Things For Which to Be Thankful

Due to the pandemic, Thanksgiving felt pretty weird this year, but I still have a hell of a lot to be thankful for . . . sorry, I have a hell of a lot for which to be thankful; here's an incomplete list:

1) Winston Churchill's retort when criticized for ending a sentence with a preposition:"This is the type of errant pedantry up with which I will not put"

2) the fact that my family was able to get together at all . . . it was just ten of us, which leads me to the next thing I'm thankful for;

3) this amazing COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool . . . apparently there was an 18% chance of someone having COVID at our Thanksgiving get-together, which seems like a reasonable risk . . . so pull out this Risk Assessment Tool and you'll be the life of the party!

4) the amazing weather . . . this might be due to global warming, but most of us might be dead long before that's much of a problem, so whatever;

5) the dog beach at Asbury Park . . . my wife and I took the dog there today-- this was contingent on the absurd late November weather;

6) the fact that my kids love to play tennis-- we're getting a lot of outdoor play before the (costly) indoor winter season begins;

7) the fact that our ping-pong table is still in the driveway-- we've been playing every day, crossing our fingers that this weather lasts, and my son Ian is actually getting good enough to beat me (occasionally) 

8) the fact that we've stepped up our ping-pong game to real paddles (Pro Spin Carbon)

9) this astoundingly funky Jimmy McGriff album "Groove Grease," which is excellent writing music and has a racy cover;

10) Jersey craft breweries, such as Cypress and Beach Haus;

11) the fact that my wife has taken up tennis-- I get a lot of exercise when I play with her . . .

12) the fact that I can do my job from home right now, without wearing a mask-- while remote teaching is kind of sad and occasionally gives me eyestrain and vertigo, it's a hell of a lot easier than hybrid;

13) a bunch of other stuff, but there's a Zoom happy hour with my fraternity brothers starting in 30 seconds, which I am also thankful for . . . sorry, for which I am thankful.