Goodbye Earthquakes... *sigh*

After 10 great years in the MLS, the San Jose Earthquakes are no more. I am really really bummed out. I had season tickets right behind the Quakes' bench, and I really looked forward to each game. It was often the highlight of my week that kept me going at work. Now they're gone.

The team is moving to Houston, effective immediately. At least the name "Earthquakes", logo, color scheme, and team record are staying here in San Jose. They talked a bit about an expansion team here in a bay area in the future that would take on the name and record.

F Houston. F MLS.

First Day at Apple

So technically I started at Apple today. I don't really start until the 19th, but they don't have new hire training next week due to the fast approaching holiday break. Thus, I had to go in today and attend NEO, or New Hire Orientation. Now I have an Apple badge with my picture on it. How cool is that?!! I will start next week in earnest, so more about that then...

In the meantime, I must say this... I've worked at a lot of companies in my life, and this was the first time that I was really excited at orientation. I was practically giddy when I got my Apple badge with my picture on it! How weird! I have never worked at a company where I felt personally aligned with the product strategy and vision like I do with Apple. I just plain love their - oops - our stuff.

Save the Quakes: San Jose City Council Meeting

I sat in on the San Jose City Council meeting yesterday to listen to a very large group of San Jose Earthquakes fans urge the City Council to work toward keeping the Earthquakes in San Jose. It's desparate times now... The Earthquakes are on the brink of being moved to Houston. It would really be a horrible shame to San Jose to drop off the soccer map like that - especially after winning two national championships, and contributing so much to the level of American soccer.

I have been in distant countries and mentioned the fact that I'm from San Jose. Folks know who the San Jose Earthquakes are. They're considered one of the best soccer teams in the America (North and South).

The main problem boils down to the the cost of real estate in the bay area. Sigh.

Last day at Sun Microsystems

Tomorrow (Friday, December 2nd, 2005) will be my last day at Sun Microsystems. I've been a software architect there for 2-1/2 years working on Java and tools. Wow. It is hard to believe that 2-1/2 years have passed since I started working at Sun. I got to work on a lot of very cool stuff - including Sun Java Studio Creator, JSR-273: The Design-Time API for JavaBeans, and some of the Swing Labs databinding project... more on that another time!

I got to work with a lot of very cool people at Sun, and will miss them very much while I toil away at my new gig for Apple. I'll be working on the Apple Online Store, which should be a heck of a lot of fun. I love Apple products - both hardware and software, so I really couldn't pass up an opportunity to help Apple become even more successful. I can't wait to start working for a company that will likely get back a lot of my paycheck. I am a sucker for that new iProduct.

I will try to be more active on this blog, since I no longer will have access to my old Sun blog. Actually, this should be a lot more fun, because I don't have to hold back what I say on this blog... he he he. Except don't expect me to say anything about Apple products, etc - except for the ones that are already very clearly publicly released.

Off I go!