i'm starting to think i should be working for lotus marketing or something. i ran across an amazing story, the kind a guy like ed or alan might like to tell.

i was hanging out with some of the blogger dudes sunday night. there was a guy standing there hanging out, just you know, chilling. drinking a beer or something. a quiet guy.

so i introduced myself to him and started talking. i was curious if he was a blogger, or knew someone who blogged, or whatever. i was wondering how he'd gotten there.

i'm still not sure exactly how he'd made it to the particular circle i was hanging with. he said he was with someone, but i didn't get it, or couldn't hear him or something.

anyway, we struck up a conversation. i asked him about his work and so forth. turns out he is a notes admin guy. been doing it for about five years. loves notes.

some time back, at the place where he works a new President was coming in. andrew (my new friend's name) goes in and sets up his computer with a notes client. everything is working fine. another day in the life...

later that day he gets a call. the president wants to know what the heck this email program is on his computer. turns out he is used to outlook and wants nothing to do with notes.

so, they start ripping out a well established notes architecture and replacing with exchange. all because a guy who happens to be The President wants his outlook client. i guess...

here is the kicker. andrew paid his own way to be at lotusphere. after many (i'm guessing somewhat painful) discussions with his wife, he anted up his own hard won dollars and came to orlando. to network and so forth. partly because he is looking for a job, and partly because he just simply loves notes. he's still plodding along, becoming a reluctant exchange guru, and taking his time looking. he isn't starving or anything.

he said to me, "I just like what IBM and Lotus are doing. I think they are going in the right direction."

now that's putting your money where your mouth is.

if anyone is looking for a good, experienced notes admin who obviously is committed to the product and knows it quite well, why don't you give him a shout? he says he isn't much into development, but likes to make servers run fast. just the kind of guy i'd want on my team if i was looking for admin talent.

andrew (from what i can tell, one of the nicest guys you could know), hanging with my buddy, the infamous josh humphrey:



andrew is on the left, josh is on the right. thanks to mr. greyhawk68 for taking the pic and kindly emailing it to me.

:-)