I wish they had "green star" memberships

this graffiti was above a trash can at my school. It made me think of this picture.

I upgraded my Costco membership status from “gold star” to “executive” today. (sidenote: does this mean that I am going to be sent board meeting information regularly?) It was a little strange to have the guy asking me about shopping for my family. I am going to have family. It is a little weird for me. I understand the roles I play in the families that I am a part of already, being a brother and a cousin, and I kind of feel like I am getting the hang of the uncle thing as well, although not as well as Sam, from what I understand. I have never been the head of my very own family though. Not until now. I hope that it comes as easily and naturally as being a brother has. As I am growing up I have figured out that there is not a plan for everything, in fact few things are planned, and what gets planned hardly follows the intended course of actions. I always figured adults have it figured out, and that’s what made them adults. I always thought that the tools and tips I was receiving would be for very specific purposes. I am finding out that the tools are bring applied to my life in much the same fashion that my high school math teacher explained that math would be applied: not so much in a literal sense such as 1+1=2 (counting change maybe?), but more like if I understand the laws of addition, I can make it fit any situation where addition would be handy (balancing my check book?). I can also take my understanding of mathematical laws and apply the understanding in the sense that both the more principles and the better I understand these principles, will make it easier to solve the wide variety of problems I may face. I believe “critical thinking” is the name of the concept I am trying to describe. I should ask Professor Jendian about it when I start his class this fall. He knows all about thinking critically. I learned much about it from him last semester. As much as I have complained about school over the last year(s), I really enjoy it. I am excited about going back in the fall. I love learning. I love teaching. I think the thing I appreciate most about those two activities is the idea understanding. I love being in an environment of understanding. There are few things I enjoy more than having the light go on and being like: “a-ha, I get it.” I like it so much that I get excited about it for other people when they have a-ha moments. Today I held a little coffee tasting at my store because it was slow and I had time. We tasted one of my favorite coffees. It was fun for me because I have not had the opportunity to do many tastings since coming to this store in February. When I was in charge I would have one of my baristas do a tasting and rotate myself through the positions on the floor so that everybody would have a chance to experience the tasting. I made sure to do at least one for every one of my shifts. Anyway, it was fun today to walk through some of the components that make a complex coffee complex… as opposed to not complex? Let me explain, some coffees are complex, and some are not. Some taste wonderfully with an assortment of things (complex) and some taste wonderfully with only one or two closely related things (not complex… simple I guess (a-ha)). It always bums me out when people do a simple tasting with a complex coffee, because it is like watching a football game from a talented team running one or two different plays for the whole game, they still might win, but it is not very exciting to watch, and not everybody on the team gets to play their strengths and show how good they can be. So… my favorite part about having a tasting is the conversations. It is fun, some of the conversations that come up, as well as the understanding that comes from the majority of the conversations. That is something that I think I will miss about this job when I move on, many people have conversations over coffee, whereas few people that I know have conversations over caseloads or patients.