Originally posted by: TonyPearson

Happy [Thanksgiving], everyone! Yes, I mean everyone. Even if you are not an American from United States eating turkey and stuffing this week, it wouldn't hurt to take stock in what you are thankful for.

And before I forget, I want to thank all of you, my readers, for making this blog the #1 most read blog at IBM developerWorks, and one of the top blogs in the IT storage industry!

A few years ago, I was stuck in Venice, Italy for the holiday. Not by choice, but because I was the victim of a car accident on my business trip. My neck in a brace, I was unable to fly home in time to celebrate Thanksgiving.

The local IBMers directed me to a wonderful restaurant where I would dine alone, on Thanksgiving, and insisted that I ask the waiter to have some butter for my bread. The joke was on me! A collection of waiters came out, banging on pot lids, with a huge six-pound "cube" of butter on a tray, with a fork and knife stuck into the top. They do like to make fun of the tourists in Vencie, don't they?

In other years past, I have found myself spending the holiday working at client locations, baby-sitting their datacenter. Why? Since Thanksgiving always lands on a Thursday in the USA, the day after is known as "Black Friday", the official kick-off of consumerism craziness.

The next day is "Small Business Saturday", to give small local businesses a chance to compete for some revenue. Two days after that is "Cyber Monday", where many people shop online from their office, rather than fight all the crowds in the traditional brick-and-mortar stores. My job was to make sure the systems ran smoothly, from Thursday to Monday, for our largest clients in the retail industry.

(Note: This is not the first time I have mentioned [Cyber Monday] on my blog. For the past few years, I remind people that the perfect holiday gift is one or more of my books from the Inside System Storage series, volumes I through V, are available in hardcover, paperback and eBook formats from my [Spotlight page on Lulu.com].)

This year, I am thankful that I will be in Tucson with my friends and family. The weather here is expected to be a beautiful 72 degrees Fahrenheit.

Last year, I hosted my friends and family in my home for the big meal. It went so well that I invited everyone back again this year. In August, I started the contractual process to remodel my kitchen, and the company I hired assured me repeatedly it would be ready by Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately, due to a combination of sloppy project management of the company that I hired to do the work and a few unforseen circumstances that caused some delays, I have no kichen.

I have an empty room where my kitchen used to be, the floor partially tiled, the walls clean and freshly panelled and painted. My new cabinets and sink are stacked up inside cardboard boxes in my garage.

So, instead, I am taking everyone out. I am thankful there are restaurants open tomorrow, and I was able to make a last-minute reservation for the six of us. Construction will resume on Friday.