Taylor Mali has inspired 1,000 teachers through his poetry and 12 year quest. Although he reached the goal, it will be interesting to see how many more will be influenced through those 1,000 and his books, poetry and performances. My wife Eva just finished her presidency as DeKalb Kiwanis President....

i have only been waiting 20 years for this - brian regan, my favorite comedian, is performing in dekalb, il on april 29th! we have seen brian regan so many times in so many comedy clubs and theaters i have lost count. we used to go to see brian multiple times in one weekend because he would always do...

this is likely my tribute to steve jobs post.  it originally was going to be a post about acting and thinking differently, but based upon the events of this week and some reflection, it seems more appropriate to also serve as a what i learned from steve jobs post.  my mom and steve jobs could...

tonight i watched oprah's show about the freedom riders in the early 1960s and watching from the vantage point of 50 years later with our first african american president in office it seems unreal what those brave men and women endured 50 years ago. i noticed a google chrome commercial during american...

mrs. farley taught math and she was one of the most influential teachers i had in high school. i remember her making entrances on roller skates and making almost every day in her classroom entertaining and unpredictable. she gave me extra points on senior skip day (my dad was on the school board at the...

yesterday was april fools day (or the beginning of my wife's birthday month) and the pranks were flying online. here are 10 of my favorite this year. 0. my wife woke up to say there was snow on the ground - she forgot i had already been outside to take out the trash #fail. later that morning it snowed...

I'VE BEEN BLOGGING FOR A WHILE AND HAVE RECEIVED A FEW QUESTIONS ABOUT WHY I ALWAYS POST IN LOWER CASE. IN HIGH SCHOOL WE READ POEMS BY E E CUMMINGS AND THE IDEA THAT YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO CAPITALIZE THE FIRST LETTER OF A SENTENCE STUCK WITH ME. TO MAKE UP FOR ALL THE LOWER CASE, I'M GOING TO ALL CAPITALS...

it's friday afternoon and seems like an appropriate time to post a couple paragraphs about things i've been doing in my spare time both computer and non computer-related. a couple of things i've been doing on the computer include learning the dvorak keyboard (i'm downloading mavis beacon software right...

in the first month of this blog (back in april 2008) i blogged about ice cube.  it’s now two and a half years later and i’m blogging about diddy.  he’s #9 on klout’s twitter influence list (the top 20 is interesting – included below) and microsoft is working with him to promote microsoft tag...

i haven't posted a lot of videos to youtube and a couple that i did post were apparently marked because of the musical soundtrack (since i "created" the photo and video portion and own the music, i didn't think about using it to impress my grandma and other family members with my computer skills). i...

this weekend our daughter audrey learned to ride a two wheeler and just like her older brother samuel is now cruising around the neighborhood with the rest of us independent of training wheels or a contraption off the back of dad's bike. her new found freedom is really fun to watch. she's always picked...

it seems appropriate on my parent's anniversary to post something about how both of them have influenced me both personally and professionally. after all, they are the first two examples, mentors, friends and people i could and did look up to. let's start with my mom. although she is liberal in some...

this week i saw the movie inception for the second time and it reminded me of another movie when i was young that i really enjoyed brainstorm. brainstorm is a movie staring christopher walken and natalie wood about two scientists that perfect a machine that allows one person to "playback" the real world...

as my daughter finishes up 1st grade i have met and gotten to know another inspiring teacher.  our kids have both had great teachers that have inspired and encouraged them and it’s one of those jobs that i admire people for doing (especially those that provide role models for girls!).  mrs...

this evening i noticed that a brief description of the it crowd series 4 is up on channel 4's website http://bit.ly/cp47vt and couldn't help being a little sad that we weren't able to see a taping. i have made it my personal mission to ensure that everyone at microsoft knows about this brilliant show...

…was my last day as a full time employee of the information management group.  a couple weeks prior i sent the following email entitled “going forward”: please use my hotmail account for email.  i've turned in my full time resignation effective april 1st (one of my favorite days), but will...

so it’s early january and i usually spend some time updating what the family has been up to in the past year.  this year i’ve decided to look forward to what we will be doing in 2010 – as a family, at work and for fun. 1.  today a friend put the following as their facebook status:  Put...

on december 21, 2009 edward l. green lost his battle with brain cancer.  he had fought valiantly for almost 4 years.  we began at microsoft on the same day (october 31, 2005) and worked alongside one another for 6 months before he was diagnosed.  edward was a coworker, a spiritual brother...

so somehow i missed these two videos until this evening – kanye west interrupting  taylor swift as she accepts the best female video award at this year’s mtv video music awards – ouch! taylor swift’s best female video acceptance at mtv’s vma 2009 awards what i wasn’t aware of is how gracious beyonce...

i just got back from a 20 mile bike ride, had lunch with the family and am now watching microsoft research project tuva – a series of videos about physics which inspired bill gates.  the first video starts with a 5 minute intro and then feynman begins:  “it’s odd, but on the infrequent occasions...

in the summer of 1987 my mother received a call from millikin university in decatur, il.  apparently they had over booked dorm assignments and they were looking for approximately 40 students that would be willing to live off campus in a hotel.  i was hoping my mom said “yes” but she took it...

i've already blogged about browser for the better (which runs through august 8, 2009) - download internet explorer 8 here and microsoft will donate 8 meals to help feed america. what i wasn't aware of was the other promotions feeding america has done with various corporate sponsors. the list includes...

i will be spending the last week in july out in seattle at techready – a semi annual gathering of microsoft field engineers.  last year at techready 7 i saw ray ozzie speak for the first time.  some of the highlights are contained in a wired article – with the transition of bill gates at the...

in february channel9.msdn.com started a history of microsoft series that has been very entertaining to watch. in a few short months, the series has covered 20 years of microsoft, computing, and the world. check it out here .

i noticed up in my netflix watch instantly queue that the second season of the it crowd is available on demand.  i quickly checked the availability of the dvds and best buy has the first and second season in stock.  the third season is scheduled to be released here in september.  i am...