Many, many awesome things

On that most exciting day when football, baseball, basketball, and hockey all collided, life was truly good. I’m talking about yesterday where the NFL Draft, postseason hockey, postseason basketball, and regular season baseball all happened to fall on the same glorious block of time between 6pm and 2am CST (thanks to the NFL moving the first round of the draft to prime time). And if only I really cared about the MLS, then it would have truly been a perfect storm, but alas professional soccer in the US is only a pale shadow of European soccer and who really care about that? Regardless, I had to literally juggle draft coverage, the Rangers game, and keeping up with the NHL and NBA postseason while still paying attention to my regular Thursday night TV selections. Not only this greatness…but the fact that the Rangers got off the schneid, brilliant! C.J. Wilson allowed just four hits over 6 2/3 scoreless frames, and the Rangers' offense, after being stymied for six innings by Clay Buchholz, broke through with three runs in the seventh to end Texas' losing streak. What the hell more could you want? A house, a dog, a career, and spending money would be nice, but enough about my problems. I was truly concerned that we would continue sliding down into the basement, but breaking out of the slump is a good thing as we head back home for a stretch. This was by far the most grueling road trip that we will have to face this season and the longest. I said we would have to come out of Boston with at least two to make up for the terrible showing in New York, but at this point, one will do. I am now looking forward to going to the game on Saturday with the free pregame concert and the Elvis Andrus bobble head. Nice.

Can’t remember when it was, that’s how bad my memory is, but I wrote recently about my love and admiration for PostSecret. Well, today I checked PostSecret and was directed to another random blog site full of useless information that somehow brightened my day (what I imagine my blog is like for ya’ll). 1000 Awesome Things (http://1000awesomethings.com/) is just a time-ticking countdown of 1000 awesome things. Launched June, 2008 and updated every weekday. And it came out as 400-page hardcover The Book of Awesome this month. Consumer angst has turned western civilization into a morass of grumpy old men moaning about shoddy battery life of iPhones or the annoying omnipresence of accident claims adverts when you just want to watch a daytime quiz show. So sometimes, it’s nice to remind yourself of life’s sweeter side and the pleasures to be had from the small things…like peeling the thin plastic film off new electronic gadgets or sneaking your own cheap snacks into the cinemas. Not as deep and insightful as the soul searching that PostSecret brings, but perhaps a good way to go nonetheless. In fact Frank Warren, creator of PostSecret is quoted on the site as saying, “1000 Awesome Things is the #1 awesome website.” An endorsement like that is hard to ignore, and so are the topics of the 1000 awesome things.

Given the hectic nature of our lives, it’s easy to overlook the little things that make it all worthwhile. Thank goodness we’ve got this site to remind us of life’s small pleasures. I came upon today’s #521, but I’ve already identified a few favorites including that pile of assorted beers left in your fridge after a party, locking people out of the car and pretending to drive away, and finding money you didn’t even know you lost. Sleeping in your own bed after a long trip, being able to carry all the groceries from the car in one swoop, that miracle of science when the amount of toilet paper left on the toll is the exact amount you need…these are just some of the quietly awesome things in life. From the surprising (Thinking it’s Thursday when it’s really Friday) to the simply satisfying (Letting go of the gas pump at just the right moment), the pain-relieving (Getting the eyelash out of your eye) to small victories (Getting the armrest at the movies), the site features new awesomeness every day. It reminds you that not everything is ridiculous and hard to deal with. Sometimes it’s just awesome. That’s when you smile to yourself and think, “Hell yeah, I can get through this.”

Today’s (#521) was…Calling a mulligan on the day. So, I’m going to do that and head back to bed.

Mulligan!

AWESOME.

And I just found you can sign up to have them just come to your email inbox. So easy.

AWESOME.