Thanksgiving 2013

It’s Thanksgiving week. Very true,
I’ve found, that the older you get the faster the years go.

Thanksgiving is a great holiday.
No presents to buy for your wife or girlfriend. You can get by without seeing
the relatives. And, best of all, there’s about 12 hours of football. Can’t beat
that.

One of these days I’m going to
watch that 12 hours of football in Turkey Texas, Turkey Creek Louisiana or
Turkey North Carolina. That would be kind of cool, to spend Turkey day in a
city named Turkey. More cool than the Macy’s parade. I’ve done that and
probably wouldn’t do it again.

Here’s a cool fact. Did you know
that a turkey is really part of the peacock family? It seems that good old
Chris Columbus who thought he was in India named the bird “tuka”, an Indian
name for the peacock. Six hundred years later and we’re still calling it a
Turkey. Doubt it would change now but I bet there’s a web petition someplace to
rename the thing.

And one more weird fact. In 1953
the purchasing manager at Swanson really screwed up. He bought an extra 253,000
lbs of Turkey! Either he added wrong (no computers then) or the Turkey farmers
put his kids through college. But to get rid of that 253,000 lbs of Turkey they
cut it up and packaged it on a tray with compartments for sweet potatoes,
dressing and peas. And thus, out of necessity, the TV dinner was born.

Despite this weirdness and all the
football, Thanksgiving is a good time for some reflection. It’s close to the
end of the year. Friday is a day that people like me (non-shoppers) stay home.
And no one even expects you to answer emails on Friday.

When I reflect I can truly say
that I’ve really been blessed the last three or four years. Too many too count
but here’s a few:

— Products have been very
successful in the market. Modbus Slave
Devices connected to ControlLogix;  Barcode Data
to Controllogix
and Modbus
Slave Devices connected to a BACnet Controller
and the countless other ones we’ve developed in the last few years. See more at
RTA Product Catalog.

— Great people to work with.
It’s a great team as you know if you have ever called our office. They’ve done
more for me than I can ever repay.

— Great friends that have supported me through the
difficult times in the last two years; Kevin, Bob, Erica, Kristen, Jeff,
Kristie, Stefanie and Sara.

— Teachers that have suddenly appeared to teach me things
that I needed to learn. Not always willingly. As my old friend, Tony Jorgensen
used to say, “They poured that bit of knowledge into me through my clenched
teeth”.

— Health. Isn’t that everything? I lost a bit of weight
this year. The key word being “bit”. (Truthfully it’s probably within the
margin of error on the bathroom scale). I managed to run 3 or 4 5K runs this
year. Feel like I am in pretty good shape.

— Books. I’ve obtained so much knowledge from the book
I’ve read. Improved myself in many ways. It’s a blessing to be able to read as
much as I do.

— Skill Development. Was able to learn more Italian this
year than ever before. Learned to Scuba Dive. Learned more about OPC UA and
other technologies that interest me.

— Writing Abilities. Found that I have some writing skill.
Wrote a book and one-half this year. Finished the OPC UA book and am now
writing another book.

— My Mom’s Health. She’s 91 and ½ and going strong. Pretty
independent and still able to make me dinner a few times a week. I’m lucky
enough to enjoy two grandchildren and my brother’s four quadruplets.  (That’s four children, not four sets of
quadruplets.)

— And, of course, some wonderful customers that have
worked with us through easy projects and some far more challenging. You guys
have treated us very well. I hope that we can continue to provide you with the
kinds of products and services that you have come to expect.

With honest and sincere appreciation for all these people
and wonderful things in my life, I truly wish each and every one of you a Happy
Thanksgiving.

John