Images by John 'K'

Just found out (through her leaving a comment here) that another of my daughters (the one whos computer is now in a state of non-cooperation) has set a space up.

She can be found at  http://spaces.msn.com/members/evilmonkeygemmak/

I can’t think of a more appropriate name for her space though!

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!

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!

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).

One of my other daughters has also just set up her own space…. Check out http://spaces.msn.com/members/britishsarah/.

She has a nice selection of photos of family and friends.