The Challenge

I got this challenge from one of my Steemit buddies @thedarkhorse, but the original idea comes from @snowpea. I highly suggest checking out their posts as they put out good content and aren't just spamming articles. Here are their posts:
https://steemit.com/loveitshoveit/@thedarkhorse/i-ve-been-tagged-love-it-shove-it-challenge

https://steemit.com/loveitshoveit/@snowpea/the-love-it-shove-it-challenge

The description below is copied and pasted from @snowpea's first post (except the image, which I downloaded from Pixabay.com). Hope you enjoy and will send it along to your other Steemit buddies. Feel free to tag me with your posts so I don't miss them.

Hello fellow Steemians!! I created a fun challenge that will help us get to know each other better! At first I was going to call it the the love/hate challenge, and I almost called it the like/dislike challenge, but after much deliberation, I've settled on love it/shove it. Thank you for everyone's input and @inthenow's idea for the title! Whew! That was the hard part!!

So what do you really love? What would you rather not have in your life? These are the little things that make us unique! Get creative, and feel free to explain your reasons! The rules are simple!

List five things that you love

List five things that you really dislike

Use the tag loveitshoveit

Edit: rule change, I've seen comments of people saying they wish they could tag more than 5, so now you can tag whoever you want to get to know better! As many people as you want! And remember anyone can join! If you're reading this, and you want to create a love it/shove it post, I would love to see it! It's been so much fun reading them all!!

This is me at the Pskov Kremlin in Pskov, Russia

My "Love It" List

1st - Coffee and каша (Oatmeal - pronounced Kasha) with my wife in the morning. This may seem trivial, but despite our busy schedules and plethora of daily obligations, my wife and I sit down together nearly every morning to have coffee and oatmeal. We talk about our plans for the day, any upcoming events, and/or chat in general. Whenever I am away from her for any length of time, it is one of the things I miss the most. This is especially true right now as I've been in the U.S. for close to 2 months. It even rolls off the tongue nicely - Coffee and Kasha with Masha. :)

2nd - 80's New Wave Music - I'm a total geek for the music that dominated my teen years. Yes, there were the "hair bands" and the emergence of rap and hip hop, but I was a New Wave guy and I spent my time immersed in Depeche Mode, the Cure, BauHaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Spandau Ballet and too many more to name. 80's new wave dominates my playlists on my computer and phone.

3rd - Cooking BBQ - A lot of people like to have BBQ's and hang out with their friends. This makes sense as it is a great social combination - Good food, drinks, and friends. However, what I REALLY love the best is the cooking. I will spend hours the night before prepping and I will spend all day smoking/grilling. People often ask me if I want a break or to share the load, but to me it isn't work at all.

4th - St. Petersburg, Russia - Many people have a favorite city. Mine is "Piter". It is a fabulous city with a rich history, beautiful architecture, canals, museums, and on and on and on. Former U.S. diplomat to the Soviet Union in the 30's and 40's, George Kennan spoke of St. Petersburg with the highest regard. I'm paraphrasing a bit, but he said that he felt a mysterious bond with the city as if he had been there before in a past life. He claimed it was a feeling no American could understand and no Russian would ever believe. I think I understand exactly how he felt.

5th - Learning Something New - I am a total sponge for new knowledge and experiences. I love to hear stories, try new activities, and go to new places. Every experience brings me to a greater understanding of the world I live in - past and present. I think this is why my blog posts are so varied. I simply find so much that I think is interesting and like to share with others. Note: I'm still learning markdown styling on Steemit. ;)

My "Shove It" List

1st - When I Can't Get My Computer to Do What I Want - The surefire way to kill my good mood, erode all my available patience and throw me into an anxiety filled productivity black hole. One would think that after all these decades of dealing with this situation, that I would be better at calmly going through the motions to solve the problem, but NO. I still act like an 8 year-old throwing a temper tantrum furiously banging on keys, speaking/yelling at the screen, and occasionally throwing shit.

2nd - When People Lie to Me - Okay. So this seems obvious. Nobody wants to be lied to. I get that. However, my rage at people who lie to me goes a bit further. A little known fact is that people only tell lies that they themselves would logically believe. This is why when our children tell us lies, they fail because they aren't as smart as we are and often we tried the same BS with our parents. Therefore, when someone or some group "cough cough the Media cough cough" tells me lies, what bothers me the most is that they think I'm stupid enough to believe it. Bad enough you're going to give me some BS, but then insult my intelligence on top of it?

3rd - Warm Beer - Perhaps because I'm American and beer is preferred cold there, I have been spoiled, but it drives me crazy when I take a drink of a freshly poured beer at my local watering hole and its warm. What's worse is the puzzled look on my Russian bar maid's face when I complain about it. The answer usually is that its so cold outside that I would certainly prefer a warm drink. WTF? In my humble opinion, beer is best served around the freezing mark and if I get a bit of a beer slushy, I'm in hops heaven. A great establishment named Twin Peaks in the U.S. has this figured out. They not only serve their beer at near freezing, they also serve it in a frozen mug. Total perfection. Note - The well endowed waitresses and barmaids at Twin Peaks adds to the experience nicely.

4th - Instant Coffee and/or Finding Coffee Grounds in the Bottom of My Cup - Nothing kills my morning faster than chewing the last swallow of my daily "liquid of life." The fact that people actually drink instant coffee regularly is one of life's great conundrums for me. If you are inclined to drinking instant coffee, it may be a deal breaker on our brewing friendship (pun intended). Offering me a cold beer might make up for it though.

5th - A Lack of Spatial Awareness - You might ask what these even means. Let me explain. You are walking down the street on a semi-crowded sidewalk in your favorite city and the people in front of you simply stop. Of course, this causes not only a near collision as you have to try to move around them quickly or run into them, but now the people behind you have to do the same thing. It's like a walking traffic jam/accident. The worst part is that the people instigating this sidewalk disaster have no freaking clue what they have done. The same goes for people who merge into sidewalk traffic without looking or having a care for the pedestrian flow. They just move right out in front of you. WE NEED LAWS for this type of behavior. Maybe there should be a class in preschool right after the "Look left, look right, look left again before you cross the street" class most of us went through.

So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing this little post. Do the challenge too and share it with me. Pass it on to others as well. To those listed below - Tag, you're it!

@americantraveler @krusper @sreybgm @practicalthought @appiepearl @jokossita @leeart @bozz @kenhudoy @braaiboy @mtnmeadowmomma

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All photos are mine or downloaded from Pixabay.com

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