Thus Spake Russ

Posted By Russ Emerson on November 27, 2011 at 5:27 am

• Class Based Weighted Fair Queueing, you are the bane of my existence today. Stop dropping packets and leave me alone already. #
• Work is done for the night and the week. I don't have to be back until December. Yee-haw, boy-howdy. #
• Still awake. Since my calendar is totally clear until the 1st, I don't feel compelled to stick to a schedule. I can pwn BF3 n00bs any time. #
• Yeah, I just used "pwn" and "n00bs" non-ironically. I probably *do* need to get some sleep. #
• Ever fall off of a chair? It's neither as fun nor as exciting as it might sound. Don't ask how I know this. #
• I haven't set foot out of the house since I hurt my back 4 weeks ago. Fortunately, the grocery store delivers. #
• I suppose Bachmann is lucky that Fallon's band didn't use a certain Buckcherry song…. http://t.co/ZBWtZ9fz @AoSHQ #
• I set a salt shaker on my desk, Kismet hops up, walks over – *paw paw paw* – down goes the shaker. Nothing is safe here around him. #
• Just finished my Thanksgiving post, to be auto-published a 9am. Now off to bed, with visions of turkey & stuffing dancing in my head. #
• ICYMI: Thus Spake Russ: Thanks http://t.co/D1VpMrqg #
• Yep. RT @CorieWhalen: No offense to any of y'all who are doing it, but I think Black Friday shoppers are completely insane. #
• Leftovers FTW. #
• Wow.. I think those leftovers put me into a coma. What an *awesome* way to celebrate the holiday. #
• I'm not 100% sure how, but I seem to have spent virtually the entire day yesterday in a kind of half-awake haze. I blame the leftovers. #

Category: Twitter | Comments Off on A Week’s Worth of Twitter Updates
Tags:

Posted By Russ Emerson on November 24, 2011 at 9:00 am

I have quite a lot to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day.

These days, I think many if not most people mistake happiness for gratefulness. They’re happy they have a job, they’re happy about being in good health, and so on, without being truly thankful for what they have.

I suspect that’s because genuine thankfulness requires someone to whom to be thankful. You can’t be grateful to a stone; saying “thank you” to a coffee mug is a rather pointless waste of breath.

But in today’s secularized society, thanking God — you know, the whole point of Thanksgiving — is often frowned upon publicly, and the culture in general is focused on happiness rather than a true sense of gratitude to God for what we have. I think that’s a mistake of (dare I say it?) biblical proportions.

Some of the things I’m thankful for do nothing to make me happy. I’m thankful for the degree of health I still have, though I’d have been much happier had I never become debilitated. I’m thankful that I have such great neighbors who have been willing and able to lend a hand when I have particularly difficult days. I’m thankful for the experience I had of taking care of Mycah for almost eight years, even though I remain profoundly saddened by her passing.

It has been noted that the Pilgrims dug many more graves than they built houses, and yet they still felt the need to take a day to give thanks to God for the blessings they had received.

Maybe you get my point.

Happiness qua happiness isn’t the be-all and end-all in life. We’d all be better off — and, ironically, happier — if everyone remembered that.

Category: Miscellany | 2 Comments »
Tags: Thanksgiving