10 Things That Make Me Happy

Ok, so I’ve been tagged by Erin with her Happy 101 game! I’m going to follow Erin and Josie’s lead by listing 10 things that make me happy. So even though my friends and family make me very happy, you won’t see them on this list.

So, in no particular order, 10 things that make me happy:

1. Photography - I really enjoy photography, and now that digital photography has come so far, it makes it even easier! As I’m learning, I can take as many photos as I want, and just delete any bad ones, without costing me a bunch of money to have them all developed. I use a Canon Digital Rebel XT, for the record. Here’s my Flickr photostream if you’d like to see some of my photos.
2. My iPhone – yes, I’m a big geek, and my iPhone rarely leaves my side. With so many great apps, it has become so much more than just a phone. My wife and I are currently hooked on Words With Friends, you should definitely check it out if you haven’t tried it already. I’ve also written a couple of apps for the iPhone myself. If you have young kids, I would definitely recommend BabyTouch, my 2 year old loves it!
3. Working on my 1951 Ford – for far too many years now, I’ve been rebuilding a 1951 Ford F2 pickup with my father. With any luck, we will finally finish it this summer. You can read more about it here.
4. This blog – even though I haven’t even been at it for quite 2 weeks now, I’ve really enjoyed doing this blog. It’s helped keep me motivated in my weight loss goals, and I’ve already met some really great people as a result.
5. Lost - There are lots of Lost haters out there that say the show just keeps brining up more questions without providing any real answers. Perhaps I’m a glutton for punishment, but I love this show, and I have faith that this final season will answer all of the big questions. There may be some of the smaller questions that go purposely unanswered, but I’m confident we’ll get all of the “big” answers about the island, the smoke monster, Jacob, etc.
6. Living in Alaska – I have lived in Alaska my entire life. I absolutely love it here, and can’t really imagine living anywhere else. My wife and I have talked a few times about moving somewhere down south (or the “lower 48″ as we Alaskans call it), but every time, we get back to thinking about how much we love it here and all of the things about Alaska that we would miss.
7. Coffee - with 2 young kids, I’m not sure how I would make it through my day without a few cups of coffee every morning. My wife has never been a coffee drinker in the past, but after the birth of our daughter in December, she’s converted to the dark side.
8. The feeling I get after exercising – immediately afterward I’m usually pretty exhausted, but after about 20-30 minutes that feeling has subsided, and a much more exhilarating, almost euphoric feeling takes over. It really is a great feeling, and helps give me the motivation to come back for more the next day.
9. Woodworking - after spending so much time at the computer, I really enjoy working in the “real” world with my hands. I would consider myself an amateur woodworker, and have made several pieces of furniture for our house, including a night stand and a very large bookcase for my wife’s ever-expanding book collection.
10. The Great Outdoors – whether it’s hiking, camping, or fishing, it’s hard to beat spending time in the great outdoors. I have very fond memories from my childhood of going camping and fishing with my dad (aside from the camping trip when I split my head open with a hatchet!), and I look forward to creating those same sort of memories with my children (minus the hatchet incident, of course).

Ok, I’m going to be a little lazy on this last part that includes tagging others to take part in this game – mostly because it looks like Erin and Josie have pretty much covered everyone I would have tagged anyways. So I’ll just say this – if you’re reading this, and haven’t already been tagged by either Erin or Josie, then consider yourself tagged!