by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2008/08/31 02:31 -07:00, original URI: http://blogs.msdn.com/michkap/archive/2008/08/31/8912816.aspx
The title of this blog is an allusion to a first season episode of The West Wing.
The crackpots reference is to the record amount of spam aimed at the Blog today, none of which was successfully posted.
You're welcome! :-)
So I was watching this episode of The West Wing yesterday. I'm not sure exactly why, I was just reorganizing some video and accidentally opened it. I decided I may as well take it as a sign of some sort and watch it, on high speed.
Now all of this happened on Saturday.
After lunches earlier in the week with friend and lead program manager/most likely to be identified as the "group C.J." Cathy Wissink, and friend and software developer/long path princess Kim Hamilton.
Not to mention random emails from program manager and Access miracle worker Viki Selca and development lead and SQL Reporting Services miracle worker Nico Cristache.
And especially after car shopping and lunch with friend and always smiling program manager turned project manager Maryam Gholami, and dinner with friend and kickass trainer/consultant authoring the ASP.NET certification exam Rachel Appel (at a dinner where among other things we talked about friend and amazing db upsizer/programming writer Mary Chipman, friend and consultant/SQL goddess Kimberly L. Tripp, and friend and inspiration/general manager Julie Bennett.
Not to mention plans to have lunch this upcoming week with friend and marketing manager/HR sanity checker Gretchen Ledgard.
One bit of the episode in particular struck me:
Jed Bartlet: Look at this, will you?
Josh Lyman: At what sir?
Jed Bartlet: I don’t know why, but nothing makes me feel quite so good as the sight of colleagues, enjoying each other outside work.
Josh Lyman: So, what were you guys talking about?
Jed Bartlet: We were talking about these women.
Josh Lyman: Yeah?
Leo McGarry: We can’t get over these women.
Jed Bartlet: Look at C.J. She’s like a fifties movie star, so capable, so loving and energetic.
Leo McGarry: Look at Mandy over there. Going punch for punch with Toby in a world that tells women to sit down and shut up. Mandy’s already won her battle with the President. The game’s over, but she’s not done. She wants Toby.
Jed Bartlet: Mrs. Landingham. Did you guys know she lost two sons in Vietnam? What would make her want to serve her country is beyond me, but in 14 years, she’s not missed a day’s work, not one. {pause} There’s Cathy, Donna, and Margaret.
Josh Lyman: Mr. President, there’s something that’s been bothering me for most of the day, and while I know that this is an inappropriate time...
Leo McGarry: No, what’s on your mind, Josh?
Josh Lyman: I serve at the pleasure of the President, and it’s a great privilege that I will never forget. I can’t keep this. I think it’s a white flag of surrender. I want to be a comfort to my friends in tragedy. And I want to be able to celebrate with them in triumph. And for all the times in between, I just want to be able to look them in the eye. Leo, it’s not for me. I want to be with my friends, my family, and these women.
And then I thought about these ten women, all of whom work either for Microsoft or primarily with Microsoft technologies.
Ten women with really very little else in common other than two X chromosomes.
Yet I find myself in awe of each of them and the work they do, all of which is also very different.
And all very inspiring, really (and not even a complete list!).
I just can't get over those women....
There are also women out there like McCain's VP choice to remind me that some women are actually quite singularly unimpressive, but that's a whole nuther story, and one much less inspiring!
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