Happy New Year
July of every year is a significant time for me. Many of you are rolling your eyes and saying, yeah - we know that Microsoft's fiscal year starts in July..., but that's not the primary reason. (I'd be silly to say that doesn't have any impact on it, though - let's say that it helps to place additional significance on July.) Most of the reasons that July has been significant to me begin with High School graduation, I think. It seems to me that significant phases of my life are marked by a July season. I left Arizona and my home for college out of state in July 1985 and started working to keep myself supported at that time. In July 1986 I left my young life and started a mission for my Church, which sent met to Ecuador where I learned Spanish and learned to love and to serve and to sacrifice for all types of people. In July 1988 I returned home and a few months later started the next phase of my life when I met Kris, my wife-to-be. That was a life changing year, without a doubt. Life continued that way, with each July season bringing significant new challenge and change. Summer of 1991 was a double-decker, with May bringing a trip to Fiji to pick up our first son, and August bringing college graduation. July 1994 found me selling my first home and taking the family (with a recently added daughter) to the Philadelphia area to start work in what seemed like a foreign land, and July 1996 resulted in the launching of my failed startup... Summer 1999 brought me to Seattle with BroadVision, and some time during July 2002 was the date of my first interview with Microsoft. Coincidence?
Our family vacation this year fell on the first two weeks of July and has provided me a time to refresh and renew the stuff that I'll need for the next year or so. This next year is going to bring the release of the next version of SharePoint Server, and I'm already spending as much of each day as I can with my customers helping them understand the many different pieces that make up the SharePoint pie. This isn't one of those thin crust pies, either... this is a 3 inch thick Chicago style pie with the layer of crust on top of it, also, and it is incredible. Every time you carve out a piece, you find a new piece of functionality to savor. Good stuff. Get yours.
In the meantime, let me know if I can help.
Update: dang - I just realized by looking at the blog entries... I started this blog in July 2003... the hits just keep rollin' on.