michael eaton

In less than 2 weeks, the 2nd Annual Michigan Give Camp in Ann Arbor will be upon us.  It’s hard to believe that almost a year has passed since the first Give Camp in Ann Arbor!  When I talk to people about Give Camp, here is what I normally tell them:

“In the 15 years that I’ve been a software developer, the first Ann Arbor Give Camp was the most physically and emotionally exhausting weekend of my life, but absolutely the most satisfying thing I’ve ever done related to software development.”

If you’re a developer of any level, a designer, DBA or PM and want to help out some great charities, head over to the registration site and sign up.  If you’re involved with a non-profit organization in the state of Michigan and want to send us a proposal, there’s still time to submit.  Check out this post on the Michigan Give Camp website for more information.  You can also follow us on twitter.  If you have any questions at all about participating in the Give Camp (either as a developer or a nonprofit), email info@MichiganGivecamp.org.  If you’re interested in sponsoring the Michigan Give Camp, contact sponsors@MichiganGiveCamp.org.

If you’re in Ohio, a Give Camp is planned for the same weekend in Columbus.  Head over to their site and sign up.  If you’re interested in sponsoring the Columbus Give Camp, check out their Sponsors page.  If you’re in Knoxville, TN, several developers have already committed to holding a satellite Give Camp.  Contact Nate Blevins if you’re interested.

On July 1st around 11:30, I received an email with the subject of “Congratulations 2009 Microsoft MVP!”  To say I was stunned would be putting it lightly. :-)  Over the past few days, a number of my friends have announced that they were not being renewed as MVPs, so honestly the closer it got to July 1st, the more I convinced myself that I wouldn’t be one of those receiving the award this quarter. 

For my friends that don’t know about the MVP Program, here’s a snippet from the email I received:

“This award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with others.”

As I said, I was pretty shocked when that email arrived in my inbox.  What’s really cool is that around the same time, my friend Nate received the same email. :-)  I was also pleased to find out my friend John Stockton (no, not the basketball player) also received the award.

I gotta thank a few people because as cheesy as it sounds, I couldn’t have done it alone.

The first person I need to thank is Dustin Campbell.  After I complained on a mailing list about how I was too far from user groups to attend / speak, Dustin approached me at Codemash 2008 and said (his exact words), “Dude, don’t be a p****.  Get out there and speak.”  Keep in mind that at the time, Dustin was kind of a big deal around Heartland, so who was I to argue. ;-)  Anyway, Dustin, thanks for motivating me to get off my ass and into the community.

Over the past couple of years, Josh Holmes has gone from being “that guy from Microsoft” to a close friend and mentor.  He has been a guiding force in my development in the community since my first user group talk in Toledo in February 2008.  Josh, thanks for being there.

Jim Holmes and Mike Wood have both been inspirations and without leaders like them in the community, I probably would have stopped being so involved a long time ago.

Nate, James, Jayme, Sean and Dave have helped keep me grounded during my speaking “tours” and making me realize how important it is to “do something”, not just talk.

Thanks to the Microsoft evangelists (Jeff, Jennifer and Brian) in my region for being such great supporters of our dev community.

Big thanks to my family for being so supportive while I traveled all over to attend / speak at some really cool events. :-)

There are so many others, but I know I’ll forget someone, so we’ll leave it at this: thanks everyone. ;-)