June 7, 2011

The kindness of a stranger can have an amazing effect on a person's day.  After a horribly planned run ending in my inability to comprehend questions asked of me or to focus my eyes on a single object, all I wanted was as large of an iced tea as could be found in the state.  I couldn't get to a Whataburger fast enough and the amount of time spent between my pulling up to the drive-thru and the moment I heard "Welcome to Whataburger..." was excruciatingly long.  My remaining water was disgustingly warm and the electrolyte tab seemed to keep me on a roller coaster of energy highs and lows; all I wanted was my iced tea.  After I ordered and rounded the corner, there was one more obstacle:  one old man who had seemingly ordered the entire menu.  As I'm mustering all the patience I could, I hear a rustling of sorts at the door off the drive-thru window next to me.  It was as if I was seeing a mirage:  a Whataburger angel was holding a large unsweetened iced tea and delivering it to my window instead of having me wait on Old Man Hungry ahead of me.  I'm sure my happy shriek startled him, but he also seemed amused by my glee over a simple iced tea.  Today, happiness was an act of kindness . . . and an iced tea.  Makes for a great day! 

June 6, 2011

I sat through an eight hour new employee orientation for Travis County and all I got was this tiny lapel pin.  Orientations are rarely, if ever, entertaining experiences, or informative for that matter.  They generally are onslaughts of information irrelevant at the moment and usually findable online or elsewhere later.  Yet, sit we must through hours of presentations on benefits, insurance, harassment policies, and the like.  Despite my obvious irritation at having to sit through today's orientation, I do appreciate the County's enthusiasm toward all of its new employees.  Plus, at the end of the day, I get to work for my favorite county in the State of Texas.  Every time I cross the county line I get an instant feeling of being home, so it's pretty great to be able to work for Travis County.  Had I thought about it from this perspective prior to the orientation, I hope I would've been less of a cranky jerk today.