A Year of Connections

So, here we are, the end of 2015 - 12/31/15, the 365th day of the year of connections.  And, it HAS been a year of connections.  I am so blessed to have amazing connections at home, at work, at church, in my community, even online.  I have really enjoyed this year's theme: Connections, and I have Dr. Nancy Tkacs to thank me for the inspiration.  Just think, it was three years ago, on NYE, and I was feeling a little overwhelmed by lots of things that, looking back, were not a lot, but at the time, they certainly were.  So, I thought, let me try to post a daily thought on Facebook stating why I felt Lucky that day (it was the precipice of 2013, Lucky 13 and all...)  And I made it a whole year and really enjoyed doing it.  Not only did it help me gain perspective on things, especially on rough days, but I was told (by others) that people enjoyed them as well.  And now we have done a Lucky Year, a Positive Image Year, and a Connected Year and I do not want to stop!  So, for 2016, I hope that all of my connections are reinforced, repaired (if they need it), and maybe even some new ones will be found.  But the theme for 2016 will change and we will turn the page, but just as I have felt Lucky and have tried to stay Positive in the year of Connection, I will try to continue those two and stay Connected in the coming year.  HAPPY NEW YEAR to all, and to all a GOOD NIGHT!

Phila. Zoo Connections

We have come to the penultimate day of 2015.  Day #364 of 2015, 12/30/15, was a great day.  We spent the first part of it (and a significant amount of time) at the Philadelphia Zoo.  Again I realized, as I have a lot this year, how lucky and blessed I am to live where I do and how wonderful some of the area attractions are.  I love the zoo.  I love the connections you can make with the animals as you observe them (and, often now, they you).  But I also love the connections the zoo has to my past. Even though the zoo has modernized and there are many differences in the physical structures, but, as I walked through the grounds today, I could not help but remember many of my prior trips with my family, with school, with summer camps.  I love animals and I love the zoo.  And I am really appreciative of the zookeeper who opened up a closed portion of the Small Mammal House (a critical light was burned out and there was a safety issue) so we could see the aardvarks (a current family tradition).  I also am glad that I was able to connect and share our trip with my mom via frequent FB updates.  I know there are a lot of controversies about zoos and other animals in captivity, but I think they do much more good than anything bad.  And I still miss the elephants.....

Connecting to Inspiration

12/29/15 was the last palindromic day of the year.  On day #363 of 2015, another movie must was achieved.  Sarah and I watched Invincible, which we have had from Netflix (yes, we still get the DVDs in the mail) for so long that our online account does not have it in our shipping history! Ironically, we watched this movie, which had a subplot of a charismatic college coach coming to coach the sad sack Eagles, on the day another charismatic coach was fired by the Eagles.  But, other than that connection, the connection I appreciated that was highlighted in this movie is the connection of the fans to the team.  Football is just a game.  But, for many, the Eagles provide hope when other things in their lives are not going well and, in Philadelphia in the 70s, this was really true.  All in all, it was a great story and, I have to admit, I got goosebumps at times as I made connections to the film and story as well.  I am thankful for the Winter Break when Sarah and I both have downtime to catch up on these and other films...and I am thankful for the Vince Papale story and its inspirational message.

Star Wars Connects

So today, on the 362nd day of 2015, I finally corrected a parenting wrong.  12/28/15 was the fourth day of Christmas and on this day we, as a family, completed the Original Star Wars movie trilogy.  We watched all three together this break, the last two tonight, and I loved seeing my kids' connections with the movie, asking the same questions that I had when I watched them for the first time.  Asking me what was going to happen (remarkably I remembered very little of the 3rd one) and enjoying the story and the music.  I also enjoyed the connection that the "Force " represents and that, in the end, the family connection was more powerful than evil.  I mean, I knew good prevailed, but, honestly, I did not remember the details and I think I enjoyed them more now than I did when I was younger.  Perspective helps, I guess.  Now we get to see the prequels (the girls want to know why Anakin turns to the Dark Side (I kinda want to know as well) and we can go see Episode 7 in the theaters!  GOOD NIGHT!

Great Grandma Connects

On Day #361, I was really happy.  Because we got to celebrate Sara Helen Weaver's 95th Birthday on 12/27/15.  And, as I sat in the room and watched all of the family that gathered for the celebration, I realized all of the connections that were rooted by her love, her faith, her persistence, her traditions. The room was filled with so much love and smiles that I could not stop smiling myself and feeling so thankful and blessed to have been able to be a part of her family, and the connections that this has brought into my life.

Family Game Night Connections

We spent a lot of time in a circle on 12/26/15, which is fitting because it was Day #360 of 2015!  Family Christmas Celebration in York, PA, and tradition means a lot of family games, with people in circles, laughing, playing, smiling, I love these holiday family traditions.  A good time was had by all and connections were enhanced and love flowed.  MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Family Movie Night Connections

CHRISTMAS - 12/25/15, the 359th day of 2015 and the start of the last week of the year.  This year we made a conscious decision to stay home and just chill out as a family.  We've been running a lot this season and it was nice to stay in our PJs and just watch movies.  Connecting as a family unit but also connecting to some of the classics.  For the season, Elf and the Grinch.  And for historical purposes, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars (IV).  RoJ and tESB coming up next week so I am looking forward to more connecting movie times, for the family and to the classics!  MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!  LOVE, PEACE, HAPPINESS, and Good Night!

Christmas Eve Connects

Day #358 is (except for Leap Years like next year) is always one of my favorite days of the year! 12/24/15 was no exception.  I love Christmas and I love our Christmas Eve Traditions.  Connecting with family and friends at our traditional lunch outing.  Multiple services at Old First where we connect with our fellow congregants but also guests for Christmas.  And, now, movie time at home, connecting Anna and Alexa to one of the CLASSICS (White Christmas).  All in celebration of the light that was brought into this world and that we must take out and spread to all.  So, tonight, I wish you all Peace, Love, Happiness, and a very Merry Christmas.

Taxi Driver Connections

I spent much of the evening of the 357th day of 2015 on the road. Driving to and fro (hither and yon) to get the kids where the needed to be at the times they needed to be.  And. although some of the traffic on 12/23/15 stressed me out a bit, I powered through it and the kids were happy, so I was happy too.  Being able to connect my kids with the activities and friends they want to be with is strangely satisfying to me, usually.  And tonight, except for the traffic, was no exception.

Christmas Cards (and Letters) Connect

12/22/15 was the 356th day of 2015.  First full day of winter and weather in the 50s so it's hard to feel like it is Christmas.  BUT, a trip to the mailbox solves that for me.  I love getting cards and letters from our friends and family far and wide.  I love the connections rekindled with people we have not seen in a while and I love hearing about what they have been doing and seeing the pictures of their families.  Christmas time is a time of love and kindness and connections, and the mail just reinforces those feelings for me!

Beijing Connects

On 12/21/15, the 355th day of 2015, found me at lunchtime at a campus mainstay.  Glee Club and Band Directors, dining together and discussing campus life and student affairs.  It made me think how many great connections I have made in that place: Beijing Restaurant.  It is a great place to grab a meal and sit and chat.  Generations of Penn students, staff, and faculty have done the same! And I even have, through the years, made connections with the owner of the eatery.  It was good to see him today and great to connect with my colleagues, over tasty food!

Tuba Christmas Connects

Day #354 was a day we had circled on the calendar for a while.  12/20/15, was Tuba Christmas 2015! I love Tuba Christmas.  I love connecting with Euphonium and Tuba players in rehearsal and then turning out a nice concert each year.  I like that the Penn Band Low Brass section connects to this event and comes back for it (current students and alumni).  I also especially like that this has now been another date where friends and family can connect in a tradition of watching the concert and then our post-concert pizza dinner.  What a great day, filled with tubas and Christmas music!

Connected to and by Pictures

12/19/15 was day #353 of 2015.  The penultimate palindromic day when my odometer also hit 59,995 (and 60,000, a milestone for sure, and guaranteeing that tomorrow we will see 60.006).  All good signs to a good weekend and so far it has been!  The connections I have felt this weekend have been a lot about pictures.  Yesterday I saw that people were posting an App that displays the first FB picture posted by the user.  I decided to do this manually, and posted a pic of Alexa and Anna from 2005.  This amused Alexa and caused her to go into my albums and "like" a bunch of these pics on FB (she is new to FB so they were new to her).  This made them show up in newsfeeds and other people started liking these pics from long ago.  And, thus, I was able to see them all and re-connect with the pics and the memories connected to them.  And, bringing it all to the present, we got our Christmas cards to be mailed (covered with pics from the last year) AND I got to download the pics that were taken at our family Thanksgiving photo shoot.  A day of looking at pictures of the people I love and smiling from ear to ear.  A great way to start the weekend!

Special Days Connect

The morning of the 352nd day of 2015 made me smile.  Not because I had the day off today (but that did not hurt) and not because I had an excellent NP appointment this AM (but I did, and also did not hurt), but it's because FB reminded me this morning that it is the anniversary of Sarah's sister and her husband.  But it is ALSO the anniversary of the first "date" concert of a set of friends of mine (who are now married and happily so!)  I love connecting with people's happy times, especially when other news in the world can be sadness inducing or head scratching.  Much more fun to connect with happiness and love.

Collaborating and Connecting

On the 351st day of 2015, I went looking for positive quotes about consultants.  This is because 12/17/15 was the last day on site for our Banner AR Consultant from Ellucian, who has been INVALUABLE to me as I started my new position at SRFS and as we hurtled towards Go-Live, and implemented in a relatively smooth manner.  Rob took me under his wing, as I started in the project mid-stream, and he always made sure I knew what I was doing AND WHY I was doing it.  As I stated in my remarks at his goodbye party, any successes our team had with the implementation (and beyond) were built on the foundation that Rob laid for and with us.  I am so happy to have connected with a consultant that was more than just a guy from a company, he was a colleague and a friend.  I have been blessed to have many such consultant relationships in my career at Penn.  I am truly a lucky guy.  Hoping to see Rob at the conference next year, and stay connected in our own ways!

(12/16) Connected in Fandom

OK, so the post for 12/16/15 (the 350th day of 2015) is late - I was tired last night and things are really busy in the season and I collapsed.  And there are a lot of seasons coverging at the same time, but the one I am enjoying the most right now is the Middle School Basketball Season.  Yesterday, as I sat in the gym and cheered on Alexa and the Colls MS Girls Bball Team, I enjoyed the connections I have with the parents of the other girls on the team.  I like it that we travel well.  I like it that we can joke with each other and we look forward to hanging out on the gym bleachers and watching games. Connecting in fandom of our daughters and their friends.  It's a great reason to connect!

Fundraisers Connect

12/15/15, Day #349 of 2015 was a long, productive day.  And it ended with the family driving around town, delivering candy purchased in a fundraiser for the Oaklyn Education Foundation.  I really do actually like fundraising.  It allows me to connect with the charities for whom I am raising funds.  But it also allows me to connect with my neighbors and my communities (in Oaklyn and at work and elsewhere).  Because, as long as the products are useful (who doesn't like candles and chocolate?) and the programs are beneficial to folks who need it (PTA and OEF), we all win!

Retiring Connections

During the 348th day of 2015, we celebrated the career of another colleague at work.  12/14/15 was both a sad and happy day as we congratulated her on an excellent career and wished her the best of happiness in her retirement.  Thinking of the years gone by, connects me with other colleagues who have already retired.  All of them added so much to my own current career and I owe a lot to those who came before me.  I am sure these will get harder as my career goes on, but, for today, I am happy for my friend and colleague.

Penn Athletic Connections

On the 347th day of 2015 I really appreciated my connections with Penn Athletics.  Because 12/13/15 was the DRIA Holiday Party and we (the whole family) got invited because I am the Asst. Director of the Band.  It was a really nice evening and the girls really enjoyed it.  I also got to connect to some coaches I had never met before, as well as saying hello to those I knew.  I love Penn Athletics and I love that my kids are welcome at the events as well.  GO QUAKERS!

Connected to Those Who Serve

12/12/15 - Day #346 of 2015 and there was not a lot on the docket today, thankfully, because I was really tired.  But I did spend the time to watch the Army/Navy Game on TV (and it was a great game) and I made the connection that the young men on the field were different than most of the young men we watch in College Football.  While the Heisman was awarded tonight and Derrick Henry will be playing football on Sundays, these young men playing at LFF today will all graduated and go to serve our country.  And, because they are willing, the world is a safer place.  SO I thank them and am especially appreciative of them at this chaotic time!

Cohort Connections

12/11/15, the 345th day of 2015, was a long, but really nice, day.  And, all through the day, from the Division Luncheon, sitting with work colleagues and realizing we represented 350 total years of service at Penn, to watching Alexa and her friends take pictures and get ready for their Snowball Dance, to hanging out with parents during that dance, I felt connected to the cohorts of colleagues, friends, and family members with which I am blessed to share connections.  It is these close knit groups that really make me smile, laugh, and feel lucky.  Tonight, I go to bed a little later than usual, but feeling really good about the connections I have in my life.

Connected to the Old Neighborhood

12/10/15 was a good day.  Had an excellent vendor demo at work on the 344th day of this connected year.  But, after the workday ended, I drove back into my old neighborhood in West Philadelphia to the Mariposa Food Co-Op.  I had to pick up some clothes that were collected for Old First, and so I spoke with the manager.  I was filled with awe as I walked into the building, thinking about how amazing it is now, looking like a true retail store, not the co-op I remembered in the small place.  I told the manager that I dad was one of the founding members of Mariposa and she told me the co-op is 44 years old.  When I told her I was 46, she called me a "Mariposa Baby."  And it's true, I remember working there, helping pack up the food orders.  I also realized that the co-op's new building is the same building where the bank was where I opened my first bank account!  So many connections to my old neighborhood and tonight I was feeling them strongly.  (AND, in a #NumberGeek moment, my odometer was 59695 as I pulled up to the co-op - a sign from above that it was the right time and place to be there!)

The Danger of Being Connected

12/9/2015 and it is the 343th day of 2015.  Palindromic days (the second to last one of 2015) are usually good for me and, frankly, it was a pretty good day at work, and afterwards, but for one small (largish) event.  Just after Noon, my phone exploded in texts, FB messages, and emails.  Someone started an account and tried to portray themselves as my identity in order to collect information on them and maybe even trick them into giving "me" money..... But, luckily, my connections know me and alerted me and we had the Bad FB account gone in about 15 additional minutes....shows the danger of being over-connected and susceptible for these kinds of events.  I am glad I am connected, but connected wisely we all must be.

Connected to my Grandma

I was reminded, on the morning of 12/8/15, the 342nd day of 2015, that, 15 years ago (actually on the 343rd day of 2000) my grandmother passed away.  But, by posting this, my mother connected me to my grandmother and the wonderful person she was.  And, as I told my mother, "She left us physically, but I feel her with me all the time - in laughs, in my mom, even in Anna and Alexa."  And I believe this.  I know not what happens after our physical time is completed on this Earth, but I do believe that souls are everlasting and memories are priceless.  I will always be connected to my grandmothers, and my grandfathers, and all those that went before us.

Connected to Walt

You all know how much I love Disney.  And the Senior Director of my department in SRFS knows this as well!  So, on the 341st day of 2015, she came in and told me that 12/7/15 is Walt's Birthday! ACTUALLY, I Googled it, and Saturday (12/5) would have been his 114th birthday, so I am not sure why she thought this, but I DO like thinking about Disney and how I have connected to not just his creations (movies, characters, theme parks), but also his quotes and philosophies.  I DO try to do well each day, and will continue to do so as long as I can.  Happy Belated B-Day, Walt - thanks for your dreams!

Hanukkah Connections

Day #340 of 2015 was also Night #1 of Hanukkah, 2015!  12/6/2015, for me then, connected Communion in Church in the AM to all the pics of Hanukkah celebrations in my FB feed this evening.  What I remember the most about celebrating Hanukkah, as a kid, is that we spent it with family, cousins and all.  So, how fitting that we spent the evening, after Anna's amazing ChildrenSong concert, all connecting together at a family dinner, Anna with her Grandparents, and Uncle, and Aunt, and Cousin.....I mean we did not light any candles at dinner, but we did feast together as family.  And Family is what Hanukkah means to me!  HAPPY HANUKKAH EVERYONE!

Basketball Connects

339 is a pretty cool number (113 x 3, and 113 is prime), and Day #113 was an awesome day filled with family and basketball.  I love the connections that were made on 12/5/2015.  Anna started back with Rec Basketball this week and I love to see the way she is connecting back to basketball after a few years off.  Then, after getting the family Christmas Tree, Alexa and I went to watch Penn Women's Basketball play Navy.  Not only did Penn win, but I got to hear Alexa's analysis of the play on the court.  It is great to see her connect to the coaching she has gotten in Rec, Travel, and Middle School.  She really can see the court and what plays are being called.  I learned from her today.  And any day you can learn from your kids, is a good one!

Sewing (sowing?) Connections

Day #338 was 12/4/2015 and my parents are in from CA on a visit.  And that provides so many opportunities for viewing connections.  But the connection on which I wish to focus from tonight was my mom teaching Anna how to sew.  The looks of both concentration (while sewing) and joy (upon completion) on Anna's face warmed my heart.  And the connection Anna and my mom made was everlasting.  <3

I LOVE a Parade (and its Connections)

Day #337 ended well.  Because 12/3/15 was the evening FireTruck Light Parade for our town.  And Oaklyn did it well, people came out and really enjoyed the wonderful event, put on my the Boro, the Fire Department, the Police Department, and the Civic Association.  It was truly an event that connected the community but also connected me to parades I have enjoyed in the past and also enjoyed tonight.  Was great to also see Anna sing in the parade and at the Tree Lighting Ceremony. Such a great festive night!

Creche Connections

12/2/2015, Day #336 of 2015, and today the animals arrived at my Church's Living Creche.  I love the connections the Creche provides at my Church.  Firstly, my kids LOVE the animals and love this season, so they are always wanting to see the animals, pet the animals, watch the animals, and we have taken many a nice family picture in the Creche, so it's fun to look at these and connect with our family, years ago.  But I love how the people in the neighborhood and in the City, and visitors connect with the Creche, connect with our Church, and connect with the Christmas Story.  This little display on the corner of 4th and Race has an effect on its community, on its City, on its visitors, and that is meaningful to me and makes me happy.  Just another reason to love this season!

Giving Connects

I am a pretty stubborn guy.  So, on the 335th day of 2015 (12/1/15), which was trumpeted as #GivingTuesday, I actually did not make any charitable donations.  Not because I do not believe in charity, anyone who knows me knows I love to give to people and organizations in need.  But I do admit to be resentful of the commercialization of the art of giving in that now Giving Tuesday is a "thing" like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  It bothers me.  But, what I cannot deny is that giving to people and organizations fosters connections with the people who serve and the people who are served.  And it makes me feel good to give, just not on #GivingTuesday.  I will give the other 364 days of the year, not because someone tells me to, but because I want to.