Ants on the Melon
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Well, for those who haven’t heard, tomorrow will be my last day at Rackspace. It doesn’t seem like that long ago that I was flying down for my interview with the CORE team. At that time (mid 2003) the company was around 280 people, and every day was exciting. Rackspace has come a long way since then, and as of two weeks ago there are now over 1,000 employees and there is no slowdown in sight.

Being at Rackspace has had a tremendous impact on my life. I have been exposed to some really amazing individuals, and in the process I have learned a lot about business, software, and people. It is wonderful to be surrounded by such bright people all the time, and I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with them. Rackspace is a very special place, because of the special people there.

Deciding to leave this environment was not an easy thing for me to do, but I have an opportunity to do something I have always wanted, and its the right time in my life to go for it. All along at Rackspace I felt like I was learning and preparing for something later, and I think I will now have a chance to apply what I have learned. “It’s all just practice”, as someone who has been a big influence on me likes to say.

Next week I’ll be packing up all my stuff and moving on to my next hop, Houston.

Just another Ant on the Melon…

From Google CEO Dr. Eric Schmidt Joins Apple’s Board of Directors:

“Eric is obviously doing a terrific job as CEO of Google, and we look forward to his contributions as a member of Apple’s board of directors,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Like Apple, Google is very focused on innovation and we think Eric’s insights and experience will be very valuable in helping to guide Apple in the years ahead.

Very interesting…..

Apparently even cows have accents. Now it all makes sense!

… and mathematicians are weird.

He also doesn’t want the $1,000,000 bounty.

Next up, Google Maps Flight Simulator.

Maybe I should just create a “Google Maps Mashups” category and be done with it.

After delays from the firemarshall, Defcon finally got started around noon on Friday. We saw several talks, including magstripe hacking, wireless insanity, and even eXtreme Programming, all of which were very interesting.

Eliot joined us for a trip to In-N-Out Burger, where a massive number of beef patties were consumed by the 5 of us. Mmmm good.

At this point I am up $5 on the blackjack tables, woo hoo!

I’ve been enjoying the spoofs people have been creating of the Apple “Get A Mac” TV ads, but I think these are my favorites so far.

Wow.

That’s pretty amazing growth for a company that just started in February 2005.