It’s the small things in life
February 3, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Ya know, it’s really the small things in life that make me feel good about myself. The big wins that make you feel like Superman for a day come so rarely, for me, that I can’t rely on them to keep my outlook positive.
For example, I prefer New Balance shoes and have worn them exclusively for the last several years, but I loathe the laces that come with them. Until I started putting an extra granny knot in the loops, they would come untied within 20 or 30 minutes of my putting my shoes on. The extra knot adds time to putting my shoes on, and taking them off. Ugh. Last week, I read a post in my RSS reader about using a reef knot instead of a granny knot to tie your shoes. The reef knot is self-tightening and will not come untied, while a granny knot will slip very easily. I watched the enclosed video and compared the knots on my shoes to the video and couldn’t see a difference. Yet, my shoes come untied rapidly unless I put the extra knot in the loops. Then I realized I was doing something different! The reef knot uses a single wrap of the laces at the beginning, and I always used a double wrap to keep the laces snug while I complete the knot. I immediately retied them with a single wrap in the knot and my shoes stayed tied all day long! Such a simple change and suddenly an annoyance in my life evaporates. Here’s a really fast way to tie your shoes and make sure you get a reef knot every time.
Today, I found a set of keys dangling from the door lock on the gate mechanism of the parking lot I use at work. I grabbed them, called parking service, and let them know I’d found the keys. They asked me to bring them to their main office and I said I would. During lunch, I dropped them off and the folks there were very appreciative. The guy who lost them was out frantically searching a very large campus. Their appreciation really made my day.
It’s the small things in life that keep you going.
Categories: Personal
