A Thankful Thanksgiving
As the despot author of turkey-talk.com blog I take advantage of and make it a prerogative to steer nearly anything into to something about wild turkeys. Thanksgiving of course lends itself to it without any effort at all. My comments on our time honored holiday comes after a 27 hour stint working at my office.
When working thru an entire calendar day you become acquainted with the wee hours of the morning without distractions or the busy, busy of modern living. Not at all dissimilar to the quiet sanctum of the turkey woods which I so much favor. Easy to become a fan of early hours AM radio where you listen to some very bizarre and out there broadcasts as the night owls relinquish their very deep and most inner thoughts. It does give one’s self the time set aside to let your mind wander, and exercise how deep the rabbit hole goes.
In the work that pays the bills, designing image sensors, it entails long hours staring at very large screens. The discipline comes with its own technical language and deep concentration which is typical of the engineering vocations. While designing requires tasks such as DRC’s (design rule checks) and LVS (layout vs Schematic) one may have some time on their hands depending on how large a design it is.
On this thanksgiving I am thankful that in my work a task that would take not twenty years ago many man days to run on $200K-$300K worth of software in a half million dollar computer room now runs on a laptop ( a $5K-$7K CAD platform) and takes 90 seconds to a few minutes to run on $80k worth of software. To add to that that it is far more accurate, in-depth and more useful than it was just a few decades ago. It use to be you would set it up and hope to have some results the next day or maybe be a day or two later. The down side is you can stay on top of it and work far too many hours straight in one sitting. What would take several weeks to accomplish was finished off in a little more than 27 hours.
As owner of my own tech company I crack my own whip. I am thankful I live in a country where I can create my own job, my own lively hood, and continue with the profession I have dedicated my life’s work to. All this back ground sets up the late night experience where I could take inventory of pluses and minuses at my leisure.
Although my time afield currently is a fraction of what it might be of any other year, what few precious hours at the base of an oak tree or in a deer stand has been as they always have- monumental, and cleansing of the soul. I have yet to aim my cross hairs on a game animal, although I worry little about it as it is time in my sanctuary and the freezer will be filled when the timing, opportunity and preparedness align at the same moment. It is an end goal, a tangible conclusion, but not the prime reason to be afield.
As I often intertwine my love of the turkey woods with my work as an engineer, as a writer, they are a small snapshot of my being whereas my most important roles as husband, father, a son, a grandfather, a friend are what makes me whole.
In my pre-dawn hours of Thanksgiving morning slaving away to the digital gods that I call earning a living. I am most thankful for Lee, my wife who tolerates my all-encompassing live style and made an awesome thanksgiving feast this afternoon. I am most thankful to our children, grandchildren. I am also thankful to make a living and despite my flirting with the devil in so many long hours I am in reasonable health although not perfect or in my best representation. I am thankful for my time in the turkey woods, in God’s amphitheater for the time spent there, and for the life lessons taught while afield. I am also thankful for my upbringing and for my parents whom have now passed on. It is a heartache that they are now gone, yet heartwarming to have had them as my rock. It is the natural order of things.
It is my warmest wishes that you had an awesome time with loved ones, with family and that you find your days in your vocation, and your days afield truly inspiring
-MJ
© 2017 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
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