I switched teams at work recently (they reorganize often…it gives them something to do).  Yesterday was my first team meeting, so I got there early, brought something to take notes with, and settled in, ready to be bored out of my mind.

The first order of business was them giving me my 10 year service award.  I had actually forgotten about it, because since I’ve worked at Microsoft twice, they adjust my “official” start date to something other than when I really started, to make the calculations correct.  In the 10 years I’ve been at Microsoft, I’ve had:

- 3 Jobs (VB6 Support Engineer, Solution Integration Engineer, and Application Development Consultant)

- 9 Managers (Max, Garrett, Cheryl, Karla, Tony, Maxine, Jim, Tom and now Mike)

- About 50 computers running about 15 or 20 different operating systems (from Windows 3.1 through Windows 7, but also Macs, OS/2 and even an AS400).

- Probably 15 or 20 offices and cubicles (over three buildings)

- Countless trips to various places, both cool (Seattle, Washington DC, Bangalore, London) and not cool (Richmond, Boston, Philadelphia).

- Met lots of fun people, played with some cool technology, and am still having fun.  It’s really great to be able to have your hobby and your job be the same thing, I’m a very lucky man.

I wonder if I’ll be here in 10 more years?  There’s a lot to be said about moving on after a while, but I’m still having a good time and working with great people, so I’ll stick for a while, I guess.

Look, they gave me a glass statue:

It weighs about 10 pounds and is real glass, with my name on it and everything.  Its nice, but they used to give out 10 shares of stock on your tenth anniversary.  I could spend that.  But this will be useful in case I need to break a toe or something.

Look for my 20 year anniversary post in 2019.  See you then :-).

One of the great things about working from home is that Izzy and I can spend some time together.  Sometimes, she can entertain herself, which is good…but she can get herself into mischief if she gets half a chance.  Last Wednesday, she found a set of scissors, and gave herself an impromptu haircut.  Then, she rolled around in something and got her hair in a big knot, and I had to cut it out.

Her mother took her to the barber and tried to get it all fixed up, and of course, she looks beautiful.  I feel sorry for all of the other kids, because they all look like old shoes compared to Izzy.