Images by John 'K'
Life as seen through my lens…
Fame….?
Posted by on May 27, 2005
Once a quarter our company holds a world-wide ‘virtual’ all-hands meeting. People at the HQ can attend one of 2 sessions, and remote offices can all watch a webcast or listen in on a conf call. The one for that last quarter (and the end of the financial year) was held yesterday.
The day before, I had a cryptic e-mail from our division’s VP’s PA asking if I could possibly attend both meetings, and when pressed for why really didn’t say anything, so I thought what the heck – it’ll get me out of a morning of work.
So 2/3 of the way through the meeting they start talking about groups of people within the company that help make a difference for our customers, and they start talking about a group that I used to be a member of until about 7 months ago (when I moved to the US to do my new role). 3 slides into this, my name appears in big letters on the screen and I’m asked up onto the stage to accept an award, on behalf of the current team members, but also acknowledging that it was me who set the team up in the first place.
I got to shake hands with the CEO (twice), and had my efforts acknowledged and rewarded in front of nearly 4000 people world-wide. It was a gratifying and humbling feeling, and the constant stream of ‘congratulations’ greetings in the hallway and e-mails that followed got somewhat embarrassing!
The other good thing about yesterday was that as a company we were also celebrating our 13th birthday (yes, it’s official, NetApp is now a ‘stroppy teenager’), and so we had a big celebration BBQ with free food and drink, and a band. Needless to say, not a lot got done yesterday!
As a bit of a private celebration, my roommate/landlord and I went to see StarWars Ep3, and had a very nice meal at a Hawaiian themed restaurant!
Finally….
Posted by on May 22, 2005
Here I am at nearly 42, and I have finally achieved one of life’s milestones that most people manage much sooner. I finally own my own car! 
That’s not to say I’ve not had cars before, but they’ve either been company cars, or cars that I’ve paid for but were registered in my wife’s name. I’ve also owned a few motorbikes in my time. This one though is mine, is in my name, and is owned by me (and not some finance company).
I didn’t realise how good that would make me feel! 
If you’re interested, it’s a silver Mitsubishi Endeavor!
Funny thing is, if I’d stayed in the UK, I would still be quite happily driving a company car – it took me to up and move to California for this to happen as a consequence!
Beautiful Day
Posted by on May 22, 2005
After one of the wettest starts to the year that people around here can remember, Sunnyvale lives up to it’s name in magnificent style this weekend.
Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous, so I hopped on my bike in the morning and went for a ride round part of the bay trail. The bay trail in Sunnyvale is all around the wetlands and lakes, and I found a part of the trail that goes right round one of the lakes.
So there I am, cycling around this lake; all I can see is trees and mountains in the distance, the wetlands and the lakes up close, there’s ducks, geese, ground squirrels all around, and as I’m riding round the trail through the tall grass, flocks of butterflies are escorting me. I’ve got the radio on in my ear, and out of the blue they start playing U2’s "Beautiful Day".
The only thing missing that could have made it any more perfect was my family (who are still stuck in England for another 2 months).
Should computer manufacturers include a “Dummies guide to software updates”?
Posted by on May 19, 2005
Random rant number 4: Do computer manufacturers assume everyone is computer literate?
I work in the computer storage industry, and have previously worked in the PC support industry, and I have a reasonable grasp of what is needed to make sure a computer is updated, secured, and safe. I just purchased some new computers for my family so they have something actually worth using when they get here in the US, and I was amazed that for a newly built/configured system that there was so much extra work to do.
The systems were shipped with XP Home and SP2, and an install CD for Norton Antivirus 2004, and just getting these fully installed and updated resulted in 8 distinct update/reboot actions with a lot of downloading (thank heaven for broadband). To get the systems fully secured and updated such that I’d let my family loose on the web with them took about 3 hours per system from start to finish!
I can understand why hackers and spammers do what they do, as there must be a huge number of badly secured systems out there – I can’t see the average home user doing things properly!
When I grow up I want to be a tax consultant!
Posted by on May 17, 2005
Random rant number 3: Why is the tax system so damned confusing?
Being a UK citizen who as of December has been living and working in the US, I have the dubious distinction of being a victim of the tax systems of both countries. This has opened my eyes somewhat to the way both systems work, and I’ve come to the conclusion that they are both overly complicated and less than ideal.
To start with, in the UK the tax year runs April to April, whereas in the US it follows the calendar year. This makes coordinating a clean split between the two systems is impossible. Then there’s the fact that both systems have interesting criteria to define residency and liability such that it is possible to be double-taxed on certain parts of your income, even though you can only physically be in one or other country at once.
Then heaven help you if you have stock options granted in one country that you want to exercise in the other, and as for doing things like selling a house in one country to invest that money in the other, the regulations and restrictions around that need to be looked at very closely if you don’t want to loose out!
I could rant for ages on all of this and more in some detail, but suffice as to say that if you’re in this position, you should either be very good at accounting and reading tax regulations, or be prepared to spend some money and engage the services of a tax advisor who is aware of the extra stuff involved as a result of working with the tax systems of more than one country!
Images by John 'K' 