Explicitly and without apology a marketing vehicle MaryMaryQuiteContrary

I miss Dr. Josh and Dr. Neal so much it hurts. It literally hurts.

It's been 25 weeks since we've had a puzzler. (not that we're counting, or anything.)

I've been flying solo for what seems like forever  It's been so long that even God is tired of being my co-pilot. (I think it's because I talk so much.)

Even CrazyBob has forgotten about me. (so much for promises not to forget the little people.)

So here's what we're going to do. ...

Haiku.

I'll give




Java t-shirt(s) to the author(s) of a Haiku that captures the ache and despair that one has to cope with when they've been abandoned for more than 25 weeks (not that anybody's counting).

Five t-shirts; five winners; totally free; postage included.

Just to remind you:

• Haiku is only three lines.
• The first line is five syllables.
• The second line is seven syllables.
• The last line is back to five syllables.
• No rhyming is required.

Here's one:

Don't your eyeballs hurt?
You think so fast that you must
Get dizzy a lot.

here's another one:

I mourn the time I
Chose to watch TV instead
Of reading a book.

(That's actually not mine. Somebody else wrote that one -- sort of; the first one's mine though.)

So even though neither of these Haikus deal with the bitter pain of abandonment, I would have awarded prizes to those because I like them. So we're actually not going to get "technical" about enforcing the rules on this one. (not that we ever do, really.)

Enter to win by posting a comment to this blog entry containing your Haiku.

And please feel free to go ahead and pre-order Java Puzzlers. I find that does wonders when it comes to lifting the spirits, actually.

:-)

bon weekend, people!

bon Memorial Day weekend!

mary

Hey you guys!!

So I'm almost done with this crazy, crazy travel schedule. I'm passing the business lead baton on the whole Bono thing we've been doing to my buddy/colleague Fiona, who lives/works (for Sun) in UK. So, as the tour moves to Europe, she's going to be doing what I've been doing here. So cool..

Relatedly, there's been a bunch of coverage, but my favorite piece was one that came out this week in Information Week as a result of an interview that Danny did with them. Danny is chief architect and technical lead on the Bono initiative. He's also one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. (We happen to live about a mile from each other, by sheer coincidence, btw. Sun's a global company with 30,000+ employees all around the world, and the business lead (me) and the technical lead (Danny) on the Bono initiative live within a stone's throw of one another. How crazy is that?

Did I mention that Danny is a celebrated author and world-ranking techno-celeb extraordinaire? His book has been translated into 16 languages.

So while we're on the topic (and you know I have a propensity to go on and on) of Danny, he recently celebrated a huge big birthday. I didn't ask/receive permission to tell you which one so I'll give you a hint....


get it?

I'll be celebrating that birthday myself in approximately 16 years. It's a big one. And it deserves a tribute -- a photo tribute...  Please join me in savoring this little collage .. these pictures represent the entirety of all the pictures that I could (easily) find of Danny...



took this one at JavaOne last year... that's (co-author) Deepak right next to him... Deepak is also high-ranking techno celeb who has been initiated into that tightly-knit and exclusive community of techno celebs who are my close personal friends. Crupi completes the troika. But I don't have a picture of the three of them together. Kinda like how it's next to impossible to get a picture of all the Baldwin brothers. Same idea.



this picture is from his book...  that whole "about the author" thingy...



here's one with Gage... this was at the U2 concert.... I think it was in San Diego but I don't quite remember which city...



here's a picture of Danny's chin. Photo credit on this one is Morning Snowman.



Here's my all time favorite -- Danny with Bono at the press conference in LA.

Alert readers will notice...



... well, let's just say that Danny is the envy of many-a-fan.

OK. So that's the big birthday tribute. Happy, happy (belated) birthday Danny!

Gotta jam. Running downtown for a quick meeting with my buddies at DATA.

We got Friday Free Stuff coming later today, you guys. I'll do it when I get back to my office this afternoon. Stay tuned.

mary