Tuesday, May 27, 2008
40 days ago, my wife and I welcomed a new child into the world. Miles Robert Blankenburg was 8 lbs. 10 oz. and 19" long (tall?). On that day (April 16), I started my very generous paternity leave from Microsoft.
Prior to Miles joining us, I had aspirations for what I would do with all of this time. First and foremost, I would be able to completely focus on my family. But certainly there would be some time left over to work on a coding project or two, right? Maybe I'll now have the focus to lose some weight? Maybe I can finally catch up on some of the landscaping I've been putting off?
I'm here to report that family is ALL that I focused on (that's the right thing, right?). I actually gained two pounds. And as this blog, my email, Twitter, my fantasy baseball team, and dozens of other sites will attest, I have almost not touched a computer during that time. Sure, I checked the weather a couple of times, and looked up some sports scores, but that would pretty much be the extent of it. It's weird. I feel like I've gone through some sort of 12-step program. The first few days, I tried bringing the baby into my office so that I could get online. But that became harder and harder. Slowly, I weened myself off of the computer entirely. Not because I wanted to, but because it seemed unnecessary during what was supposed to be family time. This past week, I've almost not been interested in using a computer. But now that I'm back to work (and let's be honest, I'm ready to be back), I feel like a smoker who quit, only to go through an entire pack in an evening. Today will probably be very scatterbrained, surfing everywhere and accomplishing nothing.
My corporate network password has expired, so I've got that interesting challenge to overcome this morning. I've got a full inbox to go through (once I get network access, of course) and start responding to. In short, I'm probably going to spend this week catching up on what you've all been doing for the last 40 days.
So, what did you do in the last 40 days?
Here's a list of the things I know I missed (what an amazing 40 days it's been in the Heartland!)
05/10/08 - West Michigan Day of .NET
05/17/08 - Cleveland Day of .NET
A number of new specialized user groups have sprung up, but I will write a new post outlining these later this week.
Prior to Miles joining us, I had aspirations for what I would do with all of this time. First and foremost, I would be able to completely focus on my family. But certainly there would be some time left over to work on a coding project or two, right? Maybe I'll now have the focus to lose some weight? Maybe I can finally catch up on some of the landscaping I've been putting off?
I'm here to report that family is ALL that I focused on (that's the right thing, right?). I actually gained two pounds. And as this blog, my email, Twitter, my fantasy baseball team, and dozens of other sites will attest, I have almost not touched a computer during that time. Sure, I checked the weather a couple of times, and looked up some sports scores, but that would pretty much be the extent of it. It's weird. I feel like I've gone through some sort of 12-step program. The first few days, I tried bringing the baby into my office so that I could get online. But that became harder and harder. Slowly, I weened myself off of the computer entirely. Not because I wanted to, but because it seemed unnecessary during what was supposed to be family time. This past week, I've almost not been interested in using a computer. But now that I'm back to work (and let's be honest, I'm ready to be back), I feel like a smoker who quit, only to go through an entire pack in an evening. Today will probably be very scatterbrained, surfing everywhere and accomplishing nothing.
My corporate network password has expired, so I've got that interesting challenge to overcome this morning. I've got a full inbox to go through (once I get network access, of course) and start responding to. In short, I'm probably going to spend this week catching up on what you've all been doing for the last 40 days.
So, what did you do in the last 40 days?
Here's a list of the things I know I missed (what an amazing 40 days it's been in the Heartland!)
05/10/08 - West Michigan Day of .NET
05/17/08 - Cleveland Day of .NET
A number of new specialized user groups have sprung up, but I will write a new post outlining these later this week.
Labels: heartland district, jeff blankenburg, microsoft
Thursday, August 02, 2007
I always get accused of not announcing the big things in my life (and I generally don't, because I don't want to come across as more arrogant), and so I've decided to let everyone know about this one.
I just recently spent a few days in Redmond, WA interviewing with a small software company located there (Microsoft). They have a position here in Columbus called "Developer Evangelist," and I have been interested in the job since I first heard about it. In short, the job requires me to learn about the new software development technologies that Microsoft has created (well before the general community has access to them), and then announce/demonstrate/teach those technologies to the developer communities in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
There will certainly be some travel involved with this position, getting around those 4 states, and a great deal of public speaking (something I enjoy, but have much more to learn about). This is a major deviation from what my career has been thus far, which has primarily focused on building software for clients, with budgets, timelines, and all of the other hurdles that generally stress me out.
I am really looking forward to this opportunity, and I think that this is the type of position that will offer me learning experiences on a daily basis. It's a great honor to have even been considered for this position by Microsoft, let alone awarded the job. My first day will be August 13.
This position was previously held by Drew Robbins, who has been an absolutely amazing asset to me and my team at Quick Solutions. He has left behind some enormous shoes to be filled, and I only hope I can succeed where his legacy left off. He has moved on to Redmond, where he will be the Technical Evangelist for the IIS7 team. I'm sure the world is in for a shakeup once he starts doing his magic.
So, in my travels though the "Heartland District," I hope I will have an opportunity to see many of you, if only for a beer.
I just recently spent a few days in Redmond, WA interviewing with a small software company located there (Microsoft). They have a position here in Columbus called "Developer Evangelist," and I have been interested in the job since I first heard about it. In short, the job requires me to learn about the new software development technologies that Microsoft has created (well before the general community has access to them), and then announce/demonstrate/teach those technologies to the developer communities in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
There will certainly be some travel involved with this position, getting around those 4 states, and a great deal of public speaking (something I enjoy, but have much more to learn about). This is a major deviation from what my career has been thus far, which has primarily focused on building software for clients, with budgets, timelines, and all of the other hurdles that generally stress me out.
I am really looking forward to this opportunity, and I think that this is the type of position that will offer me learning experiences on a daily basis. It's a great honor to have even been considered for this position by Microsoft, let alone awarded the job. My first day will be August 13.
This position was previously held by Drew Robbins, who has been an absolutely amazing asset to me and my team at Quick Solutions. He has left behind some enormous shoes to be filled, and I only hope I can succeed where his legacy left off. He has moved on to Redmond, where he will be the Technical Evangelist for the IIS7 team. I'm sure the world is in for a shakeup once he starts doing his magic.
So, in my travels though the "Heartland District," I hope I will have an opportunity to see many of you, if only for a beer.
Labels: developer evangelist, heartland district, microsoft