WOW! Has it really been five years!  A lot has changed, for starters I'm no longer in IT/Java; complete change of career.  Wrapping up my MDiv degree at Candler School of Theology, and pastoring a small UnitedMethodist congregation north of Atlanta.  Lately I've begun to notice ways in which Patterns, especially social patterns, might be useful in church settings.  I'm confident some of the XP practices are as well.  I'll be lurking about on the Wiki.

Blessings,
John

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I work in the Atlanta area and have been doing Java development for close to 4 years, begining with 1.0 Beta 3.

My daughter, Charli, is 10 and a member of a girls basketball league.  She's part of a supportive team with a great coach who makes playing fun.  The parents even root for other people's kids!  This past Saturday was their final game and they kicked butt.  About half way through my daughter, who was near the basket, received the ball.  Immediately, she was surrounded by 3 of the players on the opposing team.  She had to get rid of the ball, but there was no way to pass to anyone because she was being guarded pretty heavily.  So she looks up and over her shoulder and tossed the ball high in the air in '''back''' of her.  "Oh my gosh, she's trying a Hail Mary and isn't close to making the basket", I thought.  The ball made a slow arch back down, one of her team mates caught the ball and quite unhindered by the other team made the shot and scored!  I turned to my wife and said, "You know, this is one of the things I learned at XpImmersionTwo; letting go of the ball and trusting the team to deliver."

''John''

mailto:jmerk@acm.org
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Hi, my name is Charli.  I think girls should play more basketball, because once you get started, it's fun!  The goal Jennifer scored was funky!  Somebody got it on video.
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We're starting to get an XP pilot project going.  No word just yet on what it will be, BUT we did get clearance from the Building Manager to move stuff around and build a bullpen of sorts.  She was great!  We'll have tables and a whiteboard all on wheels.  More info as we continue.

''Great to hear this!, John. --FrankWestphal''

Thanks, Frank!
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We have a team now made up of 4 developers and 2 QA.  We will be moving all 6 into a bullpen area.  The intent is to have them all working side by side. 
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