I've started this blog post many times in my head in the past weeks, early in the morning, when I wake up realize it is true ... but never truly wanting to commit it to words. Rob got a new job. That's right, he's flying the coop that is Quiddities. I remember the day we interviewed him like it was yesterday. We were growing the company, I was growing a baby in my belly and we needed to add some talent to our crew so I could transition away from coding and move into a pure sales/client/strategy role. We were a bit awed by the prospect of recruiting a stranger from craigslist, all of my hires had been related, referred or life long friends. How the heck were we going to find the right stranger to enter our world?

Well, as my life continues to show, the right person appears at the right time. People come into our lives in the days, in the moments they are meant to appear. We have had an amazing journey with Rob on our team, with Rob in our family. We learned about his quiddities and he learned ours. He shared in the birth of baby Roman and learned just how different an office environment can be when your boss brings the baby to work. So now he has helped build out websites for our many varied clients, he has evolved our work processes, he has become an even bigger advocate for open standards and open source.

He will not be going so far, Santa Cruz is but a small little town. He will journey up the hill to UC Santa Cruz to take on the formidable task of Senior Web Developer for the Public Information Office. It is a client that he knows from the inside, in more youthful days, and from the outside, in his days at Quiddities. I am delighted about his new venture because he is taking a chance on them. He is taking a chance that he will be able to affect change. He is taking a chance that he can spread the news about his passions and truths and convictions. He is taking a chance that he can help build the bridge between the University and City. He is taking a chance that he will be able to build a community.

Rob has been an integral part of evolving our culture as a web shop. He was instrumental in driving our adoption of Drupal. His voice, vision and community building has been a key element driving the geek dinners, the co-working explorations and open source evangelism. He leaves Quiddities well prepared to make something amazing happen. I can't wait to see what he can do. We love you dude.

Tomorrow (that is Friday, April 4, 2008) we will have a co-working day in the office (aka Jelly) in his honor ... and a bonfire to cap the evening. Geek culture is alive and well in Santa Cruz. Thanks to you dude. And this concludes my #GPD08 post.

p.s. can I get blog comments now?