Don’t get me wrong though, this
has actually been quite a week for me. Today I was invited to a
reception with the CEO of my company, Tim Cook. You see, January 19th
marked the 35th anniversary of my employment at Apple and Mr. Cook was
hosting a reception for all the employees who had been with Apple for 35
years or more. Any guesses on how many people were there? Currently
there are about 115,000 people employed at Apple. But the badge numbers
are up to over 650,000. That’s because they don’t reuse numbers so if
you ever work there and leave, that number is still yours. If you come
back later, it’s still yours and you get it back. So that means that
almost 650,000 people have worked for or are still working for Apple.
Wow!
Well, now, lets get back to the original
question: How many people were at the reception? Apple was formed in
1976 and this was a reception for everyone who had worked there for at
least 35 years this month - or in other words, had started at Apple in
February 1981 or earlier. Well, there was one person there with the
badge number 8, and another with the number 22. Then there was a guy
with number 324 an someone with a number in the 500s. I didn’t bother
memorizing everyone’s. But I probably could have without a lot of
effort. There were 16 people there (there was actually a 17th invited
but couldn’t make it). And with my employee number of 1881, I am the
17th most senior employee at Apple out of 115,000, and have stuck around
longer than another half million or so.
So
what does this all say about me? Have been at Apple a long time? Yep. Do
I like working at Apple? Most days, but not every day. Has Apple become
part of my identity? Well, yeah, I guess so. Do I brag about working at
Apple? See above. When my daughter was in high school, she came home
one day complaining that other people knew her not for who she was but
as the girl “who’s dad worked at Apple.” I though that was kind of
funny. She didn’t.
But you know what? I have
been a Christian for a lot longer. I asked Jesus into my life when I was
13 years old. That means it was 44 years ago last August. And while
being a Christian is certainly part of my identity, it’s probably a safe
bet to say that more people know me as an Apple employee than as a
Christian. And I don’t think Julia ever told me that any of the kids
asked her if she was the girl “who’s dad was a Christian.” Probably not
as cool as working at Apple, but when people ask me what defines me,
it’s the first thing that comes to mind, and Apple is probably third.
Some day, I plan to leave Apple, and at pretty much any time they can
dump me if they want. But I never plan on leaving God and I am confident
that he would never leave me. (Check out Romans 8:38-39)
Well,
just a couple of other things. First, Veronica and I will not be at New
light this Friday. She and her family and Adele and I with our daughter
are going to Disneyland. Seems that Adele and Veronica want to find out
who knows Disneyland best, Roy or me. Personally, I think it’s me
because I’ve been going there a lot longer. Allen and Sudeep will be
heading up New Light this Friday and Allen has promised an awesome game.
Actually, I won’t be there for two Fridays because Adele and I are
heading out to Phoenix directly from Disneyland. Adele has a conference
there and I am going along to carry stuff for her and otherwise kick
back for a week. And then the first week in March we will be having
another movie night.
Well, that’s my week. I really hope yours is going well too.
Cheers,
Duane
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