Happy Winter Solstice!
Happy winter solstice!
Today is the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere and it marks the first official day of winter. So the good news, tomorrow we officially begin our meandering toward spring. The bad news, lots of blustery cold fronts, blizzards, and treacherous travel are still to come. If you want to read a few super interesting things about the winter solstice, click here. Every year I am excited to celebrate this day, I can mostly handle the cold but the lack of daylight tends to bother me. I also get nervous driving (or even being a passenger) in a vehicle on slippery roads. I drive pretty safely however I've seen enough accidents occur in real time on slippery roadways that my body automatically increases its production of adrenaline, epinephrine, and norepinephrine...
In my little world...the holidays always seem to require a lot more patience on my part. Because...and you can give me a hard time if you'd like...I'm not particularly excited by special days of celebration anymore (unless it's the winter solstice of course!!!). As I have aged I have begun to view every day with wonder and appreciation. I see all of my days as being filled with important moments and I am reflective when and where I can be. So when holidays roll around the only thing new to me is what decorations and attire people chose to wear. Sure it's fun, it's fun to wear ugly sweaters and have Christmas parties...but my life as an adult would be just as complete and joyous without them. For me, celebrating something more specific to my life or my friends/family's life is more meaningful. Nothing against Jesus...or Santa...or all the other celebrations that people have around the world (like winter solstice, YAY!). I'm all for people doing their thing. I'm just...eh...more interested in what's going on in the lives of the people closest to me. Call me a simple mind. I am.
The patience part of the holidays really has to do with this mobilization to WA and attempting to get information just before, during, and after the holidays. In the past week I haven't learned anything new...so my brain says, "Hey Sam, you should sell almost everything you own and build out a cargo trailer into a camper. You can pull your house behind your Jeep, how fun!" I want to do it but it's a monumental task if I'm only given 3-4 weeks notice. And I'm not sure I would want to do that if I weren't officially leaving with orders. So because nothing is official without orders and I don't know when those orders might come, like many soldiers over the decades, I am playing the waiting game. God bless having patience. The other issue is that parking an "RV" near JBLM would require that I have reservations and that I move it about every 2 weeks to another park. This could be a logistical issue, possibly. Imagine forgetting where you parked your house! Would be much easier if I could find someone's house to park it and pay them rent directly.
In the meantime, I'm trying to do what work I can for the business since I am leaving it to Joe for most of next year. I've enjoyed the business a great deal so I am sad to press pause. I can still help from afar, but it's certainly not the same as being in town and networking face-to-face. That's how we have gotten all of our jobs. People meet us and some like us and want to hire us. I can help Joe plan and make teaching material remotely but he'll have to do the heavy lifting and be present for any of these opportunities to pan out. The good news is that Joe is just as passionate as I am and there are some really cool opportunities on the horizon for our business.
Other than that...uhhhh, I'm going to try one of those online computer buy-back programs and cross my fingers that I'm not getting scammed in some day. I'll let you know how it goes. My old computer, a 2011 MacBook Air with 1.6 GHz processor, 8 GB memory, and 256GB of hard memory was getting a little less powerful on the battery...and I noticed some of the newer programs were running a little too slow (or freezing) so I upgraded last week to a newer MacBook Pro model. This "newer model" which is actually a 2015 version (still new in the packaged, not a refurbished model) has a 2.7GHz processor, 16GB memory, and the same hard memory (~250GB flash) as my old computer. This newer laptop is a bit heavier and larger (13.3" versus 11.6" sized Air), but I am actually enjoying the larger screen and carrying the Pro is not any more difficult than carrying the Air. So the original purchase price of the Pro version I bought was $1,699 and I got it for $450 off ($1,249). According to "BuyBackWorld" I could get as much as $350 for my old computer. Don't tell BuyBackWorld but if I only get $200 for it I will still be pretty happy. While a slow computer is better than no computer, a fast computer is far superior! I'll let you all know how this buy back experience goes if you're looking to sell any of your old computers.
Well for now I will sign off and wish you all a great holiday season. I know I seemed to bash the holidays earlier...but honestly, I have nothing against the holidays. I'm just learning as I grow older that I like to celebrate every day so I don't tend to get caught up in all the specifics about what day we celebrate a certain thing. I'm much more about appreciating the grand scheme and theme of life. It's just my preference and what seems to come natural. I hope however you use your time over the next couple weeks, you find peace and joy in all the little things. I hope you enjoy the laughter and smiles of those you love. I hope you can do something nice for a stranger. I hope that you find meaning in your life's path and hope for better days in all the areas of life we struggle.
And my favorite! May you enjoy the shortest day of the year knowing that tomorrow begins the trek towards light!
Today is the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere and it marks the first official day of winter. So the good news, tomorrow we officially begin our meandering toward spring. The bad news, lots of blustery cold fronts, blizzards, and treacherous travel are still to come. If you want to read a few super interesting things about the winter solstice, click here. Every year I am excited to celebrate this day, I can mostly handle the cold but the lack of daylight tends to bother me. I also get nervous driving (or even being a passenger) in a vehicle on slippery roads. I drive pretty safely however I've seen enough accidents occur in real time on slippery roadways that my body automatically increases its production of adrenaline, epinephrine, and norepinephrine...
In my little world...the holidays always seem to require a lot more patience on my part. Because...and you can give me a hard time if you'd like...I'm not particularly excited by special days of celebration anymore (unless it's the winter solstice of course!!!). As I have aged I have begun to view every day with wonder and appreciation. I see all of my days as being filled with important moments and I am reflective when and where I can be. So when holidays roll around the only thing new to me is what decorations and attire people chose to wear. Sure it's fun, it's fun to wear ugly sweaters and have Christmas parties...but my life as an adult would be just as complete and joyous without them. For me, celebrating something more specific to my life or my friends/family's life is more meaningful. Nothing against Jesus...or Santa...or all the other celebrations that people have around the world (like winter solstice, YAY!). I'm all for people doing their thing. I'm just...eh...more interested in what's going on in the lives of the people closest to me. Call me a simple mind. I am.
The patience part of the holidays really has to do with this mobilization to WA and attempting to get information just before, during, and after the holidays. In the past week I haven't learned anything new...so my brain says, "Hey Sam, you should sell almost everything you own and build out a cargo trailer into a camper. You can pull your house behind your Jeep, how fun!" I want to do it but it's a monumental task if I'm only given 3-4 weeks notice. And I'm not sure I would want to do that if I weren't officially leaving with orders. So because nothing is official without orders and I don't know when those orders might come, like many soldiers over the decades, I am playing the waiting game. God bless having patience. The other issue is that parking an "RV" near JBLM would require that I have reservations and that I move it about every 2 weeks to another park. This could be a logistical issue, possibly. Imagine forgetting where you parked your house! Would be much easier if I could find someone's house to park it and pay them rent directly.
In the meantime, I'm trying to do what work I can for the business since I am leaving it to Joe for most of next year. I've enjoyed the business a great deal so I am sad to press pause. I can still help from afar, but it's certainly not the same as being in town and networking face-to-face. That's how we have gotten all of our jobs. People meet us and some like us and want to hire us. I can help Joe plan and make teaching material remotely but he'll have to do the heavy lifting and be present for any of these opportunities to pan out. The good news is that Joe is just as passionate as I am and there are some really cool opportunities on the horizon for our business.
Other than that...uhhhh, I'm going to try one of those online computer buy-back programs and cross my fingers that I'm not getting scammed in some day. I'll let you know how it goes. My old computer, a 2011 MacBook Air with 1.6 GHz processor, 8 GB memory, and 256GB of hard memory was getting a little less powerful on the battery...and I noticed some of the newer programs were running a little too slow (or freezing) so I upgraded last week to a newer MacBook Pro model. This "newer model" which is actually a 2015 version (still new in the packaged, not a refurbished model) has a 2.7GHz processor, 16GB memory, and the same hard memory (~250GB flash) as my old computer. This newer laptop is a bit heavier and larger (13.3" versus 11.6" sized Air), but I am actually enjoying the larger screen and carrying the Pro is not any more difficult than carrying the Air. So the original purchase price of the Pro version I bought was $1,699 and I got it for $450 off ($1,249). According to "BuyBackWorld" I could get as much as $350 for my old computer. Don't tell BuyBackWorld but if I only get $200 for it I will still be pretty happy. While a slow computer is better than no computer, a fast computer is far superior! I'll let you all know how this buy back experience goes if you're looking to sell any of your old computers.
Well for now I will sign off and wish you all a great holiday season. I know I seemed to bash the holidays earlier...but honestly, I have nothing against the holidays. I'm just learning as I grow older that I like to celebrate every day so I don't tend to get caught up in all the specifics about what day we celebrate a certain thing. I'm much more about appreciating the grand scheme and theme of life. It's just my preference and what seems to come natural. I hope however you use your time over the next couple weeks, you find peace and joy in all the little things. I hope you enjoy the laughter and smiles of those you love. I hope you can do something nice for a stranger. I hope that you find meaning in your life's path and hope for better days in all the areas of life we struggle.
And my favorite! May you enjoy the shortest day of the year knowing that tomorrow begins the trek towards light!
Comments
Post a Comment