Happy Birthday Noah: A Flash Talk

Last night I arrived home from this years Automattic Grand Meetup which was held in mountainous Whistler Village in British Columbia. The crisp air, scenery, and mouth watering food all add to the experience, but as always it’s the people that make it special.

One example of this shows itself when I gave my flash talk to a room of co-workers. Public speaking is not my thing and even though the mic was shaking in my hand it would have been a lot worse in front of a different crowd.

Last year I used donairs to share a bit about the region I live in. This year I gave a quick introduction to my family. It was heavily geared towards Noah though. As I explained in a bit more detail during my talk it wasn’t because he’s my favourite, the youngest, or our only boy.

People used to ask us because Noah has three older sisters if we just kept trying until we had a boy. For me I was pretty happy with three children and likely would have stopped there if solely my decision. Growing up with just my Mom and three younger sisters myself I was comfortable with all girls. While Jen likely would have had ten kids, she wanted all girls.

The running joke in our family is that Noah received is name because at the ultrasound where we found out he was a boy Jen screamed out Nooooo, Ahhhhhh! So we just shortened that up, put it together and there we have it, Noah.

I explained it was because at home he was celebrating his birthday while I was up presenting.

Four minutes isn’t enough time to tell all there is about Noah so I shared just a few things. Things like his favourite pass times which are soccer, basketball, and I’m convinced, pestering his sisters. Talking about butts and farts to get reactions from them. Like the night a few months ago when I told him at dinner I would be missing his birthday this year. It had him thinking about his cake. He decided he wanted a butt cake and he was going to eat a piece of the crack. This received the reaction he was looking for. He did back off this idea when I offered a picture of mine to be transposed on the cake. I guess it was a little too real.

Even though he likes those reactions he’s also a sweet little boy. I knew when I made it home I’d have a hand made welcome home card waiting for me in my office. He also tells Jen and I that when we are old we can live with him and he’ll take care of us. My favourite part is he still loves to snuggle with his old dad.

The date and and time for our flash talks are usually randomly generated. This year I made a special request to be in a big room on Sunday morning which the overworked organizers helped me with. I did this so that I could make as many Automatticians as I could think about Noah on his birthday and help me record a little message so that he knew it.

As it turned out I didn’t get the biggest room and our CEO Matt Mullenweg was scheduled in the same session I was, so I’m guessing there was a large crowd in another room. Both are probably good things based on how nervous I ended up being. A special thanks to everyone who wished Noah a happy birthday with me. He played the video over and over and was very excited!