From time to time we are going to do an informal interview to learn more about the personalities and passions behind the people at ThreeWill.  My first victim is Bo George.

Interview with Bo George, ThreeWill Senior Consultant…

Danny – ok, I have to start with this one…Tell me your favorite story related to your name.

Bo – No favorite stories, my name is horrible.  If it's not Boy George, it's Bo Duke.  My given first name is Frank which was what my father was called.  I have to say that I am thankful that I didn't get his real first name which is Francis.  Now that would have made me a tough child growing up.  Oh, did I mention I have 4 first names but go by my middle name and not the whole middle name, just half, you know for grins.  Strangers always assume my last name is my first, and my first is my last.  I have no idea what my mom was thinking!

Danny – Tell me about your family.

Bo – Well, everyone knows I'm married (wife's name is Beth) with one, ummm… let's say energetic 2 year old (going on 3).  Outside of my immediate family I have a family of yours, mine and ours.  I have a full sister, a half sister and a step brother.  I can probably do a UML diagram or something to show it all.

Danny – Where were you born?

Bo – I was born in Durango, Colorado.  Durango is in southwest Colorado and the hospital was at the bottom of a ski resort called Purgatory.  One thing to note about me is that I cannot ski to save my life.  Tim (Coalson) can vouch for that since he saw me falling down the slopes first hand.

Danny – What's your favorite thing about working at ThreeWill?

Bo – The people and the learning.  There aren't many places where there are so many people with similar passions about growing, learning and helping others do the same.  I've only worked at big companies before and was always disappointed by the clock punching mentality and the politics.  You know all the free food isn't so bad either.  My first 6 months to a year here I wondered if ThreeWill was in a partnership with Moe's!

Danny – What's your favorite development weapon of choice and why?

Bo – It has got to be Visual Studio; I mean it's the center of our development world.  Isn't Outlook slated to be an Add–in sometime soon?  I am also a big fan of many Altova products such as XmlSpy which these days is becoming necessary again as the development world goes META and Declarative. 

Danny – What's your favorite development topic and why?

Bo – No surprise here - it's probably Windows Workflow Foundation.  For businesses, I think it's the step in that mystical and magically direction where they no longer need developers to code.  I don't think that is happening anytime soon but I know more and more power is being given to non- technical people and things like workflow and SharePoint are the backbones of all that power.  Then the heavy lifting code can be done by fewer people.

Danny – A couple more fun ones and I'll leave you alone – Do you have a favorite TV show? Music group?

Bo – Scrubs is great, it's a show that has humor and heart.  Oddly enough, I really like House, too, and it's about a cranky doctor who makes people around him miserable.  I have musical phases where I like different things.  These days I like The Killers and The Shins and The Fray.  There may be a pattern here.  I also get in the mood for some Akon, TI or other hip–hop type stuff from time to time.

Danny – Any special pet peeves?

Bo – People riding my bumper in traffic.  Welcome to Atlanta right:).  In my defensive driving class they told us how to tap the breaks and warn the person behind you, but what I really want to do is jam on the breaks and say," hey buddy, you just bought yourself a VW Passat".  I tried that with a guy with a Beamer (BMW ), but that only got me a new bumper. 

Danny – Share something that not a lot of people know about you (that won't get you in trouble with your wife Beth)

Bo – Let's see, this may get me in trouble with Beth, but I'll let it out anyway.  I met my wife on the internet.  I mean, I didn't order her from Russia over the internet or anything.  It was back in the early AOL IM'ing days and my best friend actually used my email address to get in touch with her because he thought she was someone we went to high school with.  That started her and me talking, and eventually, I found out she worked with mom.  So I had my mom scope her out and eventually we met for the first time at a mall.  We clicked and it took awhile (several years of me clinging on to semi- bachelorhood) but I finally realized that she was the one I wanted to be with forever.  Luckily for me she felt the same.  Ten years together and still going strong.  My best friend that spawned the whole thing is unfortunately still single and looking online (only it's on the role playing games).

Thanks to Sol Rivera for helping to write this up.