More awards, more events, more news!

So.  My wife Julie had her birthday on the 2nd.  My birthday on the 3rd.  Our anniversary on the 4th.  A vacation in a huge beach house on the Canadian side of Lake Erie with 17 (yup) other family members.  Wrapping the month up with 2 days of Microsoft 365 boot camp in Denver, along with Senior Tech Kurt Ketcham.I’m told my first flight was in an old Ford TriMotor flying over to the Lake Erie Islands when I was 5-6 years old).  For the first time in my 55+ years of flying my flight was actually diverted from Denver to Colorado Springs, after some heavy turbulence (nothing horrible), about 90 minutes of circling Denver waiting for storms to clear (they didn’t), and the pilot telling us that we were running out of fuel (which I’d rather they not do).  Then after about 2 hours on the ground with promises of “we’re heading out probably really soon”, we found out…minimum of 3 (additional) hours.  So I can now tell you how much an Uber ride costs from Colorado Springs to Denver (hint:  a lot).  That said, I can't fault Frontier (the airline).  There was some freaky weather outside the window of my plane.Moving on.Boy, is August going to be busy.  I actually have a month with no travelling (I think that’s the first month this year).  My travel schedule has really been picking up the past couple of years, especially with the whole CoMITs program gaining attention (I’ve enjoyed talking with MSP owners in Texas, Tennessee, California and Florida this year so far).  And I’m happy to continue doing this.  I’ve already been invited to speak in Chicago next year.  The book (my second, “The MSP’s Survival Guide to Co-Managed IT services”, available on Amazon) has definitely made an impact.I was surprised (pleasantly) to hear about a plug for the book from our new partner Datto while they were in Australia (they didn’t invite me along, shame on them<g>).  I actually just finished up a chat with an MSP in New Zealand about CoMITs.  He bought the book and is looking to get started implementing some of the processes.  Later this year Datto will have their Partner Conference in Paris.  A worldwide CoMITs revolution has begun!  Yup, my bar for using the term “Revolution” is incredibly low.Closer to home, I can now announce that Hattie Larlham has decided to recognize Simplex-IT as their Corporate Partner of the year.  Very cool.  We’ve supported Hattie Larlham (who provides services and support for folks with developmental challenges) since we started doing Lunchinars at their café in Hudson many, many years ago.  They’ve been the beneficiaries of our annual Geek Raffle for about 8 years, if memory serves.  Love it!As I mentioned, I was in Canada last month.  This meant I was unable to attend the 10th annual Cleveland GiveCamp.  This absolutely fantastic annual event is a weekend all-volunteer event where a couple hundred developers get together and create applications for non-profit organizations.  For free.  This is the second year that Simplex-IT has been a Silver sponsor.  And we should have done that sooner.  I’m amazed at this event, and really sad (and actually mean this) that my technical skill set isn’t sharp enough anymore to “play”.We also had the fourth annual Craze eCool award, named after one of the original GiveCamp creators (and overall cool guy) Andy Craze.  Founded by Simplex-IT and Andy’s partner in life Jane Winik, each year we recognize a few of the nonprofits and award them some cash to further their good work.  The last 2 years Jane and I were ably assisted by my wife Julie and granddaughter Hannibal Kinney.  Well, Julie, Hannibal and I were in Canada, but were ably replaced by Simplex-IT’s Kevin Dutkiewicz and wife Sarah (who both have a longer GiveCamp history than I do).In July we had our 3rd (and most successful) QCT “Quarterly Client Training” event.  Wow, my team hit it out of the park.  About 20 folks from a dozen or so of our clients came in to learn more about cyber security, backup strategies and how to get the best value out of our relationship.  The next one will be in October.In August (the 27th) we’re celebrating our 12th anniversary and everybody’s invited!  It’s back to the Quarter Up Video Arcade Bar for free drinks, free food, and most importantly, free quarters for their 50 or so video games and pinball machines.  A great way to unwind at the end of the day.  Last year we had 60+ people attending?  Can we beat that this year?  RSVP here!In September (the 12th specifically) we’ll be partnering with our bank to put on our next onsite event, focusing on cyber security and fraud.  They’ve asked us not to put their name into social media (because then there will be all sorts of approval processes they have to go through.  So we won’t.  But I will say there will be some Pretty Neat Content presented.  RSVP here for this free event!In October we’ll have the next QCT (for clients only, I’m afraid).In either October or November, we’ll have our first event aimed specifically at IT directors for Small to Medium Businesses.  Working on the content for that now.  And it’s not going to be a sales pitch.  Promise.In December we’ll be back to our usual annual Geek Raffle, supporting the aforementioned Hattie Larlham.And in January?  We’ll start the year off right with our next QCT.And by the way…it’s starting to look like Microsoft might finally have their ducks in a row with Microsoft 365, especially the M365 Business Premium as compared to Office 365 E3.  Look for more information from us over the next couple of months.Well, I've got head over for day two of our Microsoft 365 BootCamp.  Stay tuned!