I like to do jobs that are cutting edge.  Really really cool stuff. 

But the problem is... if you want to tell anyone about the stuff you - you can't.  Because there's these things called "NDA" - Non-Disclosure Agreements, that you almost always have to sign when you work on anything.  Now most of the time - an NDA is about as important as not telling the competition things that no one would tell the competition.  But if you work ..ting edge stuff... companies tend to take them seriously.  So ... a lot of the best stuff I've done - can't talk about until it goes public, and often - it never does.  :-(

For example there was this one application that I wrote for ___________ when I was at IBM.  It was the coolest thing ever.  You could ______________ from any machine in the network and it would do this passive ___________ that would tell all the _________ that they needed to ______ by _______ them an _____. 

And lord knows there is nothing better on a resume than having to put down on your last job "Due to an existing NDA I am at this time unable to discuss my projects at this employer post-XXXXX".    Yeah - that's always good times. 

But occasionally - the stuff you do not only gets to hit the press but you can actually discuss it (somewhat) without getting into too much trouble.  Such is the case with my latest project - the one I couldn't tell anyone I knew about.  Well we finally went public. 

I, for the last year, have been a contracted Program Manager on the Unlimited Potential Program driving efforts to make the drivers for this happen.  And it's been one of the best experiences of my life.  So although I still can't talk about specifically what I did ... I can tell you some of what I did.  Some of what went into this - and mostly, I can now tell my son he can stop telling his teachers that his father sells comic books over at the Comic Stop. 

So... today - I have the unique ability to for once, not endanger some deplorable security innovation no one cares about, or some hybridized project that will never see the light of day (but we were RIGHT about!!).  I can... point at the little green machines... that run Windows XP and tell my kids, "Yeah I did that.".

Which ... is pretty damn cool.

Now... although I am responsible.  I'm not the only one.  Many, many people were responsible for this.  I'm not trying to take credit for all of them or their work.  If anything - I'd like to draw attention to the fact that of the 40-50 people who worked long and hard on the team I was on... there were more.  Songs should be sung of their heroics - and someday - someday they will I'm sure.

There was (and is) an incredible team working on this effort.  Amazing people who were able to take something that most people said was impossible to do, and with massive quantities of coffee, junk food, sleep deprivation, blurry eyes do not only what everyone said could not be done - but actually go BEYOND what was asked.  And the whole time always, always, remain focused on who this work was for... kids.  Kids who we knew would never know our names, or what we did, but who would one day... maybe change the world for all of us. 

At the begriming of the day, and at the end of the day... it was always about the kids. 

Here's some of the headlines.

I had someone lookin over my shoulder the other day - and noticed that Nick Carter  (another unabashed plug for you Nick... I really need to like hand out buttons or something... it's embarassing) who I knew in High School - was a list on my facebook page.  This led to noticing Stephanie Herseth Sandlin... and that led to the envitable question... who I supported for President.  Ugh.  I avoid discussing things like this because politics, sex and religion are things that are all very personal and I prefer not to discuss publicly.  It's just not good form - it's rude and there is no way that it isn't going to lead to some kind of disgruntlement.  So - I'm going to get it over with and say, the fact is I'm not a supporter of Hilary.  And no... I don't mean Hilary Duff.  Granted - she phoned in her last performance that I saw - but that's no reason to think she can't do something with her career.  I'm referring to Hillary Clinton.

The resulting conversation from this led to me having to justify my lack of support not being because she's a woman but because she's just not the candidate for me.  I'm a huge supporter of women in politics - in fact I try to keep track of a number of candidates locally and globally I really think can to make some changes.   I personally think that Obama probably will push more change through that Hilary.  It's not that she's not a great candidate - I respect her highly.  But on the scale of change she's a nudge... I need more than that.  And yes - I have read up on her views, as I have with a lot of politicians.  When you can't sleep - the Internets a great tool for that - and lets face it I haven't had 8 hours of sleep since 1974.

So here's my list of women candidates/politicians that can make some changes.  Love'em - Hate'em - Disagree with me - fine.  This is my opinion and not a request for you to change your views.

The fact is women are changing the world - and Hilary is not the first woman to make change.  We here in the USA are a little slower than the rest of the world in accepting women as leaders but we are getting there.  I'll just come right out and tell you - all of these women I'm mentioning are what we'd call here in America - liberal.  In some cases very very liberal by our standards. 

Why no conservatives?  Because it's MY opinion - not someone elses.  Liberal opinions seem to favor the direction I feel I'd like to see more support for right now.  I happen to believe that the issues which need to shape the world the most right now are actualizing peace around the planet (I'm not a fan of wars, ours or anyone elses), getting a grip on the environment before Boston, New York, Miami and New Orleans require snorkels for subway commuters, education for children to keep things from going south again, and getting everyone the food, healthcare and freedom from fear they deserve... and of course - a solid economy to run it all on.  These women have spoken in favor of these very issues... so here's my "Best of" list I've located so far...

Sandra Gardiner - is a member of the Canadian Parliment, out of Ontario.  I like her for a number of reasons - none the least of which is she is looking for change, believes in kids, healthcare and wants to see the world become a better place. 

Gina Parody - Senator - Columbia ... Lawyer, Author, Senator - she's very dedicated to changing things in Columbia for the better, protecting children, the poor, and made environmental health an issue down there.  Gina's been a kind of force of nature in pushing through issues that matter, and making change not just in Columbia but in South America in general.

Anna Finocchiaro - President of Democratic Party in the Senate - Italy I'm gonna take a beating for this, since she was a communist.  But she's very active and concerned about making changes in Italy that benefit people.  She's a mover and a shaker in her own right and I expect her views on the role of people and the environment have something to do with her appeal to me.  I may change my mind later - but for now I really have to respect her. 

Helle Thorning-Schmidt - Former member of the EU, probably gonna be the next PM of Denmark.  This lady kicks some serious political butt.  'Nuff said.

And what of the women of American Politics?  I've had a few people that friends turned me on to ... so I'll include them below...

Jackie Speier - Running for Congress  - California... I like what she's saying about the economy, about the directions we need to go.  She's been very agressive in looking to change things and I think this is another good opportunity to get some fresh life into an old situation.

Maria Cantwell       Senator - Washington State. Once again, I like what she has to say on a lot of the issues that mean something to me.  Jobs, Children, the Environment and the Economy.

Barbara Boxer       Senator - California Okay - how can I not be behind someone who lists for books on their facebook page, "Anything about global warming I can find...even the recent Supreme Court decision. Currently reading Exile by Richard North Patterson"

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin     Running for Senate - South Dakota... I originally like her just because Nick did ... but after doing some reading up it's good to know Nick and I have a lot in common in what we see as needed.

And since I'm airing my political preferences ... let's also let it be known I like Herb Kohl.  Herb's a friend of my family for many years, going back to a working friendship with my father and has always has earned my deepest respect.  So here's a link to Herb for those cheesheads out there...

Herb Kohl

Okay, having 3 emails in the last hour on this subject I figured it was time to weigh in on it and give my 3 cents before I had to spend an hour of replies. 

Here's the deal Microsoft offered $31, Yahoo on the other hand sat on the idea and responded, "$37!".  Microsoft mulled this over and said, "$33".  To which Yahoo said, "We think... $37".  Now Yahoo says they were "clearly interested". 

For those of you who are buying used cars, or apparently stock from Yahoo... If you make an offer - and they counter with a number cliearly higher than the value of the vehicle it means they're not negotiating - they're price haggling.  Negotiation rule #1 - never haggle.  Ever.  Know your price, or you will allow the other man to define it.  If Microsoft had countered say, "$33.50" then Yahoo would have said, "$36".  Eventually, after probably a month or so of game playing they'd have settled on Jerry Yangs price of $35.

Now, here's the kicker.  Yahoo isn't worth $35 to anyone but Jerry Yang.  Heck, it's not worth $33 probably and I'll tell you why.  Because it's a fixer upper.  After Microsoft buys it there's a lot of cash they need to drop to insure that the actual value of Yahoo remains - and that's the brain trust.  That's expensive.  Really expensive.

Yahoo itself is of little worth.  As a portal they've eclipsed their halcyon days of yore and have been no longer the "in place" since 2000.  As a search engine they probably will be overshadowed by Microsoft within the next year or two.  But when paired properly they may be of use to someone.  So the real money for a savvy investor is to take the brains there and merge the knowledge with your own people to extend both of companies.  But as I said that takes money.

Brain trust is expensive and brain trust wants to know they have a future and brain trust wants to have their projects and ideas move forward so all of that is expensive.  That's why I say, $33 was generous.  Which was basically what Balmer said last week when he said, "I know exactly what Yahoo is worth.".  It wasn't an insult it was a statement of fact.  He knew exactly the number he was willing to pay to make it profitable to both sides. 

He also said something else that was worth noting if you were Jerry Yang.   He offered the following tongue-in-cheek statement, "I'm not known as a negotiator".  Which anyone in their right mind would take literally.  If you had half a brain and you were Jerry Yang your reaction to all of that should have been, "Hey, we've done the numbers on our side.  $31 was a good price, but we're willing to go $33 - no higher or it's just not the value to us.  We're not here to haggle, we're here to buy.".  Basically Balmer could not have telegraphed this any louder if he'd sent Yang a text message saying those very words. 

Yang however was also telegraphing his movements.  Essentially he did everything he possibly could to ignore the Microsoft offer - essentially offering to sell the company to anyone but Microsoft.  Other drama ensued orchestrated specifically to avoid being bought out.  Now, this made things hostile basically from day one. 

When faced with a hostile seller, who begins a sale with a haggle manuever.  Walk.  Don't bother to counter the counter because all they're going to do is waste your time and your money, and the best outcome of it will be you may buy it but it won't be at the price you should pay.  So walk.  No one can make you over pay for something except you.

Microsoft has all the cards on this deal.  Yahoo... has all the debt.