Goodbye Microsoft! Hello Climate Corporation!

Yup...you read that correctly.  I have left Microsoft.  My 2nd home for over 10 years.  Wow...it feels weird reading that back right now.  But, it's real.  Today was my last day.  I have turned in the ol' Blue Badge and rode off into the sunset.  Well...actually, I left around 3 so the sun was still pretty high up there.  But, whatever.

I have left Microsoft to join another company.  The Climate Corporation. 

Climate is a San Francisco based company with an office in Seattle.  In a nutshell, they make technology for farmers.  Imagine getting to work on products that impact our every day life in fundamental ways.  I spent 9 years working on a super fancy product...Xbox.  It was amazing, it was sexy...but, at the end of the day, it was a toy.  Something only some people could afford and not everyone was interested in.   Outside of Xbox, Microsoft focuses mainly on productivity.  Our tools impact people all over the world...but, in ways that, ultimately, we could live without.  

In my new role, I will be impacting everyday life.  I will be impacting something that affects billions of people in ways that we can't live without.  If the world crashes, we can live without our computers.  We can't live without our food. 

The job is super cool.  I'll be working on college recruiting and staffing programs.  It's a lot, but it's a small company. :-)  My focuses, as I understand them now, will be on university relationship building, college hiring, and programs such as diversity.  I get to work on things I am passionate about and I get to take myself out of a comfort zone I have sat in for a long time.

Microsoft has been amazing to me.  I have zero hard feelings.  I grew more in my first year at Microsoft than I did in my 5 prior years recruiting.  My life is so different now.

Ten years ago...

• Desmond wasn't around,
• I was married, but not to my current wife,
• I had 2 cats and an adorable puppy with perfect eye sight and a weird itchy problem we couldn't figure out,
• I lived in Tacoma,
• My list of close friends was almost 100% different (save for the longtime besties like Eric, Liz and MichaelPaine),
• I was in the Navy Reserve,
• John Paul II was the Pope,
• George W. Bush was just elected to his 2nd term,
• Pluto was still a planet.

Whether or not to leave Microsoft was a super hard decision.  But, it's the right one.  It's time to grow and it's time to evolve.  Microsoft is on a great path and I plan to continue to be a Windows/Xbox/Bing user for a long time (Windows Phone, on the other hand...well, I may have already switched there). 

I'm excited!  I'm ready to go!  Let's do this!!!

#Batgate

So, let me get this straight...

An AMAZING play by Kam Chancellor leads to a fumble which goes into the end zone.

KJ Wright, surrounded by nobody, bats the ball out of bounds.

And, everyone is screaming because the Lions should have won the game? 

I acknowledge that a rule was broken.  But, in this case, it's a dumb rule.  The rule is for punters who are in the end zone trying to get a kick off.  Should the kick be blocked or the kicker fumble the ball, the officials don't want them doing something to avoid the safety.

This wasn't the case in this play.

If KJ didn't touch the ball and it went out of bounds, no penalty.

If KJ picked up the ball and ran out of bounds, no penalty.

If KJ even ATTEMPTED to pick up the ball, was unsuccessful and the ball went out of bounds, no penalty. 

So, it's the simple act of him pushing the ball out of bounds that everyone is crying about. 

Now, I know I am a Hawks fan and I understand my bias here.  I always try to remove my bias, but I acknowledge that it is hard to do in this case.  But, even as I try to put myself in the other teams shoes, I think I would simply shrug my shoulders and say, "Oh well." 

I would not be crying about "Batgate" and talking about how the Seahawks stole the game.  Because they didn't.  The Seahawks made a great play.  The game ended on that play.  The rule is stupid and the foul wasn't flagrant.  Let it go and focus on that awesome forced fumble.  Because that is what everyone should be talking about!!!