What I'm thankful for

As we approach Thanksgiving, here's a list of things for which I'm thankful. Appropriately, the list is kind of all over the place because there are reasons everywhere, within and outside of the cabling trade, to give thanks. The list is therefore incomplete as well. I'd sincerely appreciate the opportunity to add your thoughts to the list. You can share them by commenting on this post.

For now, here's my (partial) list.

1. Volunteerism. This is one of the intentionally "all-over-the-place" items. Whether it's at the soup kitchen in your hometown or in a standards-creation meeting in some farflung location, our culture is filled with people who enthusiastically give their own time and energy for the benefit of others.

2. Individual freedom. I voted on November 2. For whom I voted is quite irrelevant. That I live in a society in which I can vote is what really matters. Nine days after election day we observed Veterans Day here in the U.S. I'm eternally grateful to everyone who, at any time in history, stood up and demanded and/or defended freedom, thereby giving me the opportunity to live in a society in which we all are promised life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

3. Contributors to Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine and cablinginstall.com. It's a tall order to author an article or create a webcast presentation. Yet so many cabling-industry professionals with technical expertise put their business agendas aside (or at least, in the background) and produce content that is meant to help you do your jobs better, faster or more-efficiently. There are stories behind every one of those contributions, like the one resulting from a miscommunication to a webcast presenter who believed they were supposed to deliver a fifty-minute presentation rather than a fifteen-minute presentation. They found out the real story about 20 minutes before their scheduled presentation time. Go ahead and watch all the webcasts we've done over the past six months. I bet you won't be able to tell which one I'm talking about. And that's exactly the point, because this individual changed some plans on the fly and the presentation went off without a hitch. The professionals I'm fortunate to work with make serving you, our audience, both a pleasure and a thrill. I'm thankful for the opportunity.

4. Medical professionals. Maybe it's because Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine is in the midst of putting together a special report on cabling healthcare environments that will be published in December and January. Maybe it's because I have seen firsthand the miracles that take place in hospitals or have been eased through more than one nerve-racking trip to the doctor's office. Maybe it's because I'm the son of an emergency medical services first-responder. Whatever the reason, I give thanks for those who are professionally trained to help, and in many cases save, lives. Many of them will be working this Thanksgiving Day, just in case any of us need them.

5 (and 6 and 7 and 8). My wife and three children. Despite the fact that I'm barely awake to write this blog entry because it took all my energy (and a few Jedi mind tricks) to get my three kids to bed ... I can't imagine any different a lifestyle. I've learned that it's an economic system of extreme proportions with kids. They take more of your energy and give you more joy than you ever would have thought possible. My wife, of course, has given our kids the greatest gift of all--life. But I also see it this way: She gave us all to each other. The multiplicity of that level of giving is truly overwhelming.

9. People who include the word "Thanksgiving" when talking about the parade. One of my pet peeves is hearing people call it "The Macy's Day Parade." Has the holiday been renamed? It's not Thanksgiving Day anymore, it's Macy's Day? It's a little bit like when people say "NIC card," "VIN number" or "ATM machine." Oh, sorry. I was becoming cranky there for a minute and this is supposed to be about giving thanks. So I'll circle back around to being thankful for all five or six people who DO, correctly, call it the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

10 through 25,309. You. That number's based on how many people subscribe to Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine. So I know it's an approximation. Not everyone who reads the magazine looks at this blog; some who look at this blog don't get the magazine. I know all that. But this is a numbered list, after all. And I think it's appropriate that such a list reaches a number like 25,309 rather than 5 or 9 or 10. Everyone who read this, or anything else put forth by the Cabling Installation & Maintenance franchise, is my customer. You've invested time in reading or hearing what we have to offer. I'm grateful you've done so, and hope that we've made it time well spent.

Fishermen cry foul over undersea cable

European news agency Panorama is reporting that there's trouble brewing in Spain between fishermen and telco Telefonica. Undersea cables are at the center of the disagreement.

According to this Panorama story, when Telefonica began replacing some submarine fiber-optic cables four years ago, fishermen who used the area in which the cables were laid had been promised payment of 6,000 euros as compensation for their inability to fish in those waters at that time.

Apparently the project took more time and was more expensive than originally anticipated. (Who ever heard of such a thing?) And not only did the fishermen not get paid the promised 6,000 euros, but Telefonica has been pointing the finger at the fishermen as the reason the cables needed replacing in the first place. The telco claims it was the fishing vessels that initially damged the cables.

Check back in with Panorama occasionally, as I bet they'll follow the story. We'll do the same.