Windows Phone 7

Coming to Microsoft, I didn’t really know what to expect.  I knew I wanted to work on something that people would use and something I could be proud of.  During the interview process I was convinced that a cool phone was being developed and that the people I interviewed with were excited about it.  It seemed to be a good move, so we did it and I accepted the position.

Not too long after my arrival everything changed.  What was being developed wasn’t working and needed a facelift.  There were some shifting around of teams and a new leadership team was brought in.  The new leadership team came in and created a vision.  Our new charter was to ship something new and with modern capabilities.  We would ship a phone what was reliable and delightful for the user.  There were a lot of nervous people, and admittedly I was one of them.

Now, here we are…a short 18 months later and we shipped.  This means we sent our final software build to the phone makers so they can work their magic and put phones out in the stores.  I use Windows Phone every day and really enjoy it. 

Last week we had quite a party and it was interesting to witness and walk in a parade of 16 floats and a marching band traveling around the Microsoft campus.  Can’t say that ever happened at Raytheon.  We had fun.  Some of the bloggers of the world took things completely out of context and reported that we were celebrating the downfall of other phones.  We weren’t.  We were celebrating the end of a long 18 months of work, including late nights and weekend work.  It was satisfying to know that we finished and that our product is something we can be proud of.

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Fun speech “recognition”

Genni called me this morning and failed to reach me at my desk.  Her resulting voice mail was transcribed to my email.  Can anyone figure out what she was trying to tell me?  Here is the text:

Hi honey.

They came in there Bradley and then I got sent certain partner when it needs tags -- noticed that eggs work gone and I know neighbors are all night -- hello my name is store now I'm in the mail or making that read. Bye Bye.

 

If I remember right, it was something about making banana bread and there were no eggs in the refrigerator and none of the neighbors were home so she had to go to the store.  Don’t believe everything you read.

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So much for the Turkey Bowl

 

 

 

 

I don’t really write on this anymore, but as I have recently quit Facebook, this seemed a good enough place to share some info with the world.  Albeit is very likely a small world that will even know this post exists.  The purpose of the post is to put up my cool x-ray shot.  Can you guess the extremity?Yep, busted my left pinky finger playing church basketball.  The doctor doesn’t want the bones to shift, so it is in a cast. This is an inconvenient situation, but it will be worse if the bones shift and they have to put pins in the finger.  He did say the alignment looks good which is somewhat surprising because I popped it back into place myself.

Did I say what happened yet?  Oh, I went up for a rebound and the ball came off the rim at a different angle than I was expecting.  It jammed my two pinky fingers.  The other men asked if it was all right and I said, “Sure, keep on playing.”

   Then, I looked down.  The pinky was pointing out to the left.  We stopped, I popped it back into place and was considering playing again.  Thankfully, good sense won and my night was over.  Maybe they will need an all time quarterback at the Turkey Bowl.  That is my only shot.

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Goings ons

The last couple weeks have been rather eventful.  I convinced Genni to allow me to take the family camping for a couple days to Kanaskat-Palmer state park.  It is about 30 miles south of our house.  The campsite is in the forest and a river goes around it.  Sleeping wasn’t great, but we had a fun time swimming in the river and enjoying camp stuff.  By the time we got home everyone was worn out.  We didn’t even see or do fireworks on July 4th because we were all asleep before it was dark (it does get dark around 10 PM here).

The next morning, I picked my sister, Becky, from the airport.  She has mostly spent time with Genni and the kids since I am working, but we did find time to go to a Mariners game as a family on Wednesday afternoon.  Genni was at book club/women talking all night club on Tuesday night while Becky went to Bellevue to bowl with some friends. 

Last night, I went golfing with some guys from church at Echo Falls golf course in Snohomish.  The course was cool, but a challenge for a non-golfer like myself.  My favorite hole was the par three where my tee shot went into the sand.  I hit a wedge up on to the green and putted in from about 15 feet.  It was awesome!  There is no need to write about holes 17 and 18 and how many balls sunk to the bottom of the pond.  Oops, I just did.

We have enjoyed Becky’s visit.  She was able to go to Seattle, see a Mariners game, and go and see Snoqualmie Falls.  Who knows what they will do today?  Then, next week, we will do it all again when Grandpa and Grandma are here for Joshua’s baptism.

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Fathers

After watching A Father Indeed on our church website, many thoughts came to my mind of fathers who have influenced my life.  A father that strives to be an example and provides for his family is invaluable.  My father has always been an example to me.  As I face the challenges of fatherhood, I find the values he taught me through his example provide guidance when making decisions.

I am fairly certain Dad had many interests he put aside to spend many hours with his children and with his church callings.  Yet, he never complained or seemed to be disappointed.  I know he really wanted to take up windsurfing, but never really got a chance to do it on his own.  Each time he got out there, a kid jumped on the board with him.  This couldn’t help when he was trying to balance and catch the wind, yet he didn’t complain and kept on trying.  He sacrificed his time and mornings to teach seminary while we were of seminary age.  I am sure he was discouraged when his son was sleeping in the back, but he kept on studying and teaching and never gave up on him.  That example, and the influence it had on my life, encourages me as I strive to teach my children.  There were certainly times of frustration, but he never gave up and consistently expressed love and encouraged us to be better.

There are too many examples of the efforts my father made to raise us and be an example to list on one blog post.  I wanted to share publicly my appreciation for what Dad has done for me.  There isn’t enough room or time to write the many thoughts, memories, and lessons learned that have come to my mind while writing.  Thanks Dad for all you have done and continue doing.  I love you and appreciate your sacrifice!

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Finished a good book

I just finished reading Captain from Connecticut by C.S. Forester and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Prior to this, the books garnering most of my focus were the Hornblower series by the same author.  They were put on hold after completing book six because I forgot to put books 7 and above on hold at the library.  This was a pleasant diversion from that series.  There are several humorous situations, as well as a good number of action at sea.  It comes as a recommended read from me.

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Do they even make dictionaries anymore?

My hot wife called me and asked me to pick up a dictionary on the way home from work for Josh’s homework.  What?! Huh?! 

 

“

Can’t he just use an online dictionary?

“ I asked.  Well, no, apparently he has to do something with the guide words at the top of the page.  My journey took me first to Fred Meyer where they had a large print paperback for $22.  Too expensive for my taste.  I pulled out my WinMo phone and looked up Half Price books (something previously viewed, but never entered).  Only a couple miles away, so off I went.  There was a Dictionary/Thesaurus for $6.48 and a few kids books for the kids.  My new favorite store

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