2005 MVP Summit - Day 1

The 2005 Microsoft MVP Summit kicks off today in Redmond. As registration doesn't officially begin until 1PM, I had the entire morning to wander around downtown Seattle. The weather today was a beautiful 73 degrees and sunny. Many of the locals told me this is the last nice day of the year before the rain begins. So it's probably the last time they'll see someone like me walking around in Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and Tevas for a while.

I had a nice walk down to the famous Pike's Place Market where I was able to grab a great breakfast at the Athenian for $6.95. It's too bad San Francsico can't offer something like this: classic 1907 building overlooking the bay, decent grub at a fabulous price, and no pretention or jaded demeanor.

I then checked into a few of the fresh fish markets, sampling the best crab and smoked Salmon I've ever tasted. Again, I was left wondering why San Francisco, right on the Pacific Ocean, offers such dismal seafood choices.

Finally, I spent an hour looking around the new Seattle Public Library. This is a 12 story glass building with great views of the city and surrounding mountain ranges, environmentally friendly and sustainably built. I had the feeling that I could get anything in print in this building.

I'm sure once the rain starts tomorrow, I'll miss the 80 degree Indian Summer of Silicon Valley. But for now I am thoroughly enjoying kicking around in Seattle, a cleaner, friendlier, more walkable version of the city to the south.

Back tommorrow with real MVP Summit news!

Summer Is Officially Over

I am a big fan of summer. Having grown up in the Mojave Desert and lived in really hot places like Turkey, I have a real soft spot for a blistering hot climate. So even though I live in incredibly mild Northern California, I enjoy the last few warm days of September as if I'm living on borrowed time: any day now, it's going to start getting cold. No more heading out with the kids on a moments notice with no one clad in more than shorts and Tevas. It's going to be "Where is your coat?" and "You can't go out in this weather in that!!"

But there is a sliver lining. Every year, it seems, with the end of summer comes the onslaught of consulting gigs that every company seemed to have put on hold in order to enjoy the summer weather. In other words, with the end of summer I find myself incfredibly busy again.

I've just completed a GPS project for a very cool company in Menlo Park called Konaware that is in the vehicle logistics business. Plus I've hooked up with the infinitley patient and helpful guys at Imago Technologies for a couple of very fun, classic web application projects. And of course my HP relationship continues. And I'm hopeful that I will win a contract to help drug and medical supply giant Cardinal Health roll out a wireless content delivery system for their Executive Briefing Program. Also, I'm heading up to Microsoft for the 2005 MVP Summit along with about a thousand other people next week. All of a sudden, I'm busy, busy, busy.

It's almost as if I'm forced to slow way down in summer, like when as a kid you got a nice long summer vacation. I spent lots of time in the moutains, camping, and swimming with my little guys. Now that summer's over, it's back to school for them, and back to work for me!