In early 2002, Valentine’s Day in fact, I found myself the proud owner of a dotcom-era layoff pink slip.
That sucked.
The good news was that a small software company down the street needed a C++ programmer. That company was Seapine. So I applied and then rushed to beat the rust off of my C++ knowledge that I hadn’t used in years. I wasn’t overly excited about doing C++ work, but I needed a steady paycheck, so I figured I would try to get this job and then see if something else popped up once the economy recovered.
That was 11 years ago.
So much for a short term job.
Over those 11 years I got a chance to work on nearly every product Seapine makes, got to do some marketing, some product management, made life-long friends, had a ball and yes wrote more C++ than you can shake a pointer at.
Today though is my last day here. On Monday I’ll start a new adventure in a new city doing new things. One could make a really compelling argument that Seapine’s code will start improving dramatically on Monday as well. I’m sure though that there is no real correlation there, just an amazing coincidence. 
I wish nothing but the absolute best for Seapine and all my friends there. I hope that it keeps growing and is even more successful than it already is. Below is a picture of the entire company in 2002. Today we have more people than that signed up the for the company ping pong tournament alone.
The entire company of Seapine in the summer of 2002.
I have no idea how long this blog will stay running. If you want to keep up with me going forward my personal site is at http://www.lammi.com. (Update those RSS feeds accordingly.) If anything I plan to keep my next to never posting frequency.
My uncle never said goodbye instead he always parted with “Be good to yourself.” I pass along the same to you.
Until we meet again, be good to yourself.
