In Memoriam

aridle — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 03:09:00 GMT

Martha C. Turner
(1911-2007)

My grandmother died Monday of natural causes. She was 95 years old. And, until about a month ago, she was living at home, driving to church, and doing her own cooking and shopping. She was as sweet and gentle as she was determined and opinionated. I loved her very much. May she rest in peace.

Blog Tag

aridle — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 05:21:00 GMT

How nice of Peter Provost AND Ade Miller to both tag my blog. I feel special. Actually, they're probably just checking to make sure I'm reading their blogs. (Ha!) I'll play along, but only because I (finally) found five more victims.

You already know that I am a geek. I work for Microsoft. I have a blog. Enough said!

But, did you know...

1. I was a band geek long before becoming a computer geek. In fact, I used to be a pretty good drummer. Oh, I can still keep time. But, neglect has certainly run roughshod over my chops. My favorite drummers include: Phil Collins, Stuart Copeland, Buddy Rich, Neil Peart, and (of course) Animal!

2. Shortly after picking up the drums, I also picked up photography - yet another form of geek-dom. I originally learned to shoot on my parents' Pentax K-1000. But, ever since about 1990, I've been using Canon equipment. I recently upgraded to a Canon EOS 30D body with a Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens. All I can say is - I'm never going back to film, and I'm never going back to cheap glass!

3. I became a computer geek much later in life than most. In fact, my first experience with one - a campus mainframe my freshman year in college - almost put me off the things for good. Fortunately, one of the guys in my dorm had a Macintosh 128. It was much friendlier. It smiled when you turned it on. It played games when you got bored. And, best of all, you could always find your print outs so you could turn them in for credit! 20+ years later, I still like being able to power the thing off when it misbehaves. Try that with a mainframe!

4. In fact, I'm such a big computer geek now that I came to Microsoft in order to help improve the lives of software developers on the .NET platform. Specifically, I want push Microsoft toward real improvements in productivity enabled by advanced development techniques such as TDD and Continuous Integration. What can I say? I'm a regular Don Quixote.

5. And, if that's not enough geek for one guy, how's this: I met my wife, Jill, on Match.com. This September will be our fifth wedding aniversary, and our sixth year together. I still can't believe that the guy to the right actually met someone sporting that picture in his profile! Wash your hair! Sheesh! (Oddly, she's NOT a geek!)

Amazingly, I was able to find five more bloggers who have yet to participate in this silly game. Here they are, in no particular order...

Jim Newkirk, Michael Puleio, Cory Foy, Francis Cheung, and Scott Densmore

I wish them luck identifying their victims.

Software Development is a Team Sport! : Personal

In Memoriam

Blog Tag