At my first Lotusphere, I was nervous, shy and unsure of what I was doing. I was reading blogs by other people, and knew of Bruce Elgort from his blog, and this incredible site called NotesOSS.org (now known as OpenNTF.org) that he and Nathan Freeman put together. Imagine… open source Notes applications and code, all ready to use. I knew that I needed to meet these guys and thank them for making my life easier.
As it turned out, when I introduced myself to Bruce, he immediately started introducing me to everyone else… all my Notes ‘heroes’, and immediately began to make me feel comfortable and welcomed. That’s the kind of guy Bruce Elgort is…
Flash forward to a dark time in my life when I thought that I would not only be denied funding for Lotusphere, but thought about leaving the Notes/Domino world completely. Along comes Bruce Elgort with a proposition for me… OpenNTF.org needed a booth babe, and I needed a ticket to Lotusphere, and before I knew it, I was one of the ugliest booth babes in the planet, spending my nights and weekends before the big event downloading the OpenNTF.org apps and trying them out so I could be a subject matter expert on their functionality. I was able to do this a couple of times for the organization, which kept my Notes/Domino batteries recharged until I was able to find a better job. That’s the kind of guy Bruce Elgort is…
I’ve made comments on Twitter, Facebook and my blog, and immediately received a ping from Bruce consoling me, congratulating me, advising me or just saying hello. That’s the kind of guy Bruce Elgort is…
I consider Bruce and Gayle Elgort two of the most important people in my life, whether they realize it or not. I’m not just talking in my technical world, but in my life overall! My wife knows this, so much so that she started following Gayle and Bruce in social media when I wasn’t keeping her up on how my trips to Florida were going. Bruce has a way of embracing us all and making us feel like family… including the good natured teasing! Only family could do that! That’s the kind of guy Bruce Elgort is…
Bruce, THANK YOU for OpenNTF, for IdeaJam, for everything you’ve done for the community, for your calls, for your emails, for your pings, for your love and zest for life and the good in all of us, and most of all, for your friendship! #ThanksBruce