Acknowledgments

[ LiB ]

Anytime you see an acknowledgment page in a book you think, "Oh god, here we go. The guy's gonna start kissing butt." Well, what choice do I have? In all seriousness, there are a lot of people to thank, and it's sort of like making an Oscar speech since you have to get to everyone in one page. So, I'll start out by thanking the person who made this book come to life...Me. Okay, I'm talking about Linda Bump, Senior Acquisitions Editor at New Riders. From beginning to end, she pushed without being pushy, inspired, and was just plain wonderful to work with. She owes me a coffee and I plan to collect. I'd also like to thank Lisa Thibault (development editor) and Robert M. Hall and Kim Cavanaugh (technical editors) for their swift turnaround and very warm, supportive attitudes. It's very important to feel like you're collaborating instead of being criticized, and that is certainly how I was made to feel.

Everyone I work with at OTX Research from the top down. Shelley Zalis, Kristin Luck, Amit Kzemian, and everyone in the Engineering department who make coming into the office something that I can actually look forward to, and trust me, that's a difficult thing to do.

David Fugate, my literary agent at Waterside Productions, was arguably the only reason this book came to fruition. Having a lot going on at the time, I was reluctant to believe I could make a book like this happen and happen well. David, you inspired me to forge ahead and had faith that it was possible. For that, I thank you. Have your people call my people and we'll do lunch.

Of course no one could write a book about Flash MX 2004 unless there was such a thing, so for that I'd like to thank Macromedia. Henriette Cohn and Heather Holleander specifically made getting information on the product an easy task and offered every opportunity to learn the most possible about such a great release of Flash. I would have had a hard time writing about the changes in Flash MX 2004 if it weren't for these wonderful women and the developers and engineers as a whole.

I've saved my personal thank you's for the end. Everyone has challenges in their life and none of us could overcome them without help from people who believe in us when no one else does, not even yourself. Fortunately I have several such people in my life. I'd especially like to thank Wendy Donovan for being such a source of honesty and understanding, and for her attempts at tolerating my moods. Frank Krueger, Chris Pauley, Trevor Boelter, Greg Adler, Martin Barter, and the rest of my close friends for many nights of sushi, helping me to stay creatively fulfilled, and reminding me that laughter is the root of all evil. One last thing... "I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cow bell." If you get that, then I thank you too.

[ LiB ]