Category Archives: Life

Dog Shows & Engagement Photos [PHOTO]

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Matt and Emily, under the trees in Boston Public Gardens.  Click image for hi-res version.

More photos in the gallery below:

Matt was one of the first friends I made on Boston.  Ironically he had also moved to Boston from Seattle just a few months ahead of me and we’d never met even though we had mutual friends in the Seattle climbing community.  We’ve climbed outdoors several times on rock and ice.  Probably the funniest memory, worthy of its own post, is the time we bailed midway up a route because of rain that was forecast to come later in the day.  Matt tweaked his back and we went back to town to eat breakfast.  Matt ate in a semi-reclined position as the clouds broke and it became a glorious day at 10a.  Due to Matt’s condition, climbing was out of the question and we wandered in town, eventually spending time at a dog show in the park.  We laughed and cursed at our rotten luck. Pathetic! Continue reading →

I Quit Microsoft. Today is the First Day Of The Rest Of My Life

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11/11/2011 was my last day at Microsoft after working there for seven years.  The date was unintentional but provided a good bookend to a good run at the company.

Before I start my new role in 2012 I’m relieved to have some time to step back and think about the next chapter in my career, what I hope to accomplish in the short term, and what I can look back on years later and be proud of. For thirteen years I poured all my energy into my career, working late nights, staying in front of the latest technology trends, and strategizing over my next move or the project that would accelerate my career and put me on the cover of Fortune magazine.

Now that I can step off the treadmill for a just a moment I realize many of things I placed so much emphasis have proven to be ephemeral now.  Initiatives which I had invested so much energy into just a few years ago are now either obsolescent or forgotten.  Continue reading →

Khan Academy. Amazing.

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I remember watching “Napoleon Dynamite” for the first time with my wife at the urging of our friends.  We laughed uncertainly, maybe twice, during the movie and looked at each other afterwards totally flabbergasted as to why anyone would enjoy it.  A funny thing started happening over the next few days where we started quoting the movie and then watched it again, this time laughing uncontrollably and re-watching several scenes.

The same thing happened after being at the Web 2.0 Summit earlier this month.  Perhaps that was an awkward transition.  Sorry.

Some of the talks I watched induced mental facepalms, but others continued to make me think about them for days afterward.  One of those talks was by Salman Khan of Khan Academy.  I had been a fan of his work for over a year; listening to him live and where they are heading was inspiring.

Continue reading →

Facebook Profile Photographer, An Unprofitable Venture

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Over the past year several of my photos have turned into the profile pic of my friends’ Facebook accounts.  I considered litigating them for copyright infringement, but I’d lose all my climbing partners.  So instead I opted to vent my frustration by blogging about it.

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This is my buddy, Gavin, during our climb of Lane Peak back in Feb 2011. That little hill behind him is Mt. Rainier. Due to the harsh mid-morning lighting, the b+w treatment worked best, with some gradient darkening of the top half of the photo to even out the brightness.

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This is Gavin’s wife, Sara, on the summit block of Lundin Peak in the fall of 2010.

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This is Rich, with Gavin in the background.  This was in Dec 2010 during a snowshoe ascent of Guye Peak.  The snow was coming down hard; I encouraged Rich to kick up some snow as I was taking pics and got lucky with this shot.

If you are friends with any of these people, please tell them they owe me a beer. Your help is much appreciated. Thank you.