I couldn’t let it go by without reflecting on the past 3 years.
For the past 3 years Shane has done nothing but make me better, not only professionally but personally. He pushed me far beyond what I ever expected from myself and the worst part is, the bastard didn’t even do it on purpose. He is just being himself.
At almost every major great event in my time at Microsoft so far, Shane has been there with me, pushing me to do nothing short of awesome. Whether it’s our work on REMIX for the past 3 years, our trip to AiR, our running of AiR locally or the dozens of Microsoft internal initiatives or even getting hospitalised, Shane has demonstrated that awesome is something you are and not something you do.
I’ll miss having my on-tap psychologist/high-five buddy/spell checker (you never did tell me the difference between – and -).
Shane, you are the most generous person that I have ever had the privilege of working with. You have also set the impossible standard for what a great working relationship should be and I now look forward to continue to be inspired by you “outside the firewall”.
The very cool Vaughan Knight came over today and built me one of his very cool Rubixel’s. Yeah, that’s right a 240 Rubik’s cube delicate genius mosaic!
Rocks or what!
It’s mind blowing watching Vaughan in action. He does each cube in seconds. The whole thing took him a couple of hours.
Thought I’d jot down some of the things that went down for me in the year that was 2008.
But before I do that, I thought I’d summarise – simply, this year was full of amazing people. I feel so privileged every day that I get to meet and hang out with cool, smart and inspiring people.
To everyone who had an influence in me becoming a better person this year, thank you! Most of you know who you are (you’re probably referenced in the post somewhere) and some of you are just so awesome that you have no idea of your impact.
This year was also full of travelling and speaking. I think I developed more as a public speaker this year more than any other.
Just for fun, I compiled a Wordle of all of the keywords from the feedback given at all of my talks this year.
And now the gory details of my year:
My blog continued to take a major turn. It’s nowhere near as insightful as it was (or at least as I thought it was). It’s hard to be a critic/analyst when you work on the coalface of one of the most criticised companies in the world. One day I will figure out the balance if there is one to be had.
I picked up my Canon TX1 this year and DG.TV was born. There is something to be said for having a 720p camera by your side wherever you go.
While at PDC, I gave Chris Auld his arm wrestle rematch and gave Adam Cogan an asswhoppin’ while I was at it.
I grew a mega-sized beard (coincidentally in (mo)vember). I reckon I subconsciously did it to buck the system.
Andrew Coates and I tried our hand at some Theatre Sports. We didn’t do too badly but could’ve done much better. It did make us both want to do it again (and take some lessons). As it turns out, Improv ain’t all Improv :-)
Spent the earlier months of the year encoding our childhood videos.
Shitloads of personal stuff also happened this year.
Professionally, 2009 looks like it’s going to be a big year. Things will change at work with new leadership and the sad departure of, IMHO, one of the last managers who “gets it”. We’ll find out this time next year I guess.
Thanks for being a part for 2008, and I look forward to an even more exciting 2009!
So, Andy Coates and I are in the coffee shop downstairs hanging out. As usual, we’re always checking email on our phones. An email comes through from our receptionist announcing that a fellow staffer’s car is in the shop all of next week and if anyone is willing to give her a lift in all week. Andy and I comment on how the staffer lives in the same neighbourhood as me and we go along our way back upstairs.
I get to my desk, start checking my email, then see an email responding to our receptionist from Andy, informing her that I live in the area and would no doubt be available to help the staffer next week. I get up off my chair comically give Andy a generic serving for being a jack-ass and throw my empty foam coffee cup at him. We laugh and get back to work.
Next morning, I get to work and hook up with Andy for our usual coffee. I tell Andy that i wasn’t impresses yesterday and he owes me an apology. He asks “for what?”. I tell him for the email that he took the liberty of sending. He denies having ever sent such an email. In disbelief, I remind him of the email again. He swears that no such email exists.
Obvious solution to this debate, open my inbox and dig out the email. So, off I go to show Andy the email the he denies exists. And low and behold, there is no email. He never sent such an email. I totally imagined it happening!
He remembers me throwing the coffee cup at him, but he thought I was just being playful for no reason.
So, the fact is, I went to my desk, fabricated the email in my mind, and reacted to it.
I’m totally freaked out and have no explanation for what happened.
Has anyone else experienced such a thing? Does anyone have a theory on what happened?
I’ve been tagged (again). This time by Frank and Nigel, 8 facts blah blah blah.
I know, I know, us bloggers are vain beings who like nothing more than to talk about ourselves but I thought I’d mix it up a bit and change the meme.
Rules:
Post 8 things about yourself. 4 true things and 4 false things.
For a bit of fun, commenters on your post need to guess which items are true and which are false – don’t get offended if they guess wrong.
Tag 8 people by adding their name at the bottom of your post and notifying them telling them that they’ve been tagged.
So, my 8 items:
I once went to a job interview wearing jeans and a polo shirt, the interviewer was unimpressed, thanked me for my time and showed me the door before we even sat down.
I was a student of the bible for most of my childhood.
I’ve never been in a fist fight.
When I was 10 years old, we went on a family trip down to Melbourne where we saw a car accident occur on the side of the freeway, my dad stepped out to help and found 2 people in the car, 1 was obviously dead, the image of dead guy’s face still haunts me.
I make furniture.
I have a tattoo of a yin/yang symbol on my right deltoid.
When I was 19, I was the driver in a major car accident, my best friend was the passenger in the car at the time and as a direct consequence, he found the Lord.
I used to photograph nudes at a professional studio.
Take a stab in the comments as the what’s true or false.
I’d consider myself a professional presenter, in that, part of what I get paid to do as a profession is to talk to groups of people.
I’ve noticed a few consistencies with professional presenters, they (or is that we?):
All take presenting very seriously and are very concerned with effectively communicating their message
All still have nerves before every presentation (even the really really seasoned ones)
Most of them are insecure about whether they’ve done a good job and have served their audience
One thing I didn’t really think about before I was presenting as regularly as I do now, is that things such as feedback forms, and chats after a presso are invaluable and are hugely impactful in the life of a presenter.
When I’m in an audience, I now take the time to always give constructive feedback, whether written (feedback form, personal email etc) or in person (after the presso or during breaks).
Another interesting note is that most good presenters relish in the things they’ve done wrong rather than the things they’ve done right. They’ve mostly already got the confidence to know that they’re good at what they do (the good ones that is :-)). They usually need guidance in the things that they don’t do so well.
So, next time you have a presenter present, feel free to give them a hug and some constructive feedback.
I arrived in Melbourne yesterday for a very brief visit. Went to check in at The Stamford and low and behold, the only room they had left was the penthouse suite, the 2 storey penthouse suite that is.
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