Ahh, my link blog has reached its bandwidth limit and is down. I'm trying to contact Kunal Das to see what we can do to move it over to a new server.

And I didn't even need to podcast to win this particular prize. Heh.

While eating turkey today, two things discussed stuck in my mind: the sacrifies of our armed forces and blogs. I didn't know most of the people who I ate with today, so it was fun to get their perspectives on blogs. Most had heard of blogs during the election (they were talked a lot about on TV), but didn't read them or really know what they were. No one else at the meal had a blog, although a few had checked out some of the big-name political bloggers.

The parents at the table were really freaked out about the war. A local teenager had just been killed in Iraq (there were several teenagers at the meal today, with their parents, so you can understand the apprehension of the parents). And everyone at the table knew someone who was over there fighting this war. Which, at the table, was not a popular war at all.

Maryam knows someone in Iraq too. A friend of hers has a friend over in Iraq (I met him once and he was a nice, clean-cut, guy back then (only two years ago)). Maryam's friend (she works at Cisco) reports that he's totally changed. So far he's held several of his friends in his arms as they died from wounds -- all while they were still taking enemy fire. Recently he visited back home on medical leave. He's totally changed, our friend tells us, and couldn't sit still at dinner. At every small normal noise he'd jump up, very nervous.

I can't even imagine. The effects of this war on the kids who are fighting (and their families and friends) will be felt for generations. I hate those yellow "I support the trooops" stickers. Are we going to support them 20 years from now when they can't hold jobs and are homeless? Will we support them in the middle of the night when they get back and are having nightmares? Or worse?

I heard a story today of a family who needed to pay to fly over to Germany to see their wounded son and then needed to pay to fly him back home.

I can't even imagine.

Michael Hyatt, CEO of the ninth-largest publishing company in the world: The Concept 7 Sales Prevention Team.

Turns out that companies can really mess up their marketing efforts and Michael details exactly how one company is losing him as a customer.

Just loaded some nice Thanksgiving pictures up to my photo blog. It was a wonderful time at the Dillows, I'm stuffed. So, you know what that means, right? It's time to play some Halo 2! Anyone want to play? Be nice, I haven't played much yet, so if you're expert show me around.

I didn't see Jeff Bezos (he lives next door), but got a picture of his boat dock as the first sun of the day streaked across the sky.

That was a nice look into how the other 1% lives, by the way, but I was disappointed to learn that John Dillow still had to wash the dishes. Dang, so much for being a famous lawyer who lives on the same street as Bill Gates!

Anyway, back to reality. Hope your Thanksgiving went well.

My Xbox Live usertag is "scobleizer." See ya on Halo 2.

Update: Maryam stole me from the Xbox, so I'll be on later tonight. Say at 9 p.m. Pacific Time.

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who live in the United States. To the rest of you, back to work!

It's been a great year for Maryam and me so far. And for that I'm thankful to my readers. Tons of great experiences. Geek dinners. Conferences. Podcasts. Even Thanksgiving dinner today is due to a reader of my blog who introduced us to the Dillows (thanks Buzz, they really are wonderful people!)

Thanks to Dori Smith and Dave Winer who, four years ago, persistently kept after me until I started a blog. Who knew that in four years all this would happen? That I'd be doing marketing, er video evangelism, for one of the world's most respected business leaders.

I just spent the morning reading feeds (thankfully most of you are off eating Turkey instead of posting to your blogs, so it took a lot less time than usual) and I'm happy that everytime I startup Outlook I have a ton of great content there that I didn't have to pay for, or give my email address to, to get.

Aside, I just read the Corporate Blogging Blog (say that 10 times fast) and they are asking what exactly is it in the words we write that gives our blogs a voice?

For me, it's love. And, no Hugh, I'm not talking about Lovemarks or branding.

It's the kind of love I feel when I get to spend a day with my son or hold hands with my wife. It's the kind of love I feel when a new gadget arrives in the mail or I get to visit Fry's with a friend (you all KNOW what I mean!). It's the kind of pitter patter in your heart you get when someone shows you how to do something that was impossible before. It's the kind of euphoria you get when you're able to connect with other people around the world. When you meet the guy who invented the laser printer or the wiki (both happened to me this year).

I'm blessed to be surrounded by people who have this love. At O'Reilly's foocamp this year I got to meet Jeff Bezos. His laugh is contagious. You can hear it blocks away (a theory I'm going to test today at Thanksgiving dinner, since his house is right next door to the Dillows). And, he didn't just come to foocamp, stay for an hour to make an appearance, and then leave. No, he hung out with the developers until after midnight. Passion for what you do. It'll take you far whether you're rich or poor.

I'm thankful for that laugh. For that love of life. For that love of learning. For that love of technology and all it can do for us.

One of my ancestors died shoveling coal into a train engine (the engine blew up, or so the story goes). I'm so happy that I get to make my living carrying around a camcorder and tapping on keys instead of doing something like that. The world has changed radically in just the 39 years I've been here. All you have to do is realize that I have more RAM on my cell phone than exists in all of the Computer History Museum to see that.

I'm fortunate to work with smart people who love what they do. How do I know that? Go next door and talk with David Weller. Or, read Jeff Sandquist's blog or one of the more than 1000 Microsoft employees who blog. Or, go over to Engadget and listen to my boss, Lenn Pryor chatting with Phillip Torrone on the Engadget podcast. These guys love what they do. That love rubs off on me and makes my life richer. I've worked with people who don't love what they do and, believe me, if you're around people who love what they do you're fortunate.

If you're one of the hundreds of people who've shared my life this year, thank you. Have a great day with your families and we'll start at this again tomorrow.

Update: I have an extra five minutes, so forgot some people I should thank. Kunal Das. He made the technology and Web site for my link blog. He's never asked anything in return. THAT'S love!

I'm sure I'm forgetting about 1000 people (like my brothers, my dad and mom, and my step-mom, who've been very supportive over the past few years), but Maryam is saying "finish up, we need to go." So, if I forgot you, I'm sorry. See ya tomorrow.