This post is a little long, but I thought some of you might appreciate it. Happy New Year!

Originally shared by Carolyn Boyle

So I was sitting at a table next to the window of a coffee shop (the kind with cheap, strong coffee and free wi-fi, because I am, after all, a programmer ;-P).

I’d been in there for a few hours, surrounded by an assortment of electronic devices, totally oblivious to the people and things around me ( because I am, after all, a programmer ;-P).

I’d been grinding my teeth and muttering to myself for the last half hour, cursing myself and the very hard bench on which I had parked with a very large refill of the aforementioned strong, cheap coffee. The cursing was along the lines of why on earth did I click on the Yes button when the thing asked if I wanted to do a software update? Cursing the fact that I had clicked on the aforementioned button over an hour ago. Cursing the fact that after an unmentionable number of decades working on these things, I should know better than to expect it to be simple.

Cursing the fact that I did not have a pillow to place between that very hard bench and the parts of me that had become pretty much numb.

So I asked the nice young woman at the next table to watch my stuff while I went for a stroll to relieve the numbness, etc.

A very very long line meant that etc. wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, so I spun around and headed back to the very hard bench.

Slumping in front of the little bitty screen,

I reached up with my right hand to try to work out the knots in the left side of my neck, when I awoke to the view from the window next to me.

Earlier, I had been reading some very interesting articles on Android design principles , which are based on paying attention to people’s feelings.

The Google I/O mantra is “enchant, simplify, amaze. ”

Google is good, but they’ve got nothing on the view from that window.

My teeth unclenched, the knots in my neck vaporized, along with my impatience. I spent the short time until the machine was finally done updating itself gazing out the window.

I was enchanted, and amazed. So were the children in the horse-drawn Cinderella carriages clomping down the street beyond that window.

So my wish for us all is for a year full of days full of holiday joys. Days filled with wonder, days of enchantment, even when sans our electronic toys.

: )

Happiest New Year to everyone!!!

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