{"id":1159,"date":"2020-09-04T16:40:43","date_gmt":"2020-09-04T23:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ilovefreedom.com\/?p=1159"},"modified":"2020-09-04T16:44:21","modified_gmt":"2020-09-04T23:44:21","slug":"a-router-and-the-irony-of-unintended-consequences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ilovefreedom.com\/?p=1159","title":{"rendered":"A Router, and the Irony of Unintended Consequences"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Router\"If you were to google the term \u00e2\u20ac\u0153router,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the first several links presented to you will refer to WiFi routers that are vital to Internet connections in our homes and businesses. \u00c2\u00a0However, to the woodworking aficionado, the first thing that comes to mind is a “hand\u00c2\u00a0tool\u00c2\u00a0or\u00c2\u00a0power tool\u00c2\u00a0that routs (hollows out) an area in hard material, such as wood or plastic.” (Wikipedia<\/a>)<\/p>\n

So it was for me in the fall of 2016, when I received an email from my employer, Oracle Corporation, congratulating me on my 15 years of longevity with the company. \u00c2\u00a0I was presented with a list of gifts I could choose for the occasion, including things like golf clubs, clocks or watches. Things like that didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t appeal much to me, but fortunately, a Visa gift card was also an option.<\/p>\n

So, using my 15 year employment anniversary gift card, I purchased a router (the wood kind). This proved to be a catalyst for my growing passion for woodworking. \u00c2\u00a0As I took the time to use that router, I became starkly aware that time using my woodworking tools was a lot more fun and satisfying than doing my professional day job, which I found increasingly dreary, frustrating and unfulfilling.<\/p>\n

Now, almost four years later, with Oracle in the rear-view mirror, I still love that router. \u00c2\u00a0I broke it out today to do some finish work on a shop stool I am building. \u00c2\u00a0An ironic unintended consequence of the employment anniversary gift? \u00c2\u00a0A hastening of retirement for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you were to google the term \u00e2\u20ac\u0153router,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the first several links presented to you will refer to WiFi routers that are vital to Internet connections in our homes and businesses. \u00c2\u00a0However, to the woodworking aficionado, the first thing that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[221],"tags":[226],"class_list":["post-1159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-woodworking","tag-226"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ilovefreedom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ilovefreedom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ilovefreedom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ilovefreedom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ilovefreedom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1159"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ilovefreedom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1161,"href":"https:\/\/ilovefreedom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159\/revisions\/1161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ilovefreedom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ilovefreedom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ilovefreedom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}