So, as I considered what to write about this holiday, it occurred to me that I could spend a whole post whining about all the things I am not thankful for, or I could write about what I am thankful for.

While I have lots of fodder for the former, I choose the later because I find myself more inclined to focus on the positive than the negative.

So this week I will say a few words about a few things I am thankful for.

I start with my friends.

I am blessed to have the best and coolest friends on the planet.  They are there for me as I go through these stressful days.  They inspire me, they comfort me and they humble me.  And sometimes, when I need it, they do the most important thing I can ask:  They tell me the truth.

I have friends from my childhood, and friends made just this year and countless in between. 

Some are local, some are far away, but all are precious. 

There a even a few I have never actually met, yet our lives have been touched.

Various birthdays have significant meaning, as they are transitions.

18 makes you an adult.  21 makes you a real adult.

25 marks your 1/4 century, the precursor to getting old.

30 marks the end of your wild ages.  And 40, well at that point you are entering your dotage in some peoples minds such that many lie and claim to be 39 for a few years running.

And don’t start with 50.

So today was my birthday and it was….none of the above.

48 actually.  And yet, even though it was not one of those traditionally intense days, I still found it a remarkable one.

This year has been a strange and remarkable year, what with my children scattering to the winds and my divorce looming.  This birthday I had figured to be a low key, uneventful and forgotten one.

It was anything but, really.

I headed to my dad’s house on the Peninsula and expected a nice dinner and such, but instead it was a fairly wild day.

First we got to see one of the Seattle Ferries ram the dock, something they typically try to avoid.

Again, I have been absent as my family got a bit smaller, yet again.  Please pardon me if this seems rambling, this has been a hard night for me.

This time, it was again a beloved pet, our dog Lexi.

A quick note.  For those who see people like me saddened and upset about the loss of a pet, and are incredulous, I pity you.  We domesticated the dog and it in turn domesticated us.  We grow attached to these furry mammals and in many cases, they are the only family some people have.  If you have never bonded so closely to a pet, you have really missed something.

While I am not of the extreme  types who dress them, and buy funeral plots, I am attached, and the last two that have died represent the pets I have had the longest in my life.

Lexi was born 11-23-2004.  I know this because I have her breeding certificate.  She was pure bred of UKC registered PR bloodlines, an American Eskimo Dog, miniature, a breed closely related to the German Spitz.  The title reflects her registered name.

The astute reader will once again note I have been away and likely assumes vacation or travel.

Not so.  I have been home engaged in a recalibration project.

You see, I have 4 kids.  One lives north of here with her aunt, and one is in the Navy.  My youngest two were both here with me until just last week.

My younger son moved to the Midwest to help his maternal grandmother.  She has been living alone since her husband died last year, and has decided to sell off her shop and move to Florida.  He has gone there to assist her in the cleaning, selling and packing, and to give himself the first step in a personal restart of his own.  After that is done, likely sometime next year, he will move to live with my ex wife in California and work on finishing his delayed education.

I think he is making good moves for him.  At age 19, he is at the right age to begin looking at his life in a future context, and he has set a path that could lead to success if he stays focused.

So it’s Dad’s day again.  This year mine was a bit slow and relaxed, but in the end very satisfying.

I cooked two of my kids dinner, and unexpectedly my oldest son, the Navy guy, showed up and had dinner with us as well.

Good thing I made enough.    I did on purpose, actually.  I intentionally cooked the larger roast, and made extra veggies and potatoes.  I think I knew somehow that he was coming.  Or maybe I just hoped.

He walked in 2 minutes after we sat down to eat.  Good timing.

This year I really thought about what it means to be a father.  I sometimes feel like if the score cards were to be evaluated, I would be a failure.  As  provider did I really provide enough?  I always felt like we struggled more than we should have.  Was I a good enough role model?  Did I teach them the lessons they need?

And while I believe I could have done better, apparently my kids think I did OK.  I guess that’s how you really measure it.  My kids are well adjusted and doing OK.  They make mistakes but they recover, the regroup and they move forward.

I have admittedly not been posting a lot, something I am trying to rectify here in LSU land.

While I have been sick again for the last 2 weeks, as well as being involved in major time consuming product launch at work, the real reason I have taken a little time off is that, in all honesty, periodically I just get tired.

I am tired of the politics at play in DC concerning the stimulus.  I am tired of the most transparent government ever now planning how to stifle criticism.

I am tired of the marriage debate in California.  I am sick of columnists there who desire to define the debate in stilted terms, where anyone who dares hold to traditional family values is demonized as illiterate, mouth breathing and inbred.

I am tired of Speaker Pelosi playing around in China and lecturing them on being green while ignoring they are the world leaders in pollution now.  And why is the Speaker playing foreign policy?  Her job is in congress, not in Asia.  I am sick of her using the world stage to duck complaints about her knowing about water boarding.

Comparisons are inherently for two reasons.  First, if they are honest, they expose the truth.  And if they are not honest, they expose bias and agenda.

Either way, truth is exposed.

Consider the most useless comparisons I can think of:

• (#2)¹  Mac Versus PCs:  This particular battle infuriates me.  Mac users are among the worst snobs on the Internet. I repeat:  Mac users are among the worst snobs on the Internet. I use PC’s by choice, but would happily buy a Mac if their price point was reasonable, and if their marketing would transcend a few particularly irritating limitations which I keep nameless. 
  |
   I  have been embroiled in this one on a religious music discussion board of all places.  My Nemesis there while claiming to be a PC user himself has also branded PC’s as cheap and faulty, making his claims of neutrality a little suspect.  But the big issues is his disdain.  His choice of words implies my choice to be ignorant and stupid, and I can say with years of professional experience,  that it is neither.

  The truth is that both offer advantages, both have limitations.  Each has strengths and weaknesses.  Pick the one that satisfies more of your needs, or if possible, pick both.  But stop bickering.

No the title is not a misprint.

While most of us recognize that as a reversal of how we deal with a financial crisis, it seems like the government always sees it the other way.  The more they take from us in takes and power, the less they seem to use it for our benefit.

But this week I am dealing with the proper usage.  I am learning a lot about doing more with less.

At my Day Job things have been incredibly hectic.  We lost a member of our team to the economy driven layoffs.  She was an integral team member, a long time heavily experienced operator who was a constant source of knowledge in our space.

And in the stroke of a pen she is gone, victim to the need to appear proactive in a bad economy.  We have to deal with her loss and while it is a great opportunity two show how talented and dynamic our team is, it is also frustrating and stressful waiting for the bomb to drop, meaning what project are we ill prepared to handle now.

My day job intruded tonight with some after hours hi pri stuff, so this will be short.

One of the things that seems to be more and more prevalent is the nannyism of government.  Not just econannies, but also social nannies.

The operative principle of the government right now seems to be “let us do that for you, because you cannot be trusted to do it your self…”

They want to mandate the rules around as many aspects of our lives as they can.

Some of their works are necessary, I have to admit.  But things like the Yard Sale post bring home the fact that in the eyes of our Government, we are too stupid and ignorant to control our own lives.

I personally resent that.  I believe I have sufficient capacity to decide for myself most of the choices I want to make.

One way that really pisses me off in this state is alcohol.  We have to buy any hard liquor we want from the state run liquor stores.  State run means fixed prices, extra taxes and a limited stock and selection., W e get to buy what they think we want.

Last week I was home sick for two days with flu like symptoms, so of course my thoughts roamed to the swine flu outbreak in Mexico.

I had enough symptoms that I was considering getting checked, but only some, and since all of my symptoms were generally minor and non specific, I decided to ride it out.

I feel better, thanks.

But the swine flu topic itself has gone in several wacky directions, and that’s where my thoughts are today.

First of all, I am not happy with how our nation’s leaders are responding.  While many countries are canceling flights from Mexico, we are effectively doing nothing.   Yes that concerns me a lot, but what really bothers me is the complete lack of sense about why.

President Obama had this to say about closing the border to Mexico: