Most of today was spent wrapping up small projects that I’d prefer not to pass off to my co-workers. They’re busy enough and for some things I can do the work faster rather than having to explain what to do.
Next week I get to travel to Redmond to visit with my fellow MVPs and the folks from the Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) where we’ll discuss current happenings with Office.
The week will be bittersweet because three Mac MVPs and our long time MVP lead are leaving at the end of this month. Beth, Mickey and Paul were all MVPs before I was and seeing such a large number leaving the group is strange and sad.
To be straight-forward, they were all up for re-award effective October 1 but were not re-awarded. All have been pursuing other interests outside of the program and what they make of their lives is simply more important. Beth is pursuing her jewelry business and poker, Paul is now faculty chair of his school and Mickey is a sophomore in college.
Gary is moving out of his MVP Lead role to a different role within Microsoft. I met Gary at Macworld 2007 and immediately liked him. He’s a very warm and level-headed person. He’s been the Mac MVP lead for two years, which makes him ancient in the MVP Lead world.
Our mini summit in Redmond will be the largest gathering of Mac MVPs. We’re having a few show up who’ve never met the rest of the group or have only met once. But with four folks leaving the group thereafter we’ll be leaving with tears of sorrow. MVP summits were sometimes the only times we would ever meet in person. Over the past few years we’ve become a tight-knit group.
We’ll still be friends but just less likely to see each other as often. And MVPs will always be MVPs regardless of the award and the title.
Remember the Human 