Passing of President Gordon B. Hinckley

Beloved Church President Gordon B. Hinckley, who led The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through 12 years of global expansion, has died at the age of 97. President Hinckley was the 15th President in the 177-year history of the Church and had served as its President since March 12, 1995.

I suppose he said it best:

Death is a part of life. It is a fundamental, basic part of our eternal lives. We can't go on with the great work that lies ahead without stepping over the threshold of death, sorrowful as it is for those who remain. I am satisfied that it is a beautiful experience for those who make that step, who have lived lives of righteousness and faithfulness. - Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, Aug 1997, 3

For my part, this man was an example to me of someone who finished the course, kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7) I will miss him.

Change is Hard

I just rediscovered this great quote:

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it. - Max Planck

I believe this doesn't just relate to scientific truth, but truth in general. My Dad would say, "Experience is always in the first person," meaning that it's a good idea to learn from others, but most of the time we don't. There are great new truths to be had, but everyone is at a different point in the journey, with all the baggage that entails. Many of the most important and needful changes can't happen until there is a personal experience with the need for change. Mostly that happens one person at a time. There are those who think people would act differently if they only knew some bit of relevant knowledge, but more often than not, the reality is much more complicated than a simple lack of knowledge.

Change requires love, patience, help and encouragement, a willingness to learn from above, from below and from all those around you. It requires an absolute and deep conviction that you could really be wrong about something in a fundamental way. It requires a desire to improve and a motivation to exercise more effort than normal. It requires the courage to be wrong and fail again and again in the pursuit of new understanding. In the end, it often requires the willingness to forgo the due respect and esteem of others. Almost always it requires some kind of sacrifice. It is for all these reasons and many more, that change is hard. Thanks be to those who, despite all of this, do change. They make space for others to do the same.

Leaving Microsoft

Starting today I no longer work at Microsoft. As many of you know, I started working at Microsoft after an illustrious post high school career as landscape architect. ;-) I loved the landscape work, but Microsoft paid better. I was just barely 18 and Microsoft was just realizing that the internet (lower case then) was amazingly NOT going to be replaced by the Windows 95 Microsoft Network. Much has changed since then. While I started my 4 year degree and continued working on it part time, it’s now time for me to go back to school full time and finish. After that, I hope to get an MBA.

I’ve had a remarkable time at Microsoft and in MacBU in particular. I’ve learned so much. I’ve been so thankful to interact with such a high concentration of good individuals. I feel very blessed. My last day was December 31st, 2007.

So that’s the news. I realize that many of you subscribe to this blog because of my connection with Microsoft and especially MacBU. Since I'm no longer working there, feel free to unsubscribe. During the Holiday's I've been mentally processing my MacBU experience and I'll be posting much of what I have learned and observed. If that interests you, hang on, there might still be some content here for you! As you may have noticed I've not really posted anything since September when I returned to work after paternity leave! These last 3 months finishing up Office 2008 were quite the grind, not a death march, but certainly not pretty. I'm glad for it to end. With a bit more time, I think you'll see some more frequent posts here.

If you'd like to contact me informally, as always, feel free to email me at my Gmail account referenced on my Blogger profile page. If you'd like to contact/track me more professionally, feel free to follow my LinkedIn profile.

Happy New Year to all and wish me luck!