Life's little things

This morning I woke up early enough that I was able to take a slightly circuitous route to work and pick up a Chai and a bannana nut muffin on my way. The Starbucks in Evanston is "downtown," far from where I live, so I stopped at a cafe on Noyes Street. The Chai was a rich and creamy revelation. It had been so long since I had a legitimately good Chai that I had forgotten what it was like to drink one. Tasting something again for the first time is a wonderful little thing.

This afternoon I was checking my email and I had one from my new favorite correspondent. It was a lovely diversion in the middle of my day. An email, when written correctly, can be just as good as the best letter - and it gets there way faster. It's nice to know that someone cared enough to take the time out of their day to write to you. When you receive one, it's a wonderful little thing.

Yesterday evening I fired up iTunes looking for something to listen to. I created a playlist using the "genius" function and based it off of Jon McLaughlin's "Indiana" - currently my favorite song of all-time. I got a wonderfully mellow mix with a perfect mix of songs. It even included a few that I hadn't even rated, like Nathan Angelo's "Someday Soon" and OneRepublic's "Come Home." When technology creates a serendipitous moment, that's a wonderful little thing.

I'm interviewing for a big job. On my birthday I had a phone interview. It went really well and now I'm halfway through the process of possibly getting a job I'm super-psyched about. It would be a great use of my numbers, sports and journalism background. We'll see what happens, but I've gotten positive feedback thus far. When a job search goes well, it's a wonderful thing.

Thankfully, while I interview I've got something to do for the summer. Right now I go to work and read baseball stories. Yup, that's my job. (At least a part.) I get to work with my best friend from Medill and we're doing something that has the potential to completely change how people think about parts of journalism in a little less than half a year's worth of work. It's an incredible process to see everything develop on a whiteboard. (Whiteboards are their own little miracle.) When you enjoy the work you're doing, it's a wonderful little thing.

And then there's modern communication. From emails, to Twitter, to G-chat, blogs, telephones, everyone isn't that far away, even if physically they're hundreds, or even thousands of miles away. Technology keeps us connected like never before. All it takes is a little bit of effort. Picking up the phone or starting that IM conversation is a wonderful little thing.

Just realizing the wonderful little things are there can be a great pick-me-up. What are they in your life?