Anniversaries

by davidcrow on June 4, 2008

Today is my 1 year anniversary at Microsoft Canada. I’m guessing there are a lot of unhappy gamblers in the pool. It’s been a fun year. May and June are always full of surprises and changes, fortunately this year the changes were much less scary and exciting. Less scary. Anybody remember DemoCampToronto6? Unfortunately I don’t, it has been 2 years since the infamous BarCampER where I had the misfortune of having a heart attack. So I look forward to making it through May without any surprises.

And it’s been 1 year since I joined Microsoft. Can you believe it? Hopefully you didn’t loose too much money on the pool.

The Year in Review

I attended a lot of conferences and events this past year. It felt like I was on the road a lot.I had a great time meeting people, hearing about what you were building and your mixed reactions to Microsoft. Some very positive. Others much more negative. I shouldn’t be surprised at the distribution of reactions and responses, but I think I was most surprised by the positive. I hadn’t really expected to become the public face of Microsoft Canada at many of the events. And I’m pretty sure that providing real-time bourbon-fueled support wasn’t in my employment contract, but apparently if you buy me bourbon I’ll provide substandard support. I haven’t spent a lot of time in the Microsoft ecosystem but I’ve been introduced to great people like John Bristowe, Mack Male, Derek Hatchard, Colin Bowern, Mark Arteaga and others across Canada. I continued to meet folks in the *Camp sphere including Vincent & Phillipe, Patrick Lor, Cam Linke and others. And best of all, I keep getting to see my friends and acquaintances around the country (you know who you are).

Places to Go, People to See

Community Participation

Jon Udell asked that we hold off evaluating his joining Microsoft:

Wait until the evidence is in, then decide for yourself. I’ve been in this game for a long time. I think my record of pragmatism and agnosticism speaks for itself…

Well it’s now been a year. And I want to know what you think? Good? Bad? Otherwise?

What can I do to make the next year awesome for you? the community?

Tagged as: anniversaries, davidcrow, Microsoft

{ 8 comments }

Joseph Thornley June 4, 2008 at 2:53 pm: David, Congrats on the 1 year anniversary – and surviving the 2 year one as well. I love the list of great community events you’ve supported and participated in. Next year, we’ve got to get Third Tuesday on your list.
Chris Connors June 4, 2008 at 2:56 pm: work in a visit to the bay area, obviously. Relive our youths @ sxsw09. Let me shack up with you @ MIX09.
Mark June 4, 2008 at 5:32 pm: Congrats on the 1 year anniversary. I thought you were making a joke about the BarCampER until I read the post. I hope you’re doing well and I just wanted to say that the Toronto community today would be a lot less cohesive and vibrant without your dedication and donation of countless hours to the cause.

PS: We demoed at StartUpCamp3 Waterloo and it was a blast!
Mack D. Male June 5, 2008 at 12:54 pm: Congrats! Great list, btw.
Mitch Brisebois June 5, 2008 at 6:53 pm: Way to go on two great anniversaries! I applaud your dedication to design and your advocacy for Canadian entrepreneurs! Continued success, David!
Greg Wilson June 7, 2008 at 4:22 pm: Congrats! Wanna come to U of T and run an afternoon workshop on how to give a great demo for 25 really bright undergrads? I’ll provide the coffee…
Varun Mathur June 9, 2008 at 9:29 pm: Hey David

Some frank thoughts here, but there was a time when I used to read your blog regularly. I liked the earlier green-ish theme – seemed more vibrant and rebellish, as compared to this one which is rather bland. Your posts seemed to have gone from straight-from-the-heart and frequent to more elaborate, complex and infrequent.

Bring back the old davidcrow.ca !
Drew Ellis June 11, 2008 at 2:20 pm: Congrats David. Way to go… from what I’ve seen you do the company and the UX community at-large proud. Keep it up and see you at anniversary2.0!

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