"Everyone collects utilities, and most folks have a list of a few that they feel are indispensable. Here's mine. Each has a distinct purpose, and I probably touch each at least a few times a week. For me, util means utilitarian and it means don't clutter my tray. If it saves me time, and seamlessly integrates with my life, it's the bomb."

My 8-year old was proud to remind me that today was the two-year anniversary of 9/11. I was surprised that he knew and grateful to his school for taking the time to discuss it. He then went on to tell me how cool he thought the explosions were, which left me less pleased with his school. When I told him about my own experiences that day and how many people died, it immediately took all of the “coolness” right out of the day for him.

George Bullock, a colleague at MS who’s birthday happens to fall on 9/11, has also had the “coolness” taken out of the day for him and sent around a mail that starts this way:

“Let us pause on 9/11 to remember and honor the thousands killed, maimed, put out of work, and traumatized two years ago; also to honor the heroic, living and dead, who rose to the occasion on that terrible day. May God rest their souls and keep and protect their loved ones. May God also keep and protect our men and women serving here and abroad. Yes, there is much difference of opinion about what’s happening in the world today; nevertheless, I think we all support the men and women of our armed forces and wish them a safe return home. They sacrifice a lot to serve their country.”

Personally, I try very hard not to let the terrorists get to me. Unfortunately, they have. Even time I get the anal probe treatment at the airport or a personal freedom is taken away by the Patriot Act or my sister-in-law is afraid to fly (and flat out refuses to fly on that day), they win. More subtly, ever time a US politician uses “terrorism” to push their own agenda, they also win. Please don’t let them win. Have courage. Try to understand what it was that drove them to terrorism to attract our attention. Compare their lives to ours. But don’t let them win. Don’t let them take the right to the pursuit of happiness out of our lives.

Keith Ballinger taped live from the Applied XML Developer's Conference. Keith, as ever, a pleasure to watch.

Kraig Brockschmidt, author of Inside OLE 2 and the first person to understand all of OLE 2 and live to tell the tale writes on his post-MS spiritual journey and his revelatations on how God was with him the whole time at MS. [gotdotnet.com/team/dbox]

In addition to ChrisAn and I, Harrison Ford is an ENTJ, as are FDR, Nixon, Steve Martin, David Letterman and Jim Carrey. This is so true: "ENTJs are often 'larger than life' in describing their projects or proposals... In combination with the natural propensity for filibuster, our hero can make it very difficult for the customer to decline... Experience teaches many ENTJs that restraint may often be the better part of valor, lest one find oneself victorious but alone."

The recent economic conditions caused me to become very interested in not just making money (I've always been a capitalist : ), but also in keeping a careful eye on it. In the past, I've let most of the "keeping an eye on it" be done by a financial advisor (I've had one since I was 22). These days, I have a stack of financial books that I'm reading [1] and it's been a fabulous educational experience. Given the supreme importance of money in our society, I think everyone should know the basics of money management. I'm very disappointed that I made it all the way through high school, let alone college, with no more instruction then how to fill in a check (something we want folks to do less of, not more!). Towards that end, I really love Bloomberg University’s no-frills financial tutorials, including one on the basics of a 401(k) and another on the basics of investing. They provide just the tip of the iceberg and I could recommend a lot of other reading, but this is a good place to start for folks that want to actually keep the money they make. [1] http://www.sellsbrothers.com/money

Oh, sure, I built an entire codegen product a number of years ago. Would it have hurt folks to get excited about it then?!? : )

ChrisAn, one of my very smart friends at Microsoft, discovers he’s the same Myers-Briggs type that I am. I'll bet that one is pretty common at Microsoft, actually. Maybe we could just skip the annoying interview process from now on... : )