Today is Thanksgiving. Maybe it’s the turkey and dressing talking, but I’m finding myself in a reflective mood. Usually, I’m heads-down in code or strategy, but today I’m forcing myself to pause and take stock. The world feels chaotic right now—more than usual. Doom-scrolling is almost unavoidable. But when I look at my immediate surroundings, I’m overwhelmed by a sense of stability and gratitude.
Here is what I am thankful for today.
Security in Insecure Times
It feels like everything is in flux. The news cycle is a firehose of uncertainty, and the broader world seems to be teetering on one edge or another every week. Yet, here I am, safe.
I don’t take that for granted. Having a sense of physical and economic security in this incredibly insecure time is a massive privilege. It’s the foundation that lets me think, build, and dream instead of just surviving. Our family has a motto. “If you can help someone, help them.” It may sound a little corny, but we honestly try. To be able to do what we need and most of what we want and not need help. #blessed
The Home Team
None of what I do would be possible without an incredibly supportive family. They tolerate the late-night coding sessions, the “just one more deploy” moments, and the endless ramblings about AI agents and kubernetes and random nerdy things.
And, of course, there is Heidi.
Heidi is not the Chief Morale Officer. She has massive anxiety, and she’s clingy, and she’s a fun-sponge most of the time. But she is my dog. And she loves me more than she loves breathing. Dogs are amazing.
The Leverage of Time
I’ve been thinking a lot about the nature of work lately. I am thankful for the ability to own the vast majority of my time, and that most of my work duties are things that I enjoy.
I enjoy solving problems. I enjoy communicating effectively. That is pretty much my job description. I’m so happy to be overpaid because I essentially have a lot of professional scar tissue and can translate that into forward velocity for the customers I work with. And I get to geek out on the cutting edge of technology. My co-workers are all smarter than I am. I can’t imagine hating my job. I’m so lucky.
A Corner Turned
Too often, it feels like we were stuck in a loop of cynicism and decline. Being unengaged is seen as a viable attribute. Racism is OK for huge swaths of my country. But recently, I’ve started to feel a flicker of genuine hope.
Neighbors are protecting neighbors against government-sanctioned terror. Just this week, we saw residents in Charlotte and Raleigh standing up against ICE raids during ‘Operation Charlotte’s Web.’ Regular people attending trainings, businesses closing in solidarity, and neighbors honking horns to warn their community. It’s a level of civic courage I wasn’t sure we still had.
People are standing up for the right things, even when it’s hard. We have a long, hard road. But I hope my daughter will live in a better place. And I think she’s got a chance.
I’m thankful that I still have hope that my country and my society can round a corner. I believe we can start moving forward again. It won’t be a straight line, and it won’t be easy, but the paralysis feels like it’s breaking. We’re building again. We’re trying new things. That counts for something.
The Wild World of Agentic AI
Finally, I want to wrap this up with a specific note of professional gratitude.
I am deeply thankful that I get to work in the agentic AI world so early in its lifecycle. We are in the wild, woolly days of this technology. Half the time, things don’t make sense. Best practices are being written in real-time, often by trial and error (mostly error).
The recent launch of Gemini 3 and tools like Gemini CLI prove we are just getting started.
But the sheer potential is intoxicating. The idea that I might make the tiniest contribution to helping steer this incredibly powerful boat is so, so much fun. It’s intellectual candy, but it also feels like meaningful work. We’re building the tools that will define the next decade of human-computer interaction, and I’m just glad I have a seat at the table.
Happy Thanksgiving.