By Sarah Jeglum, Arla Shephard, Randy Ferreiro, Casey Smith, Natalie Sikavi

Thursday is Thanksgiving, and while the giving of thanks on that day is certainly important, it’s sometimes hard to determine exactly what you’re thankful for. Most people say family, friends, a safe place to sleep or even for life itself. Besides these abstracts, however, it’s difficult to decide what exactly is good in our lives and what maybe isn’t so good.

So, instead of thanks-giving, we decided to go with thanks-taking. It was easier to determine what we might want to remove from our lives — the things we aren’t so thankful for — as a means of figuring out what we are thankful for.

Things we’re not so thankful for:

Cell phones: when they ring incessantly, or in class, or when you’re just about to fall asleep.

Flies: especially of the fruit variety, which never seem to go away, especially at The Daily.

Daylight savings time (fall back): because it gets dark so early.

Global warming: period.

Fast food: which implies a lack of social interaction and conjures up thoughts of childhood obesity solely by virtue.

TV dinners: just an excuse to be in a hurry.

Instant everything: messaging, potatoes, coffee, etc. They’re all a means to instant gratification, and patience is, after all, a virtue.

Florescent lights: Does anyone look good under those things?

Facebook: Okay, we admit it. While it’s great in some ways, we prefer human-to-human interaction, and we’re not big fans of stalking.

Husky football: Let’s just say we are thankful it’s basketball season.

Consumerism: Do we buy gifts for each other during the holidays because we want to or because Macy’s tells us that we should? Spending time with the people who matter to you is a better gift in the end.

Politics: In the behind-the-scenes, soap opera, alliances-made-over-three-martinis kind of way.

People who overshare (we made it up): You know that person who you’re working with on that class project who stays after the project meeting to tell you his/her entire life story? We’re thankful for the people who just leave when the work has been equally divided.

Pop-up ads: especially when you can’t figure out how to close that pesky little box.

Spam e-mail: If you’re not already on the delete-everything-shady bandwagon, it’s time. If we all join together, we can make spam obsolete.

Amazon’s Kindle: Even though Oprah seems to like the new “eBook” gadget, we still prefer used bookstores, yellowed pages and the smell when you stick your nose close to the binding.

Acronyms: ADCOMSUBORDCOMPHIBSPAC explains it all. It’s a U.S. Navy term for “Administrative Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet Subordinate Command.” Spring that one on your friends next time you’re bored and try to convince them the world is better off with 22-letter abbreviations.

Knick-knacks: Like when you go to grandma’s house and there’s a small army of frogs — some laying in beach chairs, others shopping, one playing golf — lining the mantle. Who knows what could be done with all the money spent on knick-knacks every year.

Overcommitment: It’s how our society works these days — too much to do and too little time — and it’s not healthy or sustainable. We’re always running to the next event and we’re always double-booked. So, this Thanksgiving, even though it sounds cheesy, scratch that Honors Club meeting off your schedule, no matter how good it might look on your resume, and hang out with your family or friends. Spend that hour figuring out what you’re thankful for, even if it is life itself. You’ll be thankful you did in the end.