Laureen went to buy a MacBook at her local Apple Store.

When I hand him a stack of bills, he blinks. Blinks! And says “I can’t take that. You’ll have to go to the back, where they have a cash drawer.” I am not sure why he didn’t take it back to the cash drawer and make change (a mere $12 worth), but I don’t argue. As I’m walking back, he says to me “I’ve been here for years and I have never, ever had someone try to pay with real money.”

There are lots (thousands) of layoffs happening today, at Sun, IBM, and Microsoft, and just I realized that I only have work email addresses for many of my friends and blog readers. If you’ve been affected by this, please add a comment here (I’ll see your email address, but others won’t) and remember to update your profiles on LinkedIn or FaceBook. Good luck – and stay in touch.

Here’s the full announcement. Please forward to anyone that you think might be interested.

Gene Saunders - picture from Detlef Schmier

Gene Saunders, one of the longest serving members of the Sun Microsystems family, passed away unexpectedly on September 19th. Gene had many friends and colleagues at Sun, in the United States and around the World. He was also in constant contact with Sun alumni and his many other friends via email and his blogs. (Even his dog had his her own blog, “Beta the Wonder Dog”.)
Gene is probably best known for creating “onestop”, which for many years was the single most used technical website within Sun. Onestop was started in 1993, hosted on an Ultra 1 SPARCstation 1 in Itasca, IL. It won the “Best SWAN Website” contest several years in a row; at that point, Gene stopped entering to allow others a chance to win!
Gene worked in many groups during his 17 years at Sun. (He joined Sun 19 years ago, but like many of us, he went through a RIF-induced “holiday” which lasted 20 months.) He was a General Territory SE for SunSoft, a Telco focused SE, a member of the Data Center Practice team, and involved on several named accounts. Gene supported many of the User Groups in the Dallas Fort Worth Area, was a very popular speaker at Partner training events, and loved to share his knowledge of technology.
Gene had a rich life beyond his work at Sun. He was passionately involved in political and social issues, nationally and in Dallas. He was an ardent freethinker and skeptic, with a wonderful sense of humor. And he had many friends, from all parts of the world and walks of life, who came to love him deeply.
Gene will be greatly missed by his many friends and colleagues at Sun, in the Technical Community, and around the world.
There is an email alias for friends of Gene to exchange information and share memories of Gene. Please visit: http://grommit.com/mailman/listinfo/friendsofgene to sign up.
– Geoff Arnold
– Roger Lippert

I just learned that my old friend, Sun colleague, and fellow SecularLiberalGeek Gene Saunders died last week. (I just got off the phone from speaking with his friend Judy.)

Gene Saunders

I’ve uploaded the photos from Saturday (San Francisco Bay) and Sunday (Jack London Square and Alameda). Steve has blogged how we all tried our hands at slot-car racing after lunch on Sunday. It must be 40 years since I last handled a slot car controller, but it all came back surprisingly quickly. (Maybe here in Seattle…?)

I’m just about to board my flight home from SFO to SEA. I got to the airport early, added myself to the standby list for an earlier flight, and it came up trumps – window seat, exit row. Sweet.
I had a great weekend, took lots of photos, saw lots of friends, and made some new ones. More details when I have access to my computer. (I’m composing this on my iPhone.)

On Saturday I headed up to Victoria, BC for a day trip to visit some good friends. The weather forecast was good, but as the Victoria Clipper IV pulled away from Seattle’s Pier 69 all we could see was fog. Thick, thick, fog. We made our way up Puget Sound and into the Strait of Juan de Fuca at a very reduced speed, sounding our siren as we went. At we approached Trail Island the weather began to clear, and we entered Victoria Harbour in bright sunshine with a mild breeze. But obviously we were quite late: it was well after 11, and I was going to have to check in for the return trip by 5.
I met my friends, and after an early lunch we drove out of town to their house. They’ve been there 5 years, during which time they’ve turned it from a “fixer-upper” into a really nice place with lots of character. Mind you, it’s the kind of place that has enough interesting quirks and possibilities that it seems likely to be an unending source of “projects”. ((Assuming that they can find reliable contractors to do the work. This seems to be an omnipresent problem.))
As they showed me over the house, we talked about more immediate plans, and it became clear that 3½ hours would not be sufficient. I decided to see if I could extend my visit, so I called Victoria Clipper to ask them to rebook me on one of the Sunday sailings. Incredibly, every sailing was sold out. Oh, well: I’ll just have to plan a longer visit in the spring.
By now it was after 2, so we went on a scenic tour, starting with Government House and Gonzalez Hill Park. From the top of the hill, I took a series of pictures to be stitched into a panorama. (Warning: file is 5.5MB.) ((It’s not a complete panorama: the view to the south was obscured by trees and bright sunlight. Towards the right (east) end of the picture, you can just make out the snowy peak of Mount Baker, the most northerly of the US Cascades.))

Then we drove along the south coast, from Uplands to downtown Victoria. It felt rather like a cross between the English Devon coast and Carmel in California, and the house prices seemed to match! We prowled around the extraordinary Shoal Point building, one of the most advanced “green” projects in the worlds, covered in playful gargoyles and stone carvings. One final stop for espresso and pastries, and it was time for me to check in for my return trip. Fortunately the fog had completely burned off, and the Clipper made good time back to Seattle.

Steve‘s move to Songbird is more than just a change of job. First, he’s become a Mac user! And second, he’s said goodbye to traffic jams on 880 and the Bay bridges:

But damn if the commute to SF isn’t a helluva lot nicer (and a lot more fun…. riding a skateboard is orders of magnitude better than sitting idling spitting out noxious fumes on 880). Seriously, I don’t drive my car on weekdays anymore…. and that is just lovely.

Rick asks “Ever wonder what a ton and half of chocolate looks like?”
Mmmm.
—
(I’ve known Rick since he joined my team to work on the 386i at Sun. Hiring him was one of the smartest things I’ve ever done.)

One of my best friends, Steve Lau, is making the second major move of the year. (The first was getting married – what a great party that was!)

I’m leaving Sun.
It’s been a gut-wrenching decision, but I got an offer to join a startup in SF that was just too interesting and exciting to pass up.

All the best, Steve.