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A Prompt Response
Today’s Prompt
Describe a random encounter with a stranger that stuck out positively to you.
I’m a fairly introverted person. I don’t often end up in conversations with strangers, would almost never speak to a stranger unless spoken to, and don’t like mingling with crowds of people I don’t know. The only time I even voluntarily end up in situations like that are either playing in front of crowds when I was a musician, or the poker room. And in both of those cases, I have a reason for doing the thing I’m doing. And luckily, neither require recreational conversation.
In March of 2017 I was a few weeks away from starting at Amazon. I’d already accepted the offer and was waiting for my official start date. I was coming off of a six month break after leaving my previous company, CoStar, and hadn’t really pursued Amazon specifically, but when the chance came to interview I prepared and was able to nail it. Regardless, I was still nervous about the idea of working for a FAANG company after 17 years of sustained success in a fairly stable, predictable environment at LoopNet and CoStar.
My uncle and I went to Las Vegas for one of our patented annual getaways. We’d spend four to five days playing poker tournaments at Caesar’s Palace. I often did well; of the 15 or so tournaments we would play I’d place quite a few times, and win a couple. The fields weren’t super deep, maybe 100 or so, and it was a good way to get away, relax, see one of my favorite people in the whole world, and play some poker.
The last night of our stay I hit a bit of bad luck and busted out of a tournament early. I wasn’t too sad; earlier that night I’d managed to win one and I felt like I was playing pretty well. So I took my tournament winnings and requested a seat at one of the $2-$5 no limit cash games.
I ended up sitting next to trio of friends at one of the tables, with a woman in her late 20s immediately to my right. To her right was one of her friends, a tall man about the same age. As I mentioned, I don’t talk much socially, not even at (or maybe especially at) a poker table, but during a slow run of cards the man asked me what I did for work. I told him I was about to start at Amazon as an engineering manager.
The woman’s eyes lit up and she told me she was a software engineer at Zappos, a company that Amazon had acquired the year before.
We spent the next hour or so chatting about engineering, software, Amazon culture, Zappos, and anything else that mattered, and in doing so, the woman slowly eased my concerns about my new role and new adventure. We may have even played a pot or two. To this day it remains one of the few social moments where I didn’t care about what I was saying or how I was being viewed or anything else that would set off my internal introvert…just two software engineers talking shop at the poker table.
Eventually, my uncle was also knocked out of the tournament, and came over to let me know it was time to head out. I turned to the woman and thanked her for the conversation and the information and the enjoyable company, before getting up to cash in my chips.
The shock on my uncle’s face was blatantly obvious, and in many ways, almost as rewarding as the reassurance provided by the hour of shop talk.
This post is one of many in my responses to random prompts surfaced by the application that tracks my website statistics, as well as any others I encounter.
A Prompt Response
Today’s Prompt
What three objects could you not live without?
I will assume objects do not mean people as I answer this….
Let’s start with the obvious. Right now I’m at home, mere feet from this:
That acoustic in the middle is coming with me no matter what. As Lou Graham once so eloquently sang, that one guitar felt good in his hands.
Since there’s no clear description of where I am when I’m trying to live with three specific items, I suppose the next one is going to be some sort of tool, perhaps a Swiss Army knife, that has a flint or similar item so fires can be started.
And lastly, a flashlight with batteries, on the off chance I need to send a signal to anything flying overhead.
But then, maybe I’m not stranded on a desert island after all…and really the guitar is the thing.
This post is one of many in my responses to random prompts surfaced by the application that tracks my website statistics, as well as any others I encounter.
A Prompt Response
Today’s Prompt
What is your middle name? Does it hold any special significance?
My middle name is David.
I’m named after the oldest brothers of my parents, Robert Dearth on my mother’s side, and David Hope on my father’s side. I’m not a particularly sentimental person, so while those names have meaning to my parents, I’ve never reflected on that fact too much.
That said, there was a significant time period where I considered going by my middle name. My name has been a source of consternation for much of my life. There were many times in my childhood where we relocated, changing schools and homes, and any one of those presented an opportunity to make a change. Such things were not as prevalent or encouraged as they might be today, so I stuck it out.
I don’t like the nickname Bob. For those of you who don’t know who Bob Hope is, you might not find this relatable. But the sheer amount of Bob Hope jokes that plagued my youth still haunt me to this day. Jokes about USO tours and Brooke Shields and on and on and on. My wife can relate to a degree; her family name is Scully and Vin Scully provided similar, well, amusement I suppose. And I guess because of the famous name, shaking the nickname Bob was difficult.
I don’t particularly care for Robbie, or at least I didn’t once I hit my teen years. My uncle, one of the most important people in my life, settled for calling me Robe (short for Bathrobe) for some reason; I made the mistake of admitting that during a team event at work and that stuck for a bit. I’ve pretty much chosen Rob as my nickname since high school.
Generally I’m fine with Robert, there are many people I know who call me that.
People ignored my wishes, in fact often they still make the mistake of calling me Bob to this day. I remember a little league coach calling me out to my mother about how I ignored him when he called on me by the name Bob. She reminded him it wasn’t my name and suggested he make a change. Today I let it go, but I still do my best to make sure that my nickname is in use on things like my company’s directory and my LinkedIn profile.
At the end of the day, I don’t think of myself as a David or a Dave…so I’m glad I didn’t take that step.
This post is one of many in my responses to random prompts surfaced by the application that tracks my website statistics, as well as any others I encounter.
Be welcome and true.
Rob Hope 