Microsoft Fame

Sometimes I think we should have geek trading cards. "I'll trade you a Don Box for your Chris Sells and a Bubble Tape." Maybe I'm just easily starstruck by famous geeks, but that's one thing that I haven't gotten tired of yet. When I joined the team, I was instantly thrown into meetings with Don Box and Clemens Syzperski. Chris Sells had an always-vacant office right down the hall (since he spends his time outside of Redmond). Tony Williams is an architect on my project. Scott Hanselman is going to be working in my building. Rory Blyth sits a couple buildings away, and I've had a couple email conversations with Larry Hryb. And then of course there was the first time sat 10 rows away from Bill Gates at a presentation or walked obliviously down the sidewalk only to realize that I was following Steve Ballmer.

The list goes on an on. The best part is that I get to have actual chats with many of these people and we're all on the same team. Sometimes I feel like I should be collecting autographs. We've got a flood of really smart people working here and yet many people still have an (IMHO) irrational dislike for the company. I guess this must be what it's like to play for the Yankees.