Pivot

Pivot tables invoke a lot of frustration for me. Call it ignorance, but I think they are ridiculous. Why would you create a pivot table using information pulled from a database? Why not just create a better query in your database to give you the report you want?

Oddly enough, pivot tables also remind me of one particular Friends episode where Ross ends up screaming "Pi-vot!" as they are trying to move a couch (somewhere) and are having great difficultly turning the various corners they encounter. This makes me smile in the midst of my frustrations.

Change

In only a few days everything will change, symbolically at least. Sure there may not be immediate or direct impacts on my daily life, but things will change. There will be change in late-night TV monologues. Change in national news coverage. Change in the local DC scene. Will it all be positive change? Eh. Change I support? Not really. Change I trust? Definitely not. Change I will participate in with the droves on Tuesday? Ugh...I'd much rather just wait for the Will Smith movie adaptation.

In light of the upcoming administration, and in consideration for those that may not share my political views, all political ramblings will be heading to a new blog.

You're welcome.

Optional

So remember my grandfather's Christmas wish list? Well here's a shot of him opening his Christmas presents:



Ask and ye shall receive ;-)

His birthday is in a few weeks and I just got this email from my grandma:

Grandpa gave me this list and asked me to send it to everyone. Here goes:


Presents optional (cards welcome)

Chai (tea)
Nose clippers
Movie - dvd
Money
McDonald's card
Computer paper
NO PRUNE JUICE
Shaving Cream
4-Blade razors

Ha!

Spaghetti

FYI: I love spaghetti.

Today I got to do something I haven't done in at least 3 1/2 years. I made spaghetti and dumped the warm sauce into the drained noodles and mixed it all together before dumping onto my plate. YUM! This is one of my absolutely favorite ways to have spaghetti (the other being with "meat" sauce...which Hubby thinks is more like chili than meat sauce. but whatever, it's amazing and since when did he think there could ever be too much meat?!) I love that it looks more like Spaghetti-Os or something...everyone gets covered in sauce, no bare noodles here!

Hubby thinks it's gross when I stir my spaghetti, hence not having enjoyed this amazing concoction until now (...although why haven't I thought of this sooner...like...the entire month Hubby was in Australia?!)

XM

"Well I know this crush ain't goin' away..."

This new year I have been listening to XM online at work. This is quite a change from my normal radio/iPod programming. I listen to different music on-line...like "pop". I have learned several things in only two days of listening in at work:

1. Love the limited commericals.
2. Love that my presets will tell me what song is playing at any given time.
3. I know 85% of the lyrics to Womanizer.
4. I think I love Beyonce...
5. Pink still exists.

Bonus: Dancing in one's cube is unacceptable...singing even more so...especially songs with some of the strange lyrics out there...

Memory

So, I'm absolutely terrible at memorization (as evidence by the sheer length of time it took me to pass the CPA Exam.) This morning, the e-devotional I received made me smile. This/these were the verse I selected for my January 1 - January 14 Challenge with Beth Moore and the gang at Living Proof.

I like it when God smiles and in turn, makes me smile =)

How to Be Thankful in Tough Times
by Rick Warren

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Philippians 4:6 (NLT)

*** *** *** ***
1. Don’t worry about anything. Worrying doesn’t change anything. It’s stewing without doing. There’s no such thing as born worriers; worry is a learned response. You learned it from your parents. You learned it from your peers. You learned it from experience. That’s good news. The fact that worry is learned means it can also be unlearned. Jesus says, “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today” (Matthew 6:34 NLT).

2. Pray about everything. Use the time you’ve spent worrying for praying. If you prayed as much as you worried, you’d have a whole lot less to worry about. Some people think God only cares about religious things, such as how many people I invite to church or my tithing. Is God interested in car payments? Yes. He’s interested in every detail of your life. That means you can take any problem you face to God.

3. Thank God in all things. Whenever you pray, you should always pray with thanksgiving. The healthiest human emotion is not love, but gratitude. It actually increases your immunities; it makes you more resistant to stress and less susceptible to illness. People who are grateful are happy. But people who are ungrateful are miserable because nothing makes them happy. They’re never satisfied; it’s never good enough. So if you cultivate the attitude of gratitude, of being thankful in everything, it reduces stress in your life.

4. Think about the right things. If you want to reduce the level of stress in your life, you must change the way you think. The way you think determines how you feel, and the way you feel determines how you act. So if you want to change your life, you need to change what you’re thinking about.

This involves a deliberate, conscious choice where you change the channels. You choose to think about the right things: focus on the positive and on God’s Word. Why? Because the root cause of stress is the way you choose to think.

When we no longer worry, when we pray about everything, when we give thanks, when we focus on the right things, the apostle Paul tells us the result is, “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7 NLT).

What a guarantee! He is guaranteeing peace of mind.

Nine

In 2009 I resolve to:

1. Finish reading one book per month.
2. Organize my scrapbooking "stash" into something more usable and less intimidating.
3. Find my goal weight and enjoy it for at least one trip to someplace requiring the use of a bathing suit.
4. Perfect the snickerdoodle cookie.
5. Not be so judgemental and hold back from cleaning other people's kitchens while visiting (you may think, "she's talking about me, just me" but really...it's happened in probably dozens of kitchens spanning multiple states).
6. Memorize more scripture (with some encouragement from Beth and the gals at Living Proof).