It is July 1 and I haven't posted in nearly a month (June 10 being the last blog post). Perhaps a little transparency is in order. For those in the know, it is the start of Microsoft's Fiscal Year 2009, FY09. The last several weeks — the final few weeks of our last fiscal year (FY08) — have involved multiple efforts, from recapping last year's business results to business planning for the new fiscal year.

My excuse for not posting is simple: I have been involved in several year-end and planning efforts. Preparing for reviews, for example, have included FY08 year-end business review, preparing people reviews, and finding the time to tackle my own self assessment review. Writing one's year-end self assessment, even after nearly 20 years in the industry, is still hard. How does one strike that delicate balance between "not enough" and "self aggrandizing"? It isn't easy, is it?

I have also been working on FY09 planning efforts for our local geography (the center of the USA — you know, those 18 states from Michigan and Ohio in the east to Kansas and Nebraska in the west; from Minnesota in the north to Texas in the south). Working with my peers, our local plans have begun to take shape. Our ideas encompass Microsoft-led public events, such as ArcReady and MSDN Events; supporting great community efforts like devLink in Nashville, IndyTechFest (Indianapolis, of course), and HDC in both Minneapolis and Omaha, among many, many other fine events; and continued support and evolution of our online such as the great MSDN Webcasts and stellar podcasts like The Thirsty Developer and Spaghetti Code.

Beyond collaborating with my peers on programs, events, and activities we want to run locally, I have been working on some US-wide planning efforts as well. Oh, and lots and lots of conference calls.

And all that speaks to a need to prioritize on the critical tasks at hand. Obviously the blog has suffered from a lack of love in the process. Well, at least for today, the ol' blog is getting some love. And I blame Jeff Blankenburg for it with his recent post titled Celebrate Contribupendence Day! July 3, 2008. That wacky word caught my eye and made me take a break and give my blog some much needed attention.

So What Is Contribupendence Day?
As I said, I saw Jeff's post fly across my inbox (thank you, Outlook) and found the word "Contribupendence" so intriguing that I stopped down to give the post a read. Jeff is basically proposing a new type of meme, somewhat like the previous one I responded to, but with a really nice twist. See, Jeff is going to leave some nice comments, recommendations, and friendly notes on his colleagues' social networking engine of choice. Whether a nice comment on a blog, via Plaxo or on Twitter; or a recommendation on LinkedIn; Jeff is going to take the time to recognize his peers and the great work they do.

I think it's a really nice idea. And I even hope to be able to participate. Assuming my current workload doesn't get in the way.