A Big, Thank You!

Hello World, Hello Blog

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Yesterday was a huge day for me professionally as I was awarded my first (and hopefully not last) Microsoft MVP Award. It was such a huge honor, and I felt it appropriate to give a shout out here to the Microsoft community for their support. There have been so many great mentors in my life over the years, many of whom I still collaborate with on a regular (if not daily) basis. Everyone that I interact with has been so supportive in helping me find my way whether it be technically or “socially”, and I hope I have often been able to reciprocate in kind. So, thank you to everyone I interact with in the community for being so open and generous with your knowledge and time! It’s been a whirlwind year for me, as the date of March 1, also marks a year since I first started talking to Marc about the possibility of joining him at Sympraxis Consulting. What felt like a huge decision was probably the best one I’ve ever made. He’s been a great mentor as I embarked on taking what I always did quietly behind the scenes out into the community. This last year has seen me do things many who’ve known me were somewhat shocked by… helping organize the Granite State SharePoint User Group, blogging more, speaking at conferences (this was the big one), and then connecting with various colleagues of Marc’s (and now of mine), in the MVP community. So, also, a special thank you to him, as I absolutely couldn’t have done it without him. I hope this marks only the beginning of this new-ish phase of my professional life, thanks again! [Continue Reading]

The man with the “bacon covered donut” could not be ignored

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I recently attended a multi-day event at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA. Early in the morning and blurry-eyed from battling the time change, I found my way into the event room to see Marc D. Anderson in an aisle seat plugging away at his computer with a mouthwatering bacon covered donut sitting daintily on a paper napkin at his elbow… that, my friends, is a conversation starter! Sometimes in life, things are just obvious really quickly. I had met Marc years ago through our mutual friend Sadie Van Buren but really didn’t get to know him very well, as is the case with many developer types, I’m way more comfortable talking to my computer than I am talking to people… and I do, sadly, literally talk to my computer as many of my current and former colleagues can attest to. [Continue Reading]