Thrustworthy Computing

Guess I'm a real Microsoft employee now - I just got my very first ship-it.

Generally speaking, whenever you ship software, it's likely that you'll get some sort of recognition from the company. At FileMaker, I got a white plaque with the Roach Motel [the FileMaker 'filing cabinet'] on the front as well as my name when I shipped FileMaker Pro 3.0. At Netscape, I got an ugly-ass denim jacket [immediately donated to Goodwill] as well as a clear Lucite square with a picture of Mozilla and the wrong name on it. [They replaced it with the correct name abouta week later]. And finally, here at Microsoft, I now have a seriously scary-looking thing with my name on it, as well as Bill 'n' Steve's signatures and space for future products on it [the first one is MSN 9, which I didn't actually work on, but which is as close as they can get to what I really did work on... long story].

For the first and last time, I'm putting a 'mood' on this post.

The SF Chronicle on wine clubs

Me, I belong to three of these: Bonny Doon, K&L, and Ridge [the ATP club]. Of all of them, I'm by far the happiest with Bonny Doon, largely because I really enjoy getting weird stuff you can't possibly get anywhere else (viz. erbaluce, pigato, etc.). Ridge's wines are absolutely lovely but I dunno, they're kind of expensive as well, and on some level I wish they weren't so monotonous [it's always the same handful of varieties, same techniques, same high quality...]. K&L is a real grab bag, but I definitely like the idea that it's (1) good value and (2) a way to force myself to drink things I wouldn't ordinarily buy (viz. Italian reds). Have I actually drunk anything they've shipped me over the last six months? No, but judging by the bottles, they're worth every penny. [Also fun is the super secret bonus third bottle they give you when you sign up for a club...]