The Time Has Come

"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing wax--of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--and whether pigs have wings."

Isn't that nice? I can't say that it has any bearing whatsoever on today, or is at all relevant. except maybe for the "the time has come" part. I mean, the walrus and the carpenter make friends with a whole mess of oysters, a whole sea-bed of them, take them for a walk along the beach, talk philosophy together, and then they eat the oysters.

I don't even like oysters.

Continued...click the link below to read more.But, this is what ran through my head this morning as I was lying and thinking that after today, I would be unemployed. So I thought I'd share it with you. There it is. (You can read the poem in its entirety here, I highly recommend it.)

So yes, the time has come. And not that I want to go all sappy and weepy or anything, but I do have many things about my time here at FileMaker to be truly thankful for.

To start, I'm thankful that 10 years ago, some guy with hair on his head called Terry Barwegen phoned to tell me I should think seriously think about leaving my hot phone center job to become something called a "software tester" at a thriving company called Claris. Hundreds of bugs, 7 FileMaker releases, many v-revs, 8 managers, 6 cubes, 5 Windows logos, twenty-five pounds, more meetings than I care to count, and half a Gluon later, I think I have more hair than I started with, if you count the beard. Sure, it's going grey awfully fast, but that only adds character. At least, that's what Simon tells me.

• There are so many other things I'm thankful for. For example, the opportunity to sample Veggie Cow Mein, Habachi Chicken, and Salmon Popovers at the FileMaker Cafe.
• They whole lunch table gang, and 10 years of cutting-edge, push-the-envelope, non-work, song-free, conversations. All 17 of them.
• Dirk Kessler and Robert Parks in drag.
• Having a front row seat to watch Lucy "in negotiation" with Hal Miller, my favorite software salesman, and secretly hoping she might actually reduce him to tears.
• I'm thankful for the opportunity to gaslight Keith Proctor over the course of weeks and months by piping the music from HamsterDance into his cube at subliminal levels. Not that it had any visible effect...
• 37 hours under the tattoo needle, thanks to the Apple Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
• All the things that Sandy and Kim have "taken care of" for me over the years.
• Getting to know Jessica Ard while smoking at the back door with the other rebels.
• Getting to know myself better while quitting smoking with Jane Reeder and the spooky former cult leader that Apple hired to teach the class.
• The look an Bill Epling's face when Terry and his Knights of the Round Table crashed the Best Finance Halloween Skit Ever.
• Liz Pulchny brightly asking me with a grin if she "might project manage me for a moment". (I never tried that one myself.)
• Jeff Fried. 'Nuff said.
• Never yet having had to install or use Windows Vista.
• Having Chazz, Trent and Janissa in HR on my side (more or less).
• The glint in Craig's eye and the unbridled excitement in his voice, as he tells me about all the terrible things he's done to his managers at former companies.
• I'm thankful for Lisa Rose's new hairstyle.
• The interesting new vocab I've picked up from Simon and Paul. Just chuffin' fantastic.
• The many times when I had no idea what Chiharu was saying (all probably for the best).
• Knowing how to properly spell Cocoa.
• The realization that there is someone out there who loves Green Acres far more than I ever will.
• And last but not least, the flashing seizure-inducing pen and cases of knock-off Claris Swiss Army Knives. I'll treasure them always.