Day 304: Ridin' in the Rain

Happy Halloween! It was the first rainy day in a long time but I was happy to ride my bike to work in the rain. It may sound weird but it was awesome because it wasn't so cold, it was just right. The rain even helped cool me as I rode. Even better, we haven't had a rain all summer long, so Sacramento needs rain bad. 

Day 305: Wrong Job

Another post about my friend Kyle. Two years ago Kyle started a job as a guard at a prison. I tried to talk him out of it, because he's a nice guy and I didn't think he should have a job that could possibly change him into an angry prison guard. Today I am happy because today was Kyle's last day in corrections and he starts his new job as a tour guide at the Capitol building on Monday. 

Day 306: House of Moore

I was happy when I got to go see by buddy Kyle's new house he just bought. He seems pretty excited and it's a fairly decent house in a decent neighborhood. Definitely needs some fixing up, but he's up to the challenge. Good luck and congratulations Kyle!

Day 307: New Job Jitters Be Gone

My new job as an Analyst for the newly developed Special Projects Team really started today. I've been a bit nervous about what they expect of me. But today I was happy today when I got my first project and I was able to get it done with no sweat. All I had to do was compile a spreadsheet and make some graphs in Excel. Pretty simple and right up my alley.

Day 308: On Time (for once)

I'm a procrastinator, big time. I was happy to get all my homework done for the week WAY ahead of schedule. The best part is that I'm sure I'll be happy about this later in the week too!

Day 309: Capitol Rally

I was feeling pretty tired and sore from the tree planting yesterday, that I ended up laying around the house and sleeping most of the day away. But at about 9 tonight I was feeling pretty restless to get out of the house. I decided to take a bike ride to deposit a check at the ATM near the Capitol building. After doing that I decided to ride around Sacramento for a bit. Sunday nights are the best for riding around downtown, because there is almost no one on the streets. I was happy when I saw one group of people though, conducting a volleyball rally circle on the south steps of the capitol building. I thought it was really cool that they all gathered there after the sun went down to just have fun. I totally thought about asking to join in, but I thought that might be a bit weird, coming from a random guy riding around on his bike at night.

Day 310: Tree Talk

I skipped class today to attend a tree planting and a picnic for completing the LEAF Steward course with the Sacramento Tree Foundation. I was happy when my class got to sit around and socialize like we really had not been able to before. It was really cool to really hear about everyone's interests and especially there passion and commitment to improve our tree situation in Sacramento.

Day 311: Hole in the wall

We had a potluck at our office today so I wasn't very hungry during lunch time, so I decided to walk around downtown for an hour. I walked all across town to Ceasar Chavez Park. It's funny but I really only know nighttime downtown. During the day its like a whole other world. Today I noticed and was happy to see how many business', especially diners, exist in daytime downtown. I was really impressed by the amount of things I've never really noticed before. There is practically a diner on every corner. I making a new goal to try out a bunch of these hole in the wall diners.

Day 312: Get out of school free card

I hung out in Capitol Park a little today at lunch. While I was there I saw a bunch of grammar school kids on a field. I was happy when I remembered how howm uch fun it was to take field trips. Every kid I saw looked really excited. Those special days when you didn't have to sit in the boring classroom and go run around. I miss having that.

Day 313: A quarter is the difference between clean and dirty

Wednesday nights have been my one night of the week where I can sit at home and relax. Tonight I decided to do laundry, make dinner and do some laundry. I put a load of laundry into the washer and then went back later to move it to the dryer when I realized that I was one quarter short. I ran back to my apartment and searched everywhere with no avail. The nI remembered. I was happy that I had planned in advance to put some emergency quarters in my wallet just incase I was every a quarter short. Seriuosly, I planend for this situation well in advance and totally forgot. It was awesome when I remembered.

Day 314: I Can Only See Green

I'm starting to discover that the hardest days to find a happy moment, are the ones where I'm not in a bad mood and not much is going on. I think it's because when I'm in a bad mood it's a lot easier to pick out something that was good in the day against the dank backdrop of a gloomy 24 hours. Today was no exception, not much going on, nothing bad happening, just living. After work, I decided to focus on something that me me happy on the bike ride home. I watched everyone I rode past on the street to see if they were up to anything uplifting. Nada. I looked for signs, unusual events, anything. Nothing at all. I got home fairly quickly and felt a little disappointment, when I realized what had just happened. I was happy when I had the perfect ride home. Everyday I ride my bike home for work it's inevitable that I get cut off by some driver who's not paying attention. Also, I (usually due to being cut off) miss the lights and hit the intersection right when it turns red. But today, every driver was courteous and was watching out for me and I hit every light and didn't have to stop once. Pretty awesome. It's the small things!

Day 315: Root for me, I'm a Graduate

For the past 7 weeks I've given up every Monday night to attend training sessions at the Sacramento Tree Foundation to become one of their LEAF Stewards. A LEAF Steward is a community leader in regards to trees, endorsed be the Tree Foundation. Well, tonight was my last class and as I am happy to get my Monday nights back, I'm more happy to have been dedicated enough to attend all the classes and go above and beyond to play an important part in the retention of the urban forest in Sacramento. Now I have a big tree community project to plan... :-)

Day 316: Before I Fall..

I'm sick today and I have not left the house. I have a headache that wants me dead. But don't worry, I'm still looking for happy things. I've been scouring the internet and TV to find something that puts a smile on my face, but the only thing putting a smile on my face is the thought of my bed. So, I am so happy to know that i can go to sleep and when I wake up I'll feel 100% better. Goodnight.

Day 317: Early Morning Motivation

I woke up this morning and I did not want to move. Unfortunately, I had my Speech class at 9am and I did not write my speech. I laid in bed and came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be so bad if I missed one class. But, my conscious kicked in and I started to feel really bad about not going, because a) I totally told a girl in my class all about my speech I was going to write and in fact had given her an idea for her own speech and I didn't want to ditch out on her & b) Meredith was kind enough to get me materials from the Sacramento Tree Foundation to use for my speech and I would have horrible if I would have let her time go to waste. In the end, I was happy when I motivated myself to not ditch class. Everyone was pretty impressed with my speech (that I wrote in about 20 minutes before class), and they all said the learned a lot of new things about our dying urban forest.

Day 318: The Long Drive Home

Ben, Lance and I left Fullerton at about 10am to go home to Sacramento, so I had to find my happy thing for the day from inside a moving vechicle. It was a pretty good drive other than the fact that I had to pee every 5 miles and some how I developed the bladder of a 8 year old girl. But, my happy thing didn't happen until I got to Sacramento. I was happy when I saw the big water tower at the edge of Sacramento that says, "Welcome To Sacramento." I have always had aslight obsession with the first site of home after a long trip, whether it be the city skyline when coming east on I-80 or the water tower coming north on I-5. Its the symbol that says to me, "Welcome back to your comfort zone."

Day 319: The Pits

We had a whole day to kill in LA before the Far show, so we decided to go check out the La Brea Tar Pits. I was actually really happy to spend a few hours at the Tar Pits with my friend. I thought it was going to be kind of lame, but it turned out to be pretty fun. Did you know there was an American Lion which was bigger than the African Lion?

Oh yeah, and I got to see Far again at the Troubadour in Hollywood. It was a lot of fun to have more Sacramento people out to support our band. Seriously, so good!

Day 320: The Band Far

Ok, today was the day. My friends and I left Sacramento today around noon and drove down to L.A. to see a band that means a lot to us: Far. Ten years ago Far decided to call it quits and for years we have heard rumors of on again, off again reunions. But tonight was for real. When the stated playing, the fact that I was in a club I've never been in, in a city I've never been in (Pomona) all disappeared and it felt like I was back in high school at Bo Jangles again. The best part was that there was not one person in that room who wasn't screaming along to every word. To make matters even better, I got to hang out with the band backstage after the show. I've been around each member of Far before, separately. But here they were together again. Seriously, one of the most amazing nights of my life, and I get to see them again tomorrow. I was happy when I got to see my favorite band play again.

Day 321: Pens a Pen

The only day I work this week was today. My Monday and Friday all wrapped up into one nice little package. I was happy when I found a full box of my favorite pens at work. Yeah, it may seem stupid to you, but try writing with those horrible Papermate pens that are just long tubes of ink. Seriously, I hate those pens.

Day 322: Another Climb Up The Hill

A great day to begin with because I had the day off from work, paid! Thanks Columbus for running into an ENORMOUS chunk of land! Anyway, I took the opportunity of using a state holiday where no one in the real world gets it off, to go visit my ex-coworkers in El Dorado Hills. I was happy to see my friends again and have lunch with them. A pretty self-explanatory happy time; haven't seen people in a while, get to see them again.

Day 323: Out with the old, In with the nothing

Today I decided to raid my closet and dresser and get rid of a large amount of my clothes. I'm kind of feeling the need to grow up and want my wardrobe to reflect that. So I bagged up all my clothes and took them to Crossroads clothes exchange to try and sell them. Unfortunately, I only sold one jacket and made $10. But, I was happy when I spent no money and didn't buy anything. This is a big deal because I saw some clothes I liked there, but none where fitting my "grow up" look, so I stuck to my guns and left empty handed.

Day 324: Alley to the Past

Second Saturday in Sacramento has turned into an enormous event. Thousands of people line the streets of downtown/midtown and I happen to live in the middle of it. My buddy Jeff and I walked over to check out an art show he was showing in. On the walk back home, I noticed a light in an alley way that seemed pretty deserted. All we could see was a couple paintings and thought, "oh cool, some weird alley way at show, let's go check it out." When we got down the alley way we noticed that there quite a few people in a parking lot that was hidden from street view. I was happy and really excited when we realized that a real ska band  was playing and I began to think about how much fun I use to have at ska shows when I was in high school. I really loved going to shows back then, and I found out that I really miss the ska bands. They were a lot of fun. I'm kind of hoping that this is the start of a new ska movement.

Day 325: Studying, Who would of thought?

I have a midterm in my speech class tomorrow and I did not feel very prepared, that is until, my new friend Mindy from my class studied with me and helped me learn everything I needed to know. I really feel confident about my test now and I'm grateful that someone who's smarter than me was willing to share what they know with me.

Day 326: I'll be your tour guide

Often it makes me bummed out when my friends are miserable. But, today I was happy when my buddy Kyle told me he got a new job as a tour guide at the State Capitol building. I'm really excited for him because he was really unhappy at his last job at a youth correctional facility. Besides, now he'll work a couple blocks from me and we could have lunch together now.

Day 327: Giving leads to Giving

For dinner tonight I went out to eat chicken teriyaki with a friend. After dinner she was carrying the leftovers when a homeless women came up to her and said she was hungry. I was happy when my friend, without thinking, gave her the food. It was a really nice gesture and the best part was that kind deed directly influenced me into giving a dollar to a really nice homeless man later in the evening.

Day 328:Living in a Star Trek World

I know I post a lot about my Sign Language class, but today something made me happy during my Sign class. We had a big test today, but my teacher was unable to make copies of the test at school, so he only had enough time to print 20 copies of the test on his personal printer. Unfortunately, there were 23 people in class. Two people had laptops, so he emailed them the test and they took it on there laptop. It suddenly dawned on me that I could look at Word files on my Iphone. So he emailed me the file and I took the test with my Iphone. I was happy that we have technology that allows us to solve problems on the fly. I started to think about what it would have been like even 10 or 15 years ago, I (or someone else) would have been out of luck. It really does excite me what it will be like in 10 or 15 more years.

Day 329: Hey Jared!

I am often running around my building picking up and delivering mail, so I often see a lot of people throughout the day. Today I was happy when it seemed like everywhere I went in the building people kept saying, "Hi, Jared!" It really made me think that I know belong and am in with everyone at work, and I've only been there 4 months. I felt like Norm walking in to Cheers.

Day 330: Remember Where You Are

A few of us Mid-Towners took a trip up to Granite Bay (just east of Sacramento) to watch the 49er's game. It's about a thrity minute drive. On the drive up there I began to think about all the different palces I've lived and I was happy to realize that I've never been happier living somewhere than I am right now. I thought about every house and apartment that I ever called home and it seemed that everyone I lived in, there was something wrong. Usually it was location. But living in Midtown Sacramento this past year has been perfect. Everything I need is within biking distance if not walking distance. It felt really good to know that I am truly content with my home.

Day 331: Horrible Sounds Are A Gateway Drug

Today I went to the UC Davis Arboretum. It was really awesome how big it was and how many plants are living there. And it was fun to chase the ducks like a three year old. After our long walk we went back into David and stopped for ice cream and smoothies. In the quad of the shopping center there was really bad elevator jazz band. I sat in one of the seats and drank my smoothie. I was happy when I was transported to my own little world in my mind. That may not make sense to some, but sometimes when I sit and not think about anything, I tend to totally forget about the world around me. Seriously, a bomb could go off next to me and I probably wouldn't flinch. Anyway, these very rare moments that this happens to me are the most stress-free, care-free moments I have in my life. It was cool that this awful band could help me go there.

Day 332: New Start

I was happy when I got a promotion! There I said it. So of the two interviews I just had, I got the one that I really wanted. The day started kind of weird because I got turned down for the fist job, but about 20 minutes later I got offered the other job. Pretty awesome day!

Day 333: Half Bad

Oh 333 days left. 333 is the number my buddy Cory would always say was half way to bad. But today was all good. I was happy when I weighed myself this morning and found out that I've lost 15 pounds in the last 3 months. I know, a lot of people will be saying that I don't need to lose any weight, but trust me, there are areas where I need to. I'm pretty stoked!

Day 334: Eat this burrito and call me in the morning

Today I had another interview for another position. I did not feel it went as well as the previous interview, so in turn I did not start my day on the best foot. And so my day dragged on and on. By the end of the work day I was developing a headche. It was definately one those "blah" days that I've been dreading. But when I got home, I was happy to have the best 20 minute nap ever! Seriously, no more headache, forgot about the interview, it was if the day had started all over again. And to top it off I had a burrito at Chipotle. Everyday should start like that.