All work and no play makes Scott a dull something something...

Scott Fellman — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 07:37:00 GMT

Props to The Shining and The Shinning for the title of this blog...

It has been a busy time in Microsoft SharePoint CPR this summer! I would apologize for not blogging in the last four months, but I just can't do that since I have been working harder than a one-legged man in a butt kicking contest on SharePoint issues since I last put electrons to the web. My dad used to say "if you do what you love, you wll never work a day in your life". With SharePoint support at Microsoft, you can literally do what you love 24 hours a day for as many days in a row as you wish (or stay awake :)). And I do what I love...

I do have a couple of techncal blogs in the works, including Part Two of my "Why do you always ask for an SPS report..." series and another Outlook/SharePoint interop blog as well. But I wanted to blog this time about something non-technical - my role as a first time home-buyer. My wife and I are building our first home from the ground up and I am journaling this at none other than an anonymously accessible WSS2007 site provided by the fine folks in Office!

As to our new home, groundbreaking was October 12, and we expect to close on January 18, 2008. I will be in charge of decorating two rooms - the media center and my "man cave". Thanks to my teammate Dan Winter for telling me about the concept of the man cave, and for drilling down in the sacred nature of the man cave as well. If anyone ever thought we, as SharePoint engneers at Microsoft, had no outside life, or weren't just regular folks working hard for a living like the rest of the world, or is interested in watching a first time home buyer document their experiences in that process, then I invite you to point your browser here and check it out!

Finally, my quote for this blog. From Luke 12:34 - "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also"

What's up with that Blog title Mr. Fellman?

Scott Fellman — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 22:29:00 GMT

Some of my great friends here at Microsoft are blogging on TechNet currently and have been doing so for years; I am a bit late getting into the game; but now I am here too. Both these friends and my friends outside of Microsoft will tell you that I can be a bit wacky at times. I am looking forward to sharing what I can publicly in my studies while researching SharePoint issues. I am fairly certain that I will present other random topics as well... but I digress. What is up with my Web Log's title?

One of my heros is the late Albert Einstein, and he, along with my late Dad and the late Brockholst Barrett has taught me the values that have, for the most part, led me to where I am today - a Support Escalation Engineer on the Escalation Services (formerly CPR) team here at Microsoft. Among these values are those needed to do great support work:

Observation
Use of the Scientific Method
Continuing Education
Hard Work (Perspiration over Inspiration)
A diverse set of tools
A hopeful spirit

Einstein wrote a paper that was published in 'Nature' in 1940. In this he said that: "a person who is religiously enlightened appears to me to be one who has, to the best of his ability, liberated himself from the fetters of his selfish desires and is preoccupied with thoughts, feelings and aspirations to which he clings because of their super-personal value ... regardless of whether any attempt is made to unite this content with a Divine Being, for otherwise it would not be possible to count Buddha and Spinoza as religious personalities". In that same paper, he capsulized the more quotable, though perhaps not quite as weighty sentiment: "science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind".

My thoughts, feelings and aspirations to which I cling because of the super personal value that they hold to me are predicated on one cheif concern - that I can be of help to everyone I possibly can. My goal in life is simply to be helpful to others; when I do so everything else works out for me properly. So the title of my blog is to remind me of why I am doing the work that I do, to give props to Mr. Einstein and to let you know that I am indeed a bit wacky. I am looking forward to my next post already!

- Scott

Outlook without religion is lame : Personal

All work and no play makes Scott a dull something something...

What's up with that Blog title Mr. Fellman?