Today I got to hear the Windows Phone roadmap. Boy, is it going to be BIG! I’m afraid that I can’t discuss the details due to NDA requirements, but I can say that it sounds absolutely outstanding!  This will be great competition for Apple…
Had a wonderful first Summit day today. Attended a couple of optional “side sessions”, then attended the main Welcome Dinner hosted by Nestor Portillo (Director of Community & Online Support), standing-in for Steve Ballmer. Poor Nestor was about as scared as I would be addressing such a large audience, but he held it together. Good job!
I landed in Seattle earlier this morning, and I am so looking forward to seeing all of my fellow MVP peers and my friends at Microsoft. Â
My fellow MVP Moderators were also thrown a wonderful Welcome Dinner at Maggiano’s Little Italy in Bellvue, courtesy of Microsoft’s Windows Phone Forum Management Team.  THANK YOU!!!
My hotel reservations were secured a few weeks ago, and I just recently bought my plane tickets, so I’m basically ready to go (minus packing a few days before the flight).
Having missed CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2010, I am totally bummed to have also missed CntrStg 2010.  I really miss the interaction with my MVP peers and fellow bloggers, so the 2010 MVP Summit will be a great opportunity to meet new MVPs, connect with old friends, and enjoy the best that Microsoft has to offer!
Wow! I just got word that I received the Microsoft MVP Award for a second year in a row. These last couple of weeks has been truly busy! With this award I will be travelling in mid February up to Washington state to participate in the MVP Summit, and let me tell you I’m really looking forward to that!
I was happy to take a break from some stone-laying that I was involved with today in order to sign for a package from DHL. Ah, this must be the “gift†that Microsoft was sending me!
I was totally unsure what the gift would actually be, so it would be fair to say that I was pleasantly surprised to find that Microsoft had sent me some very high quality items.
When I first opened the package, I was greeted with a nicely pre-mounted paper Award Certificate sitting on top of the interior box.
The Award Certificate is mounted on a backerboard that has the pre-punched swing-out stand for display on desk or fireplace mantle, and another swing-out clasp for hanging on a wall. Very Nice!
Once I removed this award, the box below (a box within a box) became evident, and it obvious that there was a very weighty item within.
Extracting the large gift-box within my award package, I found that it wasn’t really a box, but rather one of those 4-sided bands around top, bottom, front and back of a high-quality gift-box.
The box was one of those impressive felt-interior boxes that the really prestigious awards come in. It had a felt fabric latch with a pop-button at the end. Very impressive indeed. And when you opened it, you are greeted with a very impressive etched lead crystal award.
The lead crystal award itself is composed of two panes of vertical crystal embedded in a thicker slab of crystal serving as the base of the award.
The larger back pane of crystal contains an image of the world globe in the upper left corner.
The smaller pane of crystal sits in the front, and contains the text: “We recognize and value your exceptional contributions and commitment to the technical communities worldwide.â€
This award is very hefty, weighing the better part of four pounds! However, I have to say that it is incredibly cool looking to say the least!
Also included in the package were a couple of other items befitting an awardee:
Very cool! Thank you Microsoft!
I was so totally surprised when I opened my e-mail this morning before heading off to work, and saw that Microsoft had written me to announce that they were presenting me with the 2009 Microsoft MVP Award in the “Windows Mobile Devices†category for all of my hard work helping-out at MobilitySite, the Microsoft Windows Mobile “Total Access†forums, and for my assistance helping out Megalith Systems (authors of GPS Tuner).
This award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with others.
Wow! I’m honestly still in a state of shock (more than 12 hours later)…
