Preparing for Mount Everest…

I am sitting at JFK airport waiting for my flight to Seattle. I have flown into Seattle at least 50 times since 1996 and each and every time I have went to Seattle in my life was to go do work or attend a meeting at Microsoft up in Redmond. Today is something new for me. I am going to Seattle not for Microsoft but for personal reasons. Ok, ok, I am going to drop by campus anyway and do lunch with the “RD Mom”, Eileen Crain, the PM for the Regional Director Program. (lunch doesn’t count) And after spending the week in New York at VSLive! with RDs Andrew Brust, Billy Hollis, Jackie Goldstein, Juval Lowy, and Ken Getz, this does feel like being summoned to the Mother Ship-but no, my visit to campus is completely voluntary. I am in Seattle for personal reasons.

In 29 days, I arrive in Kathmandu, Nepal to begin my trek to Mt. Everest with my pal Kevin Collins (who is the PM for SQL Server CE). Kevin and I are gong to do a high-altitude training run this weekend on Mt. Rainer (14,410'), outside of Seattle. Mt. Rainer is the second tallest mountain (by 54 feet!) in the lower 48. Ok, technically it is a Volcano (and an active one that is!). So it is the tallest Volcano in the continental United States! 

If you don’t hear from me soon, you know where to look for my body! No, don’t worry, while a few people die on Mt. Rainer each year, Joel Check (old Jet database engine Dev who is climbing with Kevin and I this weekend) and I have a tremendous amount of high altitude experience-and know our limits. Also, I can’t die, I have to be home for my teammate Tom Halligan’s birthday celebration on Tuesday. That is going to be a night of sin…