I was more than a little bit jazzed a couple of weeks ago when DataStax announced that I had been nominated as a Cassandra MVP for the 2012-2013 term. I wasn’t able to be at the Cassandra Summit to receive the designation in person, but I was no less grateful for it.

As an MVP, I’ll be able to participate in the occasional Cassandra webinar, blog in an official capacity, talk to press like a boss, and generally just enjoy an enhanced reputation in the world of the best scalable non-relational datastore on the planet. Best of all, I’ll continue to speak on Cassandra when I’m able. Be sure to look for me to talk about what my new employer, GitHub, is doing in this space.

It’s one thing for DataStax to recognize members of the C* community who have contributed to its success, but it’s another thing entirely for them to shower generous gifts on them. When I got home early on Saturday morning from a week away, I was delighted to find that they had send me tee shirts, an awesome pint glass (pictured with homebrew), and a new iPad! Thanks, DataStax. This was truly a classy gift for a guy who loves you and your product.