Things I am thankful for, 2012 edition.

My annual list of 50 things, great and small, important and not,  that I give thanks for.  In absolutely no significant order:

The Big Bang Theory.

The Next Iron Chef.
Alton Brown's turkey brine recipe.
Cranberry pineapple sauce.
Cornbread stuffing.
A functioning stove and refrigerator.*
Good movies.
Ken Burns.

Baseball.

E-books on my phone.
Cory Doctorow.
Facebook.
Blogger.
Venti non-fat no-whip Salted-Carmel Mochas.
Broadway.
The Book of Mormon, which I am going to see next week.

Victorian High Tea, complete with scones and petit fours.

Italy.

Piazza San Marco at twilight.

The Trevi fountain at midnight.

Raphael's "School of Athens."

The back roads of Tuscany.

The Napa Valley on autumn afternoons.

Mumford & Sons.

Democracy.

All of those in the military and out who fight to protect our rights.

That this past election is over.

Props  30 & 36, Measure A (Santa Clara County) and Measure D (San Jose), all of which passed.

President Barack Obama.

Senators Elizabeth Warren, Claire McCaskill, and Tammy Baldwin.

Nate Silver.

Mathematics.

Paul Krugman.

Rachel Maddow.

Jon Stewart.

Stephen Colbert.
My cat.

The meds that make my life possible.**  

The various medical professionals who have helped me make it through this year.

The roof over my head.

The food on my table.

The clothes on my back.

That I don't have to worry where my next meal is coming from.

My family.
Specifically, The Not-So-Little Drummer Boy, Railfan, and The Red-Headed Menace.

My friends.
The ocean.
Art.
Love.
Life.

* The power went out in our neighborhood for an hour and a half this morning; it was stressful, to say the least.
**One of my family's "thank yous" was for the fact that I was no longer on meds that made me a ghost of my former self.