I don't usually let a door-to-door salesman in, but....

This was different, perhaps because Ann let them in and she is very particular about whom she opens the door (or even answers the phone) for.  A couple of guys from Kaysville, UT came by talking about some great food storage stuff.  Well, they came back last night, we sampled, kids loved the stuff and we made a purchase.  We are now good for 6 months food storage (creeping up on a year, right?).

 

The guys were from www.dailybreadus.com and they sold freeze dried food that tastes great and has a 25 year+ shelf life.  They sell food from www.mountainhouse.com in large package deals.  And, when doing the calculation, the packages actually look to be about 10% cheaper than if purchased directly from Mountain House.  Plus, they throw in a bunch of extras.

 

If you are in need of building food storage either from scratch or augmenting what you already have, give these folks a try.

Sammy and dad - at the Pacific Science Center Camp in

Sammy and I are at the Pacific Science Center for his school district's camp in tonight. We are having a lot of fun. We have seen the "groosology" exhibit, the butterflies and played all of the games. It's bed time in about 30 min.

Sammy is such a great son! I'm sure enjoying spending this time with him here.

In the morning we get to see a laser show and then an Imax movie. Sound like fun? Sure is!

Jake's rendition of "George"

A few nights ago we were out to dinner. Jake was furiously coloring. When I asked him what he was drawing, he said it was a picture of George (remember this post "Thing's that make dads smile...meet George").

"Go Skyline Green!"

We are all very proud of Alex. This year, against several odds (relating to making the right choices), Alex did a great job as a member of the Skyline Select basketball team. He learned so much and now knows so much about the game! He is also such a great member of the team. He is always encouraging the other players, and always has a smile. Here's a photo of the team and coaches. What a great season! It was an honor to have you represent our family with this elite group of basketball players.

Thanks, Alex!

Sammy's First Piano Recital

Remember Sammy the Piano Man? Well, he has been progressing very well. Just a few weeks ago, Sammy had his very first piano recital. It was awesome! We are so proud of him. He did not make a single mistake. We especially enjoyed the way that he started louder and finished more quietly with his lullaby song.

Here is a link to the PDF of the program.

S%3A%5CMy%20Pictures%5CSammy_Recital001.pdf

I've also attached a couple of photos.

Nice job, Sammy!

Talk for church - March, 2007

I was asked to speak in church again earlier this month (making a total of 5 times/subjects - welcome to the ward/sacrifice, missionary work, Neal Maxwell / Parley P. Pratt, Home Teaching, and now this one). I was meeting with the Bishop and we were discussing one of the members of the Elders Quorum and some advice I had about achieving balance in our busy lives, and he thought I should talk about it in sacrament meeting.

So, I did...attached, if you are interested. Please share comments, suggestions, etc.
S%3A%5CScott%20Documents%5CChurch%20Stuff%5CTalkText.doc

Work Offsite, March 2007

This past week my team had an offsite at a great location, Willows Lodge. This is about 25 minutes away from work and home, just enough to keep us focused on the planning tasks. Heidi, our Product Planner, did a great job selecting the venue and setting up the "strawman" agenda for the week. The picture on the left is the happy team at the end of the Thursday session. From left to right...

• Gabi, who covers Europe, Middle East and Africa
• Heidi, our global Product Planner
• Mary Kay, our Project Manager
• Jack, our Product Manager for Office and Information Worker support
• Me, and an extra 25 pounds added by the camera
• Jason, who covers everything in the Asia/Pacific area except Japan, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong
• And Jake, our Product Manager for Windows support

Here were our objectives:
1. Understand what we will accomplish as a team in the coming three years
2. A "RACI" for our team and those whom we work with
3. A "strawman" for the structure of our new support products and offerings
4. Our commitments (or MBOs) for the rest of the fiscal year

Over the course of three days, we did the following exercises as a team to arrive at this on Friday, by the end of the day:
Day 1

• Overview of previous planning data
• Level set and feedback from the Business Leadership team's offsite last week
• A strategic exercise to help us describe the business that we are in and lay a foundation for our strategies

Day 2

• Working within a global team, define the ways that we will engage and work together
• Discuss regional opportunities for pilots and agree on next steps

Day 3

• A day for deliverables, including...
• Commitments for H2 FY07 for the team
• Complete the RACI
• Complete the strawman deck

The team did a great job on all of these, with complete dedication coupled with humor! It was a really productive and fun week. What's next?

Complete the Day 3 work and make it ready to socialize the work with our management chain and stakeholders...then, start to build the next generation of products and offerings for our area!

(Note, of course, I had to keep this very high level so that I don't disclose any of the Microsoft secrets )

A dream come true...

It finally happened, a moment that I have anticipated most of my life.  Bikes are in my blood!  I love them, and about the only think I love more is family.  So, of course, I love riding with my family.  Last fall I found a great deal on a Santana tandem from a fellow Microsoft cyclist  (check out the model, http://www.santanatandem.com/sovereignse.html, plus we had some cool upgrades like SPDs for both captain and stoker, 8 bottle cages, dual cyclometers, new Ultegra cranks, new XT drivetrain, a Disc Brake on the rear, a Blackburn rear rack and a really cool upgraded stoked shock-absorbing post).  Then, for Christmas, we gave Alex some cycling shoes.

 

Today, we had “good enough” weather for a short ride.  Alex and I got up early and saddled up for the inaugural ride.  We only went out for about 30 minutes, but boy was it fun!  Alex said that he had a great time, too.  This is a moment that I have been anticipating for the better part of my life, the opportunity to ride a tandem with my son.  And, just think, I have three of these “firsts” coming with Sammy, Jake and Max!  Ann said that she might even try it out sometime, but she is pretty tentative because she doesn’t trust me on the bike, I ride crazy?  I think that is nuts…so I promised to not pull a Kris Longson (haul down Parley’s with the wife in stoker going 60 MPH the first time out).

 

Next time we will put the Burley on the back and put in Jake and Max. Now that should be fun!  The Stout family train!  I’ll be sure to post pictures of that.

Sammy, do your chores!

In the middle of the night earlier this week, Sammy was talking in his sleep.  Of course, he was yelling at Alex, something to the effect of, “Alex, don’t!  Stop it!” 

 

Sammy shares a room with Jake.  So, right after Sammy was done yelling in his sleep, Jake proceeded to yell back, also in his sleep, “Sammy, do your chores!”

Jake and the bandaid

Cute story:  In the middle of the night, Alex woke up not feeling well, sick to his stomach.  We had him sleep in the hall near the bathroom, just in case.  This morning, we were wondering where Jake was.  Everybody was downstairs, except for Jake and Alex.  Then, we heard Alex and Jake talking upstairs.  Soon after, Jake came downstairs looking for something…a bandaid.  All he said was that he needed something for Alex.  Soon enough, he found a bandaid and ran upstairs without saying anything to us.  Turns out, he wanted to make Alex’s sick stomach feel better, so he took him a bandaid.