So I know I’ve been working for Big Blue for a while now, but yesterday was the last day in the office – the sixth and final Watchfire office that I have worked in.  Packing up the boxes in the office brought lots of memories … I guess one accumulates a lot of "things" over the course of almost eight years.  I finally bit the bullet and threw out all my notebooks that contained every idea and prototype since day one back in 2000.  On top of that, I dropped every single pay stub I received in the same time frame.  Into the trash went old laptops, hard drives, hardware, hundreds of CDs and stacks and stacks of articles on security.  Cleaned out …

Of course, some things couldn’t be left behind.  I was able to take the flame logo from our front office, our "watchfire" painting and a sign with the vision statement, "An online world as trusted and secure as personal interaction."  And does anyone want a Watchfire t-shirt?

Today of course, marks the first day in my new office.  It’s about ten steps from the bedroom and the dress code is a little less formal.  A desk, a lamp, a laptop and an internet connection … it will take some getting used to.  🙂

From several feet of snow and roads covered in ice … to sunshine and warmth in Punta Cana.  As Big Blue dictated that we needed to expend all our vacation days by the end of 2007, this was the last week (used a few weeks past deadline) that we were "forced" to take.  I have to say that it didn’t take much forcing to pack the swim and dive gear and hop on a plane for the short flight south.

This was our first foray into the world of "all inclusive" and I have to say that it was relaxing.  Sunshine … sand … pools … and delicious food.  While there really isn’t such a thing as sleeping in with two young terrorists in the next room, we did the best we could.

The one word of warning is about the milk and children.  No matter where you go – Israel, Caribbean, Canada – the milk doesn’t taste the same.  This doesn’t tend to be a problem for most of us.  But when we’re talking about little children to get used to the norm … 🙂