you need
One of my goals for running this blog is to help people feel a little better than they did before reading or viewing one of my posts. There is enough bad news out there. You do not have to look very hard to find it. So, Daily Ramblings is something you can open up to feel good. I try to keep my posts short, so I do not take up too much of your time.
I hope you enjoy this video. Gratefulness plays a huge part of my life, and this month, with Thanksgiving right around the corner, it is the one time each year where we can sit back, reflect, and relish all the things we are truly thankful for. I hope this video inspires you to seek out opportunities in your day that you are grateful for and perhaps make purposeful gratefulness a part of your everyday routine.
Have a great day, folks!
Until next time…
Dave
07 Thursday Oct 2021
Posted in Thankful Thursdays
Tags
Apple Arcade, Fun, Grateful, Gratitude, iPad, iPhone, Relaxation
Today, I’m thankful for some of my tech gear. I just started playing Call of Duty Mobile. It is the same as Call of Duty for the Xbox console, but this version can be played on the iPad. I am also grateful for my Nimbus+ game controller, which I use to play Call of Duty on my iPad. It is just like a controller for a console, but connects via bluetooth to the iPad or even the iPhone. I became interested in this because playing with my fingers just wasn’t working out. The controller brings a whole new feel to the game and mimics play on my Xbox. I have a lot of fun playing this game, because it is so much like the Xbox version, but with its own story line, weapons, and challenges.
Another nice thing about the Nimbus+ is that it is also compatible with a lot of the games in the Apple Arcade. These are terrific games that are free of commercials and are not pay to win, like so many iPad/iPhone games. They are like the traditional video games you may play on consoles or other devices.
I hope all of you have a terrific Thursday!
Until next time…
Dave
16 Thursday Sep 2021
Posted in Thankful Thursdays
As each of you know, I write about something each Thursday I am grateful for. This is an easy exercise, because I write down all the things I’m grateful for in my Gratitude Journal each day. It is a terrific exercise, because it focuses me on the good in life, rather than the bad. A quick flip of the switch and I am in a better mood for the whole day. The real trick, however, is capturing what I am grateful for during the day and writing these down before bed.
It is nice waking up and thinking about the things I’m grateful for, and I sleep so much better, when I realize how blessed my life has been. If you have never tried gratitude journaling, give it a whirl. I developed the habit using The 5-Minute Journal. After using it for a bit, I decided to add this to my Onenote app. I use Onenote for all of my journals. It’s nice to have everything in one place, and have access to it everywhere, since Onenote is a cloud-based app.
Give this a whirl. Start small. Maybe you only write down one thing you are grateful for starting out. I stick with three. Sometimes I have more, though. It’s your journal. Make it what you wish.
I hope all of you have a terrific Thursday, and have something to be grateful for when you go to bed. I always do. You just have to look around a little bit.
Until next time…
Dave
12 Thursday Aug 2021
Posted in Thankful Thursdays
Tags
Appreciative, Four Seasons, Grateful, Gratitude, Rain, Snow, Thankful, Thunderstorms, Variety, weather
You know, when I was living in California and Arizona I loved the weather. It was pretty consistent–warm and sunny. Now that I am back in Michigan, I realized how nice it is to have some variety in the weather. I love the four seasons. I love the rain. I love the thunder storms. I love the snow. I love the fall.
In Michigan, we experience what has been appropriately labeled the “lake effect”. The Great Lakes play havoc on the weather here, ensuring that meteorologists everywhere are wrong. We will get a storm warning and nothing happens. We get a clear skies prediction and the clouds roll in. We get rain when the skies have been blue all morning. This variety is refreshing. I like not knowing what the weather will do.
For those of you living in tropical climates or in states like Arizona and California, I get it. Living with year-round blue skies is a great thing, but for me, now that I am back in Michigan, the variety is so much nicer. Here’s to variety.
Have a great Thursday, folks!
Until next time…
Dave
22 Thursday Apr 2021
Posted in Thankful Thursdays
Today, I’m grateful for a warm, comfortable home. It’s paid for, everything works, and it is just so cozy. I have my little nook in the living room by the front room window where I do my work, read, write, learn, etc. When I go to bed at night, I think about how grateful I am for this life. It didn’t turn out the way I thought it would, but the surprises in life along the way have been terrific.
Life is full of surprises, yet in the end, things always work out for the best—a “best” we could not have foreseen. I’ll leave it here for today. Take stock of what you are grateful for. I do this every day, and it is a treasured time to contemplate all the good in my life. We have so much control over how we react to the challenges, joys, and surprises in life. Look for the good and you’ll find it.
Until next time…
Dave
15 Thursday Apr 2021
Posted in Thankful Thursdays
Today, I’m grateful for our new doggie, Bella. Here’s a picture of her, as promised.
Her name is Bella. We lost our last dog, Goldie, in 2019, and it was time to get another one. A family friend gave her to us. She is a little timid still, but she’s a great addition to the family.
So today, I’m grateful to have a new dog. It’s great to have these little companions. They add so much to the family.
I hope you have a great day!
Oh! We got our 2nd COVID shot, and it’s not as bad as people told us it would be. We were all achy yesterday, but most of the effects have subsided. I’m glad I got the shot. I feel much more comfortable about getting back to the gym next week, now that I have had it. If my folks and I do get COVID, the shot will minimize our chances of getting the nastier effects from COVID.
Have a great Thursday, folks!
Until next time…
Dave
04 Thursday Mar 2021
Posted in Thankful Thursdays
Tags
Goodreads, gratefulness, Gratitude, Happy, Kindle, Learning, Productivity, Reading, Scribd, self-improvement, Studying
Today, I’m thankful for the Scribd app. If you aren’t familiar, the Scribd app gives you access to tons of books, magazines, and audio books. I read a bunch of books each year, and this saves me a lot of money. I am reading two books right now that retail for $15 each on Amazon right now. So the $8.99 I pay each month is well worth it. I like reading a few books at a time, so this service is terrific. Here’s a link if you’d like to check it out. https://www.scribd.com/
If you are an avid reader, who wants to save a few bucks, I’d highly recommend Scribd. I read about 60 books a year, and most of them are on Scribd. I am not an affiliate and get ZERO dollars if you join up, but trust me, this is a terrific service. You can also download this app to your tablets and phone. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten my reading done sitting in a dental or doctor’s office. For a really good combination, you can listen to a song or two on Apple Music or Spotify, if you get these music services. I enjoy reading with either a focus or some other purely instrumental genre in the background. From time-to-time I’ll listen to classical, but for the most part, calming instrumentals that aren’t too “busy” work great for me.
Another great companion to reading is the Kindle and Goodreads apps. Most of my friends and colleagues use both of these, and it’s a great way to track what you’ve read, and share it with friends and like-minded folks, who enjoy the same genres you do. If you have a Goodreads account, it’ll automatically track what you read on the Kindle, but you can add books manually, particularly those you read on Scribd if you choose to try it out.
Well, that’s it for today, folks. Happy Reading!
Until next time…
Dave
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