Sun set.

We interrupt our coverage of my visit to Prague with this special bulletin.

Rhonda and I spent the final night of our three-week Japan trip where it all started for us - the Odakyu Hotel Century Southern Tower, where we stayed on our honeymoon in 2004. We checked out of our other hotel, took a cab to the Southern Tower, and checked our bags as we were much too early for check in. We decided to head across the terrace near Shinjuku Station's new south exit to the Takashimaya Times Square department store.

As we headed across the terrace, down on the station facing us, was a giant Oracle billboard. That's when we knew that as nice as it was to get away from it all for three weeks - the worry, the insecurity, the pressure - this day would come.

Much of the fireworks I expected last week in Prague carried over to this week. Last Thursday, Oracle scheduled a webcast for today to discuss Sun integration and roadmaps. The same day in Europe, the EC gave their blessing to the merger, setting the wheels finally in motion. Overnight last night, there were many media reports, including one from the AP that Oracle had closed its acquisition of Sun.

Inside Sun, there have been a wide range of emotions, from jubilation that we'll soon receive closure, to all-out depression from the SMI lifers. There have been a few rather poignant tributes to Sun, from James Gosling's tombstone image to a touching musical tribute from Alec Muffet, finally resulting in this email from Scott McNealy.

About halfway through college, perhaps spurred on by a free Java t-shirt that I wore with fanboy pride until the logo was disintegrating, I decided Sun Microsystems was the company I wanted to work for. In late 1999, only 18 months out of college and in my second job, I was able to make that happen. With a new girlfriend that would later be my wife, and a new job at a company whose technology and culture I held with the highest esteem, I felt on top of the world at 23. (I know, what a sap I was.)

To its credit, Sun did not disappoint. While I haven't always been completely satisfied with my job or with the work I was being given, I always greatly enjoyed working at Sun. From the company dress code ("you must") to the mission statement ("kick butt and have fun"), Sun's culture has been a perfect fit for my working style. I've also felt Sun has conducted itself ethically in its pursuit of profit. I'd even forgiven Sun for its roots as the Stanford University Network (however, former chief technologist Bill Joy is a Berkeley guy).

Which leads to today, where I am feeling more conflicted than I thought I would be. The last few years have been difficult and stressful career-wise, and working for Sun had lost a bit of the luster that it held for me at the turn of the millennium. The nice thing about this week has been remembering and rediscovering what I thought was so great and special about Sun in the first place. While I'm sad that it had to come to this, I would rather see Sun end up with a buyer that values its technology (and, hopefully, its employees) and is going to do something new and forward-thinking with it, than to be bought for its customer list and sent to the slaughter. The alternatives to Oracle could have been much, much worse.

So I'm definitely willing to give this the benefit of the doubt. We'll see what happens over the coming weeks - if I even have a job by then, although things are looking promising. Things are going to move fast and furiously (which is never good for my blogging output) and while life as we know it is going to change at Sun (and will it ever), there is perhaps a second life for this company I love.

And the sun will rise tomorrow.

Sunset?

Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated. I have just been sick for about a month. Pretty sure it was a flu, which was awfully resistant to antibiotics, followed by acute allergy symptoms the last couple of days. Going through Kleenex so fast I should buy stock in KMB.

It's been an interesting week, to say the least. My wife will officially be out of a job this June. Well, unless she gets hired back. We're trying to be optimistic, partly because no one really seems in a rush to work at her at-risk school, and partly because the federal stimulus package has a significant chunk of change earmarked for education.

Of course, the big news today is the report that IBM is in talks to buy my beloved employer, Sun Microsystems. Having survived a layoff less than two months ago, you can imagine how thrilled I am about this news. Yes, folks, that is sarcasm. At least JAVA stock is up, eh?

I spent about half my day wallowing in self-pity, before I decided I can't do anything about it, so there's no point in concerning myself with it. If I've learned anything since the tech bubble burst at the beginning of this decade, it's that business is business. And while I look at being acquired by Big Blue as the equivalent of getting traded to the Yankees, it's neither a done deal nor a certainty that I'll be on the chopping block if it is.

So I guess I decided it would be cathartic to put those thoughts into words. I'm not so sure that it was, in retrospect. Rhonda is more disappointed by this than I am, because she knows prospects for our planned trip to Japan this summer are bleaker than bleak. Of course, being this is the last subject I want to talk about at this point, it will of course be the only thing my family will want to talk about this weekend when we are in Vegas for my sister's birthday. Hopefully, a few of them read this between now and then, and politely remind the others that our family's crumbling financial stability is not a jovial dinner topic.

Survivor Guilt

Survived layoffs today, for the umpteenth time. I've lost count, but unlike the others, this round came during the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression. So I have to feel pretty good about having a paycheck tonight.

As an added bonus, I have a new boss (my second this week) in a new division. Finally, my group is where it should have been the day I joined it.

People seem to think I should be pretty happy about these developments. Relieved, yes. Grateful, yes. But not happy. Several people that I work with closely had to leave today. So today has been incredibly difficult. Not only do we need to fill the gaping void left by their departure, but I am, of course, worried about them and how they will adjust. And I'm also left wondering why they are unemployed, and I get to continue working from home with four weeks of vacation a year.

If I've learned anything about this process, it's that I can't predict what is going to happen. What inevitably happened was so far from what I would've thought it is difficult to wrap my head around. And I don't have too much time to dwell on it, since we now have to figure out how two people are going to do the work of four. As usual, the future is wrought with uncertainty and I don't know where my path will take me. But at least I've bought some time.

JavaOne 2008!

If you're reading this, I am hopefully already at JavaOne 2008 in San Francisco's Moscone Center, drinking some coffee and waiting comfortably for the keynote to begin.

Hopefully, I am not still asleep in San Jose. Nor am I waiting in some interminable line for my pass. Nor am I wandering the streets of San Francisco, because I was somehow unable to get into the keynote address and the Pavilion isn't open yet.

Why wonder what I'm doing when you can find out? I will be live blogging my first trip to JavaOne (after eight long years looking from the outside in) on my Twitter feed.

Playing Catch-Up

Almost two months since my last post. I suck at this.

Let's hit the high/lowlights of March and April:

• I started Twittering (Twitting? Tweeting? Damn Web 2.0 doublespeak). Well, in any case, Twitter is sort of like a mini-blog, where you can post short entries about anything, no matter how mundane. My three most recent "tweets" are in the sidebar on the right of this page, or you can sign up and "follow" me. I have been spending a lot of time on this lately, probably slowing down my blog output.
  
• In sports, out with college hoops season. Out with Ben Braun. In with Mike Montgomery. In with baseball season. Out with Giants' playoff hopes, then back in. (Same for entertainment value of 2008 Giants.) Out with Warriors' playoff hopes. In with Cal NFL prospects, out with little remaining faith in the 49ers' front office. Lastly, out with Sharks hockey.
  
• Democrats still haven't picked a player. Starting to wonder if an election seemingly ripe for the taking will go by the wayside. Hilary doing McCain's work for him. Obama unable to close the deal. Sigh.
  
• Back flare-up two weekends ago. Using leaf blower and doing actual work apparently through me all out of whack. That's all gone now but still some nerve impingement in my leg, and I think that is still causing me some weakness (although the pain is mostly gone). I am convinced the extra thirty pounds I put on after my wedding is causing all this, and I need to lose at least twenty. So all-you-can-eat ribs tonight were probably a bad idea.
  
• Layoffs on the way at Sun. What else is new? Seriously, I love working at Sun so I'm hoping that I (again) will make it through unscathed. I think they are on the right track and were just stung by the sluggish U.S. economy. I put full blame for our current stock price on the guy in the white house on Pennsylvania Ave.
  
• I have four (yes, four) fantasy baseball teams this season, including two in 20-team leagues. That is taking up far too much of my time.
  

That's all for now. See you in ...July?