We're with you Ken

My friend and co-worker Ken Walker is going through some tough times this year. His wife is fighting cancer and has begun chemo sessions, with associated hair loss effects. Ken has of course decided to join the club and shave his head down to the shiny base which he showcased at the office today. Very slick.

So, on the way home tonight, I stopped in for a number one, all around - very quick and easy - not much styling going on. Now, I don't have much hair in the first place but the hair I do have, I give up, in support, in friendship and in hope.

When Ken did this, his daughter said he looks like an Elf, but when I got home today, my daughter said I look like I just got out of prison. She should have picked Elf, cause last I heard, ex-cons don't hand out Christmas presents.

Ken, Kelly - in solidarity, thinking about you.

It ain't bragging when it's true

Well, it's finally happened, bursting pride in our accomplishments has exceeded our shyness and Derek Inglis has posted some `braggin` about IBM's J9 performance results.

It's simple - IBM J9 is the fastest Java VM you can get. 

Now, you don't see alot of performance chest thumping on my blog, despite the fact that we are frequently in the leadership position. The reason ?  Performance is just one factor in our  business. It's a lesson learned in many face to face interactions with customers. Surprisingly, not one of these customers run any of the industry standard benchmarks as their key application (ok, not surprising) and bragging about a particular benchmark to them,  often results in a "that's nice, how does *my* application run?" followed by "How easy is it to service ? How easy to install, tune and manage ?" and those details matter.  It's easy to lose focus when you're winning, so a little humbleness goes along way in keeping your attention on the right things. 

So, despite benchmarks being benchmarks, I'd like to do some braggin of my own ... not about the numbers, but about my world class team who delivered these results. Thanks to the Toronto, Ottawa, Hursley, Bangalore and Shanghai teams, way to go!

Of course, being humble is one thing, but we're human and it's been a long year, so I say let's brag a little lot. 

... and besides ... 

It ain't bragging when it's true, and it's true right now. 

You can read the nitty gritty details here.