This Thanksgiving, despite a difficult economic and personal year, I have many things to be thankful for:

- My friends and family

- My constitutional right of free speech and expression

- I appreciate and am grateful to the readers of this blog and our web site and hope they value its content.

- The relationships I've started to establish on Twitter and Facebook

- Linking up with older, long-lost friendships and classmates - those days were some of the best in my life

- Living through a terrible economic and personal year with my sanity, marriage, and life intact

- I am eternally grateful to my business partners - Caspar, Molly, BMac - for helping to realize a dream

- To my parents, for their emotional and financial support when times got really rough.  Also for the gift of a wonderful trip to Europe (an earlier birthday present).

- To Rich and Lisa - I am thankful that you found each other and love at last.  I am equally honored and thankful for serving as the best man at your beautiful wedding in Niagara Falls.  Semper Fi, my friend.

- To my current classmates for stimulating conversation and collaboration on our SAP work.

- To Fred and Wendy for your friendship, advice, support, and sanity checks.  You two truly are the cats meow.

- To Lilly and Melanie, for budding online friendships.  You are interesting, intelligent, talented, and beautiful, inside and out.  Never let others tell you otherwise.

- To the folks at the Department of Labor that have assisted me with sorting out major messes with a previous employer - could not have done it without your ongoing guidance, knowledge, and assistance.

- To my sister, Mandy, for her support and our improved communication and relationship.

- For all those I've missed - I apologize and thank you for all that you've done.

I look forward to the future with open eyes and ambition for projects unfinished and those yet to start.

Happy and healthy Thanksgiving to all - we each have much to be thankful for.


- AJ