Scott Hanselman

Crazy Small World

May 19, 2004 Comment on this post [1] Posted in Diabetes
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I was at the Portland Hilton yesterday, and I walked up to the concierge to ask about Theater tickets.  And he stared.  He started getting some brochures and he said..."Do you have a blog?"

Stupified I was.  Flabbergasted, truly.  Have I risen from "C"-level .NET Celebrity to full-on Tanya-Harding-"B"-level .NET Celebrity through the power of blogging?  Not quite. ;)

As the concierge at an important Portland landmark he had to use the Brick Finder to locate named bricks at the Pioneer Courthouse Square (folks paid for the square by purchasing engraved bricks) and used the BrickFinder, a small .NET app I did YEARS ago as a volunteer gig.  He followed the link to my blog from that site and RSS-subscribed me (he uses Newsgator.) 

If THAT'S not weird enough, turns out he's David Schargel, the former President of Aportis Technologies!  A few years ago, David was fully the shiznit in the Palm space, as Aportis Doc was the #1 eBook Reader on the Palm and Brain Forest dominated the Outliner market.  He even knew about GlucoPilot and its sale to HealtheTech. He's long ago sold off his companies and when the concierge gig opened up (apparently someone has to die before these jobs open up) David, a Portland Historian, jumped at the chance!  Ever the businessman, he also started Portland Walking Tours providing historical context on walking tours of the Rose City. 

Very cool.  I ended up talking to him for like 45 minutes.  If you are down at the Hilton, tell David I said hi.

P.S. A tip from David.  Check out the Pioneer Courthouse Square Brickfinder and seach for any of these: Jesus, Jimi, or Elvis.

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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May 19, 2004 19:05
Talk about shiznit, that Brickfinder is a must-see for any Portlander who goes through Pioneer Courthouse Square. Here's some others to try: Mr Bill, Bowie, Sherlock, Micky Mouse (misspelled), God, Bilbo, Lennon, BB King.

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.