Mark-Up

I haven’t responded to memes in the past, as I tried to keep this blog more professional than personal. But Len Devanna, one of my new cohorts at EMC, tagged me today and after reading his response I’m inspired to post. Len’s the guy behind the recent EMC.com redesign. I think they did a great job and I’m looking forward to seeing how it will evolve in the months to come.

I appreciated Len’s fresh take on memes:

In the past 30 minutes, I’ve read some fascinating stuff about folks I’d otherwise have no exposure to. I’m following them now, and my social network has grown that much more. It’s also interesting to watch the rules evolve as information flows from person to person.

Indeed, I appreciated getting to know more about him, so I’ll now return the favor.

Four jobs I’ve had:

1. My first job was sacking groceries at the local Minyard Food Store. It was minimum wage (with occasional tips), but I learned a lot about grocery store merchandizing and marketing, which would come in handy later in my career when I worked as an intern and a consultant at the FritoLay and PepsiCo IT world headquarters..
2. During summers of high school and college I was a Lifeguard at the local public pool. My last year there I even won our local “Superguard” competition (its kind of like the olympics for life guards).
3. In college I was an “RA” (Resident Assistant) for 3 years. Every staff I worked on was a great group of guys. A few of us still stay in touch. I’ll be back on the 40 Acres in March to lecture again on “High Fidelity Prototypes.”
4. For most of my professional career, my wife (an elementary and middle school teacher) hasn’t understood much more about what I do other than “computer stuff.” But when I worked for Voyager Expanded Learning for a year, she actually helped me with my assignments. I was there in 1998 helping them develop websites on CDs for low-income schools. Back then not many schools had internet connections. So, we would develop colorful and fun websites for kids that complimented the curricula Voyager sold. Because the sites were on CD, schools could still teach kids how to use a browser (we even had a primitive javascript-based search engine). Sounds rather silly now, but it was a novel idea for the time. I had my most rewarding project ever there: developing a Flash-based kiosk that was part of a small exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Four shows I DVR

1. Texas Longhorn and Dallas Cowboys football - sports are really the only reason we have DishHD. It’s hard to watch football now any other way. I like the Voom channels (especially “Private Life of a Masterpiece” on GalleryHD), but most everything else we watch is available through iTunes or Netflix.
2. LOST - is watched religiously timeshifted 30 minutes after it starts; that way we can see it as soon as possible without waiting for commercials.
3. My wife and I really got into Pushing Daisies before the writers’ strike. I hope it comes back when they return. Since then we’ve been watching Wonderfalls and we’re starting Dead Like Me to scratch the itch.
4. Did I mention how sentimental I can be? I record the very old reruns of Davey and Goliath for my kids to watch while they’re waiting to go to church. I’ve also subjected them to every single episode of Speed Racer.

Four places I’ve been:

1. My mom is British and her side of the family all still live in England. I’ve been several times for pleasure and once for business. Hope to go back in a few years with the entire family.
2. China was an eye-opening experience. I worked at a Cheetos plant that didn’t have any cheese (the favorite Chinese flavors were prawn and steak).
3. Dothan, Alabama is the “Peanut Capitol of the World” and with respect to Len’s comments, is home to some of the friendliest people in the world.
4. The place I’ve been and most want to take my wife is Venice. Someday when the kids are all off to college we’ll do the Grand Tour.

Four favorite foods:

1. Just about anything on the menu (or on tap) at Henk’s. He’s really Dutch, but they serve the best German fare in Dallas.
2. I could eat Sunet Beef Fajitas at Mi Cocina every day for lunch and dinner. Sunset = spicy queso with fried shoestring onions.
3. Amy’s Ice Cream is a must-stop in Austin, TX. Mexican Vanilla with KitKat is my all-time favorite flavor.
4. While I am thinking of dessert, my wife makes a mean Apple Custard Pie. She slices the apples paper-thin. It’s even better the morning after for breakfast.

So, there you have it, Len. Thanks for sharing, and the encouragement to actually post something on this so-called blog of mine.

I’ve invited several others to carry the torch. I’ll post their links should they decide to accept the mission.