Contrary to the images I plaster all over this place, this blog is not all about me. Sometimes I need to share the love and throw a little spotlight on people with talents I only wish I had. One of those people is Gene Sulek. Gene's always been a special person in my book because he was the person to hire me for my first real job at Texas Instruments after I graduated from Ohio State. (Unfortunately being a college student at the greatest university in the world - or at least in Ohio - wasn't cutting it as a "a full-time job"). To this day, I still consider Gene the best boss I've ever had because he was more than a 'boss' - he was more of a coach and a mentor and a friend, and it was obvious he cared for the people that worked for him. I suspect some people work their whole career and never have a boss like Gene. Oh, and did I mention that he designed the Speak and Spell? Uh huh, without Gene, ET would still be hanging out with Elliot looking for a way to phone home. Fortunately for Gene and unfortunately for me, he retired from TI just over 2 years after I started there. We've kept in touch over the years, and he even invited me down to stay with him and his wife Alice for a few days a couple years ago for a professional mentoring/coaching session... free of charge. How great is that? Every once in a while I'll jokingly ask him when he's coming back to TI and his response is usually something like, "I don't think I'll be back in the office next week." I wouldn't necessarily say retirement is agreeing with him because he seems more busy now than ever with personal projects, but he seems to be loving it, and I couldn't be happier for him. Gene's also one of those people that's just crazy talented and determined to achieve excellence in whatever he does. He doesn't ever seem to do anything just 'okay'. Take painting, for example. Not all that long ago he started doing more painting, and just the other day he emailed me and attached some samples, and I was like, "Great googily moogily! These are fantastic!" I asked him if he had a website, and he indicated he's going to start working on one shortly. Until then, enjoy his work here. Thanks, Gene, for all you've done for me and so many others. You're truly a role model for me an someone I hope to emulate when I grow up.