ROBERT SORBO

Steve Ballmer (Robert Sorbo / Microsoft)

It has been an unusually eventful year for Steve Ballmer, and despite some rocky moments along the way, the Microsoft CEO will have a lot to choose from when it comes time to give thanks at the dinner table this evening. We thought we'd help him sort through the possibilities. Here are just a few of the things for which Ballmer should be thankful.

Apple: Sure, the boys in Cupertino have caused Ballmer all sorts of problems with those pesky iPhones, iPods and Macs. But how often does your competitor literally come up with your advertising slogan for you? Maybe Steve Jobs should have gotten a chunk of that $300 million ad budget.

Bill Gates: Not only did he leave Ballmer that spacious fifth-floor office in Redmond, but the Microsoft chairman agreed to appear in those goofy Windows commercials with Jerry Seinfeld, thereby saving Ballmer the humiliation. We still don't get that whole Churros thing -- and we'd bet Ballmer doesn't, either.

Jerry Yang: Yeah, the Yahoo CEO seemed like a pain in the butt at the time, throwing up obstacles to Microsoft's acquisition bid and forcing Ballmer to spin his wheels for months. But in the end, it looks like Yang did Ballmer a favor, saving him the ire of Microsoft's shareholders. Not to mention nearly $45 billion.

Google: First the search giant collaborated with Yahoo to save Ballmer from himself. Then Google CEO Eric Schmidt made it clear he's not interested in becoming the U.S. technology chief under the Obama administration. The only thing worse for Ballmer and Microsoft would have been Sergey Brin as attorney general.

But most of all, Ballmer should be thankful that baseball isn't Hungary's national pastime. Just imagine if that egg-throwing kid in Budapest actually knew how to throw.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. And to you, too, Steve.