A few months ago, an friend of mine from HMC forwarded us all a link to a Channel 9 discussion about Microsoft’s Avalon project, hosted by fellow ’97 alum Joe Beda. The general reaction of the recipients was, “Holy crap, Joe’s gone bald!” I didn’t care about the hair; my reaction was, “Holy crap, Joe’s one of the lead developers on Avalon!”
Fast forward a few months, and it turns out Joe has left his high-profile job at Microsoft, to take another job at Google. I don’t know how high-profile this new Google job is, but apparently it’s important enough to be reported in nationally-syndicated media outlets.
Well, Joe says it’s not all that newsworthy… but come on, can’t you just smell the false humility? I’m all about rooting for my fellow alumni,[1] but this is starting to get ridiculous. To Joe I say, pbbbbhhllt! At least I still have all my hair.
1. I’m trying to think of other HMC grads who are moderately famous in the software world. Bookmarklet guru Jesse Ruderman springs to mind, but these days he’s mainly famous for his interest in porn. The only other one I can think of is Wes Cherry, that dude who invented Windows Solitaire for free when he was an intern. Well, that’s something, at least.
Hey Evan — I’m sure all of the attention is just a fluke. It really isn’t that big a deal. I’m hoping that I can do some cool things at Google, but there isn’t anything to talk about yet.
As for the hair — it was pretty obvious where things were going in that department when I was at mudd.
BTW, Rachel says hi.
Joe
Yeah, I understand that the media can make things seem to be a much bigger deal than they really are… All joshing aside, I think this is exciting news, and I’m looking forward to reading about your latest endeavors.
Say hi to Rachel back! If you and/or her have any free time during one of your trips down to the Bay Area, give me a holler.
I wonder if Joe means “there isn’t anything I *can* talk about yet” 😉
Wikipedia lists more famous Mudd alums.
Yeah. That’s why it seemed better to say, “I’m looking forward to reading about your latest endeavors,” instead of, “So what are ya workin’ on over there? Huh? Huh?” He’s probably getting enough of the latter.
Thanks for the link! 😉 I knew about “Pinky” Nelson, but the others are news to me. I wonder if we should add Wes Cherry to the list…
The mutt mail reader was originally written by Mudd graduate Michael Elkins.
I dunno, I’m sure mutt is nice… but is it really in the same league as Windows Solitaire? That program alone is responsible for billions of hours of wasted productivity.