Party Like It’s 1999

Microsoft just sent me an thank you email for being a Hotmail.com user of 10 years.  Has it been that long?  Time has certainly passed.  They highlighted what happened back then which included: Windows 98, Titanic movie, and The Spice Girls.  I’m not particularly excited about those, but from what I recalled, I had more memorable events in 1999:

• Experienced my first company takeover.  I started working for Bay Networks in Santa Clara, California in 1998.  Nortel proceeded to buy it late 1998.  The transition completed in 1999 in such a high note.  Stock price was up, the company was in a lucrative fiber-optics business.  I had free food and beer every Friday.  The web development team would have “off site” meetings frequently, from Santa Cruz to Las Vegas. It was a prosperous time for everyone.
• Saw the release of a cool and innovative movie called “The Matrix“.
• Played many sessions of Starcraft and Half Life with friends and co-workers after hours – sometimes past midnight!
• Went to visit my sister and friends in Toronto in the summer of 1999.  The trip used to be my annual routine until I got married about a couple of years later.
• The preparation for the year 2000 computer crash.  We stayed up past midnight, at work, watching our servers for a major meltdown.  Turned out nothing happened.  It was a major relief (or major letdown, depending on your point of view).  But we did party like it was 1999!

Tags: nostalgia