Blog Post

The Wiffle-Waffle, or Why I’m Running for the PASS Board of Directors

,

I’ll announce it here first, along with some reasons why I’m waffling from an earlier post:

I’m going to run for the PASS Board of Directors in 2010.

I am finalizing my application and getting reference letters before I send it to the Nominating Committee.

Why

I’ve always admired my wife for her passion with horses. If she could quit her job tomorrow and train horses (and their riders) full-time she would. She dreams about getting there, and spends as much time as she can with the big beasts. I support that effort, sometimes with a shovel, and hope she gets there some day.

However I haven’t felt any great passion in the past. When I was 35, my wife and I talked about retiring for 6 months when we each reached 40. When I sold SQLServerCentral, she asked me if I wanted to still try retirement. I declined since I didn’t have anything I really wanted to do. No great passion drove me. I enjoy hobbies, and I enjoy life, but nothing seemed to really move me enough to want to do it full-time.

I was wrong.

Without realizing it, something had crept up on me. Recently my wife and I were discussing whether I should run for the PASS board, and she was asking my reasons for doing so. What would I gain? Does it help my brand? What can I do? Why bother? As I tried to give her answers, I let my mind randomly wander across the last decade and my involvement with PASS. The things I’ve enjoyed at the Summit. The numerous times I’ve been ready to throw my hands in the air and completely divorce myself from PASS. The way that I’ve tried to influence and push PASS in ways that would benefit the community. When I finished talking to her, she told me this.

“It’s a no brainer. Run”

She told me that I had displayed a passion that she hadn’t seen before either. A real drive to make a difference that shone through in my words. She had concerns over the time commitment, but she did think we could manage that this was important.

I slept on our conversation and then made the decision to move forward the next day.

If my application is approved, it will be posted on the PASS site, but if not, I’ll post it here so you can judge for yourself if I am someone that is a good candidate for the PASS board of directors.

I am both excited, and a little nervous, about the this process moving forward. I look forward to meeting a few of you on the campaign, err, SQL Saturday trail.

Rate

You rated this post out of 5. Change rating

Share

Share

Rate

You rated this post out of 5. Change rating