Chris Henley is a fun and energetic representative of Microsoft. He works on the Developer Platform Evangelist team at Microsoft as an IT Professional Evangelist in the western region and is the co-author of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Administration Instant Reference from Sybex press. Chris is a regular speaker and presenter at user groups, Technet events, and major conferences around the US.
He has extensive experience in the world of computer networks. He is passionate about the way that technology helps people. He has an entertaining and insightful style of communicating technical information and of making difficult concepts easy to understand. He is an expert in server architecture and network design. He loves to push the envelope of what we think about computers, and what software can do. Chris spends his spare time playing XBOX360 with his wife and kids, fly fishing, camping, hiking, and searching for the best chocolate cake on planet earth.
Fear is definitely a factor for me! How about you? I am not talking about the kind of fear that is portrayed on Fear Factory on television 5 nights a week. Let me run that show, I’ll give you fear. Eating bugs, jumping cars, and trying to balance on dangerous contraptions is a description of my life from the age of 6 until 16. My kids live fear factor every day only without the safety lines, and usually my wife is yelling “Get down from there Right Now!” just to cheer them on. I am talking about honest to goodness fear. I am talking about the kind of fear you feel when you are all alone in an unfinished basement at night trying to determine the source of that creaking sound. I am talking about when you realize you are standing 2 feet from a 6 foot rattlesnake who is buzzing his intent to strike. I am talking about that feeling you get just before the final total comes up on the register at Costco. (OK maybe that’s as much regret as fear.) I am talking about the fear of those sick flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz. There is one fear that we have not discussed. It’s a big one! So big that I really hesitate to mention it because I want to be able to sleep well tonight and I know if we start talking about it I will have issues. But it is Friday and I am going to bite the bullet and talk about it anyway.
As a child I spent a lot of time outside. I have seen nature produce some crazy things. I have caught snakes with 2 heads, seen raccoons with 2 tails, and raised rabbits that were born without ears. In Northern Scotland I have stood at the apex of a triangle of light descending out of the night sky the three sides colored yellow, red, and blue and would have sworn I was being abducted by aliens only to find out later “It happens all the time.” I found a Dead man hanging in a cemetery the night before Halloween. I saw 3 people get hit by cars on three consecutive days and was able to save all 3 of them. None of that really scares me anymore. There is one thing I think about when I am alone in a tent miles off the beaten path. When I hear the brush crunching outside I know it is probably deer, or raccoons, but there is always this horrible outside chance that it could be my ultimate fear. Bigfoot!
Don’t Laugh! A myth that old just kind of has to have some part of truth to it. I have never seen Bigfoot (not really a bad thing when you think about it) nor do I want to. I watch with interest as the annual reports of Bigfoot sightings trickle in. Finally this year we have some good sightings and actual physical evidence (hair samples) were gathered. When they were sent to the lab for DNA testing there were unfortunate results. For the whole story see http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8704462/
I know some of you are thinking “How can you possibly believe in Bigfoot?” For those of you who have mastered this fear I say Congratulations! As for me, when the brush crunches outside the tent I will still get that nervous shiver and pray it is just the deer.
Happy Friday!