Thankfulness

In the spirit of Mrs. Dave's post, a few of my own...

1) The continued good health of those that I love, especially my wife and our soon-to-arrive Weird Baby. Her back may be a bit cranky - and I don't blame it after 37 weeks of lugging the Golden Fetus around - but the now-weekly reminders that everything is going ok, and the constant negative results that come back from every test she has to take are very reassuring. To the point where I almost think it's a psychological ploy to distract us from the fact that we should be completely and utterly freaking out. But no, everything is as it should be.

2) Supportive friends. Talking with my best friend last night, he mentioned once again that he and his wife were very excited for us. He may just be blowing smoke up my ass, but given his feelings toward his other baby-fied friend (well, mostly his friend's wife), I tend to believe him. He's very much of the "Cool. Rock on." school of life-altering events, and generally tends to get as excited as I do about most things not involving Red Sox and championships, so to see him expressing this degree of support for anything is quite nice indeed.

3) Employment. Not that the job market is as dire as it once was, but I've been at my current place of business for five years now, which is twice as long as I've been anywhere else. For a while, every day at my last job - 2.5 years' worth, all told - was an extension of the longest stay, and there are only so many one-year or nine-month positions you can take before it starts to look shady on a resume. But while there are certainly benefits to working for a big company - stock options, a major health plan, more advancement opportunities - there's a lot to be said for working for a family company. The hours are flexible - the boss doesn't care when I come in, when I leave, or what I do while I'm at my desk (like blogging) - as long as I get my work done on time and the clients are happy, I'm in the clear. Which is nice, because when times are slow, I can do a metric assload of work on the web site or other personal projects. And it's nice to know that I'll be able to take as much time as I need (within reason) when the big day/little girl comes. Because it's not just a family business, it's a family-oriented business. And despite the occasional excessive presence of certain members of said family, I'm perfectly content doing what I do.